“That should be sifting out all the vampire goodness,” said Resus as he adjusted the settings slightly. Sticky red liquid appeared in the second tube, running out of the machine and back into Mr Watson’s arm.
“How are you feeling?” asked Luke.
“Pretty good,” admitted his dad. “I’m starting to think clearly again.”
“That’s not the only change!” said Cleo, pointing to Mr Watson’s mouth. As the trio watched, the fangs pulled slowly back into his upper jaw and his own teeth slid back into place.
“There,” said Resus, pulling the tubes free of Mr Watson’s arm. “All done!”
Luke’s dad sighed with relief. “Will you let me out now?”
“That depends,” said Luke, pulling the neck of his top down to expose his throat. “Will you take a bite out of this if I do?”
His dad smiled. “I’d rather have a plate of your mother’s lentil bake.”
“He’s definitely cured!” grinned Luke, undoing the straps that held his father in the chair.
Mr Watson paused on his way out. “Thank you,” he said.
“You can thank them after they’ve topped this up!” called Alston, waving his empty tankard at Resus. The young vampire refilled the container, this time from the blood contaminated with vampire Energy.
“Can’t think of a better way to safely dispose of this stuff,” he said, handing over the drink.
Alston’s fangs clinked against the metal rim of the tankard as he downed the pint in one. “Now that,” he said, wiping his lips, “is the good stuff!”
One by one, Resus led the infected residents into the room and connected them to the filtering machine to clean their blood. He had a little trouble finding a working vein in Doug’s arm, but after a few hours the only inhabitants of Scream Street with Energy in their blood were the vampires themselves.
“Here you go, Mr Negative,” said Cleo, handing the vampire yet another pint of Energy-loaded blood.
“This’ll have to be the last one,” Alston groaned, loosening his belt. “I think my fangs are bigger than my belly!” When he eventually left the room, muttering that he needed a lie down, Resus sat in the chair and rolled up his sleeve. “Only one person left to do.”
“Are you sure?” asked Luke. “Those witch powers you’ve got are pretty awesome! They might come in handy.”
Resus shook his head. “I’d rather go back to being a pretend vampire,” he smiled. “Besides, you need that blood to open a doorway home.”
Luke pulled the empty crystal vial from his pocket and slipped one of the clear tubes into it.
“There’s just one problem,” said Resus. “I can’t bite my own arm. You’ll have to do it for me.”
Luke pulled a face. “OK, I suppose,” he said. “Will you lend me your fangs, or would you prefer that I grow my own?”
“I think I’d rather keep you in a good mood,” said Resus, unclipping his false fangs and handing them over.
Luke bit into his friend’s arm, and a few moments later the crystal vial began to fill with blood, blue sparks flashing deep in the swirling liquid.
“My dad got it wrong,” said Resus. “That’s the good stuff!”
“Here you are,” said Mrs Watson as she placed a dish on the dining table of 13 Scream Street. The vampires leant closer to take a look.
“It, er, smells lovely!” said Bella. “What is it?”
“My speciality,” said Luke’s mum. “Lentil bake!”
Resus, Luke and Cleo tried not to laugh as both Mr Watson and Alston Negative screwed up their noses at the same time. “Eat up,” said Mrs Watson as she piled the food onto the vampire’s plate. “There’s plenty more!”
“Oh, good,” said Alston, paling a little more than usual and pushing the food around his plate with a fork. The Negatives had agreed to come for dinner to apologize for infecting Luke’s dad with Energy. The vampires hadn’t expected to be faced with something as terrifying as a meal consisting entirely of vegetables.
“Now,” said Mrs Watson, returning from the kitchen with a jug of thick green liquid. “Who wants broccoli sauce?”
Alston clamped a hand over his mouth and dashed out of the room. Resus and Cleo dissolved into fits of laughter.
“Don’t worry, Mum,” smiled Luke, taking the jug and pouring plenty of the green goo over his own dinner. “I guess it’s an acquired taste!”
Cleo nudged his arm and gestured towards the window. Outside in the street, Shan was waiting patiently.
Luke nodded. “We’ll be back in a minute,” he said as he followed Resus and Cleo to the front door. Shan mewed softly as the trio stepped out into Scream Street. The cat was still the size of a panther and sported vicious fangs.
“I wondered when he’d show up again,” said Cleo, tickling the vampire cat under its chin. “We haven’t seen him since Sneer Hall.”
“So, what now?” asked Luke. “Will he go back in Resus’s cloak, or come to live with you?”
“I don’t think he wants to stay in one place any more,” said Cleo. “I get the impression he just wants to go where he pleases.” Shan mewed and licked her hand as if to agree. “We’ll have to do something about those fangs, though.”
“You know there’s only one way to deal with that, don’t you?” said Resus, pulling a heavy crowbar from his cape.
Cleo nodded. “I’d like to do it, if you don’t mind.” She took the tool, then bent to kiss the cat gently on the nose. “See you again soon.”
Luke and Resus looked away as Cleo brought the crowbar down. After a moment, the cat rose into the air, spinning in the midst of another tornado. As the magic subsided, a smaller black cat sat blinking in the moonlight.
“Off you go, then,” smiled Cleo. “Start enjoying life number one hundred and forty-two!”
“We should have taken him to Sneer Hall before we did that,” said Resus as the kitten padded away. “We could have given Sir Otto one last fright!”
“Nah,” Luke grinned. “It could cause havoc with his blood pressure!”
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:
Fang of the Vampire
Heart of the Mummy
Flesh of the Zombie
Coming soon:
Skull of the Skeleton
Claw of the Werewolf
For Dad, who always knew it was in my blood
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 978-1-4063-1425-0
www.walker.co.uk
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