A meal of chicken and roasted vegetables had already been set out for us. My stomach grumbled in appreciation as we took our seats.
“You all must be hungry after your journey,” Rosalind said, appraising me, Abe, and Seward. “And for the vampires—“
She clapped her hands. Several young men and women entered, their eyes lowered to the floor.
I stiffened. Though I knew Anara fed from humans, I had no desire to see if for myself.
“I do not drink human blood,” Gabriel said sharply.
“I have animal blood for you and Szabina,” Rosalind said, gesturing for one of the young men to step towards Anara. He lowered the collar of his shirt and swallowed, keeping his gaze on the floor. “For Anara— “
“I can dine later,” Anara interjected. “I insist.”
Rosalind raised her eyebrows, surprised, but she waved the humans out of the room. I relaxed once they were gone, and as we sat down at the table, a maid entered with wine for the vampires.
“We are searching for Elizabeth Bathory and Aurel Skala,” Szabina said, as soon as the maid left the room. “They were allies of Vlad Draculesti; they desire to complete what he started and unleash their ferals on the masses. They must be stopped.”
“I agree,” Rosalind said, expelling a sigh. “I am afraid I cannot help you with Elizabeth… I have never met her and I know none of her followers. I can assist you with Skala. There was a recent rash of attacks in Berlin. By the way they were carried out, I could tell the perpetrators were newborn vampires. I had one of my children capture one and hold him in thrall. He told us that Aurel Skala is his maker. He may be in Berlin or somewhere nearby—but I do not know for certain. I do know one way of possibly drawing him here,” Rosalind continued, her eyes straying to Abe. “Abraham Van Helsing. You are the one who killed Ilona, yes?”
Abe gave her an abrupt nod. I reached out to slip my hand in his. Right after I’d killed Vlad, his sister, Ilona, had nearly ripped out my heart. Had Abe not rushed in and killed her, she would have succeeded.
“Skala loved Ilona,” Rosalind continued. “As much as that monster is capable of loving anyone. I think he turned me because I bear a passing resemblance to her," she added bitterly. "Ilona shared his predilection towards cruelty; they both enjoyed torturing humans…they reveled in it. He wanted her as his mate; but she was always devoted wholly to her brother and his plans. I heard he was devastated at the news of her death. If he knows we are harboring the one who killed her…perhaps I can draw him here.”
“How do you know he won’t suspect you? Doesn’t he know you loathe him?” Anara asked, frowning.
“We have not spoken for decades…he does not know where my loyalties lie. He will desire revenge above anything else. He is too arrogant to assume that any of his children would turn against him.”
“You’re proposing we use Abe as bait?” I asked, uneasy. I had used myself as bait twice when attempting to rescue Jonathan, but I was terrified at the thought of Abe being used in the same way.
“Yes,” Rosalind replied. “You want to kill him, yes? And many of his followers as well?”
“Of course.”
“Then it is the best way,” Rosalind said. She surveyed the others, who all nodded, including Abe. I was the only one who remained reticent.
“Surely there has to be another—“ I began.
“It is the best way, Mina,” Abe interrupted, giving me a firm look.
“Then it is decided,” Rosalind said, rising from her chair. “There is plenty of room here for all of you…and there should be time for us to prepare for our attack. I will send my children into the city to spread the rumor and alert his ferals that we have the two killers of Vlad and Ilona Draculesti here.”
“Are you certain you want him to come here, Rosalind?” Szabina asked, her brows furrowed with worry.
“I have longed for my father’s death for centuries,” Rosalind replied, her expression growing dark. “It is fitting that he should die in my home. I have loyal children of my own. They will do as I command—and that includes taking on my maker and protecting all of you.”
As we ate our meal, Rosalind told us she spent much of her human and vampire life in Germany; she had travelled all around Europe as a young vampire, but she continually returned here, to the home of her human and vampire birth. She had met Szabina during her brief tenure as a member of the Order of the Dragon, they had bonded over the shared tragedy of their forced transformations.
