7 Love Bites by Ellen Schreiber

waited.The two began talking. I was out of earshot, burning to know the contents of their conversation. At any moment, Sebastian was going to get in his car and drive off. I wasn�t sure if I�d ever see him again. I wouldn�t even get to say good-bye. I felt a small pang in my stomach. I hated to see Alexander so upset with someone he cared about. I heard a car door close. Just then, Alexander reached into the Mustang�s trunk, put a duffel bag on his shoulder, and summoned his best friend. The two vampires returned toward the Mansion. �Jameson,� I called. �Prepare those smoothies with the tiny swords!�9 Morbid Matchmaker I met Alexander at the Evans Park covered bridge the following night. The old pedestrian bridge was unused and unkempt. Wooden slatted shingles worn off over the years had gone unfixed. Paint had chipped away. Even the birds� nests were forgotten. I always thought the bridge was beautiful. A trickling creek ran beneath it and a tiny broken bench overlooked a dead bed of flowers. Tonight, however, I found the bridge decorated with twinkling yellow and white lights, which hung like sparkling icicles, making it a truly romantic and magical scene. I crept inside to find a table with a flickering candelabra on it and two champagne glasses filled with soda. Alexander emerged from the shadows, dreamy and gorgeous. I was breathless. There wasn�t a place I�d rather be than in Alexander�s presence. I rushed to him and squeezed him with all my might. It seemed like ages since we had been alone, and I planned to take advantage of our solitude. My fingers begged to touch his skin, to feel my boyfriend close, sense his breath against mine. His strong hands grasped my smaller ones and he intently kissed them, as if he, too, had missed our moments together. I gently stroked his face and ran my fingers over his lips, my black nail polish in striking contrast to his alabaster skin and pale red mouth. Alexander and I had only a short time for our date. Becky was in the safe company of Matt and the soccer snobs at a scrimmage, and Jameson was doing his best to keep Sebastian entertained with a newly purchased Guitar Hero. I curled up in Alexander�s arms. The electricity between the two of us seemed unbreakable. When he kissed my neck, I wondered if it was as much a torture for him as it was for me. Alexander had the power at any moment to turn me�whether I wanted him to or not. Was he thinking what it would be like to pierce his fangs into me and take my blood into his? But Alexander was thoughtful and cautious. If I were in the arms of another kind of vampire, perhaps like Jagger or Sebastian, I might have blood dripping down my neck. I wondered and admired how he could be so different. �I don�t know how you do it. Sebastian can�t.� �It�s not easy. I�m sitting with the most gorgeous girl I�ve ever seen in my life and she wants to be a vampire.� I melted at his compliment. �It seems easy to me�.� I couldn�t help but want to be bitten�if only to become a vampire before my best friend did. A few pings of raindrops began to hit the roof of the bridge. A few moments later, it began to pour. It only added to our magically romantic night. I snuggled even closer to Alexander. �Imagine it,� I began. �We�d live in the Mansion together. I�d make you smoothies, and if we ran out�then you�d have me. �We�d have a beautiful coffin together,� I continued. �I�d decorate it with the most comfy pillows and blankets and tiny portraits that you�d paint of us. And we could wire it so we could listen to morbidly melodic music.� �I could take you to Romania and you could see my home,� Alexander added. �We would dine outside on our balcony overlooking the twinkling city lights with my parents, and I�d take you into town and we�d dance until dawn.� I was excited by Alexander�s enthusiasm. �You�d become a famous painter and I�d be an editor of a gothic