by Anna Wilson
Lupus glugged it down in one again.
“Devilishly good!” he said. “Just one more?”
Vlad watched miserably as his cousin knocked back a THIRD pint of blood while Mortemia looked on approvingly.
Lupus finished and gave a loud burp. “Shall we go flying now?” he asked.
Vlad held his breath. Surely his mother would tell Lupus off for such bad manners?
But she simply said, “Yes, Lupus. You can show Vlad some of the basic manoeuvres he needs to pass his Bat Licence.”
“No problem, Auntie Morty,” Lupus replied. He flashed his fangs at her in a dazzling smile.
Mortemia turned to Vlad. “It’s about time you got your Bat Licence, Vladimir, and if you don’t learn the manoeuvres, you’re bound to fail the test. I’ve set up an agility course amongst the tombstones. With Lupus here to show you how, I am sure you’ll learn in no time.”
Vlad felt his heart flutter. He didn’t want to go back into the dark graveyard. And he didn’t want to practise manoeuvres and skills for his Bat Licence all night either. If he didn’t manage to get to bed early he would never be able to wake up in time to get to school!
He didn’t have a chance to protest, however. With every minute that passed, it was becoming clearer to Vlad that his mother was not interested in anything he had to say while Lupus was here.
The rest of the night passed miserably for Vlad. He watched as Lupus did everything effortlessly. Vlad still had to concentrate very hard to change into a bat by thinking Batwings – Air – Travel, as Flit had taught him, whereas Lupus seemed to PING! into bat shape as though someone had flicked a switch in his brain. He performed all the tasks that Mortemia had set with the greatest of ease.
Drax and Grandpa Gory were called to watch. They cheered at everything Lupus did and they groaned whenever Vlad crashed into anything – which was often.
I’m never going to be the vampire my parents want me to be, Vlad thought as he dragged himself, battered and bruised, back to his coffin at daybreak.
As he fell asleep his last thought was that he needed to see Minxie and Miss Lemondrop more than ever before!
Vlad woke to the feeling of something gently tickling his ear.
“URGH!” He shot out of his coffin, brushing frantically at whatever it was, thinking it must be a spider.
“Shhh! It’s only me!” said Flit, who was hovering in front of Vlad’s face. “It’s time for school. Lupus is sound asleep, but I don’t know about Claw, so you must be quiet. I’m not even sure where Claw is,” Flit added. He flicked his ears nervously.
“SNOOOOOOAAAARRRRRGH!”
Vlad jumped. “What was that?”
Flit giggled. “It was him!” he squeaked. He pointed at the other coffin in the room.
Vlad saw a large lump under the bedclothes, which was, of course, Lupus.
“Wow, his snores are worse than Grandpa’s!” Vlad whispered.
Flit nodded. “At least we know he’s fast asleep,” he said. “Come on, let’s get you ready for school.”
Vlad stood on the edge of his coffin and thought B – A – T. Then, POOF! He was a bat. He followed Flit down the dark and dusty corridors of Misery Manor.
“Do you think I’ll ever be as good at flying as Lupus is?” he squeaked to Flit as they flew out of the front door.
“Of course,” said Flit. “You just need more practice. Now hurry!”
Vlad flew into the sunlit graveyard and thought Vampire – Land – Air – Down as he transformed back to his normal self. Then he went to the yew tree where he hid his school uniform and changed into it quickly. Once more he thought B – A – T and flew up into the air next to Flit.
“I hope Claw hasn’t seen us,” he said, looking at the towers of Misery Manor.
“Don’t you worry about the raven,” said Flit. “She’s my problem. Unfortunately,” he added with feeling.
“I’m sorry,” said Vlad. “I wish you could come to school with me.”
“It’s all right. I must stay here in any case – you need me to keep an eye on Lupus.”
Vlad nodded glumly. “I hope he doesn’t wake up. If there’s any trouble, go and find Mulch,” he said. “He’ll know what to do.”
Vlad arrived at school just as all the other children were running in through the gates to the playground. He whizzed to the bike shed so that he could secretly transform, then he ran to find Minxie. She was waiting for him by the hopscotch area. Her face lit up when she saw him.
