A/N; This is another one-shot that was inspired by Bram Stoker's Dracula, but what might have happened if there was someone competent and dependable in the same town that Lucy lived in.

Wild Rose

Baron could hardly contain his excitement as he made himself comfortable in the private railroad car that he had paid a hasty premium for. Since he was eager to begin the journey, he securely fastened his luggage to one of the unused seats, since a more luxurious experience than privacy was unneeded, not to mention probably send the wrong message once his new companion was delivered. He briefly checked his pocket watch. 'Fifteen minutes late. Another five is likely before the train even thinks of leaving the station.' Despite himself, he couldn't help gnawing at one knuckle through his glove in worry.

All sorts of things could go wrong if certain parties discovered his plans in time to stop the train. He flattered himself that if they were the current cause for delay, chances were good that he'd be hearing much more of a ruckus through the windows that he thankfully had covered before sneaking himself in.

He couldn't afford to be stopped this time. His new companion couldn't afford to be stopped if he had read between the lines correctly.

After another minute, the door opened, and a young lady was gently pushed in before the door was rapidly shut and locked behind her.

Baron couldn't keep himself from staring a little as she quickly tightened her hold to make sure the two large carpet bags didn't escape her grasp from the sudden shove. He hadn't allowed himself to think too hard on the kind of woman that would volunteer for what many would call a suicide mission, but he certainly had been expecting someone older, perhaps even a widow thanks to one of those beasts.

But he'd be willing to swear that she had come of age fairly recently, though her eyes seemed much older than her face. Whether by necessity or design, she was wearing plain, serviceable clothes that would have made her difficult to spot if not for the name on her papers. Brown hair was neatly pinned out of the way under a plain but sensible straw hat. Her tired brown eyes flashed with surprise and suspicion as they took in the sight of him and the otherwise empty railroad car. "Are things about to turn unpleasant?" she asked in a tired voice that almost seemed to be made of stone, as if she were already making plans to be a handful. Her hands were trying to minutely adjust themselves to make weapons of her luggage.

"Actually, Miss Yoshioka, I was hoping that you would be the one to tell me," Baron answered truthfully while pulling out a letter from his breast pocket and slowly approaching while offering it to her. "Despite the clear wishes from Lord Dashwood, I always prefer to hear both sides before passing judgment of any kind."

She growled in her throat like an animal but reluctantly tucked her bags into a seat so that she could take the letter. "That self-righteous idiot can't even…" The young woman trailed off, staring at the top of the page after unfolding it. Then her wide eyes slowly turned back to the man. "Von Gikkingen?"

"At your service," Baron semi-introduced himself before holding his cap to his heart and bowing slightly. Normally it would have been a top hat, but he was dressed more plainly than normal, both for stealth and because where they were going had no room for finery.

But it was gratifying to see Miss Yoshioka seemed to have thought along the same lines with her own wardrobe for this trip. In fact, his name alone seemed to have a stress-reducing effect on her nerves.

"I-I'm sorry, my lord," she nearly laughed weakly, holding one hand to her head as she braced herself against the back of one of the seats as the letter crumpled against the upholstery. "I've had a very rough month, I would have been more respectful if I thought I was going to meet you. How well is the garlic wall growing?"

Baron couldn't resist beaming like a child that she knew about his passion project. "It's flourishing, actually. Why don't we sit and be ready when the train leaves?" he suggested, gesturing for her to take the seat she was leaning against while he took the one on the opposite side.

It was excellent that she had heard of him, and enough of him to immediately sweeten her tune, but the least he could do is prove himself worthy of whatever she heard to respect him so swiftly.

Miss Yoshioka stared at him but did as he requested. "You're not going to try to stop me?" she asked before briefly scanning the letter. Her face immediately began souring at what she read.

Baron let her finish reading the letter before speaking, since he'd always found it annoying to have someone demanding your attention while trying to read. "Actually, I owe you my gratitude."

She snapped her head up to look at him with shock.

"I don't know your own reasons, but some of the worst sights I've been forced to endure are when peasants from Vania make a run for my baronetcy." He closed his eyes as he tried to fight against the images of the half-starved, terrified peasantry begging to be allowed under his protection. "I've wanted to take care of the problem myself for years, but absolutely everyone comes up with unfortunately good reasons why I can't be the one to do it, and I most certainly wasn't about to send someone else to do such a thing in my stead. We both know how dangerous of a task it is."

"Not if you're smart about it, it isn't," Miss Yoshioka corrected him with a thin smile. Then she blinked as the train jostled and whistled as it began to wheel down the tracks. Then her eyes widened again, as if understanding that he had snuck away as well. "Ah ha." She gave him a mocking little curtsy from her sitting position, but her smile made it clear that her newly found humor wasn't at his expense. "You're welcome for the excuse. I suppose misogyny has some uses, as long as you're not planning anything stupid like leaving me tied up in a cellar or handcuffed to one of the seats for the return trip the train will need to make," she warned while ripping the letter into long strips and stuffing them into a linen bag on the side of her seat.

