Chapter 7 Eve

Our galloping towards the French forces in the north seemed to morph and change. We arrived quickly at our destination and were at the French camp now. Tanner and I watched M speak with others wearing the wigs and clothing that were popular at this time in history.

M was speaking animatedly in along with Bond in French and they were obviously upset with their attitude. Britain would find no help from the French against these revolutionaries even if the commander was M's nephew. History would repeat itself and France would support the colonists against King George.

There! A metallic orb on the desk. Nearly covered in maps and candle sticks. My focus was completely on the object as Tanner said something to me.

"Eve...what do you think M are Bond are asking?"

"I don't know French well enough to know. Bill...that orb on the desk do you?" I moved towards the desk and reached out to touch the strange glowing orb.

Suddenly there was a flash of light and I screamed. It was hot to the touch. There was nothing but darkness now and I felt suddenly alone again. I heard Q in the distance talking with someone else. The smell of antiseptic...like a hospital.

Light erupted again and I closed my eyes against the strong glare.

I was somewhere else? Not again!

I'm now in a horse drawn carriage with Bill and we're still in our period dress. Although mine was far more elegant than the servant clothing I wore earlier this time.

"Where are we?" I asked wonder what in hell had happened now?

"We are travelling in Transylvania...to Dracula's castle Mina. Don't you remember my sweet silly goose?"

"Mina? Oh dear god...are you...are you...Stoker's Jonathan Harker? Or Bill Tanner?"

"I'm your fiancée Jonathan Harker...silly...that must have been some dream. Who is this Stoker?"

"No one and yes...yes it was a crazy dream. So you don't know James Bond or M, our boss?"

"I don't know who you mean dear but we've been invited to stay at the house of a client of mine."

"This is not like the other dream...Bill are you sure you don't know that my name is Eve?"

"You're stressed and tired from all the travelling my dear. Just try to get some more rest before we arrive."

"Something tells me I've been sleeping for a while now. Look the castle!" I could see out the bouncing carriage that the massive castle was on a dramatic cliff. A typical nightmarish vision of a gothic structure amongst the mountains and trees.

Suddenly the carriage pulled up to front of the castle as dusk settled all around us. The heat of the summer and the sounds of the wilderness closing in on us was overwhelming.

My fear was palpable..."I've always hated horror movies." I said under my breath.

Damn it all! My breathing became erratic, in anticipation for the vampire I knew I was about to meet.

The door swung open not revealing Dracula but James Bond dressed entirely in black but a tuxedo, not the gothic inspired clothing Bill and I were wearing.

"Mr. Harker...wonderful to see you again...and who is this divine creature that you have brought me?"

"The pit that was forming in my stomach just got larger. What if Bond didn't know me...what if he really was Dracula! How will I be able to fight him off!

This was a gothic bloody nightmare! I felt hot...so hot I can't...I may faint because I'm breathing so hard.

Somehow I manage to continue and I don't pass out. This was all a hallucination and just a dream. I forced myself to calm my breathing, as Tanner began to speak to our host.

"This is my fiancée Miss Mina Murphy my lord. It was wonderful that you invited both of us. I heard of my employer's untimely illness and was unable to conclude your business."

How could Tanner be so...so...frustratingly normal standing in front of this version of James Bond? James' skin looked unnaturally pale and there was a difference in his eyes...the clear ice blue was now tinged with red...a dangerous red.

Oh god! I'm starting to freak out again.

Dear god...I hope he knows he's not really Dracula. A maid and a butler appeared to escort us somewhere else in the castle, towards separate rooms apparently. Even if I wanted to stay close to Bill, propriety intervened and we had to have different rooms. People in this class, at this time always refreshed themselves after travel and dressed for dinner.

On the way up the grand stair of the castle I became dizzy and was suddenly in a room alone. A gold ball gown hung on the bedpost and I found a large cross miraculously around my neck. Thank god what I wished for could become a reality in this dream. Now my only wish was that Tanner, M and Bond knew me and are more themselves than actual gothic horror monsters.

