Dance With A Vampire for Chapter 12

My dad looked at me suspiciously. "Are you sure you're not sneaking off to a rave?" "In this town? No, but if I find out about one, you'll know where we are, " I said with a wink. 3 Dead Tree Forest Alexander and I set off to do something I never thought I'd do: crash a Math Club party. My vampire boyfriend held my hand as we hurried through the strip mall parking lot, across a two-lane side street, and around a gas station. We were briskly walking past the small wooded area next to the library when we heard something off in the distance. It was the sound of a dog howling. We stopped in our tracks. Hair stood up on the back of my neck. The dog howled again. Dead Tree Forest, as I called it, was a two-acre undeveloped property with thick brush and foliage surrounding an inner layer of decay. The trees reached out for the sun and rain in vain; all that remained were wooden skeletons. Sometimes on the weekends I'd get my research from the library and do my homework among the rotting oaks and maples. There were more dead trees than live ones, but the heavy brush made it difficult to see through to the streets once inside the woods. In the seventies it was rumored that the woods were a haven for drunken motorcycle gangs. Others claimed no one was ever heard of coming out of the woods at nighttime alive. Streetlights illuminated the darkened exterior, casting an eerie glow. "Maybe Valentine is in there, " I wondered aloud. "Can you see him?" "I can see in the dark, but I don't have X-ray vision. " "Valentine could be searching for more than a tree houseperhaps a meal? What if he plans to pounce on my brother the moment he walks out of the library?" The dog howled again. Alexander looked at me as if he, too, was uncertain about what lay in the woodsor rather who. "All right, " he said valiantly, and proceeded toward the trees. Now I was concerned for us. I clutched my boyfriend's arm. "Wait, " I warned. "Who knows what he'll do. Maybe we should just head for the library. " "You do realize he is eleven, " Alexander said to me. "But the same blood that runs through his veins also runs through Jagger's and Luna's. He isn't like any other eleven-year-old. Plus, you know better than I do what he is capable of. " "You're right, " he agreed, putting his hand firmly on my shoulder. "That's why you are staying here. If I can talk to Valentine, we can put this whole thing to rest. I'll be right back. " Alexander pulled back a branch and disappeared into the brush.