The Grimmest Book of Records I

Blood stained the walls and ceiling.

There was a hissing – that was abruptly cut off.

'Get down!'

Blood splattered on his face.

Vince woke up, gasping as he bolted upright. Pressing a hand to his face, he fought to catch his breath. He struggled to get his heart under control. Pushing himself out of bed, Vince pulled on his trainers and grabbed his bathrobe. Stepping out of his room, he listened. There was no indicator that he'd woken up Frank or Howard.

Vince walked downstairs and headed into the kitchen. Turning on the coffee pot, he looked out the window. He could see the set of graves from where he was. His mind flashed back to another time. Making a decision, Vince made his coffee and then took it out the back door. He climbed the hill in the graveyard.

Vince knelt down by the two gravestones. His eyes traced one of the names:

VINCENT JAMES SR.

Vince heaved a sigh and sat down.

Behind him, he heard the crypt door open. He was aware of Big D lingering in the doorway, watching him. He ignored it. But it didn't take long for the old vampire to push himself away from the door way and walk up to where Vince was kneeling. Vince didn't say anything. He knew what Big D would say.

'This isn't helpful, boy.'

'I know,' Vince murmured.

Big D was silent for a moment, but Vince heard the movement of him folding his arms.

'You knew they were still hanging around,' Big D said. 'I refuse to believe you're so foolish as to think the ones I killed that day were all of them, or even anything close to the big men in the organisation.'

'I know,' Vince murmured. 'But there's a difference between knowing it intellectually and actually seeing them.' He finally turned his head. 'How did you get there in time anyway? I distinctly recall sunlight.'

Big D smirked bitterly. 'Which is why your mother was taken by surprise. She was sleeping when they attacked. But the answer is quite simple. Vampires tend to build underground tunnels beneath their homes when they live in human societies. It makes it easy to come and go.'

'You entered via the tunnels,' Vince concluded.

'I did.' Big D glanced over his shoulder. 'Well, I should probably open those tunnels back up.'

'We have tunnels?' Vince asked.

'Of course we do!' Big D huffed. 'But we'll talk about that in the morning. You need to go back inside and go back to bed.'

'I can't sleep,' Vince said.

Big D heaved a sigh.

:[

Jess tried very hard not to look back.

It was kind of hard, though. There was something…wrong with Vince. Frank and Howard had been next to him all day, more than they usually were. He wasn't responding to any of the girls flirting with him. And there was an…almost haunted look in his eyes. The fact that his friends kept looking at him in concern didn't help.

It…bothered her.

'Jessica.'

Jess flinched as she came out of her classroom. She took a deep breath and turned. 'Yes, Ms. McGowan?'

'I just came by to see if you were all right,' Ms. McGowan said. 'You missed debating practice this morning.'

'Something came up,' she said. She quickly fished to make excuses. 'Something to do with my parents' divorce. I'm a little occupied at the moment. Would you mind terribly if I bowed out until next semester?'

'Nothing serious, I hope?' Ms. McGowan asked.

'No…just some property disputes I'm being dragged into.'

'All right,' Ms. McGowan said. 'I'll let them know, but I do expect you to keep practicing at home.'

'Sure.' Jess smiled and nodded.

Ms. McGowan turned and walked off.

Jess let out a breath and turned. She almost bumped into Vince and his friends. She would, ordinarily, snap at him. But she looked at him. He glanced at her with a flat, almost lethargic, expression. So Jess settled for, 'Sorry.'

She turned to leave.

'That's new.' Even Vince's voice sounded exhausted.

Jess paused and glanced back. 'Well…even I won't kick a guy when he's down.' She quickly walked off. Vince seemed like he was dead inside.

She didn't like it.

:[

Dracula dropped in on the house after the boys got back from school.

Frank and Howard couldn't remember their own experiences. The nature of what they'd been had made it easier for the Society to find them. Vince's birth home had been safer for longer. And now all the memories had come rushing back. Dracula found himself wondering if the boy had ever really processed what had happened to him.

Frank and Howard kept looking over in concern. Neither of them had talked to him about what had bothered him. They really should tell them at some point. But, in the meantime, they had no idea what to do. Vince was laying back on the couch, watching the evening news without paying any attention to it.

What the kid needed was a distraction – something to take his mind off the unpleasant memories plaguing him.

Almost as if summoned by his thoughts, the TV fuzzed over with static for a moment before clearing to reveal the grinning face of Dr. Dred.

Vince looked over, suddenly totally interest in something other than his brooding. 'Frank! Howard! Get in here!'

Both boys just about sprinted into the room.

'It's Dr. Dred!' Frank exclaimed.

'But what's he doing on the TV?' Howard demanded.

'Greetings citizens of the world!' Dred crowed. 'I have a little announcement. Starting at 12 o'clock noon tomorrow, I'm going to set a new Grimmest Book of Records record for the most Major International Crimes ever committed in a three-hour period! And I challenge the Drak Pack to stop me!'

The screen faded off and returned to a stunned news reporter, who clearly wasn't expecting that and had no notes on how to respond to it.

You beautiful fool, Dracula thought as he watched his nephew's expression harden in a way it hadn't in a good week. You handed that to me on a silver platter!

'He does realise we're teenagers, right?' Howard asked. 'We've got school tomorrow.'

'Obviously not,' Dracula said, drawing their attention to him. 'I'll call in sick for you tomorrow.'

'So we're really doing this?' Vince asked.

'Of course you are,' Dracula said. 'You can't ignore a challenge like that!'

'Well,' Frank shrugged, 'what's his first crime going to be?'

'That,' Dracula said, 'will remain to be seen. Leave the TV on. If we can't figure it out beforehand, I've no doubt he'll broadcast it before he goes to commit his first crime.'

