She stepped on her dress and stumbled as she landed, but Anthony didn’t care he was too busy staring, amazed. He did as she asked, and the vampire flew through the window with a great flapping sound that was something like leather wings and something like dried leaves rustling in the wind. Can you move just a little bit to the side?” She looked at Anthony, and then down to the ground. “It means you can come in if you want to, but you can’t bite anyone.” “What does that have to do with me hurting you?” He fixed her with his best imitation of his mother’s glare, and said, “My parents say you have to be polite when you’re in other people’s homes.” “Aren’t you supposed to be asleep?” Anthony waved a hand to indicate how little he cared about sleep he’d been told to be in bed, not dreaming. If you come in, I can talk and be in bed at the same time.” “I want to talk to you more, but I’m supposed to be in bed. He sighed, disappointed, when she got her balance back without falling. The vampire was so startled she nearly fell out of the tree, and Anthony watched in fascination as she scrambled to catch herself. Do you want to come in? It’s cold outside, even if you don’t feel it.” “Oh.” She looked so bewildered hanging there-and so unlike his bossy sister-that he realized he liked her, and pushed the window further open.
Or maybe I’m cold all the time now, so I’ve stopped noticing.” I haven’t been cold since I became a vampire. After a hesitant pause she smiled back, showing her sharp white fangs. “Everyone knows that vampires can’t get you unless you’re dumb enough to let them.” That’s not scary.” He shrugged, secure in his absolute knowledge of the ways of the undead. “Oh.” He settled back to the soles of his feet. “I don’t know whether I could turn back into me again after.” It was a long way from his third-floor bedroom to the ground, and she knew it, even if he didn’t. “If you fall, will you turn into a bat and fly away?” Anthony leaned out of the window until only his toes were on the bedroom floor, ignoring the queasy look on the vampire’s face. Her glasses slid down her nose, and she let go of the tree with one hand long enough to shove them back into place. She looked a lot like his know-it-all sister, who was fifteen and hated him with the casual ease of a teenage girl-only his sister didn’t wear grimy tennis shoes with black evening gowns that looked like something from the Salvation Army downtown. He’d never seen a vampire with freckles before, either. She didn’t look like the vampires in the movies: she was short and scrawny instead of elegant and thin, and her dishwater blonde hair was pulled into a ponytail rather than flowing mysteriously around her face and shoulders. “You are a vampire,” he said, pleased to have his guess confirmed. “People usually do when they see vampires.” “Why would I want to do that?” asked Anthony. Almost as an afterthought, she added, “Please don’t scream.” “I don’t know!” Anthony noted with interest that he could see her fangs when she spoke. She made a small shrieking noise as the tree shook again, and clung more tightly to her branch. Her eyes were wide and worried behind her heavy glasses. “Are you going to fall?” he asked, not bothering to hide his curiosity. She scrambled for a better grip every time the wind shook the branches, shooting terrified glances at the ground.įascinated, Anthony moved to the window, pushed it open, and leaned out onto the windowsill. She was clinging to one of the top branches of the tree outside his window-that was what got his attention in the first place, since seeing a girl in a long black dress suddenly appear in the tree was a lot more interesting than his comic book. Anthony was nine years old the first time he saw the vampire.
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