The Darkest Soul of Light
Part 10
A week has passed. Dr. Sweet was standing in the butcher's house were his loyal thralls lived.
"Master, five of our kind died this week. Not because of lack of food but because of a strange disease that came as an avalanche. All of them had the same symptoms. Burns started spreading on their skin and then they burst into flames like torches turning into ashes in few minutes." One of the thralls spoke.
"Who was the first to die?" asked the man coldly staring at the crowd despising the bloodless servants around him.
"Sally, she went to the church that day to spy on the girl as you ordered. She felt the pain in the church. When she came back, she was behaving like insane, tearing her clothes apart. We wanted to help, treated her wounds. There were enormous burns deep down her flesh. The woman died in the evening," the thrall explained looking at his feet rather than in his master's eyes.
"Where were the others who died also spying on the girl?" sounded the question.
"Two of them contacted with sally but others were here all the time doing their chores."
"How many have the same symptoms?" Dr. Sweet wanted full information on the subject in order to decide what to do.
"About ten or thirteen," was the response.
"Were they communicating with each other, maybe working, eating or hunting together?"
"I don't know. I have to check," the man apologized for his narrow-minded approach to the problem.
"Then do it! At least isolate them from others. We need to understand what decimates our kind!" The man barked and his eyes turned black.
"Master, one more thing," said a pale teenager.
"What?!" The man turned his anger to the boy.
"A woman, a blonde one with white-bluish skin. I think she has a disease or something as she definitely doesn't look like other humans. I've seen her two times in the park where Miss Ives likes to walk with her niece. It's like she is following them as we do. Do we need to take care of her?" the boy proposed.
"No, you shouldn't. If my guess is correct, this girl is not Miss Ives's niece. Maybe the woman, who is following the child everywhere, is her mother. In this case, it works into our favor," Dr. Sweet concluded. "But I need to establish this theorem. Thank you, John. Good work."
The boy smiled touched by the unexpected praise from his master. At that very moment he was extremely proud by his wonderful ability to spy on people without being caught at place.
"Miss Ives, what a coincidence! How was your day?" Miss Frankenstein greeted Vanessa when she was walking with Florence in the park. Florence also greeted the blonde woman without any enthusiasm. Again she saw that true and ugly Lily's face that made her nauseous.
"Miss Frankenstein, good day! And who is your young friend?" Miss Ives asked examining an approximately fifteen year old girl who was accompanying Lily.
"This is my protégé, Justine Smith. Her mother, my good friend, sent her here to learn social graces. I'm not sure that I am a good teacher but I'm trying to do my best." Lily winged it up. "Justine, this is Miss Vanessa Ives and her adorable niece, Miss Florence Welch." The woman beamed at the girl, the latter moved closer to Vanessa.
"How do you do, Miss Ives, Miss Welch," the girl nodded not sure if she had to shake hands or not.
"Nice to meet you, Miss Smith," echoed the dark haired woman turning back to Miss Frankenstein. That shouldn't be a challenge for a woman who always shines at balls," Vanessa made an attempt to nettle the woman. "How is your cousin, Miss Frankenstein? Haven't seen him for ages." she grinned broadly pretending to be polite.
"Oh, Victor. He's doing well, works double tides as usual. You know him, a passionate genius who likes what he's doing more than the world around him." The woman emphasized not feeling very comfortable about the direction of this conversation. So, she quickly changed the subject. "We were buying some sweets at Terry's. Here you are, Miss Welch." Lily gave Florence and bar of chocolate with a teddy bear print on it.
"Thank you, Miss Frankenstein!" The girl expressed her gratitude clumsily taking the gift with both hands in order not to show how painful it was for her to move fingers.
"Your niece is a total charm! I hope you come to dine with us sometimes at Mr. Gray's house," she invited Vanessa and the girl.
"Oh, you are so kind! Unfortunately, she hasn't been feeling very well lately. We're just coming back from the doctor."
"Nothing serious I hope?" Lily seemed extremely concerned over the information Vanessa has revealed.
"She's asthmatic. Doctors don't know the exact cause of it. It could be allergy or anxiety. We try to figure out," Vanessa looked at the child who was listening to the woman with curiosity.
"Oh, I see. Wish you to be as fit as a fiddle, Miss Welch. And still hope to see you both at our place." She addressed to the girl.
Florence thanked the woman once again, said "good bye" and followed Miss Ives home. Vanessa took the chocolate bar and hid it safely in the huge pocket of her skirt.
"Why don't you like her?" asked the child.
"Why I don't like whom?"
"Miss Frankenstein," Florence made it clear.
"I don't know her quite well. Besides, she broke heart of one of my best friends," Vanessa explained. "Do you like her? We can pay a visit if you want to."
"No, thanks. I'd rather stay at home and read."
"Why? Miss Smith seems to be a good young lady. You can play with her."
