The Vampire Stalker

Chapter 20

a longing that had been building inside me since I first read about him in the pages of Otherworld.

When we drew apart, he left the room. I heard him say good-bye to Mom and Chrissy, then close the front door.
I collapsed onto my bed, sobbing.

Alexander was gone. Gone forever. Even though I might read about him in the pages of Book Three, I would never see him again. I would never be able to look into his eyes again, or hear his voice, or feel his kiss.

I felt like my heart had been ripped out and I had nothing left inside me. Nothing.

Mom and Chrissy came in, looking down at me with concern.

"I'm sorry, Amy," Chrissy said, and put her arms around me.

CHAPTER

TWENTY

THE NEXT MORNING when my alarm buzzed, I slapped it off. I had no desire to get out of bed, go to school, eat, or do anything else but fall back into oblivion. Alexander would be returning to his world, leaving a gaping hole in mine.

I turned on the radio and tried to focus on the news. There were no murders last night. The police announced that the curfew had been effective. I knew it wasn't because of the curfew, though. It was because Vigo had promised not to kill.

I found Chrissy in the living room, eating oatmeal in her pajamas.

"Are you going back to school today?" I asked.

"Yeah. I mean, it's Halloween."

That made me smile. Halloween was one day of the school year Chrissy never missed. The old Chrissy might be coming back.

When I met Luisa on the bus, she was wearing an intricate gypsy costume complete with a colorful skirt and gold hoop earrings.

"I'm not going to let what's going on stop me from celebrating Halloween," she said. "Katie's dressing up, too. Why didn't you?"

"Other stuff on my mind."

"Is it about Alexander? So are you guys together or not?"

"We're not. He's leaving town."

"Sorry to hear that. Well, he didn't look that much like Alexander Banks, when you think of it."

I smiled, fighting down the lump in my throat.

Today at my locker I wasn't going to make the same mistake I did yesterday. As I gathered my books, I kept glancing over my shoulder. When I spotted the jock squad headed in my direction, I shut my locker and stood with my back to it. They were all dressed like vampires in long black capes with plastic fangs hanging out of their mouths.

None of them looked my way.

"Guess you scared them off yesterday," Luisa said.

I wasn't sure I'd scared them off permanently, but I was glad they didn't feel the need to harass me again.

"They're such losers," Luisa said. "I can't believe they would dress like vampires, considering what's going on. That is so tactless."

"That's the jock squad for you."

After school that day was Halloween Idol, a costume competition in the gym. I had no desire to go, but Katie and Luisa begged me. They weren't participating, but they insisted it would be fun to watch. Luisa was still in her gypsy costume, and Katie was Little Bo Peep in a pink polka-dot dress. Her blond hair was in pigtails, and she carried a shepherd's staff. She'd covered the bandage on her neck with a polka-dot scarf.