Free The Little Vampire by Angela Sommer-Bodenburg Page B

excitedly. “Come on, Rudolph, help me set up the table.”
    They brought a little coffin over from the wall and turned it over so that it made a perfect table between Gregory’s coffin and the one next door. Gregory set out the board with the counterson it, and they all gathered round, Tony still rather hesitant.
    “I’ll be black,” said Gregory.
    “Bags I red!” said Anna.
    “What colour do you want?” Rudolph asked Tony.
    “Oh, er, yellow,” said Tony.
    “Who’s going to start?” asked Anna.
    “Tony,” said Gregory. “Guests are always allowed to start.” He pushed the dice over to Tony, who shook them and threw. It was a four.
    “Bad luck,” said Gregorywith a gloating grin. “You have to throw a six to start.”
    Now it was Rudolph’s turn, which gave Tony a chance to look at the board properly. It looked like a normal one, except that the ‘counters’ had pointed teeth.
    “How did you get the game?” he whispered to Anna.
    “Uncle Theo found it for us,” she replied.
    “Found it?” asked Tony in disbelief.

    “Well,” she tittered, “perhaps it would be better to call it ‘booty.’”
    Gregory had just had his turn and had thrown a two. “Unfair!” he grumbled, and flung the dice away in a temper. Rudolph ran after it and brought it back to the table. Now it was Anna’s turn. She threw carefully, and it landed just at the edge of the board: a six!
    “Doesn’t count!” shouted Gregory. “Cocked dice!”
    “It isn’t!”stormed Anna. “It’s flat on the board!” Before she could pick up the dice to throw again, Gregory brought his fist crashing down on the coffin, so that the dice flew up in the air. Anna went crimson with fury. “You can’t ever lose, can you?” she fumed.
    Gregory looked offended, but he did not say anything. He lay back in his coffin with dignity and shut his eyes. Rudolph shrugged his shouldersand began to look for the scattered pieces of the game, which he carefully put back in the box. Meanwhile, a contented snoring rose from the coffin.
    “Is he asleep?” asked Tony.
    Anna shook her head. “He’s only pretending. But mind you don’t disturb him!”
    “He’s got quite a temper,” whispered Tony.
    “Ssh,” said Anna. “Don’t get him worked up again. It’s just a sign of puberty.”
    “Of what?” askedTony.
    “Growing up,” explained Anna.
    “Oh, I see.” Tony thought of Gregory’s grating voice, which seemed to change pitch constantly. “His voice is breaking then?”
    “Exactly,” said Anna, “and that’s why he’s so moody and quick tempered. But the worst thing is that he’ll never grow out of it. He died in puberty, and there he’ll stay.”
    At that moment, the stone at the entrance of the vault beganto move. Gregory went on pretending to be asleep, but Rudolph was rooted to the spot, his eyes fixed in horror on the entrance. Anna pulled Tony to one side and whispered, “You must hide!”
    “Where?” gasped Tony.
    “In one of the coffins!”
    “I’ll go in Rudolph’s then,” stammered Tony. At least he knew that one, and had managed to survive the revolting smell once already. He dreaded to think whathorrors the other coffins might hold in store.
    Anna helped him to clamber in, and then shut the lid. It was not a moment too soon: already there was the sound of hurrying feet coming down the steps, and a voice, which Tony recognised only too well called: “Drat and botheration! This could only happen to me!”
    “What happened, Aunt Dorothy?”
    “My false teeth!” she complained. “I must have leftthem behind in my coffin.”
    Tony heard her clattering across the vault.
    “There they are,” she said in relief. “Imagine if I’d lost them for good!” Apparently she had put them in place by now, for these last words sounded much more distinct.
    “Right, I’ll be off again,” she declared. Then she stopped. “Rudolph, why aren’t you in your coffin?”
    “I’m feeling much better, Aunt,”