12 Stake Out - My Sister the Vampire (6 page)

‘I know,’ Brendan said. He wrapped his arms around her in a hug. ‘But it’ll be OK. You love her. She loves you. You’ll get past it.’

‘I hope so,’ Ivy said, closing her eyes. ‘Because this feels miserable.’

Chapter Four

T
hat evening, Olivia sat next to Ivy at the dinner table, across from Charles and Lillian, with a dozen different trays of food between them. The two girls sat only a few centimetres apart.
So why does it feel as though there’s a mile between us
 
?
Olivia thought.

The room was shining clean, and now that everything had calmed down around the house, it seemed like the perfect time to talk to the vampire grown-ups about the mysterious blogger . . . if they could get a word in edgeways. And that wouldn’t happen unless Ivy helped her out.

Ivy hadn’t spoken a word to her in hours. By contrast, their bio-dad wouldn’t stop talking.

‘Now, don’t forget to try the roasted red pepper in miniature taco shells,’ Charles urged, pushing one of the trays forwards. In the entire year she’d known him, Olivia had never heard him talk so quickly. The combination of excitement and nerves was making her bio-dad as hyper as a honeybee. Lillian sat at his side, quietly nodding and murmuring encouraging words.
She’s a saint
 
!
Olivia thought.
A living, breathing saint.

‘Olivia, I know you can’t have this one,’ he continued, ‘but Ivy, you must tell me what you think of the steak tartare! Then there are the blood-orange cocktails and the sugared almonds and . . .’

Olivia bit back a sigh as her dad continued. It was going to be a real challenge to get Charles’s mind off the wedding and on to the blogger. She glanced at Ivy, trying to see if her twin was thinking the same thing, but Ivy’s dark hair fell around her eyes.

It had taken a long time to get the house sparkling again after the party, but in the process of hard physical cleaning, Olivia had finally worked off most of her frustration. Yes, she still wished Ivy had handled the situation at the baking party differently, but . . .
It wasn’t all Ivy’s fault.
She could see that now. She really wanted to make up with her twin.

‘Is everything all right?’ Their dad’s voice punctured the silence. Even he had finally picked up on the tension in the room. He looked between them, frowning. Lillian watched them both carefully, her eyes darting from Olivia’s face to Ivy’s. Olivia felt herself starting to blush. ‘I know there are a lot of changes coming up for all of us, but I promise I’ll still be your dad after the wedding. You don’t have to worry about that.’

‘It’s OK,’ Olivia said quietly. ‘That’s not it.’

‘No, it isn’t, is it?’ Lillian asked.

Ivy shrugged silently.

Charles looked at his fiancée, then back at the girls. ‘Oh, I get it. Would it help if you two were more involved in the wedding planning? Maybe –’ his face lit up – ‘you girls could write the names on the name plates for the table plans! That would make you feel better, wouldn’t it?’

‘Oh, Charles.’ Lillian put one hand on his arm, shaking her head. ‘Can’t you see that the wedding is the last thing on the girls’ minds?’

‘What do you mean?’ Charles blinked.

‘How about, instead, we think about something more . . . hey! Check that out!’ Leaning forwards, Lillian pointed out the window in an obvious attempt at distraction. ‘Look at the clothes on that couple! How ridiculous!’

Olivia looked in the direction Lillian was pointing – and nearly choked as she saw the outrageously dressed elderly couple walking slowly up the hill towards Ivy’s house. ‘
What
are they wearing?’ They were the image of an over-the-top elderly couple on vacation – except that Franklin Grove hardly ever had appropriate weather for checked shorts, flowered shirts and sandals. One of them was wearing the most enormous sunglasses Olivia had ever seen. What on earth were they doing in Franklin Grove?

‘Are they for real?’ Ivy spluttered. ‘Or do you think they got lost? Maybe they think they’re still somewhere in Florida.’

Olivia laughed, loving that even Ivy couldn’t keep up an Ice Queen act in the face of such a hilarious vision!

‘It’s almost as if they’re
trying
to draw attention to themselves,’ Lillian murmured.

