Chapter XI
Alexander Grayson was sitting at his desk, impeccably dressed in a fetching grey pinstriped suit. His hair was combed to perfection. He eyed Renfield with a murderous look. "Was that your doing?"
"Yes, Sir."
"You are fired."
Renfield didn't move from the comfortable armchair he had chosen for the difficult conversation. "It needed to be done," at last he stated hermetically, staring unflinchingly at his counterpart.
"Really? It needed to be done?" Grayson's tone was disparaging. "I'm going to fire you, and then I'm going to kill you, and then I'm going to fire you again!" He slammed his fists on the table, papers flying all around.
"She deserves to know the truth," was the second bit of information the lawyer circumspectly released, a sage expression on his face.
Grayson found it profoundly annoying. "You think you know everything, eh?" He stood up and walked to the window, playing for a bit with the sunrays touching his hand. "Do you know what she will do once she discovers what I am?" he added pensively.
A knock was heard on the door, and Grayson's face suddenly morphed into an expression of absolute terror: the last thing he needed today was for his wife to come and announce her definitive departure. He couldn't bear that too, today, he simply couldn't.
Fortunately for him, it was only Van Helsing, one of his annoying, conceited grins plastered on his face. "Well, well, I see we are all here," he greeted, with a quick nod to Renfield. "I'm glad to announce that Mrs. Grayson is recuperating splendidly, and has manifested her wish to join us as soon as she finishes redressing."
"What?! Is she coming down? And you have done nothing to prevent this?! I order you to sedate her immediately!" Grayson positively resembled a madman.
"I most surely will not do such a thing."
"It's an order!"
"Calm yourself down!"
"What did you tell her? What does she know?" He hoped fervently the damage was not irreparable.
"Just that you have a medical condition, a very special one, and that I've been your physician for the past fifteen years.
Grayson was mildly relieved. "Good, good, that's not so bad. We can keep the rest to ourselves," he said, stroking contemplatively his moustache.
"You yourself need to tell her the rest, Sir" the sphinx that had become Renfield pronounced, all his infinite wisdom dripping copiously from every pore of his face.
"Have you all lost your mind today? What is this, a conspiracy?! Do you want also to rip out my heart and throw it to the dogs?!" He made a fist and smashed one of the windowpanes with enormous satisfaction. "I forbid everyone to speak. Everyone!" he added with a meaningful glower directed especially at the traitorous lawyer.
Renfield and Van Helsing sighed almost in unison.
"Things will stay as they are, forever! That is my last word, and I don't want to be contradicted." Again Renfield bore the brunt of Grayson's malevolent glare.
In the midst of all the shouting, an approaching carriage was heard. Moving to the window again, Grayson said, "It's Lady Wetherby. Good." He passed a hand through his hair. "At least one thing is going according to plan, in this house!"
He moved towards the door in long strides and shouted in the direction of the two men, "I still have three hours of the serum. I will be having a romp in the hay with Lady Jayne, quite literally, I'm afraid." He sighed rather exaggeratedly. "I'm very close to becoming a member of the Order, and you two are just ruining everything, with your meddling!" He grabbed his coat and added, "I prohibit both of you to say another word to my wife, is that understood?"
The two men nodded in unison, again.
"And Renfield, if you prize your life in the slightest, you will impede that my wife leaves this house, under any circumstances!" He was gone soon afterwards, with an ear-shattering slam of the door.
While redressing in fresh clothes after her fright, Mina had tried, for the best part of an hour, to make sense of what she had witnessed in the laboratory. The only incontrovertible conclusion was that her poor husband was very sick, but nothing else of the doctor's explanation had any medical basis. Until she had embarrassingly fainted, she had been monitoring his vital signs, and she didn't like at all what she had seen.
A pang of anguish pierced her heart. In the course of the last hour, a completely new universe had opened in front of her eyes. She seemed to have forgotten and forgiven all her husband's previous faults and his treatment of her, with the sole recalling of the torturous medical treatment she had seen Alexander being subjected to. That scene in cellar was the only thing she could keep replaying in her head, in a sort of sick fascination. And she had discovered she couldn't think ill of Alexander anymore, if the poor man was being plagued by a mortal disease.
Mina now just felt guilty for all the doubts she had experienced before. Alexander was just a man in need of help. Alexander was not despicable anymore. Alexander was just her husband, and she was his wife.
