12 Stake Out - My Sister the Vampire (16 page)

When Holly’s dad arrived at the house fifteen minutes later, Ivy ran for the door, but Charles got there first.

The house was full of family and friends from Franklin Grove, Transylvania, and California, all talking and laughing and eating the gourmet food her dad had chosen so carefully. After all the distractions of the past few days, Mr Vega’s long-awaited engagement party was not only happening, it was chock-full of celebrities, and he was glowing with pride.

‘Mr Turner!’ Charles gushed as he opened the door. ‘I’m so thrilled. A real live author here for such a special occasion! Lillian and I are both so honoured.’

‘We are pleased to meet you, Mr Turner,’ Lillian said calmly. Standing beside her fiancé, she looked as composed and elegant as ever in a sleek burgundy dress, completely unfazed by their unexpected guest. ‘Your daughter is in the garden, waiting for you.’

‘Oh, thank goodness. The last time we saw each other, I – well, I really need to talk to her, to apologise. I shouldn’t have been so stern with her. Sorry, you don’t need to hear all that, do you?’ Looking pale and shocked, the author reached up to straighten his tie with a trembling hand. When his gaze landed on the Count and Countess standing in the corner of the room, drinking cocktails and chatting with Lillian’s parents, he gave a nervous twitch.

The Count beamed at him and waved. They were separated by the crowd, but even a human could read the Count’s lips as he mouthed happily: ‘
I’ve still got that pizza recipe for you! I’ll give it to you later
.’

Mr Turner blinked, shook his head, and turned back to his host. ‘I’m sorry, Mr Vega, but could I just check – is there really a Hollywood producer here too? And he really wants to see me? My daughter said on the phone –’

‘Oh, yes, yes.’ Looking smug, Charles led Holly’s dad through the crowded house, towards the garden, where Harker and Holly both waited. ‘He’s a friend of my fiancée, you know. She loved your book, so – oh!’ He suddenly came to a halt, looking inspired. ‘You don’t take commissions, do you?’

‘Commissions?’ Mr Turner blinked. ‘I’m not sure I understand . . .’

‘Novelisations of real-life weddings, for example?’

Oh no
. Behind them, Ivy rolled her eyes. She heard Olivia choke. Groomzilla had struck again!

Luckily, Lillian had been close enough to overhear. ‘Come along, darling. I think Mr Turner has plenty to think about already. Mr Turner, may I introduce Jacob Harker? Jacob, Mr Turner will be with you in just a moment, but I think he needs a minute alone with his daughter first.’ Putting one hand on her fiancé’s arm, she gently dragged Charles back inside and closed the glass door to the garden.

As they left, Ivy could hear her father saying, ‘But wouldn’t it be a brilliant idea, sweetheart? We could hand copies out to all the guests – we could even start a wedding blog to promote it!’

‘Oh no!’ Ivy’s jaw dropped open.

Behind her, she heard her twin’s giggle. Ivy turned to meet Olivia’s eyes. ‘She will stop him, won’t she?’ Ivy said.

‘I think Franklin Grove has had enough blogging to last a century,’ Olivia agreed. ‘And can you imagine Grandma’s face if she found out there was a would-be
blagger
in the family?’

Ivy snorted with laughter. ‘She’d have a fit.’ She shook her head. ‘You’re right. I don’t think we have to worry about groomzilla-dot-com popping up any time soon, no matter what Dad might think.’

Together, they looked out into the garden, where Holly and her dad were sharing an enormous hug. Mr Harker stood nearby, tapping his foot impatiently, but it looked like Hollywood was going to have to wait – ‘S. K. Reardon’ was putting his daughter first. When Holly finally stepped back, her dad draped one arm around her shoulder before he turned to the waiting producer.

‘Do you want me to tell you what they’re saying?’ Ivy asked Olivia. She knew the glass door was too thick for her twin to overhear without super-strong vamp hearing.

Olivia shook her head, though, smiling as she watched Harker’s first words put a look of amazed joy on the author’s face. ‘There’s no need,’ she said. ‘I can tell exactly what’s going on out there.’

