Vampire Lodge, page 5
“That was a great dinner, Aunt Carolyn,” Kevin said when they were all finished eating.
“Yeah, thanks,” Jimmy said.
“Well, I’m glad you liked it,” Aunt Carolyn said.
But just then, something occurred to Kevin. The big meal they’d had was very good, but—
Aunt Carolyn didn’t eat anything at all, he thought now as they were taking their plates out to the kitchen.
And she hadn’t drunk anything. And this morning, when she served everybody the spiced cider, she didn’t drink any of that either.
“I have some things to do around the lodge,” Aunt Carolyn said then. “Would you kids mind doing the dishes?”
“We’d be happy to,” Kevin said. “But—”
Aunt Carolyn stopped. “But what, Kevin?”
Kevin knew he shouldn’t bug her about it, but he couldn’t help asking. “When are you going to tell us about the local vampire legend?”
Aunt Carolyn smiled to herself. “Later on. Tonight.”
Then she disappeared down the hall, leaving the three of them in the large country kitchen.
“I shouldn’t have to wash dishes,” Becky complained. “I’ll get my brand-new dress all messed up.”
“Fine,” Kevin said, turning on the hot water. “Go find something else to do then. Go haunt a house.”
“I’d need your ugly face to do it,” Becky came back.
“Go look for your lover boy Wally,” Jimmy chuckled. “You can help him dig holes in the woods, in your brand-new dress!”
Becky glared at them both. “I just can’t believe how stupid you two guys are.”
“You’re still here?” Kevin asked sarcastically.
Becky stomped off, frowning, as Kevin and Jimmy laughed out loud.
“Boy,” Jimmy said. “You sure got rid of her in a hurry.”
But that’s exactly what Kevin had intended to do. “I can’t talk around her,” he said. “Wasn’t that kind of weird?”
“What? Your sister?”
“No, no, she’s always weird,” Kevin said. “I mean Aunt Carolyn.”
Jimmy dried each plate that Kevin passed to him from the sink. “Well, she does dress weird,” Jimmy admitted. “Those long, black dresses and all.”
Kevin lowered his voice to a sharp whisper. “That’s not what I mean. Don’t you think it was weird that she didn’t eat anything during dinner?”
Jimmy paused, drying a plate. “You know, you’re right. She didn’t eat. It was just us.”
“And did you see the weird way she looked up when Becky told her I was interested in vampires?”
Jimmy paused yet again, thinking. “Well, yeah, I guess you’re right. I guess she did look pretty weird now that you mention it.”
But before Kevin could say anything more, a gust of wind blew in, and then the back door to the kitchen slammed.
And Wally walked in.
“Hey, guys,” he said. His long hair was wet from the rain, and he had a bunch of firewood in his arms. “Carolyn told me to bring in some firewood, said she was running low.”
“Oh,” Kevin said, and he couldn’t think of much else to say. All he could remember was how they’d seen Wally in the woods earlier…
“Uh, uh,” Kevin said, “I think Becky was looking for you. She’s around here someplace.”
“Any idea where?”
“Probably out in the hearth room, near the fireplace,” Kevin told him.
“Okay, thanks,” Wally said. Then he walked off toward the hearth room with his armload of fire wood.
“Maybe we should’ve asked him,” Jimmy speculated. “Asked him what he was doing digging in the woods today.”
“I don’t know,” Kevin said, rinsing off the last plate under the running faucet. “That would just tip him off that we saw him. Then he might tell Bill and get us in trouble.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. The last thing either of us need is that old creep giving us a hard time.”
But that gave Kevin an idea. He quickly peeked out into the hearth room and saw Becky talking to Wally as he loaded the wood into the holder next to the fireplace. Then Kevin peeked around the corner into the dining room and foyer.
No one was there.
“Look, you stay here,” he told Jimmy, “and put the dishes away. I’m going back down that hallway we were in this morning. If anyone comes, slam one of the cabinets real hard so I’ll hear it and know to come back.”