Baron grinned at her iron determination. "I'll be thrilled to compare notes with you on how to best carry out the task, but I'd like to hear your reason for making this a personal mission. Lord Dashwood's letter was suspiciously vague on why I needed to hold you from 'a mission destined to fail'."

"Which is rich, coming from him," she growled, as if mentioning the man was all that needed to be done to remove her better aspects. Then she shook herself and took in some cleansing breaths before speaking again. "Would you like the short story or the long?"

"The long. We might as well, since we won't reach the next station until tomorrow morning," he pointed out.

Haru breathed in and out again before turning herself slightly to face him better. "I won't blame you for not remembering the name, but when you started buying garlic from every farm possible, one of them was my father's. You're a bit of a legend around garlic farms for buying that much before word got around to what you were doing with all of it."

Baron shrugged. "If you're not having the reality of such creatures forced on you every day, I imagine it must be nicer to write off vampires as superstitious nonsense."

"Probably less nerve-wracking," Haru agreed with a wan smile. "One of the refugees made it all the way to my father's farm and begged for a position doing literally anything he wanted. She didn't care, as long as she could spend the rest of her days on a garlic farm. My mother was starting to get too ill to take care of me, so Anya became my nanny. I'm sure you can imagine the stories she told me."

He shuddered. "I'm sure I've heard what she must have said to you."

Haru nodded while looking grim. "She was scolded many times, but… she was a little too horrified to be lying. Too heartbroken. It wasn't that she was trying to scare me, it's just that she was convinced that a day would come when the count and his companions would run out of peasants in Vania at some point and start expanding their hunting ground, so she wanted me to know the signs of a victim and how to ward the vampires off as much as possible."

Baron sighed while tapping his thumb against an armrest. "I suppose you've taken it upon yourself to make sure that never happens?"

She laughed a bit harshly. "Actually, it's because it already started."

"What?!" he asked in horror while quickly standing up. Of course the train chose to take a bend and about sway him off his feet, making him bump his shoulder against the side of the railroad car harshly.

"Sit down, I'll get to that part of the story," Miss Yoshioka urged him calmly.

Calmly. When she was definitely taking the count for the threat he was.

Baron slowly resumed his seat, now even less inclined than before to take his eyes off her even as he rubbed his shoulder sorely.

"I'm sure you of all people understand thanks to your garlic wall, but it's sometimes easier to think of new solutions to old problems if you're not in a constant state of fear."

He nodded once, gravely urgent for her to explain her terrible earlier statement.

Miss Yoshioka sighed heavily before leaning back against her seat a little. One finger hooked on the collar of her dress and dragged down just enough for him to see a ribbon tied around her neck, embroidered with tiny crucifixes. "I was made fun of in my village for decorating my windows with crucifixes and hunting for wild roses in case I could collect and grind branches into a powder for later use."

Baron blinked. "That would be a great deal neater than having big piles of branches," he couldn't resist musing while fuming at not thinking of it himself. "It grows tiresome when people refuse to understand certain wood piles are not for burning, even if they have to argue with the ones guarding the piles."

The young lady laughed sadly. "I went through that, too. But I think it was far more intentional toward me than you, since it was obvious that I was taking vampire stories seriously and they thought they were doing me a favor even though my hobbies didn't affect any of them in the slightest."

Baron shuddered at what direct interference must have been like. "Did no one else believe Anya?"

Miss Yoshioka shook her head while looking angry. "A few years back, one of the farmhands decided to play a joke and dress up as a vampire so that he could jump out and scare her. She screamed in fright and her heart gave out. Father was so furious that he almost staked the farmhand himself. Still wish he'd done it sometimes," she grumbled mutinously, turning away from him so that she could pull a handkerchief from one sleeve and furiously dry her eyes before tears escaped.

Baron glared. "That used to be a form of prank in my domain until I passed a stiff punishment on anyone that did it again. That farmhand would have been judged the same as a murderer if this had happened under my care."

"Good. I was disappointed he only got run out of town," she growled, tucking the handkerchief away for now and taking in some new breaths. "I wasn't odd just because everyone knew I believed in vampires. Father desperately wanted a son to inherit the farm, but since he had no interest in marrying again after Mother died, he simply treated me the way he'd treat a son. He never went as far as having me dress like a boy or try to fool anyone into thinking I was one, but I can shoot, I can work the farm as well as any of the hands, and he taught me everything he could think of when it came to the paperwork side of running the farm."

"Ah, paperwork," Baron sighed, dismally thinking about how much of it would be waiting for him if he made it back home. "Why must you be a necessary evil?"

"You're telling me," she couldn't resist giggling with a more genuine smile than before.

Not that he had necessarily thought her plain before, but she was certainly more charming with that smile.

"Father also made it a point to make it general knowledge that he would not be passing down the farm to a son in law, it would stay with me and he would turn away any suitor that didn't have a job of his own because he didn't want anyone courting me for the wrong reasons."

