The Vampire Stalker

Chapter 8

THE NEXT MORNING, I stopped into the library before my first class. Ms. Finley, the art teacher, was standing in Ms. P.'s spot.

"Is she okay?" I asked, alarmed.

Ms. Finley smiled, obviously touched by my concern. "She's under the weather today. She said she'll probably be back tomorrow."

"Thanks." As I headed to my first class, I realized I should've expected that Ms. P. would take the day off. She must have been helping Alexander strategize. Last night, she'd offered her spare room and any resources she had to help him track down Vigo. I was relieved that he was going to stay with her. First of all, it would get Mom to stop asking so many questions about Alexander — I could tell her he'd found a place to stay. Plus, with all her knowledge, Ms. P. would be of more help to Alexander than I could ever be. Which isn't to say I wouldn't miss waking up and finding Alexander Banks in my home.

In Bio, Katie asked, "Where'd you go last night? Did you get my message?"

I already had the lie prepared. "I went to Starbucks and some other coffee shops to give out some résumés. I didn't get your message until it was too late to call back." Guilt knotted inside me. I so wanted to tell Katie the truth, but last night Ms. P., Alexander, and I had all agreed that Alexander's presence in this world had to be kept a secret. If word got out, the attention he would get could jeopardize his mission to stop Vigo.

It was too bad, though, because I knew I could trust Katie with anything. Luisa was a different story. She would never tell deliberately, but she had a way of letting things slip.

"I thought maybe you had a hot date with that Alexander guy," Katie said, grinning.

I wish. "We're just friends."

"Right now, you are," Katie teased. "I saw the way he looked at you. He totally has a crush on you."

I laughed — no, giggled. "You dreamed that up."

"I'm serious! I think he could be the one, Ames."

By "the one," I knew that she meant my first boyfriend.

"Ha! You're blushing." Katie's hazel eyes sparkled.

"No, I'm not," I protested, feeling my face get hotter by the minute.

"Don't be embarrassed. It'll work out. He wouldn't have stopped by your school if he wasn't interested." She winked. "Hey, did you hear that Elizabeth Howard's going to be on Evening ReportThursday night?"

I shook my head, surprised. Elizabeth Howard rarely did interviews. "Are you sure?"

"Yep. They announced it on the Today Show this morning. Apparently she's been under pressure to speak out since the vampire murders."

"None of this is her fault. But I'm sure they'll give her a hard time."

"Exactly. It's stupid, if you ask me. No Otherworld fan would do something like that. Those books are deep and emotional." She hesitated. "Psychotic killers wouldn't be into that stuff, would they?"

"You never know. Maybe some guy wants to be like Vigo. We should be really careful."

Katie shuddered. "You're creeping me out."

If she only knew.

Since I didn't want to risk waking Alexander, I waited until sunset to call Ms. P. By the time I called, he had already gone out on the hunt. Ms. P. told me she'd spent the morning teaching him to drive modern cars, since they both agreed that he could move around the city faster that way.

Ms. P. was back at school the next day, but had nothing new to report. Alexander was no closer to finding Vigo, despite using Vigo's equation of probabilities. We all knew what that could mean: Vigo had read the books, too.