The Elixir

by George Willson

  “Then we are at an impasse.”

  “I am impatient to end this blood lust,” Karian said, standing imposingly before Voivode.

  “And I tell you that unless you work with me in some measure, I cannot accomplish anything you want,” Voivode countered. “Impatience is what got us all into this situation to begin with, if you’ll recall. You are lucky I have anything at this point, but I can’t move on to the next level without a specimen.”

  “My children are not specimens.”

  “Nor did I intend to imply as such,” Voivode sighed. He had this sort of conversation nearly every time Karian came around, which was about every other day. He took a breath to compose himself, so he could refrain from showing any kind of irritation.

  “Should you wish to see any kind of result, which is what I know you want, you will need to give me something that will demonstrate that result,” Voivode said. “Without someone to test on, I cannot give you anything.”

  Karian bared his teeth and stepped closer to Voivode, but before he could threaten any further, David burst into the room, sword drawn and trained it on Karian. Karian glanced to David and smiled, keeping his elongated teeth in full view.

  “If I had wished to dispatch your benefactor, boy, you would have been too late to prevent it.”

  “It’s time for you to go,” David warned.

  “I’ll return again to check your progress,” Karian spat as he walked to the window at about the time that Harker was looking out of his window from his room. “And you will never receive any of my children for any kind of experimentation. I guarantee you that.”

  Karian put his head out the window briefly before climbing out. David waited a few moments, his sword still out, before he walked to the window and looked after him. He sheathed his sword and turned back to Voivode.

  “Are you all right?” David asked.

  “Yes, yes,” Voivode insisted. “Karian is harmless for now. He wants the cure he’ll never get too badly to risk killing me. Still, we must be careful not to anger him, or we’ll have to risk leaving here without the cover of rain.”

  “I was on my way in to check on you when I heard his voice,” David explained. “I didn’t figure he was up to any good.”

  “I assure you that I am fine,” Voivode said. David nodded.

  “Do you actually work on a cure anymore?” David asked. “I know what you tell him, but I also don’t really know what you do when I’m out.”

  “Sometimes,” Voivode admitted with a shrug. “I sort through the notes you were able to retrieve from the collapsed wing, and I occasionally put together something to test on my own blood, but I never get any closer than I ever had before. Whatever was in the one cure that worked, I never wrote it down to my own folly. If I ever happen to figure it out, you are welcome to it.”

  “I’ve been a Fempiror for awhile now,” David mused, “but I think I would jump at the opportunity to be human once more. I’m sure that’s how Karian feels as well.”

  “I really never planned on revisiting the Fempiror serum,” Voivode said. “It has been five hundred years for me. I doubt the solution will present itself before the end of my life. I have my notes, and I find some measure of nostalgia from them and the scant other things that survived the fall, but that is it.”

  “How is Harker doing?” David asked, turning his mind to their other problem.

  “I gave him another task that should take long enough for another rain to come,” Voivode said. “I’ve engaged his services on getting our things moved and in hiring some transport once we arrive. He is not happy about it, and only wishes to return to his sweetheart back in England. I have not told him the true reason he is remaining.”

  “I wish we could hasten our departure,” David said, “but doing so might actually alert Karian and his children to our plan. My solo journeys are fine for now, since we explained long ago that we need to go to town, but he’s smart. He’ll know something is up. Once we have that rain, we have to go. Ready or not.”

  “Well, on your remaining, I do need you to post a few things the next time you go to town in regards to Harker’s task,” Voivode said handing the letters to David.

  “As long as he remains, he is in danger,” David said. “I can tell he feels trapped already. He’ll only get worse. I should actually take him to town as well, so he can get out of here.”

  “He’ll be fine,” Voivode said. “He’s a young man, and they are remarkably resilient. Besides, if you left with an extra person, Karian would take notice.”

  “He would still find you here,” David said.

  “But he might attack you,” Voivode said. “We cannot risk it until we get some rain.”

  “Young men can be rash in their actions, though,” David said. “Especially when threatened. And I can’t agree with leaving you all the time either. These letters can wait.”

  “This is the business of moving, my friend,” Voivode said. “And it must be conducted if we are to leave here smoothly. Harker is instrumental to making that happen, just as it is vital you go to town to post the letters. I will not have it any other way.”

  “Of course, Voivode,” David said. “I will make another round before I go, but I need to go soon, or I will not be back before the sun rises.”

  “God speed to you,” Voivode said.

  David nodded and left the room, heading back for the stable to take a horse down the mountain once more. It was always a long trek, but their horses were familiar with the route and always made it without a problem. Everything was rapidly coming to a close at Poenari, and hopefully within the month, they would get a good rain and be on their way.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  In the afternoon following his disturbing view of someone crawling out of one of the castle windows and down the sheer wall, Jonathan Harker stood at the window in his room looking to the spot where he had seen the impossible. The wall contained a handful of windows, and knowing nothing about the castle’s layout, he had no idea what was in those rooms. He reasoned, however, that the room in question was not too far from his.

