I settled back into bed.

"So what were you really dreaming about?" my mom asked curiously.

"It was nothing."

"Nothing woke up the whole house?" she asked.

She shook her head and started for the door.

"Mom…," I said, my words stopping her. "Does my neck look okay to you?" I whispered, pulling my hair back.

She returned to my bedside. "Looks like a regular neck to me," she said, examining it. "What were you expecting—a vampire bite?"

I gave her a quick smile. She pulled the covers over me as if I were still a child.

"I remember when you were a little girl and you stayed up all night with your father watching Dracula movies on our black-and-white TV," she reminisced fondly.

She handed me my Mickey Malice plush that had fallen beside my bed. "You never had nightmares then. It was as if you were comforted by vampires the way other kids are comforted by lullabies."

She kissed me on top of the head and reached for my lamp.

"Maybe you should leave it on," I said. "Just for tonight."

"Now you are scaring me," she said, and left my room.

2 The Almost Great Escape

The official welcome sign to my town should now read, "Welcome to Vampireville— come for a bite, but stay for an eternity!"

The town that I'd grown up in and had always called Dullsville was no longer dull. Not only was I dating a vampire, but now two other teen Nosferatus were living among Dullsvillians, whose biggest concern was getting the best price on the newest Prada purses or the latest Big Bertha golf clubs.

I was the only mortal who knew about the secret identity of the new bloodsucking inhabitants and I was dying to spill my guts to the Dullsville Dispatch. The front-page headline would read: GOTH GIRL GETS THE GOODS! Raven Madison Wins Nobel Peace Prize for Unearthing the Undead. Below, a color photograph would feature me standing next to Luna, Jagger, and Alexander—and I'd be the only one reflected in the picture.