Her novel state of mind had come as a surprise, but now of one thing she was suddenly sure: that she refused to lose him, she refused with all her heart. She would do whatever was necessary to save his life. Reaching resolutely the door, she climbed down the stairs in a hurry, only to find that her husband had just left the premises, and with Lady Jayne, Renfield was solicitous to inform her; Mina had frown at the unpleasant news and at the mention of that hateful name. Van Helsing was also nowhere to be found, having left soon after Grayson, for the University.
Mina decided it was imperative to get at once clear answers to the dreadful questions that had become foremost in her mind since that experience in the laboratory, and was determined to extract them from her professor, by whatever means necessary. She ran upstairs to retrieve her purse, hat, gloves and coat, and approached the main door, only to be stopped by the surreptitious appearance of the hulk that was Renfield, placidly standing right in front of her. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Grayson, but I've received orders not to let you leave the house."
She eyed him in mild puzzlement. "Am I a prisoner now?"
"You are married to a man with powerful enemies, who has given strict instructions, to you and me."
Mina sighed. "Mr. Renfield, I don't wish to be discourteous, but this is my house, and I advise you not to interfere in my affairs."
"I suggest you calm down before making any hasty decisions. May I offer you a brandy?"
Mina laughed nervously. "Lately everybody tells me to calm down. But I'm not the crazy one, am I?"
Her penetrating, beseeching stare was going to be Renfield's undoing. He averted her eyes, and went to prepare a drink for the both of them. "Come sit with me," he said at last in a kind tone. "I will tell you everything that is in my power to disclose."
Enthused by the offer, Mina stiffly took a seat on the sofa opposite the lawyer. "Very well, Mr. Renfield, what's going on in this house?" She stared at him defiantly.
The lawyer cleared his throat and began. "You need to know that Mr. Grayson loves you very much, and it would kill him if you ever left him. He's also a very sick man, but Dr. Van Helsing has been helping him for years now, and we think we are close to a cure. I cannot tell you more about the nature of his disease. Lastly, he's a man with powerful enemies, and has been forced lately to consort with people like Lady Jayne Wetherby, to push forward his scheme of getting rid of the whole lot of them. I assure you that Jayne is no threat to you," he added as an afterthought, glancing at Mina meaningfully, and the woman lowered her stare in embarrassment.
Renfield continued with his recounting. "I've been working with him for the last twelve years, and we are very close to our goal, unless you decide to leave him. I cannot foresee what he will do if you abandon him." He sighed in distress, lowering his stare to his glass. "So, as you can see, the success of our enterprise rests ultimately upon your shoulders."
He quietened at last, and slowly took a sip of liquor, hoping with all his forces that the semi-truthful concoction he had just come up with, would suffice to retain the woman in the house, at least for a few hours more, until Grayson returned. He didn't want to be held responsible for his wife's disappearance too, after what he had just done to the both of them.
Mina stared at the man with a puzzled face. "I'm not leaving my husband," she clarified with conviction, "I was just trying to go and see Professor Van Helsing, to know more about his disease."
Renfield drew a relieved breath. "That's splendid news, then." He smiled at her with fondness. "But I cannot let you leave the house, anyway."
"This is ridiculous!" Mina cried in outrage. "I'm tired of these games, Mr. Renfield, and I'd appreciate if you would convey this message to your employer too!"
"Please, Mrs. Grayson, don't agitate yourself."
"I will leave this house whenever I please!"
It was at that moment that Alexander reappeared in the hall. In the frenzy of the discussion neither of them had heard the carriage approaching. His hair was a bit disheveled, and he bore a vaguely guilty expression. He advanced towards the liquor cabinet and served himself a drink, without acknowledging either of the people in the room. "Mrs. Grayson, I beg you not to make a scene with my lawyer: he's just following my orders," he clarified without turning, a cold tone in his voice.
"Alexander, how are you felling?" was the worried response he received from his wife. She had been mortally concerned for his health in the past few hours, but now couldn't find the courage to walk closer to him. She stood up and remained frozen to the spot beside the sofa, playing nervously with her gloves.
Grayson laughed a little maniacally. "I see. Not quite a good bargain this marriage of yours has turned out to be, eh? I reckon your Jonathan is in perfect health," he added dismissively.
"How could you say that?" Mina asked in outrage mixed with dread, while Renfield sighed in exasperation, not daring however to leave the premises, in case any of the present, deranged people needed an attitude adjustment from the only rational person at hand. Mina took two bold steps towards her husband, and stopped again. Without looking up, she said, "I was so scared for you." She finished with an audible sob.
