by Krista Davis
“Eww.” A girl shifted away from him. “That would creep me out.”
A second boy snickered. “If you’re so scared of vampires, what are you doing out at night when they roam around looking for necks to bite?”
She clutched her throat with both hands. “I’m wearing a bulky turtleneck and garlic, and I borrowed my sister’s cross necklace. It’s sterling silver. I figure that ought to cover it.”
“You have to come with us tomorrow night.”
A girl responded. “As long as I don’t have to sleep there. I’m not as brave, or as stupid, as those girls. Why would you spend the night in a vampire’s bedroom when everyone knows two vampires are on the loose?”
Two vampires?
I felt the tension in Mars’s arm. “The haunted house,” he whispered.
We turned as a unit and his arm fell away when we raced in the direction of Bubble and Trouble. I’d had no idea it would prove to be such a fitting name.
Mars ran with Daisy on a regular basis, but it didn’t take long for me to get winded. He slowed to a walk, clearly for my benefit, but it annoyed me. Ex-husbands weren’t supposed to be so considerate.
A gaggle of kids clustered on the sidewalk outside Bubble and Trouble. Some sat cross-legged, and a couple of them smoked cigarettes. The house looked dark and quiet when we approached it. No lights shone in the windows.
“What are you doing here?” I asked the kids, hoping I would see Jen or Vegas among them.
“We’re waiting for the vampires,” said a gangly boy.
“They have to come home before dawn,” offered a girl with pumpkin orange streaks in her hair.
“Go home.” I said it in what I hoped was a firm, I’m-in-charge voice. “No vampires are coming.”
“How do you know?” asked the boy.
“Because there are no such things as vampires. Now scoot!”
They took their sweet time leaving and certainly grumbled about it. I could hardly wait to find out if Jen and Vegas were inside. Had the older kids outside frightened them? Mars was about to pound on the door. I grabbed his wrist to stop him. “Wait a second. If we knock on the door, they can run out through the gate in the backyard. For that matter, they could just hang out and pretend they’re not inside. They’ll fear it’s these kids trying to get in.”
“Good thinking. I’ll jog around and head them off the back way. Give me a couple minutes to get back there.” He handed me the leash and scanned the street. “If anyone appears, just shout, and I’ll come running back. I don’t like leaving you alone.”
Mars sped along the deserted sidewalk and disappeared around the corner.
I couldn’t say if it was the dead leaves rustling or the bare branches silhouetted against the night sky, but a chilling shiver rattled through me. I hoped Jen was inside, safe and sound. What could have possessed her to run around in the middle of the night?
I figured Mars had made it to the backyard, and, saying a little prayer, I pounded on the front door. No one answered. For absolutely no good reason, I tried the door handle. It was locked. Why hadn’t I brought the key? I thought I heard scuffling. “Jen?” I called.
The door handle shifted. I clutched my phone in my hand, ready to dial for help yet mindful that calling the police could result in dire consequences for Vegas.
Mars swung the door open from inside.
“How did you get in?”
He reached into his pocket and pulled a credit card out of his wallet. “I resorted to old tricks. Ray needs to put a better lock on that back door.” He switched on the foyer light. “Vegas?”
His call shook through the house. I reminded myself that it wasn’t haunted, nor was there any such thing as a vampire. So why was I nervous?
Gathering courage, I tried to laugh at myself and started up the stairs. Something swept over my head—a blast of air—and I screamed.
“What was that?” asked Mars.
“You felt it, too?” At least I hadn’t lost my mind. To make matters worse, the automated ghost swung in our direction.
Daisy didn’t care, though, and bounded past me. Her nose to the floor, she shot to the door leading to the vampire’s bedroom.
Mars tried the doorknob, but it was locked. Screams rose inside.
I pounded on the door. “Jen? Vegas? Are you in there?” Mars sounded as afraid as me when he barked, “Open this door right now!”
A timid voice came from inside. “Aunt Sophie?”
She was alive! “Open the door, Jen!”
