Trixie shivered and pulled her jacket closer as she stepped out of the clubhouse and into the gathering dark. Behind her, Jim rattled the door, trying to get it to lock properly. The full moon peeked between the branches of an overhead tree, obscured for a moment by a dark shape flying by. A night creature of some sort scrabbled through the undergrowth.

“It’s later than I intended to stay,” Jim noted, as he pulled out the key and dropped it into his pocket. “Maybe I’d better walk you home.”

Trixie smiled. “It’s not that late, but I won’t say no.”

He smiled down at her and they began to stroll along the path. The Bob-Whites were in the middle of planning their annual Halloween party and several of the group had spent the afternoon and early evening working on the decorations. Jim and Trixie, having no particular plans for the rest of the evening, had offered to stay and clean up after the others had to leave. A small disaster involving some paint had made the task take a lot longer than they’d expected.

The cool air chilled their faces and the fallen leaves crunched underfoot as they walked. Neither spoke for a long time, each just enjoying the night air and the quiet. As they neared the place where the path split – one branch headed towards each of their homes – the moon sailed into view, bathing them in a puddle of soft light.

Then, out of nowhere, a screech rent the night. They both stopped short.

“What was th–” Trixie began, only to break off as something darted across the path, almost over the top of her feet.

Jim held up a hand for silence. They stood still, listening to the sudden stillness.

“There’s something there,” Jim breathed, right against her ear. “Come with me.”

He grabbed her arm and pulled her along the path to Manor House, his fingers digging into her flesh and his strides long enough that she almost had to run to keep up. They almost tripped over the dark shape of another terrified animal as it ran between their legs. Alarmed, Jim pulled them to a halt and listened carefully.

“Well, hello there,” a voice greeted, from somewhere in front of them.

“Who’s there?” Jim demanded, his voice tense.

“Now, that’sh not very polite,” the stranger commented. “I wash only ashking a queshtion.”

He sounded foreign, his voice higher-pitched than Jim’s, but not unmasculine. While it was most pronounced on the sibilants, all of his words had a kind of thick sound to them.

“But we can’t see you. And you’re trespassing on private property,” Trixie pointed out, her chin coming up.

“Oh. I shee the difficulty.” A figure stepped silently onto the path, seeming to move through the branches of the bushes without moving them. “Here I am. Now, who do we have here? Ah. A maiden. A girl of… perhaps shixteen? Shweet shixteen and never been kisshed?”

“Now, just wait a minute, mister…” Trixie stretched herself to her full height and rose on her toes to gain a little extra, but Jim laid a calming hand on her arm.

“I think, maybe, you’ve lost your way,” Jim suggested. “If you’d like to go back that way, you’ll reach the road in a minute or two. Now, if you’ll excuse us…”

“No, no. I prefer the foresht. And I’m not finished talking to you.” He cleared his throat. “Do you have a nightdressh, young lady? A white nightdressh? Especially a nice, flowing one?”

“No!”

The man sighed. “A balcony to shtand on?”

“No!” she repeated.

He shook his head. “No classh, theshe daysh. How I long for the daysh when maidensh wore flowing white nightdresshesh while shtanding on balconiesh.”

“Sorry, I’m all out of both of those,” she answered, making to move past him.

“Now, wait a minute, misshy.” The man suddenly loomed over them, larger than he had been before, and she shrank back. “I have waited many a long year for thish opportunity and I will not have you ruin it, even if you cannot be bothered to behave like a proper young lady.”

Trixie laughed, with just a tiny hint of underlying hysteria. “If you’re looking for a lady, you’ve come to the wrong place.” But then, an idea of how to deal with him sprang into her head. “You know, I have a friend who has a flowing, white nightdress. And I think we can improvise the balcony.”

“Well, lead me to her,” the man replied, eagerly.

She shook her head. “It’s not that easy. First, I’ll have to call her. And then, you’ll have to find the place I mean for the balcony. It’s around the other side of the house.”

“Trixie!” Jim groaned.

Again, she shook her head, but this time in a sharp, brief gesture. To the man, she said, “You’ll have to let us go, or there’ll be no nightdresses at all. Okay?”

He considered for a moment. “I shupposhe sho. But it had better be a good one!”

“Oh, yes. It’s going to be a stunner,” she promised. “Now, let us past, please.”

