Blood to Blood (22 page)

"Anytime he's able. Just try to give me a bit of notice and I'll be there."

And that might have been the strangest thing Arthur had said all afternoon, Van Helsing thought. In the weeks they'd shared the rooms in Mayfair, Arthur had been home scarcely one day out of four.

They'd met at two. At four-thirty Arthur checked his pocket watch and said he had to go.

Van Helsing watched him head down the street. He considered following Arthur and decided against it. Only instinct made him concerned about the young man's actions, and there were better ways to discover what those might be.

Instead, he headed in the opposite direction, toward his Mayfair rooms. On the way, he stopped at a florist's shop. Though the woman had no garden plants, she did suggest a gardener who kept greenhouses in Camden.

It took the better part of a day to reach the man, but the results were what he had hoped for. He purchased three laburnum vines, a plant the gardener assured him was both exotic and somewhat rare in London. Early the following morning, he took these to Arthur's estate in Kensington.

As he'd hoped, Arthur was not awake yet. He insisted that Ian not wake his master. "It's not important, but I thought of the work he was doing here and wanted to bring a gift." He held out a wooden crate holding the vines.

"Work?" For a moment Ian appeared confused. "Ah, you mean for the garden. Yes, we add to it all the time. Lord Holmwood's family has always had great pride in the Kettering Gardens."

"May I see them?"

"It is more an experience than a seeing, sir. Perhaps I should wake—"

"No. I do not wish to disturb his rest. Walk with me. We older men understand how the young ones need their rest. And the sun will do us both good."

Resigned, Ian lead the way through the house to the wide rear doors that opened onto the terrace, down the steps into the parterre garden with its velvet lawn edged with low hedges and flower beds.

As they walked. Van Helsing learned that Ian had been in Arthur's service since he was born, and in his family's service before that. It seemed a good time to ask if he'd heard the rumor that Arthur intended to marry.

"I would hope he would, and produce an heir in time," Ian replied, adding that it was not his place to pay attention to rumors about any possible fiancees.

Van Helsing tried a number of approaches, then gave up. Ian would have shown him to the gate, but Van Helsing said he preferred to take the winding garden paths around to it and enjoy the plantings on the way. As he ambled toward the gate, he spotted a young man on hands and knees pulling creepers out of the edge of the lawn. Van Helsing waved to him. "Are you the groundskeeper?" he called.

"His help," the man replied.

"I brought three laburnums as a gift for the house. I left them with Ian."

"Ah!" The man wiped his palms on his pants and walked over. "He'll want some new cuttings. Last winter was hard on the vines."

Van Helsing thought he detected the scent of brandy on the man's breath. A house servant would never get away with such behavior, but one who worked outside easily could. He hoped the drink would make the man careless. "I hear Lord Arthur is most interested in his gardens," he said.

"Certainly now."

"Of course," Van Helsing agreed. Though he had no idea what he was agreeing to, he guessed the best way to obtain information was to act as if he knew everything already.

"The lady does love the gardens at night."

"The lady? You've seen her?"

"Once. No one believed me the first time. She gave me a scare, she did, walking alone and so lightly. I see her sometimes now. Walking the paths at night."

"Are you the only one who sees her?"

"No one believed me. But Lord Arthur knows her. They walk together."

"Always outside."

"Once I think they were in the music room. I heard him playing something soft and pretty for her."

Van Helsing's mouth felt dry. "Do you know her name?" he asked.

The man grinned as if he knew he shouldn't answer and didn't care. "I don't, but I call her Cat. She has cat's eyes, you know."

"Green."

"As the grass beneath our feet." He looked down, spotted a beetle in the lawn, and squashed it with the heel of his boot.

Van Helsing could say nothing more. His thoughts reeled. Good God! Could Arthur really have found her? Would he really have been so foolish as to let her inside?

Were it Jonathan or Seward acting so recklessly. Van Helsing would think nothing of marching inside and demanding that he take charge of the affair, just as he had with Lucy. But he had already seen Arthur's obstinate streak and knew he would only be turned away—by force, if needed.

And so he retreated to Mayfair, where he locked the door to the house and sat in the sunniest room, weighing what to do. He decided, finally, that much though he wanted to handle this matter himself, he would not be able to.

With no other choice left him, he wrote a quick, desperate letter to Mina. Wanting her to reach it as quickly as possible, he made two more copies—sending one to Mina's house, a second to her in care of Jonathan's work, and a third to her at the Children's Hospital.

