Denial Part Four
People will never forget how you made them feel.
-Maya Angelou
xxXxx
Lucy thought she was being careful with the old woman she was helping, but then she suddenly stumbled, making the younger woman swiftly grab her and kneel next to her for a minute on the soft grass. "Are you all right?" she asked worriedly.
"I am Count Dracula," a male voice whispered from that mouth, making the girl freeze in her place. "I mean you no harm, I only want to know everything he said before I started eavesdropping. It might be important for me to know."
Lucy stared at the shawl-covered figure for only a second before flicking her blue eyes at the automobile that had suddenly stopped a fair distance from her cottage.
It almost looked like Arthur had fainted from the harsh rejection, but that was Quincy's problem, bless that patient man.
They were close enough for her to call out, but… there was no inclination to do so.
"I thought you would appreciate knowing the truth before inviting me into your home," Dracula finished, turning just enough so that Lucy could see his face from under the shawl's protection.
Her heart immediately softened at the strange defenselessness in his blue eyes. Those were not the eyes of a monster, at least the way she understood the word, and her heart had calmed down from the sudden fright of his revelation.
Firmly deciding that she was no hypocrite, Lucy gave him a smile before getting to her feet again. "I'm terribly sorry about your trick knee, Grandmother. I'll be a bit more careful with you now."
He gave her a look of deepest gratitude before letting the black shawl cover his face again, and the small squeeze he gave her wrist had the same tenderness if he had hugged her instead.
But it was still difficult for Lucy to keep up the charade until gently guiding the vampire through her front door and closing it behind her with a shaky breath.
It almost seemed impossible to watch him stand to his full height when he had made himself look like he was two heads shorter than his new host. Now he was nearly twice as tall as she as he carefully folded the flowered shawl over one arm.
"Wait right there," Lucy begged him, running around the foyer and kitchen to make sure that all the windows were securely fastened shut, leaving her brush by the sink to free both of her hands for the task. "I'm no stranger to being gossiped about, but…"
"I understand completely," Count Dracula assured her with a wide smile, only following her into the kitchen when she signaled for him that it was safe.
Lucy felt a bit insensitive as she opened the jar with her favorite tea leaves. "Can you drink tea?" she asked while taking a practiced pinch and tossing it into the teapot before taking it off the hot stove.
"Quite happily," he promised, helping himself to one of the kitchen chairs and setting the shawl on the table.
"That's good to hear," she sighed before taking the other chair at the table to wait for the tea to finish steeping. "Please don't take this the wrong way, but I don't know when my mother and our maid are coming back. I can guarantee that my mother won't be as calm about your existence as I am."
It was almost comical to see the tips of his cape's collar point down with his displeased expression. "I am definitely more used to that sort of thinking from a human. Don't worry, I can be under the shawl again in less time than it would take you to blink."
Lucy gave him a bright smile of relief. "So. How much of my theory on monsters was correct?"
He was able to give her a small, almost shy smile. "All of it. I will not lie and say that all monsters are good, but we fully understand what the cost would be if we tried to assert dominance. Wars between humans are bad enough, but a war with us?" He shuddered at the thought. "We have longer lifespans than humans, but that's also more time to become attached to our loved ones. None of us are willing to risk losing an eternity with them for the convenience of walking outside without a disguise."
The pale girl leaned slightly forward to rest her elbows on the table and her chin on her intertwined fingers. "I have to admit that I'm hoping that Arthur isn't crazy and monsters will be able to openly live where they please in good time. What would you like to know first?"
The tall vampire excitedly placed his own intertwined hands on the table while leaning forward a little. "I started to hear your conversation when you asked if evidence came to light about my existence. I might have kept walking if that boy hadn't mentioned a hotel. How did he know that I've been toying with the idea of building a hotel for monsters? Why was he talking like I was already letting humans in? Most importantly, why was he so certain that we won't have to stay in hiding?"
Lucy let herself take in and let out a deep breath. "It sounds like you just missed his big explanation. Provided that my refusal last week didn't drive him mad, Arthur was insistent that he was his future counterpart from the early twenty-first century."
Dracula's eyebrows shot up. "… That… is a very rare occurrence. I've only heard of it happening once before, and only because information needed to be passed down for a stable time loop. Quick, what all did he tell you?!"
Lucy closed her eyes as she tried to remember all of the seemingly impossible information. "What was that name he gave me? Mash-u-zi Machida? Mishuzi Machida, that was his name in the future! What country has such a name?" she asked him curiously, since his range of travel was beyond anything she was going to experience.
"Japan," he answered without a thought. "Didn't he call you Haru when he got upset with you being upset?"
