Vampire Lodge, page 10
But, again, no reply.
Where is everybody?
He dashed up the stairs, quickly checked his room, then Becky’s. Both were empty. Then he stormed back downstairs and checked every room, the hearth room, the kitchen, the dining room and the den.
No one’s here, he realized with a strange, low feeling in his gut. The lodge is empty…
But of course Aunt Carolyn wouldn’t be around. She’s a vampire, he remembered. She’s probably sleeping in her coffin somewhere. But what of Jimmy and Becky? Where would they be, especially on a day like today? They can’t be outside. In this storm? They’d be crazy! They could get struck by lightning!
Kevin, having nothing else to do, wandered around a little. Eventually he came back to the hearth room and sat down on one of the couches. At least it was warm in here. A big, crackling fire was burning in the fireplace. He tried to collect his thoughts, and in a few minutes, his confusion began to pass.
I’ve got to figure out what’s going on around here, he determined himself.
Then, very simply, he thought the single word:
Vampires.
In his mind, he made up a list of everything he’d discovered. The paintings. The wooden stakes. The bloody crosses. In one way or another, they all referred to one thing.
Vampires, he thought again.
Aunt Carolyn was a vampire; he was sure of this now. Awake at night, never to be seen during the day, never outside in the sun. There could be no other answer. And vampires always had helpers or servants to do their work for them. Bill Bitner and Wally, Kevin thought. Digging in the woods with shovels.
But what were they digging for?
Becky had said something, hadn’t she? This morning? She’d said that they were searching for a broken underground water pipe. That was ridiculous! Water pipes would never have been put out in the middle of the woods! And all at once, Kevin finally realized what Bill and Wally must be digging for…
They’re looking for Count Volkov, he thought. They know he’s buried on the grounds somewhere.
But why? Why would they want to dig up a vampire?
Because Aunt Carolyn ordered them to, he concluded. Bill and Wally are her servants, and she must’ve ordered them to try to find Count Volkov’s coffin.
But, again, why?
Kevin thought about this. Why would Aunt Carolyn, a vampire, want to dig up Count Volkov, another vampire?
Then the answer came to him.
Because she wants The Count’s treasure!
It made perfect sense! Aunt Carolyn didn’t have enough money to keep the lodge open, so she wanted to find Count Volkov’s treasure of gold bricks. But, according to the legend, The Count wrote down the location of the gold bricks in his diary but then he hid the diary and never told anyone where it was. After that, the townspeople had chained up The Count’s coffin one day and then buried it. With Count Volkov still alive inside—
So that’s why Aunt Carolyn is having Bill and Wally dig holes all over the place, to find Count Volkov’s coffin, and that’s why they’re digging only when it’s raining, because vampires can’t cross running water—or rain! And when they find The Count’s coffin, they’ll bring it back to the lodge so Aunt Carolyn can open it and threaten to kill The Count with a wooden stake if he doesn’t tell her where the gold is buried! And after he does tell her, she’ll kill him anyway, to keep all the gold for herself, and she’ll probably kill Bill and Wally too, because vampires always eventually kill their servants, and she might also kill—
Kevin gulped as his flurry of thoughts stopped short.
She might also kill us, he thought in pure dread. Or worse, she might turn us into vampires too…
And with that terrifying idea came another thought:
Jimmy and Becky. They’re not here. So… where are they?
Now Kevin was so confused he couldn’t think straight at all now. But if he was sure of anything, he was sure of this:
We’re all in danger…
Then:
Call the police!
By now, there was no other choice. But would the police believe him? Are they going to believe a story like this from a kid my age? That my aunt’s a vampire?
Probably not, but what other choice did he have? Kevin got up then, went to the empty kitchen. His father had always taught him that in emergencies all he had to do was pick up the phone and dial 911. Then the police would come.
And that’s what I have to do now.
He picked up the phone, punched in 911, then put the phone to his ear… and winced.
