Chapter Thirty-Three:
Mina…
Soon after Kathryn returned to the Nautilus, Mina sought her out. Finding her in her quarters, the Vampiress knocked on the door and stepped through the open doorway. "Kathryn," she said. "May I speak with you?"
Kathryn had been working at her desk, writing furiously and sifting vials around. She looked over her shoulder. "Yes," she replied. "Come in, Mina."
Mina closed the door and sat at the vanity. "First," she began. "I want to know what mind games you're playing with Mr. Skinner. He's been rather out of sorts since you and Dr. Jekyll were separated at Sir Lucas'. What's going on?"
Kathryn sighed and laid down her pen. Turning to face Mina better, she said, "Honestly, it's more a mind game with me than with him. I've been so confused, that it may seem I'm trying to put him out of his mind, but honestly, I'm not. I needed to decide something for myself and that took a while."
"Have you decided?"
"Yes," Kathryn nodded. "I've decided. That I'm not mad at him anymore for what he did. And that I love him no matter what happened."
"What did he do?" Mina asked, her interest piqued.
"I can't tell you that."
The Vampiress nodded. "All right then," she said. Then she paused to gather her thoughts. "Dr. Jekyll and I have been working for the past months, looking for the antidote to the Elixir and we have found nothing. Do you have any ideas?"
"Answer me one question first." Mina nodded. "What is your relationship with Dr. Jekyll?" Kathryn asked, brushing stray wisps of hair from her face.
Mina hesitated in her answer. "We are simply friends," she said slowly. "But I wish we were closer."
"Then tell him that!" Kathryn said smiling. "By the way, it seems both of you are having a secret love affair through your researching. Fix that. Make it literal." She dropped her girlish manner and grew serious. "Now then, onto the Elixir. I've been looking at the formula Professor Moriarty wrote to create the Elixir. —Sir Lucas stole them from him fourteen years ago.— And though I haven't been successful in creating an Elixir, I have been able to come up with some ideas. I trust you still have the vial of it?" Mina handed her the vial of the purple liquid. "Good. Thank you. I thought that perhaps the key to finding the antidote to it is to try to introduce the ingredients' polar opposites to the Elixir in hopes to create a solution that completely counterbalances the Elixir's potency and makes it completely useless."
"Wouldn't that only work if the Elixir was ingested within the last forty-eight hours, though?" Mina asked, intrigued.
"That's what I thought, too," Kathryn agreed. "But, if we create a solution that contains not only the Elixir but the antidote as well, I believe it may have the desired effect and it may also counteract any does of the Elixir taken years ago. I haven't been able to create an Elixir, as I said, so I haven't been able to test the theory."
Mina wanted to clear a matter. "Is it true that the Elixir sustains Life, and returns it to the drinker?" she asked. Kathryn nodded. "So, if we somehow create an antidote to it, and it counteracted any previously ingested does, would that mean we could kill someone and they would remain dead? Say, Professor Moriarty, perhaps?"
"Theoretically," Kathryn answered. "So what we need to do is find that perfect solution and we could rid the world of Professor James Moriarty and any other scum that managed to drink the Elixir."
"Do you have a copy of the formula that Dr. Jekyll and I could use for our part of the research?" Mina asked, standing. Kathryn shuffled through the papers on her desk and handed three pages covered with ink to Mina. "Thank you. Good luck in your search." Mina walked to the door.
"You too, Mina," Kathryn said, returning to work as Mina left the room.
