Eighth Grade Bites (2 page)

Vlad shrugged and adjusted the cape around his shoulders. “I'm a creature of the night, for God's sake. And she wants me home by eleven? I don't think so. Why doesn't she just follow me to the party and kiss me good-bye?”

“Hey, don't knock it. If it weren't for Nelly, you'd never get kissed.”

Vlad slowed his steps. “Like you've got room to talk.”

Henry shrugged. “I've kissed plenty of girls.”

“I'm not talking about your mom, dork.” They turned down Elm, and at the end of the street, Vlad could see cars stopping in front of Matthew's house. A blur of people moved from vehicle to house, and Vlad felt a twinge of nervousness settle into his muscles. The headlights from one of the cars that had been in front of Matthew's house turned toward them, blinding Vlad temporarily.

Henry had shoved his hands into his front pockets and was walking with his attention keenly focused on the sidewalk. “Neither am I. I'm talking about girls like Carrie Anderson and Stephanie Brawn.”

“Stephanie will kiss anyone.”

“Yeah. I know.” Henry's smile returned. “Her sister's cute, though.”

Vlad raised an eyebrow, half chuckling. “Dude, that's gross. She just turned twelve.”

“So?” Henry grinned broadly.

“So you'll be fourteen in like two months. It's gross.” Vlad shook his head and looked down at his right shoe, where his toe was poking through a tear.

Impossibly, Henry's grin broadened. “She's nice.”

“Whether or not a girl will kiss you isn't a measure of how nice she is.” Ahead, Vlad could see the hint of a soft blue sweater and angel wings disappearing into Matthew's front door. Meredith. He'd overheard her in third period yesterday gushing over what she planned to wear. It was that moment that he'd decided to accept the invitation to the party, last-minute or not.

“So what is, Einstein?”

Vlad stopped in his tracks. Henry had stopped walking as well and tilted his head with a curious gleam in his eye. Vlad nodded and said, “Girls that make out in the back of the band room aren't nice.”

“I never told you it was the band room.” Henry furrowed his brow and grabbed Vlad's shoulder for a second, lowering his voice so eavesdroppers couldn't hear. “Dude, don't do that freaky mind-reading stuff. I hate that.”

Vlad shrugged and kept walking.

Henry nudged Vlad with his elbow and gestured to a group of three trick-or-treaters in front of them with a nod. “Want some candy?”

“I shouldn't. Nelly's still ticked about last year.” Vlad shoved his hands in his pockets and looked from his best friend to the kids on the sidewalk. “You know, those kids told their parents they were attacked by a vampire. And that idiot Officer Thompson started asking my aunt all sorts of questions. If people find out about me, about what I am . . .”

“Oh, come on.” Henry had stepped in front of him, partially blocking Vlad's view of the receding fourth graders. Two were dressed as superheroes of some sort. The third wore the same cape that Vlad had on. “It'll be funny. Besides, if you don't do it . . . I'm totally telling Meredith that you like her.” Henry turned away and wrapped his arms around himself, making kissing sounds.

Vlad seethed. “Dude! Not cool!”

The grin on Henry's face made it clear that he wasn't about to let a good gag go without a fight. With a shaking head, Vlad relented. “If we get caught you owe me big-time.”

Henry beamed. “And I did that without any of the special powers normally associated with best friends of the undead.”

Henry stepped to the side and Vlad moved past him, ducking through the tall bushes that lined the sidewalk. Vlad ran as quietly as he could until he stood half a block ahead of his costumed victims. After shimmying up an old oak tree, the bark rough on his hands as he climbed, Vlad scooted out onto a long, thick branch and waited for the fourth graders while Henry stayed in the bushes. He could feel Henry's approving eyes on him and had to stifle a chuckle.

As the superheroes and their vampire comrade approached the tree Vlad was perched in, their fingers clutching pillowcases filled with sugary treats. Vlad popped the plastic fangs out and stuffed them in his front pocket. He let his imagination wander a bit, through rivers of blood and hunger that screamed to be satiated. Touching the tip of his tongue to his newly exposed fangs, he leaned forward until his feet slipped from the branch. Wind brushed his hair back from his face as he descended and then, with a flicker of concentration, Vlad willed his body forward. Arms outstretched, his fangs exposed, his throat releasing a low, guttural growl, he floated closer to the boys until he was just above their heads, and screamed.

