The Little Vampire (4 page)

“He’ll probably wear it when he comes next time,” said Tony comfortingly. Then, with a touch of daring, he added: “He wears it nearly all the time.”

But his mother did not believe him. She merely laughed all the more, saying: “Tony,
you read too many horror stories. You’ll be telling me next that he flew out of the window!”

“If only you knew,” said Tony crossly.

“Oh, Tony, don’t let’s quarrel about vampires,” said his mother, soothingly. “Come on, what about that game of ludo?”

“O.K.,” sighed Tony. He hadn’t thought he was quarreling about them. He set out the board and the counters and gave the dice to his mother. “You
start.”

“Why me?” asked his mother.

“Oh – got to give you a chance to win something.”

A Second Cloak

“W
ELL, TONY, IS THAT
funny friend of yours coming tonight?” asked Tony’s mother the following Saturday. She and Tony’s father were going to the theatre this time, and had put on their smartest clothes: Mum had on a lurex dress with a revealing neckline, and Dad was wearing a velvet suit and silk tie. Tony was ready to wave them off at the door. He coughed in slight embarrassment
at the question, and answered, “Ahem, well – maybe, if he’s not already going to a fancy dress party.“

“What?” asked Dad. “Who’s going to a fancy dress party?”

“Tony’s new friend,” answered Mum with a smile. “He’s always going to fancy dress parties.” Dad looked nonplussed. “And guess what he goes as?” giggled Mum. “A vampire.” At this, Dad looked so puzzled that Tony nearly burst out laughing,
but he checked himself. There would only be an argument, and then Dad might stay home out of spite. You could never quite tell what grown-ups might do!

“Anyway,” said Mum, “we’d like to meet this friend one day. And his parents too, of course.”

“His parents?” This was too much.

“Of course. We want to know what sort of family you’re mixing with.”

“But I’m not mixing with his family,” protested
Tony. “Just him.”

“That’s not the point. Where do they live, as a matter of fact?”

“Come on,” interrupted Dad. “We’ve must be off, Hilary.”

“Yes, yes, in a minute. Well, Tony?”

Tony had been hoping that he would not have to answer this one. “Um, n-near the cemetery.”

“Where?” His mother was horrified, but Dad took her firmly by the arm and drew her downstairs.

“Don’t let your imagination
run too wild, son,” he said. “Fancy dress parties all the time, vampires, cemeteries ... whatever next?” He turned and waved.

“Bye dear.” His mother waved, too, but looked a bit worried. Tony hoped her suspicions had not been aroused.

He shut the door and went back to his room. From his window, he watched his parents get into the car and drive away. He hoped Rudolph would soon be there. The
sun had set, and the moon was rising high and luminous in the night sky.

Six floors below him, at street level, the lamps were already lit up. A large black moth was fluttering down there, but it began to circle and climb steadily until it was level with Tony’s window. A strange transformation began to take place: first, two feet appeared below the wings, then two hands, and finally the familiar,
spine-chilling face. It was the little vampire. He did a clever twist in mid-air and came to land on the window-sill.

“God, you gave me a fright!” spluttered Tony.

“Don’t say
God
!” The vampire shook himself.

“Do you always fly around in the shape of a moth?” asked Tony.

“I beg your pardon?” retorted the vampire. “That wasn’t a moth. That was a bat!”

“Oh,” said Tony, rather embarrassed. He
always seemed to put his foot in it. But the vampire was not really cross. It is difficult for vampires to smile and look friendly, but Rudolph did his best.

“Are you by yourself?” he asked. Tony nodded. “Good. I’ve brought something for you,” he added, and pulled out from under his cloak a second one, just like his own. Tony had only to notice with a shudder the bloodstains and the smell of
damp earth and mouldering wood that came from it, to realize that this was no fake!

“Try it on!” whispered the vampire.

“O.K.,” said Tony, doubtfully. He remembered the story of the fancy dress ball. Would he change into a vampire if he put this thing on? But in the stories he had read, the victim also had to be bitten by a vampire for that to happen. But how did he know what this vampire had
in mind? He shuddered suddenly, and backed towards the door, knees knocking.

“Hey, Tony!” The vampire sounded hurt. “We’re friends, remember?”

“Y-yes,” stammered Tony, and in his confusion he tripped over his school satchel and sprawled full length on the floor.

The vampire helped him up. “Do you really think I’d do anything to you?” he asked, looking at Tony steadily.

“N-no,” blushed Tony.
“It’s just ... well, maybe the cloak might ... but it’s all crazy!” he added bravely.

“Come on,” encouraged the vampire. He picked the cloak up off the floor and held it out to Tony. “Put it on!”

For a moment Tony thought he might be sick, but he gritted his teeth and pulled it over his head. The vampire watched him with glowing eyes.

“Now you can fly!”

“Fly? Me?” asked Tony.

“Nothing easier!”
laughed the vampire and jumped onto Tony’s desk, spreading his arms wide. “Just imagine your arms are wings. Move them up and down, slowly and steadily. Up, down, up, down ...” He had hardly moved them once, before he was gliding round the room. “See?” he said gleefully, landing on the bed. “Now you do it!”

With unsteady legs, Tony clambered onto the desk and stretched out his arms.

“Now – fly!”
ordered the vampire.

“I can’t!”

“Yes. Just believe that you can!”

“Can’t!”

“Can.”

“Oh, all right.” Suddenly, Tony didn’t care if he fell on his head on the floor – he’d show the vampire who was right! Humans just can’t fly! So he flapped his arms and jumped and – flew! The air was supporting him. It was like swimming under water – only much, much better!

