"Makes me think of werewolves. Do you think a man can change into an animal?"
"If he's with the right girl," he said with a laugh.
I moved closer to him. The moonlight softly lit his face. He was beautiful. Kiss me, Alexander. Kiss me now! I thought, closing my eyes.
"But we have all of eternity," he suddenly said. "For now let's enjoy the stars."
He placed his dessert bowl on the ledge and blew out the candle, and I quickly grabbed his hand. It wasn't a Trevor hand or a skinny Billy Boy hand. He had the best hand in the whole world!
We lay down on the cold grass and gazed up at the stars, holding hands.
We relaxed in silence, our hands warming together. I could feel the prickly legs of the spider ring.
I wanted to kiss. But he just stared up at the stars.
"Who are your friends?" I asked, turning to him. "I keep to myself."
"I bet you met tons of cool girls before you moved here."
"Cool is one thing. The kind of girls who accept you for who you really are is another. I'd like something...lasting."
Lasting? For eternity? But I couldn't ask that.
"I want a relationship I can finally sink my teeth into."
Really? Well, I'm your girl! I thought. But he didn't turn toward me; instead, Alexander gazed at the sky.
"So you don't have any friends here?" I asked, trying to pump him for more info.
"Just one."
"Jameson?"
"Someone who wears black lipstick."
We both stared up at the moon in silence. I beamed from his compliment.
"Who do you hang out with?" he finally asked.
"Becky is the only one who accepts me, and it's because I'm the only one who doesn't beat her up." We both laughed. "Everyone else thinks I'm weird."
"I don't."
"Really?" No one had ever said that to me in my whole life. No one.
"You seem a lot like me," he said. "You don't gawk at me like I'm a freak."
"I'll kick anyone who does." "I think you already did. Or at least smacked him with a racket."
We laughed in the moonlight, and I placed my free arm on his chest and hugged him, as my Gothic Mate softly stroked my arm.
"Could those be ravens?" I asked, pointing to 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 mosquito.
"Dad's explaining to Becky the rules of blackjack," Billy whispered anxiously, as I ran through the door. "He's already told her about every casino and the history of Siegfried and Roy. He's running out of hotels on the strip!"
I whispered, "Thanks," to Becky and quickly grabbed the phone.