“So?” she asked, running over to him. “What’s he like?”
Minxie already knew that Vlad’s cousin was coming to stay. She also knew that Vlad’s parents had been on a trip to Transylvania to see if it would be a good idea for Vlad to go there too one day. She thought the whole thing was very exciting and didn’t understand why Vlad was so down in the dumps about it.
“I’ll tell you later,” said Vlad grumpily. He had come to school to get away from his cousin. “Can we play hopscotch? I don’t want to talk about Lupus.”
“Why not? I would LOVE it if my cousin were a vampire the same age as me,” Minxie chattered on.
“Don’t say that!” said Vlad, looking around. “Boz might hear you.”
Boz was the naughtiest boy in the school and he had taken a dislike to Vlad. In fact, Boz was convinced there was “something strange” about him, so he had followed Vlad home the week before to try and find out what that “something” might be… Luckily Mulch had come along, which had given the boy a huge fright!
Minxie pulled a face. “You don’t need to worry about Boz. He still thinks you’re an orphan. Remember how scared he was when Mulch picked him up and took him outside?”
Vlad was not convinced. “Well, ye-es,” he said, “but he still hates me – and he said he’d tell the school where I lived.”
“You could always use your mind control to stop him,” said Minxie.
“It’s not that easy—” Vlad began.
“Never mind,” Minxie cut in. “Tell me about Lupus!” she pleaded. “You’re so lucky. I don’t even have a normal cousin let alone a you-know-what cousin.”
“Of course you don’t,” Vlad said. “You have to be one yourself to be related to one.” He was getting irritated – why couldn’t Minxie understand how annoying it was having Lupus to stay?
Minxie looked concerned suddenly. “He’s not a bully, is he? Has he been horrible to you?”
“Not exactly,” said Vlad. “He was rude about my bedroom, though.”
“What?” Minxie exclaimed. “But it’s the coolest room in the entire universe! What’s his problem?”
“He said it was old-fashioned and dusty,” Vlad muttered.
“Well, yeah…” Minxie said, “but isn’t that the whole point?” She paused and frowned. “Are you sure he’s a proper you-know-what?”
“Oh, he’s a proper one, all right,” said Vlad in a low voice. “He can laugh the worst laugh you’ve ever heard, his bat-flying skills are even better than Father’s and he drank THREE PINTS of blood last night. Mother and Father think he’s the best. Especially Father,” he finished glumly.
“Oh,” said Minxie. She chewed her lip. “Never mind. At least you can come here to get away from him. And the school play auditions start today, don’t forget!” she added. “I’ve seen the list – we’re doing ours tomorrow after school.”
Vlad let his face fall into his hands. “The auditions!” he said.
“What’s the matter?” asked Minxie. She put her hands on her hips. “You’re not going to pull out, are you?”
Vlad looked up at her, his face a picture of misery. “I haven’t had a chance to think about our routine,” he complained. “I spent all of Saturday night doing lessons with Mother, then Lupus arrived and we spent hours practising for my Bat Licence.”
“OK! OK! STOP!” said Minxie. She held up one hand and pretended she was an American police officer. “Just s l o o o o w down, Mister!”
Vlad took a deep, wheezy b
reath. He couldn’t help smiling at Minxie. She was funny when she put on different voices.
“Sorry,” he said. He reached into his pocket for his inhaler and took a puff.
“That’s better,” said Minxie as he calmed down. “You worry too much. We can practise our routine here at break and lunch. Or…!” Her eyes lit up.
“Or what?” Vlad asked cautiously.
“Or I could come back to your house after school and we could practise in the kitchen while your cousin is still asleep. Mulch wouldn’t mind, would he? And then, when Lupus wakes up, I would get to meet him and if he’s being mean to you I could sort him out.” Minxie fixed Vlad with a particularly mischievous look.
Vlad was horrified. “You can’t!” he exclaimed. “Mulch is one thing – I know that he doesn’t mind you and me being friends. But what if Lupus tells Grandpa Gory? Or Mother and Father? I’ll be locked in the Black Tower and never see you again.”
“It can’t be that bad,” said Minxie. But she looked worried.
