From Sunset Till Sunrise Read online

  The object of their attention was Tommy’s bleeding hand. Nobody moved. It was silent … but only for a moment. Soon, a collective growl echoed throughout the lobby. I scanned everyone’s faces. Most of them had a hunger.

  I frantically searched the room, but didn’t see Lily or her dad anywhere. Snarling sounds were all around us. Corners of lips lifted. Fangs sprouted from mouths.

  Tommy grabbed a napkin and wrapped it around his wounded hand.

  A red stain seeped through.

  “Is Bryce still coming?” Tommy asked.

  I grabbed his arm. “I think our problems are a whole lot worse than Bryce right now!”

  Some of the kids at the next table took a couple of steps toward us.

  Tommy unbuttoned his jacket. “Don’t panic! I got this.”

  Two more steps.

  I grabbed his arm. “Tommy!”

  “STOP!” A voice boomed through the room.

  Everyone in the room turned toward the DJ table.

  The DJ stared out over the crowd, before bringing the microphone up to his mouth. “My brothers and sisters.” His voice was raspy. “I do not want any of you to even think about harming any of our guests.”

  I exhaled and grabbed my chest. My heart was pounding out of control.

  “No!” He paused a moment, and then held up a small black box with a large red button on it. “At least, not until we have some privacy.” He pressed the button and suddenly, all around us, shutters slammed down outside over the windows and doors.

  The music blared once more.

  Oh, no.

  The DJ brought the microphone back up to his mouth. “Ladies and gentlemen, enjoy your dinner!” His eyes turned red and his fangs sprouted. His skin turned gray, his ears pointy.

  I quickly scanned the room and saw that the same thing was happening to most of the crowd. There were a few snarls at first, but then they multiplied, until the sounds were everywhere.

  I realized something immediately.

  We were surrounded

  Instantly, all around us was chaos. People screamed. Vampires swarmed guests, biting into their necks and shoulders.

  At the next table blood spouted into the air, like a fountain.

  I grabbed Abby’s hand. “Let’s get out of here!”

  She screamed. “Let go of me!”

  I ignored her and yanked her after me.

  Tommy pointed. “To the theater!”

  He was right. All around us there was pandemonium, but at least there was a clear path to the theater doors. Well, almost clear.

  There was someone who stood between us and the theater. Actually, three someones.

  Bryce and his friends, who had turned into the same gray creatures as the DJ had.

  “What about Bryce?” I yelled.

  “Follow me!” Tommy shouted. He reached into his jacket and pulled out … a water balloon?

  I ran behind him, dragging Abby along.

  Bryce and his friends blocked the path.

  Tommy hurled the water balloon at them. It smashed into Bryce’s face, exploding and splattering him and his friends. There was a sizzling sound, followed by a trail of smoke.

  Bryce screamed and clutched at his face. His two friends scattered.

  We ran past them and into the theater.

  “Quick!” Tommy yelled. “Help me with the door!”

  We started to shove the door closed, when a couple of other kids ran up.

  One wedged his foot between the door and the frame. “Wait! Let us in, we’re not vampires!”

  “Nice try, bloodsucker!” Tommy said, and tried to push the door closed.

  The kid looked panicked. “No, really, we’re not! Let us in!”

  Tommy pulled a cross from his jacket pocket and pressed it to the kid’s forehead.

  Nothing happened.

  Tommy opened the door a little. “Okay, hurry up!”

  Three kids streamed past us and into the auditorium.

  “Close it!” one of them yelled.

  “What about any others?” I shouted. “We can’t just leave them out there!”

  Suddenly, Bryce thrust his head through the opening of the doorway. His eyes were blazing red and his fangs bared. His face was scarred from where the water balloon had struck him.

  He shoved the door open some more, reached in, and grabbed Tommy’s shirt.

  His fingers were longer, with sharp, black nails.

  He pulled Tommy to him.

  Tommy struggled to break free, punching Bryce’s arm.

  It did nothing.