“Well, okay,” Jimmy said. “But do you think it’s a good idea to go back there. Bill already caught you there once.”
“I know, but he’s probably not there now. What would he be doing at the lodge this late? I want to check some things out real fast.”
“All right,” Jimmy agreed. “But be careful.”
Kevin quickly turned the corner at the back of the kitchen and was at once standing in the long dim rear hallway. Only a single, small light fixture glowed from high on the back wall; Kevin could barely see. But he did notice more paintings hanging on the paneling, dark, swirly paintings set into heavy, ornate frames, just like the paintings in the den and foyer and upstairs hallways. He stopped a moment to look at one…
It was a large sailing ship, crashing through waves on the high seas, its many huge white sails puffed out from the wind. And like the painting in the foyer, this one had a title. In tiny letters along the bottom, the artist had painted the words:
The Count’s Mighty Sailing Ship, the Scrimm, on its Way to the Coast.
The Count, Kevin thought, staring long-faced at the painting. This was the second painting he’d seen that referred to “The Count.”
The Count, he thought again, with the faintest of shivers. The word rang in his head like a bell.
Count Dracula? he wondered. The most powerful of all the vampires?
It had to be. What other Count could the painting be referring to? This really is weird, Kevin thought, taking one last glance at the dark painting.
But he’d come back here for a reason, and looking at paintings wasn’t it. This was the same hallway where they’d heard that click earlier this morning, and then they’d seen Bill Bitner holding a shovel, and—
It looked like he’d walked right through the wall, Kevin reminded himself.
Nervously, he proceeded deeper into the hallway, taking slow, quiet steps. When he got toward the end, he stopped, scanning the dark walls with his eyes. Another strange painting hung right before him, at the same place he and Jimmy thought they’d seen Bill Bitner come out of the wall.
Kevin stared at the painting…
Things just keep getting weirder and weirder, he told himself.
The painting showed a band of blank-faced men carrying two large boxes across a beach. Behind the men, just at the shoreline, was a rowboat—The same rowboat in the foyer painting? he wondered—and beyond that, the same large sailing ship, The Scrimm, could be seen burning in the distance. That was weird enough, but the weirdest part was what the blank-faced men were carrying. Two boxes. One box was the same large wooden crate full of gold bricks, and the other box was—
The coffin, Kevin instantly recognized.
Then Kevin’s eyes flicked down to the bottom of the painting, to see if this one had a title too. Sure enough, there it was, in the same tiny painted letters.
The Count Comes Ashore.
So now he’d discovered a third painting that referred to The Count, and Kevin knew it had to be a vampire because there was a coffin in this picture too.
What is going on here? he thought.
This was all just too bizarre. Kevin leaned against the wall, to think, but in the same moment that he did so, he heard a tiny but very sharp sound:
click
And he thought for sure that he’d felt the wall behind him
… move.
Wh—what?
He turned around immediately, looked hard at the wall he’d just been leaning against. The painting stared back at him. Then, very slowly, Kevin reached forward with his hand, pressed his fingers gently against the paneled wall—
The wall moved.
Or, rather, a section of the wall moved, and when Kevin pushed on it a second time, he realized exactly what it was he had discovered.
A secret passageway…
Just like in the old vampire movies. A secret passageway right here in the lodge! Kevin pushed it open and noticed several tiny roller-mounts along the edge, like the kind that keep the doors on kitchen cabinets in place. That’s what had caused the clicking sound.
This explains it, he realized. Bill Bitner came out of this same passageway this morning, and that’s why it looked like he’d walked out of the wall.
Next, Kevin pressed his palm against the hidden door’s dark-wood panel, then he pushed the door open all the way—-
creeeeeak
Total darkness faced him; he had no way of telling how deep the passageway went, not without a flashlight or something he could see by.
