Abby let out a loud sigh. “Are you always this dumb? She’s using you until she eats you. She’ll probably rip open your chest and eat your heart first chance she gets.”
David pointed at her. “Yeah, I agree with the creepy little girl.”
Out of nowhere, Kesha pointed past us and screamed.
We whirled around to see a trail of black blood where Bryce’s severed arm had been. The trail headed in our direction until it veered off by the last row of seats.
“Where is it?” I yelled.
“I have no idea!” Tommy said. “Everybody check under the seats!”
Everyone dropped to the ground.
“I don’t see it,” David said.
Kesha jumped onto a seat, spinning in every direction while looking for the arm. “I’m scared. Please, let’s get out of here!”
I felt a sharp pain in my leg.
I looked down and saw the hand digging its nails into my calf. I felt the wet trickle of blood seeping down my leg.
“It’s on me!” I screamed.
Tommy pulled out a water gun and ran toward me, squirting it again and again. The arm sizzled, and boils popped up on its skin.
After several more shots, the hand released its grip and dropped to the floor.
David kicked it away toward the door.
“Let’s get out of here,” Tommy yelled.
We all huddled together as we walked down the center aisle.
Everyone kept looking in different directions, searching for anything that might pop out. The slow pace was excruciating.
Behind us the door rattled.
I squeezed Abby’s hand. “They’re back.”
“Keep moving,” Tommy said.
Now there was banging on the side doors. There were more of them.
My legs trembled.
We neared the stage, but nobody rushed toward it. We stayed huddled together in our turtle-like formation.
“Keep going,” I whispered, not entirely sure to whom.
We walked toward the steps on the right side of the stage and carefully made our way up.
“Which way?” Tommy asked.
David pointed. “There should be doors leading out of here somewhere in the wings. We have to hope that they don’t decide to come here before we can get out.”
We crept along, inch by inch, until we neared the side curtain. Suddenly, from behind us, there was a creaking noise. We all whirled to face it. A trapdoor in the floor of the stage creaked again and flung open.
A head popped out.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
BATS IN THE WINGS
“Herb!” I yelled, and ran over, amazed that I was actually happy to see him.
Herb tossed out the backpack, which landed with a thud on the stage floor. He reached up. “Quick, help me out.”
We plucked him from the crawl space.
He collapsed, sprawling out on the stage.
“Herb, are you okay?” I asked.
He gave a slight shake of his head and took a deep breath. “I barely made it out of there in one piece.”
Tommy leaned down. “Any vampires after you?”
Herb’s brow creased. “You might say that.”
Tommy grabbed the dart gun from inside his jacket and pushed a pencil into it before aiming it at Herb.
Herb swatted Tommy’s hand. “I’m not a vampire, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t close. But like Peter Cushing squaring off against Christopher Lee, I managed to hold my own.”
David, Oren, and Kesha turned to me, but I shrugged.
“How’d you get away?” I asked.
“When the DJ first stopped the music, I was on the other side of the room from you kids. And by the way, his song selection was atrocious. Not sure how you can have a dance without a single Bobby Rydell track, but that’s neither here nor there.”
I sighed. “Herb, can you just get back to the story?”
He sat up. “Oh, yes. Very well. Anyway, as I said, when everyone turned, I saw you make it into the theater. I was way too far away to join you, so I had to improvise. I grabbed the backpack and made my way through the school until I found the area beneath the theater, and that’s how I found you.”
“Were you followed?” Tommy asked.
“Well, I don’t think so. But who can be sure? Anyhoo, we can’t stay here forever. The bad news is we’re surrounded. The good news is I know where Lily and her dad are.”
The words hit me like a hammer. “Where?”
Herb pointed up. “I saw Moroi drag Lily off when everything started.”
My heart lurched. “He dragged her off? She’s in trouble. We have to help her.”
“Oh, c’mon!” a couple of them said at the same time.
“Dude,” David said. “She played us. She played all of us. She’s a vampire. That’s what they do.”
Tommy put his hand on my shoulder. “I told you! You can never trust a vampire.”
“Either way,” Herb said as he got to his feet, “we must get upstairs if we hope to save Abby.”
“Upstairs?” I pointed to the theater doors. “The vampire who bit Abby is out there, only we don’t know which one it was.”
Herb grabbed my shoulders, and turned me to face him. “Devin, you’re not thinking. Even if it was one of the vampires out there who bit Abby, we can still rescue her by confronting the main vampire. Which is who?”
“Lily’s dad, but—”
Herb wagged his finger in my face. “No buts.” He tapped the side of my head. “Think. If Moroi is in charge of this school, then I’m willing to bet that all the vampires in here are from his line. They can all be traced back to him. Remember, the only way to remove the curse from anyone bitten is to eliminate the main vampire. So that’s every student, every vampire, and—”
“Lily,” I said.
Herb nodded. “If there is any humanity left in her, the only way to retrieve it is to get Mr. Moroi.”
“But he’s been really nice,” I said.
Tommy snorted. “Obviously. I mean, only nice vampires invite someone to be eaten. He deserves what he gets.”
I sighed. “Oh, I’m sure Lily will be extremely thrilled that we killed her dad.”