He stepped back, disappearing from sight without a sound. Jim peered into the darkness for a moment.

“Come on,” Trixie urged. “We need to get to your place, fast.”

“Why?” he asked. “And why did you do that?”

She shook her head. “No time. Let’s go.”

They hurried up the hill and entered the house. Trixie slammed the door behind them.

“Safe.” She closed her eyes in relief. “Now, we just need to find the things we need.”

“What things?”

She rolled her eyes. “Weren’t you paying attention? We need a girl in a flowing, white nightdress, some place to use as a balcony, a wooden stake and something to hammer it in with.”

Jim stared at her for a moment, mouth agape. “We need what?”

“You heard me.”

He shook his head. “No. This makes no sense.”

For a long moment, they stared at each other, then Honey strolled down the stairs, dressed ready for an evening out.

“What you are doing here, Trixie?” she asked. “Not that I’m not happy to see you, or anything, only, I thought that after you finished in the clubhouse that you were going to your house and Jim was coming here, rather than both of you being here, which is what you are, though maybe I imagined that and that wasn’t what you said, but just what I thought you would have said, if you’d said anything.”

“No, that’s what I did say,” Trixie answered, “or, at least, I would have said, if I did say anything, but I don’t think I might have, but only assumed that you’d know that I’d say that.”

Jim slapped a hand across his face.

“What’s wrong, Jim?” his sister asked. “You look kind of shaken.”

“You’ll never guess what happened on the way back,” Trixie answered for him. “There was this weird sound and all the animals started running away and then, you’ll never guess.”

Honey bounced on her toes. “What?”

“We met a vampire!”

“Seriously? That’s amazing!” Honey cried.

But Jim interrupted, “Now, wait a minute!”

Trixie rolled her eyes at him. “Oh, come on. It was totally obvious.”

“We met a creepy guy with an accent, who lisped, and who has a nightdress fetish.”

“Yes, that was him.” She turned to Honey. “You have to help me trap him. He’s coming around the back of the house sometime soon to look for a maiden on a balcony, wearing a flowing, white nightdress.”

“Oh, I think I have one of those somewhere,” Honey answered. “But who’s going to wear it? And where are we going to get a balcony?”

“Well, I thought we could use one of the upstairs windows. And maybe I should wear the nightdress, since it was my idea.”

Honey shook her head. “Let’s call Di and she can help. I think she’d like to act the part of the maiden, so long as she doesn’t have to be the vampire-slayer at the same time.”

“How about, instead, we call the police and report the trespasser?” Jim suggested.

“And have one of them be killed when they come to investigate?” Honey asked, brows puckering in concern. “How would you live with yourself if some poor police officer got all his blood sucked out, just because you wouldn’t believe that it was possible that he might?”

“How will you live with yourselves after they jail you for murdering some crazy guy?” Jim countered. “Please, girls, just think this through for a change.”

Trixie bristled. “Now, you just wait a minute, Jim Frayne. I’ll have you know that I almost always get on the right track the first time these days. Sure, I may have made a few teeny weeny mistakes when I was first starting out, but I’m an experienced investigator now and I know what I’m doing.”

“You’ve encountered vampires before?” he asked, with great scepticism.

“Well, no, but–”

“And you have definite proof that that man is really a vampire?”

She shook her head. “No, but I will when he flies up to the window.”

He closed his eyes and sighed. “Fine. Supposing that he actually does fly up to the window, what are you intending will happen next?”

“Di will talk to him until we’re ready to put a wooden stake through his heart,” Trixie replied, at once. “It’s obvious, isn’t it?”

“You don’t think, if he really is a vampire, that he might have come across this kind of thing before?”

Honey, who had wandered away, returned at that moment, saying into the phone, “Great. We’ll see you soon, but be careful out there because we don’t know where he is right now.” She turned to the other two. “It’s all set. Brian and Mart are going to pick up Di and while she’s waiting for them to get there, she’s going to call Regan and get him and Dan to come on over. It’s going to be just like old times.”

“Old vampire hunting times?” Jim asked, frowning.

“You know what I mean.” She clasped Trixie by the arm. “And Di has had the most brilliant idea. She thinks we should put Mart in the nightdress and use him as the decoy. It’s got really billowy sleeves, so it should fit across his shoulders just fine, though it might show a bit more leg than it would on me. And Di’s bringing a wig; it’s from her Halloween costume.”

