The Traveling Vampire Show

Chapter Fifty-seven

Let go of me!” I shouted into Stryker’s face.

“Just settle down.”

“They’re taking him away!”

“Nothing to worry about.”

“Where’re they going?”

Stryker ignored my question. He called out, “Bring the woman here.”

Over my shoulder, I looked for Rusty. No sign of him or the gumey or those who’d been bearing him away.

But I saw Lee being led toward us, members of Stryker’s gang clutching both her arms. Though she struggled to pull free, they hung on. I realized that the rain was no longer falling so hard. It still poured down, but with less force than before. I could see better….

Lee’s chambray shirt, sleeveless and hardly long enough to reach her waist, was no longer buttoned. Down its middle was a strip of skin the same dusky shade as her bare legs. Her white shorts looked like snow on a cloudy midnight.

Stryker released my sides. Before I could make a move, however, he grabbed my upper right arm. “Just take it easy,” he said. “Everything’s fine.”

“Like bell,” I said.

“Let her go,” Stryker told his people.

They released Lee’s arms. Facing Stryker, she said, “Now you let go of Dwight.”

Stryker’s teeth showed. They were as white as Lee’s shorts.

“Giving me orders?” he asked. But his hand dropped away from my arm.

I almost took off to go after Rusty, but changed my mind. With half a dozen of Stryker’s gang spread out close behind us, I wouldn’t have gotten far.

“We want Rusty back,” Lee said.

“I’m afraid he was seriously injured in the competition, but we’ll see that he gets proper attention.”

“We’ll take care of him,” Lee said.

“He’s already being looked after.”

“We’ll look after him.”

“Where is he?” I demanded.

Stryker’s head turned toward me. By the way the white showed, he was obviously smiling. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” he said.

“Yes!”

He chuckled.

Lee took hold of my hand. “Come on, Dwight.”

“We can’t leave without Rusty!”

“Come on.” Her voice was firm.

I had an urge to jerk my hand from her grip and refuse to leave, but then I realized she probably had a plan. Lee wasn’t a quitter.

Maybe she figured we should leave peacefully, then double back and spy on the gang.

Or maybe the plan was to hurry into town and come back with the police. My dad was in the hospital, but Grandville still had a police department of sorts. If necessary, they could bring reinforcements from the county sheriff and even the state troopers. We could come back in force and rescue Rusty.

“Let them go,” Stryker ordered.

His gang spread out.

As we walked away from them, I looked over at the parking area. The structure of the bleachers blocked some of my view. So did the BEER—SNACKS—SOUVENIRS shack. But I could see plenty of Janks Field, anyway.

Just about the only people still wandering around over there appeared to be members of Stryker’s crew. Equipped with flashlights, they were busy directing traffic. From the look of things, they’d been doing a good job. Though a few cars and pickups sat motionless as if abandoned, the field was mostly empty. A line of vehicles inched toward the mouth of the dirt road.

Not an ambulance among them.

No sign of Rusty, either.

“What’re we gonna do?” I asked.

“I’m not sure,” Lee said.

“We can’t just leave Rusty.”

“I know.”

“I don’t think they’re sending him to a hospital. Or the others, either. I haven’t even seen an ambulance.”

“Ambulances couldn’t get out of here, anyway,” Lee pointed out.

When we rounded the end of the bleachers, I had a clear view of Janks Field. I spotted Lee’s pickup truck, the disabled Cadillac and a couple of other cars. And then I heard the jangle of spurs behind us.

Something seemed to crumple inside me. “Uh-oh,” I muttered.

“Lee! Dwight!”

We stopped and turned around.

“What is it that you want?” Stryker asked, sounding almost as if he’d forgotten. But you could tell by his voice that he was playing with us.

“Rusty,” Lee said. “We just want Rusty.”

“How badly?” In a solemn voice, Lee asked, “What’ve you got in mind?”

“You give me what I want, I give you what you want.”

“And what is it that you want?” Lee asked.

“You and Valeria. Five minutes.”

“What?”

“In the cage.”

“You want me to fight her?”

“That’s the idea.”

“Why? The show’s over. Everybody’s gone.”

“Not everybody.” Stryker placed a hand on his own chest. “I love a good contest of strength and will. Frankly, I feel cheated. The show usually goes on for a couple of hours, at least.” He shrugged elaborately. “It was especially disappointing that our only challengers were men. I love to see an attractive woman take on Valeria. Warms the cockles of my heart.”

Lightning flashed again. All I noticed was Stryker’s dripping, grinning face.

When the darkness returned, he said, “Take her on. I know you’ll give us a great show.”

I pulled at Lee’s hand. “Let’s get out of here.”

She stayed put. “What if I don’t win?” she asked.

“If you don’t win, my dear, Valeria will suck your blood.”