Work done, he spent the remainder of the day trying to work and achieving nothing, trying to rest—for he knew he would not sleep that night—and failing miserably.

She would come, he knew it now. If he had the means to do so, he would take a room somewhere else in the city. It occurred for him, and hardly for the first time, that his obsession with hunting the creatures who had done so much damage to his family and friends would likely lead him to poverty or worse.

But vows had been made, and it was not his nature to break them. It occurred to him that this was what guided Arthur as well.

God help them both.

Mina's days had become long and far more hectic than than they would have been if Jonathan had agreed to give her a position in his firm. She relished her independence in setting up the shelter. And now that she had so many lives depending on her, she could better understand Jonathan's view toward his own work and sympathize with it. He had her and his employees; she, her women and children. When they met, they had much to speak of, and nights to follow. They were, for the moment, content.

There were now six women and four children moved into the first floor of the building while the upper floors were taking shape. Four of the women worked at paying jobs; the others shared kitchen work and tending to the children. Since they were the ones most suited to watching children, Mina thought her experiment was starting well.

One of the children, a little girl not more than six, had taken to her. Every time Mina visited the shelter the child would follow her from room to room or sit in a chair in the room where she went over the ledgers, silent and watching.

Gradually Mina began to understand that the girl was less curious than smitten, "You are from London, I understand. How do you like it here?" Mina asked her

"My mama is happy," the girl replied, speaking as if her own happiness were not important.

"And you?"

The child grinned, showing a chipped front tooth, and nodded. Then, having revealed something of herself, she jumped off the stool and ran from the room. Mina heard a squeal from a younger boy, the girl's mischievous laughter.

Mina smiled. Things were going even better than her most optimistic projections.

She had budgeted twenty thousand pounds for the building. Thanks to all the donations, she would spend barely half that in half the time she'd planned for the work.

She'd nearly finished when Winnie stopped by unexpectedly. "I have a letter for you," she said. "You get so little mail I thought it might be important, so I brought it straightaway."

As soon as she looked at it, Mina recognized the writing. "It's from Dr. Van Helsing," she said and ripped it open, scanning quickly, then deciding to read it aloud. Winnie had been involved in her last terrible adventure. Better to let her know up front what was happening now, since she'd only relay the contents of the letter later.

My dear Madame Mina,

I have unfortunate news that concerns all of us.

Just before I left to meet you and Jonathan in Exeter, I asked Arthur to see what he could discover about passengers on the ships arriving from the East. He did as I asked and told me that he'd discovered nothing.

But after my visit to you, I began to notice how reclusive he had become, even going so far as to leave his Mayfair rooms to stay at his estate in Kensington. I thought perhaps that he wanted to put the past behind him, as he had recently confessed he wished to do. Then I was visited by a young woman looking for him. She was most upset not to find him but would not speak to me. Indeed, she seemed frightened of me, as if she knew me.

Curious, I traveled out to Kensington and arranged a ruse that allowed me to speak to the servants. What I learned is most distressing. He apparently discovered that the vampire woman is in London but did not inform me of this. Instead he took it upon himself to find and meet her. Even then he said nothing.

After all the horrors our little band had seen, he would risk his life and his soul this way. Worse, I have been told that he has even invited her into his house
—
leaving him open and vulnerable to her attack
.

I cannot imagine why he would do such a foolish thing.

Mina paused a moment, thinking that Arthur was less foolish than driven. But then grief and curiosity combined into a terrible drug.

"And you tell me how brilliant the doctor is," Winnie commented when Mina fell silent.

"He hates them, all of them. He cannot imagine how I could mourn for Karina, who was as much a victim as Lucy." She returned to her reading:

I could not confront him, for I could guess the outcome if I did. He may have already realized how much I know. If so, I may never be allowed in his presence again to look with my own eyes for some lightening of his complexion, some sensitivity of his eyes to sunlight, and all the other subtle changes that might come if he does what I fear he may. Indeed, I fear that the next time I see the young man, he will be beyond caring.

So come, dear Mina, for his sake. I think of all of us, he trusts you the most, and in his affection for you he will not allow you to come to harm.

I have sent a copy of this letter to Jonathan. Come alone or, better still, bring him. But come soon. AVH

"What would you like me to do?" Winnie asked as Mina put down the letter.

"I'm expecting two deliveries this afternoon. Could you wait here for them?"

"You're going to London now?"

"I don't know. But I need to speak to Jonathan first." She put away her pen and ink and reached for her bonnet. She'd barely tied the bow when a messenger boy on a bicycle arrived with a note from Jonathan asking her to meet him at his office as soon as possible. The writing was scrawled across the page, as if he wrote quickly and frantically.

