The Little Vampire by Angela Sommer-Bodenburg Read Free Book Online

throughthe window, one of the cabinets had begun to open, and out came ... Tony felt a cold shudder run down his spine at the thought, even though the sun was shining!
    Suddenly, he was in a hurry to drop the cloak and get out of the cemetery. Who knew what might be lurking there? Vampires weren’t the only things Tony read about – in fact they were probably the most harmless – what about the bodies thatweren’t really dead? Tony had once read about a woman who knocked at the lid of her coffin in increasing despair, until finally she died of exhaustion.
    Toni quickened his steps. If anyone were to start knocking, he, Tony, certainly would not go to investigate! The best thing would be to run so fast that he wouldn’t even hear a knocking. He hadn’t forgotten old Aunt Dorothy in the vault the nightbefore.
    By now, Tony had left the part of the cemetery where the paths were raked and the hedges neatly trimmed. Here, behind the chapel, the grass grew knee-high, and he had to make his way through brushwood and weeds. But he could see the wall of the cemetery in the distance. The yew tree must be around here somewhere, and with it, the entrance to the vault. As he went further, he suddenlythought he could hear steps on the gravel behind him. A cold shiver ran through him. Who or what could be following him? Something that had come out of the chapel?
    But the next moment everything was quiet again, and he dared to look around – the cemetery lay still and quiet as before. He must have imagined the footsteps; after all, it was pretty lonely here, and it wasn’t surprising you beganto imagine things!
    Tony nearly stumbled over a gravestone that lay hidden in the grass. It was an unusual stone, in the form of a heart. And across it in flourishing, barely legible letters was written: “Frederick Sackville-Bagg, 1803–1850.” Tony shivered, for if these dates were right, Rudolph’s father had already been dead for over a hundred years! A few paces farther on he discovered anotherstone, also in the shape of a heart, which bore the inscription: “Thelma Sackville-Bagg, 1804–1851,” and nearby he found the grandparents’ stones: “Sabina Sackville-Bagg, 1781–1847,” and “William Sackville-Bagg, 1780–1848.” A metre or two further on lay the gravestone of Great-Aunt Dorothy, and near that, Uncle Theodore. And each one was in the same heart-shape. Tony thought it was altogether toopretentious. What on earth was the heart supposed to mean, anyhow? First, love – Tony giggled – and second, blood! Everyone knew that it was the heart that pumped blood through the body.
    As Tony compared the dates it occurred to him that the vampires had all died in a particular order, and all within a year of one another: first Sabina, then William, Thelma, Frederick, Dorothy, and Theodore.Did that mean that each one had ...? And what about the children? Who had ...? Where were their gravestones anyway?
    Tony looked and looked, but he could only find ordinary grey stones that certainly were not covering any vampire’s grave. Perhaps the little vampire and his sister just didn’t have any stones. They were probably the last of the Sackville-Baggs to die, and there was no one left togive them a proper vampire burial. As he was musing about this, he heard a rustling in the bushes near him, and turning round, he saw the grinning face of Nigel.
    “You?” was the only thing he could think of to say.
    “That’s surprised you!” Nigel pushed his way out of the bush with a complacent grin on his face. “Why do you look so scared? Did you think I was a ghost?”
    “Er – I,” murmured Tony,“I thought it was ...”
    “A monster!” smirked Nigel.
    “No! I thought it was my friend,” explained Tony.
    “We arranged to meet here, but he hasn’t turned up yet.” He wondered if Nigel would believe him, but he couldn’t think of any better explanation at the time.
    “Oh, yeah? Think I buy that?” said Nigel scornfully, and