Dr. Victor Frankenstein had run out of ideas. His adversary was very clever, either that or his adversary was unaware of Frankenstein's designs to get rid of him. Whatever the reason, Frankenstein had had little success in getting rid of Rolf Junge, except for those days in which he could not come to the castle with Justine because of work. It was during one of these times that Frankenstein was watching the children with Justine. He and she were alone, because Adam and Victoria had gone out to do some shopping. Frankenstein could not imagine how they did this, looking as they did, but they had said that the villagers had grown tolerant of them.

"Dr. Frankenstein, could you hold Maximilian for a moment?" asked Justine.

Frankenstein took the baby from her arms and she quickly snatched a rock away from Victor, who had been trying to swallow it. She handed him back his gun toy. "Here, go shoot imaginary targets," she said.

Victor walked away, saying, "Bang!" contentedly. Maximilian curled up in Frankenstein's arms and slept, putting his thumb in his mouth. "He looks quite comfortable there," said Justine, smiling.

"Oh well, I love children," replied Frankenstein.

"Indeed? You'd be a wonderful father," said Justine.

"Well, I would," replied Frankenstein, "if I could find a partner with whom I could create children. For, after all, one can't create life on one's own," he added.

"I'm sure there are many women willing to marry you," replied Justine, smiling at him. "You're quite handsome, Dr. Frankenstein."

"Do you really think so?" he asked, astonished.

"Oh, definitely," replied Justine. "You have almost a noble bearing about you. And lovely blue eyes. And a very pleasant light color of hair."

"But…you don't think me a bad person?" asked Frankenstein.

"No," she replied, smiling. "Not even when you're in one of your rude moods. You're not fond of Rolf, are you?"

Frankenstein responded bluntly. "No. He's unworthy of you."

She laughed. "Unworthy of me? Dr. Frankenstein, I'm but a peasant girl."

"No, you're not," he replied. "You're a princess, a goddess, you deserve to be the wife of a king."

"Why do you say that?" she asked quietly.

"Because you are noble," he insisted. "You have a beauty both inner and outer, and kindness, and charm, and a love that should be shared with a million people, not just one man. And not just a man like Rolf Junge."

"No?" she asked. "And who would you suggest, Dr. Frankenstein, as a substitute?"

She had leaned forward to take Maximilian back from Frankenstein, and Frankenstein could not resist. He brought his mouth to hers and kissed her. She was surprised, but did not draw away. He broke from her lips at last and replied, softly, "Me."

"Dr. Frankenstein…"

"Please," he said. "Don't reprimand me. I love you, Justine. And I can't do anything else but speak the truth to you."

"Oh, Dr. Frankenstein, I had no idea you felt this way," said Justine, blushing brightly. "You must understand it's impossible, that I'm engaged to Rolf…"

"Do you love him?" asked Frankenstein, quietly.

"Of course," she replied. "Or I wouldn't be marrying him."

Frankenstein nodded, heaving a heavy sigh. He handed Maximilian back to her and left the room without another word. Entering his own, he sat down on his bed and glared at the wall for a long time. "I can't do this alone," he murmured.

He suddenly leapt to his feet and went over to the desk. Sitting down, he seized a piece of paper and a pen and started writing. There was only one man who could help him…

Dr. Jekyll had been downstairs conversing with Erik about Emma until very late, and he now ascended the steps to his room and laboratory. He entered the dark room and turned on the gas, and gave a cry of surprise.

Dracula was there, searching furtively through Jekyll's selection of chemicals. He turned as Jekyll flicked on the lights and said, "Dr. Jekyll, what is your most fatal poison?"

"Why do you want to know?" demanded Jekyll, recovering from his initial start.

"I haven't tried poisoning myself yet," replied Dracula, continuing to shift beakers. "I'm going to try and see what effect it will have on me."

"Not with my chemicals, you're not," snapped Jekyll. "Those are expensive."

"I know, I pay for them," retorted Dracula, pushing aside bottles. "I can use them to commit suicide if I wish. Now what is your most deadly toxin?"

"There are quite a few," replied Jekyll. "Arsenic or strychnine or…"

"I'll just try this one," said Dracula, seizing a bottle with a large skull and cross bones on the front.

"No, not that…" began Jekyll, but Dracula had already uncorked it and swallowed deeply.

He put down the beaker, a blank look on his face. Suddenly, his eyes widened in pain, and he fell to his knees, choking. Jekyll feared he was going to be sick, but Dracula just kneeled there, gasping and clutching his stomach.

He suddenly leapt to his feet and exclaimed, loudly, "Damn! What the devil is it?!"

"It's…"

"It burns like hellfire!" he cried. "Which one of these neutralizes it?!" He began frantically searching the shelves, knocking over the beakers and shattering many of them on the floor.

"Damn it, it's this one!" shouted Jekyll, rushing forward to save his chemicals. He thrust a beaker at Dracula, who gulped it down greedily. Jekyll scrambled to clean up the acids that had spilled before they ate holes in floor, as Dracula breathed a sigh of relief.

"I won't be doing that again," he said, firmly.

