Dracula Theory, page 12
“What do we do?”
Van Helsing grabbed his book. “We find a way to reverse the effects brought on by the blood of Count Dracula.” Abraham gestured for me. “Come.”
“Where are we off to now?”
A smile slowly spread across Van Helsing’s lips. ”Harker, you and I are going to prepare for battle. Said preparation begins at the church.”
*****
Van Helsing wasn’t speaking in vain or out of turn. He did lead us to a most formidable-looking church, as though the mighty hand of God forged the very walls, doors, and windows. To be more specific, he led us directly to St. Mary’s Cathedral. The building was a massive edifice that never failed to make me appreciate my own lack of faith in organized religion. Instead of being humble in the face of God, this parsonage mocked Him with gilded wings crafted of pound notes and 24-carat gold. The machinations of profit were powerful within the walls of St. Mary’s, and no one ever dared take them on for the cause.
“I know the cardinal here. In fact, the man owes me a favor or two.” Van Helsing pointed to a statue standing sentinel beside the entryway. “That was one of my discoveries. Crafted in the fifteenth century by a blind nun. I turned it over to St. Mary’s, knowing it would place me in their good graces, as well as their debt. Today, they take the first of many steps toward repayment.”
“Abraham.” A kind-faced man, covered from neck to foot in the robes of his faith, entered. He wore a gentle smile on his youthful face and carried himself with an absolute certainty. “What brings you back to the fold? Have you discovered another relic to be displayed in our house of God?”
The two men shook hands and shared a laugh.
“No, Father Davith. This time around, it is I that will be holding his hand out for a bit of help.”
The priest’s eyes lit up. “Of course. The church is always willing to help those in need. What can I do for you, old friend?”
“First, I need you to be of an open mind. What I am about to say to you will sound as though the devil himself has made a playground of my tongue. Can you abide that for me?”
“When have you ever known me to have a closed mind?”
“Well said, Father Davith.”
“Just Davith, please. We’re friends.”
“Very well, Davith.” Van Helsing fell silent. The look on his face made it clear he was weighing his options. What those options were, I had no clue. “This city is about to be under attack.”
“Blessed be,” Davith exclaimed. “By what?”
“Vampires.”
Davith stared at Abraham for an extended moment, before breaking out into gales of laughter. “Oh, Abraham, you always know how to spin an amusing tale.”
“This isn’t a joke, father. The Baron Murray has made a grievous error by bringing one of the blood clan from Romania, hoping to market it as a fountain of youth. This enterprise was inspired by my own research. I was certain my studies were exhaustive. Unfortunately, something happened, something even I couldn’t have predicted.”
Davith took a seat in a front row pew. “Abraham, the vampire is nothing more than folklore.”
“No, Father, they are quite real,” I interrupted. “I’ve seen them with my very eyes. Their incisors are elongated and razor-sharp. They can transform into wolf and bat.”
Davith glanced between Abraham and me. With each look, his resolve melted further.
“If what you say is true, I will need proof, before I extend the aid of the church.”
Van Helsing nodded. “All the proof you need is strapped to a bed in the Murray residence.”
The priest stood. “Lead the way then. Let it not be said the church isn’t willing to at least suspend disbelief, even for a short moment.”
I suspected Davith was doing little more than humoring us. It wouldn’t take long for the man’s eyes to open so that he might see the light of darkness. Once he did, the church would know truth on a level it had denied for centuries.
Van Helsing stopped Davith from making a grand, sweeping exit. “On the off chance I am right, it would be best if we arrive prepared for battle.”
“This is a church, Abraham. It’s not as if we keep a fully stocked arsenal.”
“But you do, Davith—at least when fighting the undead.”
“Indeed,” Davith scoffed. “So what is this arsenal you speak of?”
Van Helsing grinned. “Two things: Holy water and crucifixes, both of which you have in stockpiles.”
“Your request is most objectionable. However, considering what you’ve done for the church over the years, I would be remiss in turning you down.” Davith sighed. “Very well. I will gather what you ask. Wait here until I return.”
