Vampire Lodge

“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 —”

“Transylvania?” Kevin asked.

“That’s right, Transylvania, in what is now Romania, in Europe. And this vampire’s name was Count Volkov…”

Count Volkov, Kevin thought, testing the sound of the name in his mind. It sounded creepy enough, a perfect name for a vampire, in fact. “Was Count Volkov immortal too, like Count Dracula?” he asked next.

“Of course,” Aunt Carolyn explained. “All vampires are immortal.”

“What’s immortal mean?” Jimmy asked, crunching handfuls of popcorn into his mouth.

“It’s someone who never dies,” Becky hissed. “Don’t you know anything, or do you just have rocks in your head?”

“But vampires aren’t just immortal,” Aunt Carolyn continued with her tale. “They’re also… evil.”

More lightning cracked from outside, the tall narrow windows across the room lit up with white light for a moment, then went dark again, and the rain seemed to be falling harder now.

“Vampires, according to the legends,” Aunt Carolyn began, “only come out at night, because they can’t stand to be in sunlight. They sleep during the day, in their coffins.”

“Wow,” Jimmy mumbled, his cheeks stuffed with popcorn.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full,” Becky griped. “It’s so impolite.”

Aunt Carolyn rolled her eyes, smiling.

Kevin jumped in, “And vampires can’t be in water, either, right?”

Aunt Carolyn nodded. “That’s right. They can’t cross running water, for the same reason they can’t be in sunlight. Because running water and sunlight are pure things of the earth, and vampires are just the opposite. They’re impure. They’re cursed to live forever in evil, and do evil things. And sometimes, as I’m sure you’ve heard, they can change themselves into bats and fly around wherever they like at night.”

Jimmy gulped and looked over at Kevin.

Bats, Kevin thought with a slow dread spreading. We just saw several bats right outside…

Then he asked, “Isn’t it true that, even though vampires are immortal, there are ways to stop them? In the movies, the good guys always hammer a wooden stake into the vampire’s heart, and that kills them.”

Again, Aunt Carolyn nodded. “That’s quite right. A wooden stake driven through the heart will do it. And the only other way to kill a vampire is to keep him out in bright sunlight for a while or in running water. Plus, a vampire can’t look at the sign of the cross, so that’s how people would protect themselves. Vampires are, like, allergic, to crosses. In fact, in Romania and other countries in Eastern Europe, townspeople would often paint crosses on their doors to keep vampires away. And they’d paint the crosses… in blood.”

In blood! Kevin thought. Gross!

The fire continued to pop and crackle, and thunder rumbled from outside—Kevin could actually feel the floor shudder. He leaned further over in his seat on the couch and said, “Tell us about Count Volkov.”

Aunt Carolyn’s long black dress and black hair almost made her look like part of the shadows around her armchair. At times, all Kevin could really see was her thin, pale face smiling in the firelight. She waited a moment for the thunder to pass, then went on, “Count Volkov was a vampire, just like Dracula. He was born in the 1600’s as