“Karian demanded a cure for almost a year before we came here,” David explained. “That was one reason we decided to leave.”
“I have not looked into the cure in centuries,” Voivode admitted. “I am not certain that I could help you.”
“Is the story about you and the cure true?” Van Helsing asked.
“It is,” Voivode said. “I did find a cure in 1385 before the Tepish transmutated me. After that time, I tried to do it again, but some part of the solution eluded me. I could never recreate it.”
“Perhaps you can tell me what you remember,” Van Helsing encouraged, “and between the two of us, we can figure out what we need. Surely between the creator of the Fempiror and the creator of the Mutation, we can fix this. I’m not asking you to do it alone. I want to work together on it. Maybe we can find it again, or at least, find a way to reverse this first phase of the Mutation process.”
Voivode dropped his head and shook it. “I don’t know what I’m missing,” he said. “How can I help you?”
“One thing I know about the Fempiror brain,” Van Helsing said, “is that it works as well as any human brain and maybe even better. Everything you knew is still up there, and if you tell me what you remember, and we help each other, maybe having a fellow scientist at your side will help you to remember more.”
He paused a moment to check Voivode’s reaction, and all he saw was uncertainty.
“Voivode, this is something that I have to do whether you help me on it or not,” Van Helsing said. “Karian wanted you to do it by yourself, but in this case, I am doing it by myself, but I’d sure love to have you at my side. You’ve got a lot of knowledge and wisdom up there from years before my time, so regardless of whether you remember the specifics, you still know your alchemy. Alone, I might be able to do this. Together, I’m certain we can save this woman. Don’t do it for me. Do it for her.”
“Everything about it was in Transylvania,” Voivode said. “All my notes. Measurements. Ingredients. Everything.”
“Is it possible to retrieve it?” Van Helsing asked. David shook his head.
“The castle wing containing most of that collapsed last year,” David explained. “The rest went up when we were forced to destroy the castle. There is nothing left but what is next door, and it looks like we lost that as well.”
“That’s fine,” Van Helsing said. “We start together using what you do recall. Please.”
Voivode stared at him for a long moment before he finally nodded. “For the sake of the young woman, I agree,” Voivode said. “But do not place all your hopes in this. As one who has experienced more disappointment than I care to iterate, I can tell you that we may well fail at this.”
“I refuse to fail,” Van Helsing said. “We will meet with everyone in the morning.”
* * * * * * * * * *
Vladimir walked into his home and with an angry yell, he threw his sword across the room, sticking it into a wall.
“Why?” he yelled. “Why wasn’t he there? Where else could he be?”
“We have someone watching the house for when they return,” Lorinkis assured him, “but what does it matter? We’re well established here, and there is no way that David will get to you. As for Voivode, he is certainly a frail old man. Neither pose a threat to our work.”
“You don’t understand,” Vladimir said. “Miraslav Draculya is a man I’ve desired to kill for many years. He’s the reason I built a fortress in Transylvania. People have tried to find him for the cure, but I don’t care about that. I’m happy as a Fempiror. I just want to kill him before natural causes can do it for me.”
“As old as he is, it would seem that life will take him quite naturally very soon,” Lorinkis said.
“Of all the things I’ve done in my life,” Vladimir said, “this is one thing I’ve never accomplished. Plans change sometimes. Life goes on. Most of the time, you can alter your trajectory to reach your goal, but there is only one way to kill a man.
“There was a time I thought he was dead, and I put it aside as something I could never do. But now that I know he is alive, I have to find him.”
“While I can certainly appreciate this desire, my lord,” Lorinkis said carefully, “we have many things in motion at this time in London. We cannot afford to abandon all of this for a vain quest.”
“This is not a vain quest,” Vladimir threatened. “This is a life’s work. Once I find him, it will be quick. Once it is done, I can move on.”
“When our watch at the house sees him return, they will report, and we can pursue,” Lorinkis said.
Vladimir walked to his sword and pulled it from the wall. He sat in a chair and rested his old sword on his lap. He ran his fingers over the scratched out Felletterusk word for Rastem that had been engraved upon the blade.
“I want to know the instant he is there, day or night,” Vladimir said. “I want no other task undertaken until this is complete, do you understand me?”
“Of course, my lord,” Lorinkis said. “I will inform you immediately.”
Lorinkis left him alone with his thoughts in the wake of this failure. He considered that he might have been a bit harsh with his oldest friend and even partner following the disaster in Transylvania, but this mission was older than everything in London. It needed to be completed to the detriment of everything else.
CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
The next morning, Van Helsing had called together the assembly of Mina, the four men he had come to know as friends over the recent weeks along with David and Voivode in order to discuss what was to come next for them. Prior to the meeting, Voivode had found his way to Jonathan.
“It is good to see you again, Mr. Harker,” Voivode said, shaking his hand. “I am very relieved to see that you were able to escape the castle unharmed.”
“I want to thank you and David for putting up with me while I was there,” Jonathan said. “I also want to formally apologize for my actions. I don’t know what came over me.”
