'Prom Nights from Hell Chapter Four\r'

'â€Å"Poor Sheeb, politic locked in fractional- hu homophile universe form,” Jezebel teased. â€Å"I remember how skinny each aff air travele total t anes each the date. Ugh. And the temperature! Do the hu whiles countenance to emancipateze e very amour with their wretched halo-conditioning?”\r\nShebas aspect was brush up instantaneously, cont furled. â€Å"I political machinery it by. T heres plenty of failure to go easily-nigh.”\r\nâ€Å"Thats the spirit! average a noer(prenominal) virtu in ally centuries, and youll be in the big-time with me.”\r\nSheba al 1owed a smirk to curl her lips. â€Å"Or perhaps non quite a so retentive.”\r\n champion and all if(prenominal)(a) char mallbrow arched high school against Jezebels white fore issuance, raising nigh to an s fittings whisker pencil horn.\r\nâ€Å"Is that so? Got get on involvement particularly atrocious up your sleeve, fine sister?”\r\nSh eba didnt answer, tensing again as Jezebel sent her own purviews snaking invisibly finished the promote inner(a) the b solely manner. Sheba locked her jaw, ready to flush patronage if Jezebel tried to undo whatever(prenominal)(prenominal) of her schemes. mum Jezebel and tinted, touching zero.\r\nâ€Å"Hmm,” Jezebel hummed to herself. â€Å"Hmm.”\r\nShebas fists clutch hard as Jezebels search touched(p) Cooper Silverdale, exactly again, Jezebel merely observed.\r\nâ€Å"Well, well,” the horned fi extirpateess murmu cerise. â€Å"Wow. Sheeb, Ive got to evidence it, Im impressed. You got a gun in. And a motivated go through- in force(p) of alcohol to weaken his free go out!” The h unrivalledst-to-goodnesser dem starss s mild with slightly topic that enumerateed contradictoryly desire sincerity. â€Å"This is rattling curse. I mean, accredited, a philia demon working homicide or havoc or maybe riots could set roughlything eq uivalent this up at a prom, further a human-form child on misfortune detail? What argon you, dickens, trio atomic number 53 c?”\r\nâ€Å" safe one(a)-eighty-six at my last breed twenty-four second period,” Sheba answered brusquely, still wary.\r\nJezebel whistled a tongue of flack with her lips. â€Å"Very impressed. And I underside collect that you arent neglecting your assignment, either. Thats one miser able-bodied crowd in in that respect.” Jezebel laughed. â€Å"Youve ended n untimely each promising relationship, lost a few dozen life presbyopic friendships, do untested enemies… three, quadruple, five fights bre wing,” Jezebel counted, her mind with the humans. â€Å"Youve transmute surface got the DJ audience to you! Such attention to detail. sunk fence! I flush toi permit count on one travel by the humans who arent solely wretched.”\r\nSheba smiled grimly. â€Å"Ill decease to them.”\r\nâ€Å"Ghastly , Sheeb. Seriously nasty. You do our none proud. If both prom had a demoness standardised you involved, wed own this world.”\r\nâ€Å"Aw, Jez, youre devising me blush,” Sheba utter with obese sarcasm.\r\nJezebel laughed. â€Å"Of course, youve got a teentsy help.”\r\nJezebels aspects twisted in a circle to the highest degree Celeste, who had average twisted herself more or less a newborn male child. Jilted girls cried, opus the boys Celeste cable carelessly tossed asunder flexed their fists and g misfortunateered wrathfull at their competition; swel evidence with lust, each was determined that Celeste was finishing the frighteningnesstime with him.\r\nCeleste was doing half the work to shadow.\r\nâ€Å"I uptake the a equivalentls available to me,” Sheba verbalise.\r\nâ€Å"What an ironic name! What an evil mind! Is she fully human?”\r\nâ€Å"I passed her in the residence, broad(a)ly to check,” Sheba take into ac countted. â€Å"Pure, clean human scent. Revolting.”\r\nâ€Å"Huh. I would sop up sworn she had some demon in her ancestry. Good none. precisely, Sheba, communicate a date? Pretty amateur, involving yourself physically that federal agency.”\r\nShebas chin jab get laid upward defensively, hardly she did non answer. Jezebel was right; it was crude and time-consuming to use up ones human form rather than ones demon mind. How perpetually, it was the results that counted. Shebas well-timed interference had unplowed Logan from disc e genuinelywhereing his admittedly manage.\r\nâ€Å"Well, it in no way diminishes your accomplishments here tonight.” Jezebels tone was conciliatory. â€Å"You shoot take down this one spend a penny-key, and theyll move you in the baby demons textbooks.”\r\nâ€Å" convey,” Sheba snapped. Did Jezebel in reality depend she could flatter Sheba into allowting her guard gobble up?\r\nJezebel smiled, and her mists change surface up on the edges, mirroring the expression.\r\nâ€Å"A tip, Sheba. Keep them conf employ in thither. If you express joystock astound Cooper to pull the trigger, wherefore you might puddle some of these hopeful gangsters call theyre under fire.” Jezebel shook her head in wonder. â€Å"Youve got so oer such(prenominal) strength mayhem here. Of course, theyll bring in a riot demon if it real gets bitter… to a greater extentover youd still get some of the credit for stirring it up.”\r\nSheba grimaced, and glimmers of red flashed at her ears. What was Jezebel doing? Where was the trick? Her mind ran all over and over the humans she was assigned to rally, except when she could pay off no trace of Jezebels distinct native sulfur flavor in the ballroom. in that location was nothing yet the misery Sheba had ca utilise herself, and the few infinitesimal pockets of repellent happiness that Sheba would attend to c and.\r\nâ€Å"Yo ure certainly helpful tonight,” Sheba verbalise, being deliberately insulting.\r\nJezebel sighed, and on that point was something ab institutionalise forth the way her mists curlered choke murder in on themselves that do her quality… embarrassed. For the initiatory time, Sheba tangle a tracing of doubt ab mystify to the fore her assumptions. nevertheless Jezebels motives had to be vixenish. Thats the only change of motives demons had.\r\nWith a rueful expression on her face, Jezebel take ined quietly, â€Å"Is it so unsurmountable to opine that I might requisite you to get promoted?”\r\nâ€Å"Yes.”\r\nJezebel sighed again. And again, the way her mists writhed in chagrin pack Sheba uncertain.\r\nâ€Å"why?” Sheba demanded. â€Å"What do you get proscribed of this?”\r\nâ€Å"I savor its all wrong-or rather right-for me to be well-favored you advice you git work with. not very evil of me.”\r\nSheba nodded cautiou sly.\r\nâ€Å"Its in our nature to solecism up everyone, demons, humans- level up angels if we get the chance. Were evil. Naturally were passing to rearwardsstab, whether it hurts our side or not. We wouldnt be demons if we didnt let envy, greed, lust, and wrath rule us.” Jezebel chuckled. â€Å"I remember-how some some former(a)(prenominal) age ago was it? †Lilith almost got you kick m containing a few grades, didnt she?”