The doorbell rang as Abe joined us. We turned towards the doorway as Clara led Anara into the drawing room.
We froze at the sight of her, and my heart leapt into my throat in nervous anticipation.
We hadn’t seen her or Seward since we left Transylvania. Anara had taken Seward with her to Budapest as he underwent the Change; our letters and wires to her inquiring about his progress had gone unanswered. Days ago, she had written to me and Abe, informing us that she was now in London with Seward, but she needed more time alone with him.
Now, we all studied her anxiously as Clara left us alone. Anara smiled, her entire face luminescent with joy.
“Jack is awake and well. He would like to see you all.”
When we arrived at Seward’s home, we found him in his drawing room, seated in an armchair by the unlit fireplace.
I blinked at him in astonishment. The last time I was in a room with him…he had been lifeless. Though his skin was paler than before, his brown eyes brighter…he looked the same. It was like looking at a living ghost.
Seward gave us a tentative smile as we stood in stunned silence, taking him in.
“Christ,” Seward finally said, his smile fading. “Do I look that bloody awful?”
“Jack,” Abe breathed. He had gone pale at the sight of Seward, but once he spoke, the color returned to his face. It was as if he didn’t believe his friend was real until he’d spoken.
Seward beamed, getting to his feet, and Abe moved forward. They clasped hands; Abe looked down at their joined hands and winced.
“Ah. The cold hands,” Seward muttered, looking down at his hand, before giving Abe an apologetic look. He dropped his hand back to his side. “I’m still not quite used to it.”
“How do you feel?” I asked.
“Honestly? Bloody fantastic,” he replied, with a wide grin. “I was a bit surprised to wake up. Once Bathory had her fangs in my throat…I surmised it was over for Jack Seward. Anara gave me a choice…I chose life, even if it is as vampire. Truly, Mina…you and Jonathan should have let yourself turn vampire. There are hundreds of colors and smells I didn’t know existed.”
He sounded like the Jack Seward I’d come to know, and I smiled. I glanced back at Anara, who stood behind us. She was beaming, her eyes filled with love as she watched him.
Seward informed us that he intended to work with the Order alongside Anara; Scotland Yard never appreciated his efforts, and he could hardly go back to work as a vampire, the other detectives would grow suspicious of him.
We spent the remainder of the afternoon with Seward and Anara, reminiscing over our adventures together, and sharing our plans for the future.
Abe and I planned to wed in the fall in Amsterdam; it would be a simple wedding with Clara and our friends, both human and vampire. We were going to travel for some time before he took a teaching post; his male pride would not allow him to live off the generous inheritance Father had left me, though as my husband he was more than entitled to it, and it was likely what Father would have wanted. But I wasn’t going to argue the point; I knew his independence was as important to him as mine was to me. Together, we wanted to complete my father’s biological research before working on our own research; we would publish our findings together.
We spoke of the friends we’d lost; we planned to have a small memorial service for them all in the upcoming weeks. With the help of several Order members, we had brought Arthur and Lucy’s bodies back to England for burial. I had sent an anonymous note to the newspaper about Arthur’s bravery during the attack on the Demeter; I wanted some way to tell the world about his sacrifice, keeping the silent promise I’d made to him when we buried him on a beach in Holland weeks ago.
For Szabina, I found a small garden in the city, where I planted lilies of the valley in her memory. I would plant a larger garden for her on the grounds of my father’s home in Matford.
Evening had fallen by the time we bid farewell to Anara and Seward. We took a cab back to Highgate. As our cab meandered through the bustling streets, I realized I felt no sense of foreboding for the first time in weeks. It was an odd feeling, a wonderful feeling, one which I hoped to become accustomed to.
When we arrived back at home, Clara informed me I had a visitor who wished to see me alone in the drawing room. We gave her curious looks, but she merely ushered me along.
I froze when I entered the drawing room.
My visitor was Jonathan. He stood next to the window, gazing out at the street. He turned when I entered. I surveyed his familiar face; the hazel eyes and warm smile.
Without a word, we both stepped forward to embrace each other. There was none of the passion I felt when Abe was near; only the comforting warmth of friendship, and we stood silently in each other’s arms for several moments.
“I heard what happened…Clara gave me an overview while you were out. I’ve been keeping track of the stories in the newspaper; my vampire guards told me what they knew. I do confess…I was worried when I read about the ‘Blood Plague.’ But somehow I knew you and your friends would succeed, no matter how grave the odds,” he said, when we pulled apart. “I heard about your engagement. Clara could hardly contain herself, she was so excited.”
I nodded, lowering my gaze. I had planned to eventually write Jonathan to tell him of my engagement; I was unsure of how he would react.
“Mina.”
I looked up. He was looking at me with a bittersweet smile.
“I am happy for you. Truly. After all you have been through…you deserve happiness. And I owe you my life, after all. I thought I could at least call on you to offer my congratulations…for everything.”
“Thank you,” I said, beaming. I should have known that Jonathan would bear me no ill will about my engagement to Abe; he’d been the one to detect my feelings for Abe when I was still in denial about them myself. But it was still relieving to hear him say the words.
Clara brought us tea while we talked. Jonathan told me his vampire guards had left the same week Bathory was killed; he thought his guards were unnecessary, Vlad’s remaining followers had been focused on me, not him.
He was now in the process of founding a solo law practice, and he was courting a woman his mother didn’t approve of, though she was a society woman from a good family who spent her wealth helping the poor. I laughed when he told me this; I thought Mary’s dislike had been focused on me, it seemed she didn’t like anyone whom Jonathan courted.
When it was time for him to leave, he stood, reaching out to grip my hand.
