I was going to become a vampire! It was all I'd ever thought about and dreamed about and now it was coming to fruition! I was so afraid I'd dreamed it that I texted Alexander a million times to reassure myself that it was real. It was, and it was going to be for all the right reasons.

What would I wear? Who would I invite? When would it happen?

The following evening, I met Alexander at the Mansion. As Stormy was eating, I sneaked a kiss with him upstairs in his attic room. "I'd like to invite Becky," I said."I figured you'd want to include the world."

"I do," I said. "Everyone I've ever met."

"You have to understand, many people might not want this to happen."

"You mean like Jagger and Luna?" I asked.

"Yes."

"They are not going to ruin my night!"

"They aren't going to ruin anything anymore," he said. "That's what he's told me. But I just wanted you to know..."

"That it's still hard to trust them?"

"I don't know..."

"Then we should probably keep this a secret," I suggested. "Make it private. It's the only way."

"I'm afraid you might be right," he said, caressing my hair.

"Is that how you imagined it? Just us?"

"No - but in this case, it might be for the best. If word gets out..."

"I know."

"Are you okay with that?" he wondered.

"I don't want anyone to stop this. And isn't it really between us?"

He nodded. "I want this to be a beautiful night for you."

"It will be. Just having you there. That's all I need."

"Yes," he said. "I'll be there. You can count on that."

But then I thought about the ceremony I'd always imagined. And it was missing someone who had been by my side since third grade.

For a moment I looked away. Alexander took my chin and drew me back to him. "What's wrong?"

"It's just that I really want Becky there - " I confessed.

He smiled. "I know."

"You do?"

"I think she should be there."

I gave him a huge hug. When we released our grip, he seemed as if he wanted to say something more.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I think Sebastian should be there as well."

Now a smile overcame my face. "Of course he should be there. I can't wait, Alexander. This is going to be wonderful." He seemed equally excited.

"I'll set everything up," he said, gazing into my eyes. "The altar, the coffin, the ceremonial goblets."

"What can I bring?"

"Just yourself." He touched my cheek with the back of his hand. "I'd like you to come to the cemetery just after sunset," he continued. "I'll need some time to get ready for you and arrive myself."

"I won't be late," I said.

"And then we will finally be together - as we both have always imagined." He gave me a long, tender kiss that sent tingles down my spine.

"I'm going to find a dress," I said. "One that you'll remember for eternity. Did you tell Stormy?" I asked my boyfriend.

"I thought you'd want us to tell her together," he said.

I was so pleased with Alexander's sensitivity. Stormy had originally wanted Alexander to bond with Luna. But now that she saw Luna's true colors, she might be happy that I was the one who was going to the altar with her brother after all.

Alexander grabbed my hand and led me down the attic stairs, then the main ones. We found Stormy petting Phantom and reading a fashion mag in the parlor while Jameson was in the kitchen cleae k align="juning up from dinner.

Alexander sat down beside her and I sat on the other side of him.

"What's up?" she said. "Is something wrong?"

"No," Alexander said, putting his arm around her. "I just wanted to let you know - Raven and I are going to have a ceremony."

"What kind of ceremony?" she asked quizzically.

"The covenant kind," he replied.

Her eyes widened and she looked at me. "You are going to be turned?" She was as excited as she was surprised. "You really are going to do it?" I nodded.

"This is so fabulous!" she said. "Can I come?"

"We'd like you to be there," Alexander said. "In fact, Raven wants to do this while you are here. That is why we are going ahead with it so soon."

"That is so sweet!" Stormy rose and gave Alexander a hug, then gave me a loving embrace. "Will Billy be my date?"

"Uh ... no," Alexander said. "That's what we want to talk to you about. This is going to be private."

"Mother and Father won't be there?" she asked.

"We want to do this soon. There isn't time. We are also inviting Sebastian and Becky. But that's all. We don't want word to get out. You know how the Maxwells can be."

"I see that now. My lips are sealed," Stormy said. "I am so happy you'll finally be like me." I was so flattered that Stormy was so pleased. I couldn't wait to be part of their family.

I was so flattered that Stormy was so pleased. I couldn't wait to be part of their family.

"What will I wear?" she wondered.

"You can wear the dress you wore to the fall dance," I told her.

"What will you wear?" she asked me.

"I have only a short time to figure that out," I said. "But will you be the flower girl? We need someone to scatter the dead black roses."

"I'm your ghoul," she said with a wink.

And with that, we finished the evening with some smoothies, knowing in just a few more days, I'd be requiridastian anng the Romanian kind.