  He turned away from the window and shook his head. He felt it was surely a trick of the mind and the night. People did not crawl on walls. He glanced back out the window once more and saw for just an instant, the shape of a person crawling into another one of the windows. He gasped and closed his shutters knowing it simply could not happen. He had to leave this place.

  He left his room and walked down the halls of the castle again, occasionally trying the doors, though other than the dining room, library, and his room, everything was locked. He tried some doors along the Northern side of the hall he figured would have connected to the missing north wing Voivode spoke of when he noticed one of the doors was unlocked but stuck closed.

  He put his shoulder into the work, and eventually, he was able to open the door and step onto what was left of a bit of flooring from the north wing. Past this scrap of floor, the mountains were wide open before him, but it was good to look upon the scenery without anything obstructing his view. For just a moment, he felt free.

  He followed the edge of the flooring which led him to a small room that extended onto a balcony affording him a far better and more inspirational view than his room ever could. He could understand to an extent why this part of the castle was closed off due to the danger of falling, yet he really liked this room and despite its size, the open balcony gave it a more open feeling than the one they had given him.

  He had brought his diary with him and proceeded to write of his experiences as he had done throughout his stay in the castle. He had seen some strange things during the journey here, and he had been faithfully recording it all, not only for the sake of his own memory, but so he could share these experiences with Mina when he returned to England. Rereading his own words, however, he could hardly believe most of these things actually occurred. It read like some bit of short fiction one might find in a magazine.

  He had placed Mina’s picture in his di
ary to ensure he kept it with him when he was writing which would allow him to look upon her face to remind him why he was here. If he were not concerned over making a worthwhile life for the two of them based upon a favorable client report, he would have left the castle just as soon as the paperwork was signed and headed right back to England. The stranger it got out here, the more he wanted to leave, but looking upon the face he loved, he knew he would endure anything for her.

  The sun set and before long, the moon took over the view and streamed in on him. Mist settled into the mountain range, and he marveled at the wonder of it all, knowing he would never see anything like this at home, and in this moment, he was grateful he had made the trip, regardless of the strange things that had happened. He moved from the table where he had been writing, and reclined on a dusty, old chasse that rested in the room.

  Before he could acknowledge it, the relaxing environment had done its work, and he forgot about the disturbing sight of the wall-crawling men. He had let it all go and drifted away into a restful slumber.

  * * * * * * * * * *

  As was his habit, David had patrolled the castle grounds just after the sun had set, and Karian continued to keep his promise of keeping the Mutations away. Each night, his patrol turned up little to nothing around the castle walls and its keep within, which was the way he wanted to keep it until they left.

  He moved to the inside of the building and checked all the doors one at a time just to make sure the Mutations had not made any attempts at forced entry. He moved from the front entry up the stairs to the far end where he had installed heavier doors to the former north wing, and there, he found a problem.

  One of the doors had been severely damaged at one point, meaning that Karian’s children had set themselves against it at some point, and actually managed to break through, yet he had found no Mutations in the castle. He decided to check the area on the other side of the door since although the wing, itself, was gone, a handful of rooms were connected to it that remained a part of the castle.

  He did not expect to find anything, but he also liked to be thorough. The last thing he needed was some sort of dreadful accident on his watch.

  * * * * * * * * * *

  Harker stirred slightly, realizing he had fallen asleep. He caught the sounds of breathing somewhere near him and opened his eyes to find three women, clothed in ragged dresses without shoes standing around him. The sight of them sobered him into immediate wakefulness, and he sat straight up on the chasse. As they surrounded him, however, he did not feel as if he could stand.

  He looked into their faces and their expressions looked wild, almost like animals. They never spoke, and as they variously circled him, he saw they had abnormally long canine teeth, such as a carnivore might possess. It frightened him.

  One of them climbed on top of him, forcing him to lie back down on the chasse, and he felt her breath on his neck. Part of him wanted to tell them he was engaged, but as their movements resembled animals, he was not sure telling them anything would be informative. He noticed her body was ice cold, just as Voivode’s hand was when he took it, and wondered what this could mean.

  Another one of the women snarled at the one still sitting on him, and the first snarled back. He was not sure what to make of it. What were they going to do with him? Was this a game? The first licked his neck and he felt her cold breath again. Then she bit him. He gasped and tried to move her, but she had gripped the side of the chasse and was completely unmovable.

  Suddenly, something kicked her off of him. The other two hissed turned at hissed at someone near the door to the room. Harker turned his head and saw the man who had met him in town and brought him to the castle standing in the doorway holding a sword. The one that was kicked walked from behind the chasse, but on her hands and feet both, like an animal.

  She lunged at the man in black, but as quick as she had done so, he cut her down in mid-air with his sword. The others looked at their fallen sister and stared angrily at her killer. The man just stood there, watching them.

