He put his index finger in front of his lips.
The voices seemed to be coming from the pool area.
Alexander crept past the pool gate and empty kiddie pool, now littered with leaves and debris, while I tiptoed close behind him. Who knew who we'd find hanging out at a park after hours.
The crispiest French fries and the best hamburgers in town came right from this snack bar—where now shreds of red and white paint clung for dear life to the rusty metal roof, begging for a paint job when the pool reopened for summer break.
Then I noticed a coffin-shaped skateboard, emblazoned with a white skull and crossbones, and Henry's and Billy Boy's bikes lying near what a vampire might view as a huge vacant grave—Oakley Park's empty swimming pool.
I raced over to the edge of the shallow end and peered into the drained pool with its chipping ocean blue paint.
In the deep end, Henry, Billy Boy, and Valentine were sitting in a circle facing one another, a lit antique candelabra next to them, casting light on their faces.
The boys didn't even notice that Alexander and I were standing only a few yards behind where the diving board used to be. As if in a trance, the nerd-mates seemed fixated on Valentine.
It was then I noticed each boy had pricked his finger with a pin, a bottle of alcohol perched on the pool's edge.
"I really don't think we should do this," my brother said nervously.
"C’mon, it'll be okay," Valentine persuaded.
"Billy's right," Henry added.
"Fine," Valentine said. "But think of this. Neither one of you has brothers, and mine has deserted me. This way we'll all be brothers—blood brothers."
Billy Boy and Henry looked at each other. They seemed to be mesmerized by that idea.
"Blood brothers," Billy repeated.
"For now," Henry said.
"Forever," Billy Boy said.
"For eternity."
"Over my dead body!" I climbed down the shaky silver pool ladder and dropped to the blue cement pool floor.
Alexander took off around the pool deck.
As I raced toward them, I could see the innocent mortals' bloodstained fingers within inches of touching a vampire's. I didn't know the repercussions of their actions, but I assumed they wouldn't be good. I jumped in between them.
"No!" Valentine screamed. "No!"
Valentine caught Alexander's stern glare and started to run up the ascending pool floor to the shallow end, but Alexander grabbed him by the shirtsleeve, stopping the fleeing vampire.
"What's going on?" Billy Boy asked, as if coming out of a daze.
"What are you doing here?" Henry asked me.
"I should be asking you that!" I yelled in a voice that reminded me of my mother's. "Both of you go wash your hands," I ordered. "Make sure you clean them with alcohol, too."
Valentine breathed heavily. "I was so close," he said, wiping his white bangs away from his fierce green eyes.
"What are you trying to do to my brother?" I argued. "What do you mean Jagger deserted you?"
Valentine balled his fists. "Where are Jagger and Luna?" he demanded.
"They're in Romania," I said.
"You are wrong," he said.
"What do you mean?" I asked, confused.
"They haven't returned. And I know you had something to do with it," he said directly to me.
"Raven had nothing to do with it," Alexander said in my defense. "Any grudge your family has is with me."
"Do you know who you're protecting?" Valentine argued. "I knew from the moment I laid my hand on her in the cave—Raven is not ready to turn her mortal life over to you."
Alexander turned to me. His dreamy chocolate eyes turned sad and lonely.
"I never said that," I disputed.
"But you thought it," Valentine said with a cunning grin.
I knew Valentine's piercing comments were like a stake through my boyfriend's heart. Alexander stepped away from me as if registering a moment of utter isolation.
My eyes began to well. "Alexander—"
As Alexander looked at me, Valentine, who was standing on the shallower end, reached for Alexander's neck. I could see his pale fingers clench tightly around my boyfriend's throat.
"Alexander!" I screamed, running toward him.
Valentine closed his eyes as if channeling Alexander's soul into his pale palm.
Alexander's midnight eyes turned red. He spun around and knocked Valentine's hand away. The force sent Valentine stumbling back until he wiped out on the pool floor.
"What are you guys doing to Valentine?" Billy Boy asked from behind me, his voice distressed.
Alexander and I turned to see Billy Boy and Henry standing several feet above us at the pool's edge, shocked.
"Valentine was trying to hurt us," I said.
We turned back to Valentine, who was climbing up the pool ladder. He hopped on his coffin-shaped skateboard and disappeared into the darkness.
13 Grim Grounding