Vampire Lodge, page 2
“It looks like a haunted house, doesn’t it?” Kevin commented, enthused.
“Yeah,” Jimmy replied. “It’s creepy.”
“It looks like a dump, is what it looks like,” Becky threw in her own opinion, smirking.
“Becky, don’t call your aunt’s house a dump,” Mr. Bennell said, turning the steering wheel around. A small gravel court wound around the front of the lodge, and that’s where Kevin’s father parked the station wagon. They all got out of the car, while the two adults opened the tailgate and began taking out their pieces of luggage.
Kevin stood in the middle of the court, looking up. Despite the bright morning sun, the lodge sat in darkness, shaded by all the high, heavily branched trees. Bright red and yellow leaves were falling right this minute, like giant, slow snowflakes. The windows of the lodge seemed small and odd.
And very dark.
“You’re right, Jimmy whispered. “It looks just like a haunted house. I’ll bet it’s got ghosts and everything.”
Then, very slowly, a long, high creaking sound could be heard that sent a prickly chill up Kevin’s back, and that’s when he noticed the large wooden front door opening very, very slowly.
creeeeeeeeeeeeak—
Kevin knew it was his imagination, but for a moment it almost seemed as if the door were opening all by itself.
CHAPTER FOUR
“Hey, everybody! It’s so great to see you!” announced the thin, slinky figure that, moments later, stepped out of the lodge’s front entrance. The entrance, framed by big blocks of rock, looked like an oblong black hole, and it made Kevin think of the coffin he’d seen in the vampire movie last night—it was the same shape, an odd oblong shape.
“Is that your Aunt Carolyn?” Jimmy whispered.
“Yeah, that’s her,” Kevin answered. “She is a little weird looking, but you’ll like her.”
Weird looking, that was a fact! Aunt Carolyn reminded Kevin of some sleek kind of vine. She was curvy and very thin, with long, shiny black hair hanging nearly to her waist. She was wearing—as she always did—a long black dress like an evening gown, that was very tight. And her face—
“Jeeze,” Jimmy commented. “Look at her face.”
—her face was almost snow-white, with dark, penetrating eyes, and thin, pale lips.
Almost like a woman vampire, Kevin couldn’t help but think. Instead, he said, “Yeah, well, Aunt Carolyn doesn’t get much of a chance to be out in the sun. The trees here block out all the sunlight, and she spends most of her time inside the lodge, taking care of guests and stuff.”
“Oh,” Jimmy said, but he didn’t seemed terribly convinced of this. Instead, he just looked at Kevin’s aunt like she was some sort of strange piece of furniture.
“Hi, Carolyn,” Kevin’s father greeted, and walked up the front stone steps to kiss his sister on the cheek. After that, all the proper introductions were made. “Oh, you’re just getting so big!” Carolyn exclaimed of Kevin, and then pinched him on the cheek. Kevin liked his Aunt Carolyn a lot, but if there was one thing he didn’t like, it was the way she always pinched him on the cheek and told him how big he was getting. This constant comment always made him feel like a little kid.
“Well, come in, come in!” Aunt Carolyn said. “I’m so glad you could come.”
“Come on, guys,” Kevin’s father instructed. “Let’s grab our suitcases and bring them into the lodge.”
“Oh, don’t worry about your luggage,” Aunt Carolyn gushed. “Bill and Wally will bring them in.”
Bill and Wally? Kevin thought. He’d been to his aunt’s lodge a bunch of times, and he’d never heard of anyone with those names.
“Aunt Carolyn?” he asked. “Who are Bill and Wally?”
“Oh, of course, you’ve never met them,” she said. “They’re my new assistants. They take care of the lodge and the grounds.” Then, oddly, Aunt Carolyn turned to Kevin’s father and said in a much lower voice, “I had to let my regular maintenance people go, unfortunately. They charged too much, and with the decline in guests over the past few years… well, you know. But Bill and Wally work for a lot cheaper.”
And then Kevin’s father nodded silently, like he understood exactly what Aunt Carolyn meant. Kevin felt sure they were referring to what he’d heard earlier, about his aunt not having enough money to keep up the lodge.
