Chapter 3: The Vampire of Maplewood Drive
The vampire beckoned toward the beautiful young woman, welcoming her into his mansion.
"I have prepared a feast of which I hope you will partake," he said in deep, ominous tones.
Tommy had gained control of one of the large bowls of popcorn and was mechanically popping kernels into his mouth while he stared at the tv screen.
The vampire's spell had overtaken the young woman's mind. In a trance, she followed him into the dining room. In the flickering candlelight, the vampire stared deeply into her eyes and gently brushed the hair away from her neck.
As the vampire leaned in to sink his teeth into the girl's neck, Philip's friend Mark said, "Bet that's what you were doing to Linda Montez at the school dance."
He started making kissy noises and ducked when Philip tried to swat him on the head.
"Yeah, Philip's a vampire, and he wants to suck everyone's blood!" Andy said, grabbing for his own throat. "Cover your necks!"
"Not everyone's blood, just all the girls," Mark said with a grin.
"Nah, just Linda's," Jamie said, rolling his eyes.
"Cut it out, guys!" Philip snapped.
"Yeah, I want to hear the show!" Tommy said. His eyes were glued to the tv, and he was now shoveling popcorn into his mouth at furious rate.
Most of the boys focused on the movie, everyone except for Philip. He was getting bored and restless. As far as he was concerned, the movie was cheesy and not at all scary. Halloween should be a night of adventure and mystery, but the best that this movie could offer was a vampire with wooden acting and obviously plastic fangs.
The scene had changed, and the hero was now conferring with the famous vampire hunter who had come to town.
"So the mysterious man who recently rented Ruthven Hall is really a vampire?" the hero asked in disbelief.
"Come on!" Philip said, gesturing to the screen. "It's been so obvious this entire time! The guy never goes out during the day, there are no mirrors in his house, and he refuses to go anywhere near crosses."
"He's also deathly pale, doesn't eat normal food, and keeping staring at the necks of people he talks to," Mark pointed out.
"Exactly!" Philip said. "Anyone with half a brain could read the signs!"
"I don't know," Jamie said. "There are lots of weird people in the world. He could just be a real wacko."
"Like that guy who lives next door to you?" Mark said, laughing. He had met Buck earlier when he was showing off his costume. "That guy's crazy!"
"What do you mean?" Andy asked, having missed it.
Before Mark could explain, Jamie said, "I was thinking more like the guy who moved in down the street."
"What guy?" Andy asked.
"He didn't move in," Philip said. "He's just staying with friends in a house down the street. Jamie and I bumped into him when we came back late from playing basketball the other day."
"Yeah, it was getting dark, and we were worried that mom would be mad as us for being out so late, and this weird guy just stops to talk to us," Jamie said.
"He wanted to know if there were any good restaurants in the area because he just got here," Philip explained reasonably. "I just told him to head up to Carver Street because that's where most of the eating places are around here."
"You shouldn't have talked to him at all," Jamie said. "The guy was creepy, and anyway, if he wanted to go out to eat, why didn't he just ask the friends he's been staying with?"
"I don't know," Philip said with a shrug. "I just told him, and we hurried on home. But, you're right, he was kind of creepy."
"What do you mean?" Andy asked.
"Well, he was pretty pale, and he spoke with an odd accent," Jamie said.
"It was a Russian accent," Philip said. "Don't you ever watch spy movies?"
"You can't know for sure!" Jamie said. "You've never met a Russian. It could have been an Eastern European accent, like the guy playing the vampire here. He sounded kind of like that."
They all listened quietly to the movie for a few minutes while the vampire spoke, trying to charm the hero's girlfriend and convince her to come to his house for a "dinner party."
"Yeah, I guess it could have been kind of like that," Philip admitted. "We didn't talk to him for very long."
"Maybe he was a vampire," Andy said, joking. "Did he stare at your neck while he talked?"
"No, but he was staring at Jamie's," Philip said, leering at his brother. "I vant to suck your blooooood!"
"Cut it out!" Jamie said.
"Guys! I'm trying to hear the movie!" Tommy complained. He had almost finished the bowl of popcorn by himself.
But, Philip was getting an idea.
"You know, what if the guy down the street really is a vampire?" Philip suggested. "Maybe we should go and find out."
"Get real," Jamie said. "There's no such thing as vampires."
But Mark and Andy were interested in the idea.
"How are you going to find out if he's a vampire?" Andy asked.
"The same way as the guys in the movie," Philip said. "We know that he only comes out at night because we've never seen him earlier in the day. Now, we find out how he reacts to crosses and mirrors."
"Just because we haven't seen him during the day doesn't mean that he never goes out during the day," Jamie pointed out. "Maybe he goes places while we're at school. And if you think you're going to take Mom's gold cross necklace and wave in the guy's face, think again. Mom will kill you before the vampire does."
"So you admit that he might be a vampire!" Philip challenged.
"No!" Jamie said.
"Then, you're not afraid of coming with us to find out."
"I just think it's stupid."
"If it's stupid, then you shouldn't be afraid to do it," Mark said, getting into the spirit of the argument.
Jamie thought that the whole argument was stupid but knew that he couldn't say so without looking like a coward in front of his brother and their friends.
"If the guy's a vampire, he's probably out preying on innocent trick-or-treaters tonight, and he won't even be at the house when you get there," Jamie said, casually taking one of his grandmother's pumpkin chocolate chip cookies from the plate and turning his attention back to the movie.
"We won't know until we go to the house and find out," Philip said reasonably. "We're going to need some costumes, er, disguises."
