Anno Dracula

45

DRINK, PRETTY CREATURE, DRINK

Her touch had changed him. For two days, Beauregard had been troubled by dreams. Dreams in which Geneviève, sometimes herself and sometimes a needle-fanged cat, lapped at his blood. It had always been in his stars. The way things were, he would sooner or later have been tapped by a vampire. He was luckier than most, to have given blood freely rather than be drained by force. He had certainly been more fortunate than Penelope.

‘Charles,’ Florence Stoker said, ‘I’ve been running on for close to an hour, and I declare you’ve not heard a single word. It’s plain from your face that your thoughts are in the sickroom. With Penelope.’

Oddly guilty, he let Florence continue in her belief. After all, he should be thinking of his fiancée. They were in the drawing room, awkwardly superfluous. Florence consumed cup after tiny cup of tea. Mrs Churchward occasionally darted in with a noncommittal report and Mrs Yeovil, the housekeeper, would regularly appear with more tea. But, absorbed in his own thoughts, he paid them no mind. Geneviève had taken blood from him, but given something of herself in return. She ran and turned about like quicksilver in his mind.

Penelope was attended by Dr Ravna, the specialist in nervous disorders. A vampire, he had a reputation in the field of diseases of the un-dead. Dr Ravna was with the invalid now, attempting some treatment.

Beauregard had been in his daze for two nights and had neglected his duties in Whitechapel. Penelope’s infirmity provided an excuse but an excuse was all it was. He could not stop thinking of Geneviève. He was afraid he wanted her to drink from him again. Not the simple thirst-slaking of an opened wrist but the full embrace of the Dark Kiss. Geneviève was an extraordinary woman by the standards of any age. Together, they could live through the centuries. It was a temptation.

‘I suppose the wedding will have to be cancelled,’ Florence said. ‘A great pity.’

There had been no possibility of a formal discussion, but Beauregard assumed his engagement to Penelope was now at an end. It would be best if lawyers could be kept out of it. There was no real fault on either part, he hoped, but neither he nor Penelope was the person they had been when they entered into their understanding. With all the other troubles, the last thing he needed was a suit for breach of promise. It was hardly likely, but Mrs Churchward was old-fashioned and might consider that her daughter had been insulted.

Geneviève’s lips had been cool, her touch gentle, her tongue roughly pleasant as a cat’s. The draining of his blood, so slow and so tender, had been an exquisite sensation, instantly addictive. He wondered what she was doing just now.

‘I cannot understand what Lord Godalming was thinking of,’ Florence continued. ‘He has acted most peculiarly.’

‘How unlike Art.’

A screech sounded through the ceiling, barely human, followed by a whimper. Florence cringed and Beauregard’s heart contracted. Penelope was in pain.

The Jack the Ripper business was dragging on without fruit. The faith expressed in his abilities as an investigative agent by the Diogenes Club and the Limehouse Ring might well be misplaced. He had, after all, accomplished little.

A personal note of apology had arrived from the Professor, informing him that Colonel Moran had been severely reprimanded for his interference. Also there had been a peculiar missive in green ink on thin parchment, informing him that Mr Yam, whom he took to be the Chinese elder, would no longer be inconveniencing Mlle Dieudonné. Apparently, a commission had been undertaken, but the Lord of Strange Deaths no longer felt obliged to carry it out. Beauregard made a connection with a news item buried in the pages of The Times. A singular invasion, a burglary-in-reverse, had occurred at the home of Dr Jekyll. Apparently, an unknown person effected an entry into his laboratory and scattered fifty gold sovereigns over the ashes of the elder vampire that the scientist had been examining.

‘Sometimes I wish I had never heard of vampires,’ Florence said. ‘I told Bram as much.’

Beauregard mumbled some assent. The doorbell rang and he heard Mrs Yeovil scuttling past the room to admit the caller.

‘Another well-wisher, I should think.’

Yesterday, Kate Reed, Penelope’s new-born journalist friend, had come by and loitered in embarrassed impotence for half an hour, mumbling sympathetically, then found an excuse to dash off somewhere. She had hardly set Penelope a good example.

The front door was pulled open, and a familiar voice explained: ‘I don’t have a card, I’m sorry.’

Geneviève. He was on his feet and in the hallway before he could think, Florence trailing after him. She stood on the doorstep.

‘Charles,’ she said. ‘I assumed I would find you here.’

She stepped past Mrs Yeovil and slipped off her green cloak. The housekeeper hung it up.

‘Charles,’ Florence prompted. ‘You are being remiss.’

He apologised and made an introduction. Geneviève, on her best behaviour, touched Florence’s hand and made a passable curtsey. Mrs Churchward was in the hallway now, come down to investigate the new arrival. Beauregard made a further introduction.

‘I understand you are in need of a doctor familiar with infirmities of the un-dead,’ Geneviève explained to Penelope’s mother. ‘I have not a little experience.’

‘Dr Ravna of Harley Street is with us, Miss Dieudonné. I should think his services sufficient.’

‘Ravna?’ Her face betrayed her opinion.

‘Geneviève?’ he asked.

‘There’s no polite way of saying it, Charles. Ravna is a crank and a buffoon. He’s been a vampire six months, and already he’s declared himself the Calmet of the age. You’d be better off with Jekyll or Moreau, and I wouldn’t trust them to lance a boil.’

‘Dr Ravna comes most highly recommended,’ Mrs Churchward insisted. ‘He is welcome in all the best houses.’

Geneviève waved that aside. ‘Society has been known to make mistakes.’

‘I hardly think...’

‘Mrs Churchward, you must let me see your daughter.’

She fixed her eyes on Penelope’s mother. Beauregard felt the persuasive force of her glance. The wound on his wrist tickled. He was sure everyone noticed how often he fidgeted with his cuff.

