I was always late for everything--dinner, school, even movies--but tonight I was early, as I arrived at the Mansion at 6:45. Alexander opened the door himself and kissed me politely on the cheek. I was as shocked as he at his sudden display of affection.

"That never happened when Jameson opened the door!" I said.

"Well, you better tell me if it does. We have a rule, you know. I don't kiss his girls and he doesn't kiss mine!" Alexander glowed even more than he had that night I'd snuck in and he had extended the hand with the spider ring. He was growing confident. He led me up the grand staircase to the family room. It was filled with modern art pieces--flowered paintings, an Andy Warhol print of Campbell's soup cans, Barbie doll sculptures, and flashy, furry, wild rugs. There was a black leather couch, a big-screen TV, and a glass table with a giant tub of movie popcorn, SnoCaps, Dots, Sprees, Good & Plenty, and two neon-green glasses filled with pop.

"I wanted to make you feel like you're at the movies," he explained.

He put in the DVD and turned out the lights, and we snuggled together in the darkness. I picked SnoCaps and he chose a pack of Sprees. The popcorn rested between us on the couch.

Dracula was getting ready to take a bite out of Lucy when Alexander gently pulled my face away from the screen.

He stared me at with his deep midnight eyes. He leaned toward me. And he kissed me. With passion. He kissed me! He finally kissed me! Right there in front of Bela Lugosi!

He kissed me as if he were drinking me in and filling my heart and veins with love. As I took a breath, he began kissing my ears and gently nibbling them. I giggled like crazy. His lips and teeth made their way down my neck, his mouth filling me with total passion. His soft biting on my neck tickled. I was so into his spell, I stretched my legs out clumsily on the coffee table, spilling Alexander's glass and then the popcorn over him. Alexander, startled, sunk his teeth into my neck so hard I screamed.

"Oh, no! I'm sorry!" he apologized.

Popcorn was scattered everywhere and I held my neck, which was pulsing like my heart.

"Raven, are you okay?"

The blood rushed from my brain, and the room began to turn one way then another, and my stomach felt nauseated. I did what any overexcited, sappy girl would do. I fainted dead away. It seemed like hours later, but it was only seconds. I awoke to Alexander calling my name. Dracula was still in Lucy's room. The only difference was the lights were on.

"Raven? Raven?"

"What happened?"

"You fainted! I thought that only happened in old movies!"

"Here, drink this." He put my glass to my lips, like I was a baby.

Alexander's pale face was even paler. He took some ice that had spilled on the table and placed it on my neck. "I'm so sorry! I never meant to--"

"That's cold!" I cried.

"I've ruined everything," he said, holding the dripping ice on my neck.

"Don't say that. This happens all the time."

He looked at me skeptically.

"Well, just with you."

"I never meant to hurt you."

I could feel his fingers tracing the wound. "It's just a flesh wound. I didn't break the skin."

"You didn't?" I asked, almost disappointed.

"This is bigger than the mosquito bite. You'll have one major hickey!"

"Bela would be proud," I said, hanging on Alexander's reaction.

"Yes," he said. "I guess he would." "I want to ask you something," I said nervously, as he walked me to my door. I was running out of chances to invite him to the dance, and I realized if I didn't ask him now, I never would.

"You don't want to hang out anymore? Listen, Raven--"

"No, I mean...I just wanted to say..."

"Yes?"

"Umm...I found a place to dance," I began.

"To dance? In this town?"

"Yes."

"Is it cool?"

"No, but--"

"But if you go there, it must be the trendiest place in the world."

"It's my school."

"School?"

"I thought you would think it was totally lame. I shouldn't have mentioned it."

"I've never been to a school dance before."

"Really? Me neither."

"Then it'll be the first time for both of us," he said with a sexy and suddenly confident grin.

"I guess it will. It's called the Snow Ball. I can wear a woolen scarf to cover my bite," I joked. "I'm sorry--it was an accident."

"It was the best accident that ever happened to me!"