Mars and I could hear muddled whispering on the other side of the door. Half of me wanted to knock the door down and hug her, while the other half wanted to give Jen the worst scolding she’d ever had.
“Prove it’s you,” said Jen.
Prove? I looked to Mars. “Daisy is here with us. Open up!”
“Ask Sophie something to which only she would know the answer, Jen,” said Mars.
More whispering ensued. Jen’s tender voice finally asked, “What are the names of my cats?”
“Your dad is George, your mom is Laci, your nana is Inga, and your Ragdoll cats are Jasper and Alice.”
The lock clanked, the door opened, and Jen hurled herself at me with the velocity of a tornado, thus dispelling any lingering intention to chew her out. Vegas launched at Mars in much the same way, leaving Jesse and Blake looking very uncomfortable.
Each of them wore a chain of garlic. “Is everyone okay?” I asked. Jen clung to me like she would never let go. I held her away just enough to see her cute little face. “Are you hurt?”
“No. But, Aunt Sophie, this house really is haunted.”
Mars winced and looked up at the ceiling.
“Oh, Jen.” My voice clearly reflected my disbelief, because the other three all started talking at once.
Mars whistled to get their attention. “Do you boys have your cell phones with you?”
Jesse looked a little bit sheepish when he said, “We turned them off so the vampires wouldn’t hear them if they rang.”
“Call your parents and tell them to pick you up at Sophie’s house in about ten minutes. Now—down the stairs!” He jerked a thumb over his shoulder.
The kids obeyed, and I could hear Jesse trying to explain to his mom why he was calling her in the middle of the night. I wasn’t sure Blake’s mom would understand. She had enough trouble driving when she wasn’t drugged. I caught up to Blake in the foyer. “I think you should call your dad, not Maggie.” Blake cringed a little when I said that, and I had a feeling I knew which of his parents he couldn’t manipulate.
I started for the kitchen to lock up when something crashed upstairs. I rushed back to the foyer. A quick head count verified that everyone was accounted for. Daisy galloped up the stairs, and Mars took them two at a time with the boys on his heels. Before they reached the landing on the second floor, footsteps slammed down the back stairs.
It didn’t help that the girls screamed like banshees and grabbed hold of me. I lunged from their grasp and shot to the kitchen, just in time to see a dark figure fleeing through the mock graveyard and out the gate.
SIXTEEN
Dear Sophie,
I’m having a few friends over for a Halloween dinner, but I’m stumped about a centerpiece. I don’t want anything too gross, like a tombstone or a coffin, and pumpkins just seem so juvenile. What can I do that’s creepy but elegant?
—Saucy Sorceress in Little Hell, Virginia
Dear Saucy Sorceress,
Haunt secondhand shops in search of one or two old candelabra. Even ugly or chipped ones will do. Spray paint them black and add candles. For an extra touch of bling, wrap them with crystal ice garlands or glue crystals on them. They’ll be an unexpected touch of gloomy glamour on a table or a sideboard.
—Sophie
Mars, Daisy, and the boys charged down the back stairs and met us in the kitchen.
Vegas screamed, “It was him. It was Viktor. He was here the whole time!”
Jesse looked
at me earnestly. “Sunrise is at seven twenty-six. He’ll be back by then to get into the coffin. We should bring a wooden stake and a sledgehammer.”
I didn’t know whether to be horrified or to laugh. “Everyone listen to me.” I tried my best to sound rational, even though I’d been through some extremely troubling hours, and I still quivered from the knowledge that someone had been in the house with us. “Vampires do not exist. That was an ordinary person, just like you and me. There will be no stakes or sledgehammers.” On second thought, I added, “Or silver bullets. Mars, if you’ll lock the back door, I think we should make our way home.” I held a hand out to Jen. “I presume you have the key?”
I admit I was pleased to see remorse in her eyes when she handed it to me.
Mars returned and we doused the lights. When I secured the front door, I overheard Vegas mutter to Blake, “Stay close, okay? I can’t believe she’s going to make us walk home in the dark when she knows there’s a vampire on the loose.”
