Vince and I stood there like dummies.
“You two,” Larissa said to me and Vince, “get in the car.”
Ned would have said something valiant, but all he could do was gurgle.
“Larissa.”
Mr. Christopher’s sonorous voice cut through the twilight. I shook my head to clear it and wrapped my hand around a vial in my backpack.
“You!”
“Put the boy down. He is under my protection.”
“You can’t do better than him? This is not one of your films.”
“Au contraire. My whole life is one of my films. Would you like to test which one of us is faster?”
Larissa shook Ned like he was a toy. She flung him at Mr. Christopher. A whoosh and a growl and she was gone. Mr. Christopher streaked into the air like a lightning bolt after her.
William looked from me to Vince. “You two stay right here. Don’t follow. Don’t go anywhere.”
We were statues until he was in the air.
Vince was the first to recover. His hand clenched his temples. “Wow,” he said. “Insidious mind control.”
I hit him on the back of the head. “You dork! Like Dad said!”
“Ow! Okay!”
My hand pulled out the vial of holy water in my backpack. “It’s like you know what’s happening…”
“…But you don’t care,” said Vince. “Yeah.”
I downed the holy water, which cleared my head. Too bad I didn’t have a spare for Vince. I shook my head. What was I thinking, going out with William? He wasn’t cute at all!
Ned lay like a heap of dirty laundry in a teenager’s room. He looked up at me, ghoulish, less like a clueless teen than I’ve ever seen him, more like something inhuman and wrong. His jacket was pocked like Swiss cheese, and I watched the hole in his cheek seal closed as he gulped. “Hello, Abigail Rath. Like what you see?”
I shrugged as casually as I could. “Seen worse. Are you—?”
“Nothing some blood won’t cure. You should back off. Go inside.”
I stepped forward. “If you wait until Mr. Christopher comes back—”
Ned’s voice rumbled with menace. “Get away from me! Vince, get her inside.”
Vince pulled my arm. “We just can’t—”
Another swish, and Ned took to the air, a vampire looking for a potential victim. Dad was entertaining the troops, and would soon be on his way. I couldn’t stop shaking, and Vince was pale. I wondered what the next step would be now that we knew these vampires weren’t interested in just getting along.
After a paranoid Saturday, Mom, Dad, and I headed for Wolcroft to attend our final band concert for the year. For the record, both my parents feel it is important they attend my school events. Mom and Dad sit on the sidelines of field hockey games, waving blue Wolcroft pennants. They’ve sat through a lot of bad elementary drama and music pageants. When I was three, I was the lead angel in the Christmas play at church, and I added a few lines about smiting demons I thought were appropriate to the season, which most parents frowned at. Dad laughed and Mom tried not to.
Concert band was one of the things at school I did without Marty, who was tone deaf. Coral was also a bandito. She played that classic vampire instrument, the violin. I didn’t expect to see her at the concert, but she was there, haggard and drained. I thought maybe she’d forgotten to put on her I’m alive look. I regretted the rice. I should have waited until after the concert.
Then again, she really hadn’t cared how much she caused others to mistreat me. She deserved what I’d done to her. So there was no real reason for me to feel sorry for her at all.
The band was twenty girls strong, all the members from sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. We played with as much skill as you would expect. Our concert started with a rousing version of “Oh Susannah.” The audience of parents and grandparents liked it anyway.
I was not a band standout, but I did not embarrass myself either. A few more numbers and we finished the concert, clearing the stage for the main event, the high school band.
I polished my French horn and put it away. As I walked past one of the tiny practice rooms, a hand reached out to touch me. I jumped back. It was Coral.
“No way!” I said. I had no idea what she planned to do.
Coral’s hand fell to her side. “I’m sorry,” she said.
“Sorry?” My voice was too loud. “For mind-controlling the whole school? I’m not sure sorry cuts it.”
“I’m leaving, Abby. I’m not coming back.”
That was fine with me. Probably better for everyone. “Okay.”
“Last week, it wasn’t anything personal.”
How could last week not be personal? “Really?”
“Just stay away from my family, okay?”
Given that William and Larissa had tried to kidnap me, I had no problem with follow through. “Right. Look, I should have listened to you yesterday, about William.”
“Whatever. If my mom asks where I am, tell her I’m still back here.”
Woah. My secret monster hunter sense started tingling. “You’re running away from your head vampire?” I asked.
“What?”
“Vampire hunting 101 says it is unwise for you to run. Not that Larissa Petrova is your real mom. Being dead and all, she can’t have children, right? But why would you run away? That causes you all
