Dracula Theory, page 17
Abraham knocked an arrow onto a hand crossbow. “I have a reputation to uphold. To your point, hand me the proper weapon, and I become a perfect fighter. Follow me.”
Van Helsing led us into his study, where he pulled a bookcase aside to reveal a hidden passageway. “Shall we?”
Davith turned to me for guidance—the irony of the gesture subtle, but clear. I shrugged and said, “What do we have to lose?”
“That’s precisely what I’m afraid of.”
Instead of continuing the discussion, I followed Abraham into the wall. On the other side of the case lay a tunnel. Van Helsing had lit an oil lamp that cast just enough light to keep us from being consumed by absolute darkness. Once Davith had crossed the threshold into the secret side of the manse, Abraham pulled the bookcase back to seal us away.
“Come.” Van Helsing whispered before crouching and marching off. I followed close behind, with Davith near enough to me that I could feel his breathing on the back of my neck.
“Where does this lead?” I asked in hushed tones. Just as I posed the question, the tunnel ended at a door. Van Helsing opened the door and gestured for us to enter. We crammed inside a room the size of a small closet.
“What is this?” Davith asked. “Are we going to wait out the apocalypse inside this … what do you call it?”
“An elevator.” With a great grin, Van Helsing pulled a lever, and the room began to move.
Davith slammed his hands against the walls for stability. “What’s happening?”
“We’re going up.”
“Fascinating,” I whispered. “This box is carrying us upward. How does it work?”
“Hydraulics,” Van Helsing said with pride.
“And where is this elevator taking us?” I asked.
“To a location in the manse not accessible by stair. From there, we will have a bird’s eye view of everything happening around us.”
I picked up on Van Helsing's train of thought. “Where we can fire down on the vampires with impunity.”
“Bingo.” Van Helsing opened the door to reveal we’d reached our destination—another passage. We followed him out of the elevator, where he led us through the narrow hall to another door, this time one with a locking mechanism. Abraham withdrew a key from his pocket and unlocked the bolt. The second the door swung open, a blast of chilled, nighttime air met the exposed flesh of my face.
“What is this?” Davith asked.
“The best view in London … with the added benefit of giving us the perfect vantage from which to kill vampires.”
We entered the spire and Van Helsing closed the door. The windows were uncovered, allowing us to train our weapons on anything moving below. Or, in our case, above. In the darkened sky, bats swooped and flitted. It was all-too-obvious these bats were of the vampiric sort.
“Would you please tell me how the three of us are to take out, what, hundreds of vampires? Correct me if I’m wrong, but we don’t have the firepower for such a cause.” Davith’s voice was thick with fear.
It was my turn to ease the priest’s nerves. “We are only looking to kill one vampire. If you spot Dracula, do not hesitate to rain down holy hell upon him.”
Davith nodded. “That I can do.”
We each selected a window to serve as our station. Without a word, we watched. Bats continued to fill the moonlit sky like sentient shadows. The one flaw in Van Helsing’s plan was that Dracula could easily be among the hundreds of leather darts piercing the fabric of the sky. There’d be no way in hell to pick him out of the airborne crowd. Our only hope was to see him on the ground.
I had other plans, a better idea that wouldn’t have us dangerously vulnerable in the cold evening air. I raised my crossbow, took aim at a bat flying toward the spire, and shot. The arrow pierced the chest of the creature, sending it spiraling toward the ground.
“What in the name of idiocy did you do that for?”
It was my turn to school the drunken master. “That was our best chance at drawing Dracula to us. He’ll sense one of his kind has fallen and want to know why. We should see him appear shortly.”
Unfortunately, my gambit had one tragic flaw. Instead of the remaining bats ignoring their fallen brethren, they opted to take the murder quite personally and converge on us. One by one the bats transformed back into their vampiric counterparts and landed on the roof around us. We were surrounded by death, its glowing scarlet eyes glaring at us with hungry intention.
