Elvira's point of view…

"So remember," I said, flipping the annoying halo out of my face, "Angels aren't just mythology; if you look around, you can see the angels in your life everyday. The most real ones don't have wings."

My classmates applauded politely. I thought my oral report was a success, considering no one had thrown a tomato at me yet. Mr. Otis clapped.

"Wonderful work," he paused, "and the halo adds a nice touch."

I smiled and bowed my head. Vlad whispered his congrats as I sat in the desk next to his.

"And now, we have the pleasure of hearing Vladimir's take on being a vampire."

I gave him a thumbs up as he nervously made his way to the front of the room.

"But before we begin, would you mind passing out these cloves of garlic, Vlad?"

I froze. What was Mr. Otis's problem? He couldn't possibly know Vlad's secret…

Could he?

"I can't; I'm deathly allergic to garlic. The office has it on file, if you don't believe me."

Mr. Otis shrugged. "Proceed."

Vlad turned toward the class. "Hi, I'm Vladimir Tod, and I'm a vampire."

Meredith giggled, and that was enough to break his stage fright. He talked about the impracticalities of his aversion to Italian food and the sun, but bragged about his abilities of flying and reading minds. He ended with an appropriate:

"Being a vampire pretty much sucks."

The class applauded. Mr. Otis seemed to enjoy Vlad's presentation, though he asked to see him after class. I was sure it couldn't be good.

"Hey angel," Henry greeted me outside English, "Did you whip out your real wings for the presentation?" I had told Henry about the whole Angel of Death thing, and he had taken it surprisingly well. I mean, at least he didn't faint.

"Now you think of this."

Vlad walked over then, looking pretty pissed. "So Mr. Otis just invited himself over to dinner at my house."

Henry and I stared at him in horror for a few moments.

"Dude, that sucks."

"What if he really is dangerous Vlad?" I asked in my signature Miss Brightside way. "Should Henry and I come over, too?"

"Don't drag me into this," Henry muttered.

"Henry's right," Vlad agreed. "I can't bring you guys into this. You could get hurt."

"That's stupid Vlad. You could just as well get hurt-"

"Even so," he cut me off, "I can't put you in that position. I'll keep you posted."

We looked at each other with silent dread. Having your teacher over for dinner is bad enough. But when your teacher is possibly a psycho murderer, whom you believe, however truthfully, killed you parents? That just bites.

A cliffhanger if I ever saw one…review if you want, don't if you don't.