  The women jumped for him at the same time. He cut one down before she landed and ducked under the approach of the second before swinging his sword around and killing her as well before she even hit the ground.

  With the bodies of the strange women littering the floor, the man approached Harker and asked, “Are you all right?”

  Harker tried to speak, but before any words came out, everything faded to black.

  * * * * * * * * * *

  David was not surprised that Harker had defied their request to remain in the safety of the castle and come into the broken wing, but it incensed him no less. The door may well have been open at the time, but David knew it was barred when he arrived. Second, Karian had promised his Mutations would not attack them, but he just had to fend off three of them.

  He looked at Harker, who had fainted as soon as David tried to speak to him. He saw a bite mark on his neck where the first woman had attempted to feed, but it was not likely she was able to draw much, if any, blood from him. He was also careful about making sure he killed them without risking any blood spilling on Harker. The last thing they needed was to change this man into a Mutation and cause him to lose his life.

  He picked Harker up and slung him over his shoulder to carry him back to his room, so he could get to repairing the door and closing this area off again.

  “What have you done?”

  David sighed and turned to find Karian standing over the corpses of the three women. He did not have time to deal with this.

  “They intended to attack our guest,” David explained. “They even bit him. You were supposed to keep them away.”

  “Voivode is supposed to produce a cure,” Karian countered.

  “It’s a mutual deal, Karian,” David said. “One for the other. If you can’t uphold your end of the deal, we may not uphold ours.”

  “How do you know they intended to attack him?” Karian challenged.

  “Would you like to see the marks on his neck?”

  Karian looked considerably irritated at the loss of some of his children, but in the end, he decided to keep the peace. “No apology will be given for this, boy,” Karian said. “A price has already been paid for the transgression.”

  “So be it,” David said. He turned but noticed the little notebook sitting on the table. He assumed it had to be Harker’s, and without a thought to Karian’s proximity to the table, he stepped to it and snatched the book. Karian stepped back in surprise, but quickly realized that David was simply retrieving something, and did not concern himself with it. David opened the front page and saw enough to know it was simply a chronicle of the man’s journey, and not wishing to invade his privacy, he closed the book and carried it with him when he left the room, stepping over the bodies of the three Mutation women.

  “One moment,” Karian said interrupting his departure. David turned to find him holding up a small square of stiff paper. “This is interesting. How the technology of man has progressed.”

  David took the square from Karian’s hand and looked at the photograph of a young woman. His heart stopped. The face. The smile. The hair. The eyes. What he saw was impossible.

  It was too late to disguise his face from Karian, and without another word for Karian’s bemused expression, he immediately left the tower and made his way back to Harker’s room. He placed Harker on his bed to rest, and then went to his own room, currently a part of Voivode’s suite. He did not see Voivode in his anteroom, which was fine by him, since he needed to be alone.

  He closed the door to his room and stared at the photograph again. When he was still human, photographs did not exist. The only way any likeness of a person could be preserved was through paint and the hand of a skilled artist. He had known someone once who was so skilled as an artist, she had painted a portrait of herself and her future husband, which she had left blank at the time. It was blank because David was destined to be that husband, but their entire relationship was a secret right up until the e
nd.

  The face in the picture was her face. Modern technology had given Jonathan Harker a picture of his fiancée, but his fiancée bore an almost perfect resemblance to the girl David Taylor had grown up with in his long destroyed hometown of Hauginstown. He had accidentally changed her into a Fempiror, and ten years later, they renewed their relationship intending to spend their long years together. Then, she died. She was killed by members of the Tepish Order on orders to wipe out a town; she had given her life to try and stop them.

  Her family had survived though. Harker’s fiancée had to be related somehow. The resemblance was too perfect for there to be any other explanation. Mina Murray was a spitting image of his beloved, Elizabeth Carpenter.

  CHAPTER NINE

  John Seward was happy for Arthur. He had to be. Regardless of his feelings for Miss Lucy Westenra, she had made her choice, and that choice did not involve him. In fact, her choice of Arthur Holmwood, who had introduced him to Lucy in the first place, was a sensible one both from a relational perspective as well as a monetary one. John was a doctor, but he lived and worked in an institution, which was not a situation destined to change at any time in the near future. It was no place for a lady, to be sure.

  He was walking home from an evening of drinks with Arthur and the business manager of the Lyceum Theatre who was an old family friend of the Westenras, Bram Stoker, where they had celebrated the official announcement of Arthur’s engagement to Lucy. He had not known when he had spoken to Lucy that it was Arthur who had her heart. When they had spoken, she had never put a name to her affections, nor was it her obligation to do so.

  So when Arthur had put forth the invitation to meet with him at the pub, he somehow failed to guess the reason for the gathering, and once announced, he was forced to disguise his reaction, though he could not say he was altogether surprised. Bram was already in the know as he had apparently made a mock attempt to take Lucy from Arthur as a worthier suitor, something he would have only done in the presence of considerable company including his wife.