They all followed her into the lodge then, which was dark and a little dusty. Their footsteps on the wood-tile floor echoed up through the high foyer and reception area.
“Kind of messy,” Kevin whispered to Jimmy when they walked in. He could swear that dust actually drifted up from the floor as they walked in.
“It’s a dump, like I told you,” Becky said. Her frown now seemed to be a permanent part of her face, and she fussily held her hands up as though touching anything in the lodge would get her dirty. “My nice new dress is going to get all dusty and gross.”
“You’re the one who’s gross,” Kevin muttered under his breath.
“What!” she said and glared. “What did you say to me?”
“Nothing,” Kevin muttered.
“Hey, Dad,” Becky complained. “Kevin just said that I was gross!”
“Kevin,” Mr. Bennell scowled. “Don’t call your sister gross.”
Kevin sighed.
CHAPTER FIVE
“I’ve reserved the best rooms for you,” Aunt Carolyn said.
“How many guests do you have staying right now?” Mr. Grimaldi asked.
“Well,” Aunt Carolyn said, and then she paused as if she were embarrassed. “None at the moment. Thanksgiving weekend is never a good time for business.”
Again Kevin sensed that Aunt Carolyn was making excuses. He knew that fishing and camping was big business in most places except for the coldest months of winter, and, again, this only reminded him of what his father had hinted at early, that Aunt Carolyn wasn’t making enough money. Going bust, he thought.
“So I guess you and your friend Mr. Grimaldi will want to be hiking out to the lake, is that right?”
“Yes, we’re looking forward to it,” Kevin’s father said.
“Well let me tell you, it’s still some of the best fishing you’ll ever find in these parts.”
“Sounds great,” Mr. Grimaldi said. “I haven’t been to a good fishing spot in years.”
“Hey, Dad?” Jimmy asked. “How come we can’t go fishing with you and Mr. Bennell?”
“Well, son, because the lake is a good ten-mile hike through the woods, and Mr. Bennell and I will have to camp out for several days.”
“But you kids will have a great time here at the lodge,” Mr. Bennell added. “With Aunt Carolyn.”
“Oh, yes!” Aunt Carolyn agreed. “The kids and I will have a wonderful time together. There’s plenty to do around the lodge. And I hope you boys brought your kites.”
“Yes, Aunt Carolyn,” Kevin told her. “We got brand-new ones last week.”
“Oh, wow, neat!” Jimmy interrupted when they stepped into the hearth room. The hearth room had lots of big soft couches arranged around the giant brick fireplace which was full of burning logs that crackled and popped. “Look at all the animal heads!” Jimmy said.
Mounted above the fireplace mantle were the heads of deer and bears and foxes, and even one moose head.
Aunt Carolyn explained, “When I bought the lodge years ago—twenty years ago, to be exact—it was mainly a hunting lodge that had sat vacant for a long time, but I don’t really like the idea of hunting. So I changed it to a fishing and camping lodge.” Then she pointed to the next wood-paneled wall, and hanging there in frames were lots of stuffed fish, and some of them were over three feet long.
“That’s really cool!” Jimmy said. “Man, this lodge is terrific. We’re going to have a blast!”
“We sure are,” Kevin said. “And wait till we get out onto the bluffs with our new kites.”
They all sat down around the crackling fireplace, and Aunt Carolyn brought out glasses of spiced, hot apple cider for everyone. “So when will you two want to be heading out on your fishing expedition?” she asked the fathers.
Mr. Grimaldi rubbed his hands together eagerly. “The sooner the better. Packed in an office five days a week and nine hours a day, there’s no better way to relax than to get right out into the great outdoors.”
Mr. Bennell nodded in agreement. “I’ve been looking forward to this since… well, since last year!”
The hot cider tasted sharp and tangy; it was just one more thing that Kevin loved about coming to his aunt’s. He never understood why his aunt never drank any herself, though; it was really good. Maybe she just doesn’t like apples, he considered. Then he asked, “Hey, Dad, how long will you and Mr. Grimaldi be camping and fishing?”
“We’ll be back Sunday morning,” Kevin’s father replied.
“Great,” Becky whispered to Kevin. “Two whole days I’ll be cooped up with you two nitwits. I’ll go absolutely nuts.”
