Part 3 (1/2)

I didn't move. Instead I knelt in the center of the circle, horrified most by the temptation their offer held for me. Seductive.

Powerful. Eternal. So beyond the judgment of G.o.d Himself. What of my love for Jonathan, my responsibilities to the family I had left in England, the life I had led?

”Sisters,” I whispered, I begged. ”Sisters, please give me time. Leave us in peace.”

The fools turned their attention to Van Helsing instead. I saw them bare their bodies before him, showing him the perfection of life-in-death. They kissed one another, touched one another, their hands moving seductively, their lips parted with a pa.s.sion I often felt deep inside but never dared express. They had one another, used one another in an incest perfected through the centuries. Their laughter grew husky, sensual, inviting as they moved to the edge of Van Helsing's circle and stretched out their bare arms to him.

In spite of his age and his intellect and his determination, Van Helsing was affected by their pa.s.sion. His mouth hung slack, his hands rose, seemingly of their own accord, to reach toward them, then, fists clenched, Van Helsing the hunter, the slayer, the righteous one began to force them back to his side. As he did, they grabbed his arm, pulling it out of the circle. With their eyes turned seductively toward his, they held his hand against their b.r.e.a.s.t.s, they brushed their tapered fingers over his lips. The boldest of them licked Van Helsing's wrist and bit deep. For an instant he was helpless, frozen by the touch of her lips and the enthralling pa.s.sion that touch gave. I sensed his anger at his own weakness, his abhorrence of their seduction. They did not understand the righteousness of the man they faced, or they would not have tempted him so.

”Go!” I cried to them again. ”Leave us now!”

The fear in my voice made them pause and look at me. Understanding that I spoke a warning, they smiled and drifted away from us. Some time later, the horses that had been whinnying in fear ceased their sounds. The women reappeared momentarily, their faces flushed with the blood they had consumed. The fair one blew me a kiss, her smile young and filled with delight as they faded into a mist that dissolved at the touch of the pale dawn light.

FOUR

November 6. I recalled nothing more until I woke to find the sun had risen. The day is dark. There are wolf prints in the new fallen snow around the campsite, yet Van Helsing is gone. Only one thing would make him leave me unarmed and at the mercy of the unseen pack-he has gone to destroy the women. I expect that soon I will know the outcome of his quest, one way or the other.

The women were fools to try to tempt him. Their terrible beauty may have aroused him, but it only makes his path more clear. As to the women's power, it is daylight-his time, not theirs.

I found it easy to leave my holy circle, but there was nowhere to go. I have built up the tire as best I can. Now I sit beside it, watching the gray shapes of wolves moving in the shadows of the trees. I am so tired, yet sleep could well be fatal. So I wait, hoping that should the wolves decide to attack me, they will kill me quickly and finally. The pack has grown in size ... I must pause in my writing and watch them ... Van Helsing, where have you gone?

An hour or more pa.s.sed while the wolves grew bolder, circling closer to me. Often I had to pull a flaming branch out of the tire and stab at them to scare them off.

Finally, they tired of the sport and found an easier meal in our dead horses. As I watched the pack at their feast, once more the blood l.u.s.t was upon me. I waited until the pack had eaten their till then lifted a flaming branch and walked toward them. My display of courage confused them, and they retreated, allowing me to kneel beside the warm carca.s.s, to press my fingers against the b.l.o.o.d.y meat then lick them clean.

The scent. The taste. Finer than the richest wine, the most exquisite meal. I yielded to my hunger, dipping my hands into the mangled carca.s.s, feasting as I had not done in days on Van Helsing's charred meat. It had been so long since I had felt so satisfied.

When I was done, I looked down at my b.l.o.o.d.y hands, the bits of flesh sticking to the fur of my wrap. I had become an animal. No, worse!

Van Helsing must never know what I had done! I ran to the fire, melted some snow and washed all traces of the meal from my face, clothes and hands then took out this journal and wrote these words.

Though it can hardly be past noon, the sky has darkened and a heavy wet snow falls once more. I am sitting in the covered back of the wagon writing this account. An exhilaration has taken hold of me. Whatever the outcome, soon everything will be over. My entire future depends on the next few hours, yet all I feel is curiosity, as if I have already died and am about to view the manner of my ending.

The snow falls harder, dancing in the wind. Whorls of it move closer to the carriage. I see the faces of my sisters in it. I am alone.

No one can stop me now as I go out to dance with them ...

The women were only there in spirit. Even when their garments moved in the wind, brus.h.i.+ng against my outstretched hands, I could not feel them touching me. Spectral hands reached for mine, spectral arms circled me. ”Van Helsing has gone to destroy you. You must not stay with me,” I cautioned them, feeling no remorse for my warning. ”If you are able, go back to your bodies, leave your sleeping room and hide.”

The fair one smiled with lips together to hide the strangeness of her teeth. ”What can he do? He will never find us,” she said, laughter rippling through her voice.