I looked at the world with almost vampire eyes as I awoke the next day and headed off to school. This was routine to me - drag myself out of bed, cower from the bright sun, take an all-too-short shower, get dressed in my brooding attire, and spend my day at school watching the clock until the final bell rang. In two days, however, I wouldn't be waking up in the daylight but going to bed just before it. I wouldn't be going to school and having to suffer through mundane subjects or lessons with teachers who favored the popular students. Instead, Jameson would tutor me one-on-one in subjects that interested me. I wouldn't have to take Trevor Mitchell's harassment anymore. Instead of seeing him, I'd be seeing Alexander.

As I breezed through the hallway, we passed the Prada-bees, who stared at me with their usual contempt.

"Hi, Heather. Hi, Courtney," I said gleefully.

"Uh ... hi, Raven."

"I like your purse," I said truthfully to Courtney, who was holding a bright blue designer satchel. "It matches your eyes."

"Uh ... thanks, I guess."

When we turned the corner, I saw my nemesis slink down the corridor as if he were a teacher instead of a student.

"Hi, Trevor," I said when he got closer.

He looked at me skeptically. "Uh ... hi. Did you have something you want to tell me?"

"No, just wanted to say hello."

"Well, that's very unlike you. You wouldn't be planning something sinister, would you?"

"No, something wonderful."

"Not egging my locker? Or keying my car?"

"No. Not those things at all."

I stretched my arms out and before he could retreat, I leaned in and gave my nemesis a long hug.

His body eventually melted into mine. It was bizarre to be standing in school hugging Trevor Mitchell. But I really meant it. There was warmth that flowed from me to him and vice versa. Though we had had our fights and tormented each other, I had known him since we were in kindergarten. Besides my family, it was the longest relationship I'd had in my life. And though it was mostly negative, I could always count on him being there for me - to judge, bother, and pester me. And through those years, I gave it back to him each time. And for a moment, in the middle of the hallway at Dullsville High, we came together as one.

I released our embrace and gazed up into his green, surprised eyes. Then I left him standing there watching me and wondering what had just happened as I walked to class.

For the first time since attending school, I really listened to my teachers. Some continued to be boring, but most were really passionate about the lessons. Maybe they had things to teach me all these years. And today, the teachers and their lectures really meant something to me, and after each class I went up to them and told them that, leaving each one shocked and confused.

"You've been acting funny all day. What is going on?" Becky asked when we got into her truck after school and I told her to drive to Evans Park.

"Swear to secrecy?" I asked her when we sat down on our favorite swings. "You can't tell anyone."

"I'll try." She appeared concerned.

"Alexander is going to turn me."

Becky gasped. "Are you kidding?"

"No. It's really going to happen."

"When?" she asked, still shocked.

"Tomorrow night."

"Then you will be - "

"What I've always wanted to be."

"But I thought you were going to wait. Until college," she said as the news sunk in.

"I promise nothing will change."

"What about school?" Becky was concerned.

"Alexander told me I can be homeschooled by Jameson. You can come over, too."

"But who will I eat lunch with?"

"Matt."

"I can't bear to be without you, Raven," she blurted out.

I wasn't sure how Becky would take the news, but I kind of knew it might be hard.

"Me too," I said, tears welling in my eyes.

"I'm happy for you but sad for me."

"Please don't think of it that way. You are so much more popular in school now. You are dating a jock. A handsome and nice one."

"But you've always been there."

"And I always will be. You can still drag me to games, and we can do our homework together at night. It's really only a few daylight hours that we'll miss."

"The ones that you missed with Alexander, now we'll miss."

"I'm not choosing him over you or anything like that," I said.

"I know. But we've been friends since third grade. It's just going to be a big change."

"I've seen you grow," I told my best friend. "You don't need me like you did."

"I always will. We're best friends."

"Yes, we are. That won't change. I want you to be there when it happens," I said. "I need you, too."

"Me?"

"Yes, you and Sebastian. You are the only ones we are inviting. And Stormy, of course." Becky smiled as if she was pleased to be the one I was inviting and excited that she'd be there to share it, too. "This is scary - and amazing. I can't believe this will really be happening," she said.

"I know, me too."

"What do I do?" she asked worriedly. "What do I wear?"

"You can wear whatever you want," I said, trying to calm her down. "Whatever you feel comfortable in." She began to spin, trying to think of outfits. "I have a new dress that I bought for fall." She began to spin, trying to think of outfits. "I have a new dress that I bought for fall."

"Whatever you want."

"But what happens at the ceremony?"

"Alexander and I will be at the altar. We'll stand by a coffin. There will be two goblets and some candles. He'll say some words in Romanian about our lives together, and then we'll drink from the cups."

"Okay ... then what?"

"Then he'll bite me."

"Oh, geez," she said. "That's what I was afraid of."

"It will be okay, really." I took her hand.

"I know ... but it's not something I'm used to. I'm used to seeing people kiss at the end of a ceremony." We both laughed, her nervously and me with excitement.

