The Traveling Vampire Show

Chapter Forty-nine

Rusty leaned over the tailgate of the pickup truck and stared at the ground. I knew why. He was thinking about the poodle, wondering what had gotten it and wondering if the same thing might make a try for him.

So was I.

“Whatever it is,” I said, “I guess it’s full.”

“I don’t know, man. That was an awful small dog.”

“Wanta stay here and listen to the Vampire Show?”

He groaned, then leaped down. I jumped to the ground after him. Staying low, we rushed through the gap between a couple of cars. At the end of it, there were no more cars to conceal us. We stood up straight and walked toward the grandstands.

Over to the right, people were still in line to buy tickets. More were on the way. Stryker seemed busy behind the counter. I wanted to watch him the whole time to make sure he never looked at us, but I had to keep glancing at the ground.

In the glow of the stadium lights, the dirt looked pale gray. Broken glass glittered. Bumps and rocks cast dark shadows. Holes were blotches of blackness. I was looking for creatures. What I saw instead were cigarette butts, a mashed pack of Lucky Strikes, a flattened beer can, a dirty white sneaker…

Slim’s sneaker?

It might’ve been one of those Rusty had thrown at the one-eyed dog. I was tempted to pick it up. But it looked as if it had been run over. No telling what else had happened to it—maybe a spider had crawled in. Maybe if I reached down for it something would spring at my hand. Besides, what good would one sneaker do Slim?

If Rusty saw the sneaker, he either didn’t recognize it or didn’t care. He kept on walking.

I caught up to him.

Just in front of us, a man and woman were about to encounter the ticket-takers. The man turned slightly and extended two tickets to a black-shirted member of Stryker’s crew.

Rusty nudged me with his elbow, leaned toward me and whispered, “It’s Hearn.”

Sure enough, the man in front of us was Mr. Hearn, a history teacher from our high school. I didn’t recognize the woman beside him, but figured she was probably his wife. Though we hadn’t taken any classes from Mr. Hearn, we’d seen him around school and knew who he was. He probably knew who we were, too.

Everybody knew everybody.

He hadn’t seen us yet, but…

Recognizing someone from our town came as no surprise to me. I’d expected it. It was inevitable. Before, however, it had been inevitable in some sort of distant, abstract way. Now, it was real.

Too real.

Even if plenty of spectators had come to the show from places like Clarksburg and Bixton—from all over the county—we were bound to be surrounded by people from Grandville who would recognize us and spread the news.

We’re gonna get in so much trouble!

I stopped dead. Even as I reached for Rusty, he handed his ticket to one of Stryker’s gang.

She was a slender, pale woman with straight black hair down to her shoulders. She wore a shiny black shirt and black leather pants. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she took Rusty’s ticket. Her lips were bright red. She smirked and said to Rusty, “You’re a big fella.”

He nodded.

She slid a fingertip down his bare chest. He squirmed and grinned. “Not eighteen, though, I bet.”

“Sure I am.”

She turned to me. “And you.” Still smirking, she shook her head. “I’m sorry, boys, but this event is for adults only.”

Thank God, I thought.

Nodding, I was about to turn away.

“We have special permission from Mr. Stryker,” Rusty said.

Away went her smirk. To the other ticket-taker, she said, “I’ll be right back.” Then she stepped past us. “Come with me, boys.”

Rusty started to follow her. I put my hand on his shoulder. His bare skin was hot and moist. He scowled back at me and kept walking.

I tried to speak, but felt choked at first. Then I forced it out. “We don’t have to see the show, ma’am. If it’s a problem…”

Rusty gave me a murderous glance.

“If you’ve got Mr. Stryker’s okay,” the woman said, “it’s fine with me. They’re his rules.”

Rusty’s turn to smirk.

I gave him a murderous look. Didn’t he know we were being taken to see Stryker? Had he forgotten what Slim had told us? Or didn’t he care that this was the same guy who had rammed his spear up the butt of the one-eyed dog, picked it up with the spear and delivered it to the hearse?

I glanced toward the parking area.

If I made a run for it, would they come after me?