Baron nodded with approval. "Sensible man. I'm glad to hear you didn't suffer for being a female heir."

The brunette flinched. "Well…" she tried to say vaguely but couldn't seem to think of anything. She finally heaved a big sigh. "Being a woman is definitely part of the problem. After a few incidents, I learned to sign any invoices or receipts with my first initial and last name instead of my normal name because buyers from out of town are less likely to give me trouble if they think they're dealing with my father over me, or at least it lets them pretend that they're dealing with my father since we have the same initials. I try to view it as a compliment that the worst any of my people have to say about me is that 'it isn't natural to work for a woman', because it means there's literally nothing better for them to complain about."

"And your father?" he asked, a bit worried that she was skirting around his… stepping down.

"Horse-riding accident. Sometimes, you just fall wrong," Haru reported sadly. She folded her arms tight against herself as if trying to have a one-person embrace. "It helped that the workers already knew I was the second in command and that I was familiar enough with the work to not demand the impossible and listen to them if something strange came up. I only had one suitor approach me after Father died, but… oh, I don't know how to put this without it being an insult?" she asked herself before looking at Baron. "Have you ever met someone that's a little too polite or charming, and you wouldn't be all that shocked to find out they murder puppies when no one's looking?"

Baron grimaced. "I assure you I met plenty. So there was no one you fancied?" 'Why am I asking that?! She wouldn't be here alone if she had a lover!'

Miss Yoshioka blushed but looked more angry than embarrassed. She turned just enough to face the seat in front of her. "I had feelings for Lord Dashwood for five years straight. I can talk to men about business and crops without any trouble, but I could barely form a straight sentence around him. The villagers enjoyed it because it was 'proof I wasn't completely a man-woman'."

"Now that's a bit harsh," Baron objected, making mental plans to introduce her to some of the businesswomen he knew as soon as possible. "As the proprietor, you couldn't afford to be demure in transactions, or you'd permanently have boot stains all over you."

"Exactly!" she yelled while pointing at him as if he had uttered pure brilliance instead of a simple fact. "How am I supposed to find time for tea parties and quilting bees when I'm organizing orders and deliveries and every emergency under the sun?! On top of that, I had to do all of it while pretending I didn't care that everyone was looking down their noses at me for being more than a decoration! What's the point of being a human if I can't make something of myself?!"

"Thank you!" Baron exclaimed with almost tears of joy. "The world has enough leeches that talk too much and produce too little, we don't need to train half of the rising generations to do nothing more!"

"And what's so bad about being a woman that isn't a helpless damsel, might I ask?!" Miss Yoshioka roared back. "If I had acted the way they wanted me to, Louise would be dead, and worse than dead!"

Baron blinked. "Louise?"

Her lips silently counted to twenty while her eyes were closed before giving more detail. "Earlier this year, a woman and her daughter moved into our village to live more cheaply to make the inheritance from her husband last. The daughter's name is Louise, and she's about my age. She's probably as close to perfect as society can ever hope to get. She's beautiful, dresses well, soft spoken, humble, loving, you name it. Pygmalion's bride couldn't be more perfect than her. If I had even half of her charm, I would have endured a lot less criticism for how I turned out."

Baron blinked, trying to read her expression. "Did you interact with her at all before standing up for her?"

"Not a terrible lot, but definitely enough that I don't hesitate to claim her as a friend," she admitted with a wistful smile. "She complimented me on a garlic and potato stew I brought to the Midsummer festivities, since I never miss an excuse to cook my favorite dish Anya taught me."

Baron couldn't resist a grin. "I've had quite a few variations of that stew." Then he hesitated, wondering if now was the right time to ask if she'd make her version of it for him at some point. He decided to wait since she had resumed talking.

"This probably isn't a surprise, but Lord Dashwood was completely smitten with her, as well as two of his good friends; one of which was Quinton Norris, an adventurer he met while out exploring the world, and the other was Jonathan Steward that left with him to explore and opened up an insane asylum in the area with his portion of the gold the trio brought back. All three of them proposed to Louise on the same day, but Louise chose Lord Dashwood."

Baron blanched, both at the thought of one woman enduring that many proposals at once and at the implications for the woman in front of him. "Ah. That helps explain your distaste."

"Oh no," she growled like an animal, startling him and making him grateful that he knew for sure she wasn't a vampire herself. "I have other reasons for wanting him to drop out of my life and be done with it." Then she sighed. "I'm sorry for getting upset this much. You just wanted to know what I'm doing here."

Although he was slightly afraid at what 'other reasons' she meant, Baron decided to push forward. "What about Louise?"