She took a cab promising the driver extra if he got her there as quickly as his horse could safely travel. The driver apparently relished the challenge, for he made it across town at an incredible rate. All Mina could do was dig her fingers into the worn leather upholstery, brace her feet against the front of the cab and try to stay upright in her seat.

"Good ride, miss?" the driver called as she got out, bonnet slightly askew from the last quick turn.

"I suppose I invited that," she replied, glancing at the horse. The beast looked as if he had enjoyed the run as much as his driver, so true to her word, she gave the man half his fare as a tip.

By then it was nearly six. She found Jonathan alone, sitting at his desk, a stack of papers in front of him. He got up when he saw her, all but running to her, his embrace quick and hard. "So much to do, but I want you to stay with me tonight."

His voice had never sounded so taut before, nor had his expression ever seemed so flat. It seemed that he had filed away all emotion for some future consideration.

"You're so busy. While you're finishing up, I'll go to see Essie and pack a bag," she said.

"No!" The word too loud. He looked more surprised than she, and went on more carefully. "That is, please don't. It will be dark before you return. Send a note to Essie. Tell her to bring the bag to the station in the morning."

"And I should leave her alone tonight?" Mina asked gently.

"It isn't she the creature would want to harm."

He's fighting hysteria, she thought, and went to him, holding him close. "It may not be me, either. Or you, for that matter. The woman has been in London for some time. Why do you think she would come now?"

"Because Arthur drew her attention back to us. And now Van Helsing wants you to go to London and face another of these creatures. Damn Arthur! How could he be such a fool?"

She rested a steady hand on the side of his face. "If it had been me who had died and awakened one of them. If it had been you who held the stake that ended my life in death, wouldn't you want to know that you had done the right thing?"

He frowned, then considered as his anger dissipated. "I cannot imagine how I would feel."

She went on, the soothing tone taking the edge off her words. "A year ago, you said that if I went into that terrible life in death you would not let me go alone. You hardly spoke of stakes and holy water then."

"I meant it. I would not have let them kill you, not until I was sure you were beyond redemption."

"But with Lucy, Van Helsing handled everything. How could Arthur have stood up to him? Could you have done so?"

"I… I would have tried, because you would have tried for me. You were stronger than the rest of us. You deserved that chance."

She looked at him a long time, trying to think of a way to explain her feeling, her decision. She could find none. "Jonathan, will you trust me?" she asked.

"Not if it means you wish to go to London alone."

"Not that." She smiled, thinking the decision she had reached while being thrown about in the hack was the right one. "I don't want to go at all, at least not yet," she said.

He gaped at her, surprise making the relief he felt too evident. "But Van Helsing's letter, the woman?"

"I've been thinking of the woman, and I do not believe she means us any harm. Have you dreamed of her lately?"

"Shadowy dreams. Nothing vivid. Not for weeks."

"Because she no longer considers you. No, don't look so hopeful. It's what I feel, not what I know."

"And Arthur? We can't just abandon him."

"I will write him. I will tell him everything we suspect and ask if it is true. Then, one curious creature to another, I will ask him to please tell me what he has learned. I think he will reply."

"We should see him, make certain he is all right."

"I've been to Kettering. The house is huge, and there's a wall around the grounds. If he wants to keep us out, there's no way we can get in. If we try to force his hand, he could even have us arrested."

"But until this is over—"

"It won't be such a chore, living with you. But tonight I want you to come home with me. I need to speak to Essie in person, not in a note. I need to explain what I intend to do."

It wasn't his choice. His expression made that clear enough, even as he agreed.

And for the next hour, as Jonathan finished his work. Mina sat at Tom Pierson's desk, writing to Arthur, her words straight from her heart.

Finishing those, the penned a quicker note to Van Helsing.

My dear doctor,

I can understand your concern, but I disagree with your course of action. I, too, have read the papers with care, and there have been no murders in the manner we had feared. Jonathan's dreams are indeed quieter now, though your letter may be the factor that changes all that.

But until I know that the creature means us harm, means ANYone harm, I will not come to London. I am writing Arthur, however, and asking about Joanna. I think this quiet approach is best.

As for you, with what you have seen and suffered, I understand your fear of them. I am making arrangements for you to stay at the flat Gance willed to me in Mayfair. You should receive a key from Mr. Quarles in a day or two. With love, Mina.

The letter was firm, she thought, but not heartless. She took it in to Jonathan to read and saw the relief on his face as he did so.