Probably not. Not with all these people around. The trouble was, Rusty might not come after me, either.

He really wanted to see the show.

So I stuck with him. The woman led us to the side door of the shack and rapped on it with her knuckles. A moment later, it was opened by Stryker. Light spilled out around him. He frowned as if annoyed by the interruption.

“Vivian?” he asked.

“I’m sorry to bother you, Mr. Stryker, but these boys claim they’ve got your permission to see the show.” She stepped out of the way.

Stryker’s eyes swept up and down Rusty. Looking somewhat disgusted, he shook his head. But when he saw me, his heavy black eyebrows slid upward and he smiled. “Ah, it’s you.”

I nodded. My heart was thudding. I wanted to whip around and run like hell, but I just stood there.

“Where are the others?” Stryker asked.

I just gaped at him and struggled to breathe.

“The lovely Lee Thompson and the spunky tomboy?”

I collapsed inside.

“They’re on their way, sir,” Rusty said. “We had to park pretty far off, so they sent us on ahead to save seats for ’em.”

“I see,” Stryker said. And the way he smiled…

He knows everything, I thought. Knows it’s a lie, knows Lee isn’t coming because he’s already been to her house and knows exactly where she is.

Glaring into his eyes, I thought, What have you done to Lee?

Smiling into my eyes, he seemed to be thinking, Wouldn’t you like to know?

He turned his smile on Vivian. “We’ll make an exception to the age rule for my two friends here. See that they have excellent seats, will you?”

“Yes, sir,” Vivian said.

“And stay with them until their friends arrive.”

She nodded.

“Enjoy the show, boys.” Stryker closed the door, shutting out the tight.

“Come with me,” Vivian said.

As we walked behind her, Rusty cast a smile at me. A very smug one, as if he had single-handedly made it possible for us to see the show.

In a way, he was right.

I wanted to slug him.

“You’ve really done it now,” I muttered.

“Hey, man, we’re gonna see it.”

“Yeah, right.”

“Valeria, here we come.”

Didn’t he realize we were now prisoners? Didn’t he realize Stryker knew about Slim witnessing the death of the dog? She must’ve been seen, or why had Stryker thought to call her a spunky tomboy? And most of all, didn’t Rusty catch on that Stryker had been to Lee’s house? The bastard knew she wouldn’t be showing up tonight.

What if he killed her?

An image filled my mind of Lee down on her elbows and knees, naked, Stryker driving a spear….

No, I thought. She’s fine. She has to be fine. Maybe she’s his prisoner and we’ll be able to rescue her. Maybe she’s tied up on the bus, or…

“Oh, man,” Rusty muttered.

We followed Vivian past the other ticket-taker and into the bright lights. With the noise, it was like entering a football stadium. A very small one. I walked beside Rusty, keeping my head down, hoping nobody would notice us.

I guess you’d call it the ostrich principle; if I can’t see them, they can’t see me.

Of course, I knew it was foolish. Even as we walked past the front of the bleachers, dozens of Grandville locals were certain to be watching us. Probably pointing us out to each other. Hey, look, there’s the Thompson boy. And Rusty Simmons, too. What’re they doing here? Didn’t anyone tell ’em this is “adults only” entertainment? You can bet your bottom dollar their FOLKS don’t know about this.

Within a day or two, Mom and Dad would be hearing about it from everyone in town.

I’d be grounded. Worse, I’d be humiliated. My parents had always trusted me to follow their rules. I often didn’t follow their rules, but I rarely got caught at it.

This time, I’d be caught big time. Everything would come out. Well, maybe not everything, but enough.

I heard my dad saying, This is a real disappointment, Dwight.

My mom was saying, Of all things, to take advantage of your father’s accident that way.

Lee yelling, “DWIGHT! RUSTY! UP HERE!”

Lee’s voice was real.

My head jerked up and turned. I searched the faces of the audience. Saw so many familiar ones. Neighbors, store clerks, teachers, friends of my parents…

“DWIGHT! HEY, DWIGHT! UP HERE!”

This time, I found the source of the voice.

There stood Lee, about halfway to the top of the bleachers, waving her arms overhead.