Aw, no, I should’ve known.
The phone was dead. Aunt Carolyn must’ve anticipated this, and ordered Bill or Wally to cut the phone lines. There was no way to contact anyone…
Kevin supposed he could leave, just walk out of the lodge right now and keep on walking until a motorist passed. But his parents had always taught him to never take rides from strangers, and, besides, it would probably take him hours to get to a main road on foot. So he guessed the only thing he had left to do was continue with his investigation, get all the proof he could, so that when his father came back, he’d believe him.
The secret room, he thought. He planned to return, with better light. That’s what I can do now, go back there, check it out some more. There’s got to be more evidence back there.
He quickly rummaged around through the kitchen, found no flashlight. Then he went to the utility room, and there, hanging right in the wall was a big, foot-long flashlight.
Perfect! he thought.
And there was no chance of getting caught.
Bill and Wally are outside, looking for The Count’s coffin.
So at least he was safe for the time being.
Kevin flicked the flashlight on, to make sure it worked. It offered a big, bright beam of light, and that’s just what he needed. Then—
Is this really a good idea? he asked himself in a last moment of reluctance.
Then, with his heart suddenly increasing its beat, he stepped into the back hallway behind the kitchen, and approached the panel that led to the secret room…
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
It seemed colder this time, and darker even with the bright flashlight. He clicked open the wall panel on which hung the painting entitled The Count Comes Ashore. The panel creaked as it swung open, showing him the jet-black corridor. He didn’t waste time. Armed now with a bright flashlight instead of a feeble candle, he boldly strode to the door, pulled it open, and entered the secret room.
The first thing he noticed didn’t surprise him. The bloody rag he’d seen last night under the wooden table—
It’s not here now, he saw.
But of course it wasn’t. Less than an hour ago, he’d seen Bill Bitner out in the woods, using the rag to wipe off his hands after he painted the bloody cross on that forked tree.
But the rest of the room looked unchanged. Kevin swung the wide, bright flashlight beam over every corner. The room was the same as it had been last night. The box of wooden stakes was still here, and so were the two hammers, and there were a few other boxes full of cleaning supplies. But there was one thing he remembered:
The desk.
The desk was still here too, sitting against the back wall. It was a big antique rolltop desk, and the top was closed. This would definitely be worth checking out.
The desk’s top clattered as he rolled it open. Then he shined his flashlight down and saw—
A… book?
He leaned forward, tilting the flashlight. Yeah, it’s a book, he noticed, squinting down. The book lay open on the table. And it looked very old.
Kevin reached out and touched it. The pages felt thick but very brittle; he thought that if he picked the book up, it might actually crumble in his hands, and the cover, too, looked old and crumbly, like leather that was made a years and years ago. He knew he had to be careful with it, but he had no choice. He had to close the book so he could see its title on the cover.
Careful, careful, he instructed himself, slowly raising one edge of the book’s cover. The spine made a faint crackling noise, but after several long moments he was able to get the book partly closed, keeping his finger inside so he wouldn’t lose the page it was opened to. If he lost the page, he knew, Bill Bitner would know that Kevin had been in here.
Kevin squinted. The letters on the book’s covered appeared just slightly darker than the cover itself. Come on, Kevin thought. What does it say?
The first thing he recognized, right at the top of the book, was the date:
1899
So this book really was old. Over a hundred years, he thought. But below the date were letters, and these, he knew, must spell out the title.
Eventually, as Kevin focused his eyes more precisely, he was able to read the dark letters on the book cover—
—and when he did so, he sucked in a long, loud breath of astonishment.
My… gosh, he thought. He squinted harder, to make sure his eyes weren’t playing tricks on him. I don’t believe it…
First there was a symbol, a fancy circle with the letter V in the middle. And Kevin remembered at once that this was the same symbol he’d seen imprinted on the collar button of The Count’s cape, on the painting he’d seen in his aunt’s room last night.
