06 Love Bites - My Sister the Vampire (13 page)

‘Why, thank you,’ the Countess said, smiling.
‘You must be the friend that my son was talking about.’

Ivy was confused. ‘What’s going on?’

‘Well,’ Jackson said, ‘I wanted to do something really special for Olivia for Valentine’s Day and when I heard that she wasn’t even going to be in the country, I had to do something drastic. Mr Vega let me in on the details of your trip here and the ball. I couldn’t resist showing up as a surprise. So . . . surprise!’

Ivy gulped. ‘Surprise . . .’ she replied weakly. All Ivy could think about was Olivia walking into the ball on Alex’s arm.
This is spiralling totally out of control,
she thought, gulping hard.
This could not get any worse.

‘Does Olivia like the dress?’ Jackson asked, eyes shining.

Oh no. It’s just got worse.
The dress was from Jackson. Alex hadn’t sent it after all . . . which
meant that Olivia was about to make a fool of herself!

‘Ivy?’ Jackson asked, his smile faltering. ‘Is everything OK? You look . . . pale.’

‘No, no, everything’s fine,’ she said, rushing to give him a quick welcome hug. ‘Absolutely great. Olivia will be thrilled to see you!’ She was smiling so hard she thought her face would break.

‘You sent a dress?’ the Countess asked, clearly impressed.

‘She loves it,’ Ivy said.

Jackson’s mysterious text message, the perfect-for-Olivia dress, even the odd meeting in the mall could be explained by Jackson’s Valentine’s Day plan.

Ivy realised that S-U-R-P-R-I-S-E really spelled D-I-S-A-S-T-E-R. Olivia was with Prince Alex right now, thinking the dress was from him. She was also thinking that Jackson might
not even like her any more. And to top it all off, Olivia had a date for the ball that wasn’t her boyfriend.

Ivy was going to have to find her sister before Jackson did and warn her. She decided to get him out of the way first.

‘Um, great!’ Ivy said brightly. ‘Why don’t I take you on a tour of the house and show you to your room?’

‘He’s in the east wing, near your father,’ the Countess said.

‘East wing,’ Ivy muttered.

As long as Olivia and Alex aren’t on the way to the east wing, we’ll be fine,
Ivy thought to herself.

‘Why don’t we drop off your stuff before we find my sister?’ Ivy suggested and didn’t wait for a response. She grabbed Jackson’s elbow and steered him out of the ballroom and down the hallway. They passed a grandfather clock, ticking
loudly. Ivy tried to control the simmering panic.
Time’s running out,
she realised.
And I’m the only one who can fix this!

‘This is a beautiful room,’ Olivia said, looking up at the floor-to-ceiling shelves of books in the library. ‘I haven’t had a chance to look at it closely yet.’

Prince Alex gave her a curious look. ‘But we sat in here and talked yesterday,’ he said.

‘Oh, um, that’s right.’ Alex was thinking of Ivy’s impersonation, she realised. ‘But a collection like this can always be examined more thoroughly.’ She hoped that was enough to cover her slip-up.

She set the box with the dress down between them. ‘You’ve gone out of your way to welcome me to Transylvania, and I’m really grateful.’

‘I’m happy to,’ Alex said. Olivia tried not to
wince. He really was such a nice guy and having to tell him that she only wanted to be friends made her feel awful.

She was just going to have to come right out and say it. ‘I am honoured to walk into the ball on your arm but –’

‘But not as honoured as I will be,’ Alex interrupted.

Olivia tried again. ‘I mean, I know that it’s Valentine’s Day –’

‘The day to spend with the one you love,’ Alex cut in.

This could not get any worse,
Olivia thought.

She took a deep breath. ‘Look, Alex, I just don’t feel that way about you.’

Alex sat back a little and blinked.

Olivia rushed on. ‘I’m sorry not to have said anything sooner, but I have a boyfriend and –’

His eyebrows furrowed and he tilted his
head to one side. ‘I know that.’

‘You know?’ Olivia was caught off guard.

‘Well, I didn’t know that you had a boyfriend, but I knew you weren’t interested in me,’ he replied. ‘You didn’t think I . . .’ Alex began and Olivia realised that he didn’t look hurt at all. Just confused.