“Szabina kept me alive in those early days,” she said, her eyes brimming as she looked at Szabina. “I am glad to have met you.”
“And I you,” Szabina returned. “Thank you for helping us. I worried this would be too difficult for you.”
“No. I want to help. Your human companions must be quite tired,” she added, glancing at us. “They should rest.”
The estate was large enough for each of us to have our own room. As soon as I was led to my room by a maid, I left to seek out Abe.
“I wish there was another way to lure him here…one that doesn’t include using you as bait,” I said, as soon as I entered his room.
“Now do you understand how I feel when you continually place yourself in danger?” he asked, his eyebrows raised in amusement.
“Yes, but it doesn’t make it any easier,” I admitted, with a grudging smile.
“I am nervous as well,” Abe said. “But if we succeed, we will only have Bathory left to destroy. This will nearly be over.”
I nodded. I did want this all to be over. I didn’t want anyone else I loved to be put in more danger. “Abe…do not take any unnecessary risks.”
“I will not,” he promised. “Do not worry.”
“How can I not worry? I love you,” I said, a sudden ache of regret over the years we’d spent apart searing my heart. I’d foolishly ended our relationship after Father’s murder, blinded by guilt and grief.
His reply was a gentle kiss, which gradually grew more passionate. I boldly reached out to unbutton his shirt. He broke off the kiss, cupping my face, his cerulean eyes burning with desire.
“Are you quite sure?” he rasped.
“Yes,” I whispered.
Our encounter with the ferals made me realize just how tenuous our time together truly was. We’d already spent too much time apart, and I’d ached for him for days. My desire for him burned as fiercely as my love.
I continued to unbutton his shirt, placing gentle kisses along the broad plane of his chest as it was revealed to me for the first time in years. His breath hitched in his throat, and he stopped me, taking my hand and leading me to the bed.
He took his time undressing me, and lovingly kissed my exposed skin. He removed the remainder of his clothes, and we were instantly entwined, traversing each other’s bodies with our mouths and hands, like explorers returning to a land we had not visited in some time, and the process of rediscovery was exquisite.
“My heart,” he whispered, against my mouth. “My Mina. I love you so. Always.”
“I love you,” I whispered, repeating it like a litany, like our own private song, running my hands through his hair and down his strong jaw. It was freeing to say the words aloud, to no longer deny the powerful feelings that swept through me at his nearness, his touch, him. All of him.
“This may sound petty of me,” Abe asked later, as we lay entwined, still flushed in the aftermath of our lovemaking. “I confess I am not immune to male pride…” he trailed off, an embarrassed flush spreading over his face. “Did…did you and Jonathan ever…”
“What?” I asked, unable to resist teasing him. “Play cricket? Go bicycling together?”
Abe’s flush deepened. I smiled, leaning in to kiss him.
“No,” I whispered. “Jonathan and I never made love. He wanted to wait until after we were wed; he insisted on doing everything properly. You remain my only lover.”
A satisfied smile curved Abe’s lips, and I laughed. But my amusement faded as a jealous thought cr
ossed my mind.
“And you?” I asked. “Did you court anyone while we were apart?”
“No,” Abe replied. Relief chased away my jealousy, though I knew I had no right to be jealous of him when we were apart. “No one I met was quite like you, my heart. I focused on my work, my research into vampires. I do confess…I hoped my research would force us to cross paths again.”
“I truly regret those years apart,” I murmured. “I cared for and loved Jonathan…but he was my own distraction in a way. I felt much guilt after Father died. I thought…if I hadn’t been so preoccupied with our love, I would have noticed how focused he was on vampires and stopped him from going to Transylvania. I now realize how foolish that was. We could have comforted each other in our grief. ”
“We have come back to each other,” he said, reaching out to stroke my hair. “That is all that matters now.”
But as Abe drifted off to sleep, I couldn’t ignore my growing sense of unease. Now that we’d finally found our way back to each other, I feared the looming danger we faced would somehow tear us apart.