Then his eyes flicked lower, to the book’s title.
The title read:
The Diary of Count Volkov
Kevin’s skin prickled at the discovery, and then he realized what must’ve happened. Aunt Carolyn said that Count Volkov had kept a diary, but he’d hidden it somewhere, and he never told the townspeople where it was before they chained him up in his coffin and buried it. But—
Somehow, Aunt Carolyn found it, Kevin concluded. That’s probably why she bought the lodge in the first place, because she already knew about the legend, and she already knew that the diary was hidden somewhere around here. And she also knew that the location of The Count’s treasure was written down in the diary too.
Kevin’s hands trembled as he carefully reopened the book to the page it had been opened at. He held the flashlight close and made out the lines of tight, cursive handwriting.
Count Volkov’s handwriting, he thought in a grim and very creepy reminder.
But even with the flashlight, the letters were hard to read. The paper had yellowed over the last hundred years, and the ink itself had faded and turned brown. Kevin squinted so hard his eyes began to hurt, but after a short time he was able to read the last few lines in the diary:
And the curs’d townsfolk, I fear, are beginning to suspect what I truly am, just as my rebellious underlings did when I was forced to leave my homeland. My servants here are weak and so few in number. An uprising of the townsfolk would easily overpower them, and if such an uprising occurred during the hours of sunlight, when I must lay dead in my coffin till dusk, I would be at their mercy. They could destroy me with their crosses and wooden stakes, or worse, bury deep in the ground, where I would be powerless to escape…
Kevin’s eyes went wide. And that’s exactly what they did, Count, he thought. They chained your coffin shut and buried you, and you’re down there in the ground somewhere, right now… still alive…
Kevin let a chill pass, then read the last line:
Indeed, I feel in my evil heart that time is growing oh so short. I may be dead on the morrow, or buried alive. But at least these curs’d townsfolk will not be able to profit from my end, for my treasure of gold is safely hidden at the forked tree, and to insure that it will never be found I must hide this diary too, and hide it well.
And those were the last written words of Count Volkov. No doubt he’d hidden the diary then, and shortly afterwards, the townspeople had buried him in his coffin, during the day when he was powerless to stop them. The Count had predicted his own end. But—
‘—for my treasure of gold is safely hidden at the forked tree,’ Kevin recited The Count’s words in his mind.
The forked tree…
Now Kevin was really confused.
He understood the part about the forked trees; he’d seen Bill and Wally digging at several forked trees just in the last day. But—
Now I get it, he thought.
It wasn’t Count Volkov’s coffin that Aunt Carolyn had ordered Bill and Wally to find, it was the gold treasure itself!
But this realization, now, left him confused. If they’re not trying to find The Count’s coffin, why the wooden stakes, and why the red crosses in blood?
Confusion, it seemed, was quickly becoming a part of Kevin’s life. And figuring out what was really going on still didn’t solve any of his problems. He’d spent enough time back here. There were still other things he needed to do, like right now, and the first thing on the list was find Jimmy and Becky. His worst fear was beginning to turn solid. I’ll bet Aunt Carolyn ordered Bill and Wally to abduct them, so she can turn them into vampires…
And she probably wants to turn me into one too!
He left the secret room, closed the door behind him. When he made it back out to the hearth room, before the crackling fire, he stopped and tried to figure out what to do next. But at that same instant, he heard something—
What was it?
A rumble of some kind, like a—
Like a car engine! he realized, and the sound was coming from out front. He dashed to the window, peeked out, and saw—
No! he thought in terror.
He’d been right, but he wished he hadn’t.
A car was driving slowly through the court in front of the lodge. An old car. An old blue car—
Wally’s car! Kevin recognized.
Then it turned out and began to drive away.
But when it had driven by, Kevin noticed that not only was Wally in it, driving, but Becky and Jimmy were in the car with him—
I was right! He’s abducting them, taking them to Aunt Carolyn, to turn them into vampires!