He leaned in to kiss me and stopped suddenly. "I better not."

"You better!"

He leaned in again, and this time our lips melted together, his strong hand gently holding my chin.

"Until we meet again," he said, kissing me one last time. He blew me a final kiss when he reached the car.

I touched the mark where he had bitten me. I knew I was already changing. But I wanted to look in the mirror to see for sure.

The following day Becky and I went to Evans Park immediately after school. We opened our backpacks in a darkened corner of the empty rec center. My camera, my journal, and a compact mirror lay before us. Finally Becky placed a Tupperware bowl that held a clove of garlic and a cross wrapped in a leather pouch on the floor.

"Ready to see the bite?" I asked.

"Is it gross?"

"It's my love wound," I said and carefully unwrapped the black scarf I'd been wearing all day.

"Wow! He has a big mouth!" she said, wide-eyed.

"Isn't it cool?"

"I can see teeth marks. A few scrapes, but I don't think he punctured the skin. Does it hurt?" "Not at all. It's like getting your ears pierced--it stings at first, but the pain quickly goes away."

"Did you faint when you got your ears pierced, too?"

"Don't get smart!"

"And the mark will go away, too, won't it?"

"That's what we're here to find out. Get the camera."

Becky took pictures of my wound, front and side. We laid the Polaroids on the cement floor as they developed.

"You're showing up," Becky stated.

"Okay. Now the mirror," I said.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"But if you are--you know, if you're really a...this could hurt."

"Becky, we don't have all day."

I took off my sunglasses.

"Ready?" she asked, holding the compact.

"Ready."

She opened the compact and pushed it against my nose.

"Ouch!"

"Oh, no!"

"You're not supposed to hit me with it! Give that to me!" I grabbed the compact with trembling hands and stared hard. Nothing--or rather, everything. I was still reflecting. "Try the garlic!" I ordered, tossing the mirror aside.

Becky opened the Tupperware bowl and cut the clove in half.

"Now?" she asked.

"Now."

I could smell the garlic already. She held the clove under my nose. I took a deep whiff. And coughed wildly.

"Are you okay?"

"Man, that's strong! Gross! Put it away!"

"It's fresh--that's why."

"Put it away!" I said.

"I like the smell. It clears my sinuses."

"Well, it's not supposed to relieve me of nasal congestion. It's supposed to send me into a revolting frenzy."

"We have one more shot left."

She opened the leather pouch. "Ready?"

I took a deep breath. "Go for it!"

She pulled out a jeweled cross on a gold chain.

"Wow, that's cool," I said. "It looks very special."

"Does it bother you?"

"Yes, it bothers me. It bothers me that I was so foolish!"

We stepped into the sunshine--blinding for both of us. "It's very glary after sitting in the dark," Becky commented as she put on her sunglasses. She looked up at me, relieved. "I don't think you're a vampire."

"What was I thinking? Alexander is so special. Why am I acting like Trevor?"

We both stared into the sunshine.

"I had gotten totally caught up in the rumor mill. Just like all the Dullsvillians. I'm no better than they are, am I? We wear different clothes, but I'm just as shallow as they are," I said, disappointed in myself.

"But you wanted him to be a vampire because you like vampires!"

"Thanks. Maybe I'm supposed to give it twenty-four hours," I said as we started to walk home.

I awoke to another sunny day. Not only didn't the sun burn my skin on contact, but its warmth actually felt good against my flesh. Not only didn't mirrors shatter like they did for Gary Oldman in Bram Stoker's Dracula, but my reflection looked like it did every day--a pale girl in all black. And the only thing I was thirsty for was a chocolate soda from Shirley's Bakery.

Still, my heart raced when my mother served linguini with garlic for dinner that night. Everyone stared at me as I played with my food, smelling and taking deep breaths.

"What's with you?" Billy Boy asked. "You're acting strange, even for you."

I twirled some pasta on my fork and raised it slowly to my mouth. "Here goes," I said. My patents looked at me like I was an alien. The noodles touched my tongue and I chewed and chewed and took a huge swallow.