  “Help!” Tommy yelled. “Do something!”

  I launched myself against the door and heard a snap as it slammed closed.

  “Lock it!”

  We bolted it shut and leaned against the door, panting.

  I glanced over, jumped back, and pointed. “Tommy!”

  Still grasping Tommy’s shirt was Bryce’s severed arm.

  Black blood dripped from the stump.

  Tommy waved his arms frantically. “Get it off, get it off!”

  I shook my head. “I’m not touching that thing!”

  Abby huffed. “You two are such babies!” She marched over and grabbed the wrist and plucked it off. She waved the bloody end at us.

  Tommy and I cringed together as we pressed against the wall.

  She pointed the stump, alternating between me and Tommy. “I told you that I didn’t want to come, but nobody cared! When we get home I’m so telling Mom everything!”

  I couldn’t take it anymore and decided to tell her. “Abby, the only reason we brought you here is because you were bitten. You might’ve been bitten twice, I don’t know, but the only way to make sure you don’t turn into a full vampire is to get rid of the one who bit you.”

  “I knew it! I knew there was a reason you asked me to come. I’m telling Mom and Dad.” She jabbed the arm at us. “You better make sure I don’t turn into a vampire, or I’ll—” She tossed the arm on the floor, where it landed with a splat.

  Black blood seeped out into a puddle, looking like an oil spill.

  I stared at the arm and my stomach heaved, but nothing came out. “That is soooo gross! We chopped off his arm! How did that happen?”

  Tommy shrugged. “Vampire bodies are soft. They’re like super strong, but their bodies are still soft. If you hit ’em just right, you can even punch your way through their flesh.” He pointed to the arm. “Just stay away from that thing. Blood from a freshly killed vampire is like acid. It can even burn through metal. Be careful.”

  Smoke rose from the black blood. There was a sizzling sound, and I watched as it ate its way into the floor.

  Abby grabbed our shirts. “Who cares about the stupid arm? You let me get bitten? Didn’t you put garlic everywhere around the house?”

  Tommy nodded. “Yes, but in the morning the powder by the doorway was gone. Someone must’ve wiped it away.”

  She frowned like she didn’t believe us. “Who would wipe away garlic?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe someone who wanted to hurt you or us. All I know is that it was gone.”

  “And outside,” I said. “I think you might’ve been bitten there too. When I went out, I heard something in the hedges.”

  Tommy jabbed his finger at me. “And that’s when you saw Lily.”

  I shook my head. “No, I told you, Lily came from the other direction!”

  Tommy laughed and turned away from me. “She’s a vampire! She can appear anywhere.”

  I clenched my fists. “There was someone else out there. I even heard it after she left.”

  Tommy waved dismissively. “Who else could it be? It’s not like you have a thousand people stalking you.”

  Abby’s nostrils flared. “I’m telling you right now, if I turn into a vampire, I’m attacking both of you first!”

  I gulped and took a step back. “It wasn’t Lily though.”

  Tommy stormed over and pointed toward the door. “You know it was her!
How do you explain what’s going on out there? Lily invited us to be feasted on. She pretended this whole time, since she knew you were so gullible.”

  I heard snarls and screams coming from outside. There was scratching at the door. I shuddered to think about what was going on out there. Then it hit me. “She wasn’t out there.”

  “What?” Tommy said.

  “Lily. She wasn’t out there. She’s not part of this.”

  Tommy snorted. “Of course she’s part of this.”

  “Her and her dad weren’t out there!”

  “She might not have been out there,” Tommy yelled. “But she knew what was going to happen! It was a setup. She invited you to the dance knowing what would happen. You were probably her contribution. It’s like a potluck. Everyone has to bring something.”

  “Did you say Lily?” said a voice from one of the seats.

  We turned to see the three kids we had let in, two guys and a girl. They were sitting in some of the nearby seats around the theater.

  The kid closest to us spoke up. He looked like he was a couple of years older. He had blood streaked on his face, and his shirt was slightly torn by his chest.