"Are you crying now?" Alexander asked derisively.
"No," she clarified, wiping furtively her face with one of the gloves.
"Stop it, right now!"
Renfield grumbled in the background unintelligibly.
"I cannot," she whimpered pathetically.
"Don't cry, Ilona. You know that I cannot see you cry," Alexander at last uttered with a broken voice, his expression suddenly tenderer.
At the words, Mina started weeping with more energy.
Grayson ran to her, and took her in his strong, comforting arms. Mina relished the embrace and quietened somewhat her cries.
"I didn't want you to see that," he whispered in her ear with a defeated tone.
Placing both hands on his shoulders, she looked up at him. "How could you say such a thing?" She boldly passed a hand through his hair and stated, "You have an illness, and I want only to take care of you. I will be always here to take care of you."
"Do you mean it?" Alexander enquired in an uncertain tone.
"Yes, I mean it." The woman held his stare, transfixed. "Alexander, I'm sorry for making you doubt. I'm not sorry, I'm not sorry at all for having married you!"
"Oh, Ilona!" he said, tightening the hold he was firmly maintaining on her waist, and burying his head in the woman's neck, breathing in her inebriating scent. "Then go upstairs and wait for me," he said with a mischievous grin."I will be with you soon." He placed a reverent kiss on her forehead and watched in rapture his Ilona climbing the stairs in a hurry.
Throwing a sly glance at Renfield, who had remained comfortably seated during the whole exchange, sipping leisurely his whisky, he smiled to himself with in satisfaction: today hadn't turned as badly as he had expected, after all. He should have thanked the lawyer for his providential intervention, but he was decided not to give the man the satisfaction of being right. He deserved to suffer at length for his act of disobedience, and he would devise new methods of making the man highly uncomfortable during the next days, or years. But today he had more pressing engagements, that would soon require his full attention. He grinned leeringly at the thought of his Ilona waiting for him, and just for him, in her chambers.
He strolled to the library, signaling Renfield to follow him. He extracted his pocket watch, and played idly with it for some minutes. With a pleased sigh, he proceeded to inform his friend of what had transpired in his last rendezvous with Lady Jayne.
After half an hour, he climbed the stairs to the second story.
Today he had made great progress with his mistress: after their usual passionate lovemaking session, she had finally openly broached the subject of his upcoming induction into the Order. She disclosed to him that the leader of the Chapter had finally accepted the idea, provided he would hand out all the blueprints for his magnetic machine. She hadn't divulged any names yet, nevertheless Grayson hadn't been able to hide a victorious grin. He had then proceeded to take her again against a wall, and Lady Jayne had been utterly pleased with the overall performance.
And now his Ilona too, had finally come to her senses, and had remembered the love they once shared together: this had been a really perfect day.
Upon opening the door of his beloved's chambers, he found the room in semi-darkness. His Ilona was waiting for him on the bed, and she extended a hand to him. "Alexander, you are here," she said with an inviting smile, full of promises. "I need you," she finally admitted, to Grayson's utmost delight.
"I need you too, Ilona. I've missed you," he uttered, hovering over her and kissing fiercely her trembling lips.
"I want to make you happy, let me make you happy," Mina said in a beseeching voice, a solemn promise evident in her expression. She extended a hand to caress timidly the visible bulge in Grayson's trousers, as she had just learnt to do a few days before, at her husband's bequest.
Alexander grinned at her and made haste of getting rid of his clothes. He then straddled his Ilona and reverently unbuttoned her nightgown, until her perfect breasts were exposed. Mina didn't cover herself up this time. With a trembling hand, she resumed the bold caresses to the now bared, hardened member of her beloved. Alexander sighed in ecstasy.
He moved closer to her face, and Mina understood what was required of her. She tentatively licked the turgid flesh and then disclosed her lips, while Grayson delicately pushed the tip of his shaft into her mouth.
She hesitantly started sucking on it, looking fixedly up at Alexander in the eyes, to receive directions, and his ecstatic grin told her she was doing something good. Grayson pushed a little bit further, and Mina accepted with relish everything her husband had to give her. Finally, he grasped her by the hair with one hand and growled, "Swallow, my dear, swallow it all," while massaging sensuously her neck.
Mina couldn't but obey.