After Dark by James Leck, Yasemine Uçar, Marie Bartholomew, Danielle Mulhall

I’d like to go and grab some ice cream,” she said, getting up, too. “Who’s with me?”
    â€œCan I rub it on my skin?” I asked. The sunburn was really starting to sting now.
    â€œYou deserve that burn,” Lilith said. “It’s not a joke anymore, is it?”
    â€œDon’t be so sure, Lilypad. In a week, when my skin is done peeling away, we’ll have a good laugh about the day Charlie got scorched. You wait and see.”
    â€œUnless you get skin cancer.”
    â€œWhat a wonderful outlook you have,” I said, but I don’t think she heard me because they’d all gone inside.
    Saturday, 7:40 p.m.
    By the time I’d eased my sore skin into a wrinkly pair of khakis and a not-quite-clean, plain white T-shirt, the sun was starting to dip beneath the trees. Mom had cajoled Lilith into joining us, even though she didn’t eat ice cream thanks to her wacky vegan diet. She also insisted I return Miles’s minicycle ASAP, and I told her I thought we could bring it to a place on Church Street where he hung out. So, we loaded it into the back of the pickup and headed for downtown Rolling Hills.
    We dropped Johnny off at the garage, so he could pick up his precious motorcycle, and then turned onto Church Street, which was hopping. Cars were cruising up and down the street, folks were wandering along the sidewalk, popping in and out of stores. Lots of people were just standing around, chatting or sipping sodas or coffee. We couldn’t even find a parking spot until we were past The Opal, which was okay by me because it put us closer to the Voodoo Juice Bar.
    We hoisted the minicycle onto the sidewalk, and a group of about ten girls, all around my age, wandered past and down the alley toward the Voodoo.
    â€œI’m going to drop this off to Miles,” I said. “I’ll meet you back at the inn.”
    â€œDon’t you want some ice cream?” Mom asked.
    â€œI’ll take a rain check,” I said, starting toward the alley.
    â€œI thought you said the walk home was too hard from down here,” Lilith added.
    â€œIt’s not that hot anymore now that the sun is a little lower,” I said without turning around. Which was true; it wasn’t nearly as hot as it had been that morning, although my burn wasn’t exactly cooling me down.
    â€œDon’t be too late,” Mom called as I wheeled the bike into the alley.
    I heard the Voodoo before I saw it. Some kind of electronic music that sounded like it was made by a deranged robot was wafting down the alley. I propped Miles’s bike against the wall outside and went in. The place was packed. I recognized a few faces from The Bend that afternoon. Apparently a few of them recognized me, too, because as soon as I started for the bar a group of three girls ran up to me.
    â€œOh my God! Is Jaysin Night going to be here?” one of them asked. She was short, with shoulder-length brown hair and big brown eyes.
    â€œUnfortunately, he has to do battle with a pack of vampires in another small town,” I said.
    â€œOh no, really?” she said, her shoulders slumping.
    â€œBut hey, I’m his brother, Charlie. Why don’t we grab a seat, you could buy me a Re-Animator and I could tell you all about him.”
    I think they were about to take me up on my offer when Miles Van Helsing stormed between us and grabbed me by the shoulders.
    â€œThank God you’re here. I could really use your help.”
    He was wearing the same black clothes as before, only now he had a black backpack strapped on.
    â€œMiles, you’re seriously cramping my style. I was just about to sit down with these lovely ladies and enjoy a delicious Re-Animator.”
    â€œWhat? Who?” he said, and seemed to notice for the first time that I’d actually been talking to someone. “Well, can’t you do that later? I need your help.”
    â€œIt’ll have to wait,” I said