“I would also like to apologize for not informing you what we were going through,” Voivode said. “Had we let you know of the circumstances of your stay, you might not have reacted the way you did.”
“In retrospect, it would have been good to take you into our confidence,” David said. “I thought telling you would be more dangerous, but I seem to be wrong about a lot of things lately.”
“In all honesty, gentlemen,” Jonathan said, “had you told me everything, I probably would not have believed you. I don’t believe there was any way for it to have ended well except by my accepting that what you did was for the best.”
“I also want to thank you, Mr. Taylor,” Mina said, “for being with me that day at the market. I didn’t know who you were, but part of me said it was all right to trust you.”
“I also want to thank you,” Jonathan said.
“And I suppose I do as well,” Van Helsing said, much to David’s surprise. “No one else considered the market to be a danger to her, but you did. You don’t even know her, and yet, you risked your life during the day to stay close to her.”
“I’ve always done my best to adhere to the Rastem code, for better or worse,” David explained, “and one of those tenets is to prevent the transmutation of humans. Karian directly threatened her. I was obliged to her protection.”
“Yes, and to your credit, you did arrive at the asylum very quickly,” Van Helsing said. “I wish we’d all been quicker.”
“So do I,” David said.
Little by little, everyone took their seats, and Van Helsing addressed them.
“My friends, we come together again with a new problem. We were able to deal with the perpetrator of Lucy Westenra’s transmutation with the assistance of David Taylor, but before he could be dispatched, he set himself upon Mina and now she faces the same fate as Lucy. The Mutation change occurs in three phases: the first lasts about ten days over which the victim’s blood slowly dissipates; the second is two to three days when the victim sleeps as if th
ey are dead; and the final phase is where the victim is a full Mutation.
“I have always theorized that we could reverse the transformation during the first phase, but with everything I’ve done, I’ve not found the right solution of ingredients. You’ve all had the opportunity to meet Voivode Miraslav Draculya, who not only created the original Fempiror serum, but managed to cure it before his laboratory was destroyed. Since then, the cure has eluded us all. Voivode, I understand the proportions of the ingredients were in your notes at the castle and they’re gone, but have you been able to recall the basic ingredients to give us a start?”
“What I remember of the ingredients,” Voivode said, “include citrus juice, such as you might find in a lemon, lime, or orange.”
“Citrus?” Van Helsing asked. “I always thought citrus was detrimental to us.”
“Not only that, but garlic was also an ingredient,” Voivode continued.
Van Helsing acknowledged this with a “hm” as his eyes glazed over while he considered the implications of this. Catching the professor deep in thought, Voivode continued.
“It is an odd thing, isn’t it? The things that hurt us the most are the ones that can heal us. In fact, I recall that contact with these items can produce limited healing properties, but we always revert back.”
“That is similar to what a blood transfusion does for the Mutation change,” Van Helsing said. “It produces a limited result to buy more time, but in the end, the serum always wins.”
“In addition, I stirred the mixture with a wooden spoon made of white oak,” Voivode said.
“What is significant about white oak?” Van Helsing asked. “I’ve not run across that before.”
“I’m not sure what it is about the white oak,” Voivode explained, “but something about the wood causes that same sort of burning sensation that you get when you deal with garlic and citrus. Using it as a stirrer infused the solution with the properties of the wood.”
Voivode paused and looked around at everyone nervously. Van Helsing spoke up to ask, “Was there any more than that?”
“I want to say there is,” Voivode shrugged, “but I recall those items specifically because of their contradictory effects on us as well as being somewhat hard to come by.”
“Garlic and lemons are easy enough,” Van Helsing said, “but I don’t know about this white oak spoon. I’ll send a telegram to the professor of botany in Amsterdam to see what he can tell me about it.
“Beyond this, our other problem locally is the existence of an old adversary of ours by the name of Vladimir. He is a Fempiror, rather than a Mutation, and while he is not fond of either me or David, he has always been eager to kill Voivode. When I worked with the Tepish, Vladimir went from a high ranking official to the leader of the Order. He was one of the Tepish that pushed for the creation of the Mutation, and he was the Tepish who changed me. He is intelligent, ruthless, and determined. We know he is out there trying to find us, so I would also like to go somewhere where I keep most of my work as well as away from most of humanity which will enable us to work on reversing Mina’s condition until the last moment.
“I hesitate to bring this to my home town, but that’s probably our best option. I currently live in Muiden in the Netherlands but do a lot of work in an old castle called Muiderslot which is in the mouth of the river Vecht about fifteen kilometers southeast of Amsterdam. We can get there fairly quickly. I can also say that it is safe for the moment.”
“Well, we can’t go home,” David said. “If I can be of any assistance, I am at your disposal.”
“I would be happy to assist you in your lab,” Voivode said. “I do not know how useful I will be at my age, but to be surrounded by a laboratory again would certainly make my old heart happy.”
“I’m afraid my help will be limited to what we can do in London,” Stoker said. “I can help locally, but I’ve been away from the Lyceum for almost too long as it is. Going abroad at this time is out of the question.”
