I hitched my backpack up on one shoulder, the duffle containing the crossbow on the other. The door was opened by a sturdy housekeeper. She had to be the Renfield. “Hey,” I said. “I’m here for the slumber party.”
“Oh,” said the housekeeper. “Please come this way. The other girls are in the rumpus room.” She turned on the landing and led the way down the stairs behind her, which headed into the basement. I followed.
Also a classic movie scenario. Innocent victims who have no idea what’s going down could be used to leverage the heroic hunters. The girls wouldn’t think anything of it. Coral had been gone a week, but no doubt Larissa had created a good excuse for her, like illness, and the party went on. Nachos, soda, bad movies. What’s not to love?
We entered a room in the basement. I didn’t see a rumpus, whatever that was. Someone had plugged in a phone and there were tunes. Girls chatted on the couch, eating popcorn. A couple more were playing ping pong. Marty and Coral were pouring soda into glasses at the bar.
“Hi!”
“Why are you here?” Coral asked. “I told you not to be here.”
“William asked me to reconsider. What gives?” I asked Coral.
“This is what slumber parties look like,” said Marty.
Coral caught my meaning. “What you talked about in the music room? You were right.”
I nodded. What kind of world was it where I knew more about what vampires could and couldn’t do than the vampires themselves?
“Is this everyone?” I asked.
“Everyone here for the party,” said Coral.
“Okay,” I said. “What happens now?”
“Probably truth or dare,” Coral said.
Marty looked from me to Coral and back again. “Okay,” she said. “What’s going on with you guys? We’re supposed to have fun here. I don’t have a lot of experience with these kind of things, but I think that’s what we’re supposed to do.”
Coral smiled, a ghost of her old self. “Sure, Marty. That’s right. Could you take some drinks over to the coffee table?”
Marty picked up three tumblers of soda, which I thought showed waitstaff talent, and walked away. “These drinks aren’t doctored?”
“No! No.”
“Coral, I have to ask you a serious question. Is my dad here?”
“Not that I know,” said Coral.
That didn’t mean he was safe, but at least he wasn’t here. “I’m here to get the slumber party out. Anytime now, Ned is going to come for you, and that’s the time we go.”
“About Ned,” said Coral. “It was easy for Larissa to take care of Ned. He’s injured. He shouldn’t have come back.”
“So, no Ned?”
“Just before you got here, William and Larissa went outside. William’s dealing with him now.”
Our timing was lousy tonight. Okay. Plan B was me grandstanding for time until Vince arrived with help. Not ideal, but it was all I had.
“We need to think of some way to get you and the slumber party to safety. I’ll find Ned and get him. He’s here somewhere, right?”
“Well, yeah, but he’s a vampire. Why would you care?”
“Ned is my friend. I don’t back out on him. Marty or Vince either. And you. I’m not backing out on you.” I slugged back a Coke, firming up that decision.
Coral squeezed my arm. Marty grabbed some more drinks, and we waited for her to walk away. “Wait,” Coral whispered. “You hate me.”
“I am not inclined to leave you here. You let me know about Mr. Christopher.”
“Yeah, well, not like that did any good.”
I didn’t say anything. She was probably right. “I need to get a look around.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Be as annoying as possible without getting turned into a vampire. For now, you need to make sure all these girls stay here.”
“Where else would we go?” Marty asked. “Where are you going?”
I tried to look dopey, but I probably looked like I was suffering from a rash. “I’m going to see William. You know…”
“No,” said Marty.
I raised my eyebrows. “You know…”
Coral winked at Marty. “Like you and Vince.”
Marty turned reddish-purple and her ears glowed like Rudolph’s nose. “Okay,” she said. “But come back. We’re going to play truth or dare.”
I could have shifted the whole hostage dynamic if I had decided to come clean with the slumber party about what was going on. My assumption was people would panic. These were people who were here in spite of anything they might have seen at school. They didn’t want to know about vampire reality. “See you in a mo’.” I grabbed my backpack and my duffle bag.
I climbed the stairs to the landing and moved into the room on the right. The living room was the boring white of people who wanted to be fashionable and could manage a white room because they didn’t have kids or pets. It was not the wisest color for vampires. Wine could also be a problem in rooms like this.
Of course, my backpack was filled with the usual accoutrements. There was no way I was going to a slumber party at a vampire’s house without my monster hunting stuff. I slid out my flashlight and my crucifix and I stealthed up the stairs. The carpet was the super plush kind Mr. Christopher had, once again pointing to a moneyed vampire family. Once the living room was secured,