  “Who are you?” Tommy asked.

  “My name is David, and I’m sorry to interrupt, but you’re talking about Lily? Lily Moroi?”

  I nodded slowly, already knowing that I didn’t like the way this was going.

  David continued. “I met Lily in my drama club. She started talking to me about the school, and said she thought I might like it.”

  Tommy turned to me and shook his head. “The only thing worse than a vampire is a two-timing vampire.”

  “Shut up, Tommy,” I said, but with no force behind it. I was too stunned. “Maybe it’s a different Lily Moroi?”

  Tommy rolled his eyes. “Yeah, there must be a thousand Lily Morois running around.”

  David shrugged. “She said she was the principal’s daughter.”

  I winced.

  Tommy turned to me. “I’m pretty sure your Lily is the principal’s daughter, right?”

  I gritted my teeth. “I heard him!”

  We turned to the other two. They were both closer to my age. The guy had his head buried in his hands.

  Tommy snapped his fingers. “Hey! What are your names?”

  The boy lifted his head. He was sweating. He looked petrified.

  I tapped Tommy’s shoulder. “Take it easy with him. Look how scared he is.”

  Tommy whispered out the side of his mouth. “I am taking it easy, but we have to be safe and make sure.”

  The kid wiped his brow. “I’m Oren, and I also had a Lily invite me.”

  I threw my arms up. “Oh, c’mon!”

  Tommy’s jaw dropped. He held up three fingers.

  I’m not going to lie. I wasn’t sure what bothered me more, the fact that Lily might have been trying to kill me, or that she invited other guys to the dance.

  Oren wiped a streak of blood away from his forehead. “Yeah, she had been helping me with math and talked about this dance. She was cute, so I thought I’d come check it out.”

  Another pang.

  Tommy paced the room. “I’ll say this for Lily, she really knows how to take advantage of lovestruck guys.”

  “I got it, Tommy,” I said.

  “Seriously,” he said. “She got three different guys to fall for this?”

  “I said, I got it!”

  Tommy walked over to the girl. “And what about you?”

  She looked back and forth between us. “I’m Kesha.” She shook her head. “And I don’t know any Lily. I met a Delia. She invited me. But right at the start of the dance she turned and tried to attack me.”

  “Yeah, almost everyone at my table turned,” David said.

  Oren nodded. “Mine too.”

  Tommy started pacing the room, looking like a detective in those old movies. “Okay, here’s what we know.” He counted off on his fingers. “We’ve been invited to be the main course at some vampire buffet. We have no idea how many are out there, but I’m going to guess over a hundred.” He pointed to Abby. “We’ve got a little vampire-wannabe in here that we have to keep an eye on.” He turned and eyed everyone. “Now, there’s also the other concern.”

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  “We have to make sure that none of you were bitten.”

  “What are you talking about?” Oren said.

  Tommy pulled the cross out. “Just what I said. I need to make sure that nobody was bitten.”

  David threw his arms up. “Nobody was bitten! Otherwise we’d be dead, wouldn’t we?”

  Tommy shook his head. “No. That’s what the beginners think.” He tapped his chest. “Vampire experts, like me, know the truth.” He walked slowly over to David, holding the cross out in front. “You see, there are two types of vampire bites. Ones to feed and ones to turn someone. The ones to turn someone are lighter, gentler. You never know it’s happening.” He pointed to Abby. “Like what happened to her. But …” He held his index finger up. “The ones to feed are rough. Vicious. Gruesome. They really sink their fangs into you. And usually they come in swarms. When several vampires get you at once, you don’t need more than one bite from a particular vamp. You’re going to turn. Might take some time, but it’ll happen. So now we have to be sure that none of you were bitten.” His eyes narrowed. “Now, show me your necks.”

  Kesha and Oren tilted their heads to show Tommy.

  Tommy checked them over. “Looks clean.” He turned to David. “Now you.”

  “You already held a cross to my forehead!” David yelled.

  “You might not have turned yet,” Tommy said.