"And then what happens?" she asked as I withdrew my hand.

"Hopefully, I'll be a vampire."

"Just like that?"

"I think so."

"Aren't you afraid?"

"Me? Afraid?" I said. "Just of not being one."

"It will be hard," she said, "but I'll be there."

We rose from our swings. She gave me a huge hug, and I knew then what I always had known since third grade - that I had the best friend on earth.

Dullsville had several stores to buy wedding, prom, and other special-occasion dresses but none that catered to cemetery covenant ceremonies. I had to think hard and fast on where to find one. I didn't have time to order one online or to find the fabric and make the perfect dress. One place came to my mind: Jack's Department Store. I'd shopped there before and last year had found a dress left over from Halloween to wear for the first dance Alexander and I attended together -

the Snow Ball. I was hoping I'd get lucky again.

Becky drove me to Jack's and I did a quick tour of the junior department.

"Nothing suitable for the cemetery," I told Becky. She agreed.

"Halloween is over," the clerk said when I asked her about any costumes they might have in stock.

Becky was cowering behind me as I challenged the saleslady. "But don't you have anything left over? On clearance? In the back?" I was desperate.

She shrugged her shoulders. She obviously didn't want to put herself out. But then I saw Jack Patterson, the owner of the store. He held a special place in his heart for me since I helped him sneak into the Mansion for a high school initiation when he was a senior and I was twelve.

"Raven. How are you?" he asked with that same handsome smile he had when I helped him get inside the Mansion.

"I'm fine. How are you doing?"

"And Becky. It's great to see you, t to tour oo."

"Thanks, Jack. It's so nice to see you."

Jack was Matt's uncle, and he was familiar with my best friend as well.

"So what brings you ladies here today?" he asked in a pleasant voice.

"A dress." I couldn't possibly tell him what I needed the dress for, only that I needed one. "I'm looking for a Halloween dress. I was hoping you had something left over. It's only been a few weeks."

He paused. "We had some in back last time I looked," he said. "Let's go check."

I felt like a ray of moonlight hit me. We followed him into the stockroom, and he searched through men's clothes and a few women's winter dresses.

"Ah yes," he said. "Is this what you are looking for?" He held up a Snow White dress.

"Well, not exactly." It was pretty but not what I had in mind. And I hadn't imagined puffy sleeves, and I didn't have time to dye the entire dress black.

"We have more," he said, showing us an area of unsold costumes. "Feel free to sift through." As I smiled at Jack, I recalled that time when I'd helped him sneak into the Mansion, as I'd done so many times myself, and how far I'd come since then. Not only was I dating the vampire who had since moved into the Mansion, but I was on my way to becoming one myself.

I'd assisted Jack with his mission and, unknowingly, he was doing the same for me.

I was hoping to find a dress here, like I had done before for a dance. But this one was for an even more important occasion, a truly magical night that would change everything - would change me. Jack didn't know this, but the next time I saw him, I might indeed be a vampire.

"Whatever you find," he said with a twinkle in his eye, "I know you'll look beautiful."

"Thank you so much," I said sincerely. I was truly touched by his compliment; it meant the world to me. I raced over and gave him a warm embrace.

Jack was paged from the front of the store and gave us a quick wink good-bye.

Becky and I whisked through the stacks of costumes, hoping one would fill my ultimate desired covenant dress and be the right size.

"How about this?" Becky pulled out a blood-red dress, but it was at least three sizes too big.

"That one is better. But I'll have to cut it off and take in most of it."

I perused a rack of hanging costumes. But one by one, each was something other than what I needed.

"What do you think of this one, then?" Becky asked excitedly. I looked up, hopeful. She held up a tattered, bloody prom dress, one a ghost girl would wear.

Perfect for Halloween but not for my idea of a covenant ceremony.

"I do think it's cool, but it's white and red. And I'm not sure it's the right mood. Even for me," I lamented.

"I guess not."

"I don't know what I'm going to do," I said. I only had one day.

Then I spotted a dress hanging alone at the end of the rack.

I was deflated from not finding the perfect dress, but I decided to check it out. The closer I got to it, the more hopeful I became. I reached for it and held it out to the light. It was an off-the-shoulder black lace dress, with pearl buttons decorating the middle of the corset like dewdrops. It came with black lace gloves and a small lace bolero.

"I love this," I said, melting.

"It's so you!"

"I could wear this if I get cold." I modeled the bolero.

"It's gorgeous," Becky cooed.

"I hope it fits," I said, holding it up to me.

"I'm sure it will."

"I'm not going to be able to eat, anyway," I told her. "I'm too excited."

Becky examined it as I held it against me. It looked like a perfect fit.

"That dress was waiting for you - just like Alexander," she said.

We both jumped up and down and squealed with delight until a saleslady came in and told us to calm down.