The priest silently exited the nave.
Van Helsing faced me, the corners of his mouth turned down sharply. “If you are a man of faith, I suggest you pray now.”
“I am not. Once upon a time, I did walk in lockstep with the faith of my parents. It took nearly two decades, but I finally crawled out from under that rock to form my own thoughts and opinions. So, no, I won’t be praying to anything but the logic of law.”
“That is an opinion I can appreciate.” Abraham sat back in the pew. “However, I have witnessed, first hand, far too many miracles to not believe in something. Is it an all-knowing deity, or an energy that flows through time and tide? That is a question I cannot answer. As such, I navigate my way through life unknowing and ignorant as to the ways of God. And so, I place my faith in science and knowledge.”
Davith returned, a canvas satchel in each hand. “I have every ounce of blessed water and every crucifix in the church’s possession I can bear.”
Van Helsing offered to carry a satchel. The priest obliged and handed over one of the bags. “I hope we do not find ourselves in need of these objects. Refilling the holy fonts is a rather messy business. On top of which, should the cardinal find his way into the church, he’ll wonder what has caused me to slip in my duties and allow the holy font to run dry.”
“I’ll pay for your transport to the Holy See to replenish your stock, Father,” Van Helsing teased.
“I will happily hold you to that promise.” Davith gestured for us to lead the way out of the church. “You do understand, should I deem your story to be one of truth, I will be required to report it to the Vatican?”
“Tell whoever you like, Father. So long as you assist us in ridding Mina of this beast, you can shout it to the heavens, for all I care. What does matter to me is my fiancée’s safety.”
Father Davith hailed a carriage. Within minutes we were whisked off, toward the home of Baron Murray.
*****
We arrived to see a pair of nurses standing outside the door of the manse, both in a state of turmoil. One wept, while the other stared, unblinking, into the sky. When I approached, the weeping nurse stepped between me and the door.
“You don’t want to go in there, Mr. Harker.”
“I’m afraid I do. Now, if you don’t mind—”
I reached for the woman, who immediately reared back and slapped me across the face.
“Now listen to me, young man.” The woman pointed toward the front door. “There’s evil within those walls. Something unclean has infested Ms. Murray, and nothing will stop it from spreading its darkened tendrils through all of England.”
The woman crossed herself.
I responded. “I have brought with me a priest. We will take care of Mina, either by means of love or piety.”
The nurse's eyes opened wide, and the slightest smile graced her lips. “Why didn’t you say so in the first place? A priest might be exactly what Mina is in need of.”
“So you’ll lead us to her?” Although I knew the way, I opted to take the path most cooperative. I would need every ally possible, to ensure my plan succeeded.
The nurse offered a brisk nod and gestured for us to enter. “May God be with you, Mr. Harker.”
“And with you.” I’d heard the call and answer before and assumed it applied to all situations. I glanced over my shoulder to Davith. “You coming?”
The priest nodded. He and Van Helsing followed me inside, where the nurse led us up the grand staircase. The second we were on the target floor, the sound of wailing accosted our hearing. To my great dismay, this symphony of terror was becoming all too familiar. In one moment, the cry was a single voice, and in the next a chorus of the greatest suffering.
The nurse stopped at the door, blocking our entry. “Are you certain you have the stomach for this?”
Both the priest and I nodded. I stole a glance to Van Helsing, who offered a puckish wink.
The nurse pushed open the doors to reveal a battered, frail, and emaciated Mina lying on the bed. The guttural moans and groans spilling from my darling’s mouth had me questioning the very sanity I claimed to possess. Davith entered from behind me, his hand over his mouth.
“Dear God in heaven,” the preacher exclaimed. “This woman needs an exorcism.” Davith set his kit in the neighboring bed and extracted a few particular tools from within the case.
“What do we do first?” I asked.