At the name, Miss Yoshioka was able to smile slightly. "Let this be a testament to how good Louise is; I didn't hate her when word reached me of their engagement. Deep down I sort of wanted to, but she's the last person on earth that would wish anyone harm. When she heard through the local gossip about my feelings, she came to me and begged for forgiveness at 'stealing him away', but I explained to her that, up to that point at least, I've never been able to form a complete sentence around him, and he's never sought out my company. It hurt, but at least he never gave me a reason to think that he'd choose me for a wife. I guess that's one nice thing he did for me," she grumbled before forcing herself back on track. "I reminded her that he's a grown man and not a toy to be claimed, so don't waste a thought on me if being with him is what will make her happy."

Baron nearly melted at that kind of talk. "Careful, Miss Yoshioka. You're very close to me hiring you to give sermons to certain parties on that very subject."

She blinked before giving him a careful once over, as if she had been too distracted by her own troubles to notice what most women did at the first glance. "Oh, right. Do you ever need whips to hold someone back?"

"I assure you I've been tempted," he groaned while covering his eyes with one hand. "It doesn't help that I get reminded at least twice a day that I'm not getting any younger and need an heir of my own before they 'allow' me to go vampire hunting. Never mind that they would spend the next twenty years saying that my child needs its father, and while that is true, it doesn't change the fact that I would rather offer any future generations a world where vampires really are nothing more than scary stories to frighten them with."

"Wouldn't that be lovely?" Haru sighed as her eyes grew distant. "I mean, I had a lot of talks with myself growing up over whether or not Anya saw the real thing or a very clever charlatan, but I figured all I could really do about it was prepare for the worst and hope for the best."

"It's all anyone can do, really," Baron agreed in a heartbeat, trying to remember the last time he had talked to one girl for so long.

"But back to my story. I was still hopelessly in love with Lord Dashwood at the time, and decided that watching him get married or even be married to someone else was going to be nothing less than torture, and what did I really have in that village other than memories? I heard a rumor that one of my more reliable workers, Machida, had plans to leave and start his own farm. He thought I was angry at him when I asked if it was true, but then he was eager to play along with whatever rules I had if it meant me selling the farm to him. I secretly cleared it with a banker from another town to make it easier for him to get a loan for everything he didn't have saved up, and I made him my second in command so that I had an excuse to teach him everything about the paperwork part I could and get everyone else used to looking at him instead of me. I'm still disgusted that everyone took to taking orders from him like a duck to water," she added while looking murderous.

"Shameful," Baron agreed darkly. "What sort of rules did you ask from him?"

"Secrecy, mostly. I didn't want people to continually ask me about why I wanted to leave or half-hearted condolences for Lord Dashwood marrying someone else that was just going to turn into more veiled insults that I should set my sights on Jonathan Steward since I clearly needed his help anyway and possibly a room at his asylum. Heaven knows I dealt with enough comments without anyone knowing I was leaving. As long as Machida had all the paperwork and I had my lawyer with a copy of everything, he wasn't likely to experience even half of the fallout that I did, though we held off at first on signing the paperwork because I had a lot of math to teach before I was going to be comfortable handing over the reins. As long as I was going to be gone before the wedding, I didn't care."

"Did you have any plans on where you were going to move to?" Baron asked while trying to keep the interest out of his tone.

"Ama Rica. Quinton Norris is from there and had a lot of stories to tell. Even if a portion of them are true, I would have had a much higher chance there than in my village of finding a husband that could appreciate a woman that isn't afraid of hard work."

The lord wasn't certain why, but he couldn't help feeling a bit cheated that she had initially planned on going the opposite direction from him.

"I would love to get married and have children, but if you pick the wrong one…" Miss Yoshioka ominously shrugged her shoulders, a gesture that Baron didn't think was possible, even though he completely agreed with her assessment.

"Early last month, I received a message from Lucy. She'd fallen ill and was hopeful that I would make her some of my stew to help her regain her strength. Of course I did, but the servant didn't want to let me through the door, she just wanted the food. I informed her point blank that if I wasn't good enough to wish her lady better health in person, than my stew didn't deserve to cross the threshold either. Luckily Nina overheard us-Louise's best friend from her old home," she quickly explained, making Baron nod once. "She was gently reproving of the servant, since it was clear that not letting me through the door wasn't an order but her own disdain. Nina's nearly as angelic as Louise, but-" a shudder wracked her body. "The things she told me. The fact that she wasn't worried, or more worried than she currently was."

Baron leaned over the armrest of his seat. "What did Nina say?" he asked in a deadly calm voice that expected nothing but the worst.

Miss Yoshioka steadied herself again. "She was staying with Louise while her fiancé, a solicitor, was on a trip to Vania, to talk to a count that wanted to buy a house in our country!"

Baron's blood ran cold. "Oh no," he uttered hoarsely.

"John Harper hadn't sent a letter in a long while, so Nina was very worried about him," she added with emphasis. "But she had received a letter that morning that he was in an insane asylum in Polia, telling such wild tales that the nun who wrote her wouldn't even write them down."

That made him blink. "How did he escape?" he almost asked himself.