He jumped up out of his seat and headed upstairs. Mark and Andy followed him. Tommy ignored them and finished the popcorn, still watching the movie. Jamie sighed and slouched on the couch.
Once his brother got an idea, nothing would stop him from carrying it out and dragging Jamie and all their friends along with him. He only hoped that Philip wasn't stealing their mother's necklace, or they'd be facing worse than imaginary vampires before the night was over.
SMKSMKSMKSMKSMKSMKSMKSMKSMKSMK
"Please excuse my friend's rudeness. My name is Victor." The handsome man extended his hand to Amanda.
"I'm Amanda," Amanda said, shaking his hand. She saw no reason not to use her real name. After all, this was her neighborhood, and they might have heard her name already.
"Amanda is a beautiful name," Victor said, taking her by arm and leading her through the foyer. "Please, make yourself at home."
"So, where is the phone?" Amanda asked. She was eager to get her mission over with and get out of there.
"Why don't you come have a drink with me first?"
"Oh, well, I really shouldn't. My boys have some friends over, and as soon as I've made my call, I should get back to them."
"I have an excellent red wine that I've been eager to share with someone. Perhaps just one drink?" Victor flashed her a charming smile.
Amanda suppressed the urge to sigh. "Why don't you pour me a glass while I make my call?"
SMKSMKSMKSMKSMKSMKSMKSMKSMKSMK
"Alright, guys!" Philip said, bounding back into the living room. "We're just about set!"
Jamie cringed. He had just finished giving some candy to the trick-or-treaters. Tommy was devouring his fourth pumpkin cookie, his eyes still glued to the screen as the hero tried to convince the heroine that their new neighbor was a vampire. He was ignoring Philip, and Jamie wished that he could do the same.
"Here, take these," Philip said, holding out some objects for Jamie to take.
In one hand, he held a pillow case. In the other, he had a terrycloth bathrobe and a sort of shiny lump of twisted cloth.
"What's all that for?" Jamie asked.
"It's your disguise," Philip said with a grin. "We have to look like trick-or-treaters." He was wearing their mother's trench coat (which was too big for him) and an old fedora that belonged to their dad.
Mark laughed. He had on a Hawaiian shirt of Philip's and a pith helmet that Jamie had worn for his explorer costume a couple of Halloweens ago. There was a pair of binoculars around his neck. He was holding more pillowcases.
Andy's "disguise" was the only one Jamie understood. He was wearing a sheet with holes for eyes. Obviously, he hadn't cut them big enough. He was stumbling round, bumping into the furniture. Jamie recognized the sheet they'd used as an old one that his mother was going to throw away.
"You know, most ghosts aren't covered with tiny flowers like you are," Jamie said, grinning.
"Shut up!" Andy said, bumping into the arm of the couch. The sheet slid a little on his head, and the eyeholes moved. He struggled to get them back in the right place again.
"What are you guys supposed to be?" Jamie asked Mark and Philip.
"I'm a tourist," Mark said proudly. "The binoculars are useful, too." He lifted them and tried to use them to inspect Jamie's face from three feet away.
"They would be useful if it wasn't dark outside," Jamie said. He asked Philip, "So, what are you?"
"I'm a detective," Philip said.
"A detective?" Jamie asked. Trust Philip to snag the coolest costume for himself.
Philip shrugged. "If you don't like that, then I'm a guy in a trench coat. It doesn't matter. Just put this on and come with us." He shoved the bathrobe at Jamie.
"How is grandma's bathrobe a costume?" Jamie demanded, edging away from the terrycloth bundle.
"You'll be a swami!" Philip said enthusiastically. "Just wrap grandma's scarf around your head like a turban, and you'll be set."
"Absolutely not!"
"You can't come with us if you're not wearing a costume!"
"I'm not going with you!"
"You tell him!" Tommy said, reaching for another cookie.
"Fine!" Philip said, dropping the bathrobe and scarf on the arm of the couch. "You guys stay here and be boring!"
"Hey, weren't you going to get some garlic?" Mark reminded Philip.
"I don't think we have garlic cloves, but I'm pretty sure that we've got garlic powder," Philip said.
"Where?" Andy asked, stumbling roughly in the direction of the kitchen.
"In the cabinet by the door, third shelf down," Philip said helpfully.
"Ouch!" Andy said, stubbing his toe on a chair on the way.
"You're going to attack our neighbor's visiting friend with garlic powder?" Jamie asked incredulously.
"Well, we didn't want to just use crosses."
Jamie covered his eyes with his palm. "Please tell me you didn't steal Mom's cross."
"Of course not!" Philip said.
He and Mark took their crosses out of their pillowcases. They were made of popsicle sticks tied together with string and looked more like "X"s than crosses to Jamie. It was a stark reminder of how much trouble Philip had when he was trying to get his arts and crafts patch for Junior Trailblazers, but at least they wouldn't be in trouble with their mother over it. At least, they wouldn't until they tried to throw garlic powder at their neighbor's visiting friend.
"I've got it!" Andy said, stumbling back into the room with the small jar of garlic powder in his hand.
"Last chance to come with us," Philip said to Jamie and Tommy.
"I'm staying here," Jamie said.
"Me, too!" said Tommy.
"Okay, then you guys stay here and pass out candy," Philip said. "We're off on an adventure!"
"Yeah!" Andy said. He charged toward the front door, tripping over his sheet and banging his elbow on the wall.
Jamie shook his head. Let the Three Stooges go vampire hunting! For once, he wasn't going to get roped into one of Philip's crazy stunts.