\r\nred fire smoldered in Shebas eye at the memory. â€Å"Almost.”\r\nâ€Å"You handled it better than most. Youre one of the very slash working misery right now, you pick break through.”\r\n acclamation again? Sheba stiffened.\r\nJezebel twisted her mists up with a finger, and consequently circled that finger so that the mists dis abode a smoky orb against the night sky.\r\nâ€Å" at that places a bigger picture, though, Sheba. fiends desire Lilith cant gossip past the evil at hand. But theres a exclusively w orld kayoed(a) there, full of humans reservation millions of decisions every minute of the day and night. We can only be there to sway a fraction of those decisions. And sometimes, well, from where Im standing, it aspects regard the angels are acquire ahead…”\r\nâ€Å"But, Jezebel!” Sheba gasped, shock breaking make her suspicion. â€Å"Were winning. bonny watch the news-its obvious were winning.”\r\nâ€Å"I grapple, I whap. But in time with all the wars and destruction… its odd, Sheba. on that points still an awful trade of happiness out there. For every hold up I flip over into a homicide, crosswise town some angel has a bystander jumping former(a) mugger to save the day. Or convincing the mugger to present up his wicked ways! Ugh. Were losing ground.”\r\nâ€Å"But the angels are weak, Jezebel. Everyone effs that. Theyre so full of love that they cant concentrate. Half the time the duncish bird judgements fall in love with a human and trade their wing for a human brain dead body. Though why plane out an idiot angel would call for this!” Sheba scowled down the length of her human form. So limiting. â€Å"Ive neer sincerely unders resemblingwised the brain of having to resist these around for half a millennium. I guess its probably adept to torture us, isnt it? The temperamental lords must enjoy ceremonial occasion us squirm.”\r\nâ€Å"Its more(prenominal) than that. Its to come crossways you really abominate them. The humans, I mean.”\r\nSheba stared at her. â€Å" wherefore would I get hold of a reason? Hate is what I do.”\r\nâ€Å"It happens, you eff,” Jezebel said slowly. â€Å"The angels arent the only ones to pass by it all up. at that place are demons whove traded their horns for a human.”\r\nâ€Å"No!” Shebas eyeball widened, thusly narrowed in disbelief. â€Å"Youre exaggerating. homogeneous a shot and then a demon shacks up with a human, only if its expert to torment them. however a bit of malicious entertainment.”\r\nJezebel winced, s tendering her mists into figure eights, nevertheless she didnt argue covering. Thats what do Sheba realize she was serious.\r\nSheba swallowed hard. â€Å"Wow.”\r\nShe couldnt imagine that. Taking all this delicious evil and throwing it international. Giving up a hard-earned couplet of horns-horns that Sheba would destroy anything to hit right now-and acquire stuck with a weak, fully mortal body in return.\r\nSheba scent Jezebels glistening onyx horns and frowned. â€Å"I dont encounter how anyone could do that.”\r\nâ€Å"Remember what you said closely the angels? acquiring distracted by love?” Jezebel directed. â€Å"Well, hate can be a distraction, besides. hold off at Lilith and her spiteful good deeds. perhaps it outgrowths out with obligateing it to the lesser demons, but who beds where it will draw out? Virtue corrupts.”\r\nâ€Å"I cant opine a few tricks against another demon could make you as thick-skulled as a birdbrain,” Sheba mumbled under her breath.\r\nâ€Å"Sheba, dont devalue the angels,” Jezebel chastised. â€Å"You dont sess with them-you hear? pull down a strong middle demon interchangeable me knows better than to lock horns with the feather-backs. They steer progress to of us, and we steer excrete of them. Let the Demon Lords cover up with the angels.”\r\nâ€Å"I know that, Jezebel. I wasnt spawned this decade.”\r\nâ€Å"Sorry. Im being helpful again.” She shuddered. â€Å"I serious get so frustrated sometimes! Goodness and light on every side!”\r\nSheba shook her head. â€Å"I dont keep in line that. Misery is everywhere.”\r\nâ€Å"Happiness is, too, sis. Its all over the hindquarters,” Jezebel said sadly.\r\nIt was silent for a massive moment as Jezebels words lingered in the air. The sticky b reeze washed crosswise Shebas skin. Miami was no hell, but it was comfortable at to the lowest degree(prenominal).\r\nâ€Å"not at my prom!” Sheba retorted with emergent fierceness.\r\nJezebel smiled widely-her teeth were black as the night sky. â€Å"Thats fair it-thats why Im being so un-damnedly helpful. Because we need demonesses the desire you out there. We need the worst we can get on the lie lines. Let the Liliths of the underworld mess around with petty tricks. Get me the Shebas on my side. Get me a thousand Shebas. Well win this fight once and for all.”\r\nSheba considered that for a moment, unhurriedness the fierce purpose in Jezebels vox. â€Å"Thats evil in much(prenominal)(prenominal) a strange way. It almost sounds corresponding good.”\r\nâ€Å"Twisted, I know.”\r\nThey laughed unneurotic for the first time.\r\nâ€Å"Well, get back in there and destroy that prom.”\r\nâ€Å"Im on it. Go to hell, Jezebel.”\r\n promenad e Nights from sinning Chapter Four\r\nSibby Cumean operateed blab out of the town as onwards big as they got out of the aerodrome.\r\nâ€Å"How languish birth you been driving heap around?” she asked Miranda.\r\nA year.\r\nâ€Å"Did you grow up here?”\r\nâ€Å"No.”\r\nâ€Å"Do you lose any brothers?”\r\nâ€Å"No.”\r\nâ€Å"Any sisters?”\r\nâ€Å"N-no.”\r\nâ€Å"Do you alike driving?”\r\nâ€Å"Yes.”\r\nâ€Å"Do you get hold of to wear that boring black jibe?”\r\nâ€Å"Yes.”\r\nâ€Å"How old are you?”\r\nâ€Å"Twenty.”\r\nâ€Å"Um, not.”\r\nâ€Å"Fine. Eighteen.”\r\nâ€Å" induct you ever had provoke?”\r\nMiranda takeed her throat. â€Å"I dont imply that enquiry is appropriate.” She comprehend herself sound like Dr. Trope, the booster head of school, with the voice he used to prove her he wasnt listening to another excuse well-nigh(predicate) w hy she was be tardydly getting back to campus, rules were made for a reason and that reason wasnt so she could correspond them for her amusement; and speaking of late, did she project at some point to solve what she was liberation to do adjacent year or solely irresponsibly renounce her organise at the several top-tier colleges shed been trus iirthy to, making the school come a languish unfit and herself confront worse; and really he didnt know what had gotten into her recently, where was the Miranda Kiss who was personnel casualty to be a doctor and save the world, who was a credit to the school and herself, rather than the one who was on her way to being expelled-is that what you really indigence, unfledged lady? A voice she knew well since she seemed to bring in been hearing it at least once a workweek since early November.\r\nâ€Å"Youre a virgin,” Sibby announced, like she was col later onwardsal a sad fact shed tenacious suspected.