“It’s worse!” Vlad cried.
Minxie put her hand on Vlad’s shoulder. “You know, if your parents really are that mean, you should tell a teacher about it.”
“His parents aren’t mean!” said a voice.
Vlad yelped in surprise.
Minxie turned to face the speaker and said sternly, “You shouldn’t sneak up on people like that – especially when they’re having a PRIVATE conversation.”
Vlad was pointing at the speaker with one finger. “You – you – you!” he spluttered. “How did you get here?”
“On my scooter,” said the stranger.
Minxie looked at Vlad, puzzled. Then she looked back at the stranger who was grinning widely. “Wow!” she breathed. “You have the same teeth.”
“That’s impossible,” said Lupus, for of course that’s who it was. “We’d have to share a mouth. Mwahahahaha!”
Minxie squealed with glee. “Two vampires in my school!” she cried.
Vlad found his voice at last. “Shh!” he hissed, looking around the playground. “Don’t say that!”
Lupus was the one looking puzzled now. “Why shouldn’t she?” he asked. “It’s true. I am a vampire.”
“Shh!” Vlad hissed. “If you go around telling everyone, we’ll get kicked out – or worse.”
“But I don’t understand,” said Lupus. He looked around at the children in the playground. “What do you think will happen to you if people find out?”
“Duh!” Vlad said. “Humans hate vampires! Don’t you even know that?”
Lupus gave a fang-tastic grin. “Mwahaha!” he roared. “No, they don’t! This is another one of those old-fashioned things your parents have told you, isn’t it?”
“It is not!” said Vlad.
“It must be – listen, in Transylvania, vampires have human friends all the time. Two of my best friends at school are humans,” he finished proudly.
“Cool!” said Minxie.
“I don’t believe you,” said Vlad.
“You’ll just have to come to Transylvania to see for yourself,” said Lupus, his hands on his hips. “But I forgot – you need to get your Bat Licence first, don’t you?” he teased.
In spite of her fascination with Lupus, Minxie didn’t like seeing him talk to Vlad that way. She glared at him. “Hey, you can’t be mean to Vlad. He’s my friend.”
Lupus didn’t seem bothered at all. He merely winked at Minxie, then stepped on to his scooter and pushed away with his foot. Then he jumped, still on the scooter, and flipped around in the air. He did a loop-the-loop and made a perfect landing. Then he sped towards a bench, jumped on to it and scooted across and off the other side.
A small crowd was gathering around Lupus now. The children were oohing and aahing, their eyes wide with amazement at his tricks. Boz had joined them. He seemed reluctantly impressed, too.
Vlad groaned inwardly. Trust Lupus to be great at human skills as well, he thought.
“It’s like he can actually fly!” gasped Leisha, one of the girls in Vlad’s class.
“Have you seen his trainers?” said Adam, his eyes wide with envy.
“Hey, who are you?” Ravi called out to Lupus. “Are you a friend of Vlad’s?”
Vlad was shaking his head at his cousin, trying to warn him not to say anything.
Lupus ignored him, however. “I’m Vlad’s cousin, Lupus Fang.” He grinned, showing his magnificently white and pointy teeth.
“Makes sense,” said Boz with a nasty laugh. “Freaky teeth must run in your family.”
Vlad felt his blood run cold. He closed his eyes and waited for everyone to realize what the pointy teeth meant. Lupus is obviously a vampire, he thought. His fangs are so huge! They’re going to work out that I am a vampire too…
But no one did.
Instead Vlad heard Lupus say to Boz, “What, you mean like big noses run in your family? Mwhahaha! Noses – run – get it?” He roared with laughter and the crowd joined in.
Vlad opened his eyes. He knew he should feel relieved that no one had found out his secret, but instead he felt cross. Lupus was stealing the show here, too.
The children clustered around Lupus, asking him excited questions and begging him to show them more tricks on his scooter.
There wasn’t time, however, because the bell had rung and Mr Bendigo, the teacher on duty, was calling the children to line up for morning register.
“You’ll have to go now,” Vlad told Lupus in a low voice.
“Hey, what about lessons—?” Lupus began.