"Here goes what?" my mother asked.

I took a breath. I expected my throat to burn and my skin to crawl. I expected to choke and gasp at the first taste of garlic. And then it happened. Nothing. Nothing is what happened.

"Here's to what?" my mother repeated.

"Here's to...here's to another Sarah Madison gourmet dinner!"

Though I wasn't melting in the sun, shattering mirrors, or cringing from the sent of garlic, I was feeling Alexander's power in different ways. I was walking on air, as if I could fly like a bat. I couldn't possibly sleep at night, my mind was racing, dreaming of him, replaying his kisses over and over. I doodled our names surrounded by hearts in all my notebooks during class. I wanted to be with him every moment, because whatever he was, he was my Alexander. My funny, intelligent, caring, lonely, gorgeous, dreamy Alexander. He was more incredible and exceptional than I had ever imagined.

And I was glad I was changing, and not in the way I had fantasized about for so long. I was happy to see my mirrors didn't shatter, because now I saw a reflection of a girl in love, glowing with happiness. Why should I want to live in a cemetery for eternity, when it might be possible to live in Alexander's attic room? I didn't want to cringe from the sunlight but watch Hawaiian sunsets with him. I didn't want to drink blood but sip pop from Alexander's neon-green glasses. I wanted to enjoy the things I had always enjoyed--ice cream, horror movies, swings after dark--but now I wanted to share them with him. "I heard you're hanging with the vampire," Trevor said the day before the Snow Ball as Becky and I walked through the hall after lunch. Signs for the dance hung from the ceiling and were plastered on the walls. "Isn't it enough that you're a freak and Becky is a troll? Now you have to date a lunatic? Don't you know that the Mansion is haunted?"

"You don't know anything! You've never even met Alexander."

"Oh, Alexander. The monster has a name. I thought you just called him Frankenstein. If I do ever meet him, I'll kick his ass and run him out of town. We need to know that we can walk the streets safely at night!"

"I'll kick your ass if you ever even come near him. If you ever even look at him."

"If he looks anything like you, I'll need sunglasses to guard against the blinding ugliness."

Principal Smith walked by. "I hope everything is okay with you two. We haven't received a budget for new lockers." Then he put his arm around the jerk and said, "I heard you kicked the winning goal in yesterday's game, Trevor."

They turned away, Principal Smith engaging the reluctant Trevor in jock conversation.

"How did he know I'm seeing Alexander?" I asked Becky, puzzled.

"Uh, I guess people...you know how people talk in this town."

"Well, people in this town are stupid."

"Listen, Raven, I have something to tell you," she began in a nervous voice that was even more nervous than her normal nervous voice. But I was distracted by the signs for the dance, TICKETS ON SALE NOW. SAVE FIVE DOLLARS IF YOU PRE-PURCHASE.

"Tickets? Frig! I didn't know I needed tickets! Do I get them at TicketMaster? Charge by phone?" I laughed. "That's what happens when you're on the outside, you know?"

"I totally know. The outside gets worse and worse each day."

"Maybe they'll be sold out and we'll have to dance on the school lawn," I joked.

But Becky wasn't laughing.

"Maybe it's best you and Alexander have a private dance at the Mansion."

"And miss seeing Trevor's face when I walk in with Alexander?"

"Trevor knows a lot, Raven," she said oddly.

"Fine, so he'll get into a good college. What do I care?"

"I'm afraid of Trevor. His father owns half our farm."

"The corn or the sugar?"

"I have a confession--"

"Save it for Sunday. Forget about Trevor. He's just a bully."

"I'm not strong like you. I never was. You're my best friend, but Trevor has a way of making people say things they don't want to. But please-- don't go to the dance," she said, grabbing my arm.

Suddenly the bell rang. "I've gotta go. I can't get another detention or I'll be banned from the dance."

"But Raven--" "Don't be afraid, girlie, I'll protect you from the monsters."