“We are of opinion that instead of letting books grow moldy behind an iron grating, far from the vulgar gaze, it is better to let them wear out by being read.”

- Jules Verne

In a room deep beneath Atannica, the city of the vampire queen, Catina where her palace was built against a cliff face of icicles, I told the tale of my aunt’s coma and my adventures with my new and rather unusually fictional friends as we attempted to run ‘House of Figs’.

Abram van Helsing, a good looking man in his forties, listened with a practiced, patient air, his blue eyes serious and attentive. He paused my narrative to ask questions but infrequently, preferring to listen to me explain what had happened and how it had happened and the importance of the haikus.

“I can understand your need to return to your world now.” He admitted. “I confess, I would like to know that Jo is restored but I am struggling to understand how the haikus will make it possible.”

“I’m not sure of anything except that having all the haikus together has a double edged sword ability to them.” I explained. “If I can trust what I read in the magician’s study beneath his tower, in a note written and hidden in a pocket of memory, then there’s something about the haikus that could bring about Aunt Jo’s recovery or doom the whole world. I just don’t have enough information.” I fingered the envelope, imagining her in the hospital bed, withering away, developing bed sores, having mental and physical issues if and when she recovered. “I don’t know…I thought if I had this then I’d understand more but it’s just as vague as the rest of them.”

“Perhaps they’ll mean something altogether.” Abram offered. “A picture that only makes sense when it’s complete.”

“Maybe.” He handed me a bowl of soup and I scooped a spoonful into my mouth. It was on the bland side but hot. “This is nice.”

“I’m not a bad cook…I’m not brilliant but not bad.” He chuckled.

“So,” I swallowed my soup, “you know my story…how about telling me about Engaland?”

Abram took a watch out of his pocket and glanced at it. “I believe we have the time for the abridged version.” He stood and gave one of the logs in the fire a nudge. It was nice to see a real flame and not the space and heat where a flame ought to be. “Do you know of the cultural phenomenon steampunk?”

“Uh…yeah, a little.” I nodded. “Something about, what if world development speared off during the industrial revolution so that all technologies, music, fashion…stemmed from steam engines and the Victorian era.”

“Precisely,” he sat on the footstool, “it’s a ‘what if’, a future based on a possible diversion from what you know. Engaland is another such development.”

“Except with vampires?”

“In the beginning there was just the one.” Abram explained. “A man who made a deal with the darkness for eternal life and power…but what he thought would free him from the shackles of the world, bound him to it in a depraved addiction.”

“The need to drink blood?”

“Yes. I believe the fiction goes, that he was hunted down and stopped by my namesake.”

“Abraham van Helsing?” I paused. “You’re talking about Dracula, aren’t you?”

“I am. In the original book, he was thwarted. In ours, he succeeded in spreading his addiction to others.” Abram looked at his empty stein. “The world was unprepared for what he was…and when it was realised, there seemed no way to combat his immortality. His plague of vampirism began to spread. Because of their superior speed, strength and their tendency towards violence, humans had two choices.”

“Fight or flight?”

“And all who fought, died so that only those who fled or just…let the vampires do what they wanted were left…and the vampires simply took over.” Abram sighed heavily. “Eventually a hierarchy of vampires began to emerge. They killed off the kings, queens, lords and noblemen, instigating themselves into the positions and taking over. In the end, it began to resemble the French monarchy before the revolution. Absolute rule and authority by the monarchy and all those deemed worthy and the humans were the subjugated commoners, little more than cattle. Since then, nothing has changed.”

“You mean, there’s been no revolution?”

“Unlike the French monarchy, the vampires are not apathetic…and they’re damn hard to kill.”

“I thought they were impossible to kill.”

“Not impossible,” Abram cringed, “but it’s not easy…and they’re hardly overweight, sickly, powdered noblemen and women attempting to flee in heels. Even a vampire who picks up a blade for the first time has far greater odds than an experienced human swordsman in a duel.”

“Where does Catina come into all this?” I leaned forward. “She’s been around for a long time.”

“How did you know that?”

I hesitated. I’d skipped over any details involving Rafael in my story telling. I wasn’t sure what van Helsing would think of my association with a vampire. After what had happened in the throne room, I wasn’t sure what I thought about it either.

“I…”

Abram studied me, blinking his blue eyes. “Ah,” he said quietly, “you don’t trust me.”

“I…I’ve had trust broken recently,” I wanted to rub my neck but kept my hand down, “I suppose I’m just being cautious.”

“In this world, that’s essential.” Abram stood and went to the desk where his memoirs were cluttered in a pile. “Now, where is it…I had started the tale of the bloody vampire queen…” He gave a gruff grunt and pulled a pair of glasses out of his pocket. “When did I get old?”