“I will give whatever assistance I can give whether that be medical, scientific, or simply brute strength,” Seward said. “I started this journey with you, Dr. Van Helsing. I will see it through to the end.”
“I don’t have any training in anything you need, I fear,” Arthur said, “but I will go all the same for the brute strength factor at least. I know labs sometimes need people to fetch things, so I know I can do that.”
“We will be happy to have you, Arthur,” Van Helsing said. “I will arrange the supplies and such, and we will leave on the train tomorrow for The Netherlands. Our other big problem is going to be leaving the asylum. Vladimir is keeping watch on the Carfax Abbey next door awaiting the return of David and Voivode. There is no reason to believe he won’t turn his attention to us at some point. If we all suddenly leave together, he’ll notice, and our cover is blown.”
“I believe this is where I can help you,” Stoker said. “There is no performance tonight at the Lyceum, so the theatre will be dark. You all could stay the night in a couple of dressing rooms and catch the first train out tomorrow morning. There are a few stations a half mile from there, so you have your pick of direction. It’s in central London, so this Vladimir is not likely to do anything to it, unlike the asylum and the Abbey all the way out here in Purfleet. You could enter through the stage door so as to not draw attention, and when the morning comes and you clear out, no one will be the wiser.”
“I think that could work,” Van Helsing said. “It’ll allow us to leave here little by little.”
“I will send a telegram to arrange for transport,” Arthur said. “If we go by twos about every half hour or so, that should be all right, do you think?”
“That will work,” Van Helsing said. “I’ll take the first coach along with Mr. Stoker so that I can get the lemons and garlic from the market while he prepares the Lyceum for us. We have a few minutes to prepare, so you all work out who will travel in which cab.”
As the meeting disbanded, David went to Mina.
“Mr. Harker, may I have a word with your wife?” David asked. Jonathan nodded and gestured his approval. Van Helsing had an idea as to where this was going, so he decided to stay and pay attention.
“Mrs. Harker, if you’ll forgive me,” David said, “but I could not help but notice that you look like someone I used to know, and I was wondering if you would indulge me with who your family is.”
“My father is Andrew Murray,” Mina explained. “He married my mother, Elizabeth, in 1866.”
“And what is your mother’s maiden name?” David asked.
“Carpenter,” Mina said. She did not notice the reaction of either David or Van Helsing at this. David even stole a glance to Van Helsing, though they both deduced this. “It’s funny actually. It’s a family name. I had a cousin also named Elizabeth Carpenter who was a few years older than me. Everyone said we were like twins.”
“How do you mean it’s a family name?” David asked.
“As the story goes, there was an ancestor of ours named Elizabeth Carpenter who disappeared without a trace from some little town somewhere. I forget the name. I’m so terrible with stories. The way it went is that ten years after she went missing she reappeared to her parents in a dream. Ever since then, the first born daughter of the first born son was named Elizabeth so there would always be an Elizabeth Carpenter. That’s kind of why it’s funny and sad that my cousin disappeared a few years ago.”
“Would you know the town’s name if you heard it?” David asked.
“I don’t know,” Mina replied. “Why?”
“Was it Hauginstown?” Van Helsing asked. Mina stared at him and then at David, momentarily speechless.
“How do you know that?” she asked.
“I don’t suppose the names of David Taylor and Abraham Barber ever came up in your family story,” Van Helsing asked. Mina only stared at them, mouth agape. Her eyes darted back and forth as if she were working hard to remember the details of the story she had heard long ago.
“I do remember that now,” Mina said in surprise her eyes resting on David. “It wasn’t just Elizabeth Carpenter. She disappeared along with two friends: Abraham Barber and...” She took a deep breath as she stared at David. “David Taylor.”
“We happen to be intimately acquainted with the story,” David said.
“There was a time I would have said this was impossible,” Mina said, “but after these most recent events, I’m not sure what to believe.”
“It’s his fault she disappeared,” Van Helsing said. “Everything can be traced back to his irresponsibility.”
“But your name is Van Helsing, not Barber,” Mina said.
“You may recall that I indicated that I changed it once I escaped the Tepish,” Van Helsing said. “The original Elizabeth, who went by Beth, incidentally, also became a Fempiror and joined the Elewo Order. She lived with them until she ran into David again, trusted him, and then regretted that trust.”
“You look exactly like her,” David said.
“I suppose the next thing you’ll say is that you loved her,” Van Helsing said.
“Of course I did,” David said. “You know I did.”
“If that were true, you should have followed orders,” Van Helsing said. “If that were true, you never would have returned to Hauginstown. You would have stayed where you were.”
“She needed to say goodbye,” David protested.
“You at least succeeded there,” Van Helsing said. “You two went back, got spotted, her name lives on forever, and the town was completely destroyed.”
“I can hardly be held responsible for that,” David said.
“Do we really need to go through the details?” Van Helsing asked.
“Gentlemen,” Seward intervened. “Whatever bad blood clearly exists between you for wrongs done heaven knows how long ago, I have to remind you that we are here to work together in a common purpose.”
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