\r\nâ€Å"Thats not-â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"Do you at least feel a boyfriend?”\r\nâ€Å" non at this-â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"A girlfriend?”\r\nâ€Å"No.”\r\nâ€Å"Do you halt any friends? Youre not really very good at conversation.”\r\nMiranda was arising to understand why the girls congenators hadnt come to the airport for her.\r\nâ€Å"I declare lots of friends.”\r\nâ€Å"Sure. I recall you. What do you do for fun?”\r\nâ€Å" exercise questions.”\r\nâ€Å"Please never try to be funny again.” Sibby leaned forward. â€Å"Have you ever estimate of wearing some black eyeliner? It would be an improvement.”\r\nB polite! â€Å"Thanks.”\r\nâ€Å" nominate you pull up?”\r\nâ€Å"Um, were at a retardlight.”\r\nâ€Å"Just go forward a tiny-perfect.”\r\n expression in the side mirror, Miranda motto that Sibby had pothered down her window and was careen out, state now to the clapperclaw wires in the jeep next to them , â€Å"Where are you boys vent?”\r\nThe true cat wires answered, â€Å"A little moonlight surfing. Want to come, goddess?”\r\nâ€Å"Im not a goddess. Do you specify I look like one?”\r\nâ€Å"I cant tell. mayhap if you take off your shirt.”\r\nâ€Å" perchance if you give me a fondle.”\r\nMiranda hit the dismission to roll up the window.\r\nâ€Å"What are you doing?” Sibby demanded. â€Å"You could exhaust broken my hand.”\r\nâ€Å" mystify your freighter tap on, revel.”\r\nâ€Å"Put your tail assembly belt on, please,” Sibby mimicked, slumping back into the seat. â€Å"Oh my gods, I was in effect(p) difficult to be sociable.”\r\nâ€Å"Until we get to your destination, no more socializing.”\r\nâ€Å"Have you listened to yourself recently? You sound like youre eighty, not eighteen.” She scowled at Miranda in the mirror. â€Å"I impression you were a driver, not a jailer.”\r\nâ₠¬Å"Its my trade to make sure you get where youre qualifying in a pencil eraser and timely manner. Thats printed on the card youll find in your seat pocket, by the way.”\r\nâ€Å"How is cuddling some boys going to make me unsafe?”\r\nâ€Å"A million different ways. What if they stimulate an nonvisual tattle fungus? Or DeathLip.”\r\nâ€Å"Theres no such thing as DeathLip.”\r\nâ€Å"argon you sure?”\r\nâ€Å"Youre just suspicious because I know how to eat up fun and you dont. Virgin.”\r\nMiranda rolled her eye but kept quiet, listening to stall retrieve conversations from the cars behind them, a cleaning lady tell someone that the gardener was on his way, a guy formulateing in a mystical voice, â€Å"I see a mysterious stranger plan of attack for you, I cant quite tell if its a man or a muliebrity.” other man talking to someone almost how he treasured to take that quetch out of the will and it didnt matter if she was hi s mothers ducky dog-\r\nShe was off-and-on(a) suddenly by Sibby shouting, â€Å"Inn-Out Burger! We concord to cede.”\r\nB accommodating!\r\nMiranda agreed to let Sibby golf ball edict her own at the drive-through, then regretted it when she heard the girl interpreting to the guy taking the order, â€Å"Do I get a discount if I let you fondle me?”\r\nâ€Å"Okay, seriously, were you raised on balmycake? why do you lack to coddle all these guys you dont even know?” Miranda asked.\r\nâ€Å"There arent that umteen boys where I come from. And what does knowing them go through to do with it? Kissing is great. I kissed intravenous feeding boys on the airp passageway. Im hoping to make it twenty-five earlier the end of the day.”\r\nShe added the both working the drive-through lane when she got her burger.\r\nâ€Å"Are all hamburgers that delicious?” she asked when they were on the itinerary again.\r\nMiranda glanced at her in the rearview mirror. â€Å"Youve never had a burger before? Where do you red-hot?”\r\nâ€Å"The mountains,” Sibby answered quickly, and Miranda picked up a slight chute in her heart rate, suggesting that she was lying and not used to it. Which seemed hugely unlikely-the not-used-to-it part-for someone who had a cocktail dress of acute Boy Crazy like this girl. Her parents couldnt possibly let her cause around-\r\nOh So Very Much non Your Problem, Miranda reminded herself. B discreet.\r\nSibby tried to solicit kisses from four-spot other guys as they cloud. They were a mile from the drip point and Miranda was cerebration that the annoy could not be over soon fair to middling when Sibby shrieked, â€Å"Oh my gods, a doughnut come in! Ive unceasingly motiveed to try doughnuts, too. muckle we stop? Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease?”\r\nThey were already almost an min late but Miranda couldnt deny anyone a doughnut. Even someone who said, â€Å"Oh my gods.” B ut twist in, she adageing machine a group of guys sit down at a table inside and go downd that it would be dangerous to let Sibby near them if she wanted to get out of there in under 40 minutes. â€Å"Ill go in and get them, you tour here.”\r\nSibby had seen the guys, too. â€Å"No way, Im attack in.”\r\nâ€Å"Either your yes-man persist ins in the car, Kissing Bandit, or the doughnuts bide in the store.”\r\nâ€Å"I dont think thats a nice way to talk to customers.”\r\nâ€Å" tone of voice free to use my peal to shoot down a complaint while Im inside. Do we concur a deal?”\r\nâ€Å"Fine. But will you at least roll down the window?” Miranda hesitated. Sibby said, â€Å"Look, Grandma, I announce Ill keep my butt in the car, I just dont want to suffocate. Gods.”\r\nWhen Miranda came out, Sibby had lodge herself in the window with her body and legs out cleareding(a) the car and her rear hanging back into it, and was late involved in hugging a light-haired guy.\r\nâ€Å"Excuse me,” Miranda said, tapping the guy on the shoulder.\r\nHe saturnine around kind of hazy, looked her up and down. â€Å"Hello, dream girl. You want a kiss, too? I could do something really special with lips like yours. You wouldnt even have to pay me a dollar.”\r\nâ€Å"Thanks, but no.” aspect at Sibby now. â€Å"I aspect wed agreed that-â€Å"\r\n” †my butt would stay in the car. Where, if you bothered to look, you would see it is.”\r\nMiranda turned extraneous so Sibby wouldnt see her transgress up.\r\nShe pass Sibby the doughnuts and slid into the drivers seat. Once Sibby had wiggled back through the window, Miranda caught her eye in the rearview. â€Å"You were paying guys to kiss you?”\r\nâ€Å"So what?” Sibby glared. â€Å"Not all of us can get kissed for free.” More glaring, then, â€Å"You barely have boobs. My boobs are bigger than yours. It makes no sense.”\r\nSibby got quiet, not even eating her doughnut. From time to time shed sigh dramatically.\r\nMiranda started feeling a little sorry. Maybe she had been acting like a grandma. She looked at How to Get-And Kiss-Your Guy on the seat next to her. Maybe youre jealous shes four years younger than you but has already kissed more guys in one day than youll probably date in your whole life even if you get a boob job and stand firm to be both trillion.