I've had no chance to examine the room in any detail, as a knock sounded and a woman's voice erupted out of the silence. M had come to help me, as either the mistress of the house or one of Bond's servants.

M was dressed as Bond was in formal attire yet it was modern compared to ours. M's dark blue gown fitted tightly in the bodice, showing off her abundant cleavage. M always was a pale woman and she was unnaturally so now.

"M?"

"I am Madam Omuluicamp." She said in extremely accented English. "I have been here since Lord Dracula returned to the castle.

"You look after the Castle?"

"Yes...you could say that."

"M...do you know me?"

"No my dear...should I have met you somewhere here in the Carpathian Mountains?" M asked incredulously. "I have not once left my home here...in hundreds of years may child."

"Hundreds of years?" I asked confused suddenly.

"An expression I assure you." M helped me out of the layers of the travelling attire I was wearing and into the gold evening gown. It looked wonderful in the mirror. M appeared in the mirror...perhaps she was not a monster after all, or maybe that lore was wrong. Still, the way that she looked at me made me shiver. M's blue eyes were tinged red like Bond's.

"You're both bloody vampires!" I blurted out.

M pulled back shocked. "I assure you dear that vampires are just a myth. Dinner will be served shortly. I will see you downstairs in a few minutes. I must see that the food is properly prepared."

"Oh...I will come with Tanner then." I said as I fidgeted nervously with my clothing. My hands instinctively reaching for the cross at my neck, anything to delay any of the inevitable horrors I may dream up in my head.

There was a knock at my door. I answered reluctantly, to see Tanner in a tux and holding his arm out to me. He enveloped me in a hug and a kiss. I pulled back somewhat shocked by his actions but it was not unnatural nor completely unwelcome. "Bill? Are you bill now? Please be my Bill Tanner."

"What's the matter dear?"

"We are in a castle with bloody vampires! That's what the matter is!"

"Mina...you're distraught over nothing. I am just having him sign a few papers and then we will leave as soon as possible. This is so unlike you? You are such a confident woman much of the time? It would seem extremely rude to dash off becuase of ancient superstition Mina, my love."

I looked at Tanner searching for some sort of recognition but he was hollow just like the others and I was terrifyingly alone.

I want to wake up! Please...let me wake now!

We walked down the stairs into the dining room and saw M. Only this time her appearance had changed. The clothing remained the same but M looked no more than in her late forties now. She was sitting regally in the throne like chair at the head of the table. Bond was leaning on the side of her chair, draped over her, as he lazily took his eyes from her to look at us entering the room and finding our seats at the table. Two servers stood silently still at either side of the room.

Bond and M had eyes only for each other at the moment. These two were obviously not the mother and son, I had assumed they were at first. The electricity between them was palpable and intense, he had just been kissing her neck when we arrived I could swear it. Tanner held me close as we looked at our pale host and hostess.

"Come...please sit." Bond said as he waved for one of the servants to pull a chair for me. I instinctively reached for the cross at my neck. It was a heavy reminder of my situation as the gold weight lay on my breast.

"You really didn't need to wear this trinket my dear." Bond said with a knowing smirk.

"Why because you can get past it anyway?" I asked.

"No because we would have the entirely of the British government down on us if anything happened to two members of your social class. We only devour the poor…don't we darling." James added with a smile as he looked down on M in the seat he rested on the arm of.

"How is it that your...mother is now younger looking?" Tanner...not really Tanner asked. Even as a fictional character he could sense that something was off finally. Or maybe my Tanner was pushing through somehow.

"An illusion of course and she is not my mother in the sense you mean. She made me but I was not born of her."

"When were you born?" I asked M directly. I could feel Tanner tense becuase of the rudeness of my abrupt question.

M laughed. "My dear child I have walked this earth since before Cleopatra's seduction of Caesar."

"Wow…" I said, because talking to this M...I could actually believe it. "You don't plan on killing us do you?"

"No, as my lover said, we are only looking for assistance legally for investment in property in Britain. We hope to visit your homeland...very soon."

"That is not reassuring." I said sarcastically.

