"Not all the people he feeds off come back. Most of them stay dead." Extract from conversation between Jonathon Harker (Revenant/Pre-Vampire) and Sister Agatha Van Helsing (Nun) as recorded by Mina Murray, from the archive of The Harker Foundation.
Sitting in the darkened room of her office flicking through her own precious notebooks Zoe Van Helsing pondered what that would mean for them, for England, for the world. Dracula would be released in only a few hours and there was nothing legally any of them could do to stop it. He would be free to reign terror, to vanish into the shadows that had hidden him for so long, and they would be powerless to stop him. How many more of the undead would rise because they had failed…no she had failed, her ideas had caused this, her grand plans to search the seas and locate Dracula not merely wait for him to reappear.
It was humiliating that all of this had fallen apart on her watch, and Zoe didn't know how she was ever going to face the inevitable disappointment of her…remaining family.
She had been so proud the day her father stepped down from the board of The Harker Foundation, and she had been installed in his place as a worthy successor. As a full board member Zoe had finally been gifted access to the foundations most precious resources: Mina's original hand-written account of the conversation between Jonathon Harker and her own ancestor Sister Agatha Van Helsing; the only written records from the voyage of the Demeter told from the perspective of each of the survivors, and access to the secure vault, and the preserved remains of Dracula's known victims.
Zoe had been so certain that with more advanced technology, and the required additional funding, the foundation could move past the wait and watch mandate that had been their primary mandate, to more proactive means. So what if the funding was from a questionable source? So what if her more senior scientists occasionally had to assist on research that had less benevolent purposes? They did more than enough good to balance it out, medical research, and let's not forget protecting the world from an undead monster. Only now she had failed at that, the one thing that allowed Zoe to sleep at night; especially on those nights, after she heard whispers of how some of the drugs, they had helped to "test", were really being used.
It was a hard legacy to live up to…the Van Helsing name.
As a young child she had been raised on the heroics of Agatha and Mina, had idolised those women who seemed somehow something far greater than any fairy tale princess or movie star. They had been real heroes and Zoe had wanted to join that pantheon, but she had been running out of time; her cancer was terminal, and so what if they had to take a few risks? Zoe had been so sure…and now her hubris had released the very devil, Agatha had given her own life to cage.
There just had to be something…something she could do to stop this, they had everything in place to manage this threat here but only if they could somehow convince Count Dracula to willingly sign himself into their "care". Yet how could one barter with the devil when you had nothing to offer…nothing he wanted? Dracula was capricious, ego-centric and adaptable, and apart from century old accounts they knew very little about him. What motivated him, what other than thirst and blood lust drove him?
Head on her desk Zoe resisted bashing her forehead against it; a headache wouldn't help her think straight. In a fit of pique Zoe swiped her notebook off the desk, pens and phone too, their clatter distinctly unsatisfying, but her office was bare of anything that would make a decent crashing noise.
"Knock knock."
"I'm not the best company right now Jack." Zoe answered without even lifting her head.
"I thought you might need a coffee about now?" Zoe's former protégé answered as he entered the office. "However, if you are just going to throw it I will drink it myself."
"Urghhh…. As satisfying as that might be, I can't be arsed to arrange to have the carpet cleaned." Zoe huffed as she lifted her head up enough to reach for the coffee cup.
Being a smart man Jack Seward didn't hesitate before handing her the cup. And while Zoe inhaled the fumes from the cup, he began to tidy up the things she had thrown about in her temper.
"You don't have to do that."
"Hey I'm here and being paid to do nothing, so I might as well make myself useful."
"That's more than I can say for myself right now." Zoe groused.
"You'll think of something."
"I wish I had your faith in me Jack." Zoe replied, taking a long drag of the coffee, it was the good stuff, from the stash normally kept for visiting board members and not the crap that was generally served in the staff kitchen. "You didn't need to make this special you know."
"Are you kidding, with the day you're having, no one in the right mind would come in and bother you right now with inferior coffee; we all know what you are like."
"It's not my fault I have more than one functioning taste bud."
"Nice to see there is still some fight left in you…we need that…the rumours have gotten around, people are scared."
There was little Zoe could say to reassure them, and she could image just how speculation would be running rampant. People probably thought that Count Dracula would be out for revenge against them and Zoe wished she could reassure them he wouldn't. In truth the Harker Foundation had done little but irritate Dracula, he had played them masterfully, and Zoe doubted he considered them much of a real threat. In fact it probably amused him entirely and appealed to that ego of his, that for just over a century dozens of people had been employed just to try and thwart him…and within a couple of days had already failed pathetically.
After all what was a maestro to do without an audience to perform to? And Dracula loved an audience. Zoe's gut told her that if they merely observed him, Dracula would leave them alone, happy to occasionally throw little titbits in the way of his devoted fan club.
"They would probably like to hear from you about."
"Yeah I'll come out and talk…not sure what exactly I am going to tell them that will reassure them...I just wish there was something we could do to stop this…"
"Short of staking or dusting him you mean."
Rolling her eyes Zoe settled for finishing her coffee and reorganising her loose-leaf notes back into her notepad in the right order.
"Can someone please explain why that isn't an option?" Jack asked, genuinely confused.
"Other than the fact we are doctors and scientists, not murderers."
"He is." Jack countered. "We will be letting him go and he will kill people."
"We are not culpable for his crimes Jack, and last time I checked this country no longer upheld capital punishment."
"Perhaps there should be exceptions for people who are already dead." Jack countered testily, pacing the room with the energy possessed only by the idealistically young.