Trixie hooted with laughter. “I can’t wait to see that!”

The front doorbell rang and Jim went to answer it.

“Oh, and I think we’d better check in the kitchen and see if there’s any garlic,” Honey continued. “That’s supposed to be good against vampires, right?”

Trixie nodded. “Good thinking.”

“Now, what’s all this about a vampire?” Regan asked, as he joined them.

“We really did meet one. Outside.” Trixie turned an appealing look on him. “I’m absolutely certain that’s what he was.”

“I’m not doubting you,” Regan answered.

Jim’s mouth dropped open. “What? You’ve got to be kidding.”

The groom shook his head. “I’ve been expecting this for some time. All the signs have been pointing this way.” He frowned. “And it would be on the one night when all of your parents are out – they seem to have a sixth sense that way.”

“Crazy,” Jim muttered. “They’ve all gone crazy.”

“Where do you want this stuff, Uncle Bill?” Dan asked.

“Oh, just put it down for the moment.” He turned to Trixie, as Dan let the things he held clatter to the floor. “I take it you have a plan?”

“Kind of. I was thinking that we use one of the upstairs windows as a balcony and I told him my friend would meet him around there. Honey has the white nightdress and we were thinking that Di could be the decoy, but Di thinks it would be better for Mart to do it. After that, I was thinking of a wooden stake to the heart, only we hadn’t found the stuff for that, yet – though it looks like you have it all. Oh, and Honey, were you going to look for that garlic?”

“I’m right on it.”

Regan slowly shook his head. “No, I don’t think that will do.”

“Garlic doesn’t work?”

“Not that. I meant Mart being the one in the dress.”

“Well, I guess it could be me – I was going to do it, to begin with – but I don’t know how much help I’d be then. Dresses tend to make me clumsy.”

Dan dusted his hands on his pants and stepped forwards. “I think he means me.”

“You?” Honey and Trixie asked, together.

“This needs someone with experience,” Regan explained, “and he’s the most likely of us to fit into the dress.”

“Hold on. Do you mean to say that you have vampire hunting experience?” Jim demanded.

“Yes. That’s what I just said.” Regan sighed. “What did you think my sister died of?”

Trixie, Honey and Jim shared a puzzled glance.

“I don’t think anyone ever said,” Honey admitted, at last, “and there never seemed a good way to ask.”

“Our family have been vampire hunters for hundreds of years,” he told them. “Most times, it turns out for the best, but now and then there are… accidents.”

“Mom already wasn’t well,” Dan explained, eyes on the floor, “but when one tried to stake out a territory right in the middle of New York City, she went anyway, because she was the closest and she knew that people would die if she didn’t go. He took her down, but she took him out with her.”

Honey stepped forward and took his hand. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”

He shrugged an answer.

“Will you be okay doing this?” she asked.

He lifted his gaze to hers and a fire burned there. “Oh, yes. I’m ready and willing. And this vampire is going down.”

She squeezed his hand and let it go, just as the doorbell rang again. This time, Trixie answered it.

“Oh, it’s about time you’re here,” she greeted. “Come–”

“No!” Dan and Regan both yelled, cutting her off.

“Don’t use those words, whatever you do,” Regan ordered, his voice scratchy with worry. “Don’t you understand? If he hears you, he can take it as permission.”

Trixie, her mouth still open, nodded.

“A vampire can’t enter a residence if they’re not invited,” Dan explained. “It’s one of their main weaknesses and they’ll go to almost any length to get around it.”

“We get the idea anyway,” Mart added, entering the house with Di and Brian hot on his heels. “Now, what gives?”

In a jumble of interjections, the other Bob-Whites outlined everything that had happened so far. Jim left the others to speak, having lapsed into a worried and still-sceptical silence.

“So, are we ready now?” Trixie asked, when they were all up to speed.

“Not so fast,” Regan answered. “First, we need to get Dan ready somewhere where he can’t be seen. Honey, do you have the dress?”

“I’ll go and get it.”

She raced up the stairs, while Regan looked over his other supplies. He laid the stakes out in a row, with a couple of hammers next to them. Next, he examined two large crosses and some bottles filled with clear liquid.

“Holy water?” Trixie asked. “Does that work?”