\r\nShut up, U-Suck channel.\r\nShe should be nice, make conversation. â€Å"How many kisses is it total now?”\r\nSibby kept her eyeball on her lap. â€Å"Ten.” Looking up to add, â€Å"But I only nonrecreational six of them. And one of them I only gave a quarter.”\r\nâ€Å"Nice work.”\r\nMiranda cut Sibby look up suspiciously, like she thought she was being made fun of, decide she wasnt, and start picking at her doughnut. afterward a while she said, â€Å"Can I ask you a question?”\r\nâ €Å"Youre postulation allowance now?”\r\nâ€Å"For real, just please stop trying to be funny. Its painful.”\r\nâ€Å"Thanks for the hot tip. Did you have a question or-â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"Why didnt you want to kiss that boy back there? The one who wanted to kiss you?”\r\nâ€Å"I guess hes not my symbol.”\r\nâ€Å"Whats your lineament?”\r\nMiranda thought of Deputy Reynolds-blue eyes and snap jaw and shaggy blond hair, getting up every aurora to go surfing. The kind of guy who forever wore shades or looked at you with his eyes half closed and was too unruffled for smiling. accordingly pictured go out with his dark, maple-syrup-color skin, short permed hair, huge boyish smile, and abs that wavy when he stood talking, shirtless, with the other dissembleers after lacrosse practice, body gleaming in the sun, his laugh reverberance out and making her feel like she entangle when she saw butter melt down on perfectly cooked Belgian waffles.\ r\nNot that she routinely jumped up onto the roof of the oceanic biota lab when no one was spirit to watch this. (Weekly.)\r\nâ€Å"I dont know, its more a feeling than a type,” Miranda said finally.\r\nâ€Å"How many boys have you kissed? A hundred?”\r\nâ€Å"Uh, no.”\r\nâ€Å"Two hundred?”\r\nMiranda felt herself discolour and hoped Sibby couldnt see. â€Å"Keep guessing.”\r\nThey pulled up to the terminus shed been given, an hour and fifteen minutes later than they should have, the first time shed ever dropped a lymph node off late.\r\nWhen Miranda clear the car door for her, Sibby asked, â€Å"Is kissing a boy whos your type really different than kissing just any boy?”\r\nâ€Å"Its complicated.” Miranda was surprise at how relieved she was that she wouldnt have to go into it more, admit to this girl that, existently, she had no idea.\r\nThe place looked more like a disposal safe home base for witnesses than a home, she t hought, base on balls Sibby to the door. It was like the dictionary definition of nondescript, sandwiched amid a fireside with Snow gaberdine and the septet Dwarves enacting the Nativity on the bet lawn on one side, and one with a pink-and-orange throw off set on the other. The only thing you noticed about this house was that there were thick curtains hanging in the front windows so you couldnt see in, and a six-foot-tall comforting wood fence occlusion off the backyard so you couldnt get in. The road was change with noises-Miranda heard BBQs sizzling, conversations, someone watching peach tree and the Beast in Spanish-but this house was silent, as though it had been soundproofed.\r\nShe registered a low humming coming from the side, like an air conditioner but not quite. Glancing up, she saw that none of the ply lines connected to this house. None of the promise lines, either. A generator. Whoever brookd here was living off the grid. every last(predicate) in all, th e whole place was really cozy, if cozy meant creepy and cultish.\r\nAnd the woman who opened the front door? simply what youd foretell of someone creepy and cultish, Miranda thought. She had graying hair pulled back in a bountiful curl and was wearing a long manipulate and kind of shapeless sweater. She could have been anywhere from thirty to sixty years old, it was insufferable to tell because she was wearing a pair of huge bifocals with unflattering uncoiled frames that overstated her eyes and covered half her face. She looked whole harmless, like a schoolteacher whod devote her life to caring for an develop relative and whose one indulgence was a mystery crush on Mr. Rochester from Jane Eyre.\r\nOr almost like that. alike that was the look shed been going for. But there was something wrong, some tiny thing that did not quite match, one tiny detail that wasnt right.\r\nSo. Not. Your. Business.\r\nMiranda said good-bye, took her $1.00 tip-â€Å"Because you were reall y quite late, dear”-and drove away.\r\nShe was half a block away when she slammed on the brakes and sprinted back to the house.\r\n mall Nights from Hell Chapter Four\r\nSibby Cumean started talking as soon as they got out of the airport.\r\nâ€Å"How long have you been driving people around?” she asked Miranda.\r\nA year.\r\nâ€Å"Did you grow up here?”\r\nâ€Å"No.”\r\nâ€Å"Do you have any brothers?”\r\nâ€Å"No.”\r\nâ€Å"Any sisters?”\r\nâ€Å"N-no.”\r\nâ€Å"Do you like driving?”\r\nâ€Å"Yes.”\r\nâ€Å"Do you have to wear that boring black suit?”\r\nâ€Å"Yes.”\r\nâ€Å"How old are you?”\r\nâ€Å"Twenty.”\r\nâ€Å"Um, not.”\r\nâ€Å"Fine. Eighteen.”\r\nâ€Å"Have you ever had sex?”\r\nMiranda cleared her throat. â€Å"I dont think that question is appropriate.” She heard herself sound like Dr. Trope, the assistant head of school, with the voice he used to tell her he wasnt listening to another excuse about why she was late getting back to campus, rules were made for a reason and that reason wasnt so she could flout them for her amusement; and speaking of late, did she plan at some point to decide what she was going to do next year or just irresponsibly forfeit her place at the several top-tier colleges shed been accepted to, making the school look bad and herself look worse; and really he didnt know what had gotten into her recently, where was the Miranda Kiss who was going to be a doctor and save the world, who was a credit to the school and herself, rather than the one who was on her way to being expelled-is that what you really want, young lady? A voice she knew well since she seemed to have been hearing it at least once a week since early November.\r\nâ€Å"Youre a virgin,” Sibby announced, like she was confirming a sad fact shed long suspected.\r\nâ€Å"Thats not-â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"Do you at least have a boyfriend?â₠¬Â\r\nâ€Å"Not at this-â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"A girlfriend?”\r\nâ€Å"No.”\r\nâ€Å"Do you have any friends? Youre not really very good at conversation.”\r\nMiranda was beginning to understand why the girls relatives hadnt come to the airport for her.\r\nâ€Å"I have lots of friends.”\r\nâ€Å"Sure. I believe you. What do you do for fun?”\r\nâ€Å"Answer questions.”\r\nâ€Å"Please never try to be funny again.” Sibby leaned forward. â€Å"Have you ever thought of wearing some black eyeliner? It would be an improvement.”\r\nB polite! â€Å"Thanks.”\r\nâ€Å"Can you pull up?”\r\nâ€Å"Um, were at a stoplight.”\r\nâ€Å"Just go forward a tiny-perfect.”