Cryptic Cravings Read Online Free PDF Page B

left uninvestigated—the one across the hal from the sleeping vampires. I’d be smart to head to the Mansion and return another time with Alexander. I didn’t have much time to decide, and I was desperate to know what lay on the other side.
    I stared at the doorknob. I anxiously turned the handle, but it wouldn’t open. I pushed and pul ed so hard, the knob came off in my hand. As I wrangled it back on, I could feel it catching the latch. I did my best to be patient and opened the door slowly.
    The room was dark except for a paper-thin beam of light streaming in through a broken window at least twenty feet from the floor. The smel of dust and mold fil ed the room. Old filing cabinets lined a few wal s and there was an antique wooden desk. A green wine bottle with a Romanian label sat on it. In the corner was an aquarium containing not water but rocks and one very frightening tarantula. Gravestone etchings, including the very ones I’d seen at Jagger’s place in Hipstervil e, hung from the wal s. This must be Jagger’s new quarters. By appearances, he wasn’t ready to return to Hipstervil e in the near future.

    I didn’t have much time to riffle through the mess.
    I spotted a tube of papers. I unscrol ed them and discovered they were a stack of diagrams. Sticky notes labeled each one individual y, the first, THE CRYPT, the second THE COVENANT, and the third, which was worn and appeared to be an original copy labeled SINCLAIR MILL. I was looking at the blueprints for Jagger’s club.
    I examined the one marked THE CRYPT. I wasn’t in the habit of reading blueprints and they weren’t as detailed as I would have imagined. Instead of pictures there were boxes and lines, dotted and thick ones representing different things. I could make out one main room with a large box marked “stage.”
    So, was “the Covenant” the mysterious underground vampire club, like the Dungeon was in the Coffin Club? I knew Jagger had mentioned to Sebastian his dream to open the club to vampires. These could be the plans to prove that it was more than a dream.
    I was intent on scouring it when I realized the light was no longer streaming in through the cracked window.
    This meant one thing: The sun had set and the sleeping vampires in the next room were about to rise.
    Alexander had to see these plans. He was smart and would know better how to read them. But I couldn’t take them al with me. If Jagger discovered they were missing, who knows what he would do. I pul ed out my cel phone to take a picture of them when I heard a rustling coming from the next room.
    I would have to use my flash to take the picture, and I knew it would bring immediate attention to the room I was rifling through.
    I only had seconds to decide. Ticktock. Ticktock. It was then I heard a creaking opening of coffin lid doors.
    I decided against the photo. I definitely couldn’t take al the plans, but maybe Jagger wouldn’t notice if one was missing. I pul ed away the one on top and rol ed the others back up and bound them with the rubber band. My heart was pounding and the blueprints in my hands were shaking.
    I rol ed up the Crypt plans and stuck them in my backpack and replaced the other two exactly where they had been. I grabbed my flashlight and quietly closed the door behind me. I bolted out of the room and tore up the rickety spiral staircase before the vampires had a chance to reach the hal way.
    Breathless, I hopped on my bike and pedaled straight for the Mansion.
    “You did what?” Alexander exclaimed when I explained the last hours’ events.
    Alexander didn’t greet me with the usual hug and sensual kiss. I realized I shouldn’t have spoken so soon.
    “I thought this way we could have leverage on their plans,” I said. “Once you see this—maybe we’l know what he’s real y up to.”
    “Why didn’t you wait for me?” he asked, shaking his head.
    “It was the only way for me to find out info. Under the cloak of sunlight. Otherwise they’d be