"Maybe I'm the one who's tormented. I want to be in Alexander's world and he wants to protect me from it— and vampires like you!"
"Valentine—you've said enough!" I heard a familiar voice say.
I turned around. Alexander was standing behind me.
I gazed up at Alexander's dark eyes. Were Valentine's words about my boyfriend correct? Alexander backed away from me.
"Valentine—you have to leave this cave and this town now," I demanded.
"I won't leave until I've gotten what I came here for. And since I can't find my brother, I'll have to take yours."
Out of the darkness, Billy Boy traipsed toward me, his backpack slung over his shoulder.
Valentine grabbed my brother's puny arm and lifted his wrist to his mouth.
"What are you doing?" Billy Boy asked.
Valentine smiled a wicked grin and flashed his fangs.
"No!" I cried.
Valentine opened his mouth wide and began to bear down on my brother's wrist.
I shined the flashlight on Valentine's face. His green eyes turned crystal white, then bloodred.
Valentine let out a horrible yell and withdrew his grip from my brother's wrist. He covered his face from the light and recoiled into the shadows.
17 Project Vampire
Valentine lay in the cave, appearing more ghastly than ever, his lips blue and his skin paler than a corpse's.
"Valentine's not moving," I said. "I think I…"
Alexander scooped the limp vampire up in his arms. Billy Boy was visibly shaken. I held his trembling hand and led him back through the cave.
When we reached the entrance, Billy grabbed his bike while Alexander and I put Valentine in the car.
As Alexander laid the weary Valentine on the backseat, the preteen vampire struggled to open his eyes.
"I tried," Valentine whispered to Alexander, "but I couldn't do it."
"Try to save your breath," Alexander warned.
Valentine clutched my boyfriend's arm. "When I spent the night at Billy's and read his blood in search of my siblings, I found out something else instead. Billy was peacefully dreaming about his family; his mother, father, and Raven. I couldn't take him away from that. Jagger and Luna were right to exclude me. I am not like them after all."
Alexander placed a warm blanket around the boy and I sat with him as he laid down, his breathing labored.
Billy Boy disassembled the front wheel from his bike, and Alexander helped place it in the trunk. I joined my brother in the passenger seat of the Mercedes.
"I got you this," Billy Boy said, handing me a bat-shaped rock he'd found in the cave. "I thought you'd think it was cool."
Mortal or vampire, Valentine and Billy Boy were just like any other boys their age—desperately fighting to be seen by their older siblings as anything but a child.
When Alexander, Billy Boy, Valentine, and I arrived back at Benson Hill, Henry was waiting for us on the uneven steps of the Mansion.
As if on cue, Jameson opened the heavy Mansion door. Alexander carried Valentine up the grand staircase as the nerd-mates and I followed into the foyer.
"Wow! This place is huge!" Henry exclaimed.
"And spooky. There must be dozens of ghosts in here," my brother added.
Jameson directed Henry, Billy Boy, and me to wait in the parlor while the creepy man busied himself in the kitchen.
The parlor was the same as always—a simple desk, a shelf of dusty books, and a few antique Victorian chairs.
"There isn't much to look at in here besides dust," Henry observed. "I'd love to take a tour of the Mansion."
"That isn't possible right now."
My brother plopped in a chair while Henry opened a few ancient books that didn't appear to have been touched since the Mansion had been built.
"Why isn't Alexander taking him to a doctor?" Billy Boy asked.
"It's hard to explain," I answered.
"Henry and I are members of the chess, math, and astronomy clubs. I think if it's a concept you understand, we can comprehend it too."
I groaned. "Alexander can help Valentine out more than a doctor can. It's something about being from Romania."
Jameson, carrying a tray of bottles filled with red liquid, hurried up the grand staircase.
The boys looked at each other incredulously.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Billy Boy asked Henry.
"I'm surprised we didn't figure it out sooner," the nerd-mate replied.
"We were looking at the wrong subject!" Billy Boy said. "Now it all makes sense."
"Not only will we get an A," Henry concluded, "but we may get a scholarship to MIT."
"What are you two talking about?" I asked.
"Our subject for Project Vampire," Henry replied matter-of-factly. "He's lying upstairs."
"Are you crazy?" I asked.
The two boys pulled their chairs toward mine and leaned in to me like they were about to divulge a major secret.
"The truth lies in the proof," Billy Boy pronounced. "One, I saw a green-eyed bat hanging outside my room. Valentine has green eyes."
"Two," Henry chimed in. "Valentine was looking for my treehouse. Then one day, hanging on a limb we found blood-filled amulets."
"Three," Billy Boy added. "Valentine is from Romania."
"Four, he was living in a cave."
"Five," my brother continued. "Valentine's deathly allergic to garlic."
"Six," Henry added. "He tried to have us become blood brothers."
"Seven, he tried to bite me," Billy Boy argued.
"I tried to bite you last year!" I countered.
Billy Boy stopped and geared up for his verdict. "We think Valentine is a vampire."
"That project has gone to your head." I laughed.
"Then this won't matter," my brother challenged, extending his hand toward his nerd-mate's backpack. "Henry…"
The wunderkind unzipped his navy blue sack. He held out a small rectangular mirror.
"When Valentine comes down," Billy Boy said, "then we'll see. Or we'll observe what we don't see."
The boys stared at me proudly like two nerdy Sherlock Holmeses.
I was floored. Billy and Henry, the nerd-mate super-sleuths, were on the cusp of proving that Valentine was indeed a real vampire.
I'd been spending the last few weeks trying to keep Valentine away from the boys for their protection. Now I'd have to keep the nerd-mates away from Valentine and Alexander—for the vampires' safety.
"Why don't we take a look around this mansion," Henry said, rising.
"Why don't we not," I ordered, pointing to the Victorian chair. "Here—read this," I said, handing him a fifty-pound book on Stonehenge, pyramids, and UFOs. "Maybe this will help you conclude that Valentine is an alien."
After the boys exhausted themselves by perusing old dusty books, Henry busied himself playing games on his cell phone.
"In the cave," my brother began, "I heard you call me Billy. Not Nerd Boy. Not Billy Boy."
"So, what of it?"
"I know you are capable of calling me by my real name."
"Your real name is William. Is that what you want me to call you?"
"How about plain old 'Billy.'"
"Fine. From now on," I said, "it's 'Plain Old Billy.'"
My brother wrinkled his nose at me, then shook his head. "My turn," he said, reaching for Henry's phone.
The two boys watched Star Trek on Henry's cell while I peered out the window into the moonlit night. I began to piece together Valentine's motive for arriving in Dullsville.
According to Valentine, he turned up in town to look for his siblings. He'd been hoping to find Jagger and Luna still there. When Valentine found it empty of coffins, he searched the treehouse for clues to their whereabouts.