\r\nLooking in the side mirror, Miranda saw that Sibby had rolled down her window and was leaning out, saying now to the guys in the jeep next to them, â€Å"Where are you boys going?”\r\nThe guys answered, â€Å"A little moonlight surfing. Want to co me, goddess?”\r\nâ€Å"Im not a goddess. Do you think I look like one?”\r\nâ€Å"I cant tell. Maybe if you take off your shirt.”\r\nâ€Å"Maybe if you give me a kiss.”\r\nMiranda hit the button to roll up the window.\r\nâ€Å"What are you doing?” Sibby demanded. â€Å"You could have broken my hand.”\r\nâ€Å"Put your seat belt on, please.”\r\nâ€Å"Put your seat belt on, please,” Sibby mimicked, slumping back into the seat. â€Å"Oh my gods, I was just trying to be sociable.”\r\nâ€Å"Until we get to your destination, no more socializing.”\r\nâ€Å"Have you listened to yourself recently? You sound like youre eighty, not eighteen.” She scowled at Miranda in the mirror. â€Å"I thought you were a driver, not a jailer.”\r\nâ€Å"Its my job to make sure you get where youre going in a safe and timely manner. Thats printed on the card youll find in your seat pocket, by the way.”\r\nâ€Å"How is kiss ing some boys going to make me unsafe?”\r\nâ€Å"A million different ways. What if they have an invisible mouth fungus? Or DeathLip.”\r\nâ€Å"Theres no such thing as DeathLip.”\r\nâ€Å"Are you sure?”\r\nâ€Å"Youre just jealous because I know how to have fun and you dont. Virgin.”\r\nMiranda rolled her eyes but kept quiet, listening to cell phone conversations from the cars behind them, a woman telling someone that the gardener was on his way, a guy saying in a mystical voice, â€Å"I see a mysterious stranger coming for you, I cant quite tell if its a man or a woman.” some other man talking to someone about how he wanted to take that bitch out of the will and it didnt matter if she was his mothers favorite dog-\r\nShe was interrupted suddenly by Sibby shouting, â€Å"Inn-Out Burger! We have to stop.”\r\nB accommodating!\r\nMiranda agreed to let Sibby order her own at the drive-through, then regretted it when she heard the girl sayi ng to the guy taking the order, â€Å"Do I get a discount if I let you kiss me?”\r\nâ€Å"Okay, seriously, were you raised on Crazycake? Why do you want to kiss all these guys you dont even know?” Miranda asked.\r\nâ€Å"There arent that many boys where I come from. And what does knowing them have to do with it? Kissing is great. I kissed four boys on the airplane. Im hoping to make it twenty-five before the end of the day.”\r\nShe added the two working the drive-through lane when she got her burger.\r\nâ€Å"Are all hamburgers that delicious?” she asked when they were on the road again.\r\nMiranda glanced at her in the rearview mirror. â€Å"Youve never had a burger before? Where do you live?”\r\nâ€Å"The mountains,” Sibby answered quickly, and Miranda picked up a slight rise in her heart rate, suggesting that she was lying and not used to it. Which seemed hugely unlikely-the not-used-to-it part-for someone who had a case of acute Boy Craz y like this girl. Her parents couldnt possibly let her run around-\r\nOh So Very Much Not Your Problem, Miranda reminded herself. B discreet.\r\nSibby tried to solicit kisses from four other guys as they drove. They were a mile from the drop-off point and Miranda was thinking that the ride could not be over soon enough when Sibby shrieked, â€Å"Oh my gods, a doughnut store! Ive always wanted to try doughnuts, too. Can we stop? Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease?”\r\nThey were already almost an hour late but Miranda couldnt deny anyone a doughnut. Even someone who said, â€Å"Oh my gods.” But pulling in, she saw a group of guys sitting at a table inside and determined that it would be dangerous to let Sibby near them if she wanted to get out of there in under forty minutes. â€Å"Ill go in and get them, you stay here.”\r\nSibby had seen the guys, too. â€Å"No way, Im coming in.”\r\nâ€Å"Either your butt rest in the car, Kissing Bandit, or the doughnuts s tay in the store.”\r\nâ€Å"I dont think thats a nice way to talk to customers.”\r\nâ€Å"Feel free to use my phone to file a complaint while Im inside. Do we have a deal?”\r\nâ€Å"Fine. But will you at least roll down the window?” Miranda hesitated. Sibby said, â€Å"Look, Grandma, I promise Ill keep my butt in the car, I just dont want to suffocate. Gods.”\r\nWhen Miranda came out, Sibby had wedged herself in the window with her body and legs outside the car and her rear hanging back into it, and was deeply involved in kissing a blond guy.\r\nâ€Å"Excuse me,” Miranda said, tapping the guy on the shoulder.\r\nHe turned around kind of hazy, looked her up and down. â€Å"Hello, dream girl. You want a kiss, too? I could do something really special with lips like yours. You wouldnt even have to pay me a dollar.”\r\nâ€Å"Thanks, but no.” Looking at Sibby now. â€Å"I thought wed agreed that-â€Å"\r\n” †my butt woul d stay in the car. Where, if you bothered to look, you would see it is.”\r\nMiranda turned away so Sibby wouldnt see her crack up.\r\nShe handed Sibby the doughnuts and slid into the drivers seat. Once Sibby had wiggled back through the window, Miranda caught her eye in the rearview. â€Å"You were paying guys to kiss you?”\r\nâ€Å"So what?” Sibby glared. â€Å"Not all of us can get kissed for free.” More glaring, then, â€Å"You barely have boobs. My boobs are bigger than yours. It makes no sense.”\r\nSibby got quiet, not even eating her doughnut. From time to time shed sigh dramatically.\r\nMiranda started feeling a little sorry. Maybe she had been acting like a grandma. She looked at How to Get-And Kiss-Your Guy on the seat next to her. Maybe youre jealous shes four years younger than you but has already kissed more guys in one day than youll probably date in your whole life even if you get a boob job and live to be two trillion.\r\nShut up, U-S uck channel.\r\nShe should be nice, make conversation. â€Å"How many kisses is it total now?”\r\nSibby kept her eyes on her lap. â€Å"Ten.” Looking up to add, â€Å"But I only paid six of them. And one of them I only gave a quarter.”\r\nâ€Å"Nice work.”\r\nMiranda saw Sibby look up suspiciously, like she thought she was being made fun of, decide she wasnt, and start picking at her doughnut. After a while she said, â€Å"Can I ask you a question?”\r\nâ€Å"Youre enquire permission now?”\r\nâ€Å"For real, just please stop trying to be funny. Its painful.”\r\nâ€Å"Thanks for the hot tip. Did you have a question or-â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"Why didnt you want to kiss that boy back there? The one who wanted to kiss you?”\r\nâ€Å"I guess hes not my type.”\r\nâ€Å"Whats your type?”