"I wish I had an answer for you Jack. I wish I had any…" Zoe paused as something niggled and her eyes cast back over the words her brain had passively read once again.
Count Dracula travelled via wolf from Romania to Hungary in pursuit of Jonathan Harker, indicates ability to track his infected victims over large distances, and a singular obsessive possessiveness over those victims he considered "worthy brides"
Zoe had double underlined it, copied word from Mina's handwritten notes, the original text had included the same emphasis and Zoe had blindly copied it at the time, not realising just how important it would be. Scrabbling through her notes Zoe searched for her copy of Olgaren and Marius account from the Demeter.
"Zoe?"
Holding up her hand to fallstall Jack's question, Zoe speed read through the scribbled notes…There in the retelling of the crews attempt to hang Agatha. Olgaren recalled that Sister Agatha had been secreted onto the ship as the sick new wife of this Mr Balaur…wife...bride…Balaur…Dragon…Dracula.
All through her life Zoe had idolised Agatha, the strong hero, the one who almost beat Dracula and not Agatha the victim. It was a narrative her family had instilled in her practically from birth, the Van Helsings were defenders against the darkness. They had assumed, perhaps naively that Dracula had carted Agatha along on his voyage merely to bait and torment her further, the readily available scapegoat for when his crimes would be uncovered. Yet what if that had merely been an improvisation, what if Agatha held greater importance to the Count than merely an enemy to torment and vanquish?
Before meeting Dracula, Zoe would have considered it impossible; by all accounts he was a devil made flesh, nothing left of the man he had once been save for the flesh suit he moved around in. Yet that moment on the beach, dazed and confused by the lights and the noise, the moment he had seen her face he had almost appeared happy to see her…no not her…Agatha.
"You're not her, are you?"
In the darkness Zoe hadn't be able to see Dracula's expression, the press of a gun to her neck had been a more pressing concern at the time. Yet there was no denying the disappointed resignation in his voice at finding her, a facsimile, a stand in…and not for a worthy adversary…but something more than that…hope lost perhaps.
"Jack can you do me a favour? Can you ask Dr Bloxham to get in touch with Count Dracula's lawyer and tell them we have a counter offer?"
"What?" Jack stuttered. "What offer?"
"I'm afraid I'm not at liberty to disclose that but I think…I think it might work, it might keep him here willingly. Can you trust me…"
"I trust you Zoe." Jack echoed before slipping out her office and off to find Veronica for her.
Pushing up from her desk Zoe reached into her pocket and withdrew the key to her desk. It was a little old school security, but it had been her father's before hers, and well there was nothing better to keep something truly safe, than not making a song and dance about hiding it away. The key and numbered passcode were stuffed in an innocuous envelope at the bottom of her drawer. Zoe couldn't count how often over the years she had been tempted to use this. It was only meant to be used at the end, after Dracula had been defeated. This was for Van Helsings only, no one else was ever to know about this, not even the other board members. Only family could be trusted.
Key stuffed clenched in her fist, Zoe exited her office, her long legs taking her quickly to the bank, the samples taken recently from the student donors still sat on the side, waiting to be catalogued. Perhaps it was loyalty that had her swipe Jack's sample. Zoe had no children of her own, and since her cancer diagnosis, Zoe had been wondering just who she would pass the Van Helsing legacy on to. Jack had been top, of a very short list, so perhaps that was what made it fitting?
Nodding at her staff Zoe didn't stop for conversation, her tight smile and fast pace enough to have them swerving out of her way, as she headed downstairs into the morgue. Ignoring the staff performing routine tests on the latest half decomposed undead sample, she made her way through to the end of the cold storage, to the secure vault which held Dracula related materials. Her pass and a quick retina scan got her through and Zoe made sure to close the door behind her.
She had only been in here a handful of times, mostly when she had first become a board member to examine the original records herself. The deep storage drawer she wanted was inconspicuous by its normalcy, the outside not even hinting at what was contained within. The key in her hand slide into the lock, turning with a little effort, and Zoe grunted as she had to pull out the trolley inside, the wheels long needed oiling it seemed. On top a sealed casket, held closed by a simple combination deadlock. Shivering at the deep cold from the refrigerated unit Zoe fumbled entering the combination into the lock, finally getting it right she unlocked it and dropped it to the floor.
Hands on the casket Zoe paused, she had always longed to be the Van Helsing who got to do this, and now the moment was here she was dreading it. Driven to desperate measures by her own failure was one thing but having to admit it was another. Yet there were untold innocent lives at stake, she had to do something, Agatha would want her to do something…well Zoe would get to find that out soon enough, well if this even worked.
Forcing the lid open, Zoe couldn't contain the gasp that escaped her throat. Shit no wonder Dracula had been poleaxed when he first saw her. It was like looking in a mirror…a much colder, deader mirror…with, Zoe was big enough to admit it, better hair than her. It was stupid the things the human mind fixated on in such moments.
Uncapping the blood bag, Zoe moved and squeezed a few drops onto Agatha Van Helsings lips and waited. Praying that someone was listening, that there would be some sign that whatever father had told her was true, and that generations of Van Helsings had not spent their lives guarding a properly dead body.
Then the lips parted just slightly, the pooled blood dripped into Agatha's mouth, confirming the Van Helsing's greatest secret. Agatha Van Helsing wasn't dead but undead, and if Zoe had any luck, was once again going to be the only thing standing between Count Dracula and many more terrified children.
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