Free A Creepy Case of Vampires by Kenneth Oppel Page A

said.
    “Sure looked like it,” puffed Giles, still breathless. “Tall, black cape, pale skin—the works.”
    “A vampire,” she said again, slowly, as if rolling the thought over in her head. She smiled faintly. “How interesting. How quaint.”
    “ Quaint? ” exclaimed Kevin. “You should have seen it!”
    Tina sighed and put down the fat science textbook she’d been reading for fun. She didn’t look much like her brother, who was tall and gangly, with curly red hair and freckles. Tina was quite small, with two perfect blond braids and a crease in her forehead—because she wasalways thinking hard about her next brilliant scientific breakthrough. Giles was certain she was the smallest genius in the world.
    “And there were bats everywhere!” added Kevin. “That’s what vampires do, isn’t it? They turn into bats!”
    “Kevin,” sighed his sister, “I think your brain is overheated. And Barnes, you aren’t much better.”
    “You weren’t there!” Giles objected. “It was terrifying!”
    “We’re going to need garlic,” Kevin began, counting off on his fingers. “We’re going to need holy water, we’re going to need wooden stakes and silver bullets, we’re going to need—”
    “Vampires don’t exist,” said Tina calmly. “What you saw was just a regular person on the church tower—probably one of the bell ringers.”
    “They only come during the day!” said Giles, who could hear the church bells from his house.
    “And how do you explain the bats?” Kevin demanded.
    “Bats always come out at dusk,” said Tina. “They are nocturnal animals. That means they feed at night.”
    “Feed at night,” said Kevin in a strangled voice. “Didyou hear that, Barnes? They’re feeding at night. Here. In our neighbourhood!”
    Giles swallowed. He didn’t like the sound of that one little bit.
    “All right,” sighed Tina. “Tomorrow we’ll go have a look at the church. But this is all very unscientific. I just want you to know that.”
    After school the next day, Giles, Kevin, and Tina headed back to the old church. As they neared the graveyard, Kevin stopped and opened his backpack.
    “I couldn’t find any garlic,” he said, “but I did make a couple of wooden stakes.”
    He handed Giles three short pieces of wood which had been sharpened to a point, and then plunged his hand back into his backpack.
    “I also brought a little mirror—that’s how you tell if someone’s a vampire, because you can’t see them in a mirror. And I found an old crucifix in Mom’s jewellerycase. That drives off a vampire if you hold it up to his face. I called around to some stores to see if they had any silver bullets, but they said they were sold out. And anyway, they wouldn’t be much use without a gun. But,” he said proudly, “I did manage to get a feather duster.”
    He held up a ridiculous, stubby little duster with a purple handle and purple feathers.
    Giles stared at it. “What’s that do?” he said.
    “What do you mean?” Kevin said impatiently. “It drives off vampires.”
    “I’m not so sure, Kevin. I’ve never heard that.”
    “Oh,” said Kevin, his face falling. “I, uh, thought I heard it somewhere.”
    Tina sighed impatiently. “Kevin, this is all a waste of time. There’s no such thing as vampires.”
    “I guess you don’t want a wooden stake then,” said Giles, offering her one.
    “Please, don’t insult my intelligence.”
    Giles and Kevin divided up the vampire gear, and Kevin reluctantly put the feather duster back in his backpack.
    “I’m sure I heard something about feather dusters and vampires,” he muttered.
    They walked through the graveyard, past crooked tombstones worn smooth by time. Giles had to admit that, in broad daylight, the church didn’t look nearly as scary as it had last night. Maybe Tina was right after all. But he was still glad to have a wooden stake and a mirror handy.
    “You say you saw someone up there?” said Tina, pointing to the