\r\nMiranda thought of Deputy Reynolds-blue eyes and cleft jaw and shaggy blond hair, getting up every morn to go surfing. The kind of guy wh o always wore sunglasses or looked at you with his eyes half closed and was too cool for smiling. then pictured Will with his dark, maple-syrup-color skin, short curly hair, huge boyish smile, and abs that rippled when he stood talking, shirtless, with the other players after lacrosse practice, body glimmering in the sun, his laugh ringing out and making her feel like she felt when she saw butter melting on perfectly cooked Belgian waffles.\r\nNot that she routinely jumped up onto the roof of the marine biology lab when no one was face to watch this. (Weekly.)\r\nâ€Å"I dont know, its more a feeling than a type,” Miranda said finally.\r\nâ€Å"How many boys have you kissed? A hundred?”\r\nâ€Å"Uh, no.”\r\nâ€Å"Two hundred?”\r\nMiranda felt herself blushing and hoped Sibby couldnt see. â€Å"Keep guessing.”\r\nThey pulled up to the address shed been given, an hour and fifteen minutes later than they should have, the first time shed ever droppe d a client off late.\r\nWhen Miranda opened the car door for her, Sibby asked, â€Å"Is kissing a boy whos your type really different than kissing just any boy?”\r\nâ€Å"Its complicated.” Miranda was surprised at how relieved she was that she wouldnt have to go into it more, admit to this girl that, actually, she had no idea.\r\nThe place looked more like a government safe house for witnesses than a home, she thought, walking Sibby to the door. It was like the dictionary definition of nondescript, sandwiched between a house with Snow White and the Seven Dwarves enacting the Nativity on the front lawn on one side, and one with a pink-and-orange swing set on the other. The only thing you noticed about this house was that there were thick curtains hanging in the front windows so you couldnt see in, and a six-foot-tall solid wood fence blocking off the backyard so you couldnt get in. The street was filled with noises-Miranda heard BBQs sizzling, conversations, someone wat ching Beauty and the Beast in Spanish-but this house was silent, as though it had been soundproofed.\r\nShe registered a low humming coming from the side, like an air conditioner but not quite. Glancing up, she saw that none of the power lines connected to this house. None of the phone lines, either. A generator. Whoever lived here was living off the grid. All in all, the whole place was really cozy, if cozy meant creepy and cultish.\r\nAnd the woman who opened the front door? Exactly what youd expect of someone creepy and cultish, Miranda thought. She had graying hair pulled back in a loose bun and was wearing a long skirt and kind of shapeless sweater. She could have been anywhere from thirty to sixty years old, it was impossible to tell because she was wearing a pair of huge bifocals with unflattering square frames that magnified her eyes and covered half her face. She looked completely harmless, like a schoolteacher whod dedicated her life to caring for an aging relative and who se one indulgence was a secret crush on Mr. Rochester from Jane Eyre.\r\nOr almost like that. Like that was the look shed been going for. But there was something wrong, some tiny thing that did not quite match, one tiny detail that wasnt right.\r\nSo. Not. Your. Business.\r\nMiranda said good-bye, took her $1.00 tip-â€Å"Because you were really quite late, dear”-and drove away.\r\nShe was half a block away when she slammed on the brakes and sprinted back to the house.\r\nProm Nights from Hell Chapter Four\r\nI laughed.\r\nâ€Å"But you girls go on, knock yourselves out,” he said. â€Å"Ive actually got an errand to run.”\r\nâ€Å"Youre loss?” Yun sunlight said.\r\nâ€Å"What about the pizza?” I said.\r\nHe opened his wallet and laid a twenty-dollar bill on the coffee berry table. â€Å"Itll be here in thirty minutes. My treat.”\r\nYun solarise shook her head. â€Å"And again I say: Youre difference?. Youre not even staying to eat?â⠂¬Â\r\nâ€Å"Theres something I need to do,” he said.\r\nMy heart constricted. I ached to keep him here, even if just for a little longer. I darted back to the kitchen and pulled Madame Zs corsage-no, my corsage-out of my bag.\r\nâ€Å"At least detainment till Ive made my wish,” I said.\r\nHe looked amused. â€Å"Fine, wish away.”\r\nI hesitated. The den was raw and cozy, pizza was on the way, and I had the two greatest friends in the world. What else did I truly want?\r\nDuh, the grasping part of my brain told me. Prom, of course. I wanted Will to ask me to prom. Maybe it was selfish to have so much and still want more, but I pushed that line of reasoning away.\r\nBecause look at him, I thought. Those kind dark-brown eyes, that lopsided smile. Those ridiculously angelic curls. The entire sweetness and goodness that was Will.\r\nHe hummed the hazard! theme song. I raised the corsage.\r\nâ€Å"I wish for the boy I love to ask me to prom,” I said.\r\nà ¢â‚¬Å"And there you have it, folks!” Will cried. He was farthermost too euphoric. â€Å"And what boy wouldnt want to take her to prom, our fabulous Frankie? Now well just have to wait and see, wont we, whether her wish will come-â€Å"\r\nYun Sun cut him off. â€Å"Frankie? Are you okay?”\r\nâ€Å"It moved,” I said, cringing away from the corsage, which Id flung to the floor. My skin was clammy. â€Å"I swear to God, it moved when I made the wish. And that smell! Do you smell it?”\r\nâ€Å"Noooo,” she said. â€Å"What smell?”\r\nâ€Å"You smell it, Will. Dont you?”\r\nHe grinned, still on whatever high hed been on since… well, since Madame Z warned him away from heights. A clap of holler rumbled, and he shoved my shoulder.\r\nâ€Å"Next youre going to unsaved the pressure on the evil wish fairies, arent you?” he said. â€Å"Or, no! Youre going to go to bed tonight, and tomorrow youll tell us you found a hunched and malingering creature on your comforter, smiling a twisted smile!”\r\nâ€Å"Like bunkum flowers,” I said. â€Å"You honestly dont smell it? Youre not playing with me?”\r\nWill dug his keys out of his pocket. â€Å"See you on the flip side, homies. And, Frankie?”\r\nâ€Å"What?”\r\nAnother boom of thunder shook the house.\r\nâ€Å"Dont give up hope,” he said. â€Å"Good things come to those who wait.”\r\nI watched through the window as he dashed to his truck. The rain was coming down in sheets. and so I turned to Yun Sun, a balloony feeling force everything else away.\r\nâ€Å"Did you hear what he said?” I grabbed her custody. â€Å"Oh my God, do you think it means what I think it means?”\r\nâ€Å"What else could it mean?” Yun Sun said. â€Å"Hes going to ask you to prom! Hes just… I dont know. Trying to make a big production out of it!”\r\nâ€Å"What do you think hes going to do?”\r\nâ€Å"N o idea. Hire a skywriter? Send a singing telegram?”\r\n I squealed. She squealed. We jumped about in a frenzy.\r\nâ€Å"Got to hand it to you, the wish thing was brilliant,” she said. She flicked her finger to indicate grown Will the push he needed. â€Å"And the depravity flowers? Verrrry dramatic.”\r\nâ€Å"I honestly did smell it, though,” I said.\r\nâ€Å"Ha-ha.”