‘Um, well, I . . .’ Olivia didn’t know what to say now.

‘Olivia, I think you are an amazing person – so positive and kind, even when some people disapprove.’ Alex smiled at her. ‘But I could not be interested in you romantically.’ He paused for a breath. ‘My heart belongs to someone else.’

Olivia was dumbfounded. ‘Who?’

‘You haven’t guessed?’ Alex said with a sad smile on his face. ‘I would have thought to someone as romantic as you it would have been obvious.’

‘Er . . .’ Olivia blinked. ‘I haven’t noticed.’

But at least it isn’t me,
she thought, relieved that she wasn’t offending him at all.

‘What about the dress?’ Olivia asked.

‘What dress?’ Alex responded.

She pointed at the big box on the table. ‘That dress.’

‘I did not give you a dress,’ Alex said.

Now Olivia was completely baffled. ‘But if you didn’t . . . then who did?’

‘Don’t you want a moment to rest? A nap, perhaps?’ Ivy almost pleaded. She’d delayed Jackson as much as she could on the way up, but couldn’t keep it going forever.

He dumped his backpack on the red-patterned carpet and had a quick look around the bedroom. It had a beautiful view over the lake, dozens of old-looking framed maps on the walls and a gold
inlay wooden dresser and wardrobe.

‘Beautiful,’ he said and then turned to leave. Ivy needed more time.

‘I came to see Olivia, and I don’t want to waste another minute,’ he declared.

Ivy sighed. Jackson was going to find Olivia alone with Alex, who was probably spouting poetry to her this very second.
Maybe,
she thought,
if I steer him clear for long enough, she’ll be back in our room.

‘OK, let’s see if we can find her,’ she replied cheerfully. She led him out of the hall and paused for a moment, pretending to be considering which way to go. Then she turned away from the nearest staircase.

‘What do you think of this?’ Ivy asked, pausing in front of a painting of a flower pot.

‘It looks like all those flowers are dead,’ Jackson replied.

‘Mmm,’ Ivy replied, pretending to consider it. ‘The artist must have been commenting on the whole genre of still life. What is life when it is still?’ She had no idea what she was saying but she hoped it sounded good.

‘Yeah, that’s deep,’ Jackson said, not engaging. ‘Can we find Olivia now?’

She stayed in front of the painting for another moment. Jackson looked like he was going to run off on his own. She tried to keep him up on the third floor as long as she could, but he caught on when they passed their second staircase.

‘Shouldn’t we go downstairs?’ Jackson asked.

‘Um, yes, but the first two were . . . under construction,’ Ivy lied.

‘Really?’ Jackson didn’t look like he believed her but he followed her down one of the middle staircases.

When they made it to the ground floor, they
had a choice, either to walk through the main entrance or to go the long way, past the kitchens. There were people buzzing around everywhere – extra catering staff, people carrying crates of wine glasses. Preparations for the ball were in full swing.

The long way it is,
Ivy thought. ‘Let’s go in this direction!’

But after turning a corner into a second hallway, her super-vamp hearing picked up the sound of Olivia’s voice in a room ahead of them – followed by Alex’s.

‘Um, actually,’ Ivy said. ‘I’ve gone the wrong way – let’s go back. I think there’s a statue back there that I should have pointed out to you.’

Jackson stopped and crossed his arms. ‘Ivy, are you hiding something?’

‘Uh . . .’ Ivy winced. Her Night Stalker skills had deserted her. ‘Of course not, I just . . .’

‘You took me to see the portraits of the family horses, and then offered a viewing of the incredible feat of raking the gravel on the front drive. I’ve seen every potted plant in the house and, while fascinating, I know more than I ever wanted to about the history of the Lazar family. Now you want to retrace our steps for a
statue.
I’m no detective – although I have played one – but it seems to me like something funny is going on.’

‘No, no!’ Ivy wanted to smack her forehead but that would give the game away. The worst thing she could have done was get up his suspicions – well, the worst thing besides leading him straight to Olivia and Alex.

The sound of Olivia laughing floated clearly down the hallway.

‘Olivia!’ declared Jackson and headed in that direction.

‘I–I think that was just the TV,’ Ivy stammered, hurrying after him.

‘I don’t know why you’re being so weird,’ Jackson said, pausing outside the library door.

