Henry’s eyes flicked to Meredith and then to Vlad. He gave a halfhearted shrug. “I told you, man. I just don’t feel like going.”

Then Henry trudged down the front steps and across the yard. Vlad watched him with troubled eyes. Meredith tugged his sleeve. “It’ll be okay. We’ll still have fun. Don’t worry.”

Vlad dropped his gaze for a moment. Not even the promise of a happy night semi-alone with Meredith could wash away his concerns. His best friend was clearly troubled by something. Vlad just hoped that something wasn’t him.

While Nelly and Meredith exchanged pleasantries, Vlad thought about Henry and what might be on his mind. He knew Melissa was in there somewhere-after all, Henry had never had a problem getting girls to like him, and Melissa had shown absolutely zero interest in his charms so far. It had to be a bruise to his ego. But Vlad suspected that wasn’t the only thing troubling him.

Lately, whenever Vlad would hover in front of his best friend or open the Encyclopedia Vampyrica in front of him, inciting his eyes to flash iridescent purple, Henry’s mood would shift, and then he’d sulk for days. Vlad had a sneaking suspicion that maybe being Vlad’s drudge-Vlad’s human slave, all because of a single bite-was getting to Henry in the worst way. The kind of way that meant that Henry was so bothered by it that he couldn’t even bring himself to tell Vlad.

Of course, this was all speculation on Vlad’s part. And he might be completely wrong about why Henry had been acting so sullen lately. Maybe it was nothing. Maybe he really just didn’t feel like dressing up and going to Matthew’s party. It was possible. Vlad highly doubted it… but it was possible.

“ Vladimir?” Nelly’s voice broke into his thoughts, and he blinked at her. “Did you hear me?”

He shook his head. “Sorry. I was just thinking about something. What did you say?”

A brief flash of concern crossed her eyes. “No later than eleven tonight, okay?”

Vlad let out a sigh. “It’s been eleven for the past two years. Y’know, I am older now.”

Nelly nodded thoughtfully. “You’re absolutely right. Older and able to get into more trouble. Better make it ten.”

Vlad groaned and rolled his eyes as he headed for the door. “Fine. See you at eleven.”

Meredith chattered all the way to Matthew’s house. For the most part, Vlad listened and laughed at all the right spots. But tainting their precious time together was the matter of Henry, and the gnawing feeling that Vlad was somehow responsible for his cloudy mood. Not to mention his dire stress at the idea of attending a party without his best friend to protect him.

As they stepped up onto the front porch, Vlad saw the flash of a camera from the corner of his eye. Eddie.

Vlad tensed and forced himself to ignore the little twit, difficult as it was.

Meredith turned to Vlad, a small crease in her forehead. “Are you okay, Vlad? You seem… distracted.”

He hadn’t realized it was that obvious. He said, “It’s Henry. He’s been acting really weird lately.”

Meredith nodded with understanding. “I bet it’s because of what happened with Melissa.”

Vlad’s eyes probably couldn’t have gone any wider if he tried. “Something happened?”

She nodded, sighing loudly. “Henry asked her out in the middle of the student council meeting last week, right in front of everyone. She said no, of course-she’s always thought Henry was kind of a jerk, y’know? On account of how he dates all sorts of girls, but never really has a girlfriend.”

On Henry’s behalf, Vlad winced. Once a girl had listed your name in the jerk category, there was little hope of recovery.

“So anyway, Melissa told him no. But… well, she also told him that it didn’t matter if he got down on his knees and begged her, she’d never go out with him. Not in a million years.” She shrugged. “But it’s not like it matters, right? I mean, Henry can get any girl.”

“Any girl but Melissa, you mean.” Vlad chewed his bottom lip thoughtfully for a moment before meeting her eyes. “ The problem is that it really does matter to Henry.”

Meredith sighed. “I guess he’s pretty upset, huh?”

With a nod, Vlad frowned. There had to be something he could do to help Henry out, short of reading Melissa’s thoughts, anyway. And why hadn’t Henry told him about Melissa flaming him in public like that? But then, he was probably pretty embarrassed by it. Who wouldn’t be?

Meredith squeezed his hand and said, “You’re sweet, Vlad. Henry’s lucky to have you for a friend. And I’m lucky too.”

“Why?”

“Because I get to do this.” She leaned closed and brushed her lips against his cheek.

Vlad’s skin warmed at her touch. He smiled and gave her hand a squeeze back. Then he reached up and gently wiped the green makeup from her lips with his sleeve. “I’m the lucky one.”

After exchanging blushing glances, they headed up the steps together and immersed themselves in Matthew’s living room-turned-graveyard, complete with moss-covered tombstones and eerie fog. The room wasn’t as crowded as last year, and as they moved through it, Vlad realized that most of the guests were heading downstairs. He and Meredith made their way to the basement, which had been decorated like some kind of medieval torture room. There was even a robotic half-dead mutant strapped to the stretching rack that screamed every time somebody walked by. Vlad grinned. Now this was a party.

The music was pretty loud, mostly Top 40 stuff. Matthew’s dad manned the stereo, dressed like a Hawaiian tourist. Vlad had seen him wearing that same shirt all through last summer. It wasn’t so much a costume as an excuse to don his immensely ugly orange, teal, and yellow flowered shirt.

Matthew’s mom was dressed like Glinda from The Wizard of Oz. She was busy force-feeding cupcakes to any guest that came within a four-foot radius of the buffet, but not before asking them in a shrill voice if they were a good witch or a bad witch. Matthew, understandably, kept to the other side of the room and pretended they weren’t related.

Vlad was shaking his head at the scene in front of him when he suddenly realized he was no longer holding Meredith’s hand and that there was a girlish squeal-fest going on to his right. He looked over at Meredith, who was hugging Melissa and jumping up and down a little. Melissa was dressed as a fairy, complete with large, sparkly wings, which smacked Mike Brennan in the face as Melissa bounced in girlish glee.

Vlad couldn’t help but frown. Mike wasn’t wearing a costume. In fact, as he looked around, he saw that just a handful of guys were dressed up as anything this year. And while Vlad certainly enjoyed donning a costume and having fun, it was a lot better when everyone else did it too. He nodded at Mike, and to his satisfaction, a glint of jealousy flashed in Mike’s eyes as he pointed to Vlad’s outfit. “That is one sweet costume, Vlad. How’d you convince your aunt that you weren’t too old to dress up?”

Vlad smiled, relaxing some-so that’s why Mike wasn’t wearing a costume. “Nelly’s pretty cool about that kind of thing, actually. She was the one who found the rubber bolts for me.”

Mike groaned. “My parents are so lame. I’ve been arguing with them for weeks about whether or not dressing up for Halloween is something reserved for little kids.”

“You lost, huh?”

Mike nodded sullenly. “I wanted to come as the Crypt Keeper.”

Vlad flicked a glance at Glinda and back. “Well, if you’re interested, I’m pretty sure Matthew’s mom has a ton of old costumes lying around. I mean, every year they go all out, y’know? I bet she’d let you borrow one.”

Mike bit his lip, watching Matthew’s mom as she waved her light-up wand over a fresh batch of cookies. As she did so, she said, “There’s no place like home!”

He groaned, but the costume must have been pretty important to him, since he muttered that he’d be right back and crossed the room toward the mound of pink crinoline that was Matthew’s mom.