Page 57 of Now Comes the Mist

Vlad leans his shoulder against mine in a confiding way. “I told you Mina is the finest example of womanhood of your society, and she and Mr. Harker are well matched. He is a paragon among Englishmen, I think, and a beautiful young man.” He smiles, his eyes soft and faraway. “Such vivacity and intelligence, such boldness! I marvel at the strength in his character. No one can blame me for desiring him or being intrigued by his description of the perfect girl he was to marry. He showed me her photograph, kept in a pocket over his beating heart.”

My anger is rising again with every word, and I somehow find the fortitude to pull myself to a standing position. My head spins as the infernal mist swirls around me. “You are keeping Jonathan from Mina,” I say, my teeth clenched. “You are the reason her heart is breaking. She actually thought he had left her for another woman, but I will tell her the truth about you.”

Vlad looks up at me with raised eyebrows. “Mina Murray seems to me like a woman of logic and reason, and will therefore worry a great deal about your sanity.” He waves a dismissive hand. “Time will pass, and she will forget him. Humans are fickle creatures. Lovely as she is, she will marry another in no time. Mr. Harker is better off where he is.”

“You were right,” I say furiously, as my knees shake beneath me. “You know nothing of love if you think Mina could marry another. She only wants Jonathan, and to him alone will she give her whole heart. Your selfishness in keeping him like a disgustingpetwill kill her.” I am forced to pause, leaning heavily against the door, as the blood rushes to my head in my anger. “Mina only dreams of a life with him, and I will not let you take that away from her.”

Vlad looks at me, so still that I wonder if I have enraged him again. I do not care.

“Bring him back,” I gasp, for my lungs feel full of cotton and not air. “Send a letter, send people … I do not care how it is done. But bring him back or I will somehow find a way to do it myself, even if I have to sail the wreck of theDemeterin this state.”

“You love Mina so much?” he asks quietly.

“More than I love myself. There is no one alive who is as kind and deserving as she is. I would do anything to bring … Jonathan … back for her …” I collapse, and Vlad is on his feet at once, holding me up as theearth spins wildly beneath me. I look up at him, dizzy and sick but still determined. “Please, Vlad, I am begging you. She loves him.”

“Then back to her he will go.”

“Do not toy with me,” I say feebly. “Not about this.”

“I am in earnest. I will release Jonathan. I have my ways.” He leans me against the wall and knocks sharply on the door. “And now I must leave you, Lucy, for I am afraid you really will die if you stay out here much longer. Have your servant carry you straight to bed.”

My body is heavy with the longing for sleep, but the rage shooting through me keeps me upright. “I thought you were my friend,” I say, my voice shaking, “but now I am not certain I want you to be anything to me anymore. Not after the cruel things you have said and done to me tonight, and not after you imprisoned Jonathan and kept him from Mina.”

He looks at me in silence as quick footsteps approach on the other side of the door.

“I don’t want to see you again,” I whisper. “In dreams or out of them.”

“You don’t mean that,” he says gently.

“Goodbye, Vlad.”

The door opens, and Harriet screams at the sight of me fainting and covered with blood. I fall into my maid’s arms as more servants come running, and I vaguely register that Vlad is gone. Only the mist remains as I am lifted over the threshold he cannot cross.

“Oh, Miss Lucy!” Harriet wails over and over as another servant locks the door.

“I’m all right,” I choke out, a dead weight in her arms. As they carry me upstairs, I turn to look out of the window beside the door one last time. Through the heavy mist, I see the glowing eyes of an enormous dog watching from the deserted street. “But I want you, please, to lock me in my bedroom tonight. And every night from here onward.”

And then I sink into nothingness.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

For days, I am sicker than I have ever been in my life. I slip in and out of consciousness, raving, feverish, and weak as a newborn. An impossible thirst takes hold of my being, but no matter how much water I drink, it cannot be satisfied. The wounds on my throat throb with constant pain, and colorful lights dance in my vision whenever I open my eyes to see another face hovering over me. I recognize the elderly town doctor, looking utterly clueless; Mina with dark shadows under her eyes; and Mamma, weeping inconsolably over my frail body. But most of the time, it is Arthur who is there, kneeling beside my bed with his weary head against me.

“Lucy, don’t leave me,” he says brokenly. “Don’t go away when I love you so.”

Their grief is unbearable to me, worse than the pain of Vlad’s bite, and in my moments of clarity, I curse his name with everything I have left. It is all his fault. I asked for kindness, for friendship, for a taste of immortality, and instead he gave me what I fear more than death itself: the devastation of having to watch my loved ones mourn me. I cannot,willnot forgive him.

But then, one morning, I wake to find my head is a bit clearer, though light from lack of food and fresh air. My thirst has abated, and my stomach is loudly proclaiming its hunger.

Mina, who has been sitting on a chair nearby, hurries over to feel my forehead. Her face is drawn, exhausted, and white as paper. “Thank God! Your fever has broken. We thought you were going to … The doctor warned that you might …” She collapses into sobs that shake her body, and I wrap my arms around her, holding on as tightly as if she were a buoyin the sea. We stay that way for a long time before she pulls away to look at me. “How do you feel?”

“Never better,” I say feebly.

She laughs and kisses my cheek. “I would run and call Arthur and your mamma this minute, but I hate to disturb their rest, especially Arthur’s. How that man does love you. I thought he and I would come to blows when I insisted that he go get some sleep.”

I smile at the thought of demure Mina and mild Arthur coming to blows. “I am glad to have you to myself for a little while. How long have I been ill?”

“Three days and nights. It was terrifying to see you so pale and still when we got home from the party. But the count graciously explained everything—”

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