Where does it lead to? he couldn’t help but wonder. How far back does it go? And what was Bill Bitner doing back here this morning when we saw him with the shovel?
All of a sudden, there were so many questions spinning around in Kevin’s mind—he couldn’t keep them sorted out.
He pulled the door to, heard it click shut.
I’ve got to find out what’s back there, he thought.
And he knew there was only one way to do that.
I’ll have to get a flashlight, he realized, and come back here.
Tonight…
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Kevin decided not to tell Jimmy about the secret door and passageway—Jimmy sometimes had a big mouth, and Kevin thought it best to keep things to himself, at least until he could find out more about what was going on. So instead he came right back to the kitchen and helped Jimmy put away the rest of the dishes.
“Did you find anything back in that hallway?” Jimmy asked him, hanging up the dish towel.
“A couple more weird paintings,” Kevin said, and that was where he would leave it for now. “It sounds like the rain has finally stopped. Let’s go walk around outside.”
“Okay,” Jimmy agreed. “Not much else to do right now.”
They pulled on their coats and headed for the front door, but as they passed the big hearth room and the crackling fireplace, they noticed Becky sitting on the couch, talking to Wally, who was stoking up the fire with an iron rod. Becky had a dreamy, faraway look in her eyes as she listened to Wally.
“Looks like your sister is in love,” Jimmy said when they stepped out onto the front porch.
“She falls in love every week,” Kevin complained. “Thinks she’s the greatest girl in town. But I’m sure Wally the Lover Boy will find out what a nag she is real soon.”
Outside, a chill wind gripped them, brushing across their faces and blowing down their collars. The night sky was full of cloudy black murk; not a single star could be seen, and of course there was no sign of the moon either. Leaves fell steadily from the high trees around the lodge.
“How come your aunt seems to disappear all the time?” Jimmy asked as they rounded a stand of floodlit hedges.
That’s a good question, Kevin thought, but he kept it to himself. “I guess, like she said, she’s got a lot of stuff to do around the lodge, you know, upkeep and stuff like that.”
“But there aren’t even any guests,” Jimmy observed, “except for us.”
“Yeah, I know. But there’s still lots of stuff to do, I guess, probably a lot of paperwork and taxes, things like that.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
More bright floodlights lit the side of the lodge as they walked around. When they looked up they could see smoke pouring slowly out of the tall brick chimney. They continued to walk around, their hands jammed down in their coat pockets. Kevin expected the back of the lodge to be lit up by floodlights too but he found he was wrong the minute they turned the corner.
The back was pitch-dark.
Wind rustled the leaves in the trees. They glanced up at the back of the building, noticing only a few windows lit up.
“Look,” Kevin said. He pointed up the great dark face of the back of the lodge, to the far corner of the second floor. There, they could see the lit french doors and balcony. “There’s our room.”
Jimmy peered up, squinting. “Oh, yeah, you’re right. I guess they only have the balconies on the corners.”
Just then, though, both Kevin and Jimmy flinched. Several small, barely seen shapes seemed to flutter past their faces.
“What was—”
`”—that?” Kevin finished.
A chittery sound could be heard very faintly above them, like a rapid squeaking noise. Then the shapes fluttered past a second time.
“Are those… birds?” Jimmy asked.
“No,” Kevin finally realized. “They’re bats!”
“Run!” Jimmy shouted.
And they ran, all right. They ran as fast as they could back toward the side of the lodge where the bright floodlights glowed. But before they could make it completely out of the darkness, and with the circles of bats still squeaking above their heads—
A tall, dark figure quickly stepped out in front of them, blocking their way…
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Kevin thought his heart would stop when he looked up fearfully at the figure. And beside him, Jimmy’s teeth were chattering.
Then, the figure stepped forward.
“What’s with you guys anyway? I’ve been looking all over for you.”
Kevin and Jimmy both sighed in relief when they recognized Wally’s voice.
“We were just walking around,” Kevin said.
“Walking around where?” Wally questioned.
