Table of Contents
 
 
   Praise
   Praise
   THE TRAVELING VAMPIRE SHOW
   Title Page
   Dedication
   Copyright Page
   Chapter One
   Chapter Two
   Chapter Three
   Chapter Four
   Chapter Five
   Chapter Six
   Chapter Seven
   Chapter Eight
   Chapter Nine
   Chapter Ten
   Chapter Eleven
   Chapter Twelve
   Chapter Thirteen
   Chapter Fourteen
   Chapter Fifteen
   Chapter Sixteen
   Chapter Seventeen
   Chapter Eighteen
   Chapter Nineteen
   Chapter Twenty
   Chapter Twenty-one
   Chapter Twenty-two
   Chapter Twenty-three
   Chapter Twenty-four
   Chapter Twenty-five
   Chapter Twenty-six
   Chapter Twenty-seven
   Chapter Twenty-eight
   Chapter Twenty-nine
   Chapter Thirty
   Chapter Thirty-one
   Chapter Thirty-two
   Chapter Thirty-three
   Chapter Thirty-four
   Chapter Thirty-five
   Chapter Thirty-six
   Chapter Thirty-seven
   Chapter Thirty-eight
   Chapter Thirty-nine
   Chapter Forty
   Chapter Forty-one
   Chapter Forty-two
   Chapter Forty-three
   Chapter Forty-four
   Chapter Forty-five
   Chapter Forty-six
   Chapter Forty-seven
   Chapter Forty-eight
   Chapter Forty-nine
   Chapter Fifty
   Chapter Fifty-one
   Chapter Fifty-two
   Chapter Fifty-three
   Chapter Fifty-four
   Chapter Fifty-five
   Chapter Fifty-six
   Chapter Fifty-seven
   Chapter Fifty-eight
   Chapter Fifty-nine
   Chapter Sixty
   Chapter Sixty-one
   Chapter Sixty-two
   Chapter Sixty-three
   Chapter Sixty-four
 
 
   RAVE REVIEWS FOR RICHARD LAYMON!
 
   “Laymon lets out the stops in typically ferocious fashion. The Traveling Vampire Show contains some of the wisdom of King’s The Body or Robert R. McCammon’s Boy’s Lije, but the book belongs wholly to Laymon, who with his trademark squeaky-clean yet sensual prose, high narrative drive and pitch-dark sense of humor has crafted a horror tale
 
   that’s not only emotionally true but also scary and, above all, fun.”
   —Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
 
   “Laymon always takes it to the max. No one writes like him and you’re going to have a good time with anything he writes.”
   —Dean Koontz
 
   “If you’ve missed Laymon, you’ve missed a treat.”
   —Stephen King
 
   “What an amazing book! Laymon rides hard and fast and deep. He gives us characters that are absolutely memorable. It’s great. I promise.”
   —Mehitobel Wilson, Gothic.net
 
   “The Traveling Vampire Show successfully blends nostalgia with gritty realism and outright Grand Guignol gore. Compulsively readable, it’s a stripped-down page-turner that slowly builds to a bloody crescendo. Laymon is in absolute control throughout.”
   —Hank Wagner, Hellnotes
 
   “Laymon is Stephen King without a conscience.”
   —Dan J. Marlowe
 
   “Laymon is an American writer of the highest caliber.”
   —Time Out
 
   MORE PRAISE FOR RICHARD LAYMON!
 
   “Laymon is unique. A phenomenon. A genius of the grisly and the grotesque.”
   —Joe Citro, The Blood Review
 
   “[Laymon has] an uncanny grasp of just what makes characters work. Readers turn the pages so fast they leave burn marks on the paper.”
   -Horrorstruck
 
   “Laymon is incapable of writing a disappointing book.”
   —New York Review of Science Fiction
 
   “One of the best, and most reliable, writers working today.”
   —Cemetery Dance
 
   “I’ve read every book of Laymon’s I could get my hands on. I’m absolutely a longtime fan.”
   —Jack Ketchum
   “A brilliant writer.”
   —Sunday Express
 
   “Laymon’s writing’s super-tight and characters well detailed and believable, which makes the savage termination of so many of them all the more shocking! The unbridled joy of a delightfully fertile and wicked imagination at work.”
   —Terrorzone
 
   “Richard Laymon is a legend in dark fiction circles ... a master of the macabre, a man on the cutting edge of the horror genre.
   —Scary Monsters Magazine
 
   THE TRAVELING VAMPIRE SHOW
 
   Come and see—
   the one and only known VAMPIRE in captivity!
   —VALERIA—
   Gorgeous!
   Beguiling!
   Lethal!
 
   This stunning beauty, born in the wilds of Transylvania, sleeps by day in her coffin. By night she feeds on the blood of strangers.
   See Valeria rise from the dead!
 
   Watch as she stalks volunteers from the audience !
 
   Tremble as she sinks her teeth into their necks!
 
   Scream as she gulps their blood!
 
   Where: Janks Field, 2 mi. south of Grandville on Route 3
 
   When: One Show Only—Friday, midnight
 
   How Much: $10.
 
   (Nobody under age 18 allowed.)
 
   Other Leisure books by Richard Laymon:
 
   AMONG THE MISSING
 
   ONE RAINY NIGHT
 
   BITE
 
 
   
 
   This book is dedicated to Richard Chizmar,
 
   owner, manager and coach of the CD Team.
 
   You took us to the show.
 
   A LEISURE BOOK®
 
   March 2001
 
   Published by
 
   Dorchester Publishing Co., Inc.
 
   276 Fifth Avenue
 
   New York, NY 10001
 
   If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”
    Copyright © 2000 by Richard Laymon
 
   All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher, except where permitted by law
 
   ISBN 0-8439-4850-7
 
   The name “Leisure Books” and the stylized “L” with design are trademarks of Dorchester Publishing Co., Inc.
 
   Printed in dw United States of America.
 
   Visit us on the web at www.dorchesterpub.com.
 
   Chapter One
   The summer I was sixteen, the Traveling Vampire Show came to town.
   I heard about it first from my two best friends, Rusty and Slim.
   Rusty’s real name was Russell, which he pretty much hated.
   Slim’s real name was Frances. She had to put up with it from her parents and teachers, but not from other kids. She’d tell them, “Frances is a talking mule.” Asked what she wanted to be called, her answer pretty much depended on what book she happened to be reading. She’d say, “Nancy” or “Holmes” or “Scout” or “Zock” or “Phoebe.” All last summer, she wanted to be called Dagny. Now, it was Slim. A name like that, I figured maybe she’d started reading westerns. But I didn’t ask.
   My name is Dwight, by the way. Named after the Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces in Europe. He didn’t get elected President until after I’d already been born and named.
   Anyway, it was a hot August morning, school wouldn’t be starting again for another month, and I was out in front of our house mowing the lawn with a push mower. We must’ve been the only family in Grandville that didn’t have a power mower. Not that we couldn’t afford one. Dad was the town’s chief of police and Mom taught English at the high school. So we had the money for a power mower, or even a riding mower, but not the inclination.
   Not Dad, anyway. Long before anyone ever heard of language like “noise pollution,” Dad was doing everything in his power to prevent this or that “godawful racket.”
   Also, he was opposed to any sort of device that might make life easier on me or my two brothers. He wanted us to work hard, sweat and suffer. He’d lived through the Great Depression and World War Two, so he knew all about suffering. According to him, “kids these days’ve got it too easy.” So he did what he could to make life tougher on us.