Within a minute, Turner and Harker were talking excitedly, while Holly beamed at them both, shining with happiness.

‘And now there’s no more need for Holly’s blog either,’ Ivy said. ‘Whew.’

‘Thank goodness,’ Olivia said. ‘Let’s give them some privacy.’

They moved into the living room, sharing a secret smile. As they stood by the window, just far enough from the other party guests, Olivia murmured, ‘I can’t believe we wriggled out of this mess – and without anyone getting hurt on the way.’

‘You’re telling me.’ Ivy sighed. ‘I know we won’t always be so lucky . . . but I’m glad we were this time.’ Linking arms with Olivia, she rested her head on her twin’s shoulder.
I must be going soft in my old age
, she thought.

Outside the window, the crowd of VITs was still milling around, but Ivy didn’t care about any of them any more. While they’d waited for Holly’s dad to arrive, Holly had promised to close down the blog – and to write a final post explaining that it had all been just a hoax. It was a blog post that would take real courage to write.
But I’m finally beginning to see that Holly had courage and loyalty all along
. Even Ivy Vega could admit when she’d been wrong – to herself, at least.

‘I promise,’ Ivy said to Olivia now, ‘no matter what happens in the future – whether your talent makes you a huge Hollywood star, or my V-ness takes me away again – one thing will never, ever change. I will
never
not be there for you, wherever we are in the world.’

‘Oh, Ivy!’ Olivia wrapped her up in a rib-crushing hug.

‘Hey!’ Ivy whispered, even as she sniffled back a tear. ‘Maybe you
have
inherited some vampire strength, after all!’

‘Um.’ Holly coughed, just a foot or two away, and the two of them broke apart. ‘I just wanted to say . . .’ She looked out the window and winced. ‘I’m so sorry for all the fuss I’ve caused in your home town. I never thought so many people would really believe in vampires, of all things!’

Ivy had to hide her grin behind an ‘understanding’ face. Poor Holly didn’t realise just how much fuss she’d really caused – she had no idea that, right at this moment, she actually
was
surrounded by vampires. Holly would be shocked to know she’d been telling the truth on her blog all along!

Next to Ivy, though, Olivia looked grave. ‘I’m not sure I liked all of your tactics,’ she said. ‘I mean, circulating anonymous Internet rumours is never a good idea . . . But I can kind of understand where you were coming from. Everybody wants their family to be happy.’

She shot Ivy a significant glance. Ivy stifled a sigh as she stepped towards Holly.

‘Friends?’ she said to her, stepping forwards.

Before Holly could answer, Olivia’s cell phone rang. The sound made both twins freeze.

Ivy knew that pop-song ringtone. Olivia flushed, her eyes widening as she stared down at the ringing phone. Holly just looked confused. ‘Um, aren’t you going to answer that?’ she asked.

‘I . . .’ Olivia took a deep breath. She straightened her shoulders. ‘Yes, I am. I really am.’ She pressed the button. ‘Jackson,’ she said. ‘How are you?’ The tone of her voice was as cool and confident as if she were talking to a stranger, but Ivy recognised the dreamy look in her eyes.

Ivy smirked and raised an eyebrow. ‘Give him my love,’ she whispered.

Olivia rolled her eyes at her twin, but her cheeks turned even deeper pink. She slid away through the crowd, clearly looking for a quiet spot.

‘Who was that?’ Holly asked.

‘Olivia’s ex-boyfriend,’ Ivy said. But she couldn’t help adding, ‘At least, for now.’

Jackson had a funny habit of calling at all the right moments, didn’t he? And now that the film industry strikes were over,
Eternal Sunset
could finally start shooting, with Olivia and Jackson starring in the lead roles . . . which meant that he and Olivia would be reunited soon, at least on a film set.

Jackson Caulfield hadn’t become a Hollywood megastar for nothing. Ivy had a feeling he would know exactly how to romance Olivia on set, and she couldn’t wait to see her sister brimming with real happiness again.

‘Hey.’ Brendan stepped up behind Ivy, draping an arm around her shoulders as Holly made a discreet exit. ‘What’s put that grin on your face?’