“I can fly!” he crowed.

“Of course,” growled the vampire. “Now, come with me.” He was already sitting on the window-sill and looked round at Tony impatiently. “We’ve got a lot to do tonight!” He stood up and took off into the night. Tony’s fear suddenly seemed to melt away, and without a moment’s hesitation, he followed him out of the window.

Goings-on at the Graveyard

“W
HERE ARE WE GOING
?” asked Tony as they flew along.

“Home, to get the books,” replied Rudolph.

“And where – I mean, where exactly are they?”

The vampire grinned. “In my coffin of course! Where else?”

“Oh!” gulped Tony. “So we’re going to the cemetery?”

“Yep. Scared?”

“Me? NO!”

“Don’t need to be,” reassured the vampire. “My family will all be out and about.” Tony
gave a sigh of relief. The wall of the cemetery was already coming into view. “Ssh!” hissed the vampire, and caught Tony’s sleeve. “We must go carefully.“

“Why?” asked Tony, but the vampire did not answer. He seemed to be listening for something.

“Is someone there?” asked Tony anxiously. He guessed they must be somewhere on the far side of the cemetery. Last summer, the wall around it had been
painted white, but here the stones were grey and crumbling, and moss was growing over them in places. “Is it one of your relatives?” he asked.

The vampire shook his head. “The Nightwatchman doing his rounds,” he hissed. “Come on, let’s land.”

They had hardly hidden themselves behind the wall when they heard a loud wheezing. “That’s him!” whispered Rudolph. He looked worried. “He’s looking for
us, you know.”

“Us?” cried Tony. He was frightened too now.

“Ssh! Us vampires, of course.”

“Why?”

“Because he can’t stand us. What do you think he carries around in his pocket? A hammer and a wooden stake!”

“How do you know?”

“How do I know?” The vampire grew paler. “Because he drove a wooden stake through the heart of my poor old Uncle Theodore.”

“Ugh!” exclaimed Tony.

“And all because
Uncle Theo wasn’t very careful one night, and was sitting on his tombstone just after dusk playing patience. The Nightwatchman simply marked which grave it was, and the next day, when it was light ...” He paused and listened again. All was quiet. “And ever since,” he continued, “he hasn’t left us in peace.”

“Couldn’t you just ...?” suggested Tony, and he snapped his teeth to indicate what he
had in mind.

“Not him! He chews garlic from dawn to dusk.”

“Yuk!” exclaimed Tony. “Garlic.”

“I wish he was like the old Nightwatchman,” sighed Rudolph. “
He
didn’t believe in us, and besides, he had a gammy leg. He never used to come into this part of the cemetery, so we practically forgot that there
was
a Nightwatchman.” He looked up at the sky thoughtfully. “Such a nice man!”

“But the new
one does believe in vampires?” asked Tony.

“Unfortunately, yes,” answered the vampire. “And that’s not all: he’s determined to be the first Nightwatchman in Europe to have a vampire-free cemetery.” He looked so upset that Tony felt quite sorry for him.

“Can’t you do anything about him?” he asked.

“Like what?”

“You could move somewhere else.”

“Where? Who wants to have eight vampires roosting
with them?”

“Hmm,” said Tony. “What if you split up? I mean, if one of you went to one cemetery, and one to ...?”

But the vampire shook his head decisively. “Out of the question. We vampires stick together!” He stood up and peered over the wall.

“Well?” asked Tony.

“He’s gone,” said the vampire. “Now I can show you my coffin.”

Tony felt slightly uneasy when they clambered over the wall and
suddenly found themselves in the middle of overturned gravestones, crumbing crosses, and thickly growing weeds. There was a deathly hush and quiet, and the graveyard looked creepy in the moonlight. Tony could not see anything that looked like a grave in use. The vampire smiled. “It’s well hidden, isn’t it? You’re almost standing on the family vault, and yet you don’t know where it is.”

“Vault?” Tony was taken aback. “I thought you each had your own grave.”

“A precautionary measure,” answered the vampire. “We put all the coffins together in one underground vault, and there is only one entrance, which is well hidden – except of course, there’s an emergency exit.”

He looked carefully around. Then he picked up a flat stone, overgrown with moss, which lay almost entirely invisible
under the shadow of a yew tree. A narrow shaft leading underground was revealed.

“The entrance,” whispered Rudolph. “I’ll go first, then you follow. But don’t forget to put the stone back after you!”

Feet first, the vampire slid down the shaft and under the ground.

In the Vault

T
ONY HESITATED FOR A
moment. Should he really follow Rudolph into the vault? How could he be sure it would be all right? But on the other hand, the vampire had never tricked him before, and it was probably much more dangerous to be left alone out here in the cemetery at night! What if one of the other vampires came back? No way! It was definitely better to trust Rudolph, who knew
all the dangers in the cemetery, and to climb in after him!

Tony put his legs into the opening and let himself down slowly. At first, it seemed rather exciting to be sliding down into the earth like this, but when it came to actually letting go with his hands, his nervousness once more got the better of him. What would happen if there were quite a drop beneath him? Would he ever get out of this
hole again? Then he heard Rudolph’s voice close to him saying, “Come on, Tony! Jump!” and he let go with his hands.

He landed on a platform. Above him, just out of reach, he could see the hole he had just come in by. He stood on tiptoe and pushed the stone over the gap. At first he could see nothing in the darkness that enveloped him, and it took a while before his eyes could make out the steps
leading down into the inner chamber of the vault. There was only a feeble glimmer of light, and everything smelled of dankness and decay.