:[

'Picking on teenagers, really!' Agent Black huffed.

'Is it possible Dred doesn't realise that the Drak Pack are teenagers, sir?' his second-in-command asked.

Agent Black pulled a face. 'It's a cluster of mad clowns. Unfortunately, that's very possible. With a bit of luck, we can deal with this without the Drak Pack ever having to get involved.'

'Pity we don't have their phone number.'

:[

The three boys worked tirelessly throughout the night.

The TV was on constantly, and they spread their work out in front of it. They went through different options all over the world for what Dr. Dred might be doing. Big D had, as he'd promised, opened up the tunnels under the house. That's why it was no surprise to them when he walked into the living room at seven o'clock, just as the TV station was high-jacked again.

'I thought it was meant to be noon,' Frank remarked as they all looked up.

'That's Big Ben,' Vince said. 'So he's in London. For them, it is noon.'

'Very good, Vince,' Dracula said, stepping into the room and watching the TV.

As the hands of Big Ben struck midday, Mummy-Man was seen abseiling down. He then pushed the face of the clock into the tower. 'You're lucky. The Drakster's scanners will be able to track that.'

'How come?' Vince asked. 'It's just glass, isn't it?'

'I doubt he's stealing the clock face,' Dracula said.

Sure enough, Mummy-Man emerged with a huge bell that was easily more than three times as big as he was. He then pulled it up as he returned to the Dredgible. It was somewhat amusing to see that Dred had underestimated the weight of that bell. But it was the actually Big Ben that he had stolen.

'There is a rare alloy mixed in to create that bell,' Dracula told the boys.

He then turned and headed over to call the school and tell them that the boys would not be attending today.

:[

Drak led the way to the car, transforming and then transforming the vehicle into the Drakster.

As Big D had said, all they had to do was enter the alloy into the computer. As Drak drove through the city, the computer worked out the location of the famous bell.

'The scanner picked up Big Ben,' Frankie said.

'Wow!' Howler exclaimed. 'From 9,000 miles away!'

'And now the computer's calibrating Dred's location,' Drak added.

A piece of paper was printed out. Howler grabbed it. 'And here's the latitude and the longitude readout.' He quickly read out the string of numbers.

'Hang on, Drak Pack.' Drak turned the dial and turned the car into a plane. 'We're on our way!'

:[

'Success!' Dred declared. 'The first step towards my Grimmest Book of Records crime record!' He cackled in delight as OGRE looked upon the bell on the display Dr. Dred had set up. 'After our next two crimes, we'll broadcast pictures to the entire world!'

'What's our next job, Dr. Dred?' Vampira said.

'Yes!' Toad said. 'What are we waiting for, Dr. Dred?'

'We are waiting for the Drak Pack to get here,' Dr. Dred said.

'Are we expecting them?' Fly-Man asked.

'Of course!' Dr. Dred turned on the monitor. 'And they are right on time!'

OGRE watched on the security cameras as the Drakster flew into Dredquarters. The Drak Pack climbed out of the vehicle and started looking around.

Toad ran across to the lever. 'Now, Dr. Dred?' he asked eagerly. 'Now?'

'Now, Toad!'

Toad pulled the lever.

:[

BANG!

Drak twisted around as all the doors and windows were sealed with heavy steel panels.

'What was that?' Frankie asked, looking around in confusion.

Drak wasn't about to admit he'd been caught off guard too. 'Exactly what I was expecting! A trap!'

'Yes, a fly trap!'

A net suddenly dropped down over Frankie. The three boys looked up. Fly-Man had been waiting on the ceiling. Grinding his teeth, Drak bent down and grabbed at the net. 'Let's get him out of there, Howler!' The net, though, was heavy at the bottom. It was probably designed to keep Frankie specifically from escaping from it.

'Look out!' Frankie pointed. 'Here comes Mummy-Man!'

They looked up to see Mummy-Man running at them, swinging his bandages over his head.

Drak jumped to his feet.

'And here goes Mummy-Man!' Howler took one…two…three breaths before he sent out a gust strong enough to blow the walking mummy off of his feet.

'Let's get outta here!' Frankie cried out.

The best decision at present. The three of them turned and started running.

'We'll get the net off of you later, Frankie!' Drak promised.

As they ran through the doorway, they all tripped on something. The resulting tumble had all three of them becoming tangled up in the net. The sight of vampiric smoke in his peripheral vision told Drak exactly what'd happened. He looked over at the disease-ridden vampiress in annoyance.

'I knew you boys would fall for me,' Vampira gushed as she walked over.

Mummy-Man walked in, mumbling as per usual.

'You're welcome, Mummy-Man,' Vampira said. 'Now tie them up good!'

Drak smirked. 'I hate to spoil your evil plans, Vampira, but I also process certain powers.' Pulling his cape over his head, Drak transformed into a bat. He easily escaped the net.

'Yay, Drak!' Howler cheered. 'Okay, it's your turn to bat!'

'As they say, up, up, and away!' Drak flew right past Mummy-Man.

Suddenly, a bandage hooked around his torso. Drak ground his teeth and tried to pull away. But the bandages had him and they pulled fast. Mummy-Man reeled him in like he was a fish on a line. Drak pulled back harder. All that happened was that the bandage tightened around his torso. It was a good thing he didn't need to breathe in this form.

'How about a smoke-screen, Drak?' Frankie suggested.

'Good thinking, Frankie!' Drak turned into mist.

But then Fly-Man came down with an unusually large bottle. It was corked before Drak could register what'd happened and do anything about it. If he'd still had human form, he would have slapped himself in the face. As it was, though, all he could really do was grumble about the situation.

'Bottled by a bug…How humiliating!'