The Traveling Vampire Show

I couldn’t believe my eyes—oh. yes I could. Though stunned, I wasn’t very surprised. Of course Rusty wanted to get into the cage with Valeria. He probably saw this as the opportunity of a lifetime.

And maybe he was right.

The thunder came… a long, rumbling noise. I could feel its vibrations in my chest like the drums of a parade band.

The storm was coming closer.

But wasn’t here yet.

Valeria stood in the cage, breathing hard, slowly rubbing her body with the towel. She hadn’t put her top back on. It was probably still inside the casket.

“Rusty!” I shouted. The crowd was clapping and yelling, so maybe he couldn’t hear me. “Don’t!” I called out.

“Come on,” Lee said. She stood, sidestepped past the empty space left by Rusty, and started to make her way through the seated spectators.

I stayed close to her.

“Excuse me,” Lee said to the people we had to disturb.

We were facing forward. The knees of those behind us jammed the backs of our legs. Our thighs rubbed the backs of people the next row down. I’d lost my boner by then, or it would’ve poked some heads.

“Excuse me,” Lee said. “Excuse me. Excuse me.”

A few people stood up to let us by. Others didn’t budge and we had to shove past their legs.

“^Excuse me. Excuse me.”

“Sit down!”

“Down in front!”

“Y’make a better door than window!”

As we struggled across the row, I watched Rusty scribble on Vivian’s clipboard. She took his arm and led him up the steps to the cage. As they entered the cage, another tree of lightning cracked across the night.

Lee and I broke through the end of the row.

Thunder crashed.

But still no rain.

If the rain starts, I thought, will they stop the fight?

Probably not.

I followed Lee as she raced down the stairs toward the arena.

“I SEE WE HAVE AN EAGER YOUNG VOLUNTEER,” Stryker said, his amplified voice loud and crackling.

“I’M RUSTY,” Rusty said into the microphone.

The audience cheered.

Rusty turned all the way around, grinning like a dope and waving at the crowd.

Someone called out, “Go get her, Rusty!”

Another, “Nail her!”

“Give them titties a squeeze for me!”

And worse.

Suddenly, near the bottom of the bleachers, our way was blocked by half a dozen black-shirted members of Stryker’s crew.

“READY TO TAKE ON VALERIA?” Stryker asked.

“Excuse me,” Lee said, and tried to keep going.

“YOU BET,” Rusty said.

The man directly in front of Lee shook his head and spread out his arms.

“Let us through,” Lee said.

“You’ll just have to wait your turn, miss.”

“Down in front!”

“Hey, sit down!”

“That kid can’t fight Valeria,” Lee said.

“Sure, he can.”

“He’s underage.”

The man smirked. “Big deal.”

“Outa the way, for cry-sake!”

“I’m his mother and I forbid…”

“BEST OF LUCK, RUSTY!”

“His mother, my ass.”

“THANK YOU, MR. STRYKER.”

A thin, tough-looking woman beside the guy said, “We don’t want any trouble here.”

“Then don’t let Rusty fight!”

“Move yer asses!”

“Down in front!”

The woman shook her head. “Why don’t you both return to your seats and enjoy the show?”

“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, LET THE CONTEST BEGIN!”

Another harsh flash of lightning.

“You can’t do this!” Lee shouted.

“Hell we can’t. Sit down or we’ll have you removed from the premises.”

The crowd roared.

So did the thunder.

The fight had started. We didn’t stand much chance of stopping it, now. I wanted to watch. And so did a dozen or so people whose views we were blocking.

Apparently, so did Lee. “Okay, okay,” she said.

Though there were empty spaces down low, Lee raced halfway up the stairs before moving toward the center, squeezing past half a dozen spectators and taking a seat. If she couldn’t stop the fight, at least she wanted a good vantage point for watching it. Breathless, I sat beside her.

The black-shirted crew watched us for a few more seconds, then spread out and seemed to vanish.

From the look of things in the cage, we hadn’t missed much. Rusty and Valeria were both hunched over, arms out, circling each other slowly.

Which seemed to be the standard way to begin such contests.

I felt scared for Rusty. But I also envied him. There he was, face to face with Valeria, probably one of the most beautiful women to ever walk the earth—three or four feet away from that amazing face and those incredible, naked breasts.

It seemed like madness.

Glorious madness.

This must’ve been like a dream come true for Rusty.

He was sure to pay dearly for it, but it might be worth the payment.

Valeria seemed in no hurry to attack. Neither did Rusty—not with the kind of view he had. But I knew him. What he really wanted, now, was to reach out and feel those breasts.

He had to get his hands on them.

Even in front of an audience brimming with people who knew him and his parents?

You bet, I thought. He won’t let a little thing like that stop him.