"It involved a lot of climbing outside the castle windows and walls, as well as stealing some of the count's gold so that he could afford transportation out of Vania," she reported promptly, making him look up at her with surprise.

"He kept a journal," Miss Yoshioka defended herself. "This is skipping ahead a bit, but John decided that although he was terrified that everything he saw in the castle wasn't madness setting in, someone needed to do something about the count, the first step being finding out if the count really did settle into the house he purchased. Which is right next to Dr. Steward's asylum. There had been talk of someone moving into that broken dust bucket, but since no one ever saw any lights or attempts to rebuild or even tidy the place, the rumors were little more than that."

Baron buried his head between his hands. "This is horrible," he moaned. "Even the western parts of my country scoff at vampires, Count Darkula would have a field day in your country!"

Miss Yoshioka nodded glumly. "But that wasn't all. One of the reasons Nina wanted to talk to me personally is because Louise started sleepwalking again. She hesitated slightly too much for my comfort and was choosing her words too carefully for me to believe nothing happened because of these ventures, especially since she was begging me to start sleeping over with Louise in her place, because now that she knew where John was, she needed to go to him and help him recover. I hadn't met her before this more than once or twice, but Louise had apparently been talking about me for Nina to trust me with looking after her friend."

Baron looked at her gravely. "He was feeding off Louise? Slowly?" he clarified while feeling sick to his stomach.

She nodded again, understanding full well why a slow feeding was much worse than being a quick drink. "The most maddening part is that I couldn't raise the alarm because I already knew no one would believe me. I did what I could to act like nothing was wrong when I saw her looking so pale and weak even though she's normally pale, but she was nearly translucent! She was also wearing a thick choker that isn't normally her style, so I did pull it down a little after she was asleep just to check. She was definitely being fed on."

The young woman folded her arms again. "That first night was the worst since I didn't have enough time before sundown to grab any supplies, but I could absolutely stay awake and hope that the amount of garlic I eat would be enough warding until I was better prepared." Then she smiled wickedly. "A bat did flap its wings against the window, but you should have seen it take off like a bullet when I pulled aside the curtain instead and glared at it while pressing a paper I had drawn a cross on against the glass."

Baron grinned just as wickedly. "I have buildings where crosses are visible through differently colored bricks and etched into every window."

"Her mother would have killed me," she laughed, though it soon turned sad. "She definitely thought I was being foolish when I had managed to grab some things the next day and made a paste from garlic, ground wild rose branch and holy water and carefully dabbed it around Louise's window. But I was even more annoyed than she was when I found out she had someone wash it off. And got rid of the cross I hung over her bed. It didn't take long before it didn't matter if I wouldn't say it; everyone knew I thought it was a vampire."

Baron nodded while rolling his eyes. "If nothing else, you made sure they knew countermeasures as well."

"Too bad they went out of their way to thwart me," she growled mutinously. "I even invited her mother to call for Dr. Steward so he could give a proper diagnosis, because I would love to know about a disease that looked like this but wasn't vampires so that I wouldn't fly off the handle, because deep down, I didn't want vampires to be real, no one wants vampires to be real! But that doesn't mean I'm going to slip a giant plate under Louise, hand her a sprig of parsley and say 'good luck' before walking away!"

He ran his gloved fingers through his thick blonde hair while slowly shaking his head. He had enough trouble with his disbelieving father, but everyone else as well? "Yet you managed to keep her alive? I'm very interested in how you did that."

She scowled a bit. "I'm still a bit grumpy about it, but things got a lot easier when Dr. Steward couldn't figure it out and asked his mentor for help. Perhaps you've heard of him, Professor Abraham von Helsing?"

Baron blinked. "His reputation proceeds him. What was his diagnosis?"

"The same as mine," she answered with a tiny trace of smugness. "Things got even easier because when people were mocking my beliefs in front of him before he announced his own conclusions, he understood the situation immediately and begged me for everything I knew. I told him what I could and where to send a telegram to Nina since she had information that would probably shed light on how this started. He basically let me return all the protections and keep watching her every night since no one could deny when they kept track that she was improving when I was the one cooking and keeping watch over her."

Miss Yoshioka's face turned into a scowl. "Which is the very reason Lord Dashwood is a self-absorbed idiot that thinks he's the main character of a trashy novel!"

Baron started at the new hostility. "What did he do?" he asked point blank.

"He threatened me!" she roared at the top of her lungs. "He decided that I have it in me to get rid of a rival and wanted to remind me that he barely saw me as a female, let alone a young lady. Oh if it wasn't for the fact that Louise was still sick from the night I wasn't allowed to watch her or her mother wasn't ill herself, the whole village would have heard me tear into him!"

Baron gaped. "After all that?! You were taking better care of her than he was!"

