As she stepped toward us, I saw that she had ringlets of blond curls that
fell past her shoulders. She wore a gray jumper, very long and old-fashioned,
with a white blouse underneath.
She’s about our age, I realized. But definitely from a different time.
She stopped several coffins away. “Who are you?” she asked, eyeing us
suspiciously. “What are you doing here?”
“We—we don’t really know,” I stammered.
“We know who we are. But we don’t really know what we’re doing here!” Cara
corrected me.
“We got here by accident,” I added.
The girl’s confused expression didn’t change. She tucked her hands into the
pockets of her jumper.
“Who are
you
?” Cara demanded.
The girl didn’t answer right away. Keeping her distance, she continued to
study us with her pale blue eyes. “Gwendolyn,” she said finally. “My name is
Gwendolyn.”
“Are you one of
them
?” The question popped out of my mouth.
Gwendolyn shuddered. “No,” she answered quickly. Her mouth curled into an
angry sneer. “No. I
hate
them!” she declared. “I hate them all!”
Cara shifted her weight tensely. I could see that she was really nervous. She
handed the bottle of
Vampire Breath
to me. The bottle felt cold and damp
from Cara’s hands. I lowered it to my side, out of Gwendolyn’s sight.
“Do you live here?” Cara asked Gwendolyn. “Are you related to Count
Nightwing?”
Gwendolyn’s sneer grew more bitter. “No,” she choked out. Tears welled in her
eyes. “I’m a prisoner here. I’m only twelve. But they treat me as a slave.”
She let the tears run down her pale cheeks. “A slave,” she repeated in a
trembling voice. “Do you know what they force me to do? Clean and polish their
coffins, night and day.”
“Yuck,” Cara murmured.
Gwendolyn sighed. She brushed her blond ringlets off her face and wiped away
a tear. “Night and day. There are a dozen coffin rooms in this castle. All
filled with row after row of coffins. And I must keep them smooth and shiny and
clean for the vampires.”
“What if you refuse?” I asked. “What if you tell Count Nightwing you won’t do
it anymore?”
Gwendolyn uttered a dry laugh. “Then he’ll turn me into a vampire.” She
shuddered again. “I’d rather clean their coffins,” she murmured bitterly.
“Can’t you escape?” I asked.
Another dry laugh escaped her lips. “Escape? If I did, they would track me
down. They would turn into bats and fly after me. And they would drink my blood
until I was one of them.”
I swallowed hard. I felt so bad for her. I didn’t know what to say.
“We don’t belong here,” Cara told her, glancing to the door. “Count Nightwing
brought us here by accident. Can you help us? Is there
any
way for us to
escape?”
Gwendolyn lowered her gaze to the floor, thinking hard. “There may be a way,”
she said finally. “But we’ll have to be very careful. If he catches us…”
“We’ll be careful,” I promised.
Gwendolyn glanced to the front of the room.
“Follow me,” she whispered. “Hurry. It is almost dawn. If the vampires return
and see you—it will be too late. They will pounce on you and drink your blood.
You will never see daylight again.”
She led us into the hall. Clinging to the wall, we stopped and looked in both
directions.
No sign of Count Nightwing. But we knew he was nearby. Searching for the
bottle of
Vampire Breath.
The bottle I held tightly in my hand.
“This way,” Gwendolyn whispered.
We followed her through another door. It led to a narrow stairway. Gas lamps
on the wall cast a dim glow, lighting the stairs as we made our way down.
We found ourselves in a long, twisting tunnel. Gwendolyn led us through it,
walking rapidly, silently. The tunnel was so narrow, we had to walk single file.
It twisted and curved, and took us down, deeper into the castle.
“Is there really a way out down here?” Cara asked Gwendolyn. Cara’s voice
echoed in the narrow tunnel.
Gwendolyn nodded. “Yes. Follow me. There is a secret exit through the castle
cellar.”
Our footsteps thudded on the hard tunnel floor. Up ahead of us, Gwendolyn’s
blond hair glowed like a torch leading the way.
The way to freedom. The way to safety.
I leaned close to Cara and whispered. “This is great! We’re getting out of here—and we’re taking the
Vampire Breath
with us!”
Cara raised a finger to her lips. “We’re not out yet,” she reminded me.