“You’re not coming to lessons,” said Vlad. Then he turned his back on his cousin and went to line up with his friends.
After register, Vlad and his classmates followed Miss Lemondrop inside.
As they went through the door to Badger Class, Vlad felt a tap on his shoulder.
“Can I sit with you?”
Vlad whipped round. “Lupus!” he hissed. “What are you doing? I said you couldn’t come to lessons with me.”
Lupus tried to look innocent. “But I thought that’s exactly what Auntie Morty wanted me to do – have my classes with you,” he replied.
Vlad wasn’t fooled. “You know she meant VAMPIRE lessons,” he whispered.
“You shouldn’t have made such a racket when you left this morning, if you didn’t want me to follow you,” said Lupus. “You woke me up.”
“You were spying on me, more like!” Vlad said. “Go away, you can’t sit with me. I sit next to Minxie.”
“Vlad!” Miss Lemondrop called out from her desk. “Come and sit down, dear.”
Vlad turned away from Lupus and walked in, doing his best to pretend that his cousin wasn’t with him. Lupus, however, clung to him like a bat hanging from a branch.
Miss Lemondrop looked puzzled.
“Who is this?” she asked Vlad, glancing from him to his cousin.
“Good morning, madam,” said Lupus. He bowed low, flicking his cape out behind him. “My name is Lupus Fang. I am Vlad’s cousin and I’ve come to stay.”
Minxie slid into her seat and glared at Lupus.
Miss Lemondrop didn’t exactly look pleased either. “I see,” she said slowly.
Vlad felt his stomach turn to ice. He could already tell that Lupus had no idea how to behave in front of humans. How was he going to stop Lupus from saying anything to Miss Lemondrop about being a vampire?
He was too panicky to use mind control. If only I could do it like Lupus – without getting angry, he thought.
“Vlad, you can’t bring your cousin to school without permission,” Miss Lemondrop was saying firmly. “You boys should go and see Mrs Viola. As head of the school, she’ll know what to do about this situation. And hang your cape up on the pegs on the way out, please,” she added to Lupus.
The other pupils had begun whispering amongst themselves.
Vlad wasn’t listening to them, though. He was trying hard to think angry thoughts so that he could stop Miss Lemondrop from talking.
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“Vlad, did you hear what I said?” Miss Lemondrop asked. “I’m going to have to speak to your parents about this.”
Lupus cut in. “You’ll never get to meet my aunt and uncle, miss. They’re far too traditional. They don’t like going out in the day, you see. My parents have been trying to tell them for years that the sun won’t burn them if— Ouch! Why did you kick me, Vlad?” Lupus turned to his cousin. He rubbed his leg. “That hurt!”
Everyone was looking at the two vampires now. Minxie was mouthing something earnestly to Vlad, but he was busy thinking hard of how to get rid of Lupus.
If only Mulch were here, he thought.
He imagined his cousin being picked up by Mulch, just as Mulch had picked up Boz…
…Mulch would carry Lupus outside and across the playground and…
But before he could get any further, a strange coldness and darkness overcame Vlad as it had before. His mind control was being blocked – and there was only one person who could do that!
Vlad’s thoughts vanished into the darkness. He opened his eyes and glared at Lupus. His cousin was staring hard at Miss Lemondrop, however.
“Well?” the teacher was saying. “Why did you kick your cousin, Vlad? That’s not like you.”
Vlad stammered and stuttered with fury. How could Lupus do this to him?
Miss Lemondrop began tapping her foot. She was about to speak again, but then something strange happened to her face.
She opened and closed her mouth, but no words came out…
…her angry frown turned into an expression of puzzlement…
…she put a hand to her forehead and staggered slightly.
“Oh! Miss Lemondrop!” cried Minxie, rushing to her side. “Are you all right?”
An anxious murmur went around the room.
“I – er … um,” said Miss Lemondrop faintly. She removed her huge glasses and peered at them as though she wasn’t sure what they were for. Then she put them back on and seemed to see Minxie as though for the first time that day. “Ah, good morning, Malika,” she said brightly. “My brain’s a bit fuzzy this morning. What was I saying?”