Regan shrugged. “Sometimes. It’s mostly for the more traditional kind of vampire. Garlic is much more reliable, but it doesn’t keep as well. I asked Cook to get me some, but I hadn’t gotten around to picking it up from her yet.”

“That’s probably it,” Trixie suggested, pointing to the bulbs Honey had fetched earlier. “So, what do you want us to do?”

“Just keep out of the way,” he answered. “Leave this to Dan and me; we’re the ones who know what we’re doing.”

“But how did you learn?” Brian wanted to know.

Both men’s eyes shifted away from meeting anyone else’s.

“It’s a family secret,” Regan replied.

“But didn’t you grow up in an orphanage?” Brian persisted. “How much could you learn before the age of – what was it? – five?”

The groom scowled. “Let’s just say that someone came back and taught me.”

Trixie’s eyes widened. “Came back? Do you mean–”

“Never mind what I mean,” he snapped. “Now, carry a pile of these upstairs and lay them in the hall outside the room you’re intending to use.”

She did as she was told, passing Honey on the stairs.

“Come with me,” Di suggested to Dan, and the two disappeared into another room.

By the time that all of the supplies had been taken upstairs and arranged to Regan’s satisfaction, Dan emerged in costume.

Mart wolf-whistled, only to be harshly shushed by Regan.

“Don’t draw attention to him,” he chastised.

“You mean, to her,” Di added, with a giggle. “Everyone, this is my friend Danica. She’s a little shy, so you’ll have to bear with her.”

The long, red wig covered most of “Danica’s” shoulders and brushed her cheeks. Di had arranged some strategic padding to fill out the chest area. True to Honey’s word, the flouncy sleeves of the nightgown easily accommodated her rather broad shoulders, but the hem fell around a pair of hairy knees.

“You’re going to have to stay next to the wall until we’re ready,” Regan directed, staring at Dan’s legs. “He’s never going to fall for this if he sees that.” His voice softened. “But other than that, you look fine. More than fine, really.”

“You just like the hair,” Danica answered, in a surprisingly convincing imitation of a female voice.

“Like your mother’s,” Regan replied, gruffly. He straightened. “Right. This is the plan: Dan and I get rid of the vampire; the rest of you lock yourselves in a room together and wait. If anything goes wrong, another vampire hunter will arrive, sometime in the next six to twelve hours. Do nothing that might be understood as an invitation to enter. Understand?”

Mart shook his head. “You’ve got to be kidding. We’re not going to sit around doing nothing! You might need us!”

“You think I’ll risk one of you being killed, or turned?”

“You seem to be risking that for yourself and Dan,” Mart argued.

Dan shrugged. “It’s what our family does. It’s an obligation that’s in our blood.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Mind your own business. And get yourselves somewhere safe,” Regan snapped.

“No.” Mart turned to the rest of his friends. “You all agree, don’t you?”

“At least let us be close by to help,” Brian asked. “We won’t get in the way, but we can’t just hide, either.”

“Of course we can’t,” Trixie added, in a firm voice. “And anyway, I’m the one who discovered him. I have to introduce Danica – I told the vampire I was going to.”

“We’re all already involved.” Di’s voice held a cajoling note. “It’s only right to let us see it through.”

Regan shook his head. “You don’t know what you’re asking.” Then he sighed. “But Trixie is right: she does have to introduce her friend. The rest of you are staying out of it and that’s final.”

Jim nodded. “We’ll do that, if you’re sure that’s best. But we’re waiting in the hall.”

“I thought you didn’t believe in all this?” Brian asked him, frowning.

His friend shrugged. “I’m not sure I do – in fact, this is all so crazy that I’m almost convinced I’m dreaming – but if everyone else is going along with it, I guess I’d better go along with it, too.”

“Time’s wasting,” Regan muttered, ushering Dan ahead of him up the stairs.

Trixie followed close behind and the rest trailed after her.

“No talking from now on,” Regan warned, just as they reached the top.

He walked in silence along the hallway to the room they had chosen. With a nod, he indicated that Dan and Trixie should enter first, then waved the rest out of sight. Dan opened the door and went in first, tentatively. His hand on Trixie’s arm held her from surging straight over to the window. After a few moments, he gave some sort of signal and Regan slunk into the shadows, arms filled with his supplies. He settled himself in the darkest corner, near at hand but out of direct view of the window.