The strange thing about food and drink in a dream...was no substance nor smell but you could still feel dizzy and nauseous apparently. Tanner ate and I just stared from my plate up at Bond hanging over M. He seemed intoxicated by her, happily mesmerized and willing to just lean on the arm of her chair, swinging his leg like he hadn't a care in the world. M pulled a glass of red liquid to her lips.

Wine, blood or whatever it was, stained her lips as red as the contents. It was a visually stunning effect, with her dark blue gown and her very white skin. M seemed to glow in the candlelight. James brought one of her hands to his lips to kiss.

Music played, coming from somewhere beyond the dinning room and it was strange and eerie as it echoed throughout the old castle. I had no idea if someone was playing it or it was a recording.

The room began spinning and the deep, dark, rich colours whirled around like a kaleidoscope. I was now in a parlour watching Bond dance with M. They moved with the practiced ease of lovers and it truly seemed like there was no one here but for the two of them.

Fine with me. I didn't fancy becoming a late night snack. I still dreaded this and wanted it all to stop. No more dreams and no more jumping into different realities. If I could not escape this completely I would at least like it to take me somewhere that my friends knew and helped me, like they had in the American Revolutionary war dream.

Tanner...Harker told me that I was being silly, as he took a sip of whatever it was he brought from the dinning room.

I refused to eat or drink in this place.

This room was large and lit mainly by a massive fire on the far wall. The shadows cast by the glowing light made the images on the art scattered throughout the room dance. They all moved in time to the dancing of the master and mistress of this somber gothic castle.

M and James stopped dancing and the two of them wandered towards us as if prowling towards helpless prey.

M glided to Tanner, holding her hand to him as the music become a strange waltz.

I've heard this song before in a film. Legend...Unicorns and dwarves...that was the film! And the girl danced with a demon called Darkness. It was a hypnotically eerie song...the innocent girl becoming dark for her evil lord's pleasure. That all made sense in this context.

M waltzed around the room with Tanner entranced with her. I saw the way Tanner looked at her and he was in some sort of daze and Bond seemed to have disappeared. My eyes were pulled to the dance. M laughed in Bill's arms as a sudden voice came from behind me making me jump.

"She is divine is she not?" Bond whispered in my ear.

"Her age seems to shift? How?" I asked in a hushed tone.

"You are seeing her as I do...her age is irrelevant to me. I see into her very soul. Age doesn't matter much, when you count the time in centuries and millennia. She's as stunning as an older woman, as she is closer to our age. And believe me she's impressive at any age. Not as much a shimmering beauty like you Eve, but classic, entrancing and seductive."

"You called me Eve?"

"That is your true name is it not...Mina?"

"Yes but…"

Bond's face was practically resting on my shoulder as we continued to watch M and Tanner waltz to the darkness. I could not pull away. It was a though I were rooted to the spot!

The music whirled and became louder, they spun faster and faster and as the crescendo was reached M's hand went to the back of Tanner's neck. It was as if she were about to pull Tanner to her mouth!

M had leaned back and laughed looking straight at me, as her incisors grew into needle like points. She bit into Tanner's neck artery like he was a ripe piece of fruit.

I screamed and screamed but no sound would come! I tried to scream for Tanner to get away, push M, throw her down, anything but I could not move! I was frozen in shock and horror!

I knew what was to come next.

Bond's lips were on my neck as my heart beat frantically in my chest, in an overwhelming panic. I slammed my hand against the table at my side. Anything to make a warning sound for Bill, anything for him to see and help me.

I tried to pull away from James and run but my legs were like led. I was numb and losing all feeling.

Gravity had me in it's grip, pulling me towards the ground. However, I did not fall but hung suspended effortlessly in the air.

There was a pinch, a sting and I could feel warm liquid leak down my neck. I tried to swat whatever horror away but my arms only hung limply at my sides.

I looked down and Bond's arm was wrapped around my middle holding my back up against his front. His body felt hard and cold pressed against mine as he too began to sway and dance me like a doll around the ghastly room.

Dear god...not this!

I'm living in a bloody nightmare!

Noooooooooooooo!

To be continued...