12 Stake Out - My Sister the Vampire (11 page)

Olivia swallowed hard. ‘I’m sorry, Ivy. It’s not worth it.’

‘Not worth it?’ Ivy got stiffly to her feet, shaking out her baggy black sweatpants. ‘Don’t you even care that the entire vampire community is at risk? Or is that just one more thing that changed for you while I was gone?’

‘Ivy . . .’ Olivia began, looking down at her hands.

‘Forget it,’ Ivy said. Hurt clogged her throat as she stepped away from the table. ‘Obviously you’ve changed too.’

As she stalked past on her way out of the mall, her furious glare landed on Holly, who was leaving the Internet café.
That girl
 
!

Ivy had always loved Olivia’s good and open nature. But now it felt as though her sister’s willingness to believe the best of people had brought a genuinely dangerous person into the vampire community’s path.

She pushed her way through the crowd of VITs and finally burst through the front door of the mall, sucking in deep breaths of non-garlic-tainted air.

Focus
, she told herself. Her stomach might be roiling with hurt and anger and confusion, but she knew one thing for sure.

She couldn’t throw any accusations or theories around until she had absolute proof that she was right, and the only way to get that proof was to attend tonight’s meeting in the graveyard – no matter how dangerous it might be. Her relationship with Olivia – the most important in her life – might just depend on it.

An hour later, Olivia sat alone at the Meat and Greet, feeling not just lonely but exposed in her booth by the window. For once, the restaurant was almost completely empty. The only other customers there were a few regular humans, who looked baffled by the deserted booths surrounding them. Olivia knew the local vamps were staying away because of the blog. Too many pale-faced people in a meat-lover’s restaurant – wearing dark clothes and eating
very
rare burgers – would definitely look suspicious. But she felt bad for the staff here, who looked nervous and unsettled by the sudden lack of business.

But then
, Olivia thought,
when haven’t I felt bad lately
 
? In fact, she realised that right now she felt completely miserable. Not only was the atmosphere in Franklin Grove crackling with tension, but she and Ivy hadn’t stopped bickering ever since Ivy had returned from Transylvania.

The bell on the door jingled, and Olivia sighed with relief as she saw Brendan come in, dressed in a button-down shirt and chinos. She’d only sent the text to him five minutes ago – even at vampire speed, he’d gotten here earlier than she’d expected. He must have been worried too.

‘Don’t you dare laugh at what I’m wearing,’ he warned as he slid into the booth across from her. In his stiff button-down shirt, he looked as awkward as a little boy wearing his father’s clothes.

Biting the inside of her cheek, Olivia just smiled.

‘I know, I look ridiculous.’ Brendan sighed, took a quick glance around the nearly empty restaurant, then let his head drop on to the tabletop, mussing up his side parting. ‘I just can’t wait for all this weirdness to be over, so we can have our nice, normal town back. Well . . . as normal as our town ever is. It’s never been particularly “normal” in the normal sense, has it?’ Then he shook his head and straightened, grinning. ‘OK, how many “normals” was that? Am I over-using it?’

‘Well, if you really want people to think that
you’re
normal . . .’ Olivia teased.

Before she could continue, though, Brendan’s face drew into a frown. Peering past her shoulder, out the window, he said, ‘Don’t look now, but there’s this really strange older couple outside. I saw them earlier, and –’

‘Let me guess,’ Olivia interrupted. ‘An elderly gentleman in a tracksuit and a woman wearing a baseball cap? And were they staring suspiciously at everyone who walked past them, like really bad undercover detectives?’

‘Yes!’ Brendan looked stunned. ‘How did you know? Did you notice them earlier?’

‘You could say that.’ Olivia gave him a rueful smile. ‘They’re my grandparents.’

‘What?’ Brendan shook his head. ‘The Count and Countess? But Ivy said they’re always so elegant and traditional.’

‘They’re trying to be incognito,’ Olivia explained, ‘so they can catch the mystery vampire-blogger . . . although to be honest, the Countess doesn’t really understand what or who a blogger is.’ She lowered her voice to a whisper, but she couldn’t hold back a guilty giggle. ‘She can’t even pronounce the word. She keeps talking about the “blagger”!’

‘The
what
 
?’ Brendan laughed too, relaxing in his seat. ‘Well, at least that might confuse the blogger if he overhears them.’

‘They’re not the ones who are in danger from him,’ Olivia said grimly. ‘At least, not tonight.’

‘What are you talking about?’ Brendan sat forwards, leaning his elbows on the table. ‘All you said in your text was that Ivy was in trouble.’

‘She’s made an appointment with the blogger,’ Olivia whispered. The booths all around them were empty, but she couldn’t bear to say the horrible words any louder. ‘They’re going to meet in the graveyard tonight, at midnight.’

‘Are you serious?’

‘I wish I wasn’t.’ Olivia knotted her fingers together. ‘It’s so dangerous, but she won’t see that – you know Ivy, she thinks she can take on anybody! I thought . . . well, maybe . . .’

‘I’ll go with Ivy,’ Brendan said, before she could even ask him. ‘Of course I will. I’ll keep an eye on her, and on that blogger too. He won’t lay a finger on her.’

Olivia’s eyes filled with tears. ‘Oh, Brendan, thank you so much.’ Grabbing a tissue from her bag, she rubbed at her eyes. ‘I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s come over me.’ She choked back a sob. ‘I just don’t know how things got so bad between me and Ivy.’

‘Hey.’ Brendan reached out a tentative hand, stopping just short of patting her arm. ‘Don’t worry too much. First Ivy had to go to boarding school, then she hotfooted it back here. It’s been crazy!’

‘But she
wanted
to be here with us,’ Olivia said. ‘So why are things so different now?’