“Assist us, O Lord our God; and defend us evermore by the might of Thy holy Cross, in whose honor Thou makest us to rejoice. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.”
Van Helsing chuckled. “Prayers aren’t necessary, priest. So long as these demons remain uninvited, they cannot enter my home.”
Nerves and cold got the best of my hands, causing nearly apoplectic shaking from fingers to shoulders. “Does that protection include this wide-open spire?” I received no answer for my question. “Your silence does not inspire confidence, vampire hunter.”
“We are safe, of that I swear.” Van Helsing raised his crossbow to set the sights on a nearby vampire. “On the off-chance I am mistaken, however, keep your weapons at the ready.”
One of the male vampires stepped into a glowing beam of moonlight. I couldn’t believe what I saw.
“Constantin?”
The man who’d served me food and drink with kindness.
“Jonathan Harker. Such a pity for you to be involved with this situation. I respected you in Romania, considered you an ally. It is most unfortunate that assumption has been unfounded.” Constantin spat at Van Helsing. “Where is he, subhuman filth?”
“Stay back, or I’ll send this arrow through your eye and into that rotten brain of yours.”
Constantin laughed. “I see you’re shaking. Is that fear or too much drink?” The vampire took a great sniff of the air. “Whiskey? Your taste is cheap.” Van Helsing unleashed an arrow, which Constantin snatched out of the air as if it were a ball lobbed cautiously his way. He snapped the projectile in half. “Your aim is poor. I bet your blood is sweet.”
“Constantin,” I called out. “Please. We only want this to end.”
“Then you shouldn’t have started it.” At this point, the vampire was upon us, within reach. “I’ll ask you one final time. Where is he?”
“He who?” Davith asked.
Constantin bared his fangs and narrowed his eyes. “Don’t toy with me, priest. You know precisely who we are looking for.”
As one, every vampire on the roof shouted, “Dracula!”
The sound echoed over the streets of London.
I lowered my crossbow. “He escaped. I assumed he’d have been among your number.”
Constantin’s fangs retreated slightly. “Jonathan, do not take me for a fool. Had the Count returned to us, why would we be here, ready to drain you and your friends of life?”
“I swear to you, Dracula escaped his confines and disappeared. We have no idea where he is. For all we know, he could be on his way back to Romania. We only want to end this nightmare and return our lives to normal.”
Constantin smiled. “Ah, but there’s the rub. Now that you’ve looked deep into the abyss, what has become of normal? Prior to your little jaunt to our town, you assumed evil to be nothing more than a parable in a spot of fiction or a crazed man locked away for committing a heinous crime. Your truth is somewhat darker for knowing our kind. You have deconstructed reality and pieced it back together in a nightmarish fashion. From that, there is no return. Besides, and you may correct me if I am wrong, your true love is one of us now.”
“What do you know of that?” I asked, ready to train my weapon on the man.
“I know Mina Murray has no regrets accepting Dracula’s kiss.”
“Is that what you call it?” Van Helsing dared ask.
Another vampire stepped forward, the choir director. “We call it salvation. Many of us were damned to poverty, starvation, or disease. Our expected life span had dwindled to a mere twenty years. The inhabitants of our village were facing extinction, and we had nowhere to turn. It wasn’t until Dracula offered us his gift that we were given a new lease on life. The man saved us all, and we’ve remained hidden away from the rest of society for centuries. That is, until you came along. Now our messiah has vanished, and our very lives are in jeopardy.”
A third vampire, a female, stepped forward. “And unless you return the Count to us, it will be your lives in danger.”
“We’ve already told you, he’s gone. He escaped his—”
Constantin growled. “His what?”
I swallowed hard against a rising lump in my throat. “His cage.”
Every vampire within earshot tensed, as if they were ready to leap into battle.
Van Helsing lowered his weapon. “As much as it pains me to say this, I understand your vitriol, however misplaced it may be.”
Constantin’s crimson eyes focused on Abraham. “Explain yourself.”