Then Olivia stopped laughing as the couple turned up the path to Ivy’s house, followed by another strangely dressed man.

‘Wait a minute,’ Ivy said, stiffening beside her. ‘Isn’t that . . .’

‘Horatio!’ Olivia breathed. She’d recognise the man’s height and formal stance anywhere. It was the Lazar family’s butler, which meant . . .

Charles actually rubbed his eyes once, then twice, as if to make sure he wasn’t seeing things. ‘Are those my parents?’

Olivia couldn’t believe it, but he was right. The ludicrously dressed old couple were her grandparents, the Count and Countess Lazar!

The whole family rushed to let them in.

‘Darlings!’ The Countess opened her arms to her granddaughters as she stepped inside, somehow managing to look regal even in checked shorts. Olivia and Ivy both wrapped their arms round her and, for the first time in hours, their gazes met. It was only a brief, accidental glance, but Olivia felt just as warmed by her sister’s softened expression as by her grandmother’s arms.

‘It’s so good to see you,’ the Countess said as she kissed Olivia’s cheek.

‘You too,’ Olivia said. ‘But what are you doing here?’

‘And why are you wearing
bunny clothes
 
?’ Ivy asked. From the look on her face, Olivia knew her twin had only barely managed to restrain herself from adding:
And such ridiculous ones
 
?

The Countess’s bright-pink-and-orange flowered shirt was even more garish at close quarters. Olivia’s eyes hurt just from looking at it.
Where are my diamante sunglasses
 
?
 
!

‘You must be here for the engagement party,’ Charles exclaimed, as Horatio shut the door behind them. ‘I’m afraid you are a bit early, but –’

Lillian shushed him. ‘Why don’t we wait for your parents to explain?’

‘Of course we will explain,’ the Countess said grandly. ‘But first, I
must
change. These cheap polyesters make my skin itch!’

Then why are you wearing them
 
?
Olivia wondered. But she bit her tongue as her grandmother started to collect her luggage and head towards the stairs.

‘No, no, no!’ an outraged voice interrupted. Horatio swished past Olivia and in one smooth movement had collected the luggage from the Countess and tucked her cases under each arm. He lowered his gaze to the floor. ‘So sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude, but this is my job.’ He started to walk up the stairs, turning awkwardly to avoid bumping the leather-bound luggage against the banisters. The Countess watched him, shaking her head indulgently.

‘You know,’ she whispered to Olivia. ‘I haven’t been allowed to carry a thing upstairs in over forty years.’ Then she laughed quietly. ‘But I do like to tease him and pretend I’m going to sometimes!’

Olivia was shocked. Had the Countess just . . . cracked a joke? Before she could dare to ask, her grandmother followed Horatio upstairs.

When she finally came back down, wearing her usual satin and cashmere, the entire family gathered in the living room, with the trays of wedding treats set in the centre of the room. Horatio circulated with a jug of iced tea.
How did
he make that already? Wasn’t he helping the Countess
unpack
 
?
Olivia wondered. The Countess sat in the place of honour in Charles’s favourite chair. The Count was settled on the sofa, delicately nibbling a king prawn.

Charles and Lillian sat together. ‘If you aren’t here for the engagement party,’ Charles said to his parents, ‘what else could possibly have brought you?’

‘We were sent by the Queen,’ the Countess said, ‘to investigate your daughters’ message.’

‘What message?’ Charles turned to Olivia and Ivy, his brow creased. Olivia tried not to wince.
Uh-oh, here we go
.

‘We did try to tell you,’ Ivy said, ‘but –’

The Countess cut across her. ‘We all saw the twins’ message on the Vorld Vide Veb about the vampire hunter. But what is all this about a “blagger” threatening to expose Franklin Grove’s vampire community?’

Now Charles looked really shocked. ‘A
what
 
?’

Horatio cleared his throat. ‘Ahem. That would be “blogger”, milady.’

