Revenge of the Vampire Teeny-bopper: Part 4

Part 4:

She spent the whole of the next few days wondering if what she had seen was real. It was the weekend, and she hadn’t talked to Jason since the incident.

She had either hallucinated the creepy hallway, or she had exaggerated its weirdness. Either way, she had fainted. And either way it was truly embarrassing. Jason had to take her home and explain to her father why she was only partially coherent.

That could not have been a pleasant confrontation.

She hadn’t mentioned it to Eddy. She wanted their date to be as non-weird as possible, although she wasn’t sure how that would happen. True to predictions, it wasn’t too bad. But it wasn’t too amazing. He was her best friend, after all. Dating just wasn’t what she had in mind when she thought of him.

It was Monday morning on the way to school when Eddy finally pressured her for details.

“It was a really good date, okay.”

“Really?”

“You don’t have to sound so surprised.”

“Well, I just kind of hoped you were... bored or something.”

Mandy could tell that ‘bored’ was not the word he had originally intended to use, but she didn’t press the subject. “No, it was really fun. We have a lot in common. Actually, I invited him over to our Harry Potter movie party.”

“You what?”

“You two could be good friends if you weren’t jealous of each other. And I don’t want you to be.”

Eddy looked downcast. “You like him. Not me.”

“Eddy...”

“Don’t you? It’s true, isn’t it. Don’t lie to me, just to make me feel better.”

“I... He’s really a good guy. And yes, I do like him. But...”

Eddy’s eyes had narrowed again. “I see how it is. You won’t even admit that you freaked out at his house. That’s how much you like him. He could be a monster, and you’d still choose him.”

“That’s just ridiculous. He is not a monster, and I... wait, how did you know about his house?”

Eddy looked ashamed, and mumbled, “Your dad told me.”

“Why?” She glared at him.

“I had to know, okay. He’s got something wrong with him, and I don’t want you to get hurt because of it. So I asked. I didn’t stalk you, I promise.” He glanced over her shoulder and grimaced. “He’s coming now. See you later. Have fun with the psycho.”

“Eddy!”

Mandy was flabbergasted, and hoped that Jason hadn’t heard him. Whether he had or not, Jason kept a casual expression, and smiled when she waved at him.

“Hey, Jace.”

“Mandy.”

“I’m sorry.” They both said at once, and then they laughed.

“I’m sorry about the other night.” Jason said before she could speak again. “I should have warned you about all that old weird stuff in our hallway. I’m so used to it, I forget it’s there, and that it’s kind of scary. It’s my grandpa’s. My dad keeps trying to get rid of it, but pops always throws the king of all hissy fits. Starts spouting about family heirlooms and stuff.”

“No, it’s fine. I’m just embarrassed that I actually fainted. It was really dumb, and I’m sure it wasn’t easy explaining it to my dad.”

“He was worried, but he was pretty cool about it. Well, relatively speaking. I think next time, we’d better hang out at your house, though, so he doesn’t hate me forever.”

“That might be a good plan. So, heirlooms, huh? Where is your family from, anyway?”

“Romania. Well, sort of. Mom’s side, Romania. Dad’s side immigrated into Romania when my granny was little, but no one knows where from. Maverick isn’t exactly a Slavic name.

“No one knows? But how does that work?”

“Well, I’m sure they knew when they got there, but they kept it really secret.”

“Romania. I think I saw a documentary on the history channel about it. I...” She froze, pulse racing a but faster.

“Mandy? Are you okay?”

“Jason, isn’t...” She took a deep breath in. “Isn’t Transylvania in Romania?”

“Yes, but... Oh.” He looked startled for a moment, and then laughed loud enough to draw stares. “That explains it! No wonder.”

“Explains what?” She was trying to keep calm, but her thoughts had gone careening down a particular train of thought, and there was no coming back.

“Eddy’s vampire stories. He must have found out we were from near Transylvania, and immediately thought of dracula.”

She laughed nervously. “Yeah. Funny, huh.”

His tone was casual. His reaction to the information was perfect. Everything about Jason Maverick told her to relax and forget all of the silly suspicions.

Except that she had just noticed his collar. And there was a small stain on it, just below his chin. A dark red stain that could only be one thing.