A woman sat before me in the convent, her plain clothes hid how well made they were. Not a single patch or mending stitch could I see. "Miss Barker, why did you seek me out?" "I have heard you were at the convent my friend, Mr. Jonathan Harker went to when he left the Count's Castle" "I met him, yes" "what happened to him?" "I do not know, my convent was attacked and Mr. Harker- he- I do not know" why did she want to know? "Sister Agatha, I have never heard of an occultist nun before, yet here you sit. You had contact with Mr. Harker and thus it points to you suspecting the occult with him. I came because his fiancé, Miss Johanna Oakley is worried sick and the girl has taken quite ill. Anything I can tell her would be a great comfort" "he is alive to my knowledge" alive was a strange term, he was undead. "thank you, Sister. Do you know what happened to him? His letters rambled" "he was attacked on the road and sought shelter with us, I wanted to send for Miss Oakley but-" "her father is incredibly protective of her. I should have offered to accompany her but I am only summoned when a lady is sick. I am a barber-surgeon's daughter after all. Well, I had hoped you would know something, he kept rambling about beasts that drink blood" "I do not know a thing about that, now please, I am tired" "of course. Though you were the only nun to escape" "I was" "how did you do that?" "communion wafers and holy water. Prayer as well" "hmm, sounds like a Nosferatu but what do I know? I only read the book" she chuckled as she left. Panic filled me, what did she know? Was she leading me on or did I answer her? Was she an agent of Dracula? Had I let a Nosferatu into this very church?
I had been summoned to Judge Turpin's home days ago to look after his ward, Miss Johanna Oakley. She had obviously been attacked by something, but what? The bites mimicked those on the prostitutes, as had the vanishing act my mystery offenders pulled. This was getting worrisome. I walked the dark streets now, stopping to ask those I knew well if they had seen anything strange. Most had only heard of a gent biting prostitutes and I kept walking. I would worry about this gent when I found him and not before. "Shadow" Nellie's voice was tense and full of fear "Nellie?" I gripped her "what's wrong?" "there's a- the Bishop is dead" she stuttered out "where?" she pointed and I went to the little hideaway the Spider used to for special clientele. "there is no one here now, Nellie" besides the corpse that is. I looked "tell me about the beast that did this? The same one who bites?" "I think so, Sarah said so" Sarah, the one I helped birth her first child. The one who was too young for this. "very well, I will see what I can do. Did Sarah see him?" "she was bitten from behind, she says he chased her afterward" I shook my head and went into the Red Rat to find Sarah. She was clutching her baby, her neck was bandaged "Sarah" "Shadow" she looked up at me with shadowed eyes "I heard you were bitten, can you describe him to me?" "he was large and bulky, muscled. He was so strong, Shadow and violent. He- he bit me" "a biter, hmm. hair color?" "I never saw it. He wore a bowler hat and carried a cane, he was dressed as a gent with a long trench coat and fancy shoes" "I will see what I can do" "the man I saw wore the same. He spoke with a growling accent I could not place. He left me alone, he let me run away but the Bishop-" she whined and I pulled her close "I will see what I can do, my lovelies" I stepped into the darkness once more, my 8 month belly straining against my corset.