“Mr. Harker had nothing to do with Dracula’s confinement. In fact, he fought against it. If you want to vent your rage at someone…” Abraham fell silent for a brief moment. “The Baron Murray is the man you want. This was all his doing. He devised to profit from the Count’s blood, by selling it as a fountain of youth.”
The choir director looked to Van Helsing. “And where did he get such a foolish notion?”
Van Helsing opened his mouth to speak. I assumed a confession was forthcoming, so I cut him off, before he could condemn himself to a premature end of life. “It was all his own idea. He called it his Dracula Theory. The Baron had been developing the concept for years. It was only when Mina fell ill that he set the plan in motion.”
Constantin raised his right hand and snapped his fingers. One by one, the vampires returned to their chiropteran form. Constantin remained in his human shape long enough to give us one final warning. “You best be speaking the truth, Jonathan Harker. If we find you have lied to us, you will endure endless suffering.”
And with that, Constantin, and the remaining vampires, transformed and flew off.
We trained our weapons on the flitting and fluttering beasts until the last leathery wing was out of sight.
“Should we warn the Baron?” Davith whispered.
Neither Van Helsing nor I answered.
“Right, then. The man is on his own.” Davith replied to himself. “And what do you suggest we do now? Continue searching for Dracula? Are we still planning on ending his life?”
I was still rendered speechless. We’d only just avoided being ripped asunder by a gang of vampires, via a grievous lie that brought me no guilt or shame. My moral compass had shattered since I’d become involved with Van Helsing’s Dracula Theory. Half of me wanted to shove the man out of the spire and watch him plummet to his death. Fortunately, the more humane side of me won out, and I refrained.
“Jonathan, it pains me to remind you our only chance of saving Mina might be in killing Dracula. If your dear friend Constantin finds him first, Mina is forever lost.”
“What do you recommend we do? It’s not like we have a signal we can send up into the night sky to call the Count forward. He’s gone, and chances are his children will find him well before us. It’s over.”
“No,” Van Helsing’s voice was soft, contemplative.
“What did you say?” I prompted.
“It’s not over. There might be another way.”
Van Helsing moved to the door leading back into the house and gestured for us to follow. Once inside, he whispered, “I have an idea.”
My curiosity had been piqued.
Abraham went silent as he led us back through the maze and into his office. With the secret door closed, he took a seat behind his desk, kicked his legs up, opened a nondescript bottle of alcohol and swallowed a mouthful. After a short coughing fit, Van Helsing slammed the bottle down, grinned up at me, and said, “Dracula Theory.”
“You mean that which got us into this kettle of boiling water in the first place?” Davith responded.
“No. I mean the solution to our problem.”
Frustration got the best of me and I kicked my foot against a leg of the heavy wooden desk. A disheveled stack of papers toppled over, fluttering to the floor. “Explain yourself before the heel of my shoe finds itself embedded in your skull.”
“I’m talking about the Dracula Theory, the same thing we did with Mina, only on a much smaller scale.” Van Helsing leaned forward, his elbows on his desk. “What major assumption can be made of our first attempt with the theory?”
“That it failed,” I nearly shouted.
“Ah, but you are mistaken. The Dracula Theory was quite successful—only too much so. Once Mina was given Dracula’s blood, not only was she healed of the mysterious malady consuming her, she transformed into one of the damned creatures. Because of this, the Count was able to control her. Logic would then dictate that Dracula could read Mina’s mind, know her thoughts. If that were the case, wouldn’t it be safe to assume the opposite might be true?” Van Helsing dropped his feet to the floor with a heavy thud. “It might also be safe to conclude that connection would allow her to—”
Davith interrupted Abraham. “Know where Dracula is.”
“Exactly, my friend. Because of the shared blood-bond, giver and recipient are mutually entwined. That means—”
It was my turn to interrupt. “Dracula can read Mina’s mind, and vice versa.”