"Yes, he claimed to know me as… Yoshi-o-ka Haru, I think he pronounced it." She scowled while drawing on the table with one finger. "This is a random guess, but I think that he's a few years younger than Arthur is right now, because he stared at me the way Arthur did after not seeing me for two years when I opened the door. I will take it that you overheard why I found his interest suspicious." 'Please don't make me talk about it again. I've only begun to heal from it.'
Dracula's glare was stony. "Haru is a real name, but he's clearly as much of a fool in the future as the present. Please. What else did he say?"
Lucy tapped her fingers on the table as she tried to decide what to tell him first. "Apparently a book about you is going to come out at some point, and it's going to be grossly inaccurate since it includes your death, and even he admitted that you're still thriving in his time. The reason… Machida was so desperate to talk to me is because in the book, you feed on me until I turn into a vampire too, and I get staked for it." 'It feels so strange to refer to Arthur as anyone else.'
Dracula scoffed at that. "Feeding and changing are two different processes, and I don't really trust human blood. You never know where it's been, and it would take something extreme to get me to consider changing you, even if you wanted it."
She gave him a shy smile, since her heartbeat was still completely calm and relaxed. "I think that would cause trouble for the time loop, since I'm obviously reborn in the future. I wonder if I'll still have Mina in my next life," she mused hopefully.
"Mina?" Dracula asked with confusion.
The young lady gave him a foolish smile. "My best friend. She and I are leaving on the eight o'clock train tomorrow morning for Budapest to work in her cousin's hat shop for a fresh start. Don't tell-" Lucy cut herself off with a laugh. "My apologies, of course you won't tell anyone from town. I don't want Arthur to make a spectacle of himself at the train station, so only his father and I know we're leaving tomorrow. He promised to keep Arthur too busy to come and make trouble for me, and I don't want a mob of townspeople to try guilting me into marrying Arthur when I'm trying to leave."
Dracula's eyebrow raised. "Not even Mina knows?"
The young lady bit her lip nervously. "I love her dearly, but Mina's a gossipmonger. One time when I lost my patience with her, I shouted something I should have kept to myself in the middle of town, since that would have been the same as telling her in private what she wanted to know. I told her to keep her bags packed, so she knows we're leaving soon, but without a time, it's hard for anyone in town to warn Arthur."
"Ah," Dracula breathed in understanding, leaning back in his chair as she stood up to start fixing the tea, now that it had steeped long enough. "That must be frustrating, knowing that you can't confide in her."
"Very," she sighed, setting a white teacup with a blue lace pattern in front of him before setting the sugar bowl down where he could reach it. 'If it weren't for my diary, I would have gone mad with frustration by now.' "I can't imagine life without my Mina, but… it would be nice if she could understand the concept of a secret and a comfortable silence every now and again." She shook her head before taking back her seat and pouring a little milk into her own teacup. "But that's the point, isn't it? Perfect people don't exist, so all you can do is love imperfect people perfectly."
The vampire melted, almost to the point of tears as he held his teacup between his long-fingered hands. "Do you know what I would give, to have the entire human race think like you do?"
She gave him a sad smile. "About as much as I would, I think. Thank you for this visit, it's wonderful not to have to hold back my opinion for propriety's sake."
He gave her another smile before taking a sip. "This is good tea."
"Lemon rind and catnip," she told him before taking a sip herself. "I like to play around with blends when the regular teas get boring." She took a second, thinking hard. "I believe Machida said that he only read that book for a school report, and that was what triggered the… soul-switching? How would you refer to this phenomenon?"
"Soul-reaching," he responded, also in deep thought. "I overheard everything after you asked for more details about life in the future. But I don't see why it would be so imperative to know that someone's going to write an awful piece of fiction about me."
Lucy nodded, lost in thought herself. "Or how anyone connects you to me. Machida seemed to be shocked that he as Arthur, I, Quincy and van Helsing were all real. Wrong conclusions or not, I wonder why the author will include me in that book if you clearly have no desire to harm me."
Dracula was lost in his own dark thoughts. "Humans are very good at wrongfully guessing what my hand is up to when they discover I'm about. The closest I can think of is… Promise me that you'll be careful?" he asked suddenly, looking sharply over at her. "It's extremely possible that I only took the blame if you…"
It was very touching, that he couldn't bring himself to talk about her inevitable death.
Lucy relaxed with a soft laugh. "Oh, that. Don't worry about it. I've been told since childhood that I'll get myself killed if I don't learn to control my impulses."