“You’re not old.” I laughed.

“I’m ancient.” He said sadly and I was struck at the sorrow in his voice. Though I would not call Abram a young man, he was a handsome older man with a textured voice and a nice smile. He slid his glasses onto his nose and grasped a piece of parchment. “Here it is.” He cleared his throat as he sat down. “Shall I read to you?”

“Alright.” I nodded, curling up on the chair.

“Catina Vulpe was born in a nameless village of a vampire lord in the year nineteen twelve, according to the old world human calendar. She was the daughter of the couple who operated the bakery and was the youngest of seven. Catina had little going for her in the way of prospects especially in a vampire dominated world except for her beauty. It was rumoured the mother had a dalliance with the handsome ringmaster of a passing acrobatic troupe as she was a far cry from her ginger haired siblings with her jet black hair as straight as a blade, her well endowed…ahem, bosom and the striking symmetry to her features.” Abram cleared his throat. “The other talent Catina possessed was a cleverness which imbued her with a desire to far surpass the monotony of her parent’s lifestyle. The land the village was on was ruled by a minor vampire lord, Emilian and, as was the custom of all vampires in positions of power, he sent his scouts into his land, hunting for new additions to his harem. While most young women hid themselves or made sure they looked dowdy, when Catina was sixteen, she made sure she was noticed. The scout selected her and she left the village and her family behind without so much as a backward glance.”

Abram poured some of the soup into his stein, using to wet his lips and throat.

“Catina was placed within the harem, to be called upon when Lord Emilian needed satiation.”

“Can I ask,” he looked up and I tried not to blush, “what do you mean by ‘harem’ and ‘satiation’?” Abram faltered. “Not that I don’t know what those words mean,” I hastened to add, “but…well…vampires seem to have a need for blood beyond other…needs.”

“Oh I see,” Abram nodded, “I apologise. I suppose it never occurred to me that I would be telling this story to someone who didn’t understand the customs of vampires.” He removed his glasses and thought for a moment. “A vampire needs…craves blood and humans must subjugate themselves to any vampire’s whim or be killed. However, the greater vampires, the lords and noblemen, liked having women to call upon whenever they felt the need. They wanted willing subjects so they began harems.”

“Who would willingly offer themselves to a vampire?”

“The women in harems eat extremely well which increases the quality of their blood and in the higher vampire lord circles, they even let the women send money to their families. Many a woman in a vampire harem has joined out of what they believed was willingness, although it is simply misguided desperation born from the bleakness of their existence.”

“Like women becoming prostitutes to keep from starving?”

“Precisely.” Abram confirmed. “The vampires created the situation and then presented the solution.”

I recalled the woman who wept as Aurelius bit her, having volunteered but was clearly reluctant.

“I still can’t imagine why a woman would do that.” I shuddered.

“As a general rule, women in harems are well treated.”

“That’s not the impression I got from Aurelius. He was enjoying the pain he inflicted.”

“Ah,” Abram grimaced, “Aurelius is…as about as bad as a vampire can get. He knows no restraint and sometimes, in his blood lust, he will drain a woman dry.”

“Which is why he needs new women?”

“Yes.” Abram’s brow furrowed. “This isn’t polite conversation at all.”

“I need to know.” I breathed, tucking myself into a ball as if to protect myself from the crawling sensation of darkness. “I suppose, like harems for kings in the past, the vampires use them to produce lots of children.”

“Vampires can’t have children.”

“Huh?”

“Not in the natural way.” Abram slid his glasses on. “I’ll explain when I get there. Where was I?”

“Catina was in the vampire’s harem.”

“Ah yes,” Abram sipped from his stein, “Catina was clever and wily. When she was called upon by Emilian, she would whisper dissent into his mind about the other women in the harem, about their dalliances with humans or suggesting that other vampires in Emilian’s service were enjoying their blood at Emilian’s expense. He began to favour her over all the others, lavishing Catina with the best food which made her blood richer and more desirable. When Lord Emilian chose to travel to Germania at the invitation of Lord Jurian Cyneweard, he took Catina with him.

Lord Jurian’s estate was far greater than Emilian’s and Catina saw an opportunity to advance her prospects. During their stay in Jurian’s castle, she made sure she was noticed by him, her tasty blood the first temptation and her, ahem, physical attributes, the second.” Abram glanced at me from over his glasses. “In vampire custom, the biting and sucking of blood and…intercourse…are almost interchangeable.”

I nodded stiffly, trying not to cringe.

