"You will?"
"Of course."
I was stunned. "But you almost never answer questions when I ask them."
William shot me an amused glance. "You"re exaggerating."
"No I"m not. You never tell me anything. Why will you answer questions for GM and not for me?"
"Don"t you want me to answer questions for your grandmother?"
"Of course I do."
"Then you"ll find out some of the things you want to know tonight."
Somehow that wasn"t exactly an answer to my question.
My irritation seemed to amuse William further.
"What time is dinner?" William asked.
"Six-thirty."
"I"ll be there then."
He smiled and turned as if he were about to leave.
I reached out and grabbed him by the sleeve. "William, wait. There"s something else I have to tell you."
He turned back, and we started walking again.
I glanced over my shoulder, and then lowered my voice. "This may not be the best place to discuss this, but we won"t be able to talk about it at dinner, either. I heard this morning that a girl was attacked last night in the Old Grove. From the description of the wounds, it sounds like a vampire attack."
William looked at me sharply. "You don"t need to be worried, Katie. I"m keeping an eye on the situation."
"You already know about the attack?"
"Yes."
"Are Anton and Innokenti responsible for it?" I asked.
"I"m fairly sure it was one of them-but I don"t know for sure which one it was."
"So they"re going to hang around town?"
William was grim. "It looks likely."
"What are we going to do?" I asked. "If they stay here there will be more attacks."
"We aren"t going to do anything," William said firmly. "I"ll take care of those two."
"What happened exactly?" I asked.
"The incident occurred around midnight. The victim was a girl from this school-her first name is Annamaria."
I drew in my breath sharply. I realized now why Bryony and Irina had looked so worried.
"Do you know her?" William asked.
"Yes," I said. I felt light-headed.
"From what I hear, she"s going to be okay."
"I know-I heard that too. It"s just-"
I had to stop. A terrible thought had just occurred to me.
"Katie, I"m going to look out for you and everybody in this town."
William"s tone was rea.s.suring, but I was too rattled to be soothed.
William stopped walking. "If I"m not mistaken, this is your cla.s.sroom. You should go in. The bell is about to ring."
I clutched at William"s sleeve again.
"What about Annamaria?" I asked softly. "Is she safe from-"
I glanced around and lowered my voice further still. "Is Annamaria going to become a vampire?"
"No," William replied, "she isn"t."
"Are you sure?" I asked. "Do you really know that, or are you just trying to make me feel better?"
"I went over to visit Annamaria this morning," William said. "That"s why I was a little later meeting up with you than I intended to be. I asked her a few questions. She isn"t in any danger."
"William, how does it happen? How does someone become a vampire?"
"Katie-"
I clutched his arm more tightly. "William, don"t put me off. I need to know. I won"t go to cla.s.s unless you tell me."
William did not look happy, but after a quick glance around, he answered me.
"You have to be bitten by a vampire. Then you have to drink his blood in return. Then you have to die. Typically, death occurs because the vampire continues to return and drain his victim night after night. The human body can only handle so much blood loss. Annamaria hasn"t consumed any blood, so she should be safe. The vampire who attacked her is unlikely to be able to get her in the hospital-and I doubt he wants to anyway."
"So-"
"Katie, I"ve answered your question. Now go to cla.s.s. I"ll see you tonight. It really will be okay."
With that, he was gone.
I walked into cla.s.s and sat down. I was really shaken up by the fact that it was Annamaria who had been attacked by a vampire. I tried to pay attention in cla.s.s, but my thoughts kept wandering back to her.
What if she was only the beginning?
The rest of the day pa.s.sed in a blur, and I felt a sense of relief when I heard the final bell ring. I hurried to my locker, and when I shut my locker door, Charisse was standing on the other side.
I couldn"t help jumping a little. "You startled me, Charisse."
Charisse was grim. "I want you to do something for me. This has gone far enough."
"Is something wrong?"
"Katie, I want you to come home with me right now."
