Page 127 of Lucy Undying

Fortunately, we had a new Goldaming. Doctor Seward found the same properties in my grandchild’s blood. He assured me we had something special and miraculous. He began publishing papers, hinting about what he’d discovered. His goal was to lure the right minds to participate in our research.

Doctor Seward did eventually find such a mind, belonging to a vampire woman of all things. As soon as we had secured her services, he died. This new doctor knew so much more than Doctor Seward had about the secrets of life after death. I had considered killing Dracula and being done with him, since it was now apparent that my condition would be inherited. But she warned me my life was tied to Dracula’s. Keeping Dracula safe became the burden I had to bear. It was no small price to pay, but I’ve always been willing to do the hard things and sacrifice what I needed to.

Even with the disappointment of the necessity of Dracula, my empire grew in new and exciting ways. We explored the unique properties of Goldaming blood, and I realized we could package and sell renewed vitality. Doses of youth. Health from our death-touched cells.

I could even dole out the ultimate boon: eternal life. But only to those who deserved it. To those who understood that they owed everything to me and me alone. Loyal in life, and loyal forever after.

Everything you have is because of my sacrifice, vision, and determination. As my blood, you’re allowed to share in the rewards.

You have sacred duties. Continue our family line and honor me by keeping the name Goldaming. Play your role as Goldaming heir, and pay your dues by giving your blood for as long as you can. And when your body succumbs, be buried in a new place so I can rest all over the country and eventually the world.

Remember, always: Everyone useful will be protected and taken care of. Everyone loyal will have wealth, security, and power. And everyone who remains faithful and obedient will have eternal life at my side. But only because of me, and through me, and in support of me.

Never forget where you came from. I’ll always be here to remind you.

107

Salt Lake City, January 27, 2025

Iris

I can’t look away from Lucy.

She can’t look away from Mina.

Dracula’s words in my kitchen come back to haunt me. It doesn’t work if you don’t believe in it. He can’t touch belief, can’t attack faith. Maybe it was the core of who he was when he was alive. I can’t dredge up any curiosity for what made him into the monster he is.

But according to the manifesto they made me read, Mina’s strongest belief was in herself. How wonderful and smart she was, how much she deserved everyone else’s money and lives.

I know exactly what Lucy believed in most. I read it, in her journal and afterlife story. I saw it when I tried to tell her that Mina had been in on the plot to take her inheritance. And I see it now. Lucy’s been walking in the darkness for over a century, and, at last, she’s found the sun.

My mother’s phone rings. It feels out of place in this glittering, vampire-filled ballroom where the love of my life has just discovered that the love of hers never died. Mom steps out of the circle to take her call. “Yes? Mmm hmm. I see.”

I’d like to strangle her. It wouldn’t do any good, but it might make me feel better.

“Mina?” Lucy says again, this time a question, not a statement. There’s so much contained in that question. I want to drag Lucy away. I want to read Mina’s manifesto to Lucy, show her the truth, but it doesn’t matter.

It doesn’t matter, because Mina is what Lucy believed in. The core of her soul. And vampires can’t change that.

Mina knows it, too. “Lucy,” she says, holding out her arms. Lucy steps to her like she’s not in control of her body. Gone is the cat’s grace, the joyful bounce in her step. She stumbles forward and rests her head against Mina’s shoulder. Mina puts one arm around her, the other on the back of Lucy’s head. She pats her, a maternally condescending gesture, then releases her. She decided when the embrace started, she decided when it ended, and Lucy? Lucy obeyed.

“Little Lucy Westenra.” Mina looks down at Lucy. Lucy’s hopeful smile is crushed like a bug under Mina’s heel. “Is this it? This is all you have to show for eternal life? A pretty dress and a new crush.” Mina laughs. The edge of mockery in her tone cuts me straight through. “Nothing changes, does it? You never could see past the next outfit and the next object of obsession.”

“Mina, I—” Lucy searches her face, devouring it with her eyes. “I did my best to keep you safe. To keep Dracula away from you. But I failed.” Tears fill her eyes.

Mina watches as the tears stream down Lucy’s face. She doesn’t wipe them away, doesn’t draw Lucy closer like she should.

“You didn’t fail,” I say. “Mina made a deal with Dracula. She saw him as an opportunity, and she took it. She wrote all about it, and she never so much as mentioned your name. You were nothing to her. Not even a footnote.”

Lucy doesn’t glance at me. I don’t know if she heard me. My mother brushes past and whispers something in Mina’s ear. Her smile grows, satisfied and smug.

“Speaking of Dracula, your little jawbone joke is over. There’s an army of my acolytes on the way to him right now. We have to protect him. Even Iris agrees with me on that.”

Mina cuts her eyes in my direction. I want to rip her throat out with my teeth. She’s already won, and she knows it. “Anyhow, let’s not dwell on that,” she says, her tone practical and efficient, as though she’s issuing cleanup instructions to young charges after a long afternoon of study.

“Fuck me,” I whisper as something long lost is unlocked in my head. The night Dracula got into the house. I thought my mother wasn’t home, but then she spoke to him from the dark stairs. She’s always had a peculiar way of speaking, almost like someone with a British accent trying to hide all traces of their roots. It’s the voice I learned and perfected to imitate her.

It’s the voice she learned and perfected to imitate Mina.

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