“Or,” Herb said, “she might be happy that you saved her from enduring an eternal curse.”
I thought of what Lily had said to me about hating never growing older. About missing friends who passed her by. I wondered if there was some part of her who would be happy if she got to grow up like a normal girl now.
On the other hand, we still had no proof that either Lily or Mr. Moroi knew about this. I knew it looked bad, but they had left before the vampires did anything. As unlikely as it was, there was something nagging at me. There was something else that I was missing.
Abby’s brow furrowed. She looked up, and then turned in a full circle.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
She stared a moment longer. “Do you hear that?”
I tried listening a moment, and shrugged. “What?”
Tommy looked around. “Wait, I hear it too.”
Finally, I heard it.
It was a squeaking sound. Actually, a whole bunch of squeaking sounds.
“What is that?” I asked.
Herb slid his finger up the bridge of his nose to push up his glasses. “Bats. Those are bats.”
The flapping of their wings brushed against the doors.
“Which way is it coming from?” Abby said.
I pointed to the back of the theater, where we had walked in. “From there.”
Tommy shook his head. “No, it’s coming from over there.” He pointed to a door on the side.
Everyone looked in different directions and I realized the truth. It was coming from all sides.
There was also one other thing I realized. It was getting louder.
Oren grabbed the side of a chair. “Could we please get out of here already? I really don’t feel well.” He looked pale and was covered in sweat.
/>
“What’s wrong?” Kesha asked.
His eyes rolled up into his head and he collapsed to the ground, trembling and shaking.
We all rushed over, forming a huddle over him.
“What is it?” I asked.
Kesha bent down next to him and felt his forehead. “He’s burning up.”
Herb grabbed us and pushed us back. “I think we need to move!”
Everyone took a few steps away.
Herb pointed to a red spot on Oren’s shirt by his arm. There was another one on his side. “He’s been bitten a couple of times. I bet there’s also another one that we don’t see! He’s going to turn.”
Tommy aimed his dart gun at Oren. It was loaded with a sharpened pencil. “Stand back!”
Herb shoved Tommy’s arm down. “No. We can’t do that to him. He’s not a vampire yet.”
Oren’s eyes popped open. He smiled. “Oh, I don’t know about that.” There were fangs in his mouth. He lunged at Herb.
Tommy shot him with the pencil.
Oren shrieked and dropped like a stone to the theater floor. He writhed around trying to reach for the pencil, which was stuck in his back.
“Why isn’t he dead?” Tommy screamed.
“The heart!” I yelled. “A vampire has to be staked through his heart! Even I know that!”
Before he could respond there was a loud whistle behind us.
We whirled to see Kesha standing by the theater doors.
My heart dropped.
She also smiled.
Even from here, I could see her fangs.
“You guys are so much fun,” she said. “How about we also let my friends in to play?” She turned and opened the door.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
HOW MANY BITES DOES IT TAKE TO GET TO THE CENTER OF A WARLOCK?
The back of the theater turned black, like a flying eclipse.
What seemed like hundreds of bats swarmed in through the doors, blocking everything else.
The sounds of shrieking and wings flapping filled the theater.
“Run!” David screamed. He slid through the open trapdoor of the stage.
Herb unzipped the backpack, took out a Super Soaker, and began firing wildly at the incoming bats.
Shrieks echoed across the stage.
“When did you get a Super Soaker?” I yelled.
“When I saw how effective it was when you used it against the Cuddle Bunnies. Now move!”
I grabbed Abby.
“Let go of me!” she screamed, stretched her arms out to the sides, and closed her eyes. “I want to see the bats …” The last few words came out in a whisper.
“We don’t have time for this!” I yanked her off her feet and scrambled for the trapdoor, sliding the last few feet until we fell into it.
Suddenly there was nothing beneath us.
We fell, but only for a second, before landing on something soft.
“Oof!” I grunted. I opened my eyes and reached down to feel below me.
We had landed on an oversized mattress.
David was nowhere to be found.
“Watch out!” Tommy said.
I looked up to see him at the trapdoor.
“Move!” he screamed and threw the backpack down, where it bounced once and came to rest on the mattress. “Now me!”
I jumped out of the way a split second before he landed.
He pointed to the ladder. “Herb’s still up there!”
I ran to the ladder and jumped onto the third rung before I climbed the rest of the way up. I popped my head out to see Herb swinging the Super Soaker from side to side, firing wildly in every direction at the whirlwind of bats around him.
“Herb, c’mon!” I shouted.
Herb inched his way to the trapdoor. “Get back, Devin! I’ve already been bitten a couple of times. Go without me!” He inched back some more.
“What?” I yelled. “You’ve been bitten?”
“Yes, now go!”
“I’m not leaving you here, Herb!” I looked down at Tommy. “Throw me a bag of sand!”
“What?”
“The sand!”
Tommy opened his jacket, yanked a bag from his pocket, and tossed it up to me.
I caught it and ripped the bag open. “Herb, watch out!”
Herb stepped out of the way and I threw the sand across the stage.
Grains scattered in every direction.
There was one giant shriek, and the bats all flew after it.