“On the last evening of their stay, Jurian, determined to make Catina his, killed Emilian and simply made Catina part of his harem.”

“How did Jurian kill another vampire?” I asked. “Or do I not want to know?”

“It’s something else that the vampire reign has in common with the French monarchy during the revolution.” Abram dragged his finger across his neck. I shuddered. “You also have to be careful of the disposal of the body as well but Jurian was an older lord and absorbed Emilian’s lands into his own, appointing a minor vampire from his household as steward and enjoying Catina’s willing embrace.”

He sighed as he shifted through the pages, selecting another one to read.

“During her time with Jurian, Catina began to plan her next advancement for while Jurian was powerful, she had her sights set on King Darius Grayson of Engaland. She knew she would have to offer him something far greater than rich blood and an ample bosom. She had to offer him children.”

“You said vampires can’t have children.”

“Catina wasn’t a vampire.”

I frowned. “Huh?”

“Once a human becomes a vampire, their blood reduces in their veins and they crave human blood. Catina had been bitten many times but she’d never drunk the blood of a vampire and she had no intention of doing so until she had climbed the vampire hierarchy ladder.”

“Good grief, did she know no bounds?”

“She was born with a vampire’s lust for power.” Abram’s eyes glazed over as he continued to read. “Catina wanted a handsome man to conceive children with, giving her the best chance for beautiful children. When she found a man who met her standards, she seduced the fool with little more than fluttering eyelashes and woes of being at the mercy of her hateful vampire lord. Over time, she conceived and gave birth to three children.”

“Rafael, Aurelius and Adela.”

“Yes, although Aurelius is the eldest.”

“How did she explain it to Jurian?”

“He knew.” Abram scoffed. “Catina offered to give him children.”

“I don’t understand how that works.”

Abram took his glasses off again. “Vampires are incapable of having children. It’s something lost in the trade for immortality and for the most part, vampires don’t care. Who needs progeny when you’re going to live forever? But Catina convinced Jurian that, if she had beautiful children who were bitten by him and then drank his blood, they would be his own and he could expand his territory, perhaps even challenge King Darius himself.”

“She was unbelievable!”

“And the way around a vampire is to flatter their ego.” Abram admitted. “The children grew up in Jurian’s household for ten years which was when Catina began to fret that her daughter was beginning to grow up too much. She wanted to have a living doll but she didn’t want anything to usurp her chance with Darius. She planned a grand ball in Darius’ honour at Jurian’s castle and the ultimate vampire lord descended upon the castle, right into her clutches.”

“Don’t tell me,” I cringed, “she seduced him too.”

“She told Jurian that it was the custom for a lord’s mistress to serve the illustrious guest. The ball and celebrations lasted a week, by which time she had Grayson wrapped around her little finger, enamoured with the thought of his own children ruling and reigning from Atannica, a stronghold for vampires for all eternity. He agreed to making her his queen, allowing her the honour of drinking his blood…before strangling her.”

I shuddered and looked away.

“She rose as a vampire and without a second glance to Jurian, she took her three children and travelled with Darius to Engaland where, before the subjects of Atannica, she was pronounced his bride and queen.”

“There’s no King Darius now, though…”

“Not when he started to talk about turning her children into his…Darius didn’t know that Catina knew how to kill a vampire. She made no apology for the brutality of her actions and ruled with the same vicious efficiency that put her, quite literally, on the top of the hierarchy of this world.”

We were quiet for a while after the terrible story. I felt chilled despite the warmth of the room and the hug of the quilt around my shoulders.

“That was five hundred years ago?”

“The anniversary of her reign is in just one week.”

I held the stein, empty and cold but something to hang onto. I could feel the ridges of the detail around the outside, trailing my fingers across it.

“I’m not sure I want to know this,” I whispered, “but how did Rafael, Aurelius and Adela become vampires?”

“Catina.”

“She didn’t?” Abram nodded. “Her own children?”

“She knew they would live forever by her side. She chose the age for the covenant to be made as that would be the age the vampire lives at forever. Adela was the first, forever trapped in the body of a child and Aurelius welcomed the covenant.”

I swallowed. “What about Rafael?”

Abram studied me. “What about Rafael?”

“Well, you didn’t mention him.”

“I left him out on purpose…as I was curious as to whether you would ask.”

I stared at him, feeling trapped.

“Why?”

“Why indeed?” Abram removed his glasses and slid them into his pocket. “You have either omitted him entirely or put him first…you’re concerned about him and you’re concerned about me noticing that you’re concerned about him. So I have to ask, what is he to you?” I shivered, exposed and frightened. “Are you in love with him?”

“No!” My answer came a little too fast and too hard to be dismissed.

