On the desk of Professor Bhaer's rented room lay an open case made of faded mahogany wood and lined with frayed silk, the contents of which had been spread out in a jumbled heap around it. Three wooden stakes, a pistol with silver bullets, a mirror, a flask of holy water, a crucifix, bulbs of garlic, talismans of every shape and description, an odd contraption of two syringes laced together by a hollow length of tough leather, a little black pill that could induce vomiting, and which was said to be reusable… all things which various cultures and sciences prescribed for the hunting of vampires and the treatment of their bite. Bhaer felt dizzy just looking at these things, for though he was armed to the teeth and prepared to fight against whatever monsters were destroying the town of Concord, he still had been unable to find those monsters' lair. He was beginning to feel that he would soon have to do something drastic, if he was to have any hope of ending this.
This idea reverberated in his already taxed mind at the sound of a loud, nearly frantic knock at the door, which sent Bhaer flying to his feet without even thinking to put away his instruments.
His first thought was that Jo had come, and she had met some trouble. As such, he found himself staring for a moment at the freckled boy who stood before him.
"Mr. Laurie is looking for ye, sir," said the boy, who had a New England accent almost as difficult to decipher as that of the March's house keeper. Bhaer went at once to gather his utensils into his box, while the boy went on breathlessly about something to do with rain and trouble.
The boy's distress was evident, and Bhaer wished he could understand more than half of what he was saying. When the child asked him why he had a gun, however, Bhaer understood the words very clearly. It was not the sort of question that he ever wanted to be asked by a child, even if this one was so big as to be barely a child at all any more.
"It's for…protection." Bhaer replied, trying not to sound overly grave, not fully aware that his face had fixed itself in a deep frown at the mention of Jo's brother in law, which betrayed all his worry about what was to come.
The boy gave him a quizzical look, as if to say that it was impossible to shoot a plague, but only gestured for Bhaer to follow him to see his master.
Bhaer wondered, not for the first time, at the strange innocence of the young, for he could not think of a single adult who would willingly lead an armed stranger.
The house that the boy led him to was grandiose and elegant in the modern way, with clean white lines and manicured gardens. It was entirely different from the cozy March home, and even the great mansion standing beside it, the appearance of which made Bhaer imagine velvet curtains and musty libraries.
"Mr. Laurie lives here," the boy explained, pushing the door, which had been left open in spite of the weather. The first thing that Bhaer noticed was that s woman's shawl and nightgown lay in a soaking heap on the floor, along with shoes and some other articles of clothing that Bhaer thought it was best he didn't look at.
"Something happened," the boy said, stating the obvious in way of explanation. Laurie arrived then, looking frazzled and damp. A few words passed between him and the young man, who he dismissed. Bhaer found his eyes once again fixed on the pile of clothing during the exchange.
"The shoes belong to Miss March," He said, as Laurie's hands fell on his arm.
"Brilliant," came the younger man's reply. "Care to guess who the rest of the things belong to?"
At any other time Laurie's tone of voice would have rattled Bhaer, but already fear was making his heart beat faster and his hands turn cold.
"She was bitten," Said Bhaer, for there was no need to wonder in these circumstances.
"Yes, she's been bitten." Laurie's words came with a pained hitch, and Bhaer was ready to put a hand on his shoulder and request to see Jo as gently as possible, when he turned on him. "Given how you know already that this is the only possible explanation for my bringing you here, I'm surprised you couldn't have predicted it. Jo says you're something of an expert on the bites."
"Let me see her," Bhaer said, much more coldly than he'd intended to.
Jo was in his living room, asleep on his couch, her skin paper white. How different she looked from the healthy girl who had come to question him only two days ago, and who he had clearly not answered nearly well enough,
"How many times was she bitten?" Bhaer asked, kneeling down to check her pulse, and to check for any marks on her skin.
"How the devil am I to know?"
Laurie's voice came uncomfortably close to his ear, for he had followed his motions, and was now nearing by Jo as well. He sounded more despairing than angry. Bhaer wished that he would stand up and back away.
"You spend much time with her," Bhaer replied.
"You've spent more time with her over the last few days than I have. She told me she asked you about the bites and her sisters, and you didn't tell her anything. In turn, she wouldn't tell me anything, not even the little bit she knew, not even that… something was happening to her."
"When I last saw her, nothing had happened to her," said Bhaer, though he still could not but feel that much of the blame sat clearly on his shoulders. "Tell me all you know, at once."
"You tell me first," Said Laurie, springing to his feet, his hands clenched as if he'd rather like to hit something or someone. He would not be easy to deal with. In fact, none of this would be easy to deal with, and perhaps a lack of cooperation on Laurie's part would prove the least of his problems.
"I have much to tell, and some has little relation to what we see today. I need to know something of what is happening."
"I found her asleep outside this morning. She was… disoriented. She hasn't told me a thing. I found her bag as well. There was a knife in it. Her parents…"
Here Laurie trailed off, and his hand went to his face, in a way that Bhaer knew better than to interrupt right away.
"Do they know she is here with you?"
"I daresay they don't."
"Where are they?" Asked Bhaer, his voice trembling just a bit in anticipation of an answer that he knew he would not like.
"Dead," Laurie said quickly, as if he could minimize the pain of this by saying as little as possible.
Bhaer could not say anything just then, but brushed the hair away from Jo's neck, and tried to ground himself in the reality and the clinical details of the situation. The mark was an angry, deep red, and showed signs of bruising around the edges. This in and off itself was unusual. He did not dare to remove her blankets to look over the rest of her, but his guess was that she had struggled against the creature, and survived it somehow. Most bite victims he had known had been unable to fight against their attackers, and he suspected those who had been aware enough to try it were the ones who did not survive even the first attack.
"In what condition are the bodies?" Asked Bhaer, feeling as though he were a million miles outside of himself. If the bodies were whole, then he would have to make sure that they did not rise, and he would have to do so before sunset.
Laurie made a sound somewhere between a cough and a cry, and Bhaer decided wisely to wait and say nothing.
"Her mother isn't so bad," Laurie said, then shook her head, "Or, rather, she's dead, and it doesn't get much worse than that, but her father…"
Bhaer stood, cutting Laurie off with a quick nod, and a touch of the hand which the man did not refuse this time.
"It can get worse," Bhaer said carefully. "I must tend to the mother quickly so that it doesn't."
He turned from Laurie, picking up his hunting kit from where he had dropped it haphazardly upon entering. He opened it, and kneeling again by Jo, pressed the cross to her forehead. To his relief, she made no movement, or sign of pain.
"What are you doing?" Laurie asked. He stood close, as though preparing to push Bhaer away if he tried anything he did not like.
"The cross does not harm her," Bhaer explained. "That means that the creature… the vampire… has drank of her blood, but she didn't taste its. She will not rise when she dies.."
"When…?" Laurie's voice cracked here, and Bhaer winced. He had meant to say "if", really and truly, but there was no taking it back now.
"All of us die one day, isn't it so? I pray hers will not be soon. I must look to the mother now. Can you watch Miss March for the time being? Give her food if she wakes and…"
"And you will return after, to tell us the next step?"
Bhaer nodded.
He only hoped that there was a next step, and he could find it.