Every single one of them transformed into human-looking beings and began to count.
“Herb, let’s go!”
Herb dropped to his knees and crawled to the trapdoor.
I climbed down a few rungs to let him come through.
He placed his foot on the top rung and lowered himself through. He smiled at me. “Many thanks, Devin!”
I pointed up. “Herb, shut the door!”
His eyes widened. “Oh, yeah!”
He reached up and grabbed the latch.
Suddenly, Oren’s face appeared in the opening. He glared down at us, his mouth opened wide, looking like a shark about to take a bite out of a seal. He chomped down on Herb’s arm.
“Aaaaaaaaaagh!” Herb screamed.
Tommy jumped onto the ladder beside me and took aim.
A pencil whizzed past and landed with a loud thwack sound in Oren’s chest.
He let loose an ear-piercing shriek and fell away.
“Darn it!” Tommy yelled. “I missed the heart.”
I grabbed Herb and pulled him through. Tommy helped him down the ladder. I slammed the trapdoor closed, bolted it, and jumped back down. Tommy and I surrounded Herb. His arm had gashes from bite marks. Blood streamed everywhere, looking like a red river running down it.
I undid my tie and wrapped it around his wounds.
He winced.
“Help me knot this,” I said. Tommy grabbed one end and helped me finish it off.
I studied Herb’s face and saw the fear and worry in it. I kept waiting for something to happen. Fangs to sprout. Fingers to grow. But nothing changed.
“Herb,” I said. “What happens now?”
Already beads of sweat were collecting on his upper lip. “Well, now we have a problem. We either have to destroy the vampire who just bit me or the head of the bloodline, which I’m betting is Moroi, and we probably have to do it fast.”
I already had a bad feeling about what he was going to say. “And what happens if we don’t?”
Herb turned to us. “I’ve had three bites. It won’t be long. It could be five minutes, an hour, several hours. There’s just no way of knowing. Already, the vampire’s curse is flowing through my blood. If we don’t find out who it is soon I’ll be deader than Barry McGuire’s career after ‘Eve of Destruction.’”
I glanced at Tommy.
He shrugged.
Herb slid the glasses up the bridge of his nose. “The worst part will be the hunger. I might turn on both of you. I’m telling you now—I can’t live as a vampire. If that happens, I need one of you boys to promise that you’ll kill me.”
Tommy thrust his hand up. “Ooh, I’ll do it!”
I cocked my head. “What?”
Herb gripped my shoulder. “Devin, you must not be weak here! I must know that I can count on you if it comes to it. Sentimentality has no place with vampirism.”
“Hey!” Tommy said. “I already called it.”
I waved my hands. “Stop talking about killing Herb!”
Tommy started to open his mouth, but I glared at him and he closed it.
I pointed toward the door. “We’ve got to get out there and find the vampire responsible for turning Herb and Abby, and—” I scanned the room and my heart dropped. “Where’s Abby?” I bolted from the spot and searched everywhere. “She’s not here! Help me find her!”
“Quick!” Tommy said. “There might be someone here. Take a dart gun.”
Tommy handed me one from his jacket. We loaded them with pencil
s, and slowly searched the room. We looked behind beams, and in the shadows along the walls.
Nothing.
Above us there was scratching at the trapdoor. The sounds of bats screeching.
I saw movement out of the corner of my eye.
A door opening.
I whirled and fired the dart gun … into a metal box on the wall.
Sparks shot out.
Lights flickered on and off before finally shutting off completely.
We were in the dark.
“Nice going,” Tommy said.
“I saw a door opening,” I said.
“It was probably Abby leaving,” Herb voice called out in the darkness. “That means she’s close.”
There was a buzzing sound and the lights flickered again.
“There must be a backup system trying to restore things,” Herb said.
Tommy grabbed my arm and spun me around. “Look!”
Straight ahead of us, in the shadows, was a sliver of light from a partly open door.
“Abby!” I yelled.
We rushed over to it and peered out into the middle of an empty hallway, stretching in both directions.
Abby was gone.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
THE T STANDS FOR TROUBLE
Each sound I heard walking through the hallways of the theater school made me jump.
The overhead lights flashed on and off, buzzing each time they did.
Herb, Tommy, and I swiveled side to side, ready to fire. Tommy and I had the dart guns loaded with pencils while Herb held the Super Soaker filled with water mixed with garlic powder.
The lights flickering made it difficult to concentrate. Behind every shadow, I pictured a vampire lurking, ready to jump or fly out at us.
Even that wasn’t as bad as the fact that we were walking with Herb, who was basically a ticking time bomb.
It wasn’t easy knowing the one who was guarding your back might soon be the one who was biting your neck.
The worst part of all was there was still no sign of Abby. I had no idea where she could’ve run off to and I was scared to find out. Hopefully, she hadn’t turned yet. Abby with vampire powers and a hunger for blood wasn’t a good mix.
And on top of everything else, there was Lily. I hadn’t seen her since her performance, and had no idea what to believe. Actually, that’s not true. The big problem was that I was starting to believe what everyone else was saying, and I hated that I did.
From Sunset Till Sunrise Page 14