How was I ever going to convince them?
We marched silently to my house, Mars, Daisy, and me bringing up the rear so we would see if one of our charges strayed away. Mars glanced at me. “What a night.”
Dash Bennett waited by his car when we arrived. He leaned against the red SUV, his arms folded over his chest. Even bed head and a grumpy expression didn’t diminish his good looks. “I’m so sorry about this.”
Nina opened the front door for us, and I invited Dash into the house. Behind his back, Nina raised her eyebrows and mouthed “Wow,” which I interpreted as admiration for Dash.
Mars struck a fire in the kitchen fireplace as though he still lived there, and I put on hot chocolate, in the hope that the warm milk would help us all relax and get a little sleep. We needed to have a showdown with the kids first, though, which I dreaded.
The door knocker sounded, giving us all a few more minutes before the confrontation. When I opened the door, I found a petite woman with high cheekbones and a chic haircut that framed her delicate face. Her resemblance to Jesse left no question that she was his mom. She introduced herself as Dana Unterberger and apologized for Jesse’s behavior. I led her into the kitchen, where she glared at her child and took a seat at the table.
Mars leaned against the kitchen counter, and in a no-nonsense tone, he said, “Explain yourselves.”
To her credit, Jen looked miserable when she said, “Aunt Sophie, they’re saying you put the vampire bite mark on Patrick’s neck to make people think Viktor was back and get publicity for the haunted house.”
How could anyone think anything so absurd? “Where did you hear that?”
Jesse chimed in, “It’s all over the Net. On Facebook and Twitter.”
I took a deep breath. This wasn’t about me or any stupid rumors. I ladled hot chocolate into mugs with assorted Halloween images on them, and topped them off with miniature marshmallows. “That should teach you that you cannot believe every silly thing someone puts on the Internet. There’s no filter for accuracy, you know.” I passed out the mugs.
Mars frowned at them. “Even if that’s true, it doesn’t explain your middle-of-the-night foray.”
I handed Dash a mug. He thanked me, but I noticed he didn’t seem terribly upset with Blake, who appeared more relaxed than the rest of the kids.
It was Jen who finally broke. “We did it for you, Aunt Sophie. We thought if we spied on the vampire, we would know who he was, and then Wolf could capture him so you wouldn’t be in danger anymore.”
“He goes there every night. That’s why the window is open. He flies in and out as a bat,” said Vegas.
Every adult in the room raised eyebrows at Vegas’s bat explanation.
I didn’t know what to say. I was honored that they would go to such lengths for me, but that wasn’t the right attitude—it would only encourage more irresponsible behavior. While I was thinking, Jen continued.
“And Heather changed her relationship status on Facebook.”
Blake’s face blazed crimson. “It was a lie.”
Jen focused on me. “Heather said she was in a relationship with Blake. That”—she glanced at Vegas—“a revolting zombie bride had tried to move into her territory, and she’d better back off.”
I tried to keep a stern face. Relief swept over me, though, because I now had a hunch that the frightening dead doll had come from Heather the Horrid. Apparently, that girl was determined to torment Vegas. “What does that have to do with anything?”
Vegas finally spoke. “She said she was meeting Blake at the haunted house.”
Jesse’s mother, Dana, tapped her fingernail on the table. “That doesn’t explain why you were involved in this caper, young man!”
“Mom,” said Jesse, “the house is really haunted. For real. You wouldn’t believe what was going on in there last night. There’s this cigarette case with Viktor Luca’s initials on it and it disappeared. Blake had it in his hand one minute, then he set it down next to the wine bottles, and we walked over to the spider room, and when we came back, the case was gone.”
“And Viktor’s room smelled like cigarette smoke, but none of us were smoking,” added Jen.
“And this red ball bounced down the stairs,” said Blake. “It was in the lair downstairs the last time we saw it, so how did it get up to the second floor?”
