Jayne Wetherby was not shaken when she suggested to put Lucy out of her misery.
"A painless process, Mina," Jayne traced the cedar box adorned with small gems. "A stake to the heart, quick,efficient, and the pain lasts no longer than a few heartbeats."
A wooden stake was placed in Mina's hands.
"Do not think of it as a cruel procedure, rather, consider that we are freeing her from misery." Jayne's long shadow stalked along the old cobblestone walls.
The stake was carved from fine wood, the tip sharpened to a dangerous point, easily able to pierce flesh. A small silver cross was nailed in the very middle. Mina does not want to imagine the cruel thing in Lucy's heart.
Lucy was not Alexander Grayson, nor will she ever be. Her grip had tightened unconsciously on the weapon, so much so that her knuckles grew white.
"Do it Mina."
Lucy's voice was a quiet rasp, the sound of a flickering flame. Mina's dearest friend, she thinks, does not look like this. Magnificent dress torn and stained with splotches of blood, dried to form a rich red, and her arms bruised from something. Lucy's golden hair is pressed against the grey basement tiles, a stark difference of clashing colours. Mina's friend gave a defeated smile.
Renewed energy coursed through Mina, she spun to face Jayne, who had laid another identical stake down on the rounded table. How many stakes to the heart did a vampire need? Mina did not want to think about Lucy's precious organ, fluttering, struggling for life.
"Jayne, please, she can't be alright now, but I believe in her. She's my dearest friend, Jayne."
The woman scrutinises Mina. Words and arguments were building up in Mina's distraught mind, she isn't Alexander, I know Lucy she isn't capable of - won't be capable of the destruction Greyson caused, nor will she ever think to wreck such havoc because that is not Lucy-
"Very well," Jayne gave a nod as she took the wooden stake from Mina, relieving her of the dead weight in her hand. "However," the adorned box shut again, with the two wooden stakes kept in place by one silver chain. "If we are to keep this wild thing alive, we must do so by my rules." Jayne said as the lock to Lucy's cell clicked shut. The empty noise reverberated from the basement's walls, sounding much louder to Mina's ears than what must've been. She saw Lucy's face in her dreams, forlorn, weary, in the most heartbreaking way, as the cell clicked shut over and over again.
It has been twelve days since Lucy has fed.
She sits in the darkest corner of her cell, with her back facing Mina and Jayne. She doesn't speak, nor does she ever move. Mina wishes to break the lock and take her away, to a warm bed, a warm bath, a warm library. Anywhere but there. Lucy needs a new dress, a bath, a proper meal, and a proper bed.
Jayne says that all will be arranged once the damned vampire would stop struggling against her nature. Despite Jayne's blatant disgust for the beasts, Mina believes Jayne holds onto something, a hope, perhaps, that Lucy's vampiric half could be tamed. Perhaps that is the reason Jayne makes trips to the farms everyday, to retrieve the blood of cattle and pigs, diluted of course, so not to overwhelm Lucy with is extracted, four drops of blood to one drop of water, and placed in a china bowl inside the cage. A tedious process that Jayne does herself. She says that it is easier to monitor that way.
The first time Jayne places the bowl of blood before Lucy, Mina sees the way the vampire physically stiffens. Mina resists the urge to cry as her old friend twisted her head towards them. Darling Lucy, filth clung to her silky hair, eyes so hollow they might as well be dead, and her skin, once soft and supple, now covered with cuts, grime, and blood.
"Perhaps if we are successful, she will only need one drop of blood to four drops of water." Jayne had said.
Lucy studies Mina with a blank mask, she glances to the china bowl, once, twice, and pushes it away with quivering fingers. Mina catches the way Lucy bites her lip and digs her nails into her arm, as if that was the only way Lucy could keep herself sane.
"I must say," Jayne strides towards the cage. "I applaud you for your self-restraint. But, you are no longer human, and this is your only way of survival."
A feral snarl escapes from Lucy's lips, a sound that makes Mina flinch, as her friend advances, so close to Jayne that her powerful hands could easily wring the life out of her.
"I would rather die."
Jayne simply smiles. "All vampires come around."
Mina tries desperately to forget the sound Lucy makes when the door to the basement is shut. Her memory takes her back to a rabid mongrel her uncle shot in the summer of her twelfth birthday. It had been barking all afternoon at passing carriages, wild geese, and birds. When Mina's uncle left the barn, he saw the feathers of a chicken and a matching pile of bones beside the mottled mutt. Mina remembers pleading for her uncle to let the thing go, but he wouldn't listen. ("Next thing you know darlin' he'd bring his whole pack out here.") As soon as the rifle was raised, a switch went off in the mutt, it darted forward, toward them, white froth against black gums, snapping its jaws and growling deep. Mina covered her eyes. She remembers the sound clear as day, the whimper of a dog who had given up.