  David reached out and grabbed the cross. “Okay?”

  Tommy looked at it and nodded. “Okay, just making sure.”

  David sighed. “Instead of trying to act all tough, why don’t you figure out a way to get us out of here? There are only six of us in here, and who know how many of them out there!”

  “Six?” I looked around. “Wait a second. Where’s Herb?”

  We all turned to the door.

  “Oh, no,” I muttered. “We have to go get Herb!”

  Tommy grabbed my arm. “We can’t get Herb now! If he’s out there, he’s either dinner or one of them by now. We have to stay in here or figure a different way out.”

  David jumped out of his seat. “I vote for getting out now!”

  Oren and Kesha nodded.

  “I’m with him,” Kesha said.

  “Me too!” Abby said.

  I held my hands up. “Okay, hold on! We can’t go until we find out who bit Abby. That’s why we’re here.”

  David took a step down the aisle toward the stage. “I don’t know, that kind of sounds more like a ‘you’ problem than an ‘us’ problem.”

  “Yeah, sorry,” Oren said. “I don’t want to be a jerk, but I’m not messing with any vampires. I say we get out of here.”

  “Devin’s right,” Tommy said. “We can’t leave yet. We have to find the right vampire.”

  David laughed. “You want to fight a hundred vampires with only one cross?”

  Tommy smiled. “No. I want to fight vampires with these!” He opened his jacket.

  It was lined with water balloons, sharpened pencils, one dart gun, one water gun, one barbecue lighter gun, several crosses, two small bottles of garlic powder, and several bags of sand and salt.

  He tapped one of the bottles of garlic powder. “Mix a little of this in the water balloons and it works wonders.” He smirked. “That’s what I used on Bryce.”

  Kesha jumped out of her seat and rushed over to him. She checked out everything in Tommy’s jacket. “You don’t mess around.”

  Tommy smiled. “When you live in Gravesend you always have to be prepared.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I knew that would come up.”

  “I had more stuff.” Tommy hitched his thumb over his shoulder. “But it’s in Herb’s bag. If we want to get out of here alive
we’re going to have to find it.”

  David pointed to the stage. “Well, there should be another way out of here, backstage. From there we can split up, if you want. You go find your vampire and the rest of us will look for a way out.”

  “So what are waiting for?” Kesha asked. “Let’s get out of here, before they remember that we’re in here.” She moved toward the center aisle of the theater, which had a red carpet leading all the way down to the stage.

  Tommy ran in front of her to block the path. “Wait! Let’s make sure that we’re all prepared. I think I’ve got everything covered, but just in case I missed something, what do we know that kills vampires?”

  David looked over Tommy’s jacket. “We know crosses.”

  “Actually,” Tommy said. “It’s any religious artifact. Vampires don’t discriminate. They can be killed by any religion as long as you believe.”

  “Where’d you hear that?” I asked. “Was that another Scooby-Doo?”

  He shook his head. “That was a Dora the Explorer Transylvania episode I watched when I was little.”

  I sighed. “You’re making that up.”

  He stared at me without blinking. “You didn’t watch as much TV as I did, so you don’t know.”

  “I think I saw that one,” Kesha said.

  “You didn’t see it!” I said. “There was no episode. He’s making it up.”

  Tommy turned to her and shook his head. “Let’s just agree to disagree with him. Now, does anyone have any other methods?”

  Kesha’s eyes widened. “Oh, don’t forget about fire.”

  Tommy nodded. “Got the lighter.”

  As everyone called each thing out, Tommy patted them in his jacket.

  “And taking off their heads,” Abby said.

  She seriously creeped me out.

  Tommy nodded. “Yeah, but we don’t have anything sharp enough. We might have to improvise.”

  “Silver?” Oren said.

  David shook his head. “That’s for werewolves.”

  “Actually,” Tommy said, “silver works. Especially if you carve a little cross onto it.” He looked around the room. “Anything else?”

  “I really would like to speak to Lily first,” I said. “I really don’t believe she had anything to do with this.”