The superheroes dropped their pillowcases and bolted in a blur of capes and shrieking terror. The vampire was left behind, staring up at Vlad in a horrified moment that dragged on forever. Vlad screamed again and so did the boy, finally relinquishing his hold on the bag. He was frozen to the spot. Vlad wondered if he would ever run away.

Vlad could hear the boy's heart pounding against his ribs, a loud thunder echoing through his mind. He heard the whoosh of rushing blood and felt the boy's tightened panic in his own chest. Then, in a blink, Vlad saw himself floating down, cheap plastic cape fluttering behind him, bright, sharp fangs shining in the streetlight.

The urge to wet his pants was undeniable, but what would Mark and Todd think if they saw? But then why should he care what they thought. They were mean jerks and had run away without him. And when they found out he was dead the next day, they'd feel awful and deserved to
.

Vlad blinked again, squeezing his eyes tight and opening them once more. His feet came to rest on the ground in front of the boy. He'd read the little vampire's thoughts without even trying. Vlad whispered, “You should get home now,” which seemed to be the magic words required to release the boy's feet from where they'd been cemented into the sidewalk. The boy ran past him, the pitter-patter of his steps quieting as he shrank down the street in the direction his companions had gone.

Henry burst from the bushes, cackling wildly, and snatched one of the fallen pillowcases from the pavement. “Did you see his face? I thought he was going to wet himself.” He dug out a pack of peanut-butter cups and tore open the orange wrapper, Stuffing one of the cups into his mouth, he held the other out to Vlad.

Vlad lifted the sweet chocolate to his lips and bit, his fangs shrinking back in his moment of confusion. The candy melted in his mouth, but he found little pleasure in it.

Henry ran ahead, calling over his shoulder for Vlad to hurry. Vlad picked up the little vampire's bag and ran to catch up just as Henry was stepping onto the porch of Matthew's house. Music was blaring from the open door, and flecks of colored lights hit the porch from inside. Matthew's mom greeted them with laughter. “Well, come on in, you evil dudes! The party's started and it's totally rockin'!”

Vlad and Henry exchanged looks. It was both sad and annoying when adults tried to act cool. Without comment, they walked inside. The living-room furniture had been pushed back against the walls, and a large, mirrored disco ball was suspended from the ceiling. Bursts of fog occasionally covered the floor with a hiss. Vlad counted twenty of his schoolmates before he gave up trying to figure out how many were there, but not before he noticed Meredith standing near the punch bowl at the opposite end of the room, giggling with several of her girlfriends.

Henry nudged him and said something, but Vlad couldn't hear over the loud music, so he nodded and watched as Henry was swallowed by the crowd. Left to his own devices, Vlad took an empty spot on the end of the couch and waited for Henry to return. Bill Jensen and Tom Gaiber were moving toward the front door. Vlad shrank into his seat, hoping they wouldn't notice him. Bill looked straight at him and pulled on Tom's sleeve until Tom nearly fell over on top of Vlad. “Oh my God, check this geek out.”

Tom guffawed. “Nice costume, goth boy.”

Vlad glared and turned away. “Nice breath, loser.”

Matthew's mom was standing near the door, watching the situation with pity-filled eyes. Vlad wished she'd look away, but she continued to stare as the skinny, pale, unpopular boy was picked on. He hoped she'd have enough sense not to try to comfort him after they'd gone, or worse, before. To Vlad's relief, Bill and Tom started moving out the door. Then, to rub salt in the wound, Bill yelled as loud as he could, “Bite me!”

A hot flash shot through Vlad's insides, and in that moment, he was prepared to oblige. He could feel his incisors lengthening, pushing his plastic fangs down, away from his gums. Clamping his mouth shut, he waited a moment to be certain Bill and Tom had gone, and then stepped out onto the porch and stretched, knowing it would take a few minutes to calm his hunger.