“You need to call him,” Dan told Trixie, using the feminine voice. “But don’t invite him in.”

Trixie nodded. She strode over and opened the windows wide. “Hello? Are you there?”

Something shifted in the air and the man she had met earlier appeared, seemingly out of thin air. He hovered outside the window, entirely unaided by any part of the building.

“Oh, you have come at lasht,” he griped. “I wash beginning to believe that you had tricked me.”

Trixie shook her head. “It just took a little longer than I expected. But look: here’s my friend Danica. And isn’t this a lovely nightdress?”

“Hmm,” the vampire mused, considering the sight before him. “Oh, yesh, that is more than acceptable. Really quite alluring. Thank you for your asshishtancshe. You can go now.”

Again, Trixie shook her head, harder this time so that her curls bounced. “No, she’s very shy. I’m just going to stay for a minute or two and make sure you’re treating her right.”

“It’s all right. Really.” Danica made a small gesture for Trixie to leave.

“Soon.” She smiled brightly. “I’m just going to stand back here. You’ll hardly know I’m here.”

“I’m fine. Just go,” urged Danica, smiling at the vampire. “Now, sir, what is your name?”

“You may call me Alfonshe,” he answered.

“Alfonse.” Danica breathed the name. “How very… romantic.”

He nodded. “I thought sho, too. Now, Danica, my love, I have much to tell you. How beautiful you are in the moonlight. How wonderful is the play of the moonlight on your nightdressh, on your hair. How I long for you.”

Danica sighed breathily and slumped alluringly against the window frame. “Oh, Alfonse! No one has ever said these things to me before.”

“You are like a beautiful roshe; a lonely roshe in the garden of darknessh. No one appreciatesh you like I do.”

“Go on,” Danica urged. “Please.”

“Let me enter your room and I will reveal the world to you.”

Danica gasped. “Oh! I couldn’t. Not so soon. I mean… I hardly know you.”

“You do know me. We have known each other forever. We have flown on the wind for all eternity pasht. We have walked together in the moonlight, hand in hand. We have sheen wondersh that are hidden to the waking world, the world of daylight and noishe and messh. Let me enter, pleashe.”

“Tell me secrets,” she whispered. “Tell me things that other people don’t know.”

He leaned in closer. “Not while another listensh. Shend her away.”

“Go,” Danica ordered Trixie, nearly losing grip of the altered voice.

“Fine. I’m going.” She suddenly grinned. “But don’t do anything that I wouldn’t do.”

Dan closed his eyes for just a moment, then regained his character with an effort.

“We’re alone, now. Tell me secrets.”

But the vampire now peered suspiciously through the window. He shook his head.

“Shomething ish wrong here.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Danica tried to tell him. “She’s gone now. You were comparing me to a rose?”

He leaned even closer. “Come to the window, my love.”

“I’m right here,” Danica answered, with a demure dip of the head that sent the red hair sliding forwards.

“Closher,” the vampire breathed. “Aha! I knew it! You’re not a maiden.”

“Alphonse!” Danica cried, in quivering outrage. “How could you say such a thing about me? Are you suggesting–”

“I’m shuggeshting,” he interrupted, “that you’re a man. That little wench did trick me.”

Dan grabbed his stake and lunged for the vampire, but he sailed out of reach.

At the same moment, Regan burst out of his hiding place.

“You!” Regan and the vampire cried, together.

“I might have known,” the groom grumbled, throwing a head of garlic at the outraged creature of the night. “Kevin Belcher; the most pathetic vampire in the world.”

“It’sh not my fault,” the one who had called himself Alphonse complained. “None of ush can help how we’re made. And mind what you’re doing with that abominable bulb. I can shtill feel it burning.”

“I’ll shove the next one down your throat if you’re not careful,” Regan threatened.

“Now, that’sh not kind at all,” Kevin answered.

Dan pulled off the wig as he walked over to the door. “There’s no real danger here,” he explained, “but don’t let him in. The last people who let him in their house had to move out.”

“Yes, we get it,” Trixie replied, almost pushing him out of the way in her hurry to get back on the scene.

“Is he flying?” Jim wondered, catching sight of the figure outside.

“Yes.” Regan scowled. “Everyone, meet Kevin. He’s going to be leaving the area. I want you all to look at him carefully and if you see him anywhere within fifty miles of here for the rest of your lives, I want to hear about it immediately. Understand?”