‘Just thinking about the future.’ She glanced at him, and gasped. ‘Brendan! You’re eating!’

‘So?’ He shrugged, and took another bite of the half-eaten burger in his hand. ‘These are pretty good.’

‘They ought to be,’ Ivy said. ‘I made them for you. See? I’m a fabulous cook too, just like you.’ Smiling, she leaned into him, feeling the last of her tension melt away. Her boyfriend had got his appetite back at last, her grandmother was smiling at her from across the room, and Olivia was well on her way to happiness and the film career she’d always dreamed of.

‘Happy?’ Brendan asked.

‘Pretty good,’ Ivy admitted.

‘Just “pretty good”?’ Brendan laughed, as he dropped a kiss on her hair. ‘Come on, Vega. You may be the toughest of us all, but even you have to admit things couldn’t get much better than this. Franklin Grove’s secrets are safe, your grandmother seems to have forgiven you, your dad’s about to get married again,
and
you and Olivia are back on track.’

‘You’re right,’ Ivy said. ‘That’s not just good. It’s
excellent
. And most important of all . . .’ She turned around to face him, grinning.

‘Yeah?’ Brendan grinned back at her and polished off the last of his burger. ‘What could be even better than all that?’

‘After today,’ Ivy said, ‘I never have to see you wearing a button-down shirt again!’

Their laughter mingled as they kissed and, for once, Ivy didn’t even care that everyone at the engagement party could see them together. As they turned, holding hands, to walk back into the thick of the party Ivy couldn’t wait to see what the future held for all of them.

She squeezed Brendan’s fingers, smiling.

Fingers crossed, no garlic
 
!

In the latest instalment of Georgia Huntingdon’s interview series with Ivy and Olivia, she gets the scoop on the trickiest period of their turbulent year, which saw them having unwanted encounters with VITs!

Georgia Huntingdon:
So your very eventful summer was nearly over, but – before it ended – I gather there were yet more adventures to be had.

Ivy Vega:
I don’t know if you’d call them ‘adventures’.

Olivia Abbott:
‘
Mis
adventures’, definitely.

Ivy:
Except, I don’t
miss
them.

Olivia:
Groan! You’ve got a-PUN-dicitis again, sis!

Ivy:
It’s Brendan’s fault. That boy is infectious.

Georgia:
[laughs] We knew that!

Ivy:
That’s not what I meant.

Olivia:
Do you notice how Ivy spends most of her time in these interviews blushing?

Ivy:
One death-squint, coming right up.

Georgia:
All right, all right. So, your summer?

Ivy:
I’m sure you got the memo. Franklin Grove was completely crawling with VITs.

Georgia:
I got one or two . . .
hundred
batsqueaks on the subject.

Olivia:
I feel so terrible for not realising that Holly was up to something.

Ivy:
It’s nothing to feel bad about. I don’t think Holly meant for things to get as out of control as they did. But that’s what the VITs are like – they get amped up and go a little . . . crazy.

Georgia:
Is it true what I was reading on the Vorld Vide Veb? That they were turning up at the mall wearing garlic necklaces?

Ivy:
Please, don’t . . . I’ve done enough dry-heaving for one lifetime. A
vampire
lifetime, too, which is much longer.

Georgia:
Sounds like my worst nightmare.

Ivy:
I swear, I can still feel the stench on me.

Olivia:
I don’t know why some bunnies get all excited about there being real vampires in the world. The VITs had this weird look – excited and scared all at the same time.

Georgia:
I’ve seen that look on lots of people, all over the world.

Olivia:
Is it wrong that I find VITs scarier than I find vamps?

Georgia:
And this ‘Holly’ girl, how did all of that end?

Olivia:
We’re all friends now. Her dad’s book has started to take off and he’s getting a film deal, too.

Ivy:
Holly was a little pesky, but she didn’t
know
she was doing vampires any harm.

Olivia:
Imagine if she knew how close she was to the truth!

Ivy:
I’d rather not. If Holly
had
accidentally exposed the existence of vamps, I think those garlic necklaces would have gone on sale in stores! See, even
you
shuddered. Imagine the smell!