Free The Vanishing Vampire by David Lubar

from Rory, and I had Angelina write down an extra copy of the formula.
    â€œWhat for?” Norman asked.
    â€œI’d like to give it to someone.” I remembered what Vladivost had said about wanting to return to the old country. With the blood substitute, he could go back without attracting attention. He could go where he wished and be what he wanted. At least someone would be happy.
    With the hunger under control, I was able to give my full attention to enjoying the night. The darkness was like a warm and comforting jacket.
    As I reached the warehouse, I knew that something was wrong. Someone had hung garlic from the door. A window next to the door was smashed. I moved around to the back of the building, eager to put some distance between myself and that awful stench. Even the brief exposure to the garlic had made me feel weak. In the rear of the warehouse, I found a window with a large crack in it. That would do. I set down the bottle on a ledge by the window. As I became fog, I listened to voices from inside.
    â€œAt last. You will not escape me this time.”
    I knew the voice. It was Teridakian. I drifted through the crack, then took human form again and moved closer.
    Vladivost was in his chair. His glass lay shattered on the floor by his side. The book lay next to it, slowly absorbing the spilled liquid. The vampire cringed and tried to move deeper into the chair and farther away from Teridakian.
    â€œI have you now,” Teridakian said. He held up a large cross. Even from where I stood, I could feel my strength drain. In his chair, Vladivost must have been as powerless as a baby.
    Teridakian reached into the suitcase at his feet. He pulled out a wooden stake. “I’ve waited half a lifetime for this,” he said. “My moment is here.”
    I thought of leaving before I was noticed. It would be easy to slip back out. But I couldn’t leave Vladivost like that. Even if he was a monster, I couldn’t let this happen to him.

    There had to be a way to save him. But I couldn’t get near Teridakian while he held the cross.
    There were rows of shelves between us. I pushed against the nearest one. It creaked.
    Teridakian looked up.
    I froze and held my breath. Teridakian turned his attention back to Vladivost. I pushed again. The shelf didn’t give. My strength was still limited by the garlic and the cross.
    â€œThis is for all those you have harmed,” Teridakian said.
    I remembered what Vladivost had said about a swarm of flies—flies and other insects. The thought was enough to make me shiver.
    Teridakian raised the stake.
    I had to do the unthinkable. Wishing there were any other way, I left myself a thousand times. And a thousand more. And a thousand more.
    I swarmed across the floor.
    Even in this tiny form, I could feel the power of the cross. But there were thousands of me, and the task for each was small. I attacked the front supports of the shelf. As I worked, thousands of me watched the vampire and the vampire hunter with countless eyes. Teridakian was about to thrust the stake. “Are you suffering?” he asked. “Do you like being a victim?”
    I hurried all my selves. Thousands of termites chewed at the shelf.
    It tilted.
    It leaned farther forward.
    It fell.
    It hit the next shelf, which fell and hit the next, which fell and hit the next. Giant dominoes, they toppled toward the vampire and the vampire killer.
    Teridakian looked up just as the closest shelf was falling. He dropped the stake and cross and put his hands out. The cross swung from the cord around his neck. The shelf fell onto the two enemies.
    I became me again as objects crashed down and spilled across the floor. I couldn’t move or think. The horror of what I had been was almost more than I could bear. Even though I was back in human form, I wanted to escape from my own flesh. I lay on the floor, feeling my muscles twitch and jerk. After a while, I managed to look up.
    There