Vampire Lodge

Kevin felt charged up with excitement. He couldn’t wait to hear about it.

“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.