The Vampire Stalker (6 page)

CHAPTER
SIX

 

M
ONDAY MORNING PASSED BY
in a blur of classes and endless talk about the vampire killer. Everyone was freaked out that the two boys had been killed, but I kept silent, not wanting to reveal to anyone what I knew. I hadn’t seen Alexander in the apartment that morning, but I had a feeling he would have let me know somehow if he had caught Vigo.

At lunchtime, I met up with Luisa and Katie in the cafeteria line. On today’s menu: noodles in a lumpy, ketchuplike sauce. Although lunch only cost two bucks, I was beginning to think we were being overcharged.

We snagged our usual spot at one end of a long folding table. Like everyone else at school, all Katie and Luisa wanted to talk about was the vampire killings. I was quiet, wrestling over whether or not I should tell my best friends about Alexander. On the one hand, I felt like I
had
to — I confided in the girls about everything, and this was huge, life altering. On the other hand, I knew Alexander wanted to fly under the radar as much as possible. If I told anyone the truth about him, there was a
chance word would spread and Alexander’s presence here would get out.

“Usually there’s safety in numbers,” Luisa said as she twirled the noodles around her fork. “Not anymore. This guy somehow managed to attack two people at once.”

Katie looked doubtful. “It can’t be just one person. Nobody’s that strong.”

No human, anyway.
I flashed back to Friday night, felt the panic rise inside me, and squelched it.

“We should all stay inside after dark until this guy is caught,” I cautioned them.

Katie lifted her chin. “I’m not letting this wannabe vampire punk change how I live my life. Then he wins.”

“It’s not admitting defeat if people lay low for a while,” I argued. “It’s being smart. If we go out at night, we should all take cabs.”

“I can’t afford to do that for more than a week,” Katie said. Her family’s money situation was similar to mine. They got by on her mom’s salary as a bank cashier, but there wasn’t a lot left over. Still, Katie had a sweet summer job as a camp counselor and usually came home with at least two grand in the bank.

“Amy?”

I turned to see Mrs. Benedetti, the office administrator, standing behind me. She looked peeved. “There’s a young man in the
office asking to see you. He says his name is Alexander and that he’s your fiancé. He’s extremely insistent.”

Alexander was
here
? And what was he thinking, calling himself my fiancé?

Luisa gasped. “Fiancé?”

“Amy — what the —” Katie stammered.

Mrs. Benedetti cut them off before they could ask any coherent questions. “Well?” she said to me. “Do you know who this person is, or should we call the police?”

“I know him.” I shot Katie and Luisa an
I’ll explain later
look, then stood up and left the cafeteria.

I followed Mrs. Benedetti down the hall toward the office. Alexander’s voice reached me before I got there.

“… and I assure you, madam, that she will be quite happy to see me,” he said sharply.

“Yes, but since she’s under eighteen and you’re not her parent, we can’t let you speak to her without her permission,” replied Mrs. Pearsen, the office administrative assistant.

In the doorway, I said, “Hi, um, honey.”

Alexander turned to me, a satisfied look on his face, then glanced back at Mrs. Pearsen. “As you can see, my fiancée is delighted I am here.”

Mrs. Pearsen gave me a stern look, as if to say that the fiancée charade was not amusing. But mostly, she seemed relieved to have him off her back. “You need to wear this as long as you’re in the building. School policy.” She handed him a visitor’s pass.

He took it and we left the office together. Since everyone was either in the lunchroom or in class, the halls were deserted.

“Try to be more polite next time, Alexander,” I whispered. “I thought you didn’t want to attract attention.” I noticed he was wearing one of the new T-shirts and the khakis we had bought together. At least he blended in. He carried a plastic grocery bag that appeared to contain a book.

“I was extremely polite.”

“Well, in this world, you should try to tone it down. We don’t use aggression to get what we want.” I paused, realizing that wasn’t true for a lot of people. But still, it was true for me, and he was dragging me into this. “You shouldn’t have told them you were my fiancé.”

“I thought if I were your fiancé, they would let me see you immediately.”

“It just made you sound weird. Nobody my age gets married.”

“But you’re, what, sixteen? Seventeen?”