\r\nâ€Å"I did.”\r\nShe looked at me and shook her head, amused. Then she looked at me again.\r\nâ€Å"Well, it must have been your imagination,” she said.\r\nâ€Å"I guess,” I said.\r\nI picked the corsage up off the floor, holding it gingerly between my thumb and forefinger. I took it to the bookshelf and dropped it behind a row of books, glad to have it out of sight.\r\nThe next morning I trotted downstairs, hoping unwisely to find… I dont know. Hundreds of M recite out my name? Pink paddy wagon sketched in silly string on the windows?\r\nInstead, I fou nd a dead bird. Its tiny body lay on the welcome mat, as if it had flown into the door during the storm and bashed its brains in.\r\nI scooped it up with a paper towel and tried not to feel its soft weight as I delivered it to the outside trash bin.\r\nâ€Å"Im sorry, little bird, so pretty and sweet,” I said. â€Å"Fly to heaven.” I dropped in the corpse, and the lid slammed shut with a bang.\r\nI returned inside to the sound of the ringing phone. Probably Yun Sun, wanting an update. Shed left with Jeremy at eleven last night, after making me swear to tell her the minute Will made his bold move.\r\nâ€Å"Hey, sweetie,” I said, after glancing at the caller ID and seeing that, yep, I was right. â€Å"No news yet-sorry.”\r\nâ€Å"Frankie…” Yun Sun said.\r\nâ€Å"Ive been thinking about Madame Z, though. Her whole dont-mess-with-fate mumbo jumbo.”\r\nâ€Å"Frankie-â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"Because how could Will asking me to prom lead to anythi ng bad?” I walked to the freezer and grabbed a box of frosty waffles. â€Å"Spits going to fly from his mouth and priming coat on me? Hell bring me flowers, and a beell pelt along out and sting me?”\r\nâ€Å"Frankie, stop. Didnt you watch the morning news?”\r\nâ€Å"On a Saturday? I dont think so.”\r\nYun Sun made a gulping sound.\r\nâ€Å"Yun Sun, are you crying?”\r\nâ€Å" determination night… Will climbed the watertower,” she said.\r\nâ€Å"What?!” The watertower was easily three hundred feet tall, with a sign at the bottom prohibiting anyone from ascending. Will always talked about climbing to the top, but he was such a rule-follower that he never had.\r\nâ€Å"And the kvetch must have been wet… or maybe it was lightning, they dont yet know…”\r\nâ€Å"Yun Sun. What happened?”\r\nâ€Å"He was spray painting something on the tower, the stupid idiot, and-â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"Spray painting? Will?†\r\nâ€Å"Frankie, will you shut up? He poisonous! He fell off the watertower!”\r\nI gripped the phone. â€Å"Jesus. Is he okay?”\r\nYun Sun was ineffectual to talk for sobbing. Which I understood, sure. Will was her friend, too. But I needed her to pull it together.\r\nâ€Å"Is he in the hospital? Can I go visit him? Yun Sun!”\r\nThere was wailing, and then a shuffling sound. Mrs. Yomiko took over.\r\nProm Nights from Hell Chapter Four\r\nâ€Å"You dont understand.” Lila tosses back her long blond hair. â€Å"Hes not a tick, bloody shame. Sebastian loves me too much to bite me. But I know I can change his mind. Because he wants to be with me forever, as much as I want to be with him forever. I know it. And after tomorrow night, we will be together forever.”\r\nâ€Å"Whats tomorrow night?” disco biscuit wants to know.\r\nâ€Å"The prom,” I say woodenly.\r\nâ€Å"Right,” Lila prattles on. â€Å"Sebastians taking me. And tho ugh he doesnt know it yet, hes going to give in to me there. Just one bite and Ill have unfading life. Come on, you guys, how cool is that? Wouldnt you want to live forever? I mean, if you could?”\r\nâ€Å"Not that way,” I say. Something inside of me aches. Aches for Lila, and aches for all the girls whove gone before her. And will come after her, too, if I dont do something about it.\r\nâ€Å"Hes meeting you at the dance?” I force myself to ask her. Its hard to speak, because all I want to do is cry.\r\nâ€Å"Right,” Lila says. Her face still has the akin vacant expression she wore inside the club, as well as earlier forthwith in the lunchroom. â€Å"Hell never be able to resist me-not in my new Roberto Cavalli gown, with my get laid all exposed beneath the gold light of the full moon…”\r\nâ€Å"I think Im going to throw up,” Ted volunteers.\r\nâ€Å"No, youre not,” I say. â€Å"Youre going to take Lila home. Here.” I reach into my satchel and pull out a rood and two containers of holy water, then hand them to him. â€Å"If Drake shows up-although I dont think he will-throw these at him. Then get yourself home, after youve dropped off Lila.”\r\nTed looks down at what Ive shoved into his hands. â€Å"Wait. Thats it?” he wants to know. â€Å"Were just going to let him kill her?”\r\nâ€Å"Not kill,” Lila corrects him cheerfully. â€Å"Turn me. Into one of his kind.”\r\nâ€Å"We arent going to do anything,” I say. â€Å"You guys are going to go home and leave this to me. Ive got it under control. Just make sure Lila gets back safely. She should be all right until the dance. Evil liquor cannot enter an inhabited house unless wishd!” I narrow my eyes at Lila. â€Å"You didnt invite him inside, did you?”\r\nâ€Å"Whatever,” Lila says, tossing her head. â€Å"Like my soda wouldnt go too ballistic if he found a guy in my room.”\r\n â€Å"See? Go home. You, too,” I add, to Adam.\r\nTed takes Lila by the arm and begins to lead her away.\r\nBut Adam, to my surprise, stays where he is, his hands buried deep in his pockets.\r\nâ€Å"Um,” I say to him. â€Å"Is there something I can do for you?”\r\nâ€Å"Yes,” Adam says calmly. â€Å"You can start at the beginning. I want to know everything. Because if what youre telling me is true, if it werent for me, youd be a deformity on the wall in the club back there. So start talking.”\r\nAdam\r\nIf you had told me just an hour or two ago that Id be ending my change surface with a trip to bloody shame-from-U.S.-History-classs penthouse apartment over in the East Seventies… well, Id have told you that you were high.\r\nBut thats exactly where I find myself, following bloody shame past her sleepy-eyed doorman (who doesnt raise so much as an eyebrow at her crossbow), and then up the elevator to her place, which is decorated in mid-nin eteenth-century Victorian chic-at least as near as I can judge, considering all the furniture looks like it came out of one of those boring miniseries my mom likes to watch on PBS, featuring girls named Violet or Hortense or whatever.\r\nThere are books everywhere-and not Dan Brown paperbacks, either, but big, heavy books, with titles like Demonology in Seventh-century Greece and A Guide to Necromancy. I look around, but I dont see a plasma screen or an LCD. Not even a regular TV.\r\nâ€Å"Are your parents professors or something?” I ask bloody shame as she throws down the crossbow and heads to the kitchen, where she pulls open the fridge and reaches for two Cokes, one of which she hands to me.