“Infatuated?”

“No!”

“Tethered?”

“I…no…” I felt my hand rise to my neck but slammed it down. I suspected Abram’s sharp eyes didn’t miss the telltale gesture, even if only in part.

“Bethany…did Rafael…” He couldn’t finish the sentence. Tears welled up in my eyes and I looked away. He stood and took the pages he’d read from to his table and laid them out, leaning on it. I was sure he was going to turn around in a rage and accuse me of lying or to get out. He seemed to be breathing through intense emotion, his body trembling. I was beginning to wonder if I should make a break for the door when he lifted his head and whispered. “He’s my son.”

The unexpected claim blew away my vague escape plans like a puff of smoke. I stared at him, my jaw dropping.

“The foolish, handsome young man in Jurian’s land that Catina used for her own ends…”

“That was you?” I whispered. Abram nodded, not turning around. “But…but…that’s not possible!”

“I assure you, it is.” He turned and looked at me sadly, his blue eyes suddenly a perfect match for Rafael’s gaze.

“But that was over five hundred years ago!”

“I told you I was old.” He said, attempting to be light hearted but the joke falling flat.

I stared at him, a horrible thought occurring to me.

“Are you a vampire?” I asked and my words seemed to sink into the walls of books with a dull thud.

“No,” Abram said softly, “but I was.”

“You was…I mean, were?” I stared at him. “How is that possible?”

His expression was stricken and I could see his confession had cost him greatly. He seemed to be working up the courage to speak when the door to his little room opened and a woman with beautiful rosy lips, dark brown eyes and matching dark brown curls entered.

“Abram, we’ve got a big problem…what the hell is she doing here?”

She glared at me, a complete stranger utterly livid with my presence. I began to wonder if Abram had a wife and if I’d just met her.

“You know each other?” Abram asked.

The woman folded her arms, her lovely full lips turned down and angry. I couldn’t fathom what I had done to a perfect stranger to anger them so.

“You have the bloody palace in an uproar! Catina is on a warpath looking for you, Aurelius is raging and out for vengeance, Adela is playing the innocent and Rafael is missing!”

“He’s missing?” I gasped.

“Darla, what happened?” Abram demanded.

“She hasn’t told you?” The woman snapped.

“I’m asking you.” Abram said strongly and some of the bite went out of Darla’s tone. She reined in her fury and looked at him for the first time since spying me and I was relieved to be out of the line of sight of her rapier glare. “I take it the ceremony didn’t go according to plan?”

“He’s been agitated for days,” Darla muttered, “he wouldn’t even perform a perfunctory biting just to appease his mother without…foreplay…”

“You!” I gasped. “You were the woman, the only woman, Rafael…” I hadn’t taken much notice of her, being too flustered by the intimate way she’d been all over the second prince before he’d bitten her neck. “Abram, what’s going on here?”

“Bethany, Darla is part of the resistance movement I have been spearheading.” Abram stood between us as a kind of mediator for which I was very grateful. “If Aurelius is a glutton, Rafael is a model of restraint, possessing an aversion to vampiric tendencies. We hoped to draw him to our cause.”

“I’ve been working on him for weeks upon weeks and I was finally getting somewhere when he disappeared for days then came back, darker than ever and in no mood for blood. It’s as though someone got under his skin.” Darla’s eyes glittered. “After all, I’ve never seen him challenge Aurelius over a whore.”

“I’m not a whore!” I snapped. “I got dragged into that ceremony by that pathetic little Petre and I was trying to get away when Adela sniffed me out. Rafael wouldn’t let Aurelius drain me dry and Catina pit them against each other. I didn’t do any of it!”

“You don’t even have the decency to apologise for ruining all my work!”

“I didn’t even know who you were!”

“Who won.”

We turned and looked at Abram who was staring at the floor, deep in thought.

“What?”

He raised his gaze and looked between us. “Who won the duel?”

“Rafael.” Darla said superiorly.

“Really,” and to her annoyance, Abram turned to me, “well…that’s interesting.” He closed his eyes and paused. “Darla, what’s done is done. Make sure you eat well tonight and replenish what you lost. We still have a couple of days before plans need to be in place for the quincentenary.”

Darla huffed, turned on her heel and strode out. I trembled and rubbed my arms.

“Abram, I was going to tell you…”

“Has Rafael…been going to ‘House of Figs’?”

I swallowed. “Yes.”

Abram’s shoulders sagged but not in defeat…in relief. “That’s good to hear.”

“Why? I lied to you.”

“You omitted.”

“Same thing.”

“I understand why.” Abram smiled sadly. “Is he…happy there?”