5
The Trap
When Abe and I entered the dining room the next morning, a lavish breakfast of bacon, mutton, cold meats, muffins, and fruit awaited us, and our friends were already gathered around the table. As we took our seats, Szabina studied us, a delighted smile spreading across her face. Anara stared at us as well, her eyes dancing with sly amusement, while Gabriel avoided looking at us.
I frowned, wondering why the vampires were behaving so oddly. A hot blush spread over my face as I realized that with their sense of smell, they knew Abe and I made love last night.
Abe must have realized this as well; he flushed as he took a sip of his tea. Seward was the only one oblivious to it all. He looked back and forth between us and the vampires with confusion.
“What the devil is going on?” he asked.
“We are just happy to see Mina and Abraham,” Anara replied, giving me a mischievous look.
“Did you sleep well?” Rosalind asked as she entered the dining room, giving off an aristocratic air in her emerald green gown of fine silk. She took a seat at the head of the table, her eyebrows raised in polite inquiry.
“I think Abe and Mina slept quite well,” Anara answered, a smile still twitching at her lips.
If Rosalind understood the innuendo, she did not show it, giving us a kind smile.
“I am glad. I want you all to feel welcome here. I sent my children to Berlin and out to the countryside last night,” she continued. “I will send them out again today and later tonight. I want to be certain that word gets to my father that you have taken up temporary refuge here. If he heeds the rumors and comes here, I will greet him like a long lost daughter. I will take him into the antechamber of the rear salon, where there are no windows for an easy escape. That is where we can surround and kill him. I only make one request.”
“What?” I asked.
“That I be the one to kill him,” she said, her face tight with hatred. “That I be the one to end that monster.”
“Of course,” Szabina replied. She stood and approached Rosalind, placing her hand on her shoulder in a gesture of comfort.
“It is essential that you all stay out of sight when he arrives—we may have to disguise your scents,” Rosalind said, giving Szabina a grateful nod.
“How will you know when he’s coming?” Seward asked.
“I can…feel him. In my mind,” she replied. “It is the bond the maker shares with those he has created. That is how I will know he is near.”
We finished our breakfast and Rosalind took us for a tour around the estate. As she led us in and out of the gilded rooms filled with marble floors, lush carpeting, decorous paintings, and sparkling chandeliers, she told us that the estate once belonged to her deceased human husband, a baron. He’d known that Rosalind was vampire and wanted her to change him. But she’d steadfastly refused. He’d died of old age a decade ago.
“I mourned him when he died—I still do,” Rosalind murmured. “But I never would have turned him. Not after what was done to me.”
“That was different,” Anara protested. “He wanted you to change him. If someone I cared for wanted me to turn him… it would be difficult to refuse.”
“I know,” Rosalind replied, a trace of regret flaring in her eyes. “You must understand… I am still traumatized by what Skala has done to me.”
“We understand,” Szabina interjected, giving Anara a sharp look to silence her.
Rosalind lead us down the main hall. The servants we passed immediately lowered their gazes; many of them even seemed fearful of Rosalind. I found this odd, considering how kind she was to us. She’d been nothing but polite to the servants I’d seen her interact with. When I tried to smile at a young female servant, her skin blanched and she looked away.
I thought of the humans Rosalind had brought before us the previous night with a shudder. Did she feed on them regularly—and did they have a choice in the matter? Was that the reason for the servants’ fear?
“This is the room where we will trap my father,” Rosalind said, pulling me back to the present. She had led us into an antechamber next to one of the salons. Like the other rooms of the estate, it was generously decorated, with gold framed paintings of night cityscapes that left no portion of the walls bare, plush rugs covered the floors, and a crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling. But it was miniscule and windowless; the only way out was through the narrow door. I took in the room, hoping that our trap would work, and this would be the room where Skala met his end.