"Oh, I pointed that out, don't you worry," she snarled, gripping the seat in front of her like she could tear it apart with her bare hands if she felt like paying for a replacement. She took another minute to calm herself. "On the bright side, whispering everything I had to say about him through clenched teeth might have gotten my point across even better, because he actually let me finish everything I had to say before storming off to home for a bit of rest and checking Machida's notes before returning again before sunset with new supplies. I even pointed out how much easier it would be for me not to get involved with her sickness if I wanted her gone, and that if I wanted to wreck his relationship with Louise, all I'd have to do is tell her what he said about me and let her sort things out. Then I promised to do exactly that if he ever spoke to me again. It was the longest speech I ever gave in front of him, and he stayed good and speechless until after I was gone, maybe from shock that anyone would speak to a lord like that, or that it was me of all people speaking like that."

"Good for you!" Baron cheered, but she still looked like she wouldn't say no to a task that involved a lot of ripping.

"I also called him an ungrateful pig," Miss Yoshioka added with an almost grim satisfaction. "But before resting up, I dragged Machida to my office and signed over the farm since the loan money was only going to be two more days, and I wanted to be able to leave in a heartbeat when I was convinced Louise wasn't going to 'have another relapse' and that no one else was going to become a snack. I mean, why should I keep working under a lord that doesn't understand concepts like gratitude, paying attention to people even if you don't like them-"

"Especially if you don't like them so that you have more than your gut if something happens," Baron couldn't resist adding, making her nod and hold her hand out to him as if to encourage a sermon.

"He's just not worth serving if a simple 'thank you' is too difficult for him, even for the woman he loves. Especially when every other night or so when Louise was being guarded by me, there began to be little instances of livestock or pets with their throats cut open by an animal, and Van Helsing forced an inspection of one of the cattle to prove that most of the blood had been drained first. Crosses began popping up all over the village after that, and people were a little too sickeningly sweet to me while asking about further tips on how to keep vampires away from livestock and children, but honestly with that much open air, every single animal or person you want to keep and can't ingest garlic wearing a crucifix is about all you can do, though I did mention that crushing garlic and mixing it with lard or butter for a cologne wouldn't hurt."

"Though if you eat enough garlic you don't need it," Baron added, pleased that she did get some recognition after all.

She nodded, her eyes turning to her lap. "And I did talk about not inviting strangers into your home since a vampire can freely come back after one invitation, and how to make their windows a lot safer. But the big problem became Van Helsing, of all things!" she fumed.

Baron blinked, since he hadn't heard anything about the man that might be a warning. "How so?"

"He's a lot more gentle about it, but he's just as misogynistic as the rest of the village. The best compliment he could give me was 'that I have man's brains' if that helps explain my anger."

Baron gave her a baffled expression, since he couldn't think of anything to say about it.

"Exactly," Miss Yoshioka agreed angrily. "I couldn't think of anything to say, either. Never mind of the fact that I was thinking of other ways to keep the villagers safe or trying to point out that if we only focused on our own people, he'd eventually give up and try again somewhere else, and wouldn't it be better to set a trap and take him down before losing track of him?"

Baron shook himself at such words, and dared to reach across the little aisle for her gloved hand, even though it startled her. "Please permit me begging for this one scrap of information prematurely, Miss Yoshioka. Do you know of Count Darkula's whereabouts or current plans?"

At that, her surprise turned into grim satisfaction. "His ashy remains are just outside an old shack in the forest of my home town and probably floating around the air a bit. We only have to worry about the three women."

Baron wasn't sure how long he stared at her, trying to force his brain to comprehend the glorious news that almost couldn't be true. "He's gone?" he begged, holding her hand a little tighter as if begging for reassurance. "Why didn't you mention this from the beginning?"

Her smile turned less grim as her free hand patted at the one holding her other hand. "Because you wanted the long story, not the short one. Want to hear how it happened?"

"More than anything," he eagerly agreed, not caring about dignity as he knelt by her seat so that holding her hand wouldn't be a slightly uncomfortable stretch.

She growled an angry sigh. "I was able to convince them that a trap would be effective, and I basically came up with the plan myself to hide Lucy in the cellar of her home in a drug-induced stupor so that she couldn't tell where she was in case they had a mind link, but have a convincing doll with her unwashed clothes for her scent and hair like hers 'secretly' taken to an old shack in the woods with no wards on it since one night the count even tried using a tame wolf to get through the window. If it weren't for my Winchester, that night would have probably ended differently than only her mother dying of fright, but it was clear that he had Lucy marked as one of his 'companions' and would stop at nothing to get to her. The ones surrounding the shack were to hide in the trees and bushes until the bat came for her, and then ambush him. I think they went along with it because none of them could come up with anything better, but when I returned to my room for my own weapons, Quinton barricaded me inside and said he'd shoot anyone that let me out."

"To keep you out of danger," Baron finished promptly, but she glared at him.

"It was my plan. I've been training and preparing myself since childhood for the possibility of someday facing those monsters. If a house is on fire, are the owners going to turn away someone with a bucket of water for wearing a skirt instead of pants? If you see a child drowning, are you supposed to start praying some man happens by so you don't get your clothes wet? I know the people in my area, Baron. I doubt Count Darkula would have needed to do much to scare them off even if van Helsing enlisted them, but if anything were to go wrong and I wasn't there to help when it was my plan, I'd never forgive myself."