Davith stopped me from continuing. “But how can you be so certain that biological street is, in fact, two ways? What if the Count is able to mask his mind, ensuring whoever he feeds will be blocked from knowing too much about what had happened?”
“Supposition,” Van Helsing barked. “We cannot know what happens upon making the connection. However…” A light flickered on behind Van Helsing’s eyes. “I believe there is a way to kill two birds with one theory.”
“We’re all ears,” Davith chimed in.
Abraham looked to me, his eyes revealing a narrow focus. “I want to inject you with Dracula’s blood. Not enough to shift you from man to beast but enough to make the connection. Because Dracula’s blood is so powerful, it should serve as a sort of homing device for its master.”
The words sank in, giving me cause to back away from Van Helsing’s desk, shaking my head. “Are you mad? No. Truthfully. Have you lost your bloody mind? You saw what that trick of biology did to Mina, and now you want to inflict the same death sentence on me?”
Van Helsing rifled through a stack of books, and withdrew a single, leather-bound volume. He flipped through the pages and, once he found his target, slammed the tome onto the desk and pointed at the page. “This.”
I glanced at the open book, but couldn’t make heads or tails of what I saw. “Care to explain your lunacy?”
Van Helsing nodded quickly. “This is the primary formula I used to create what I’d assumed to be the perfect dosage of vampire blood for my Dracula Theory. Clearly, I was wrong. If you have even a rudimentary understanding of the biological and chemical arts, you will instantly see the flaw in my idea.”
Both Davith and I stared long and hard at the image, not a thing coming to mind.
I shrugged.
Van Helsing slammed the book closed. “It’s in the ratio. If we pull back on the vampiric blood percentage, the likelihood of the connection being both ways lessens exponentially. If you’re not transformed into one of them, he shouldn’t be able to lock onto your thoughts. You, on the other should, should be capable of locating Dracula’s whereabouts. In theory.”
I grabbed the book from Abraham. “So you’re saying you can change a simple ratio, and your Theory will work as expected?”
“What I’m saying is with the slightest change, whomever is injected should be able to pinpoint Dracula, but the bond won’t be strong enough for the Count to do the same.”
“That makes absolutely no sense. How can you be so certain of this claim?” I challenged.
Van Helsing shrugged. “Does any of this smack of logic? Vampires? Humans transmogrifying into bats? Not one bit. Quite honestly, I cannot be certain of anything or anyone at the moment. However, this is the best I can do, given the circumstances and the time. Think of it this way: This blood works as a beacon, if you will. Once it has been injected into a living host, it should react as if given new life. Considering the nature of the blood, the cells should call out for their original host. Again, in theory. As for assurances? I have none to offer. What I can tell you is that I’ve spent years developing the very idea that saved Mina from the clutches of death, and I believe it is our best chance to locate Dracula. Will it work? I cannot say. I shall, however, state with absolute certainty that doing nothing will result in complete failure. Remember, should we wait too long our window of opportunity will have closed.” Abraham shot out his hand to me. “So? Are you interested in helping to prove my Dracula Theory is not an abject failure?”
I nodded. “If you’re sure this will work.”
Van Helsing shook his head with a laugh. “I am not in the business of repeating myself. We’re swimming in uncharted water now. If we do nothing, who knows how many more people could die?”
Davith looked to me, his eyes filled with thoughtful consideration. He wrapped an arm around my shoulders and said, “This decision is yours to make, my friend.”
I’d never considered myself a hero. Even when victorious in the court, any pride I had was focused on the client. Ego was not in my makeup. And yet, here I was. The thought of not only saving Mina but protecting scores of Londoners from certain death held a certain level of appeal. It was simultaneously invigorating and revolting. Even so, I couldn’t refuse. One way or another, I had to do everything possible to save my truest love.
I offered a reluctant nod. “Do whatever you must.”
Van Helsing stood from his desk. “Excellent. We must head back down to the laboratory. The Vampirica awaits.”
ACT IV
BLOOD BOND
SIXTEEN
