Nobody knew her as well as her sister.
Olivia’s smile was wobbly as she blinked back her tears. ‘Didn’t you come out in hives, just making the thing? I thought you were allergic to pink.’
‘I’m not allergic to anything about you.’ Ivy reached over and pinned the corsage to Olivia’s T-shirt, her long dark hair falling around her face. ‘Will you forgive me for being such an idiot?’
Olivia threw her arms around Ivy, finally letting the tears escape. ‘Of course I will. You’re my best friend, and you always will be.’
As she spoke the words, all the tension she’d been carrying for days fell away from her, and she realized it was the truth. This summer might have been strained, but she knew without a doubt that one thing would always be true: her twin would always be there for her.
‘Well.’ Ivy’s eyes looked suspiciously red as she drew back; she sniffed hard. ‘Talking of friends . . .’ She stiffened her shoulders, looking as if she were bracing herself for an attack. ‘You need to see this.’
She turned the laptop round so that Olivia could see what was on the screen.
Olivia leaned forwards, peering at the group of thumbnail-sized photos. ‘Headstones. It’s the graveyard.’
‘That’s right. Where I went to meet the vampire hunter.’ Ivy took a deep breath and clicked on the last thumbnail. ‘And there she is: Holly. She’s the blogger.’
‘What?!’ Olivia threw herself back in the chair. Her heartbeat sped up until it hurt her chest. ‘I can’t believe it.’
Ivy looked miserable. ‘I promise I wouldn’t make it up.’
‘I know that,’ Olivia shook her head. ‘I mean, the evidence is right in front of me. But Holly . . .!’ She stared at the photo: Holly’s face shadowed by the hood of her sweatshirt as she stood between two headstones.
Holly was the blogger, the one who’d threatened Olivia’s family and their friends. Holly, who’d been so kind to Olivia, such a good friend to her. Holly . . .
Olivia swallowed hard and tried to think logically, even though the betrayal made her burn. ‘The thing is, despite what you think of her, I just can’t believe that she’s really a bad person. She must have a reason for doing this.’
‘Olivia . . .’
‘Ever since I met her, my instinct has always been to trust her.’
‘I understand that.’ From the strain on Ivy’s face, Olivia could see that her twin was working hard to stay outwardly calm and reasonable. ‘But can you see that some of the things Holly’s been saying just don’t match up?’
Olivia bit her lip. She didn’t answer.
‘For example . . .’ Ivy leaned forwards. ‘Remember how she said she might be too shy to meet that author? But from the way she spoke to him at the book-signing – and the way he recognised her at first sight – it definitely looked as if that wasn’t their first chat.’
‘She was really upset at the end of it,’ Olivia said slowly. ‘And the author seemed so angry about something she’d done.’
Ivy frowned. ‘You know, you’re right. He didn’t just seem annoyed, the way he would be at a fan who was getting pushy. He looked almost disappointed angry.’ She paused, her frown deepening. ‘There was something about his expression that looked familiar to me at the time, but I couldn’t figure out what it was.’
‘What do you mean?’ Olivia asked. ‘Had you met him somewhere before?’
‘No,’ Ivy said. ‘But I’ve seen that expression a lot lately – on my angry relatives.’
Olivia sucked in a breath as the realisation rocketed through her. ‘Could that be it? She’s always talking about Bare Throats at Sunset. But if she was somehow related to the author, why wouldn’t she have said so? And what’s this got to do with the blog?’
‘There’s only one way to find out,’ Ivy said.
‘You’re right.’ Olivia sighed. ‘It’s time to talk to Holly and find out the truth.’
She stood up, steeling herself. When she turned around, though, she saw the Countess standing in the doorway. The Count and their dad came to stand behind her.
‘There’s absolutely no reason for you girls to bother yourselves any more,’ their grandmother said warmly. ‘You’ve done a brilliant job investigating, but now we’ll deal with Holly.’
Olivia felt a ripple of uneasiness. ‘What do you mean “deal with Holly”?’
‘Oh, nothing to worry about.’ The Countess waved a hand through the air. ‘A mere case of . . . misdirecting her. We’ve been doing it for centuries. How else do you think we could have kept ourselves secret for so long?’
Behind her, the Count nodded sternly. Even Olivia’s bio-dad had a hard, business-like look on his face. She felt a flutter of nerves as she looked around the circle of faces.
No matter what her mistakes had been, Holly was Olivia’s friend. And now Olivia’s grandmother was talking about their way to ‘deal with’ their current problem?
‘The look on your face!’ The Countess began to laugh, raising one hand to her mouth. ‘Oh, Olivia, my dear, no, no, no ! There’s not a thing for you to worry about, I promise.’
But still . . .
Ivy stepped up to Olivia’s side. ‘Can you just put things on hold for a few hours? The two of us might be able to handle this quietly.’
The Countess frowned. ‘My dears, this is a serious matter.’