"So what did you do about it?" he asked, since she was not sounding like she sulked in her room until things were done.

Her rage gained an evil smirk. "Those fools didn't think through where they imprisoned me very well. I had a window I could climb through, and access to weapons specifically designed for a night like that. I couldn't take all of it since the window wasn't big enough, so I settled for my Winchester, my old hatchet from when I was gathering wild rose branches, and some holy water. My local priest has a weakness for Vanian style apple cake, and I'm the only one in town that makes it. As long as I swear not to disrespect the water, he and I have a tidy agreement."

"That apple cake is very persuasive," Baron agreed in a heartbeat, nodding for her to continue eagerly.

"I knew they'd just argue with me and jeopardize the trap if I let them know I came anyway, so I quietly found my own place of concealment in a direction I doubted they had covered, anointed the hatchet and barrel of my Winchester with the holy water, and waited." She closed her eyes and shook her head. "That was probably the longest night of my life. But he came eventually. The men sprung out and converged, covering the windows with their crosses and Van Helsing going in himself to stake him. I could tell the fight wasn't going in his favor, so I started running forward and guessed where to throw my hatchet against the door frame since I needed both hands for the Winchester, it might be too late if I wait until I see Count Darkula exit the shack first, and the hatchet might buy me enough time to aim and shoot since vampires are supposed to be fast."

"Unearthly fast," Baron agreed, squeezing her hands a little tighter in anticipation.

"… I got him. I didn't think the hatchet was that sharp, but maybe it was the holy water that made it slice right through his neck even as he tried to transform into a wolf to get away. His head looked at me as it bounced twice before it started crumbling. It was like the decay of centuries happening in seconds," she whispered, her mind a thousand miles away. "… There was one second, I'm not sure if it was my imagination or not. But… he almost looked relieved as his head shattered like a bowl full of ash. His body fell over and disintegrated the same way."

Baron was surprised, since that was one bit of vampire slaying he hadn't heard about. "Do you think he remembered his true self? That he regretted what he did while under the vampire's curse?"

"I'm depending on it for my own sanity," she agreed, adjusting her hands a bit so that she was holding his instead of him only holding hers. She gave another long, tired sigh. "Would you believe that they got angry at me for the hit?"

"What?" Baron demanded in a low growl. "But the plan worked! If you weren't in position, he could have gotten away and then who knows when another chance would have presented itself?!"

"Which is why I blew up at them again," Miss Yoshioka responded almost woodenly, still staring ahead of herself. "I yelled that this was exactly why they shouldn't treat me like an encyclopedia or a guard dog for Lucy, especially now that anyone could guard her now that they believed me about vampires being real. But no, they felt that their manhood was being threatened because I didn't recognize any of them as someone that could order me around, even Lord Dashwood. It was a big ugly fight that ended with me storming off to my farm on foot since they would rather resurrect Count Darkula than give me a simple 'thank you' for making sure the woman they loved didn't become like one of the women John saw in that castle."

"So when did John join the local crew? I think that got left out," Baron admitted, blaming himself since he did ask about Darkula.

"Van Helsing's telegram reached him, and in the lengthy telegram John sent back, he mentioned that Count Darkula had trapped him in his castle for 'the three voluptuous women' to feast on. I wasn't supposed to hear about it since they kept trying to exclude me from discussions until they couldn't come up with better ideas than me, and Dr. Steward let it slip out when I said that killing Darkula should end things. I'm glad I remembered about those women on the angry run home, because I realized that they might remember to do something about those women before organizing a celebration where they can all pat each other on the back for letting me do most of the hard work, and that if they thought for one second that I'd consider taking care of the other vampires by myself since they kept disrespecting me, I'd find myself in one of Dr. Steward's padded rooms the minute the sun came out again."

His frown became more pronounced as he realized that the letter had told him what the writer wished had happened.

"So I marched into the room Machida was sharing with three of the other hands and quietly got him up so that I could talk him into driving me to the train station two towns over. He wasn't too keen at the timing, but I guess he got a good look of my angry face in the moonlight because he didn't argue too much. I still beat him to the stable since I had already prepared everything I wanted to take with me beforehand, and was getting the horses ready by the time he reached me to help. I wouldn't have minded just taking a horse, but I didn't want to be bothered by having to find a buyer before getting on the next train eastward. I let Machida think I was still going west in case anyone had doubts, but I didn't want to keep him away from his farm long enough for anyone else to get ideas on who had rights to it."

She finally turned enough to give him a shy smile. "So here I am. I thought my tracks were more than enough to keep those pigs from guessing what I'm really up to, but since lords don't go out of their way to talk to peasants, I knew immediately you were here because of something Lord Dashwood sent you. I hope this explains why I was hostile at first."

