"Jagger wants you, not a soccer match."
I looked around. My heart started to race.
"Now I'm getting nervous," I said.
"Why don't you relax in the car. I'll stand guard."
I opened the driver's-side door, jumped in, and quickly locked the door.
I turned to lock the passenger door and gasped.
Jagger was sitting next to me!
"You thought I wouldn't recognize you with blond hair," he sneered.
I tried to open the door, but he grabbed my arm. "I've come to collect what I didn't collect before," he said, looking into my eyes, his fangs primed. I pushed him away just as I heard a banging on my window. I looked up to see an enraged Alexander.
He tried to open my door as I struggled to keep Jagger's fangs at bay.
Frustrated, Alexander ran to the other side as Jagger automatically locked all the doors.
"Help!" I cried, pushing him at arm's length.
Alexander returned to my window, balling his fist to punch through the glass, when I managed to wedge my feet in front of Jagger. I stretched one hand toward the window, my fingers reaching as far as they could, and barely touched the lock. With all my might, I managed to lift the knob with my index finger.
My door flung open, but Jagger pulled me out the passenger door before Alexander could reach me.
He dragged me away from the car and toward the back of the drive-in.
But before Jagger reached the exit, Alexander caught up and grabbed his arm. "Let her go," he demanded, "before I--"
Jagger's grip remained tight around my wrist.
"I came to do what you could never do," Jagger said.
"What does he mean?" I asked.
Alexander flashed his fangs at Jagger and stepped in between us. "Don't make me do this in front of those people," Alexander said, referring to a few patrons in the distance who were looking at us curiously.
I backed away, out of reach of Jagger. "This would never have happened," Jagger continued. "My sister just wanted to be like everyone else. She could have had anyone. But we chose you! And you left her standing all alone!"
"You know why. I never meant to hurt her or your family," Alexander defended.
"You'll do the same thing to Raven. You really were never like one of us. You may deny who you are," Jagger yelled, "but I won't deny who I am!"
He ran toward me and grabbed my arm just as Alexander grabbed the other.
Then Jagger flashed his fangs and lunged at my neck.
"It's too late!" I hollered, ducking away. "Alexander already has me." I leaned in and bit Jagger's arm.
Suddenly the parking lot lights dimmed and the movie started again. The vampire Vladimir was leading Jenny by the hand through the cemetery. A gang of vampires was following them, trying in vain to stop the ceremony and take the ingenue for their own.
Jagger howled out in pain as I pulled Alexander toward the movie screen.
Alexander resisted. "Where are you going? We can't turn our backs on him."
I gazed up at the screen. Vladimir was leading Jenny to the tombs. "We don't have much time."
But Alexander stared back at Jagger, whose pale face was turning red.
"Just like we planned. Please, trust me," I begged him, tugging his hand. Alexander glanced over his shoulder. Jagger was heading straight for us.
I could see Becky and Matt coming through the parking lot with drinks in their hands.
"Hey, what's going on?" Becky asked as she got closer.
"I can't talk now, but get in the car and lock the doors!" I commanded.
Alexander and I hurried toward the front of the lot, where the movie screen was.
An angry Jagger lurked behind us.
"What is Raven doing?" I heard Becky ask, as she and Matt got into the Mercedes.
Alexander and I stood in front of the movie screen and our Kissing Coffins mirror images.
Patrons began hollering, "What's going on?"
I looked out into the crowd, but I couldn't see Jagger.
Then I noticed him hovering behind a family, only fifty feet away from us. When he caught my eye, he took off toward us.
"Hurry!" I exclaimed. "We don't have much time!"
As Vladimir lifted his beloved Jenny into his arms, I placed my arms around Alexander's neck. He lifted me up.
The crowd roared, clapping and tapping their horns as we acted out the movie behind us.
I could see out of the corner of my eye that Jagger was now only a few feet away, coming after me.
"Just like the film," I whispered. Alexander anxiously looked into my eyes. My fist clenched by my side, primed for what was about to happen.
"Bite me, Alexander!" I cried. "Bite me!"
Jagger reached out. Alexander put his mouth on my neck just as the on-screen vampire did to his bride. I felt a slight pressure on my flesh. I grabbed my neck and cried out. My head slumped back, my body lay limp in his arms. My heart pulsed in overtime as if beating for both of us. I could feel the warm red liquid slowly dripping down my neck, the smell of blood permeating the air around us. Alexander lifted his head proudly, mirroring the on-screen vampire, holding his bride in his arms, a red river flowing from both vampires' lips.
The crowd cheered.
I glanced over to Jagger, whose blue and green eyes were now red with rage. Alexander gently let me down.
I was light-headed. I stumbled to my feet, holding my red- stained neck, as the liquid trickled down my forearm. As the camera moved to a close-up of Jenny's face, I looked at Jagger with a wicked grin and flashed my vampire fangs.
He began to howl with such a rage his body shook, but his cry was masked by the audience hollering and honking their car horns.
There was nothing left he could do to Alexander, nothing he could take.
Jagger's eyes grew redder, his muscles rippled, and he licked his fangs. He withdrew into the darkness and disappeared.
Chapter 19 Night and Day
"I loved the way you acted out the movie last night!" Becky complimented me the next day at our lockers. "I had no idea you planned to do that. You totally rocked!"
"Thanks. I just had to wait for the right moment."
"Who would have known Vladimir would only pretend to bite Jenny so the vampires wouldn't covet her as one of their own."
"He does it so the vampires will believe Jenny has bonded eternally to him. They are forced to flee London and return to Romania, never to harm her again."
"Yeah, but you would think Vladimir would want to make her a vampire for himself."
"Well, the lesson is, not all vampires are bad," I said with a smile.