It doesn't feel for me to send off Bellman without looking back on one of his stories, so that's what I'm going to do; this is "Vampire Brats" from Adventures into Terror#4 (1951)!
Our heroine is June Beaumont, a young woman who came to New York hoping to make a hit on Broadway! ...But she can't find work on the stage so she answers an ad for work as an "attendant to assist at infant' nursing home!" She heads to the address on Bleeker Street (nearby Doctor Strange! that doesn't bode well) and finds all the staff seem to go about in a daze.
The infants are strangely subdued during the daytime but another nurses insists, "They'll feed tonight!" True enough, the infants wake up at night (isn't it always the way?), becoming much more lively. But when June goes to feed one of them the infant grows fangs and leaps at her throat! June screams and runs from the ward, the infants in pursuit. "Creeping, crawling, toddling..."
June tells a policeman about her ordeal but he informs her that the building was condemned 20 years ago. When she revisits the building a few days later she finds it is abandoned. Months down the road June takes on a babysitting job for her friend Sally, but as she prepares to tuck in little Janice at night, Janice grows fangs. "No, no! Not again... Janice, not you... you're on of them too!" June screams. And the story is over.
Thoughts: Well, the shocking reveals of this story are mostly ruined by the title. They're not the most terrifying babies in comic book history, but this story is so loony I can't help but love it. Vampire babies could be a frightening concept, but these creatures are too adorable and don't seem likely to menace anyone without a lot of cooperation from their victims. But I like it. You did well, Mr. Bellman.
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