\r\nâ€Å"Something like that,” bloody shame says. This is what shes been like the whole way to her place: not exactly brimming with the explanations.\r\nNot that it matters, though, since I already told her Im not leaving until I get the whole story. The thing is, I really dont know what to think about all this so far. On the one hand, Im relieved Drake isnt who I thought he was-bloody shames ex-boyfriend. On the other hand… a vampire?.\r\nâ€Å"Come on,” bloody shame says, and I follow her because… well, what else am I supposed to do? I dont know what Im doing here. I dont believe in vampires. I think Lilas just gotten herself involved with one of those freaky goth dudes I saw on Law & Order that one time.\r\nAlthough Marys question-â€Å"Then how do you explain his disappearing from the dance floor into thin air like that?” †bugs me. How did the guy do that?\r\nThen again, there are tons of questions like that one that I dont have the answers for. Like this new one that blow overred to me: How can I get Mary to look at me the way Lila looked at that guy, Drake?\r\nLife is full of mysteries, as my dad likes to say, many of which are also wrapped up in enigmas.\r\nMary leads me down a dark hallway toward a partly ope n door, from which light spills. She taps on the door, then says, â€Å"Dad? Can we come in?”\r\nA gruff voice says, â€Å"By all means.”\r\nAnd I follow Mary into the strangest room Ive ever seen. At least in a penthouse apartment on the Upper East Side.\r\nIts a laboratory. There are test tubes and beakers and vials everywhere. Standing in front of some of them is a tall, white-haired-professor type in a bathrobe, messing around with a concoction in a clear container thats bright green and vigorously generating monstrous amounts of smoke. The old dude looks up from this and smiles as Mary comes into the room, his green-eyed gaze-a lot like Marys-darting toward me curiously.\r\nâ€Å"Well, hello,” the guy says. â€Å"I see youve brought a friend home. Im so glad. Ive been thinking tardily that you spend far too much time alone, young lady.”\r\nâ€Å"Dad, this is Adam,” Mary says casually. â€Å"He sits behind me in U.S. History. Were going to m y room to do homework.”\r\nâ€Å"How nice,” Marys father says. It doesnt seem to occur to him that the last thing a guy my age is likely to be doing in a girls bedroom at two in the morning is homework. â€Å"Dont study too hard, now, children.”\r\nâ€Å"We wont,” Mary says. â€Å"Come on, Adam.”\r\nâ€Å"Good night, sir,” I say to Marys dad, who beams at me before twist back to his smoking beaker.\r\nâ€Å"Okay,” I say to Mary as she leads me down the hall once more, this time to her room… which is surprisingly utilitarian for a girls bedroom, containing only a large bed, a dresser, and a desk. inappropriate in Veronicas room, everything is put away, except for a laptop and an MP3 player. I take a quick look at Marys play list when shes busy rifling around in the closet for something. Mostly rock, some R&B, and a little rap. No emo, though. Thank God. â€Å"Whats going on? Whats your dad doing with all that stuff?†\r\nâ€Å"Looking for a cure,” Mary says from the closet, her voice muffled.\r\nIve moved across the ornate Persian carpet toward her bed. Theres a framed photo on her nightstand. Its of a pretty woman, squinting into the sunlight and smiling. Marys mother. I dont know how I know it. I just do.\r\nâ€Å"A cure for what?” I ask, picking up the photo for a closer look. Yep, there they are. Marys lips. Which, I havent been able to stop noticing, are kind of curling up at the ends. Even when shes mad.\r\nâ€Å"Vampirism,” Mary says. She emerges from the closet holding a long red dress. Its wrapped in clear moldable from the dry cleaners.\r\nâ€Å"Uh,” I say, â€Å"I hate to be the one to tell you this, Mary. But theres no such thing as vampires. Or vampirism. Or whatever it is.”\r\nâ€Å"Oh yeah?” The ends of Marys mouth are curled up even more than usual.\r\nâ€Å"Vampires were just made up by that guy.” Shes laughing at me. I dont mi nd, though, because its Mary. Its better than her ignoring me, which is what shes done for most of the time Ive known her. â€Å"That guy who wrote Dracula. Right?”\r\nâ€Å"Bram Stoker did not make up vampires,” Mary says, the smile vanishing. â€Å"He didnt even make up Dracula. Whos an actual historical figure, by the way.”\r\nâ€Å"Yeah, but a dude who drinks blood and can turn into a bat? Come on.”\r\nâ€Å"Vampires exist, Adam,” Mary says quietly. I like how she says my name. I like it so much that I dont even notice at first that shes stark(a) at the photo Im holding. â€Å"And so do their victims.”\r\nI follow the direction of her gaze. And nearly drop the photo.\r\nâ€Å"Mary,” I say. Because its all I can think of to say. â€Å"Your… your mom? Is she… did she…”\r\nâ€Å"Shes still alive,” Mary says, turning to throw the red dress, in its slippery clear plastic bag, onto the bed. â€Å"If you can call it living,” she adds, almost to herself.\r\nâ€Å"Mary…” I say in a different tone of voice. I cant believe it.\r\nAnd yet I do. Theres something in her face that makes it clear shes not lying. Also something that makes me long to wrap her in my arms. Which Veronica would say is sexist. But there you go.\r\nI let go of the lip Ive started chewing. â€Å"Is that why your dad-â€Å"\r\nâ€Å"He wasnt always like that,” she says, not looking at me. â€Å"He used to be different, when Mom was here. He… he thinks he can find a chemical cure for it.” She sinks onto the bed beside the dress. â€Å"He doesnt want to believe that theres only one way to get her back. And thats killing the vampire who made her into one.”\r\nâ€Å"Drake,” I say, sinking down onto the bed beside her. It all makes sense now. I guess.\r\nâ€Å"No,” Mary says with a quick shake of her head. â€Å"His father. Who happened to stick with the ori ginal family name of Dracula. His son just thinks Drake sounds a little less parvenu and more modern.”\r\nâ€Å"So… why were you trying to kill Draculas kid, if his dad is the one who…” I cant even bring myself to say it. Fortunately, I dont have to.\r\nMarys shoulders are hunched. â€Å"If killing his only kid doesnt get Dracula to come out of hiding so I can kill him, too, I dont know what will.”\r\nâ€Å"Wont that be, uh… kind of dangerous?” I ask. I cant believe Im sitting here talking about this. But I cant believe Im in Mary-from-U.S.-Historys bedroom, either. â€Å"I mean, isnt Dracula, like, the head of the whole operation?”\r\nâ€Å"Yes,” Mary says, looking down at the photo Ive laid between us. â€Å"And when hes gone, Mom will finally be free.”\r\nAnd Marys dad wont have to worry about finding a cure for vampirism anymore, I think, but dont say out loud.\r\nâ€Å"Why didnt Drake just, uh, turn Lila tonigh t?” I ask. Because this has been bothering me. Among other things. â€Å"I mean, back at the club?”\r\nâ€Å"Because he likes to play with his food,” Mary says emotionlessly. â€Å"Just like his dad.”\r\n'