Richard Laymon - The Traveling Vampire Show

“Thanks,” Rusty muttered.

“It isn’t worth it,” I told him.

“I’m not scared.”

“The hell you aren’t.”

Slim said to him, “You don’t have to prove anything.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yeah, you do,” I said.

“Fraid not.”

“Yeah, right.”

He gave me the finger, then headed for the dirt road.

I muttered, “Damn it.”

“You’d better go with him,” Slim said.

“Huh?”

She called out, “Rusty, wait! Dwight’s going with you.”

“I am?”

Rusty stopped and turned around. “You coming?” he asked.

“Just a minute,” Slim called. To me, she said, “We can’t let him go by himself.”

“Sure we can.”

She shook her head. “Besides, what about Lee?”

Lee had temporarily slipped my mind.

“Whether that was Lee in the pickup or not,” Slim said, “she’ll probably turn up at the show sooner or later and she’s expecting us to be there.”

“She can hook up with Rusty,” I said. It sounded feeble even to me.

“Suppose the Cadillac twins decide to go after her?”

Grimacing, I nodded. “Yeah,” I muttered. “Maybe I’d better go. I don’t want to, but…”

“Duty calls,” Slim said. In the dim grayness of the forest, she seemed to smile at me. “Anyway,” she added, “I know you want to see the Vampire Show.”

“Don’t you wanta see it?”

She shook her head. “Not hardly. Look, you go to the show and take care of Rusty. I don’t think the Cadillac twins are likely to bother you guys if I’m not with you. They might not even recognize you. So just go on ahead. Find Lee. Enjoy the show. Bitsy and I’ll wait for you in the car.”

“I don’t know,” I muttered.

“Yes, you do.”

“What if something happens to you and Bitsy?”

“We’ll be fine. The car’s well hidden. It’ll be a hell of a lot safer for us than going to the Vampire Show, I know that much.”

“Maybe you should drive on home.”

She shook her head. “We’ll wait.”

“We’ll wait,” echoed Bitsy.

“Here’s your ticket,” Slim said. She held it out for me.

As I took it, she stepped in against me. She put an arm around my back, pressed her slender body against mine and kissed me. I felt the warmth of her belly, the soft push of her breasts, the gentle pressure of her lips. But only for a moment. Easing away from me, she whispered, “Be careful.”

“You, too,” I said.

“What about me?” Bitsy asked.

Slim stepped aside for her. Bitsy put both arms around me and tilted back her head for a kiss.

Slim gave a little nod.

So I hugged Bitsy.

She writhed against me, moaning. Her heavy, open lips mooshed against mine and squirmed like a pair of slugs.

When I eased her away, she whimpered.

“See you later,” I said.

As I lifted a hand in farewell to Slim, Bitsy grabbed my other arm. “I’m coming with,” she said.

“You’ll be safer with Slim,” I told her.

“But I wanta come with you. You promised! Everybody promised. If you’re goin’ to see the vampires, I getta go, too!”

“It’s too dangerous now,” Slim explained. “I’m not going, either.”

“But they are! If they get t‘go, I get t’go.”

“You coming or not?” Rusty called to me.

“Hold your horses,” I answered.

Slim patted Bitsy on the back and said, “Come along with me, Bits. We’ll head back to the car.”

“But I don’t wanta!”

I jerked my arm out of her grip. She reached for me again, but I leaped out of range. So then she lurched toward me, reaching with both hands.

I caught hold of her wrists. In a voice that wasn’t exactly gentle, I said, “Cut it out and go with Slim.”

“But I wanta…”

“Shut the hell up and go with Slim!”

She gasped. Then she started to cry. When I let go of her wrists, she sort of sagged and stood there, sobbing.

“Sorry,” I muttered.

As I ran to catch up with Rusty, Slim called out, “Nice going, Dwight.”

I felt like bursting into tears, myself. But I called, “I’m sorry,” and kept going.

Rusty and I trudged through the woods, staying away from the dirt road. With no path and very little light, it was slow going. And painful. We kept bumping into things, falling, getting scratched.

After a while, I muttered, “We should’ve gone with the girls.”

“It’s gonna be worth it, man.”

“That’s what you think.”

“Just wait’ll you lay your eyes on Valeria.”

“Sure,” I muttered. No matter how beautiful Valeria might be, she couldn’t compare to Slim. I wanted nothing more than to be with Slim, but there I was—tromping through the woods with Rusty.

We were both out of breath, panting for air. The night was hot, the air heavy and moist. No wind at all seemed to penetrate the forest. Sweat poured down my body. My sodden shirt and jeans clinged to me. Without the socks I’d given to Bitsy, my feet slid around inside my sneakers and made squelching sounds.

Why am I doing this? I kept thinking.

Not so I could lay my eyes on Valeria, that was for sure. Not really so I could keep Rusty company, either—though that must’ve been part of it. The real reason was Lee.

No telling where she was or what had happened to her.

Maybe she was okay. If so, she would find the note we’d left in her kitchen and come to the Vampire Show. I needed to be there to meet her.

Maybe she had already arrived—if that had been Lee in the red pickup truck.

Or maybe she’d been taken there earlier. She’d given Stryker the check with her address on it. Would’ve been so easy for him to pay her a visit.

Then again, maybe her disappearance had nothing to do with the Traveling Vampire Show.

Maybe she wasn’t even missing.

If nothing happened to her, I thought, she’ll see the note and drive over. One way or another, Janks Field was where I stood my best chance of finding Lee.

At last, we saw a pale glow of lights through the trees ahead of us.

“That’s gotta be it,” Rusty said.

“Guess so.”

The grandstands of Fargus’s Folly were always brightly lighted at night to prevent the sort of mischief that often happened in the dark. But the grandstands weren’t straight ahead of us. Also, their lights didn’t move. Our way seemed to be illuminated, instead, by the headbeams of cars cruising Janks Field in search of places to park.

I thought about how smart it had been to park Slim’s Pontiac off Route 3.

I wished I were there.

Slim and Bitsy had probably reached it already. If I were only with them… and if Bitsy weren’t, so it could be just Slim and me sitting together in the front seat, waiting for Rusty….

But Bitsy is there, I reminded myself. If I so much as kissed Slim, Bitsy would want me to kiss her, too.

Maybe I’m better off here.

Soon, Janks Field came into sight through the spaces between the trees. Cars and pickup trucks were moving about. headlights pushing through the darkness.

We crept closer and closer. With nothing more than a bramble between us and the field, we stretched out flat on the ground, side by side, our shoulders almost touching.

Off to our right, a stream of vehicles poured into Janks Field from the dirt road. They were met by black-shirted members of Stryker’s crew who directed them toward the area of field in front of us. The place seemed to be filling up fast, but in an orderly way. Stryker’s gang knew how to do their job.

I suddenly pictured them surrounding the one-eyed dog, poking it with spears.