"Hey, Beck, do you mind stopping at Paxx Pharmacy?" I asked my best friend when I hopped into her pickup. "I just have to buy a few things on the way to school."

"But Matt will be waiting by the bleachers for us. I don't want to be late."

"It'll only take a sec," I pleaded.

The old girl was as hot-glued to her soccer sweetheart as I was to my vampire boyfriend. I would have been sickened if I didn't understand her amorous devotion.

"Okay," she finally agreed. "I could get Matt some candy. He loves red licorice."

I remember when Becky and I would hang outside Paxx's and eat twines of red licorice until we felt ill. Now, instead of creating new memories with me, she was creating them with Matt. I turned to my best friend, who was wearing khakis and a pale blue button-down shirt. As long as I'd known Becky, she'd worn jeans and an oversized sweater. How long had I not noticed the change?

"Besides, it will give us a chance to hang out," she added kindly.

Becky was right. I'd been so wrapped up in diverting the union between Trevor and Luna that I hadn't any time left to talk, or even open my eyes!

Now that we had beaus, we didn't cling to each other like we had before. Did that mean we didn't need each other at all?

"It's been forever since we've had girl time," I agreed.

"I know, it's great we have boyfriends, but I'm missing our friendship."

"Me too!" I said. "We have to make time for us."

"It's a pact," she said, extending her pinky finger.

"A pact," I said, entwining my own in hers.

More than spending time apart, I felt like I was in the dark alone, not being able to share with my best friend the fact that our town was crawling with vampires.

"If I tell you something, can you promise not to tell anyone? Not even Matt?" I asked.

"Is it about sex?"

"No. It's even more top secret."

"What's more top secret than sex?"

I was ready to spill my guts. To tell my best friend why my boyfriend was never seen in daylight. To explain to her why Jagger drove a hearse. Why the ghostlike Luna had suddenly come to Dullsville.

But Becky's cherub face looked so happy, her biggest concern being what new outfit to wear to school, what brand of candy treat to buy for Matt. I couldn't spoil her perfect world.

"We're having a pop quiz in Shank's class tomorrow."

"Duh," she said, rolling her eyes. "Everyone knows that."

"Really?" I asked, almost horrified. "Maybe I'm losing my touch."

I was hunkered down in the vitamin-and-herb aisle, studying Mother Nature's remedies and filling my red plastic shopping basket with vitamin C and boxes of Garlic One gelcaps, when Becky finally caught up to me.

"I thought you were feeling better," she said, holding several packages of red licorice.

"I am, but I want to stock up."

"Garlic tablets?" she asked, confused. "I thought you were over your vampire obsession now that you are dating Alexander."

"I am. I just saw this commercial--"

"Speaking of Alexander," she interrupted excitedly, "would you two want to meet up at Hatsy's Diner after the soccer game tonight?"

How could I tell my best friend no after we'd just made a pinky- swear pact to hang out more? As long as I was with Alexander and Trevor was home sick, I reasoned, we were all safe. "Yes, that's a great idea. I don't think Alexander's ever been to Hatsy's."

Becky and I brought our purchases to the counter. We stood, unnoticed, as an elderly clerk hid behind a tabloid mag and her teenage clerkmate filed packets of developed prints.

"Those two kids I was telling you about were in here last night," the elderly clerk gossiped. "I think they are cousins of that weird mansion family on Benson Hill."

"I heard they look like walking corpses," the younger one chimed back.

"They do. I just don't get why kids today think it's cool to look like they've just come out of a coffin."

"I've heard one of them drives a hearse."

Just then the elderly clerk put down her paper and spotted me. Her eyes bugged out like she'd seen a ghost.

"I'm sorry," she apologized. "Have you been waiting long?"

"An eternity!" I said.

So Jagger and Luna were beginning to make their presence known throughout Dullsville. Were they bored, careless, or marking their territory?

Even though Trevor and I'd spent our lives at each other's throats, I didn't want Luna and Jagger after his. Besides they were looking to do far more damage than wringing his neck. A mixture of emotions flooded through me--protecting a fellow Dullsvillian from a deadly duo, thwarting a plan to have a nefarious soccer snob wreaking havoc, and diverting a plot to have my nemesis turned into a vampire before I was.

I'd have to get these tablets to Trevor. At any moment, Jagger or Luna could strike--or in their case, bite.

Though keeping up my new vampire identity was exhausting, I was really beginning to enjoy it. Everything I felt before as a vampire- obsessed goth I now had to live out--my distaste for the light and passion for darkness, having a secret identity, and being an insider instead of an outsider. I imagined the rest--flying high in Dullsville's sky, living in a spooky dungeon, Alexander and I cuddling the day away in a king-size coffin.

As the sun began to set, I rode my bike to Trevor's, with my Paxx Pharmacy bag safely inside my Olivia Outcast backpack. I'd already called Jameson and told him I'd be a few minutes late to meet Alexander. It was crucial that I keep up my vampire charade and wait until darkness until I visited Trevor, just in case Trevor spilled my visit to Luna. If he shared with her that I'd visited him after school the first day he was sick, Luna could assume Trevor was delirious from his cold medicine. But now that my nemesis was on the mend, I had to cover my tracks. I couldn't give them any reason to suspect I was still a mortal.

"I've been waiting all day for you," Trevor said as he opened the front door. He was wearing plaid flannel pajama pants and a long- sleeve Big Ten surf shirt and was sporting a much healthier glow--a bad sign he'd be coming back to school, but a good sign he hadn't been bitten.

"You missed me?" I asked with a saccharine grin. "I thought you were Luna," he said, disappointed. "We're not buying Ghoul Scout cookies today," he said, closing the door.

I quickly blocked the door with my boot.

"I'm putting the final touches on my health project," I said, opening the door and stepping inside.

"Do you want me to feel better or put me in the morgue?"

"Do I have a choice?"

"Why don't you write down in your report the reason for Trevor Mitchell's illness. Two words: Raven Madison. I'm sure the Infectious Disease Institute has heard of you," Trevor said.

I ignored his rude comments and walked into his newly painted sunflower yellow kitchen, which still smelled like fresh paint.

"I've heard you've been getting visits from a ghostly candy stripper. I mean, striper," I said with a grin.

"Sounds like someone is jealous."

I pulled out my Paxx Pharmacy bag and placed it on the granite- top kitchen island.

"My mom already got me medicine."

"It's just a few things so I can get extra credit. Vitamin C, a bag of cough drops, and Garlic One capsules."

"Garlic capsules? I'll smell like an Italian restaurant."

"They're good for cardiovascular health. Should help you on the soccer field."

"Didn't you see all my trophies? I can play in my sleep," he said arrogantly. I was running out of options, and time. I had to go for the jugular.

"Word on the street is, these are a major aphrodisiac. Gives off a scent that girls find irresistible. Something about pheromones. Anyway, someone like you shouldn't need it," I said, heading for the front door with the capsules.

"Hey, wait," he said, catching up to me in the entranceway. "Leave those here." He grabbed the package from my hand. "Not for me, of course. For the guys on the team."