What was that voice?
It said the name of a man long dead
How did it know that name!?
Nemo looked around the room, looking for the source of the whisper, but saw nothing, everything in its place. Not even a speck of dust was on the furniture, no doubt from the crew making sure their Captain's room was perfect for his return.
Nothing was with him. He was alone. He was alone.
Nemo put a hand to his forehead, lightly rubbing the area to try and clear his mind; suppose he knew what the good Doctor went through a small fraction now, hearing unwanted voices, whispering things better left forgotten. Perhaps he would allow himself to write a letter to his daughter; it might help him think better thoughts, and finding the perfect room to serve as a nursery, Mina and Henry might be the better ones to ask about that task.
Mina would have more recent memories of motherhood to pull from and offer everything they would need. Henry would know about accommodating the room for any medical requirements, he had not gotten a very good look at the triplets, but he knew they had to be at least a few weeks premature, fragile...
He could worry about it in the morning.
He just needed some rest, that's all; it was all in his head. Nothing more.
The Captain pulled down the covers to his bed, the scent of fresh, clean sheets beckoning him like a moth to a lantern. Yes, this is precisely what he needed to feel bet-
"dAKkAr"
Nemo was not listening...not listening... it's just old memories...
His head was foggy; he just needed to lie down, and forget for a while.
Hands grabbed Nemo from behind.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Why did his heart feel so heavy? It felt like something was wrong.
Henry sat on the edge of his bed, already in his nightshirt and pants, but something was keeping him from lying down, he didn't feel right. Perhaps he should ask Mina about it? Since she rarely slept, the vampiress was often the companion to any night owls that wandered into her path.
Maybe also see if Nemo was still awake too.
Jekyll grabbed his robe, wrapping the warm material around himself, Hyde huffing in annoyance since there were no mirrors in the room for him to reflect off of, Edward had been rather angry when Henry requested they be removed, but there were plenty of other mirrors and reflective surfaces he could use around the Nautilus, so the Doctor chose to keep his bedroom free of them after he got tired of Edwards new hobby of making his other half wake up in the night to see the happy brute making stupid faces at him from the mirror.
Better than being grabbed by the neck via hallucination, but still.
The Doctor peeked into the hallway, seeing just a couple members of the night crew chatting, taking a small break from their duties as the ship did not require their skills yet.
One caught Henry's eyes and offered a smile and a motion to come over, making the split man smile a bit. It was nice not being feared by the crew anymore, and walked to the duo.
"Is there something you need, Doctor? A midnight snack?" the taller crew member asked.
"No, I'm just having a bit of trouble finding sleep and chose to annoy a few people with my presence," Jekyll found himself joking, "but I won't interrupt you two, have a lovely night."
Both crewmen offered an understanding nod and went back to conversing as the Doctor made his way to Mina's room; manners and society that he had once been a part of would pale and call him a deviant for entering into a lady's chambers so late at night, but he meant nothing ill towards her...and what those people of supposed decent society thought or felt no longer mattered on the Nautilus.
Mina rarely slept. It was simply the logical option to choose to talk to her in his time of needing someone to make conversation with.
Nemo needed his rest, as did Alan, Tom might accept being woken up, but Henry was not in the mood for stories about fishing or stealing pies from windowsills, though he did fondly remember enjoying telling the secret service member about his own past as a rather wild party-boy and the mischievous grin he got in return from no doubt the young man thinking about making the Doctor his partner in crime with Skinner...but Rodney needed to recover from his injuries before that could happen.
Jekyll was about to turn down the hall to Mina's room when he noticed Nemo's door was cracked open. Odd, he normally liked keeping his door shut at all hours of the day unless someone needed in there to clean or borrow something.
The door creaked open as Henry pushed on it. "Sorry to bother you, Nemo, are you alright?" the Doctor questioned, only to be met with an empty room, had the Captain headed off for something?
"There is another presence here, Henry; get to Mina, quickly!" Hyde said suddenly, a tone in his voice that sounded almost frightened.
Is Nemo in trouble? I do not smell blood or-"
"GO NOW!"
Jekyll turned to head back out the door only to hear a creaking behind him and whirled around to see two thin, pale hands coming out of the vanity mirror, which had now turned entirely black.
The door slammed shut.
0-0-0-0-0-0-0
Mina's head shot up from her writing.
Something was wrong.
The vampiress almost lunged from her seat to the hallway and darted down it to see Nemo's own door was wide open and went inside, not even bothering with knocking, and the Captain would just have to forgive Mina if she was invading his privacy. She had seen far worse than anything he could be doing in there anyway.
Empty
No, there was someone here recently, who was not Nemo; Henry's scent was also in the room, items seemed to have been flung from the dresser, the mirror attachment reflecting Mina's now wild hair and wide eyes, which had turned red, her hunting instinct triggered by the smell of a rival.
How had another vampire gotten onto the ship!? And where were they now? They could not have just vanished into thin air with two of her teammates in tow!
Wait...
Were those scratches on the dresser? The sides of the mirror as well... and blood...Jekyll's blood in the gouges, traces of fingernails, Henry had dug his hands into it trying to avoid being taken...but the mirror should have received more damage if he was fighting so hard his nails detached.
Unless...
No, that was impossible, but many things were supposedly impossible:
Immortality
Raising from the grave
Literal split personalities
Invisible men and vampires
Mina touched the cold glass with the tips of her fingers.
Nothing happened
The vampiress grunted and fought back the urge to punch the glass; suppose she should not have expected any different; Mina was not the desired prize for whoever had snatched her companions.
They got what they wanted and ran, to God only knows where, to do any number of things with; the League needed to get them back before the worst happened...but...
How do you follow someone through a mirror?