CHAPTER THIRTY
Kevin bravely dashed outside. He knew the odds were against him, but he had to do something. He couldn’t just stand back and let Wally take Jimmy and his sister to Aunt Carolyn. He kept the flashlight with him; it was long and made of metal, and he could use it as a weapon. If I can make it to the car before they turn out of the court, then maybe I can knock Wally out with the flashlight and save Jimmy and Becky…
It was a longshot, but what else could he do, with his father and Mr. Grimaldi gone, and the phone lines dead?
It was chilly out, but the storm had stopped. The clouds had moved off, and even the sun was shining bright. Kevin dashed frantically across the court, shouting, “Hey, hey! Wait!”
And then the car stopped.
In the back window, Kevin could see Jimmy and Becky looking back. But the strange thing was, they didn’t look scared at all, and they sure didn’t look like they were being abducted.
Then the driver’s door opened… and Wally got out.
Kevin held the flashlight behind him. Get ready, he warned himself. You’ll only get one chance…
But Wally only frowned back, shielding his eyes from the sudden bright sunlight. And he didn’t look menacing at all. “Where have you been?” he asked.
Then Jimmy and Becky got out of the car too.
“You doughhead! We’ve been looking all over for you!” Becky griped, her usual self.
“Whuh—what?” Kevin replied in confusion.
“Yeah,” Jimmy said. “After your kite blew away in the storm, I went looking for you but I couldn’t find you. So I came back to the lodge and told your aunt.”
“Aunt Carolyn?” Kevin said. “You mean she was here, at the lodge? During the day?”
“Well of course she was, you stupe,” Becky said with her arms crossed. “Where did you think she’d be?”
“I—” Kevin said.
“We’ve been driving around for over an hour, trying to find you,” Jimmy added.
Well, so much for Kevin’s abduction plot. But still, there were plenty of things that weren’t right around here. Aunt Carolyn, he thought just then. She’s a vampire, and once I prove it to them then—
But before Kevin could even finish the thought, the passenger door on Wally’s car thunked open.
Kevin looked up, completely astonished.
It was Aunt Carolyn who’d gotten out of the car. And here she stood now, right in front of him.
“Kevin!” she exclaimed. “What on earth has gotten into you? We’ve been worried sick! We thought you fell off the bluff!”
“I—” Kevin said, but that was about it. What could he say now? Aunt Carolyn was standing right in front of him, right now, in broad daylight. Overhead, the clouds parted even further, and the sunlight beamed right down into her face, yet here she was, unaffected. Vampires can’t be in sunlight, Kevin realized. Then he realized something else.
I was wrong. She’s not a vampire. She can’t be…
“I-I thought you were a vampire,” he said next.
“Kevin!” Aunt Carolyn exclaimed.
“What a nitwit!” Becky laughed. “You’re like the Three Stooges all wrapped up in one! I can’t wait to tell dad about this!”
Then Jimmy said, “You know, Kevin, you really were getting carried away with all that vampire stuff.”
Kevin stood there before them all, feeling like a perfect fool. Boy, did I make an idiot out of myself! he realized, his face turning pink in embarrassment.
“I wish I knew what was going on here,” Wally said, brushing some of his long hair out of his eyes.
“Wait a minute!” Kevin said. Wally reminded him! “You’re in on it! You’re in on it with Bill Bitner! I know you are!”
“In on what?” Wally asked.
“I’ve seen you in the woods, digging for Count Volkov’s gold brick treasure!” Kevin exclaimed. “By the forked trees!”
Wally held his hands out, looking at Aunt Carolyn. “I don’t know what he’s talking about. True, Mr. Bitner’s sent me out to dig, which was kind of strange. But I wasn’t digging up any treasure. Bill told me to dig for a broken water pipe.”
“A broken water pipe?” Aunt Carolyn asked suspiciously.
