“Oh, dear!” cried Samuel Skipstone. “I do not like this at all!”
“Scapula!” called Luke, Resus and Cleo as they chased the dog down the stairs, through the front door and out into Scream Street.
Chapter One
The Blood
Blood trickled down the vampire’s fangs. A long tongue flicked out and licked the sticky fluid from sharp, glistening teeth. The vampire’s mouth twisted into a smile as it savoured the taste. It wanted more.
Lashing out, the vampire used its yellowing talons to tear another hunk of meat from the carcass. Pausing only to drench it in the nearby pool of blood, the creature bit into strips of flesh, veins and tendons swinging below its salivating jaw. Suddenly a cry rang out.
“Dad! Leave some for everyone else!”
Alston Negative glanced around the dinner table and slowly placed the chicken wing back onto his plate. “Sorry,” he mumbled, shamefaced.
Resus Negative, the vampire’s son, reached inside his electric-blue-lined cape and produced a knife and fork. Handing them to his father, he added, “And you know you should be using cutlery when we have visitors.”
As Alston fumbled with the unfamiliar tools, Resus nudged his friend, Luke Watson. “You don’t make that much mess when you eat – and you’re a werewolf!”
Luke grinned as he watched the older vampire push the chicken wing off his plate, catapulting potatoes across the black dining-room carpet.
“Being a vampire does have its advantages,” joked Alston, leaping from his chair. “When I’m tired of biting necks, I double as a vegetable rack!” He pecked at the carpet and reappeared with a potato stuck to each fang.
“Dad,” groaned Resus, embarrassed. “You’re not funny!”
Luke roared with laughter and turned to his parents to share the joke. His face fell when he realized that the get-together hadn’t worked. His mum and dad were still terrified of their vampire neighbours.
“A toast!” beamed Alston, pulling the potatoes from his teeth and raising a glass of wine. “To the Watsons, and your first week in Scream Street!”
“The Watsons!” echoed Resus, lifting his tumbler of milk. He clinked it against Luke’s and drank deeply, his fangs tinkling against the rim of the glass. Instead of drinking his own milk, Luke reached out to take his mum’s trembling hand and guide it towards her wine.
Mrs Watson forced a smile. “Thank you,” she whispered hoarsely.
Luke and Resus shared a glance. Luke’s family had been moved to Scream Street by G.H.O.U.L., Government Housing Of Unusual Life-forms, after he had transformed into his werewolf form and attacked a school bully. Since then his parents had lived in a state of sheer terror.
In order to open a doorway back to his own world, Luke had begun to search for six relics left behind by the community’s founding fathers. The first of these, a vampire’s fang, was now locked away in a golden casket under his bed.
“Now,” said Bella Negative as she entered carrying a jug of thick red liquid, “who wants more blood on their meat?”
Mr Watson stared at the jug and paled. “I think I’m going to be sick…”
“I’ll get you some water,” said Luke, racing to the kitchen. Reaching for the cold tap, he stopped. The sink had three taps. “Resus!” he called.
The young vampire hurried in. “You summoned me?” he teased.
“Which one is cold water?” Luke asked.
“Isn’t it obvious?” replied Resus. He gestured from left to right. “Hot water, cold water, blood.”
“Blood?” exclaimed Luke. “You’ve got a tap for blood?”
“Of course,” said Resus. “How else do you think vampires get their fix? We need a regular supply.” He spun the tap, allowing a torrent of crimson blood to flow out into the sink. It spattered against the stainless steel, leaving behind small clots and scabs as it raced for the plughole.
“B-but a tap?” stammered Luke. “Where does it come from?”
“Whenever anyone has a nosebleed or a cut finger and they rinse the blood away, it ends up in the sewer system,” explained Resus. “The blood is filtered out and fed to vampires around the world.”
“That’s disgusting!”
“No more disgusting than the way our ancestors used to get it.” Resus opened his mouth and bared his fangs at Luke with a hiss.
Bella Negative appeared behind him. “Getting a drink of blood?” she asked, ruffling her son’s hair.
“Luke knows I’m a normal like his mum and dad,” Resus sighed. “He knows I’m not a real vampire!” He unclipped his false fangs and rinsed them briefly under the water before reattaching them to his teeth. Suddenly the stream of blood stopped, the last remaining drips pattering against the sink.
“That’s odd,” said Resus. He opened the cupboard under the sink and reached past boxes of coffin polish and fang-whitener to check the stopcock.
Luke crouched down beside him. “Maybe there’s a safety drive on and people have stopped grazing their knees,” he grinned.
“I hope not,” said Resus. “My dad gets really cranky without his daily pint!”
“Er, Luke,” called Alston from the dining room, “I think your parents are ready to go home now.”
Luke stood and turned to see his mum smiling bravely, his dad’s arm tight around her shoulders. “I’ve got to take them away from here,” he said quietly to Resus. “They’re never going to be happy as long as we’re in Scream Street.”
“You mean…?” began the young vampire.
Luke nodded. “It’s time to find the second relic.”
Tommy Donbavand was born and brought up in Liverpool and has worked at numerous careers that have included clown, actor, theatre producer, children’s entertainer, drama teacher, storyteller and writer. His non-fiction books for children and their parents, Boredom Busters and Quick Fixes for Bored Kids, have helped him to become a regular guest on radio stations around the UK and he also writes for a number of magazines, including Creative Steps and Scholastic’s Junior Education.
Tommy sees his new comedy-horror series as what might have resulted had Stephen King been the author of Scooby Doo. “Writing Scream Street is fangtastic fun,” he says. “I just have to be careful not to scare myself too much!” Tommy lives in Northumberland with his family and sees sleep as a waste of good writing time.
You can find out more about Tommy and his books at his website: www.tommydonbavand.com
Other Scream Street titles:
Blood of the Witch
Heart of the Mummy
Flesh of the Zombie
Coming soon:
Skull of the Skeleton
Claw of the Werewolf
For Mum: here are the keys to
the biggest house on Scream Street
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are
either the product of the author’s imagination or, if real, are used fictitiously.
First published 2008 by Walker Books Ltd
87 Vauxhall Walk, London SE11 5HJ
2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1
Text © 2008 Tommy Donbavand
Illustrations © 2008 Cartoon Saloon Ltd
The right of Tommy Donbavand to be identified
as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance
with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
This book has been typeset in Bembo Educational
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Clays Ltd, St Ives plc
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, transmitted
or stored in an information retrieval system in any form or by any means,
graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, taping and
recording, without prior written permission from the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data: a catalogue record
for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-4063-1424-3 (trade
edition)
ISBN 978-1-4063-2060-2 (library edition)
www.walker.co.uk
Fang of the Vampire Page 7