Richard Laymon - The Traveling Vampire Show

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.”

Down in the cage, Lee and Valeria kept circling each other, staying apart but bent over, their arms wide open, their heads up.

Though both women were about the same size and I couldn’t make out their faces very well, they were easy to tell apart. Lee’s blond hair swung and flipped behind her head in a soaked, stringy ponytail. Valeria’s straight black hair was plastered down against the back of her skull. Lee wore her sleeveless chambray shirt, white shorts and blue sneakers; Valeria was stark naked. Every so often, I glimpsed the smooth, inner slopes of Lee’s breasts through the gap of her open shirt; except when her back was to me, Valeria’s breasts were in full view, bouncing and swaying with the motions of her body.

Suddenly, Valeria growled and swept an open hand at Lee’s face as if to claw her cheek open.

Lurching back, Lee grabbed the hand. She seemed to fall away, stretching Valeria’s arm. Valeria staggered toward her, then stumbled sideways, breasts leaping. Lee let go. Valeria twirled away and her back slammed against a wall of the cage. The impact shook her. She stayed against the bars as if she needed them to hold her up.

Instead of rushing in to take advantage of the situation, Lee retreated to the other side of the cage.

“Get her!” I shouted. “Knock her out!”

Hearing me, she looked over her shoulder. She probably couldn’t see me, though, because of all the headlights and how I was sitting in the darkness.

It only took a few seconds for Valeria to recover. Then she came for Lee.

Prancing sideways with her back to the bars, Lee put the casket between herself and Valeria.

Valeria chased her around the casket. It was like some sort of lame comedy skit… goofballs circling a dining room table. Except both the goofballs were beautiful women and one was completely naked and I hated to think of what would happen if she caught Lee.

I got the impression that Valeria was enjoying the chase. But she couldn’t let it go on forever. In whatever remained of the five minutes, she needed to catch Lee and sink in her teeth.

Suddenly, she bowed at the waist, grabbed the casket with both hands and swung it off the ground. On its way up, it overturned. Out fell a red leather skirt and top, red boots with spurs attached, and a black leather belt. Holding it high, she marched straight toward Lee.

Oh, God, she was something to behold!

Though I knew that she planned to smash Lee with the casket, I suddenly noticed a stiffness in my jeans. No telling how long I’d had it. I felt guilty and ashamed, but it didn’t go away.

“Look out!” I yelled at Lee.

She needed no warning, though; she could see what was coming. She backed away until she was stopped by a wall of the cage.