‘Have you seen the lake?’ Ivy tried as a last-ditch effort. ‘It’s really beautiful –’

But Jackson was already pushing open the door. Wider, wider . . .
Oh no!
Ivy could see Olivia giving Alex a big hug – and so could Jackson.

Olivia’s boyfriend stood in the open doorway, watching her embracing someone else.

It doesn’t get any worse than this,
Ivy thought, peeking from behind her fingers.

Olivia turned to the door and gasped. She pulled away from Alex and blurted out the first thing that came into her mind. ‘What on earth are you doing here?’

Then she realised that sounded rude. ‘I mean, hi, Jackson!’

She’d only been comforting Alex, but she could guess what it must have looked like to Jackson. She hurried over to give him a hug but he seemed stiff and didn’t really hug her back.

Olivia looked at Ivy, who offered a sympathetic shrug.

‘Surprise,’ he said but Olivia could see he was staring at Alex. Staring hard.

‘I’m Alex.’ The prince reached out to shake Jackson’s hand. ‘Olivia has just been singing your praises.’

‘It’s true,’ Olivia said. ‘I was just saying how much I wished you could be here for Valentine’s Day. And here you are!’

‘Here I am,’ Jackson said with a cold stare. He shook hands with Alex but didn’t look happy about it. Olivia had only ever seen him look angry once, and it was in a movie when he’d played an evil robot. ‘What’s going on, Olivia?’

‘I know it looks bad,’ Olivia began but Alex stepped in.

‘There’s been a mix-up,’ he said. ‘Olivia thought that I was interested in her and was just telling me how she was your girlfriend.’

‘So why all the hugging?’ Jackson asked Olivia.

‘We’re just friends,’ she said. She could feel her face blushing. ‘There’s someone else he wants to be with, but he hasn’t told me who.’

She looked into Jackson’s eyes, hoping that he would understand.
Please don’t be mad. We haven’t done anything wrong.
She forced herself not to look away, knowing how guilty that would make her look. After a moment, his face softened and a small smile appeared.

‘Surprised?’ he said.

‘Definitely surprised!’ Olivia breathed out with relief, and gave him another hug. This time he hugged her back.

Ivy piped up. ‘Alex, why don’t you and I leave the two lovebirds alone?’

‘Very good,’ he said, bowing. ‘I haven’t spent much time with you this visit.’ As they walked outside, Olivia heard him say, ‘Tell me, Ivy, do you read poetry?’

As the door closed behind them, Jackson sat down on one of the big leather chairs and pulled Olivia on to his lap.

‘I’ve missed you,’ Olivia said. ‘You should have told me you were coming.’

‘That would’ve kind of ruined the surprise,’ Jackson replied, his blue eyes sparkling.

‘What about all the publicity for your book?’ Olivia asked.

‘Nothing like as important as seeing my girlfriend on Valentine’s Day,’ he said and Olivia felt her heart thumping faster.

‘It didn’t seem that important when I saw you at the book signing.’ Olivia remembered how miserable she had felt when he’d walked away to that VIP party.

‘I know. I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘When I’m working, I’m always pulled in a hundred directions.’ He grinned. ‘The trouble was that I knew I was
coming here and so I had in the back of my mind that it wouldn’t matter because I’d be seeing you soon. Didn’t you get my text message?’

Olivia poked him in the side. ‘Yes, but that didn’t help! I didn’t know what it meant.’

He grinned. ‘Well, I’m full of Valentine’s Day surprises. First, there was the dress . . .’

‘Which is so perfect,’ Olivia said.

‘And . . .’

‘And . . .?’ Olivia sat up.

‘And there’s an even bigger one.’ He looked like he’d just won an Academy Award.

‘I don’t see how it’s possible to be bigger than showing up out of the blue in a whole different country and choosing the most exquisite dress I’ve ever seen,’ Olivia countered.

‘Ah, well,’ he said. ‘If it’s not possible, I’d better call the whole thing off, then.’

Olivia poked him again. ‘Tell me!’

He gave her a big hug. ‘My parents are viewing houses in Franklin Grove as we speak. All three of us are tired of the crazy Hollywood scene, and they agreed that Franklin Grove is a beautiful place to settle.’