“Seventeen in January. Way too young to get married. Or even engaged.”

And if I should be married at sixteen … why aren’t
you
married already?
I thought. Then I remembered that Alexander had devoted his life to hunting vampires. That didn’t leave a lot of time for romance.

“Obviously I have much to learn about your world,” Alexander replied. “Forgive my intrusion — I tried to reach you by telephone, but yours appeared to be malfunctioning. I kept hearing your
voice telling me to leave a message, with strange music in the background.”

“That’s my voice mail. I’m not allowed to have my phone turned on at school. If they catch us on the phone, they’ll take it away. Next time borrow someone’s cell phone and send me a text message.”

“What is a text message?”

“I’ll show you another time. Let’s see if we can find a private study room in the library. I know the librarian, so please be nice to her. Just follow my lead, okay?”

Ms. P. was perched on a stool behind the checkout desk. When she saw me, her eyes brightened. When she saw Alexander, she couldn’t hide her surprise.

Was it so surprising that I’d be with a hot guy? Yes, I suppose it was. And Alexander was the kind of hot that simply didn’t exist in this dimension.

“Hey, Ms. P. This is my friend Alexander.”

“Enchanted, madam.” Alexander gave a little bow.

Ms. P. seemed startled, but charmed, too. “Nice to meet you, Alexander.”

“Is there a study room free where we can hang out for a while?” I asked.

Ms. P. frowned slightly, and I hoped she didn’t think we wanted a private place to make out. Not that that would be a bad thing.

“The room at the end is free,” she said.

We headed to the study room at the end of the hall. Each room had several computers; sometimes classes came here to do research or to get a library lesson. At lunchtime, students could book these rooms to work on projects or have club meetings.

I closed the door behind us, glad that we had privacy to talk. One of the walls was a window, so we could be seen by anyone who came to this end of the hall, but we couldn’t be heard. We sat down across from each other at the center table.

There were shadows under his eyes. I could tell he hadn’t slept yet.

“You should go to bed, Alexander.”

“I will, do not worry. I came to tell you that I have finished reading
The Mists of Otherworld
and have made a stunning discovery.”

“What is it?”

He leaned closer to me. “In the first book, Elizabeth Howard writes only one short section from Vigo’s perspective, but in
The Mists of Otherworld,
she writes several. And in doing so, she has revealed something that could help me catch him.” He took the hardcover from the bag and opened it to page 374. I skimmed the page, then looked up at him, eyes wide.

“Vigo’s equation of probabilities. You didn’t know about it?” I asked, surprised.

“No. I don’t think anyone in my world knows about it. All of these years I wondered what his strategy was for eluding me. I knew that he had received an education in mathematics when he
was mortal, but I never realized he could use a mathematical formula to evade capture. Now that I know his theory, it may give me the upper hand.”

I could’ve kicked myself. It hadn’t occurred to me that there might be information in the books that Alexander
didn’t
know. I wondered, for the thousandth time, how it was possible that Elizabeth Howard knew the thoughts of the people in Otherworld.

“That’s amazing, but what if Vigo knows about the books already?” I asked. “He’s been here as long as you have, and might have seen an ad in a bookstore window. If he knows his formula is in the book, he might not use it again. Or he might change it.”

Alexander nodded. “That is a distinct possibility. But knowing that he uses any formula at all helps me to understand how he thinks, and that may be the key. Now, if Vigo knows about the books, we have a more pressing problem on our hands: He knows about Elizabeth Howard.”

My gut tightened. “You think he’ll go after her?”

“He might. If Vigo is furious enough, there is no telling what he might do.”

“But why would he be furious with her? Vigo likes attention. Maybe he’ll love the idea of being famous in two worlds.”

“Howard’s portrayal would infuriate him for other reasons,” he said. “She has not only revealed his probabilities equation, she has aired all of his insecurities. She has described in detail, for instance, how little he trusts Leander, the second-in-command
of his coven. And she revealed something that would make him angriest of all.” He smiled. “She revealed that he fears me.” He flipped to page 421.

“He’s here? Alexander is here?” Vigo didn’t want to admit, even to himself, the cold feeling that gnawed at him. It was one he was not accustomed to, and it was one he despised himself for having.

