Vampire Kisses by Ellen Schreiber Page B

a flurry of dark wings circling high above the Mansion.
    “Those aren’t birds—they’re bats.”
    “Bats! I’ve never seen bats around here, until you moved in.”
    “Yeah, we found some hanging in the attic. Jameson set them free. I hope they don’t frighten you. They’re wonderful creatures.”
    “It takes one to know one, right?” I hinted.
    “But don’t worry. They never swoop down and get tangled in jet-black hair like yours. Only in mall hair.”
    “They like hairspray?”
    “They hate it. They know mall hair looks terrible!”
    I laughed, and he began softly stroking my hair. His touch calmed me. I thought I was going to melt into the earth.
    He was certainly taking much more time than Trevor had. I began stroking his hair, which was silky from his gel.
    “Do bats like gel?” I asked.
    “They love the way it looks with a silk Armani,” he teased back.
    I wriggled over him and pinned his arms down. He looked up at me with surprise and smiled. I waited for him to kiss me. But he didn’t move. Of course, he didn’t move—I was pinning him down! What was I thinking?
    “Tell me your favorite thing about bats, Bat Girl,” he asked, as I anxiously stared down at him.
    “They can fly.”
    “You want to fly?”
    I nodded.
    He wrestled me over and pinned my arms down. Again I waited for him to kiss me, but he didn’t. He just stared into my eyes.
    “So what’s your favorite thing about bats, Bat Boy?” I asked.
    “I’d have to say,” he began, thinking, “their vampire teeth.”
    I gasped, but it wasn’t because of Alexander’s comment. A mosquito had bitten my neck.
    “Don’t be afraid,” he said, squeezing my hand. “I won’t bite…yet.” He laughed at his joke.
    “I’m not afraid. A mosquito bit me!” I explained, scratching like mad.
    He examined the mark like a doctor. “It’s starting to swell. We’d better get you ice.”
    “It’ll be okay. I get these all the time.”
    “I don’t want you to tell your parents you came over to my house and got bitten!”
    I wanted to tell the whole world I was bitten, but that mosquito had ruined everything.
    He took me into the kitchen and put ice on my tiny wound. I listened to the grandfather clock chime away. Nine… Chime …Ten… Chime . No! Eleven… Chime . Frig! Twelve. It couldn’t be!
    “I’ve got to go!” I exclaimed.
    “So soon?” he asked, disappointed.
    “Any second my dad will be calling from Vegas, and if I’m not there to answer, I’ll be grounded for eternity!”
    If only I could stay and live with Alexander in his attic room and have Creepy Man serve me Count Chocula cereal every morning…
    “Thanks for the flowers and the dinner and the stars,” I said hurriedly by Becky’s truck, scrambling in my purse for the keys.
    “Thank you for coming.”
    He looked dreamy and gorgeous, and somehow lonely. I wanted my Gothic Vampire Mate to kiss me now. I wanted his mouth on my neck and his soul within mine.
    “Raven?” he said cautiously.
    “Yes?”
    “Would you like me to…”
    “Yes? Yes?”
    “Would you like me to…invite you again, or would you rather sneak back in?”
    “I’d love to be invited,” I answered, waiting. If he kissed me now, we’d be bonded for all eternity.
    “Wonderful then. I’ll call you.” He kissed me softly on the cheek. The cheek? Still, it was softer and more romantic than the time Jack Patterson had kissed me outside the Mansion, and much more romantic than Trevor pushing me against a tree. And as much as I wanted a real kiss—a vampire kiss—he was changing me. I was transforming into a swooning noodle-legged, goopy, googly-eyed, drippy marshmallow girl.
    I could still feel his lovely, full lips against my face as I drove home. My body tingled all over with excitement, longing, passion—feelings I had never felt about a guy before. And as I scratched the bite that wasn’t his, I could only hope I wouldn’t turn into a blood-sucking