Page 12 of The Doctor and the Devil
Clearly, the Order had moved faster into cowardice, suspicion, and panic than I had anticipated. I knew what would come next. The systematic removal of every vampire they could get their hands on, along with their allies.
Pascal flailed limply, reminding me that I still held him by the throat. I quirked a brow at him.
“Were they all agreed on this course of action?”
“All butles DD.They could not be told,” he said.
“Ah yes,les Dames Dangereuses.How could they not know? Don’t their numbers outweigh the men of the Order by now?”
I’d asked the question rhetorically more than anything, but the look of confusion on Pascal’s face told me he wouldn’t be much more help.
“Well,” I said brightly. “Pascal, I’m delighted to offer you two options this evening. I can either drain your entire body of blood and leave your withered corpse under a tree for the crows,orI can turn you and offer you the gift of immortality for the price of entering my service.”
Tears slipped down Pascal’s cheeks. “You know what the Order has planned forles sanguisuges,” he whispered. “I am damned either way.”
I tutted. “Tsk,Pascal,mon ami, we are all damned. Some of us simply face judgment day a bit later than others. Which will it be?”
A strangled sob rose from his throat. “I will not risk my immortal soul to delay the death of my body.”
“So be it,” I replied, sinking my fangs into his throat. The need for blood surpassed all other thoughts and emotions—it had been too long since I’d fed. Unlike many of the newer vampires, I could survive on smaller amounts of blood, but when I used my abilities more frequently, I required more. Changing shape, in particular, was quite draining. Already, I felt strength and power returning to me, drugging me in the way it always had and always would. If only humans understood how precious blood truly was—this sticky, honeyed liquid that animated bones and flesh—they might not consider the blood plague as the shameful alternative to starvation. It was worth more than ten thousand loaves and fish.
Foolish humans.
I drank until I felt Pascal’s life-force ebb away, then collected his and Hubert’s bodies. I felt a pang of something…disgust? No. Pity, perhaps, at adding yet more lives to my tally of sins. Or perhaps it was regret for Pascal’s misplaced loyalty and misguided piety. Either way, instead of tossing the bodies into the undergrowth for the animals to find, I located a rusted shovel leaning against one of the tombstones and dug makeshift, shallow graves for both men. It was too bad the Order had involved these poor human fools, and it was too bad they had come for my Mina.
I heard the faint rustling of silk fabric and soft moans emanating from near the fiacre, and I rushed over to find Mina coming to. She was murmuring something insensible, but I didn’t see evidence of a head wound. I picked her up and carried her back inside the fiacre, and her head lolled limply against my shoulder, her glasses dangling haphazardly from one ear. Intrigued and somewhat concerned, I inhaled at the crook of her neck and detected a faint bitter scent carried along in her blood—laudanum.
Pascal and Hubert had evidently needed to drug her to ensure she was compliant and cooperative for the Order’s brutal questioning. The knowledge reawakened the rage in me, and I fought to tamp it back down.
From my experiences with forms of opium, I knew she would need a safe place to sleep off the soporific effects of the drug. I was reluctant to return her to her home since the Order would likely send more thugs ‘round to kidnap her again once they learned of Pascal and Hubert’s fates.
I could attempt to take her to Charlotte’s home, or Daphne’s, but I was uncertain about how they would receive me. Additionally, I wasn’t certain about their level of involvement with the Order’s new and dangerous tactic. I believed what Pascal had told me, but I found it hard to believe that both women had been completely unaware of such an evil plot brewing from within their midst.
That left me with one option. I could bring her to my home,le Château du Diable, to recover.She would be furious upon waking, which could put my greater plans in jeopardy, but since I didn’t trust the Order to leave her home in peace and I didn’t trustles DDbecause they operated within the Order, I didn’t have much of a choice.
Merde.
I found a stale-smelling blanket beneath the seat of the fiacre and tucked her in as best I could. Then I climbed out onto the seat of the small carriage and picked up the reins. It would have been faster for me to turn into my wolf form and carry her across the countryside, but I didn’t want to risk being seen and I wasn’t certain I’d be able to hold onto her very well when she was in this drug-induced stupor. Still, the threat of sunrise loomed.
I was grateful for the cloak I’d stolen from Hubert’s body, since it allowed me to hide the blood smeared across my face, neck, and hands. I should have washed after burying the men, but I hadn’t thought I would have time. Hopefully, I could clean up when I arrived home…before Mina truly awoke.
I urged the horse faster across the countryside, racing against the dawn. By the time my château came into view, the sky was already a worrying shade of lilac. I pulled up short, jumped from the driver’s seat, and pulled Mina from the fiacre. With a growl and the tearing fabric, I shifted into an enormous bat creature, stretched my massive leathery wings, and gingerly lifted her into the air. It was during times like these I found my secret front entrance a troublesome feature, but having the door hidden at the top of the highest tower was the best form of security.
Only slightly more inconvenient was the fact that it was at this moment Mina regained consciousness.
5
MINA
April 16, 1768
Château du Diable
Something is wrong.
My stomach lurched with the movement of my body, but I felt as if I were underwater, moving slowly through icy currents. My mind was at odds with the rest of me, utterly blissful in a sleepy stupor I couldn’t seem to climb my way out of.
What is happening to me?