He rather thought it was fear.

 

I looked up from the page, my mind racing. “We have to warn Elizabeth Howard.”

“Yes.”

“I just hope she’ll listen to us.”

“Take heart, Amy. I have every confidence that —”

His gaze flickered to the window. Katie and Luisa stood outside the room, giggling.

I motioned for them to come in.

“Are you going to introduce us to your
fiancé
?” Katie asked as they walked in.

Alexander got out of his chair and bowed.

Their eyebrows went up.

“I’m Katie.” She shook his hand.

Luisa did, too. “Luisa.”

“Delighted.”

There was a tense silence.

Finally Katie said, “So how do you guys know each other?”

My mouth opened, but nothing came out. I hadn’t expected Alexander to show up at school, so I hadn’t thought up an explanation.

“We met in the park over the weekend,” Alexander said smoothly, “while I was taking a stroll.”

I knew he was trying to help, but I wished he wouldn’t. Maybe meeting on a stroll in the park was common in Otherworld, but not here.

“Oh, yeah?” Luisa grinned. “Is that when you got engaged?”

Before Alexander could say something weird, I answered, “Alexander has a quirky sense of humor. The office staff didn’t get the joke.” I turned to him. “Thanks for stopping by. It was good to see you.”

“And you.” Taking the hint, he inclined his head to my friends, and left.

They held their hands over their mouths until he was out of range, then burst out laughing.

“What was
that
about, Ames?” Luisa cried. “You didn’t tell me you met a guy! He’s gorgeous — total Alexander Banks look-alike! How old is he?”

“Eighteen.” And would be nineteen on December 2, I didn’t add. “I’m not dating him. We’re getting to know each other as friends.”

Katie frowned. “You’ve gotta be careful. Did he really just come up to you in the park?”

“No, he was just joking about that.” The lie jumped into my head a second later. “He’s a friend of my cousin, Dave.”

“Oh, cool,” Katie said. “It’s strange that he’s already stopping by your school, though, isn’t it? Maybe he’s a stalker.”

Luisa snorted. “A guy that good-looking can’t be a stalker. Girls should be stalking
him.
It’s neat that his name’s Alexander, don’t you think? Just like Alexander Banks? Maybe it’s
destiny.”

Fortunately, the bell rang, saving me from my friends’ interrogation. For now, anyway.

As we walked toward the library doors, Ms. P. said, “Amy.”

Her tone stopped me in my tracks. “See you guys later.” My friends kept going, and I turned back to Ms. P.

“We need to talk,” she said, with a seriousness that made me wonder what kind of trouble I was in. “Which teacher do you have now?”

“Mr. Feigel. Geometry.”

“I need a word with you. I’ll tell Feigel that you’re helping me and you’ll be late for class.”

As she made the phone call, I racked my brain. Why would she hold me back from going to class? This wasn’t like her.

When she got off the phone, she led me into her office behind the checkout desk and closed the glass door behind us.

“I know who he is.”

“Wh-what do you mean?” I stuttered.

“I’ll show you something. Please, don’t take it personally. We do it for safety reasons.” She sat down and rolled her chair
up to the desk. The Chicago Board of Education website was open on the screen. She closed it and clicked on an icon called S
ECURITY
. It opened up a folder with several options:
HALLWAY #1, HALLWAY #2, CENTRAL FOYER
… all the way to
STUDY ROOM #4.

No way. This couldn’t be happening.

She clicked on
STUDY ROOM #4
and the screen filled with a black-and-white image of the room. There was a faint buzzing sound, indicating that there was audio.

She pushed back from the computer and swiveled her chair to face me. “I’m sorry I invaded your privacy, Amy. But there was something different about that young man, and I wanted to hear the first bit of your conversation to make sure things were okay in there. I heard everything.”

What could I say? She must think I was involved in some crazy role-playing fantasy.

“You’re really convinced he’s Alexander Banks, aren’t you?” Ms. P. asked.

“I
know
he is.”

“I’ll admit that the moment I saw him, I thought of Alexander’s picture on the book cover.” She took off her glasses, folded them, and put them on the table beside her. “What proof did he give you that he’s Alexander?”