Jekyll suddenly froze. There, lying on the floor, an unsalvageable mess, was his solution on which he had been on the verge of a breakthrough. He had worked on it before he had met Emma so diligently, and now it was gone, days and weeks of work and research, gone.

Jekyll looked up at Dracula with shock. "You destroyed it," he breathed.

"Destroyed what?" asked Dracula, casually.

"You destroyed it!" repeated Jekyll, growing furious. "My experiment, so close to being perfected, so close to earning me fame and fortune, so close to creating a utopia for mankind, you destroyed it!"

"Well…I'm sorry," replied Dracula, for lack of anything else to say.

"Sorry?!" repeated Jekyll, rapidly transforming into Mr. Hyde. "Sorry doesn't cut it, damn it! Do you realize how close I was?! Do you realize what could have been accomplished, but now, because of your idiocy, is ruined?!"

"My idiocy?" repeated Dracula, offended. "Don't blame this on me, Jekyll…um…Hyde."

"Who the hell else am I going to blame it on?!" demanded Hyde, furiously. "It's entirely your fault! Your wallowing in self-pity has had me fed up for a long time now, but this is the last straw!"

"Attack me, Mr. Hyde," said Dracula, dangerously. "You won't last long, I assure you."

Hyde was burning with rage, but he growled and stormed from the room, but not before seizing his heavy cane. He left the house in a fury, and woe to the first person whom he met. They would feel the wrath of Edward Hyde.

Hyde walked for a long time, unconsciously aware that he was headed for Purfleet. He had just reached the fairly deserted outskirts of that pleasant place when he bumped into a man.

Hyde whirled on him, furious for his clumsiness, and was met with a voice he recognized demanding, "Watch where you're going, man! Are you an idiot, that you think this is just some country lane you can stroll down?!"

The man Hyde had bumped into was Sir Danvers Carew. He glared at Hyde angrily, seething from rage just as much as Hyde was. Hyde, however, was not ready to bandy words with anyone, especially not this object of his hatred. The moment he recognized him, Hyde had felt a rage and fury overpower him, and now he did not think, but acted.

Hyde struck Sir Danvers with his cane, knocking him to the ground. He continued to beat him furiously, releasing all his anger upon the man, fairly chuckling to himself as he did so. He continued this for he did not know how long, but by the time he was through, Sir Danvers Carew was barely recognizable from the mangled corpse which lay at his feet. Hyde cackled gleefully, joyful that his rage had been released, and that he had killed.

Then a thought struck Hyde's brain which made his laughter die in his throat. He had just clubbed Sir Danvers Carew to death. He had just clubbed Emma's father to death.

How could he explain this to her? He couldn't! She wouldn't understand! She would be furious at Mr. Hyde, and if she knew that Jekyll and Hyde were one and the same, she would never, in a thousand years, consent to marry him.

Hyde did what any person in such a situation would do. He fled from the scene of the crime. He ran like a scared rabbit all the way back to Carfax and threw open the door, rushed in, and slammed it shut, leaning against it and panting.

"What's the matter with you?" asked Dracula, who was coming down the stairs from Jekyll's laboratory to his crypt.

"What have I done?" breathed Hyde, wide-eyed in fear. "What have I done?"

"I don't know; what have you done?" asked Dracula.

"Oh hell!" cried Hyde, in fury mixed with panic. "Oh hell! How could I have done that?!"

"You've murdered somebody, that's plain," said Dracula, eyeing Hyde's cane which had blood upon it. He licked his lips, his eyes alight. "Who?" he asked, casually.

Hyde sank into a chair in the drawing room. "Sir Danvers Carew," he gasped, hoarsely.

Dracula shuddered. "Never mind, then. I could be starving to death and I wouldn't touch his blood."

"You don't understand," snapped Hyde. "I've murdered Emma's father! Any chance of happiness me or Jekyll had with her is gone, because once she finds out that he's the same man who murdered her father, she'll want to kill him, not marry him!"

Dracula whistled. "How tragic," he said, grinning. "I suppose you've lost her forever now," he said gleefully. "So now you can see how I feel."

"I don't care how you feel!" shouted Hyde, furiously. "I want Emma! God damn it! Jekyll, it's your responsibility!" he shouted to his inner self. He stormed up the stairs and gulped down the formula, and soon Henry Jekyll had appeared where Hyde had been. He immediately burst out sobbing. "What am I going to do?" he moaned. "I can't face her again, not with this on my conscience!"

There was a knock on the door and Dracula entered. "I just thought I should tell you, I won't be here to listen to you whine," he said, smiling. "I've received a letter from Dr. Frankenstein, and I'm going to go visit him in his castle in Switzerland. He says he has a problem he wants my help with, and it should get me away from all your talk about women."

"I won't be talking about her because she won't see me!" cried Jekyll. "When she finds out that Hyde…she'll kill me!"

"Whatever it is, it's not my problem anymore," said Dracula, smugly. "Cheerio."

He left and Jekyll sank into a chair. "What can I do?" he murmured. "Nothing. There's nothing I can do. He's dead, they'll find out Hyde did it, Emma will find out Hyde is Jekyll, and then…and then…oh God, what have I done?!"