"Who?"
"The man I'm asking about!" The music was so loud, even I couldn't hear myself.
"Ask Romeo at the bar," he hollered back.
"I already did!" I grumbled.
As I returned to the bar, I spotted a dark-haired guy in jeans and a charcoal gray T-shirt leaning against a Corinthian column on the dance floor.
I pushed past the clubsters, my heart beating full force. "Alexander?"
But on closer inspection, I was confronted with a twenty-something wearing a BITE me T-shirt and reeking of alcohol.
Frustrated, I headed back to the bar once again.
"That wasn't him," I said to Romeo. "The guy I'm talking about made a phone call from the Coffin Club."
Romeo turned to his Elviraish counterpart, who was placing a tip into her bra.
"Hey, this girl's looking for a bald guy who came to the club the other night," Romeo said. "He made a phone call from here."
"Oh, yeah, that sounds familiar," she said.
"Really?" I perked up.
"I remember because he asked to use the phone. No one asks anymore. Everyone has a cell."
"Did he tell you where he was staying?"
"No. He just said thank you and gave me a twenty for handing him our phone."
"Was he with anyone?" I asked, eager to receive news of Alexander.
"I think I saw him hanging out with a guy in a Dracula cape."
"Alexander?" I asked excitedly. "Was his name Alexander Sterling?"
Romeo looked at me as if he had recognized the name, but then turned away to wipe down the bar.
"I didn't have time for introductions," Elvira said. She turned away from me and waited on a guy dressed in leather waving a twenty.
Jameson had been here! And possibly Alexander, in the cape he had worn on the last night I saw him.
I looked around the club for any signs that might help me find him. Maybe Alexander found this place completely bogus. Was this club just full of outcast goths like me, or were any of them real vampires? Then I remembered the way to spot a true vampire was by not looking at them.
I reached into my purse and pulled out Ruby's compact. Every fanged clubster around me reflected back. I had to think of another plan. I replaced the compact and headed for the door.
Suddenly I felt a cold hand on my shoulder.
I turned around.
"I think I know who you want to see," Romeo said.
"You do?"
"Follow me."
I hung close to my gothic usher, half exhilarated, half terrified.
He led me up the spiral staircase to the balcony. A shadowy figure sat on a coffin-shaped couch, a large goblet and a candelabra before him on a round coffee table.
The mysterious figure glared up at me. I felt a sudden chill. I could barely whisper, "Alexander—"
The lone figure pulled the candelabra close, illuminating his features.
It wasn't Alexander.
Instead, sitting in front of me was a cryptic-looking teen, his cadaverous yet attractive face almost hidden beneath dripping white hair with red ends, as if they had been dipped in blood. Three silver rings pierced his eyebrow, and a pewter skeleton hung from his left ear. His seductive eyes pierced through me, one metallic green, the other ice blue. The whites were filled with spiderwebbed veins, as if he'd been awake for days. His skin was the color of death. His fingernails were painted black, like mine, and he wore a tattoo on his arm, which read POSSESS.
It took all my strength to turn away from his intoxicating gaze, as if I were trying to break an unearthly spell.
"You look disappointed," he said in a seductive voice, forcing me to gaze back at him. "You were expecting to meet someone else?"
"Yes. I mean…no."
"Hoping for someone to bond with for eternity? Someone who won't run away from you?"
"Aren't we all?" I snapped back.
"Well, I just may be your man."
"I think Romeo was confused," I said. "I was looking for someone who made a phone call from here. An older, bald man."
"Really? He doesn't seem your type."
"I was obviously mistaken—"
"One person's mistake is another man's destiny. I'm Jagger," he said with a piercing glare that made my blood boil. He stood and offered a pale hand.
"I'm Raven, but—"
"You are looking for someone who can help you fulfill your darkest desires."
"No, I was looking for…," I began naively.
"Yes?" Jagger asked, with a cunning smile.