Brendan shrugged, but his expression was sympathetic. ‘Face it, this time was never going to be easy for either of you. You just have to be patient with each other.’

‘I guess so.’ Olivia sniffed hard and took a deep breath, wiping away the last of her tears.

‘Speak of the devil.’ Brendan half-smiled and pointed at the window.

When Olivia turned around, she saw Holly outsite the window, waving madly. Forcing a smile, Olivia shoved her tissue back into her bag and waved back.

‘Hey, you!’ Holly was standing by their booth a moment later, a whirlwind of energy. ‘Why are you wearing a frowny face? Can I buy you a muffin to make you feel better?’

‘Oh, I don’t really need . . .’ Olivia began.

But before she could even finish her sentence, Holly was at the counter pointing towards the biggest, fattest muffin with double cream-cheese icing.

Brendan laughed. ‘It looks like you have someone to look after you for the rest of the afternoon. I’ll leave you to it, OK? I’m not really hungry anyway.’

‘Aren’t you?’ Olivia frowned. ‘Ivy thinks you’re still not eating enough since your illness. Maybe you should –’

‘Oh, I’m fine now,’ he said carelessly. ‘Don’t worry about me.’ As he slid out of the booth, though, his expression turned serious. He leaned over Olivia, his dark eyes intent. ‘Don’t worry about Ivy, either,’ he whispered. ‘I’ll keep an eye on her tonight. I promise.’

‘Your muffin!’ Holly announced a moment later. ‘Absolutely designed to make anyone feel better.’ As she slid into the booth across from Olivia, she looked around curiously. ‘What happened to Broody Boy?’

‘You mean Brendan?’ Olivia felt a snap of irritation at the nickname, but she told herself not to mind. After all, Brendan was Ivy’s boyfriend, and Holly had every reason not to be thrilled with Ivy right now. ‘He’s off to meet Ivy,’ she said, and then moved on quickly before any awkwardness could spring up between them. If there was one person she did not want to discuss with Holly right now, it was her twin. ‘How has your day been?’

‘Oh, I haven’t done much.’ Holly shrugged. ‘I did take a wander to the mall after I got your text, though, and I saw the book-signing queue. It was quite long, which was good – I want those books to be popular.’

‘Of course.’ Olivia smiled warmly as she picked up her muffin.
Thank goodness
. Holly was voluntarily telling the truth about going to the mall.
Maybe she had her reasons for lying in the first
place
. Anyway, it certainly wasn’t the worst lie anyone had ever told.

But why hadn’t Holly mentioned speaking with the writer? In fact, S. K. Reardon had told her off quite sternly, but Holly didn’t look at all upset about it now.

Something isn’t right about this
. Olivia set her muffin down without taking a bite, as discomfort twisted through her. She started to open her mouth to ask more – but then she looked at her friend’s cheerful expression and the words dried up in her mouth.
Not now
.

She’d seen how Holly tended to react when under stress. Holly had a serious habit of freaking out when she thought she’d upset people. And Olivia couldn’t bear to have Holly angry at her too. She needed friends so badly, at the moment. Because Ivy . . .

Olivia swallowed hard, remembering how Ivy had stalked away from her at the mall. She’d never seen her twin so angry at her before.

Who knew what Ivy would do next, in her current mood? For all Olivia knew, Ivy might even decide she wanted to go back to Wallachia Academy. Why would she want to stay in Franklin Grove when she was so upset at her twin?

Even if Ivy didn’t leave again, there was one truth about vampires that neither twin could change.
We might have been born on the same day, but Ivy will live much longer than me
, Olivia thought, with a lump in her throat.
We’ll grow apart, no matter how hard we try not to
.

‘Well?’ Holly said. Gesturing at the cakes on the table between them, she grinned. ‘What are you waiting for? We need to eat them before the icing melts!’

‘Of course,’ Olivia said, and stretched her lips into a smile. ‘Let’s not waste time!’

Chapter Eight

D
espite the neon-bright colours that Ivy’s grandparents wore, the atmosphere at the Vega household that night at dinner was as sombre as a tomb.
It’s like someone put a stake through our collective hearts
, Ivy thought.

‘I cannot believe we still have no clues to this blagger’s identity!’ the Countess exclaimed. Her steak sat on her plate, uneaten. Out of habit, she reached up to her ear with shaking fingers as if to play with her dangling earrings, but they weren’t a part of her undercover outfit. ‘After all our detective work and disguises . . .’

‘I’m sure you’ll find something soon,’ Lillian said soothingly. ‘Surely they can’t stay anonymous for much longer, not in this day and age.’

‘That’s what the Queen said.’ The Countess looked even more miserable.

Her husband shuddered. ‘We phoned Her Majesty before dinner. She was not best pleased by our failure so far.’ He took a quick, automatic look at his wrist, where his gold watch usually sat. His wrist was bare. Ivy saw his shoulders slump. ‘We’ll simply have to work even harder tomorrow.’

Ivy felt her grandparents’ unhappiness like a thick cloud of gloom hovering over the table. Even Charles had been subdued.
He hasn’t said a word about the wedding all evening
 
!
If Ivy hadn’t caught him sneaking peeks at a floral catalogue under the table, when the Count and Countess weren’t looking, she would have been seriously worried about him too.

She slid a glance at her twin’s unhappy face. Olivia was barely even pretending to eat her meat-free pasta. Her body was rigid with tension, all because of Ivy’s plan.

After the most recent blog entry, just an hour earlier, the entire vampire community had gone into full-on panic.

‘
Tonight
,’ the blogger had written, ‘
a major
development in our investigation will take place. Some of the vampires’ most important secrets will be revealed
very
soon
 
!
’