“It was lovely seeing you, Mina. I’m sure you are off to some other adventure. Will you write?”
“Of course.”
After I walked Jonathan to the door, I found Abe in the study. He was seated by the window, pretending to read a book on geography.
“That book is upside down,” I teasingly pointed out, as I entered the room.
“Ah,” he said, flushing with embarrassment. He set the book down, not looking at me. “I take it Jonathan is well?”
“He is well. Courting a woman whom he cares for, and genuinely happy for us. You do a poor job of hiding your jealousy, Doctor Van Helsing.”
Abe’s flush deepened as he stood, and I drew him close, leaning in to press my lips against his in a gentle kiss.
“Where shall we go next, my heart?” Abe asked, when we pulled apart.
I thought for a moment, and then smiled.
“Everywhere,” I replied.
Now that the vampire threat in Europe had been eliminated, the future once again seemed alight with possibility. I recalled the words my father had written to me in his letter, and felt a meld of hope paired with love. I silently vowed to abide by his words, which now rang through my ears.
I would urge you to focus on the light in the darkness, on the one thing that makes humanity worth fighting for: love.
THE END
of
REALM OF NIGHT
A Message from the Author
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Prequel Short Stories
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Afterword
I hope you enjoyed THE BEAST OF LONDON, FORTRESS OF BLOOD, and REALM OF NIGHT.
Where to begin? I’ve been a fan of Bram Stoker’s Dracula for as long as I can remember. I love all of the characters, but Mina really stuck with me. About seven years ago, I began to think . . . what if Dracula was told from Mina’s point of view? What if there’s a whole history to her that we don’t know anything about? I reread the book and began researching the Victorian era.
I immediately knew that my version of Mina would be a woman ahead of her time, with a love of science and a dislike of the stringent society rules. Giving her a love of science made Abraham Van Helsing a natural love interest, who you may have noticed I aged down to about thirty. Once I had my fierce, intelligent and brave heroine, the story fell into place around her.
My version of Abraham Van Helsing is relatively close to Stoker’s creation. I aged him down and gave him a unique backstory, but he is still the intelligent doctor we first met in Stoker’s version. Jonathan Harker retains many of the same traits; a young solicitor who finds himself captured by the sinister Dracula. I made John ‘Jack’ Seward an inspector at Scotland Yard instead of a psychiatrist; Van Helsing has the doctor role in my book, and I needed a character who was already investigating the mysterious murders in London. Arthur Holmwood and Lucy Westenra remain similar as well (though in an early version I did consider having Lucy play a more major role in the book, but alas, she had to be sacrificed to the story gods.)
I have a bit of a dark fascination with Jack the Ripper, so I knew I’d tie him in with some of the events of the book, even if it was only loosely. Historically, the Ripper murders had ceased by the time this book takes place, the spring / summer of 1890.
The captain’s diary aboard the Demeter is a fascinating section of Stoker’s novel, so I wanted to include a reference to it. Realistically, at the time Mina and her allies could have taken the train from Charing Cross across the Channel to get to the continent, but it was too perfect of an opportunity to not reference this iconic ship.
Another note about travel: Stoker’s novel itself was one of my source material for Mina’s travels. Initially, I thought it would take forever for someone to get from point A to point B in 1890. But as I researched, I discovered that train travel was a (relatively) speedy and efficient form of getting around Europe at the time. Believe it or not, a very early draft had Mina and her allies traveling everywhere on horseback. That would have taken forever, and vampires would have indeed taken over the human world.
The Draculesti family and the Bathory families are historical noble families, though I’ve obviously taken huge historical license. The Skalas, however, are completely my own invention.
World building was important to me; I wanted the reader to feel like they’d stepped into the 1890s. As I am certainly not a historian, I did a heavy amount of research into the era. I read books, watched documentaries, listened to podcasts . . . anything I could to help immerse me in the world of Victorian era Europe. It was important to me to set this retelling in Victorian Europe. To me, Stoker’s classic is very much a product of its time. In a way, the novel is an exploration of anxiety towards all the change that was occurring: technological change, advances in science (Darwin’s book had been released), and so on. While I’m sure I was off with certain things, and I took license (for example, Mina traveling alone with several men she wasn’t married nor related to would get her a lot more side eye and suspicion), I think I got pretty close. Helpful books I read during my research include How to Be A Victorian by Ruth Goodman and A Visitor’s Guide to Victorian England by Michelle Higgs.
It was truly a thrill to retell Stoker’s classic from Mina’s point of view, and I hope you enjoyed the series.
I’d like to take a moment to thank my editors, Amy and Monique Fisher, and my proofreader Alexa. Thanks to the wonderful cover designers at Damonza and Kerry Hynds for designing my stunningly beautiful covers.
Thanks to my husband, for being my biggest cheerleader during my publishing journey, and who nearly fell off the bed (literally) with excitement when I pitched him the idea for this book series a few years ago.
And last but not least, I’d like to thank you, dear reader, for picking up this series bundle and plunging into Mina’s world for a few hours. Thanks for taking this journey with me.
- L.G.
Los Angeles, CA
2017
About the Author
L.D. Goffigan writes paranormal fantasy and thriller novels. She studied film and dramatic writing at New York University. She grew up on the East Coast but now resides in a large city by the sea on the West Coast. When not writing, she enjoys traveling and dreaming of new fantastical tales to tell.
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Also by L.D. Goffigan
SHADOW DESCENDANT
THE BEAST OF LONDON
FORTRESS OF BLOOD
REALM OF NIGHT
The Mina Murray Series Bundle, A Dracula Retelling: Books 1-3 Page 51