His lips pressed into a stern line as he set his teacup down. "Miss Lucy, I am nearing my four hundredth birthday, and you are the first rational human I've met. Please, people like you are rare enough."
"I'm very sorry, Dracula," she apologized, setting her teacup down as well. "Mother and others have extracted all sorts of promises out of me over the years, but I always break them at the first sign of trouble. It will do no good to scold me, because I doubt that even you could have something to say that I haven't already heard a hundred times or more."
She gave a soft mournful smile as she ran one pale finger over the rim of her cup. "Besides. I would rather die young than live with the knowledge that I could have helped someone but didn't. I would know, even if no one else would. My death will be no one's fault but mine, I promise."
The vampire wanted to say something. But it wasn't hard to see that she had struck him speechless. She took a self-conscious sip, since she couldn't think of anything to say herself.
Lucy wasn't trying to show off in front of him, she was just… being honest. No matter how her mother or the townsfolk tried to villainize her for her choices or opinions, they were a part of her whether they liked it or not.
"Out of curiosity, did you really have friends with you?" she asked after the silence had stretched uncomfortably long.
Dracula nodded, looking a little guilty. "They overheard everything I did. I wouldn't be shocked if they were listening through the wall right now." He cast his eyes at the closest kitchen wall leading to the outside, and his blue eyes briefly turned red. "Ah, yes. I wonder why Baron is waving his arms like that."
Lucy blinked before laughing a little nervously. "Well, this is a little rude, isn't it?" She set down her cup and stood up with an expectant smile. "Why don't you introduce me? If they're as nice as you-"
The front door slammed open, startling both of them.
"Louise! What did you do this time?!" her mother demanded while storming into the house.
Lucy gave one side glance at Dracula to make sure he was wrapped up like an old woman again before answering. "I'm merely sharing a cup of tea with a weary traveler, Mother."
Naomi Westenra, tall, thin and unyielding, could have started a forest fire with her glare as she stormed into the kitchen. "I'll deal with the riffraff later, but what insanity have you driven poor Arthur to this time?"
"Is he still ranting about the future?" Lucy sighed, doing her best not to roll her eyes as she walked around her mother to help poor Josephine with the groceries.
Naomi huffed as if her daughter shouldn't have bothered asking. "Yes! I heard him insisting to Mr. Morris just now that he came from some far-off time when a supposed 'friend' of his gave him a black eye for wanting to approach some future version of you!"
The younger woman could only smile in satisfaction. "Then that friend was more mine than his. Did he spout anything else?"
"Just that this friend was making threats to make sure you never look at Arthur again! Why must you be so stubborn, child?! Who is this friend?"
"How would I know if we haven't met yet?" Lucy countered, although she could tell her mother wasn't going to let the matter drop. "Are you enjoying your cup, Grandmother?" she asked while setting her armful of packages on the counter.
"Why, yes, dearie," Dracula crooned in a convincing old woman voice, only the lower part of his jaw visible from under the shawl. He finished what was left, even taking the trouble to put a tremble in his hands as he set the cup carefully back into its saucer. "Thank you for the respite, but I really should be on my way. It is not good for families to air their problems in front of outsiders."
Naomi sniffed, but not because she disagreed. "Say goodbye to your… guest, Louise. I'm not through with you, yet."
'Nor will you be until I wake you up tomorrow morning,' Lucy mentally told her, sneaking the chance to help the vampire to the door, both to help with the 'helpless old woman' image and to sneak a warm grip on his wrist as if to hug the man. "Oh, and when you see your new grandson," she informed him with a warm smile, making him turn just enough so that only she could see his eyes sparkle at the thought. "Give him a warm embrace for me and tell him I wish him only the best."
She opened the door for Count Dracula, but he didn't leave. He gripped her wrist one more time as he smiled up at her with genuine fondness.
"If I have my way, dearie, you'll have the chance to give him your regards yourself."
This wasn't going to be their last meeting.
Dracula would find her again, even when she didn't remember this day.
He had every intention of introducing the future her to his family.
Lucy was so delighted, that she couldn't restrain herself from pressing a kiss to his brow through the shawl. "Safe journey," she wished him, staying by the door to wave him goodbye.
Just as she saw a group of old women-monsters under shawls- circle around the house, her mother called angrily for her attention again.
Sighing in resignation, Lucy closed the door instead of sneaking a closer look at the monsters and turned to face the latest scolding Naomi Westenra had to offer.
"What about me?! Don't I deserve grandchildren?! Also, did you really let that nice Lord Holmwood see you with your hair down? I thought I taught you better than that!"
Though Lucy couldn't help hoping that either her mother had a different personality in her next life, or simply had a mother she could really talk to.