CHAPTER 26

We arrived back at the churchyard the following afternoon and by five o'clock had the place all to ourselves. We split up and each went our separate ways to our hiding places. Once again, I found myself concealed in a tomb with Jack Seward next to me. This time I did not try to make conversation.

My mind (I'm sure Jack's was, too) was too preoccupied with dread for the task ahead. It seemed an eternity for time to pass but as all things do, it eventually passed. To tell the truth, I am not sure how time passed, but it hardly matters now.

When it was time for us to meet the others outside the tomb, we left our hiding place and rendezvoused with them. As before, Van Helsing unlocked the door and we all entered the tomb. The professor closed the door behind us. Then he set down the black bag he had been carrying and opened it.

Taking out a lantern and two wax candles, he lit them and placed them on the other coffins, thereby providing enough light to work by. Then, with the help of Quincey and Jack, the professor unscrewed the bolts and lifted the lid off Lucy's coffin. With a single movement, we all bent forward and looked inside. Lucy lay there in all her death-beauty. As I watched Arthur, I noticed his face grow hard as he surveyed the body before him.

He turned to Van Helsing and asked hoarsely, "Is this my fiancée's body, or merely a demon taking her shape?"

Van Helsing replied, "It is indeed her body, and yet it isn't. Wait for a time and you will see her as she was, and is."

He turned to me. "Miss Teresa, would you kindly reach into my bag and hand me a stake and a hammer?"

I immediately reached inside and pulled out the required tools. Handing them to Van Helsing, I blurted out, "What are you going to do, professor?"

He replied, with that calm air of his, "Miss Teresa, you misunderstand me. It is not I who will perform this operation."

"You must understand," he continued, now speaking to all of us, "that when the undead become such, they also undergo changes that render them immortal; thus, they cannot die but must continue on age after age, adding new victims and multiplying the evils of the world-"

As he was speaking, a flicker of understanding illuminated my mind, and I was unable to keep myself from interrupting. "Those that are preyed upon by the undead become themselves undead!" It all made perfect sense now. Lucy's illness, the loss of her blood, the bite marks on her neck- all these details indicated to me the horrible truth.

"You mean," Arthur said, his voice shaking, "that Lucy-"

"Was bitten by one of the undead," said Van Helsing, finishing Arthur's sentence for him. Arthur's cheeks were now white and he threw his hands over his face and sobbed. Van Helsing went over to him and patted him understandably on the shoulder. "I am not finished, my friend," he said firmly. "Poor Miss Lucy did feed off the blood of children, but if she is killed in truth, then all the tiny wounds of the throats will disappear and the children will go back to their daily lives. Best of all, when she is laid to rest as true dead, then her soul shall once again be free. There she shall take her proper place with the Angels."

Here Van Helsing paused to catch his breath; in his excitement he had been babbling. Then he began again. "That is why we do this, my friends. It is only fitting that blessed be he who strikes the blow to set her free. While we are all willing, I am sure, there is one who has a better right than us to set her free."

We all looked at Arthur. I shall never forget how his face looked that night. He was trembling, yes, but gratitude filled his face. I knew then that he was thankful for the kindness we had done by suggesting that he should be the one to restore Lucy to everything that was holy.

He stepped forward and clasped Van Helsing's hands between his own. "My true friend," Arthur murmured. "Tell me what I must do and I swear that I shall not falter."

At these words, Van Helsing smiled briefly. Handing Arthur the stake, he said, "You must drive this through her. I know it will be fearful, but it will only last for a moment. Listen very carefully to what I tell you, and all will be well."

"Go on," said Arthur. Although his voice sounded brave and determined, the light from the lantern revealed him to be looking pale and slightly sick.

"Take the stake in your left hand and the hammer in your right. As I read the prayer for the dead-" (here he held up a book) –"take the hammer and strike in God's name that peace come to the dead we love and that the undead be cast again."

While he had been giving instructions, I noticed the change that came over Arthur's face. The paleness evaporated to be replaced with dark complexion and the fear to complete determination. As the rest of us looked on (Van Helsing still reading the prayer for the dead) Arthur slowly took up the stake and placed the point directly over the corpse's heart. Then, with all the powers of heaven on his side, he struck with all his might.

What followed was so horrible that even now, years later, I can still hear the screams. The demon in Lucy's shape writhed and suddenly my ears were filled with a terrible blood-curdling screech.

But this did not stop Arthur. He continued his work, his arm rising and falling as he drove the point deeper and deeper into the body. Even as spatters of blood from the corpse spattered his clothes and face, Arthur never faltered.

And then, before our very eyes, the body ceased to move and the demon in my best friend's shape lay still. Arthur dropped the hammer and if my three companions had not leapt forward to catch him, he would have fallen. It took a few minutes for Arthur to steady himself and when he had, Van Helsing gestured for him to look back at the coffin.

Inside Lucy still lay, but what a transformation! Her features were no longer wanton and lusty, but instead were full of the purity and sweetness she had possessed in life. We all knew now that Lucy was no longer undead, that she was in heaven with God and all the Saints.

Van Helsing sent Arthur and Quincey out of the tomb. He and Dr. Seward were going to cut off the corpse's head and fill the mouth with garlic, just as an extra precaution. I could not bear to view any more anatomical dissections, so I left the tomb and joined Arthur and Quincey outside.

The three of us sat on the cold stone steps, not conversing, not even daring to breathe. The only sound issuing forth was that of the crickets, chirping pleasantly, as though they hadn't a care in the world.

Even though we had set Lucy free, we had done so with much pain, sorrow, and sadness. I personally did not see how I would ever recover from the horror of the past few days. I secretly vowed to myself then and there that I would never allow anything like this to happen again.

Van Helsing and Jack came out sometime later, and the five of us headed out of the cemetery and began the long walk back to the house. We trudged on in silence, exhausted with our night's work. We reached our abode and were almost to the front door when Van Helsing paused suddenly. He spoke, breaking the silence.

"Before we go inside and retire to our beds, I must speak to you. All of you. One step of our work is complete, but there remains a greater task: to find out the author of all our sorrow and to stamp him out. This is a long and dangerous path, and clues can only take us so far. Shall you help me?"

I said instantly, "Yes."

Seward, Quincey, and Arthur all nodded their assents. All five of us swore an oath that we would continue this journey to the very end, however joyous or bitter it might prove to be. Then, one by one, we retired, and for one night my dreams were untroubled.