‘Very well,’ Mrs Churchward said.

‘Think of it as a second opinion,’ Geneviève said.

Leaving Florence and Mrs Yeovil behind, Geneviève and Beauregard followed Mrs Churchward upstairs. When Mrs Churchward opened the sick-room door, a dreadful odour seeped out. It was the smell of things dead and forgotten. The room was heavily-curtained, a single fishtail gaslight casting a pale half-circle on the bed.

Dr Ravna, sleeves rolled up, was bending over the patient, taking a set of tongs to a wriggling black thing fastened to her chest. The bedclothes were rolled back, and Penelope’s chemise was open. A half-dozen black streaks were fixed to her breast and belly.

‘Leeches,’ Geneviève exclaimed.

Beauregard swallowed his nausea.

‘You damned fool!’ Geneviève pushed the specialist aside and laid her hand on Penelope’s brow. The patient’s skin was yellowish and shiny. She was red around the eyes and angry marks dotted her exposed body.

‘The impure blood must be drawn out,’ Dr Ravna explained. ‘She has drunk from a poison well.’

Geneviève pulled off her gloves. She plucked a leech from Penelope’s chest and dropped it into a basin. Working methodically and without distaste, she detached all the sluglike things. Bloodspots welled where their mouths had been. Dr Ravna began to protest, but Geneviève stared him silent. When the job was done, she rolled up the bedspread, and tucked it around Penelope’s neck.

‘Fools like you have much to answer for,’ she told Dr Ravna.

‘My credentials are of the finest, young lady.’

‘I’m not young,’ she said.

Penelope was conscious but apparently unable to speak. Her eyes darted and her hand took Geneviève’s. Even ignoring the obvious symptoms of her illness, Penelope was different. Her face had changed subtly, her hairline shifted. She looked like Pamela.

‘I just hope your leeches haven’t destroyed her mind utterly,’ Geneviève told Dr Ravna. ‘She was already sick and you’ve dangerously weakened her.’

‘Is there anything that can be done?’ Mrs Churchward asked.

‘She needs blood,’ Geneviève said. ‘If she’s drunk tainted blood, she needs good blood to counteract it. Draining her veins is worse than useless. Without blood, the brain is starved. Maybe irreparably injured.’

Charles unfastened his cuff.

‘No,’ Geneviève said, waving his unspoken offer away. ‘Your blood won’t do.’

She was firm on the point. Beauregard wondered whether her motives were entirely medical.

‘She needs her own blood, or something close. What Moreau says is true. There are differing types of blood. Vampires have known that for centuries.’

‘Her own blood?’ Mrs Churchward said. ‘I don’t understand.’

‘Or something close, the blood of a relative. Mrs Churchward, would you be willing...’

Mrs Churchward could not conceal her disgust.

‘You nursed her once,’ Geneviève explained. ‘Now you must do it again.’

Penelope’s mother was horror-struck. Her hands were held to her face, wrists crossed over her throat.

‘If Lord Godalming were truly a gentleman, this would not be necessary,’ Geneviève told Beauregard.

Penelope hissed, eye-teeth bared. She sucked at the air, tongue out to catch whatever sustenance there was.

‘Your daughter will live,’ Geneviève told Mrs Churchward. ‘But everything that makes her who she is could be washed away and you would be left with a blank, a creature of appetites but no mind.’

‘She looks like Pamela,’ Beauregard said.

Geneviève was concerned. ‘Damn, that’s bad. Penelope is shrinking inside, reshaping herself, losing herself.’

Penelope whimpered and Beauregard blinked away tears. The smell, the stifling heat of the room, the cowed doctor, the patient in pain. All were too familiar.

Mrs Churchward approached the bed. Geneviève beckoned her and took her hand. She brought mother and daughter together, and slipped away from them. Penelope reached up and embraced her mother. Mrs Churchward pulled her collar away from her throat, quivering with distaste. The patient sat up in bed and attached her mouth to her mother’s neck.

A shock froze Mrs Churchward. A red trickle coursed down Penelope’s chin on to her night-dress. Geneviève sat on the bed and stroked Penelope’s hair, cooing encouragement.

‘Careful,’ she said, ‘not too much.’

Dr Ravna retreated, leaving behind his leeches. Beauregard felt like an intruder, but remained. Mrs Churchward’s expression softened and a certain dreaminess crept into her eyes. Beauregard understood how she felt. He gripped his wrist tight, sliding the stiff linen of his cuff over the bitemarks. Geneviève eased Penelope away from her mother’s neck and settled her back on to her pillows. Her lips were scarlet, her face ruddy. She seemed fuller, more like her old self.

‘Charles,’ Geneviève said sharply. ‘Stop dreaming.’

Mrs Churchward was tottering on the verge of a faint. Beauregard caught her and helped her into a chair.

‘I never... thought...’ she said. ‘Poor, poor Penny.’

She understood her daughter better now, Beauregard knew.

‘Penelope,’ Geneviève said, trying to get the invalid’s attention. Penelope’s eyes wandered and her mouth trembled. She licked away the last of the blood. ‘Miss Churchward, can you hear me?’

Penelope purred an answer.

‘You must rest,’ Geneviève told her.

Penelope nodded, smiled and allowed her eyes to flutter shut.

Geneviève turned to Mrs Churchward and snapped her fingers in front of her face. Penelope’s mother was jolted from her daydream. ‘Two days from now, the same, you understand? With supervision. You must not let your daughter take too much blood from you. And that must be the last time. She must not become dependent on you. Another feeding will bring her up to strength. Then, she must fend for herself.’

‘Will she live?’ Mrs Churchward asked.

‘I can’t promise an eternity, but if she’s careful she should survive the century. Perhaps the millennium.’