The Vampire Club Read Online Free Page B

I heard downstairs was an indication that Perch could hardly wait to share his big news. Over and over again.
    Buddy, Juan, and Professor L began choosing their rooms. I, instead, poked my head into Janice’s room. “There’s a double bed a few rooms down,” I suggested, pretty sure I could find one somewhere in the one-in-a million-chance she agreed. Actually I liked those odds. Let the bones roll, baby!
    She, however, had a suggestion of her own, and I must say that never in my life had I envisioned using a curtain rod in such a manner.
    But I think she sort of liked me.
    I passed the other three as they began unpacking in their selected rooms, and I turned into the next available one. I dropped my two suitcases on the floor then dropped myself into a chair. The grumbling in my stomach kept my ears busy, while images of Janice occupied my thoughts.
    No, not those images. You pervert. I mean, the ones with her clothes on where we’re having a serious relationship.
    What more was there to do? I was truly dumbfounded. Maybe I could read a book on the subject. Surely there was a book called How to Talk to Girls in the college library. Hell, I’d found How to Talk to Vampires and Mesmerizing for Dummies . Why not a book on getting lucky?
    As I sat there feeling sorry for myself, I noticed something that had been nagging at me since I first stepped through the mansion’s doors. This place was mighty weird, with all the angles of the doors, windows, and rooms tilting slightly out of square. And these relatives of Dial’s were odd ducks. But it was more than that.
    It was all working out too perfectly. We’d located the vampire, we’d found a nice base right next to the alleged vampire resting grounds, and all we had to do was walk right up and introduce ourselves.
    And, hopefully, ask him to bite us.
     
     
     
    Chapter Seven
     
     
    When we had unpacked, Dial showed us around. Maybe I should have been more shocked at the fact that all of Dial’s relatives had to duck to get through doorways. I heard Buddy whisper to Juan that it was all in the genes. Of course, Juan had to say something about something in somebody’s jeans, and then he had to giggle about it.
    As we passed in and out of the many halls, studies and libraries, we came into contact with many of Dial’s cousins, and I didn’t think I passed the same cousin twice. Maybe we were in the midst of a family reunion or something.
    Dial said it was cultural and that was that. You couldn’t really argue with culture, especially when the culture was big and mean-looking.
    We came upon a large room in the East wing and found an old man seated in a deep red, leather chair. His fingers were tented before his hawk-like face.
    “ Gang, this is my granddaddy,” Dial said.
    He nodded, squinting, and studied us closely before saying, “I hope your stay is peaceful.”
    I stepped forward, being the leader and all. “I want to thank you for letting us stay in your spacious and intimidating house, Mr., uh....”
    “ Just call me Granddaddy Grandmaster, or Grandmaster for short.”
    “ Er, sure. It’s a most gracious gesture, Grandmaster. We’re the Vampire Club, as Dial probably told you.”
    The old man’s eyes narrowed, and they hadn’t been that wide open to begin with. “Dial tells me you’re tracking the two-hundred-year route a vampire supposedly traveled. Something like retracing the route of Lewis and Clark?”
    “ He has told you correctly, Granddaddy Grandmaster,” I said, glad that our newest club member had not leaked too much top-secret information even to his grandfather, because that would be cause for censure. “It’s sort of like a pilgrimage. To walk the same backwoods as our vampire had, to see what he saw, to smell what he smelled. It doesn’t bother us that we’re just a few hundred years late. We’re content with the fact that we are standing on hallowed ground.”
    The humor in his eyes was replaced by a momentary darkening, but