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After I whisked past Dragon, who was screening members, I sprinted up the steep staircase and out the Coffin Club`s main entrance. I heard the sound of a motorcycle engine behind me as I tore down the street to find Aunt Libby outside the Old Town Folk Music Center, holding a large African drum under her arm, very surprised to see me.

I crashed on Aunt Libby`s futon, but sleep did not immediately overtake me. In the middle of the night, I heard a motorcycle charging down the street. I sat up and peered out the pale blue curtained window. There were no signs of Phoenix or any other Harley rider. I fell back on the mattress but was still tightly wound by the night`s events swirling around in my mind.Advertisement

Just when I thought I`d seen everything, or knew all there was for a mortal to know about the Underworld, I had stumbled into another unearthly adventure. I thought my life had become rich enough when I found out Alexander`s vampire identity. Then I encountered Jagger, Luna, and Valentine and their bloodthirsty ways. Who ever would have thought, living and growing up in Dullsville (where the biggest event was the annual spring carnival), that one day, not only would these events happen to me, but I would encounter a club where vampires were accepting me as one of their own.

It had been one thing to hang out with Luna and encounter Jagger in Dullsville. Tonight was like nothing else I`d experienced. Instead of going to the mall with Becky, I`d been dancing with vampires. Immersed in their world versus meeting a few in mine, I got to see what the Underworld was like. Without the threat of mortals, they were free to be themselves. Flirting, drinking, and partying like any other clubster in an alternative club, except one thing--the clientele were immortal bloodsucking vampires.

I replayed the night`s events in my mind. I wondered why Jagger had remained in Hipsterville. Wasn`t his time better spent back in Romania with Luna and Valentine? And who was this Phoenix character? Why was I, along with a rough gang of vampires, so drawn to him? Was he more trouble than Jagger? And what was his gang asking him to do?

The worst thing about my new discoveries was that I wouldn`t be able to tell Alexander anything. Not about Primus and Poison or my visit to the Coffin Club. And mostly, I wouldn`t be able to utter a word about my entrance into the Dungeon, meeting Onyx and Scarlet, or my encounter with Jagger and Phoenix.

This dark and deadly Underworld was exactly why Alexander left Romania in the first place. He was an outsider in the carnivorous world he`d been born into. If he knew that right under his nose there was a private club of vampires, he might feel lonelier.

Perhaps Alexander already knew about the crop circles and the underground club. Maybe that was the reason he and Jameson were staying in Hipsterville--to see if anything would happen. But then why would he have been so secretive and not told me?

Maybe it was I who should come clean. Tell him everything--from Jagger to Phoenix. But then I would risk Alexander becoming involved with the Dungeon, further delaying his return to Dullsville. For now, it was best to leave things as they were.

The plastic bracelet on my arm would be a dead giveaway to Alexander about my sneak- in to the club. I hated to keep a secret from him, but I had to think things through before I made the right decision.

If I cut the bracelet off, I didn`t stand a chance of being let back in. I got up and grabbed my suitcase and snatched out a small Black Catz travel bag. Inside was a Hello Batty terry cloth wristband. I slid it on and buried the plastic bracelet safely underneath.

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I imagined myself back at the manor house, Alexander holding me in his arms as we lay hidden away in his coffin in his monster-sized attic room. Nothing from the outside world or the Underworld could distract us from the love that we shared together. pqdm.com