Davith looked to me, his jaw set and his eyes ready to bolt from their sockets. “I am not qualified for such an endeavor. I would need to have the cardinal investigate the circumstances surrounding Miss Harker’s condition to declare, with the official word of the Holy See, if an exorcism is necessary. Chances are, they’ll find no reason to not move forward with the rites.”
“Then you do it!” I insisted.
“As I mentioned a moment ago, I am not trained for exorcism. It takes years of preparation.”
“Then pray over Mina and toss holy water. Whatever you can do to protect her.”
As if on cue, Mina’s body twisted and bucked against her bonds, her back folding in upon itself until it threatened to snap. From Mina’s mouth, an unholy roar bellowed violently enough to vibrate her muscles in a rage-induced fugue.
Davith nervously grabbed a bottle of holy water from the satchel, uncorked it, and lobbed the liquid Mina’s way. The second the blessed weapon touched down on Mina’s skin, burn marks appeared, as though the priest had lashed her with a flaming whip.
“In the name of the Father, the Son—”
Demonic laughter stopped Davith’s prayer short. The hideous sound spilled from Mina’s mouth. She’d stopped the wicked war against the ropes holding her fast and panted, licking her dry lips with a blackened tongue. “Your piety is not wanted here, priest. Nor will it change the outcome of this dance. I am darkness, and your pathetic light is not enough to burn me to ash and bone.”
A woman shrieked from behind me and then called out, “Mina.” The voice was Lucy’s.
Mina batted her eyelashes, focusing her attention on Lucy’s location. “My dearest, best friend. What I wouldn’t give to sweep you away from this cloister of mediocrity and show you a world beyond anything you have ever imagined.” Mina’s voice had shifted from the bestial to the sweet.
“Mina,” Lucy sobbed, “you know I would follow you to the end of the world.”
Mina grinned wide. “That’s all I needed to hear, my love.”
What happened next threatened to tear apart my sanity. Since meeting Dracula in Romania, I’d witnessed enough maddening sights to fill my nightmares for decades. But this ghastly vignette would never fail to keep me awake, wishing the light of day would arrive to cast away the unforgiving darkness.
Mina unleashed another banshee’s wail before falling to the bed in silence.
“What’s happening?” I whispered, certain a change was overcoming my darling. The shift was too subtle for the average eye. Seeing as how I’d known every inch of Mina’s body, I could tell something was amiss. At first, it was nothing more than a shimmer—which could have been an innocent trick of the light. Shortly after that, Mina’s flesh began to fade from sight in spots. And then ... she vanished in a puff of acrid smoke—the smell of sulfur and moss hung in the air. Everyone in the room stared at the bed. I could only imagine they, too, were hoping what we’d seen was little more than a trick of refracted light, and that, any moment, Mina’s body would reappear before our very eyes. No matter how hard we glared, the reality became quite obvious—Mina had disappeared.
One of the nurses shrieked in horror. Everyone turned to see Mina standing behind Lucy, her face buried into the base of the now-silent woman’s neck. Half of the nurses in the room fainted, while the other half ran from the room, followed closely by every doctor. Only Davith, Van Helsing, and I remained.
“Crucifix,” I whispered to the priest. When the man didn’t budge, I raised my voice in desperation. “Davith, hand me a crucifix. Now!”
My raised voice failed to rouse the priest from his stupor. Van Helsing picked up on the cue, reached into Davith’s bag, extracted a silver cross, and handed it to me. In turn, I raised the crucifix and held it between Mina and me. I’d assumed the relic would have an immediate effect on the woman. My assumption turned out to be quite misguided.
“You’re missing something, Jonathan.” When I failed to reply, Mina continued. “Faith. You must believe in the crucifix and all it stands for before it can harm the likes of me.”
On cue, Davith stepped forward, a crucifix in each hand. “You cannot doubt the faith of a priest.”
“Oh, can’t I? If you’re so holy, why do I not burn? Ask yourself one thing, priest. Do you truly believe? Or does that collar serve a much more practical purpose?”
