Cryptic Cravings (20 page)

“Uh-huh,” I said flatly.

“What’s up?” he asked. “You seemed excited a few minutes ago.”

“I am,” I said indifferently.

“You seem weird. Distant. What’s wrong?”

“Uh . . . nothing.”

I’d imagined Alexander to be someone that maybe he wasn’t. A guy who was straight and truthful. Who didn’t have girls in every country. He was so handsome and wildly hot, I was a fool to think that girls wouldn’t be throwing themselves at him.

I was wearing my broken heart on my black lace sleeve.

“Something’s up,” Alexander said. “I know that face.”

“I just thought we were only seeing each other,” I said, my voice cracking.

He was taken aback. “I am. Aren’t you?” he asked, bewildered.

“I thought you weren’t like other guys, like Trevor.” My heart was aching.

“What are you talking about?” Alexander asked.

“Who’s Stormy?” I asked. I handed him the phone.

Alexander paused. “You read my text?”

“The phone kept beeping and so I thought it might be something urgent. Something from your mother.”

“Raven—” he said.

“Who’s Stormy?” I demanded.

“She’s my sister!”

I was floored. “What?” I said. “You have a sister?”

“Uh-huh.”

“You have a sister?” I repeated.

“Yes. I have a little sister. Is that so terrible?”

“No! Wel , yes, it is, because you never told me.”

“You never asked,” he said, half teasing. “And she never came up. I left my life suddenly when I came here to the Mansion. I didn’t know how long I’d stay. I didn’t plan on getting close to anyone here.”

“But I’ve never even seen a picture. Or painting.”

“Do you have a picture of Bil y Boy in your room?”

“Uh . . . good point. But you’ve never even talked about her.”

“I didn’t think I’d be able to be close to anyone here—then I met you. And everything changed. But real y, when we’re together, I only want to talk about us.”

If I didn’t hear it straight from his dreamy lips, I’d have thought it was a line from a romantic movie.

“Honestly, talking about my family made me kind of miss them. So I never real y did.”

His voice was so sincere, I felt lonely for my boyfriend’s situation. Here I was surrounded by my family, seeing them every day and celebrating my birthday with them. And Alexander lived in this big old Mansion alone.

I gave him a huge hug. First, I was sad for his plight, but second, I was so overjoyed that Alexander didn’t have a secret lover. But he did have a secret sister. It was one of the reasons I loved him so much. He was so mysterious, and even after al these months I was stil learning things about him.

“Do you have a dog, too?” I asked.

Alexander laughed. “A few pet bats.”

“Stormy’s lucky,” I said. “She has the coolest big brother in the universe.”

Alexander beamed at the compliment.

“I can see why she misses you. I’d hate it if I had a big brother and he left town for another country.”

“She has ful reign of the house. She’s in heaven.”

“I don’t think so. Not with a brother like you. Stormy Sterling,” I said. “It has an awesome ring to it.”

“Her real name is Athena, but we cal her Stormy.”

“‘A’—like Alexander.”

He nodded.

“I bet she’s real y cool.” Then it hit me. “She wants you to come home,” I said.

“Yes,” he said.

“So you’l have to go?” I said, my heart breaking again. “For a short visit? Or forever?”

“It would just be a short visit.”

“I can’t take that,” I said selfishly. “We are already separated by the sunlight. Now by countries and weeks?”

“That’s why I convinced her to come here.”

“So you won’t have to go?”

“No,” he said, shaking his head.

“Then you’l stil be here,” I said, squeezing him with al my might. “And I’l get to meet her, too?”

“Don’t be so excited. You’l have wished I had gone home to visit. We cal her Stormy for a reason,” he said.

And with that, Alexander turned off his phone.

Between creeps and Crypts, nemeses and best friends, pesky mortal families and visiting vampire parents and siblings, we were lucky enough to get any night time together. Alexander took this opportunity to lean in and flash his sexy fangs at me, and then led me into his closet room and opened his coffin and helped me inside.

He lowered the lid, closing the door on al worlds, mortal and immortal. He drew my hair back and rested his body next to mine. He pul ed me in and kissed me with the heart and soul of a gorgeous, mysterious, and very romantic vampire.

Acknowledgments

To these fabulous people for their guidance in my career and support in my life: Katherine Tegen, El en Levine, Sarah Shumway, and Dad, Mom, Mark, Ben, Jerry, Hatsy, Emily, Max, Linda, and Indigo

PRAISE FOR

Vampire Kisses

An ALA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers

A New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age

“Al in al , a good read for those who want a vampire love story without the gore.”

—School Library Journal

“As in her Teenage Mermaid , Schreiber adds some refreshing twists to genre archetypes and modern-day stereotypes.”

—Publishers Weekly

“Horror hooks such as a haunted mansion, a romantic teenage vampire, and a dark heroine who wins against the golden guys make this a title that readers wil bite into with Goth gusto.”

—The Bul etin of the Center for Children’s Books

“Schreiber uses a careful balance of humor, irony, pathos, and romance as she develops a plot that introduces the possibility of a real vampire.”

—ALA Booklist

Kissing Coffins

Vampire Kisses 2

“Raven is exactly the kind of girl a Goth can look up to.”

—Morbid Outlook magazine

“Readers wil love this funny novel with bite!”

—Wow magazine

Vampirevil e

Vampire Kisses 3

“A fun, fast read for vampire fans.”

—School Library Journal

Dance with a Vampire

Vampire Kisses 4

“This novel, like the first three, is never short on laughs and shudders. Alexander is as romantic as ever, and Raven is stil delightful y earthy. Schreiber again concocts a lively and suspenseful story that ends on a tantalizing cliffhanger. Fans of the series wil be anxious to find out whether Raven’s relationship with Alexander wil survive.”

—VOYA

“A good choice for Goth lovers and fans of romantic vampire stories.”

—School Library Journal

Also by Ellen Schreiber

VAMPIRE KISSES

VAMPIRE KISSES 2: KISSING COFFINS

VAMPIRE KISSES 3: VAMPIREVILLE

VAMPIRE KISSES 4: DANCE WITH A VAMPIRE

VAMPIRE KISSES 5: THE COFFIN CLUB

VAMPIRE KISSES 6: ROYAL BLOOD

VAMPIRE KISSES 7: LOVE BITES

VAMPIRE KISSES: BLOOD RELATIVES

TEENAGE MERMAID

COMEDY GIRL

About the Author

ELLEN SCHREIBER
was an actress and a stand-up comedienne before becoming a writer and moving to her own Dul svil e. She is the author of TEENAGE MERMAID, COMEDY GIRL, VAMPIRE KISSES, VAMPIRE

KISSES 2: KISSING COFFINS, VAMPIRE KISSES 3: VAMPIREVILLE , VAMPIRE KISSES 4: DANCE WITH A VAMPIRE, VAMPIRE KISSES 5: THE COFFIN CLUB, VAMPIRE KISSES 6: ROYAL BLOOD , and VAMPIRE

KISSES 7: LOVE BITES. She is also the author of the ful y il ustrated manga series about Raven and Alexander, VAMPIRE KISSES: BLOOD RELATIVES , and a new series about werewolves, beginning with ONCE IN A FULL

MOON. You can visit her online at www.el enschreiber.com.

Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCol ins authors.

Copyright

Vampire Kisses 8: Cryptic Cravings

Copyright © 2011 by El en Schreiber

Al rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCol ins e-books.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

ISBN 978-0-06-168945-1 (trade bdg.)

EPub ISBN 978-0-06-207725-7

11 12 13 14 15 LP/RRDB 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

First Edition

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