Kevin cried out in dismay. “Oh, come now. Fifty milesh? How about two?”

“Do you want me to make it five hundred?” Regan countered, in a dangerous voice.

“No, no. Fifty is fine. Very generoush, in fact.”

“How do we know he’s not going to bite us?” Diana wondered, while giving Kevin a particularly hard and assessing stare.

“Bite you? My dear young lady, what do you take me for? A common blood-shucker?”

“I’ll know about it if you so much as try,” Regan warned.

The vampire rolled his eyes. “Oh, that’sh just sho amushing. Ash if I don’t have enough to worry about.”

“Why wouldn’t you bite someone?” Trixie asked him. She took a couple more steps closer, peering out at him.

“I have an unfortunate condition,” he admitted, with quiet dignity. “But I will ashk you not to pry into my pershonal businessh in that way, thank you very much.”

Dan sniggered. “Kevin’s allergic to blood.”

“And you have a vampire ansheshtor who has vowed to train all of his deshcendants to wipe out hish own kind,” Kevin snapped, angrily. “Oh, I know all about your family background.”

Trixie’s gaze travelled from Regan to Kevin and back again, as she decided which train of thought to follow first. She decided to tackle the outsider first, since presumably Regan and Dan would be around to question in the future.

“Wait. How can you be a vampire and allergic to blood? What happens to you?”

Kevin straightened and assumed a dignified expression, but did not meet her eyes. “I come out in a rash that lashtsh for quite shome time – about ten yearsh, the last time.”

“But don’t you need blood?” she persisted.

“I have found some very good alternativesh. Very healthy thingsh. Lotsh of fresh vegetablesh and other plant-matter. You should try it yourshelf; it’sh much better for you. Ash you can shee, I’m a picture of good health. And I have an entirely fulfilling exishtenshe – exshept in the matter of upshtart young shcallywagsh interfering with my right to appreciate ladiesh’ nightdresshesh.”

Regan shook his head. “You know full well that you have no right to operate in this area, even if you don’t bite anyone. And if you don’t willingly leave the fifty-mile radius that I’ve already mentioned within two hours, I will terminate you.”

Kevin stared down his nose. “I wash promished a young woman in a flowing, white nightdressh. The law of chivalry demandsh that you hold your peashe until that promishe is fulfilled – and that young man over there mosht shertainly doesh not count! I want a convershation with an actual maiden and I’m not leaving until I get her.”

Regan closed his eyes and groaned. “If I can find a girl willing to listen to you for ten minutes, will you leave the area and not return?”

“Shertainly. I wash very dishappointed with this area anyway. Mosht unladylike that one wash.”

All eyes turned to Trixie, who laughed and agreed.

“Right then.” Regan waved to the rest of the occupants of the room, ushering them out into the hallway. “You wait right there and I’ll see what I can arrange.”

“Shertainly,” Kevin repeated, more genially this time. “Bring the maiden here. I look forward to shpeaking with her.”

The door closed and Regan turned upon Trixie. “Look what you’ve done now!”

She rolled her eyes. “How was I supposed to know? And anyway, I was only trying to get Jim and me away from him. Would you rather I got stuck with him myself, out in the woods?”

“He wouldn’t have bitten you.”

“Yes, but I didn’t know that!”

“It doesn’t matter,” Dan interrupted the argument. “The important thing is finding a suitable girl so we can get him out of here.”

“If he doesn’t bite, what does it matter?” Honey wondered.

Regan and Dan shared a dark look.

“His presence will attract… other things; things that won’t be so easily persuaded to leave – or to leave us alone,” Regan admitted, at last. “So we need him out of here now.”

“What would the girl have to do?” Di asked.

Regan shrugged. “Just listen to him ramble on, mostly. And not throw up when she hears the garbage he trots out.”

“And it’s only for about ten minutes?” she asked.

Dan nodded.

“Give me the nightdress.”

“Not here,” Dan protested, as she tried to take it off him.

“What? You’ve gone all modest, have you?” Di teased, but she led him into an empty bedroom and returned a minute or two later, wearing the nightdress.

Dan followed her out, pulling his T-shirt over his head. “I left the… other stuff on the bed.”

