Laymon, Richard - The Traveling Vampire Show

I slammed into Lee. She grunted, but stayed up. So did I.

“You okay?” she asked.

“Guess so.”

“Good work.”

“You too,” I said, knowing that she must’ve thrown herself in my way on purpose to stop me from falling.

We stood there, back to back. The quiver was in the way, but I could feel Lee’s rear end against mine.

Under the bleachers in front of me, a shape flitted across the headlights of the hearse. It was hunched low and carrying a spear.

“What’s going on?” I asked.

“They’ve got us pretty much surrounded,” Lee said. “But they’re staying back. So far.”

“What’re they waiting for?”

“No idea. Maybe they’re just afraid of catching an arrow.”

“I’ll get the last one,” I said, feeling very powerful and brave now that I had retrieved the breast arrow.

“Better leave it,” Lee said.

“Huh?”

“Just in case.”

I thought about that for a moment. “Because it’s the one in her heart?”

“She’s probably not a vampire, but ... I don’t know, everything’s so crazy. I don’t know what to make out of all this, but... I’d hate to be locked in this cage if she suddenly comes to life.”

“You and me both,” I said.

“I know she won’t, but... I don’t want to stake my life on it.”

“That arrow’s probably broken anyway,” I said. “It went all the way through her and she fell on it.”

“Might’ve just buried itself in the dirt. But let’s leave it. For now, anyway.”

“Okay.”

“If we start to run out.

... if we last that long, I thought.

“... I’ll try to get it out of her later.”

Chapter Sixty-one

“I’ll make you a deal!” Stryker shouted.

Lee whirled, drawing back the bowstring.

I saw a dark shape hunkered by the front door of the bus.

“That him?” Lee asked.

“Not sure.”

Lee called out, “What sort of deal?”

“We’ll let you and the kids live if...”

Her arrow flew, hissing through the rain.

“Fuck!” Stryker yelled.

The arrow must’ve come close, but it missed him. Lee shook her head, then turned and handed the bow to me. “You’d better do the shooting.”

As I got ready with the arrow I’d plucked from Valeria, Stryker shouted, “Don’t do that again or I’ll have you writhing on lances, screaming your lungs out. ”

Lee yelled, “Chuck you, Farley!”

“Just listen to my offer! Do you want to die in that cage? Do you want the kids to die?”

Kids? He meant me, of course, but who else? Rusty and Slim? Bitsy?

Though I took aim at the shape that was probably Stryker, I didn’t release the arrow. At this distance, I’d be lucky to hit him. So I lowered the bow.

“You said you’d let Rusty go if I went up against Valeria,” Lee shouted. “So where is he?”

“You weren’t supposed to KILL her .”

“Fortunes of war, buddy. ”

“Here’s the new offer. ”

“You didn’t keep the OLD offer. Screw you. ”

“Would you like a demonstration?”

I didn’t like the sound of that.

Suddenly, Stryker blew his whistle. It shrilled through the night like the sound of an angry track coach.

For a few seconds, nothing happened.

Then spears were flying out of the darkness toward our cage. Lee threw me to the ground and shielded me with her body. I heard a clamor as if something had struck a bar and bounced off. Then came the wet thunking sounds of spears punching into the mud.

Lee climbed off me. Raising my head, I saw six or seven spears sticking out of the ground. They formed a rough circle around us.

We got to our feet. I still held the bow, but it didn’t seem like much of a weapon after the storm of spears. And I’d lost the arrow.

“Next time I blow the whistle, ” Stryker yelled, “they won’t miss. Interested in hearing my offer?”

“What is it?” Lee asked.

“You killed our sole attraction.”

“Not me, ” Lee said.

“You, your friends, it’s all the same. Valeria’s dead. We’re out of business unless we replace her. I want YOU to be her replacement. Agree to surrender and come with us as our vampire, and I’ll let the kids go home. ”

“Why me?” Lee asked.

“You’re perfect. You’re brave and strong ... and luscious. ”

“I’m not a vampire. ”

“No problem. All you need to do is travel with our show and take on all comers in the cage. ”

“For how long?” Lee asked.

“You can’t!” I blurted at her.

“For as long as I say. ”

“And you’ll let everyone else go?”

“Certainly. I would HAVE to, wouldn’t I? If I don’t release them, you won’t keep your side of the bargain. ”

“You’re right about that.”

“How about it?”

“Give me a few minutes to think it over. ”

“Of course.”

We turned away from Stryker and faced each other. “You can’t do it,” I said.

“What other choices do we have?”

“Fight.”

“They’ll kill us easily.”

“Maybe, maybe not. At least maybe we can take some of them with us.”

“I don’t want you to get killed, Dwight. Or me, for that matter. Not to mention Slim and Rusty. For all we know, maybe they’ve even got Bitsy. We might all die if I don’t take his offer.”

“You can’t! ”

“I’ve got to.”

“What about Danny?” I asked.

At the mention of my brother’s name, her chin started shaking. In a voice that trembled, she said, “Tell him that I love him. This... this is something I had to do. Tell him I’ll always love him. And I’ll come back to him if I can.”

I started bawling again. This time, I didn’t feel embarrassed about it. I was in too much anguish for embarrassment.

“I have to do this, honey. It’s the right thing to do. You know it and I know it.”

“No!”

“Let me have the bow,” she said, her voice gentle and sad.

Though I blurted, “NO!” I didn’t resist when she pulled it from my hand. Nor when she removed the quiver from my back. “I thought we were gonna fight,” I protested.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

She carried the bow and the quiver of arrows to the side of the cage, reached through a space in the bars, and let them fall to the ground.

Turning toward Stryker, she raised her arms in surrender and called, “It’s a deal!”

“Very good. You won’t be sorry. ”

He stood up, stepped in front of the bus and made some gestures with his hands. All around us, black-garbed men and women came out of the darkness. Some appeared from behind the bus and truck. Others climbed out from under bleachers. I didn’t count, but got the impression there must’ve been fourteen or fifteen of them. About half of them carried spears.

They all walked toward our cage.

A few paces from the bars, they stopped. One of them bent down and picked up the bow and quiver. All of them gazed at the body of Valeria. Some were scowling. Many shook their heads and looked dismayed. Others appeared to be weeping.

Stryker stepped up to the cage door.

Looking around at his crew, he said in a loud voice, “This has been a terrible night.” Heads nodded in agreement. “I know how much Valeria meant to all of you... and to me. She was a very special lady. Very special. We’ll all miss her terribly.” He took a deep breath and sighed. “However, the show must go on. To that end, let me introduce the woman who will take over Valeria’s role... our new vampire, Lee Thompson.”