”Jonathan Harker is my husband. He found your resting place. He told Van Helsing where to look.”

The dark-haired one who was Dracula's wife grew even whiter, if that were possible. She opened her mouth, as if to agree with my warning, but no sound came from her. Instead, I saw the vision begin to fade. As it did, a sudden gush of blood burst through the white skin of her chest, staining her diaphanous gown. Her terrible shriek of agony vanished in the winter wind.

Her blood was my blood, her pain my pain. I doubled over, clutching my chest as if to s.h.i.+eld them all from Van Helsing's stakes.

The screams continued, borne on the wind as the three vanished from my sight, one b.l.o.o.d.y apparition after another, the fair-haired one the last to go. Though I saw her wince, saw the blood spread across her chest, she remained silent. As she vanished, I saw an expression on her face that seemed inexplicably one of triumph, as if what had happened were meant to happen.

It seemed that I was to be killed as well. A great weight pressed against my chest. I tried to take a breath and found it impossible.

My heart pounded, and I folded slowly to my knees as darkness closed in around me.

Sisters, I thought. Sisters, may your souls wait for me.

When I regained consciousness, snow was falling heavily though the sky seemed lighter, giving some promise that the storm would soon end. Van Helsing had returned and stood near the fire putting on a clean coat. A second, b.l.o.o.d.y one lay on the ground beside him. I looked at him, horrified by the knowledge of what he had done.

”It is all right. I am not hurt,” he said, then went back to his was.h.i.+ng, hoping perhaps that I would return to sleep. I stood and walked to the fire.

”When the sky clears, it will be colder. The castle could give us shelter,” I suggested. ”The men are sure to come there.”

He shook his head. ”You especially must not rest within the walls,” he said.

”Because of the bodies?” I asked him, the sharpness of my voice betraying my anger.

He looked at me curiously, paused for emphasis, then said, ”The women are dust, Madame Mina. Their souls are at peace. No, you must not go because it is his lair. The very walls will call to you. No ... you must not.”

I didn't have the strength to argue. Instead, I helped him collect our bundles. Then, burdened by the weight of our baggage and the exhaustion the day always gives me, slipping often on the snow-covered rocks, I followed Van Helsing down the path to the distant road.

We had traveled less than a quarter mile when we saw fresh wolf prints in the snow. A bit later, I saw a pair of the beasts on the path below us. ”Professor,” I whispered and pointed.

Two more appeared, the pack blocking our descent. Van Helsing scanned the rocky ground around us and motioned me into a little hollow. There, an overhang made it impossible for the wolves to attack from above, and the narrow entrance a.s.sured that they would have to pa.s.s into the s.p.a.ce single file. ”We shoot them if they come,” he said, lifting a revolver. I pulled Quincey's pistol from my pack and crouched beside him.

The wolves seemed content to stop our journey. Hours pa.s.sed and they did not attack. Though the snow continued, occasional clear patches of sky to the west showed the height of the sun. We waited anxiously as the afternoon stretched on forever.

”Is the vampire close, Madame Mina?” Van Helsing asked.

I nodded and pushed myself to my feet. As I did, I noticed that the valley below us was visible from the stand of rocks. On the road that wound through it, I could make out a number of riders and a can of some sort heading toward us. Even more distant were two riders-no doubt some of our party in pursuit. ”They're coming,” I called to Van Helsing.

Van Helsing looked from the road to the setting sun, measuring the time the men had before Dracula woke. I did not need to look. Dracula was already awake in his box, waiting for the moment when he could rise in his own land-powerful, ready for the kill.

I felt Dracula's rage rise in me as well, and fought it down with horror. Whatever I had become, I was still Mina, wife to Jonathan. I recalled how much I loved my husband. The thought was all that sustained me as I helped Van Helsing collect our furs.

”We go down to them,” he told me, ”There is a path ... see it?”I considered the road we had been traveling-icy and treacherous even before this heavy snowfall. To me, the straight descent appeared impossible. ”Wait,” I said and scanned the landscape below, pointing to a second pair of riders coming from the west.

”This is the only road to the castle. If we remain here, they will have to pa.s.s right by us,” I said.

Van Helsing smiled. ”Ah, dear Mina, you are right. We stay and trap them. We shall make certain that the cart does not pa.s.s.”

I nodded my agreement, and the two of us waited as the cart and riders began the ascent on our path. There were nearly a dozen of them, all colorfully dressed, with turban-shaped fur hats covering their heads and ears. Some carried rifles, others only knives. It seemed to me that our little band was terribly outnumbered, but I knew Jonathan and the others coming up behind them were desperate.

Through the windblown snow, I could see the sun nearly touching the peaks in the clear western sky. The men would not reach the cart in time. ”Remember your promise,” I whispered to the creature being carried toward me.

”Madame Mina?” Van Helsing said. ”Did you speak?”