Di nodded. “I’ll deal with that later. So, how do I look?”

Regan nodded. “Fine. Let’s get this over with. You remember the rule?”

“Mmm-hmm. Don’t invite him in.”

“And if you need any help, we’ll be right here.”

She fluffed her hair, straightened the dress and set her shoulders. “Wish me luck!”

Before any of them could speak, she opened the door and slunk alluringly into the room. With the door ajar, they could hear wisps of conversation, mostly involving moonlight and roses and nightdresses – Kevin did not appear to have very much imagination in this regard.

“She’s enjoying herself,” Trixie whispered, in a tone somewhere between fascination and horror.

Honey nodded and smiled.

“His ten minutes are up,” Regan commented next, a short time later. “I’m going in.”

Honey held out a hand to stop him. “Wait; they’re saying their goodbyes.”

The groom stayed where he was, but checked his watch roughly every fifteen seconds until they heard the window close.

“It’s about time!” he snapped, as Diana came out into the hallway, silently laughing. “What took you so long?”

“I had to think of a place that’s more than fifty miles away,” she answered.

Regan stiffened. “What for?”

“For our date next week.” Di’s eyes widened into an expression of impossible innocence.

“Your what? No, no, you can’t have.”

This time, she laughed aloud. “No, I didn’t. But you should’ve seen your face.”

His eyes squeezed shut and he grimaced, but he didn’t say a word, simply turning on his heels and stalking away.

“Where are you going?” Trixie called after him, as Dan began to follow.

“I have work to do. All of you stay in the house, do you hear me? I need to make sure nothing worse turned up while Diana was listening to that idiot drone on.”

“Yes, but what worse things?” Trixie demanded, as she and all the others followed him down the stairs.

Regan only shook his head.

He hesitated at the front door, holding up a hand for silence and listening carefully.

“There’s something there,” he whispered, at length. He turned a worried face on the gathered group. “This is getting serious, now. I need you to follow my orders exactly. Do you understand?”

Trixie opened her mouth to object, but a voice came to them from outside.

“William!”

Regan peered out of the sidelight, then threw open the door, revealing an older gentleman dressed in an old-fashioned black suit.

“Ah! Greetings, William. And Daniel. How good to see you both. I trust you are well?”

Regan replied with a perfunctory nod. “I was just going to check–”

The visitor waved a hand. “No, no. It’s all done. I was passing through after dealing with a little situation in Topeka and noticed that you had an intruder, but that it was only that irritating little vegan.”

He pronounced the word vegan as if it was a profanity and grimaced as if it tasted bad.

“He’s promised to leave the fifty mile radius within two hours,” Regan explained.

“I will see to it that he does, but I don’t imagine he will linger. He always was easily swayed. I expect I will be able to return to my resting place long before dawn.” He smiled. “Daniel’s training is going well, then?”

“Yes, thank you, Grandfather,” Regan answered.

“Grandfather!” Trixie leaned forward to see him better, but Regan pushed her back.

“Not literally,” the old man admitted, with a little wave of his hand. “A very great many generations separate us, but I have made it a point of keeping track of my descendants. I had children before I became a vampire, you understand? And when I came to regret that decision, I thought it fitting that my own flesh and blood make amends for my misdeeds. But enough nattering; I have a disgrace to the name of vampires to drive off. Until next time.”

He made a formal nod, like a small bow, and glided away.

“Goodbye, Grandfather,” Dan called as he disappeared into the shadows.

“No one is leaving this house before daybreak,” Regan ordered, after closing and locking the door. “I’ll call Marge and get her to delay all of your parents until morning. I’m going to keep watch overnight, just in case, but I think we can consider this little episode closed. We will never speak of it again.”

“But I still have a lot of questions,” Trixie told him.

“About Kevin the vegan vampire?”

She shook her head. “About Regan and Dan, vampire hunters extraordinaire.”

A tiny hint of a smile teased Regan’s lips. “Never heard of them. Any neither has anyone else.”

“But you just drove off a vampire, even if he was a vegan one!” she objected.

Regan shook his head. “I don’t know where you come up with these ideas.”

“It does sound crazy,” Jim added, frowning. “And I’m not sure I believe it, even though I saw it myself.

Dan came to stand by his uncle. “Face it, Trix. This is one adventure that you can never tell. After all, who would believe you?”

The End

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