"I'm nine and she's fourteen or fifteen. What do we have in common?" The child argued.
"You need to have friends. Why were you so cold with the girl in the park who wanted to play with you yesterday?" Vanessa reminded the girl about her behavior.
"She wanted to make a garland from leaves. How I could do that if I could barely bend my fingers?!"
"Still you need to have friends!" The woman insisted.
"I already have," Florence looked at Vanessa and smiled. She would take woman's hand in hers if it wasn't so painful.
"No, I don't count. You need to socialize with children of your age." Though, she was proud to hear such words from the child. At least Florence started to see her not as a landlady who hired this little girl to tidy up the house.
"It is the most boring thing ever! What would I talk about: how beautiful a doll is or what silly thing Katy did yesterday? You know they'll run away the minute I begin citing Odyssey or discuss 'Leviathan' by Thomas Hobbes. By the way, you speak about my friends but I haven't seen yours, except this strange woman and Mr. Gray. Maybe they are imaginary." Florence teased again.
"What?! When I catch you, you'll see what imaginary friends I have!" and the woman ran after the girl who was running away giggling.
They came home quite out of puff but in a good mood. Vanessa established a schedule for the child. Breakfast in the morning, some time to read a book or just to chat about anything Florence wanted, then a visit to Dr. Steward either with the girl or without her, after that came lunch. Miss Ives insisted on girl's midday sleep. Then they went together in the park or somewhere else to walk a bit. In the evening Florence read to Vanessa while she was cooking dinner. The woman also included some lessons on Mathematics, Science and other subjects which she taught herself or they played some board games that Vanessa has recently bought.
The routine was overwhelming but very productive. She remembered the days spent with Mr. Chandler at the Ballentree Moor. There they took care of each other as a small family not stepping over some relationship lines that would hurt both of them afterwards. Here it was the same but different because now Vanessa feared for the little girl. She didn't let her go anywhere alone and tried to come home as quick as possible after the sessions with Dr. Steward. Miss Ives got used to Florence's encyclopaedic talks. As all children of her age the girl lacked analytical thinking which Vanessa tried to develop. This evening they both sat near the fireplace analyzing a poem by Longfellow.
Two days later Mr. Renfield came to the butcher's house to see his master.
"What can you tell me about the girl, son?" Dr. Sweet approached a tall pale man without greeting him.
"She is not Miss Ives's relative. She's a random girl from the street. Her father mistreated her and she ran away. As I understood it was a million to one chance for her to be so lucky," he confessed.
"Yet, HE thought about that! If this little beast lives with the only woman we need to cast this world down into chaos. Does Florence have any clue of who she really is?" The man continued his interrogation well aware that everyone else listens to them.
"Not at all, that old witch, Dr. Steward, teaches her to forget things instead of remembering some core events. By the way, there's something wrong with girl's memory. She can remember herself from the year of two every day in detail. She can describe every person whom she saw in the street and what he or she spoke about. She can quote every book she read or cite every story she heard. Isn't it amazing for a nine year old?" The man was so agitated that he shot the information in one long monotonous sentence.
"That's a huge disadvantage for us. This means she already understood that Miss Ives is followed up wherever she might go. That's why I want more of you to be in charge of the watch. Disguise yourself, when one is following on one street another is keeping track on the other." He ordered the thralls.
"What should we do with the disease, my Lord? Seven more of us have the same symptoms," a man from the crowd spoke.
"Did you identify its source?"
"Everyone was treating the wounds of those who already got the disease. The first was Sally who was contaminated in the church." The man explained.
"Who followed them to the church this week?"
"I did," a fourteen year old boy echoed from the crowd.
"Did you feel anything?" Dr. Sweet asked turning his gaze to the boy.
"No, nothing at all."
"Either she is too weak or the girl didn't perform anything she did the previous time. Nevertheless, when you see her try to keep distance and never, I repeat, never touch her skin. Even for me her touch is poisonous." He emphasized the last sentence.
"What should we do with the ill?" enquired the man.
"Isolate them and let them die. We can't cure the disease sent by the God himself but we will have our revenge!"
"How?" A murmur ran through the ranks of thralls.
"Mr. Renfield, you said that Miss Welch was mistreated by her father. In what way?"
"He gambled her away," Mr. Renfield said without hesitation or disgust.
"To whom?"
"To a man."
"And what happened?"
"Nothing, she ran away." The man didn't understand the reason of the last question.
"You all know that to kill an angel means an eternity in oblivion. You won't be wiped away only from this world but also your soul will be wiped away from the universe itself. I won't lie to you, as I don't have the power to kill the right hand of God, but people were always inventive in finding a way. Even the son of God went to long rest. If it is impossible to kill her, we will clip her wings. The battle has just begun!" He roared to the crowd which responded the call.
To be continued…