“You’ve been absolutely nuts for your whole life,” Kevin couldn’t resist.
“But I want you kids to mind Aunt Carolyn,” Kevin’s father went on. “No monkeying around and no arguing. And no staying out after dark.”
“That goes for you too, sport,” Mr. Grimaldi added aside to Jimmy.
“Right, Dad,” Jimmy said. “I won’t get into any trouble.”
“Make sure you don’t.”
“Oh, I’m sure the kids will be just fine,” Aunt Carolyn said. “Don’t worry about a thing. Just go out and have a good time, and enjoy the fishing.”
They sat around and talked for a few minutes more, Mr. Grimaldi chatting about his job at some computer place, and Mr. Bennell telling Carolyn about the real estate convention, and other things like that. Then they all went back outside. Kevin and Jimmy helped their fathers strap on their big back-packs which were full of supplies, tents, and, of course, lots of coffee.
“Have fun, Dad,” Kevin said. “Bring back lots of fish.”
“Don’t worry,” Mr. Bennell said. “We will.” Then he leaned over and whispered, “And give your Aunt Carolyn a break, will ya? Try to get along with Becky.”
“I will, Dad,” Kevin said, but then he thought, At least I’ll try. Sometimes getting along with his sister was about as easy as building a snowman in July.
Then, Mr. Bennell and Mr. Grimaldi checked their pack straps one last time and walked off into the main trail in the woods, waving.
Kevin glanced after them. A strange notion occurred to him then, and he couldn’t imagine the reason. But as his father disappeared into the trail with Mr. Grimaldi, Kevin couldn’t escape the feeling that they were in danger…
CHAPTER SIX
“You think they’ll really catch a lot of fish?” Jimmy asked skeptically, as autumn leaves floated down from the trees.
“Sure,” Kevin said. “They’ll catch tons of fish.”
“If you ask me,” Becky said, “the only thing they’re going to catch are colds.”
“Yeah, well nobody asked you,” Kevin told her. But one thing he had to admit, it was getting chilly out, and the wind was stirring up.
Aunt Carolyn waited for them back at the huge front door. “Come on, kids,” she said. “It’s getting very cold. It’ll be winter in less than a month.”
They all came back across the court, passing the parked station wagon.
“Hey, what happened to our suitcases?” Becky asked.
The suitcases, which they’d left beside car, weren’t there any more.
“Wally and Bill must’ve taken them up to your rooms while we were talking by the fireplace,” Aunt Carolyn told them.
Bill and Wally, Kevin thought again. Just who were these guys?
They all filed back into the lodge and at once felt the shimmering warmth given off by the huge fire in the fireplace. Aunt Carolyn closed the big door behind her. “Why don’t you kids go on up now. The second floor. Bill and Wally will show you your rooms.”
“Okay,” Kevin said. “We’ll be back down in a little while, Aunt Carolyn.”
The wide, heavily banistered staircase curved upward from the dark foyer. The thick carpet swallowed the sound of their footsteps as Kevin, Jimmy, and Becky clattered up the stairs. But before they could even get to the top, Kevin noticed two tall shadows on the landing.
“You two must be Jimmy and Kevin, huh?” one shadow asked in kind of a rude, unfriendly voice.
“That’s us,” Kevin said when they got to the top. “Who are you?”
“I’m Bill Bitner,” the voice replied, and then the first shadow stepped forward. It was an older guy, in a faded flannel shirt and overalls. He had short, grayish hair, a thin, gangly body, and lots of wrinkles in his face. “You two just come with me,” he said, “so’s I can show you to your room.”
“Are you Becky?” asked the second figure.
“Yeah,” Becky said.
“I’m Wally. Wally Eberhart. Nice to meet you,” the second figure at the top of the stairs said. Kevin noticed a much younger guy, like someone in his late teens, with long brown hair and broad across the shoulders. Oh, no, Kevin thought. A young guy. Becky will go nuts!
“Follow me, Becky,” this Wally character said. “Your room’s right down at the end of the hall. You’ll like it.”
Becky didn’t say anything, which came as not much of a surprise to Kevin. All she did instead was gawp at the guy.