The tunnel emptied into a huge, dark cellar. Gwendolyn pulled a flaming torch
off the wall and carried it high in front of her to light our way.
“Follow me,” she whispered. “Hurry.”
The flickering torch cast a narrow path of light through the cellar. I
couldn’t see anything on either side of us. Total blackness.
Gwendolyn led us deeper into the darkness. It smelled damp and sour down
here. Somewhere in the distance I heard water dripping.
Cara and I huddled close together, trying to stay in the light of the torch.
I squeezed the bottle of
Vampire Breath
tightly in my hand.
Gwendolyn stopped so suddenly, we nearly walked into her.
She turned slowly. The torchlight revealed a smile on her face.
“Are we here?” Cara demanded. “Where is the door?”
“Yes. We’re here,” Gwendolyn replied in a whisper. “We’re all alone here.”
“Huh?” I cried. I didn’t understand.
“I have you all to myself here,” Gwendolyn continued. Her smile grew wider.
Her eyes were half-shut. “We won’t be interrupted by Count Nightwing or the
others.”
“But—where do we escape?” I demanded.
Gwendolyn didn’t reply.
“Why have we stopped here?” Cara cried.
“I’m so thirsssssty….” Gwendolyn hissed. “So thirssssty…”
As she lowered the torch, I saw long, pointed fangs slide down her chin.
“I’m so thirsty….” She sighed. “So terribly thirsty…”
She grabbed me by the shoulders. And I felt the scratch of her fangs against
my throat.
“No—!” I screamed.
I grabbed her arms and shoved her off me.
“No! Get away! Get away from me!” I howled.
Her eyes flashed excitedly. Saliva dripped from her pointed fangs. “So
thirssssty…” she hissed.
“Get away! Get away!” I pleaded.
“You want to escape, don’t you?” she teased. “This is the only way to
escape!”
She tossed back her head and opened her mouth wide. Then she dove for me.
“No way!” I cried. I ducked away. Her long, curly hair slapped against my
face. I staggered back. Caught my balance.
She prepared to attack again.
“Freddy—the
Vampire Breath
!” Cara cried. “Use the
Vampire Breath
!
Maybe it will take us to the future!”
“Huh?” I had forgotten I had it in my hand.
“So thirsty…” Gwendolyn murmured, licking her dry lips. “So thirsty…”
I raised the
Vampire Breath
high. The blue glass bottle caught the
light from the torch.
Gwendolyn gasped and drew back in fear.
I grabbed the top. And started to pull.
“No—please!” Gwendolyn begged. “Put that down! Don’t open it! Please—don’t open it!”
I squeezed the glass top—and pulled open the bottle.
Nothing happened.
All three of us stared at the open blue bottle in my hand.
“It takes a few seconds,” I told Cara. My voice came out high and shaky.
“Remember? Back in my basement, it took a few seconds. Then it came whooshing
out.”
Gwendolyn’s eyes were wide, locked on the bottle.
We stared in tense silence.
A few seconds went by. Then a few more seconds.
Gwendolyn broke the silence with a gleeful laugh. “It’s empty!” she declared
through her laughter. “The castle is filled with empties! There’s a whole room
of them over there.” She pointed into the darkness.
I raised the bottle to my face and squinted inside. Too dark to see anything.
But Gwendolyn was right. It was definitely empty.
I let it fall to the floor.
Gwendolyn’s grin was so evil in the shadowy light from the torch. I tried to
back away. But I bumped into a stone column.
Trapped.
As she grinned so hungrily at me, Gwendolyn’s fangs shone in the pale light.
“So thirsty…” she whispered. “Freddy—don’t run away. Help me. I’m so
thirsty….”
“I’m thirsty, too!”
a voice boomed from behind me.
I spun around to see a flash of orange torchlight. The light bounced toward
us. And inside it, I saw the angry face of Count Nightwing.
He floated to us, his eyes narrowed at Gwendolyn.
Her mouth dropped open. She raised both hands in front of her, as if to
shield herself.
“Gwendolyn—what are you doing down here with
my
prisoners?” Count
Nightwing demanded angrily.
He didn’t give her a chance to reply. He floated up off the floor, floated
over her. His cape floated out like bat wings. His silvery eyes locked on hers.
