“Why would it be bad?” she asked, worried. “Is this about you and Alexander?”

“It might not be bad,” I confessed, and it was true, since I didn’t ultimately know Jagger’s plans. I was just going by his previous history.

“I think it would be easier if you just told me what you are talking about instead of being so cryptic.”

“It’s not really a threat, not now anyway,” I said.

“I guess you’d have to take the threatening part away. That’s the only way it would work.”

I thought about what Becky said. If somehow I made sure that no vampires were invited to the Crypt, other than the ones already inhabiting the vacant mill, then maybe there wouldn’t be a threat. I knew Onyx and Scarlet, and so far they didn’t seem to take advantage of unsuspecting mortals. If Sebastian liked Luna, Onyx had her fangs set on Jagger, and we kept a close eye on Scarlet’s fondness for Trevor, all the vampires would be accounted for.

Perhaps it could be a fun place for Dullsville’s high school students to hang out. They could, at last, finally understand what I’ve been craving all my life. Maybe the darkness could make them, too, feel more alive than ever.

And it could be a huge, morbid playpen for me.

“You are a genius,” I declared.

“Now are you going to tell me what you are talking about?”

Just then my cell beeped. It was a text from Alexander.

I can’t sleep. Thinking of you.

I melted inside, knowing that my boyfriend was lying in his coffin and dreaming of me. And though I loved Alexander’s mystery and old-fashioned style, I was grateful to be a not-so-normal girl with a not-so-normal boyfriend now that we were able to communicate like a normal couple.

I quickly texted back.

Miss you like crazy.

I held the phone out to Becky proudly. “Alexander,” I said.