“Just around back—”
“And we saw bats!” Jimmy added.
Wally frowned, his long hair blowing in the wind. “Bats can’t hurt you, but you kids shouldn’t be wandering around out here in the dark. Besides, it looks like it’s going to start raining again any minute. We get a lot of storms around here this time of year.” Wally paused to brush some of his hair out of his eyes. “Anyway, your aunt sent me out to look for you, says she wants you to come inside now.”
“Okay,” Kevin said.
They followed Wally back into the lodge through the big front door, back into the warmth of the foyer. Kevin hoped Wally didn’t notice that they were scared. He’d tell Becky and she’d laugh her head off! he felt certain. But he had to admit, it was kind of scary back there behind the dark building, with the bats squeaking above their heads.
Kevin took off his jacket and was about to hang it up in the foyer closet when he took notice of the painting hanging there, the first one he’d seen this morning.
The Count Arrives with his Servants and Treasure, he reread the title along the bottom. For some reason the painting looked even spookier now. The coffin and box of gold in the rowboat, and the glassy-eyed, blank-faced men working the oars and guiding the boat through foamy waves. Then Kevin saw something he hadn’t noticed when he’d first seen the painting. Way in the background was the same sailing ship, on fire.
The Scrimm, Kevin remembered from the other paintings. That’s the name of the ship that The Count came in on. The Scrimm…
“In here, kids,” Aunt Carolyn called out from the hearth room. “The popcorn’s almost ready.”
“Popcorn!” Jimmy exclaimed. “That sounds good to me.”
It sounded good to Kevin too, but he wondered what the occasion could be. Ah, I know, he realized then. Aunt Carolyn’s going to tell us about the local vampire legend!
This was just what Kevin had been waiting for. They went into the hearth room and sat down on the big, plush couches surrounding the fireplace. “Be careful,” Aunt Carolyn warned, placing several large bowls of popcorn in front of them. “It’s very hot.”
“This is great,” Jimmy said.
Yeah, Kevin thought, but let’s get on with the story.
“Where’s Wally?” Becky complained from the opposite couch. Naturally she chose to sit as far away from the boys as she could. “Isn’t he staying?”
“No, I’m afraid not, dear,” Aunt Carolyn informed her. “Wally’s still got a lot of work to do now.”
Kevin raised a brow. A lot of work? This late? It sounded funny. He saw on the mantle clock that it was almost ten p.m. now. What kind of work would Wally have to do this late at night? he wondered suspiciously.
Aunt Carolyn sat down in the big leather armchair to the side of the fireplace. The light behind her left her almost completely in shadow; Kevin could barely see her, just vague features.
The mantle-clock ticked steadily, and the rain started again, pelting the windows. The fire crackled, its moving lances of flame shifting like bright-yellow tails, turning the entire hearth room into a dark, creepy chamber of jumping shadows.
Jimmy and Becky munched popcorn as they waited, but Kevin completely forgot about it, and about everything else that had happened today—he was too excited about hearing the legend. I wonder if the legend has anything to do with all those weird paintings I found, he asked himself. The Count, The Scrimm, those blank-faced men…
“All right,” Aunt Carolyn announced from her shadowed chair. “I guess it’s time now—”
And at that very instant, the three kids jumped in their seats, as a loud belt of lightning cracked in the sky.
“It’s time,” Aunt Carolyn went on, “for me to tell you about The Count…”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“You mean Count Dracula?” Kevin immediately asked, his excitement causing him to lean forward in his seat. “The most powerful of all the vampires?”
Becky winced. “Shut up and let her tell the story, Kevin. Aunt Carolyn hasn’t even started yet, and you’re already interrupting her and asking dumb questions.”
“Let’s try to get along now, kids,” Aunt Carolyn said. “And to answer your question, Kevin, no, the local vampire legend isn’t about Count Dracula. It’s about another vampire, who came from the same part of the world—”