“You kids coming, or are you gonna dawdle all day?” Bill Bitner asked impatiently. “Kids these days, I’ll tell ya. They putz around like a bunch of old ladies.”
Kevin and Jimmy followed him down the dark, carpeted hall to the last room on the left. “That there’s your room,” he said, and pointed to a half-opened door. “I stuck your suitcases inside.”
“Thanks, Mr. Bitner,” Kevin said, trying to be courteous.
“Yeah, thanks,” Jimmy added.
Bill Bitner walked away grumbling, and he didn’t say another word.
“What a creep,” Jimmy said aside to Kevin.
“Tell me about it,” Kevin said. “He must’ve gotten up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.”
At least the room was decent. Kevin and Jimmy walked in to find a nice, large, wood-paneled room with a huge curtained window overlooking the woods in back of the lodge. There was a big wooden dresser, two closets, and two big, high beds on dark-wood frames and oak posters. And when Kevin looked closer he noticed that the big window wasn’t really a window; instead, there were two glass-paned French doors that opened up. “Hey, Jimmy, this is pretty cool!” Kevin enthused. “These doors open up to a balcony!”
“Let me see,” Jimmy said.
Kevin opened the pair of doors, and at once, a brisk breeze gusted into the room. They walked out onto a railed balcony.
“You’re right, this is cool,” Jimmy commented, leaning against the rail and looking out. All the trees in back of the lodge looked like a great, shivering wall of various colors from the autumn leaves. “What’s that path there?” Jimmy asked.
“It cuts through the woods,” Kevin remembered. “It’s kind of like a nature trail that leads to some of the campsites. We’ll check it out later.”
Jimmy’s brown hair blew in the breeze. “I guess we better get back in the room and put our stuff away.”
“Yeah,” Kevin agreed. “Come on.”
They went back in the big bedroom; Kevin closed the French doors.
“Looks like that creepy guy just tossed our suitcases on the floor,” Jimmy observed. The suitcases lay on top of each other near the closet. “I don’t think I like him much,” Jimmy added.
“Me either,” Kevin said. “And I don’t think he likes us too much either.”
“Why did your Aunt Carolyn hire him?”
“I don’t know, but I think I overheard her saying something like he didn’t charge a whole of money to keep up the lodge and the campsites.”
Jimmy ran his hand over the dresser, brushing off a pile of dust. “Well, it doesn’t look like he does much of a job. This room isn’t very clean.”
Kevin couldn’t disagree. There was a good deal of dust on the furniture, and he even noticed cobwebs in the corner of the room. “Yeah, you’re right. No wonder he doesn’t charge much to work here.”
“What was that your dad was saying, about your Aunt Carolyn going bust?”
“I’m not sure,” Kevin said, wondering himself. “I guess she’s not making a whole lot of money renting out rooms and campsites. Means she’s having money problems, I guess.”
Kevin stopped a moment, as he was putting some of his clothes on wire hangers. Immediately, he noticed two dark oil paintings hanging on the walls, set into what looked like old, expensive carved frames. Kevin had noticed a lot of paintings downstairs too. These two here, though, looked pretty dull. One showed a winter landscape, mostly trees topped with snow, and the other painting showed a fall forest scene. But the paintings were the only decorations in the room.
Kevin got his clothes hung up and put away faster than Jimmy. “I’m going downstairs to look around. Come on down when you’re done putting your stuff away.”
“Okay,” Jimmy said, placing folded pairs of pants into the dresser.
Kevin walked back out into the dark hallway. Suddenly everything was so quiet. And, yes, there were lots of framed paintings that hung on the walls but it was so dark he couldn’t really see what they were paintings of. Some of them looked like people but all he could make out were dark streaks.
He went back down the stairs, to the sitting area in front of the giant fireplace. But—
Where’s Aunt Carolyn? he wondered. She didn’t seem to be around. The room crackled from the big fire, but when he went back out into the foyer, it got so quiet he could hear his own heart beat. In the foyer there were still more odd, dark paintings, most of which he couldn’t make much out of, like the ones upstairs. One painting, though, sat in a slant of daylight that came through the windows of the dining room.
What is… this? Kevin thought.