Rosalind led us out to the wide expanse of grounds in the back, where Abe, Seward and I could practice fighting with our weapons. Szabina and Rosalind left, while the others remained to help us train. Though we had been trained by Szabina to kill vampires in Transylvania, it still seemed odd to receive tutelage on how to kill vampires from vampires themselves.
“Aurel Skala is two centuries old and strong. Perhaps stronger than Vlad Draculesti,” Anara informed us, when we were alone. “Let me and Gabriel take him on first. If we are somehow incapacitated—or killed—only then should you three attack him. You should attack him at the same time—aim for the heart, throat and neck. All at once.”
I watched Anara and Seward closely as we practiced fighting, noting the lingering glances they exchanged. I wasn’t as subtle as I thought; at one point Anara turned to glare at me.
“Focus on your training, Mina,” she said.
I tore my eyes away from her and turned to Gabriel, who urged me to attack him, though I was reluctant to do so. Gabriel smiled at my obvious concern for him.
“How far you’ve come, sister,” he said. “You tried to kill me when I first revealed myself to you.”
“There is no need to remind me,” I said crossly, shame running through me at the memory. When I first met Gabriel, I was under the assumption that all vampires were evil monsters, and in my fear and fury I'd attacked him. Now I knew that was far from the truth. I regretted how I’d treated him.
“It is all right,” Gabriel said gently. “You did not know a thing about me. You were right to be cautious.”
“Lunch is being served,” a female servant said from behind us, before I could reply. I turned to find the same servant I’d tried to smile at earlier standing a few yards away. Her eyes met mine, but she quickly lowered them again.
“Thank you for informing us,” I said, approaching her. “I’m Mina Murray.”
Her eyes went wide, she looked shocked at my friendly overture. It was a mistake I’d made many times during the days of my courtship and engagement to Jonathan, when I tried so desperately to abide by the rules of London society. You are not to be sociable with servants, it is most unbecoming, Jonathan’s mother Mary had said to me, when I’d attempted to engage one of her maids in conversation. I thought such rules silly and arbitrary; the housekeeper who worked for my father, Clara, was like a mother to me and my closest confidant.
&n
bsp; “You frightened her off,” Abe said with amusement, as the servant scurried way.
“Don’t you find it odd that Rosalind's servants seem a bit frightened of her?” I asked, as we made our way to our rooms to wash and change for lunch.
“You have seen how upper class humans treat their servants,” Abe said, giving me a knowing look. “It is no different with vampires.”
I nodded, though I still felt doubtful. I washed and changed into one of my better traveling dresses—an afternoon dress of deep crimson, though nothing I had was smart enough to match the grandeur of Rosalind's estate.
A meal of roasted mutton and potatoes paired with several fruit dishes had been set out for me, Abe, and Seward in the dining room. When we entered, I noticed that Rosalind and our vampire companions stood in the corner, speaking quietly, their expressions grim.
“What is it?” I asked, worried.
“We have not heard any response from Skala…or any hint that he is near,” Rosalind replied.
My appetite vanished. I looked at Abe, whose shoulders sank with chagrin at the news. This was what I’d feared…that Skala wasn’t anywhere near Berlin. He could be anywhere in Europe—or the world—wreaking havoc and recruiting new followers, killing scores of innocent humans.
“There is no need to despair,” Szabina said, taking in our worried faces. “If there is no news by the end of the day—Rosalind has agreed to help us search for him. She knows other followers of his.”
I nodded, but I didn’t feel reassured. We were still where we had started, with no information as to Skala’s—or Bathory’s—whereabouts. I made myself eat as much as I could and excused myself while Abe and Seward were still eating. Perhaps I could peruse our journals and find some useful kernel of information, though I had already pored over them multiple times.
“Will you take a walk with me, Mina?” Szabina asked, when I stood up to leave.
I nodded, wondering what she wanted to discuss. Together, we stepped out of the dining room. She linked my arm with hers as we headed down the hallway to the back doors of the estate.
The Mina Murray Series Bundle, A Dracula Retelling: Books 1-3 Page 36