Olivia bit the inside of her cheek to hold back a laugh at the disgruntled expression on her grandmother’s face. The Countess clearly wasn’t up to speed on the latest technology . . . which wasn’t surprising, considering she was hundreds of years old.

‘Blagger, blogger . . .’ The Countess waved a hand through the air dismissively. ‘Regardless, the Queen was alerted by her intertrap –’

‘
Internet
,’ Horatio interjected, in a whisper.

‘Her Inter
net
security team that this bla– this
blogger’s
message is getting out of control. Something needs to be done! Obviously, some vampire seniority is needed at the heart of the danger, and as we have family here, it made sense for your father and I to be the ones sent on this fact-finding mission.’

‘A fact-finding mission . . .’ Charles repeated blankly, ‘ . . . in Franklin Grove.’

The Count held out a tray to the Countess. ‘Do try the sugared almonds, darling.’

‘Oh, do you like them?’ Obviously thrilled to be back in wedding territory, Charles beamed at his father. ‘I thought perhaps after the ceremony –’

‘Sugared almonds are not a priority!’ The Countess raised her eyebrows warningly. ‘We are here on an undercover mission of the greatest importance.’

Ivy choked. ‘So . . . that’s why you were dressed that way?’

‘It was the only safe way to travel.’ The Countess patted the Count’s purple-and-yellow flowered shirt-sleeve with satisfaction. ‘Our mission is to get the entire vampire community of Franklin Grove undercover until this threat has been neutralised. And, of course –’ her expression hardened – ‘no matter what it takes, we must discover the identity of the
blogger
who is responsible for stirring up so much trouble in the first place.’

Olivia gulped. ‘Um . . . what exactly are you planning to do when you find it out?’

For the first time since their falling out, Ivy voluntarily made eye contact with Olivia. She drew a finger across her throat and let her eyes roll back in her head.

Olivia felt her heartbeat speeding up. Vampires wouldn’t really go to such lengths to avenge themselves would they?

No
, she thought.
Of course they wouldn’t . . . right
 
?

She darted a glance at Charles and saw him staring hard at the floor, as if unable to meet her eyes.

Oh no, for real
 
?

‘Are you sure that isn’t a bit, um, excessive?’ she whispered.

‘Well, I don’t know, dear,’ the Count said, clearing his throat noisily. ‘We take these threats
very
seriously.’ Olivia noticed that his shoulders were shaking as he turned his face away from her.

Was the Countess actually wiping a tear from her eye? Olivia swivelled back to look at Ivy, who was biting her knuckles with the effort of holding back laughter. Finally, a huge snort erupted from Charles as his whole body trembled with repressed chuckles.

‘You’re all pranking me!’ Olivia was able to breathe again, a smile of relief spreading across her face. She grabbed a sofa cushion to swing at Ivy. ‘It’s not my fault! I don’t know what vampire tradition is when it comes to this sort of thing!’

‘Don’t apologise, my dear. We enjoyed the joke.’ The Countess patted Olivia’s hand, her eyes still gleaming with amusement. ‘But it is time to be serious once more. This intertrap – that is, this
Internet
person has drawn attention to Franklin Grove. Now the rumour is out about vampires living among humans in a normal American town – and do you know what that means?’

Charles let out a heartfelt groan. ‘The VITs.’

Moans of unhappy agreement filled the room. Lillian closed her eyes as if she were in pain.

‘Uh . . .’ Meekly, Olivia put up her hand. ‘What’s a VIT?’

‘A Vampire-Investigating Tourist.’ Lillian shuddered as if she were naming an exotic kind of cockroach. ‘Someone who gets wind of vampires’ existence and travels across the country to check it out.’

‘Oh.’ Olivia’s eyes widened. ‘And now that the blogger’s told everybody that Franklin Grove is a haven for vamps –’

‘We’re going to see many more strangers in town,’ Charles finished for her grimly. ‘And they’ll all be on the look-out.’

‘Which is why Franklin Grove vampires must go undercover, just like us.’ The Countess threw a pointed glance at Ivy’s vamptastic dark clothes. ‘Those will certainly have to be toned down!’