The rats that Lucy shares her cell with have grown as fat as small lapdogs from the daily feasts of pig blood, dried fruits, nuts, and other human foods that Lucy used to enjoy. When the porcelain plate touches the floor, it takes less than a few seconds for the scrabbling rats to emerge from their foul nests, snatching away morsels before darting back.
Jayne must think that Mina is foolish for cursing at the fat, wiry things, which grow bolder and fatter each day, and trying to keep them away from Lucy's meals with a broken broomstick.
Mina begs Jayne to do something, for she could not bear the sight of Lucy, curled up in the grimy corner of her cell, with nothing but an itchy, patched rug as a blanket. Jayne laughs, do you think it is necessary to force feed a vampire? she had said. She isn't that stupid.
Three weeks later, Lucy feeds.
When she does, the business is quick and her back is to Mina. But Mina could still hear Lucy gulping down the diluted blood, as if discovering an oasis after months in the desert. She wipes her lips and chin with the sleeve of her tattered dress.
Her eyebrows were scrunched and she repeats the action of wiping her mouth, before she dips her entire hand into the water bowl. With wet hands, she scrubbed away at her fingers, then her arms, her lips, and her chin, fiercely, until the skin broke red.
Learning shortly after that their home was no longer quite the paradise they thought it was, the fat rats all disappeared from the basement within a few days. Mina, on the same day the rats disappeared, urged Jayne to let Lucy bathe.
"Do you realise how filthy the conditions are for rats to grow to the size of lapdogs?" Mina said, following after Jayne as she ascended the stairs. "This basement might be home to thousands of diseases because you are so unwilling to provide a hygienic-"
"Do as you will," Jayne dusted her hands, "the dead cannot die from-"
"I am giving Lucy a bath, regardless of what you think of it."
Mina did not wait for Jayne's response as she pushed past the older woman, into the exquisite bathroom to draw a bath for Lucy. Jayne's porcelain claw foot bathtub was impressive, Mina doubts many would be able to afford such an extravagant piece. As the water began to fill, Mina rushed down the stairs, into the dark garden to pick gardenias, roses, and lilies. On her way back to the bathroom, she selects some coconut and betel leaves from Jayne's pantry (she shan't miss them much and she imports many goods anyway).
When the water was still very hot, Mina scattered the leaves, followed by the fragrant flowers, covering the shimmering surface in a sea of red, pink, and white. One long mirror in the bathroom becomes foggy from the heat, and the strong scent of flowers seem to seep through into her very being. Mina herself wants to lay her head on the porcelain rim roll and breathe in the sweet aroma of blossoms, but she knows the bath would be a small luxury for Lucy- trapped in the basement, where time and warmth do not seem to exist.
A bath was the least she could do for Lucy.
The key to the cell is within sight.
What are you doing? Her eyes seemed to say. Have you gone mad?
She twists it in the keyhole and the cage clicks open.
Never before had Mina seen Lucy so afraid. She did not move from her position on the floor. When Mina steps into the confines of the metal bars, she sees the way Lucy tenses and her eyes widen. It's like approaching a wild animal, Mina thinks, as she moves slowly toward Lucy. Lucy is uncomfortable, worried, and scared, all that is blatantly obvious to Mina, who knows Lucy like no other. She lowers herself onto the floor, it is wet and sticky with dry blood, powdery from dust.
It is when her warm fingers brush against Lucy's cold ones, that Mina truly recognises how much she has missed Lucy, her Lucy. She dares to run her thumb against Lucy's, measuring the vampire's reaction. Lucy pulls away abruptly, as if Mina had burned her with scathing flames. Fool. Mina chides. Look what you have done. Lucy does not appear hurt or offended, just shocked. Can she feel the racing of my heart? Mina dares again to touch Lucy's hand, she does this time, and Lucy does not pull back. Lucy's sharp intake of breath and dilated pupils show Mina Lucy knows.
Could feel the steady rhythm of her heart. Could hear her deepening breath. Could sense the nerves coursing through her body. Could feel the flush creeping up her neck.
Mina stays still for a few heartbeats, with just her hand against Lucy's. She wants to reach out fully, but daren't, for her courage seemed to be swept away by some invisible force. If Lucy was to pull away again, Mina doesn't think she shall live. Yes, she could survive with Lucy despising her, but for her friend to be silent and lifeless was torture. A cruel game.
When Lucy offers Mina her open palm, Mina tentatively intertwines their fingers, seeking permission for the fragile contact. How Mina's heart sings when Lucy gently squeezes her hand in assurance.
Yes, a part of Mina seemed to sigh. I've grown so terribly mad without you.
"Let's go," Mina says, her voice sounding too loud and shattering the silence. "Let's get you clean."