Scared that Lee seemed to be considering it, I pulled harder at her hand. “Come on!” She didn’t budge.

Thunder grumbled through the night. It came from a distance. Rain continued to fall, but I realized the worst of the storm had moved on.

“What about Rusty?” she asked.

“What about him?”

“Do we get him even if I lose?”

“Certainly.”

“No!” I blurted. I wanted Rusty back, but not if it meant Lee getting ripped up by Valeria. “Are you crazy?”

Lee turned her head toward me. “I’m the reason Rusty came here tonight. I bought the tickets, remember?”

“I know, but…”

“And I’m not leaving without him. Not if I can help it.”

“Then we have a deal?” Stryker asked.

“We have a deal,” said Lee.

“You can’t fight her!”

She gave my shoulder a gentle squeeze and said, “It’ll be all right.”

“Leeeee!”

“Don’t worry, honey. Please.”

Stryker stepped away and spoke to some of his crew. Three of them went hurrying off through the rain. Two others came over to me.

While Stryker stayed in the arena with Lee, I was led up the empty bleachers. My two guards were Vivian and a muscular man with a crewcut. They chose seats in the middle, about halfway up, and positioned themselves on both sides of me.

From there, we would have the best view possible of the activities inside the cage.

Vivian patted my leg. “This is gonna be good,” she said.

I didn’t respond.

“So who’s the lucky gal? Not your mom, is she?”

I shook my head.

“Didn’t think so. She looks way too young. What is she, your big sister?”

I had no reason to tell this woman the truth, so I said, “Yeah, my sister.”

“Good lookin’ gal,” said the guy on my right.

Go to hell, I thought. But I didn’t say it. I’m not that stupid.

“Your mom know you’re here?” Vivian asked.

I shook my head again.

“Bet your folks think you’re home in bed, don’t they?”

“Maybe.”

“Glad you came?”

I frowned at her. “Not very.”

“Bet your friend Rusty had himself a good time. For a while there, anyway… till Valeria put the bite on him.”

Her attempt at humor angered me. I opened my mouth. Mostly, I intended to tell her to shut up. But different words came out. “Is she real?” I heard myself ask.

“Real? Sure she’s real.”

“I mean, a vampire.”

Vivian let out a harsh laugh. “What do you think, kid?”

“Is she?”

“Nan. She’s the tooth fairy.”

The guy laughed. “Good one,” he said.

Off ahead of me, behind the other stand of bleachers, three sets of headlights lit the night. I couldn’t see the vehicles behind them, but figured they must be the Traveling Vampire Show’s hearse, bus and truck.

The beams of the headlights reached through the stands. In their pale glow, I saw Stryker and Lee standing together on the ground, and Valeria alone in her cage.

She no longer wore her boots. Totally naked, she was leaning back against the bars, arms and legs spread out, stretching and writhing as if she relished the flexing of her muscles and the feel of the rain on her bare skin.

When the light beams shifted, I looked away from Valeria.

One pair of headlights continued to aim at the arena, but the other two sets slid away through the rainy night.

In the jittery glare of a lightning flash, I caught a glimpse of the vehicles. The hearse remained in place behind the opposite bleachers. Moving slowly to the right was the large black truck. Moving to the left was the black bus.

Where’re they going? I wondered.

Is Rusty in one of them?

We had no guarantee that Stryker would keep his part of the bargain.

What if they’re taking Rusty away?

Through the sounds of their engines and the hiss and patter of the falling rain came a soft rumble of thunder.

The truck and bus rounded the ends of the bleachers, then turned. They weren’t leaving, after all.

They drove straight toward each other until the bright beams of their headlights filled the cage. Then they stopped. I heard brakes squeak.

Now, headlights reached through the night from three directions. All of them met in the cage.

Stryker climbed the steps and entered.

Lee walked in after him.

Valeria let go of the bars. Still stretching and writhing in a languid way that seemed almost catlike, she glided toward the middle of the cage. Her sleek black hair was flat against her scalp and clinging to the sides of her face and neck. In the glare of the six headlights, her skin looked like alabaster gleaming and dripping with baby oil.

Stryker raised a hand and signalled her to stop.

She halted.

Like a boxing referee, Stryker spoke to both contestants. I couldn’t hear a word he said.

For our benefit, he held up an open hand—the unstretched fingers apparently representing five minutes. Then he hurried backward from between the two women and brought his arm down fast.

As Lee and Valeria started to circle each other, Stryker left the cage. Outside it, he shut the door and did something to its latch.

I gasped, “Hey! He shut the door!”

“No sweat, kid,” said the man on my right.

“Don’t worry about it,” Vivian told me. She patted my thigh. “Door or no door, your gal won’t be getting out of there alive.”