Lucy hung in Mina’s arms, as though she’d been stripped of her will. Rivulets of blood ran from the tiny bite marks at the base Lucy’s neck. Mina caught me staring.
“Care for a taste, my dear? The blood is life, after all. And Lucy’s is ravishingly delicious.”
“Begone, foul demon,” Davith shouted.
Mina laughed. “If you insist.”
Without warning, the bodies of Mina and Lucy shattered into a swarm of black bats. Leathery wings beat the air beneath them in a frenzy to escape the room. The bats dove and swirled into a tornadic shape, flying toward the windows that would serve as their means of egress.
“Close the drapes,” I shouted at Davith. Unfortunately, my command came too late. The black swarm swooped through the windows and into the darkness of night. Mina was gone, taking a wounded Lucy with her.
“Dear God in heaven.” Davith’s voice was just loud enough that I could hear his prayer.
I stood at the window, hoping to see some sign of my beloved. “No. God had nothing to do with that.”
ACT III
A REIGN OF CHAOS
TWELVE
A Most Unwelcome Decision
“Where is my daughter?” The Baron shouted loud enough to rattle the glass in his study. He then turned to me. “You. This is your doing. Had you done what I asked in the first place, my Mina would not be both ill and missing!”
I started to protest, but Van Helsing cut me off. “This is no fault of Mr. Harker.”
“You fool. I pay you to—”
Abraham approached the Baron, drawing up closer than I’d ever witnessed any man dare. “To what, exactly?”
The Baron fell silent.
“That’s what I thought.” Van Helsing took a seat in one of the high-backed chairs, removed a cigar from his pocket, and lit the end from the flames within the fireplace. “No doubt, Mina is gone. It is also safe to assume she is under a most powerful sway that cannot be broken by typical means.”
“Then what do we do?” The Baron practically begged. “I cannot lose both my daughter and my enterprise in a single day.”
Van Helsing took a deep draw from the cigar and puffed gentle rings of smoke from rounded lips. “The only thing we can do? Question the Count. That man—if that’s what one might call him—is the common factor to be considered. We are all quite aware of what Dracula is, and we’ve brought him here to be among us for a very specific purpose—one that might have a most unfortunate side effect.” The Baron made to interrupt Abraham, who shot him down with a raised hand. “Fact: Soon after the transfusion of the Count’s blood into Mina, she began to display vampiric tendencies.”
“Dear God, man,” the Baron huffed. “You’re doing nothing but regurgitating information we already know. What we need is a plan to return my daughter and begin the process of drawing that beast’s blood, before I lose the chance of a lifetime.”
“You’re wrong, Baron.” I dared denounce the man’s edict. “It’s time we held Dracula accountable for what has transpired. And, if I may be so bold, that you hold profit on the same plane as the safety of your daughter makes me—” I stopped myself before driving the first of many nails into my own metaphorical coffin.
The Baron’s gaze burned. He raised his hand, as if to strike me, but stopped himself short. “I give you leave to chase that particular shadow to the depths of Hell and back. Question the Count all you want. Turn the man’s mind upside down and inside out. Do anything you like except harm that thing’s blood. Should I find that you’ve tampered with my fountain of youth, I will have you hanged by your thumbs and every bone in your body shattered.” The Baron turned his attention to Van Helsing. “As for you, it’s time we put your creation to work. I assume you have everything ready for the extraction?”
Van Helsing cleared his throat. “Quite frankly, sir, the machine could stand a bit more testing. I’ve only begun the process of using it on living subjects. The jump from rats to humans is to be taken with care. Besides, don’t you think all attention should be placed on returning your daughter to safety?”
“The time for stalling and testing has past. I cannot be bothered to brandish a torch and comb the city streets when there’s much work to be done. I’ll pay the constabulary to start searching for Mina. They have dogs and men who are trained in the art of the manhunt. In the meantime, I want to begin the process of exsanguination first thing in the morning. I assume you understand the consequences of failing me, Abraham?”