Baron blinked. "What gave me away?" he asked with genuine puzzlement, just now noticing that his knees were complaining about staying in this position for too long. He reluctantly released her hands to sorely return to his seat.

But that didn't stop his ears from twitching slightly at the sound of her gentle laugh.

"Wear whatever clothes you want, my lord. But you just don't hold yourself like a peasant."

His cheeks couldn't help flushing a bit at her simple statement. "I'll have to work on that," he muttered to himself, leaning back in his chair while feeling stunned. "This is precisely why I always listen to both sides before passing judgment. Even if I didn't accompany you, I'd much rather trust you to this job than those… pigs!" he snarled with distaste. "If they spent all that energy on vampire hunting over excluding you, maybe I'd feel differently, but deliberately sullying your name to force my hand?"

"I'm not even angry about it anymore," she informed him, turning on her side to face him and nestling down as if to catch a little sleep after setting her hat on one of her bags. "I'm just tired. I won't rest fully until those women get the same relief Darkula experienced, but I'm… over dealing with men acting like I'm just a stupid little girl that needs to be protected from myself."

Baron nestled himself in a similar fashion, since it was now very late. "I know I haven't deliberately asked yet, but would you consider having me for a partner? I think the job could get done even faster than if I leave you to your own devices."

Not to mention that with Count Darkula eliminated, the whole mission was a lot more likely for success.

"Well, there's only three of them," she pointed out with a sleepy smile, but he shook his head.

"I meant traveling there and back to where the train leaves us. If I buy a wagon, we could take turns between sleeping and driving it, plus exchanging the horses at every farm possible so we won't have to stop and rest the horses that much."

Miss Yoshioka blinked. "That would cut down the time, wouldn't it?" she muttered thoughtfully to herself. "I've got some rope soaking in holy water, three jars of garlic paste, two pouches of ground wild rose branch, my trusty Winchester and a lot of crucifixes, both wooden and ribbon as well as my hatchet."

He beamed at her inventory before pulling on his collar enough to display the rosary beads of his own crucifix. "I've got wooden and silver stakes with a hammer, two of my own Winchesters, five jars of garlic preserves in olive oil and a long silver plated chain with crucifixes hanging off it." He then winced. "I'll make the joke to spare you the trouble; yes, it does look like a giant's charm bracelet."

She actually giggled before her stomach roared audibly. Her cheeks flushed crimson as she swiftly sat up and reached for one of her bags.

"I also brought food," he added, standing up to reach for his own bag. "You don't strike me as the type to say no to cabbage rolls."

Miss Yoshioka stopped moving, and slowly turned her head as if she wasn't sure she heard him correctly.

"Please help yourself," he urged while holding out the napkin he had just unfolded. "Before I eat them all, because I just might."

She gratefully took two and bit into one of them with relish. Tears sprang to her eyes as she slowly chewed and swallowed.

Baron merely watched her as he took a bite as well. After all the rage and sadness he had seen from her in the scant time since she entered the railroad car, it was… just what he needed, to see her give a smile that genuine.

"It's just like Anya used to make," she wept, happily taking another bite.

Baron finished swallowing so that he could smile at her. "Then you'll agree to having me as a partner, Miss Yoshioka? I really do think we could get this done within two weeks if we work together."

She dabbed the tears away with a handkerchief before gracing him with a dazzling smile that almost left him breathless. "Yes, but on the condition that you call me Haru from now on. People we meet are likely to think we're married, and it would make things easier to let them believe that than invite scandal when there's no time for it."

He beamed happily at the permission, and did his best to downplay the thrill he felt in his veins that this sweet, clever, determined young lady didn't mind being seen as his wife. "Normally I'd ask you to call me 'Baron', but since I'd like to be less obvious while in Vania, 'Humbert' would probably be a better idea."

xxXxx

Toto-

If they haven't arrived yet, a party with Lord Dashwood will be arriving soon expecting word on 'an inmate that escaped Dr. Steward's insane asylum'. Please inform the party that is a disrespectful and misleading way to refer to the lady that killed Count Darkula when they couldn't and elected herself to kill his brides since she sees them as too slow and incompetent to do it without her. The only way she escaped the asylum is by not staying in her home long enough for them to force her into a padded room before they began the same journey she has chosen.

I want them arrested and held in the common dungeon. Not only is the plan Miss Yoshioka and I concocted solid, she sees me as more help than she could have hoped for, and we are confident that we don't require help from anyone in that party.

When they complain, point out that Miss Yoshioka escaped similar circumstances of their own devising and still got the job done. Don't worry too much if they escape as well, but I won't complain if I get to point out they're inferior to her in that capacity as well when we get back.

Since Miss Yoshioka has agreed to a partnership and to recover from the past month's woes in my baronetcy, she also agreed to send back the possessions she won't need for this task. Please place them in the Rose Suite, because I have no intention of letting a woman like this slip through my fingers.