And he opened his mouth in a furious hiss.
Gwendolyn’s fangs glistened wetly in the torchlight. She tossed back her
blond ringlets and, still shielding herself with both hands, hissed up at the
old vampire.
Oh, wow! I thought, They’re going to fight!
I leaned forward, horrified—but eager to watch.
The two vampires floated off the floor. They hissed at each other again, like
two snakes about to strike.
“Freddy—come on!” Cara whispered. She grabbed my arm and pulled. “This is
our chance.”
Cara was right. While the two vampires hissed at each other, we had to try to
get away.
My heart pounding, I grabbed Gwendolyn’s torch off the floor and darted after
Cara.
We ran blindly through the dark basement.
There’s got to be a way out! I repeated to myself. There’s
got
to be a
way to escape!
Finally, I saw an open door.
Cara and I burst through the door. I glanced back. I saw Count Nightwing
floating high off the floor. His cape swirled behind him. Gwendolyn hissed up at
him weakly from the cellar floor.
No time to watch their fight. I followed Cara into the room. “Where are we?”
I whispered.
I raised the torch in front of us.
“Wow,” Cara murmured as the shelves against the wall came into the light. “I
don’t believe it!”
We had found the room of empty
Vampire Breath
bottles that Gwendolyn
had told us about. Shelves covered every wall from floor to ceiling. And each
shelf was crammed with blue bottles. Stacks and stacks of blue glass bottles.
“There must be a million empty bottles in here!” I whispered.
We gazed around the room. The bottles sparkled like blue jewels, caught in
the light from the torch.
Cara shook her head hard, as if trying to shake the amazing sight from her
eyes. She turned to me, her expression solemn. “This isn’t helping us escape,”
she whispered.
“Escape?” a hoarse voice rasped from the doorway.
Count Nightwing moved quickly into the room. “There is no need to talk of
escape,” he said, narrowing his strange silver eyes at Cara, then at me. “For
there is no escape from Count Nightwing’s castle.”
He raised his cape and floated off the floor.
“What are you g-going to do?” I stammered.
He tossed back his bald head and uttered a frightening hiss.
I felt myself pushed back, back, deeper into the room. He was using some kind
of force, some kind of ancient power.
He floated higher. The cape billowed around him. He looked like a frail
insect inside a purple cocoon. But I could feel his power.
Pushing me back…. Holding me…. Pushing me….
And then, suddenly, I felt him let go.
He dropped heavily to the floor. His eyes flashed. He snapped his bony
fingers.
A thin-lipped smile creased his face. “Yesssss!” he hissed.
Cara and I backed up to the shelves at the far wall. My legs were trembling
now. He had gripped me in some kind of ancient force. And now I felt totally
shaky. I struggled to catch my breath.
“Yessss!” he hissed again. “I remember now!”
Cara and I stared at the old vampire in silence. He turned to the shelves of
blue bottles.
“This is where I hid my full bottle of
Vampire Breath
,” he told us. “I
hid it here in the empties room. I knew the others would never look here.”
As he smiled, I could see his gums, soft and smooth inside the dry-lipped
mouth. His smile faded. And his silvery eyes narrowed.
“I’m so thirsty,” he whispered, eyeing Cara and me. “I must find the full
bottle—refresh my memory—and get back my fangs.”
He dove for the nearest shelf and began pawing through the blue bottles.
“Which one? Which one?” he muttered to himself. “Thousands of bottles, and only
one is full.”
His small, bony hands moved quickly over the shelf. He pushed aside empties,
muttering to himself. Bottles crashed to the floor, shattering into pieces.
“Cara—quick!” I pointed to the far shelf. “Let’s move!”
She understood me instantly. We had to find the full bottle first. We had to
find it before Count Nightwing did.
I dropped to my knees and began sifting through the bottles on the bottom
shelf. Empty… empty… empty… empty…
I pushed them aside one by one. My fingers moved quickly over the glass tops.
I squinted hard in the dim light, searching, searching for the only full bottle.
Glass shattered on the hard floor. Bottles rolled and spun all around me.
Beside me, Cara worked frantically over a low shelf. “No. No. No. No.” She
muttered to herself as she moved her hands over the empty bottles.
“You two—” Count Nightwing called from across the room. “Get away from
there!”