When I arrived atop Benson Hill, the Mansion’s door was wide open.
I entered the foyer to find the Mansion restored to its original disorder. The scent of lit candles and musty air that I’d grown to love wafted through the halls. The brand-new crisp white linen covers were gone, exposing the worn Victorian couches. The silver floor lamps had been replaced with dripping candelabras. And the freshly purchased easel and metal desk with blue locker drawers had been taken from the library and the old desk and library books returned.
Curious, I bolted up the grand staircase. I peeked into Jameson’s room to find his new accent rug at the foot of his bed. When I surveyed Sebastian’s room, the only thing organized was his shiny new desk.
As I drew closer to the TV room, I heard Alexander and Sebastian talking intently.
“So haven’t you thought about it, man?” Sebastian asked. “You must have.”
“Of course I have,” Alexander answered.
“Isn’t it difficult to resist? She is beautiful.”
“It isn’t easy.”
What were they talking about—who were they talking about? I pressed my back flat to the wall and did my best to hear.
“She isn’t a vampire,” Alexander said.
“But if she was—man, you could be living the dream. You could sell the bottles in your cellar. She’d quench your thirst for eternity.”
They both laughed.
“I agree with you that it would be easier if she had been born into our world,” Sebastian began. “That’s what
I think. Then there are no decisions—no conflicts, no pressure.”
“It’s enormous. I try my best not to think about it.”
“But you do—”
“Of course I do.”
I waited with bated breath to finally get a glimpse into Alexander’s thoughts. Ones that I knew he was reluctant to tell me about.
“If Becky were to go out with me, what would I do?” Sebastian pondered. “It would be very hard for me not to want to turn her. How do you manage?”
I waited an eternity for Alexander’s response. I pressed my ear closer to the door. I, like Sebastian, was eager to know how Alexander managed.
“It’s difficult.”
“If only she were born a vampire,” Sebastian said again, “then it would be easier.”
“Then she wouldn’t be Raven,” Alexander lamented.
I sighed. But what did Alexander think about turning me? I was dying to know more.
“So…,” Sebastian pressed. “What’s keeping you from it?”
Alexander paused. “Not Raven,” I heard him say. “Not my love for her. Or us being together.”
I smiled inside and out.
“I do imagine that moment,” Alexander continued. “Raven and I together on sacred ground. The first time I laid eyes on her, I knew she was what I’d been searching for. What I didn’t find with Luna or any girl I’d ever known. But I never planned to fall for a mortal—the responsibility of it all. But no one said love is easy.”
I tried my best not to scream in delight. Listening to Alexander admit to Sebastian that he truly wanted me in his world was what I’d been waiting for.
“Do you think you ever will?” Sebastian asked. “Ask her…”
Would Alexander really turn me? I waited for his answer, but all I heard was deafening silence.
“Miss Raven!” I heard a voice say from the shadows.
I thought I’d jump clear through the Mansion’s roof.
“I didn’t know you arrived,” the Creepy Man said in his thick Romanian accent. “You must have snuck in.”
“The door was wide—”
“Raven?” Alexander called from the room. Suddenly he was standing before me.
“Uh…,” he stammered. “I didn’t know you were here….” It was obvious he was calculating in his head whether I’d heard their conversation.
Sebastian was sitting with a gaming guitar in his hand.
“Sebastian was just going to show off his guitar talents,” Alexander said, changing the subject. “We’re just missing a gothic rock star.”
“Uh…yeah…,” Sebastian said. “I could use a singer.”
They both looked to me.
“Sure,” I said. “Just as long as you both have earplugs.”
The following day, Alexander closed the coffin lid on Sebastian’s and my participation in his interview. We were banished from the Mansion, and just to be safely at a distance Sebastian and I met at Dullsville’s fountain until Alexander could join us.
It was odd, to say the least, to be hanging out with Alexander’s best friend without Alexander. What were we going to talk about? Would it be strange to be hanging out with a guy who wasn’t my boyfriend? The only other guy I was ever alone with, besides the occasional run-in with Trevor, was my snarky little brother.
There was no doubt Sebastian was charming. His mood was playful and his intentions toward me benign.
What I didn’t plan on was anyone seeing us, since there was a soccer game at school and the whole town was going to be there.
“Raven,” I heard a sweet voice call. “Are you two on a date?”
It was Becky, the last person, besides Trevor, I wanted Sebastian to see.
“Hey, what are you doing here?” I asked. “I thought you’d be at school, cheering for Matt.”