The hairs on the back of my neck stood up even though I was certain there were reasonable explanations for everything. I had to believe them because I’d seen the ball bounce down the stairs myself.
Vegas shuddered. “There were these things, like little vortexes of air, that flashed over our heads when we turned out the lights. We think they were ghosts.”
Mars sounded surprisingly patient when he said, “Need I remind you that a fifth person fled the house when Sophie and I arrived? Someone had fun playing a major prank on you guys.”
There was something about the way he said it that gave me pause. He was too calm and dismissive.
“Thanks for coming, everyone.” Mars stood and shook hands with Dash. “Let’s get these vagabonds to bed. That’s the end of the haunted house for these four!”
“Oh no!” Jesse’s mother jumped up. “Could I please speak with the parents privately?”
Leaving the kids with Nina, I ushered the other adults into the living room. No one bothered to sit down. We clustered in a little huddle.
Dana placed her hands together under her chin as though she were praying. “Jesse is a bright boy. Unfortunately, you wouldn’t know that from his grades. We’re working hard on applying ourselves. The thing is that he’s getting extra credit for this project and he cannot mess it up. Seriously. It will be a nightmare. It could even mean repeating the year.”
Mars said, “Then he can continue by himself.”
Dana’s eyebrows rose in alarm. “That won’t work. If the others don’t get credit, there will be all sorts of questions about why they didn’t finish the project and put in their hours. It will all come out, and Jesse is the one who’ll suffer.” She looked at the ceiling and drew a deep breath. “Please don’t think that I’m not upset about my child running around on the streets in the middle of the night—but they didn’t do anything horrible. No one got hurt. They didn’t break windows or vandalize anything or do drugs. C’mon, it could have been a lot worse.”
Dash tilted his head. “I have to agree. If this becomes a disciplinary matter at the school, it could jeopardize Blake’s participation on the tennis team. As far as I’m concerned, it was a childish prank that the parents should handle. I see no need to involve the school.”
I knew Mars was going to agree to protect Vegas. “I’m not Jen’s parent, but all things considered, it’s probably best if the parents handle this.”
Their relief was palpable. For a second, I thought they might high-five.
“However”—they froze and I could feel their apprehension—“I am not going to babysit them. We have dozens of kids going through the haunted house, and I can’t possi
bly keep my eyes on all of them, plus our four rascals. You have to accompany them. You can wear costumes, and we’ll give you roles to play. That way each of you will be responsible for your own child.”
Dana eagerly seized on my suggestion. “That’s fair.”
Dash didn’t seem too pleased. His hands on his hips, he stared at the floor. “If there’s no alternative, I guess I’ll have to agree.”
Dash and Dana collected their sons and left after promising to show up an hour before the haunted house opened for business.
Mars crooked a finger at Vegas. She shuffled toward him, her head down. “Get your things. You’re going home.”
“But I’m staying here!”
“Not tonight, you’re not.”
It was sort of silly to say that since dawn would break in about an hour. However, I desperately needed sleep, and it would be easier if the girls weren’t together, plotting.
I held out my hand to Jen. “Cell phone, please.”
Horrified, she clutched it to her chest. “What if I need it?”
“You won’t need it when you’re sleeping. Hand it over and hightail it for the third-floor bedroom.”
Her mouth pursed, and she banged the cell phone into my hand as she marched by me and clomped up the stairs.
Mars followed Vegas out. He turned to me, and I wanted to ask him what he thought had happened at the haunted house, but I decided it might be something best said out of earshot of the girls. Instead of saying good night, he said, “I’ll be back as soon as I make sure Vegas is safely home.”
“What for?” It wasn’t the nicest way to ask, but exhaustion had kicked social politeness right out of me.
“I’m not leaving you alone. Someone has to protect you.”
“Nina and Daisy are here with us. We’ll be fine. Maybe you’d better make sure Vegas doesn’t pull another stunt.”
He protested, but I stuck to my guns, locked the door behind him, and followed Nina upstairs to bed.
