'Twilight' tale: Vampires take over Aurora mall
AURORA — The vampires didn't take the blood of Aurora Christian High School junior Alyssa Sirek, just her breath.
"I'm pretty sure I stopped breathing there," said Sirek, 16, of Yorkville.
(Jonathan Miano/Staff Photographer)
PHOTO GALLERY
• 'Twilight' stars in town
• Got blood? Make a donation
Speaking of blood ...
To celebrate the opening of "New Moon," the second in the popular "Twilight" series of vampire movies, Heartland Blood Centers, 1200 N. Highland Ave., Aurora, will be holding a "New Moon"-themed blood drive.
From 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Nov. 19 — the day before the movie opens — donors will receive a special edition "Run With the Pack" T-shirt and will be entered in a raffle for "New Moon" movie tickets, posters, life-size character cut-outs, jewelry and more.
The goal is 100 donors. For more information, call 630-723-2551 or visit www.heartlandbc.org.
Sirek was one of 500 people at the Westfield Fox Valley mall on Tuesday who got to meet actors Ashley Greene and Kellan Lutz, who play the vampires Alice and Emmett Cullen in the "Twilight" series of movies. The second installment, "New Moon," comes out Nov. 20.
Sirek's friend, Shannon Norris, 17, of Yorkville, also reported health effects after meeting the vamps.
"I thought I was going to pass out there for five seconds," Norris said.
"They're even prettier in person," added friend Ashlyn Slamans, 16, of Sugar Grove.
Although only 500 people who had purchased special "New Moon" shirts last week were able to meet the stars, hundreds more showed to see the spectacle, which included a performance by Anya Marina from the movie soundtrack.
"I'm so excited," said Haleigh Yerkes, 13, of Naperville, adding that she would prefer to meet actor Taylor Lautner, who plays the werewolf Jacob Black.
"Because he's pretty hot," Yerkes said to the giggles of friend Katja Ostojic, 14, of Naperville.
The movie-and-book series centers on the romance between vampire Edward Cullen and human Bella Swan, a story that resonated with the predominantly teen girl crowd Tuesday night.
"Except for the fact there are werewolves and vampires, it's pretty close to real life," said Sarah Estrada, 19, of Naperville. "You always want to fit in with the boyfriend's family and there's always the one sibling who doesn't like you and there's always the friend that wants more."
Drew Ashley, 20, of Pekin, was one of the few males in line to meet the stars.
"'Twilight' doesn't really offer much for a guy," Ashley said. "But 'New Moon,' 'Eclipse,' there's a lot of action in those. I'm pretty excited about that."
The first three people in line — Jennifer Armour, 23, Jennifer Popplewell, 27, and Stacy York, 27 — came from Indianapolis for the event. They had been waiting in line since 10 a.m., about 15 minutes before the next people.
"The line really started picking up at about 11:30," Popplewell said.
But the wait Tuesday was nothing compared to the wait on Oct. 30 to get the T-shirts in the first place. That was an overnight adventure.
"We got here at 6 p.m., slept here until 8 a.m. and at 8 a.m. they let us in to buy our wristbands," said Alysa Deutscher, 22, of Batavia.