The cool quiet of the wraparound porch was a much-welcome distraction from the party. Bill and Tom's taunts had left him with that uncomfortable, hollow sensation for which the only known cure was a few hours at home, battling evil-doers for the fate of the earth. People could say what they wanted about video games contributing to the delinquency of minors, but Vlad was sure that if Bill and Tom spent more time playing PlayStation, they'd spend far less taunting him.

He flopped down on the porch swing and listened to the music pouring out the front door. He was kidding himself if he thought he'd be able to ask Meredith to the dance. Girls like Meredith Brookstone didn't date boys like Vladimir Tod.

Besides, the hickeys would be a nightmare.

His fangs shrank back, and as he stood, he heard Meredith's voice, sweet and giggly, coming through the open kitchen window. “Are you asking me out?”

Vlad's heart sank into his stomach, then squeezed its way down his leg and popped out of the hole in his shoe, where it struck the floor and broke. That was what it felt like anyway. He snuck over to the window and, holding his breath, peeked inside.

Henry was sitting on the kitchen counter, his sneakers dangling. He leaned forward and whispered to Meredith, whose soft brown hair was swept behind each ear. Her lips were pursed in a pout while she listened. Vlad tried not to jump to conclusions, but the sight of Henry's lips moving just inches from Meredith's pretty ear was enough to send his mood plummeting to levels of jealousy he'd not been aware he was capable of experiencing.

Henry glanced up at the window. Vlad ducked, but it was too late—he'd been seen. Moments later Henry was on the porch. “That wasn't what it looked like.”

Vlad tried to play it cool, to grasp the last remaining thread of dignity he had and come off uncaring and nonchalant. Instead, his voice cracked and a lump formed in his throat. “This was a mistake. Maybe I should just go home.”

“Already? What about Meredith?”

Vlad hurried ahead, shrugging as he descended the porch steps. “It looked to me like she was in good hands.”

Henry followed, stopping Vlad with a hand on his shoulder. “You've got it all wrong. I was trying to hook you up for the dance.” He looked at Vlad. “You believe me, don't you?”

Sure, he believed Henry. But it was hard to ignore the fact that Henry was probably the most crushed-on guy at Bathory Junior High. At times, the wistful sighs from interested girls as they passed in the hall were deafening. Still . . . this was Henry. If Vlad could trust anyone, it was him.

Vlad managed a smile. “Of course I do.” He continued down the steps with Henry following close behind.

Henry said, “Did you hear about Mr. Craig?”

“What, is he going to be out sick for another week? I don't think I can handle any more of Snelgrove's pop quizzes.”

Henry slowed his steps. “People are saying he's been declared missing.”

“No way.” Vlad stopped walking for a moment and let it sink in. With concentrated effort, he moved forward and tried to erase the possibilities from his mind. “Does anybody know anything?”

Henry had lost the pillowcase, but his front pockets were bulging with candy. “Not really. They say he just up and disappeared.”

“Weird.”

“Yeah.” The serious expression Henry wore was replaced by his familiar grin. “Hey, did you see Stephanie's sister in there? She was looking pretty nice.”

Vlad shook his head and turned the corner toward home. “Dude. Seriously. She's twelve.”

V
LAD ROLLED OUT OF BED and rubbed his eyes. Careful not to step on Henry, who was still snoring in his sleeping bag on the floor, he crossed the room and shut the door behind him, then stepped into the library. From the nearest recessed bookcase, he grabbed a copy of
The Theory and Practice of Telepathy
and went downstairs, where the smell of chilled blood and fried bacon greeted him. Mmm . . . the breakfast of champions. Aunt Nelly was at the stove and turned just as he took a seat at the long plank table. “Morning, sunshine.”

Vlad blinked at her. “Morning, sulfuric acid.”

“Pardon me?”

“Well, isn't it just kinda wrong to call a vampire ‘sunshine'?”

“Oh. Sorry.” She set a juice glass full of cool, deep red liquid in front of him, which he downed while she tapped the book. “Something interesting going on?”

Vlad ran the back of his hand across his lips, staining the skin burgundy. “Kinda. I read someone's thoughts last night. Somebody I didn't even know.”

Nelly took a seat across from him and sipped her coffee. “I thought you could only read Henry's thoughts.”

“I thought so, too.” He scratched his chin and flipped open the book to a page covered with yellow sticky notes.