"Ordinarily, I"d be glad to," I said. "But I have to get home. William is coming over for dinner tonight. GM and I have to get everything ready."
"Your grandmother won"t mind if you"re just a little late," Charisse said firmly. "I just need you to see something. Then I"ll drive you right home. It"ll only take a few minutes-I promise."
I was puzzled. "You want me to see something? What is it? Can"t you just bring it in tomorrow and show me then?"
Anger flickered in Charisse"s eyes. "I can"t bring it in tomorrow. And I can"t tell you what it is-you have to see it to understand. This is really important to me. And it"s important to you, too."
I felt a flash of irritation. "Charisse, tonight is important to me. I want this dinner to go well. I want GM and William to like each other."
Charisse just stared at me steadily. She continued to look angry, but there was something else there too-was it fear?
"You"re sure it will only take a few minutes?" I asked.
"I"m positive," Charisse said.
I sighed. "Fine."
The day had grown even colder since the morning, and as I followed Charisse out to the student parking lot, our breath rose up into the air as frosty white vapor. We got into her car, and I shivered in the car"s frigid interior.
Charisse started the car and pulled out onto the road in silence.
I glanced over at her as we drove. There was tension in her hands as she gripped the steering wheel, and her lips were pressed into a grim line. I felt myself growing concerned for her. What could be at her house that had her so upset?
We pulled into her housing development, and she parked the car in a cul-de-sac. I glanced around-we were several streets over from her house.
"Why are we parking here?" I asked. "Is there any reason we can"t park at your house?"
"Leave your stuff here," Charisse said. "It"ll be safe. I"m just taking my keys."
She got out of the car, and I followed her.
"We"re going to have to sneak up to my house" Charisse said grimly. "Just follow me and try to be quiet."
"Charisse, are you okay?" I asked. "You"re acting really odd."
"I"m acting odd?" Charisse"s lips curled into a mocking semblance of her usual smile. "You should see what"s going on at my house."
Charisse led me across several streets and then into someone"s backyard. She crouched down against the side of the house and motioned for me to do the same. We could see into Charisse"s yard from our vantage point.
"Charisse, what are we doing?" I whispered. "Why don"t we just drive up to your house like normal people?"
"I don"t want my mom to know I"m home yet."
I was puzzled. "What"s your mom doing home this early?"
Charisse"s mother was an attorney, and I knew she usually worked long hours.
"Lately, my mother is home all the time," Charisse whispered. "It"s really not normal. Just watch for a moment and don"t say anything."
I waited silently, just watching as Charisse had instructed, but nothing happened. Just as my legs were starting to cramp, Charisse rose a little.
"It looks like the way is clear," she whispered. "Come on."
Charisse hurried over to her own backyard, still crouching down.
I hurried after her.
Charisse stopped just underneath a large window. I had been to her house many times, and I knew that that window looked in on her kitchen.
I crouched under the window beside her.
"I"m going to look in," Charisse said, and she lowered her voice so much that it was barely audible. "I"ll let you know when it"s okay for you to look too."
Charisse reached up to grab the ledge, and inch by inch she raised herself up till her eyes were just high enough to look in.
"It"s okay to look in right now," she said in the same almost-inaudible whisper. "But be ready to duck down if I give the word."
I reached for the ledge and pulled myself up slowly just as Charisse had done.
The scene that met my eyes was not out of the ordinary. Mrs. Graebel was seated at a table that I had sat at many times myself. Her black hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and she was wearing a pink turtleneck sweater. She held a mug in her hands, and I could see that she no longer wore her wedding ring. But there was nothing unusual about that-she was in the process of getting a divorce.
As I watched, Mrs. Graebel lifted her mug and took a drink.
I dipped back below the ledge.
Charisse frowned and slipped down beside me.
"What are you doing?" she hissed.
"What am I doing? What are you doing?" I whispered back. "I feel really weird spying on your mom like this. Was it really necessary to drag me over here so that I could watch her have a drink at her own kitchen table?"
Anger flashed in Charisse"s eyes.