“I don’t really know.” I admitted. “He was always…terse and grim…and then he was happy…sometimes he hated me and other times…”

“Do you know how he discovered the door or why he stayed?”

“Not really,” I swallowed, “but I do know when Aunt Jo found him…he’d just tried to kill himself.”

Abram closed his eyes but not before two tears escaped. “My son.” He whispered hoarsely.

“I’m sorry.”

He shook his head and breathed in sharp and hard. “It gives me hope. If ‘House of Figs’ was a haven for him, perhaps that is where Rafael has gone.”

“I’m not sure it’s a haven anymore.”

“But it’s a place to start…and you have your aunt to save.” Abram took his pocket watch out. “I can get you to the door. We should go.”

I sat on the floor and pulled my boots on. They were slightly damp but not sodden nor freezing cold. Abram pulled on his heavy military wool coat and flicked the collar up. He opened the door and led me through the stone walls of, what felt like, an old world castle.

“Are we underground?” I asked, feeling the chilling bite through the walls.

“Yes, although it is not an entirely accurate way to describe this place.”

“What do you mean?”

He opened a side door and led me through a short passage that emptied into a grand hall which I could easily imagine balls and feasts being held in. On the far side, down the entire length, were giant arched windows, filled with frosted glass and the air in the room was beyond frigid. I wrapped my scarf around my neck, feeling the chill enter my lungs.

“So cold…” I whispered.

“It’s understandable,” Abram nodded, “after all, that’s ice.”

I stared at the white and blue of the windows. “You mean, that’s ice outside?”

“No.” Abram walked to one of the windows and rapped it with his knuckles. “That’s ice.”

“No way…” I ran my gloves over the surface of the window and then stepped back when I heard a loud crack. “What was that?”

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“The water of the lake isn’t frozen at the very bottom and large chunks of ice shift through, banging into the foundations and make a racket now and then.”

“What lake?”

“The one Atannica was bult on.” Abram gestured to the walls. “This used to be a castle built before the vampire reign. Then a dam broke upstream and the water it had diverted went where it was naturally dispositioned to flow. The castle was almost entirely flooded but enough of its upper section remained above water and Darius made them the foundations.”

“So your hideout is in the old castle?”

“Makes it a fantastic place to mount a resistance,” Abram blew warmly into his hands, “if a little chilly.”

“And scary to think of all that weight on top.” I swallowed. “What happens when it’s summer and the ice melts?”

“We haven’t had a proper summer since vampires became the dominant species.” Abram walked me down the length of the hall. “It’s not that they can’t live in sunlight but they definitely prefer it to be darker and somehow the earth conformed to the darkness in their hearts. The sun still exists but the sunbeams are diffused by the clouds. No sunlight makes it through directly.”

I had nothing to say to this. It sounded like eternal winter hell. I loved wearing my boots and jeggings but that’s because I had summer to wear other things, making my winter wardrobe all the more special. Imagining a world that was permanently this cold with fire that was hot but you couldn’t see in a world dominated by vampires who could demand my blood at any moment made me yearn for a cup of hot chocolate safely ensconced in ‘House of Figs’.

“This way.” Abram led me down another corridor, up some stairs and through a kitchen where a several humans were cooking. “An army marches on its stomach, so I hear.”

I saw Darla glowering at me from her seat at a table and cringed back. We left the kitchen to what I guessed had once been a laundry and was surprised to see it turned into a greenhouse. There were plants growing in the round vats and there was plenty of heat in the air, making it quite humid. I guessed the humidity had something to do with the large pot of water boiling madly over a fire, sending steam into the air.

“We grow our own food.” Abram explained, pointing to vines of tomatoes and then to some large vats of plain, brown dirt with a few tiny stems sticking out. “Potatoes and carrots I believe. I’m not much of a horticulturalist.”

“Me either.” I saw a large plant at the back of the room with bell shaped flowers dripping with glossy black berries. “They look good.”

“Don’t!” Abram cried and my hand snapped back. “Sorry…but that’s deadly nightshade.”

“Oh…” Even I knew that something with ‘deadly’ in its title was to be avoided. “Why on earth do you have it growing in here?”

“Because it’s part of our master plan.”

“To overthrow the vampires?” Abram nodded, leading me out of the laundry. “Abram, if you have to kill the vampires to overthrow them…that’s going to include Rafael and Adela, isn’t it?”

He sighed and nodded again. “Yes, there is that possibility…”

“How can you even consider that?”

“By balancing vengeance with mercy.” He swallowed and shook his head. “But I am not burdening you with our troubles. You need to get home. I will look after the people of Engaland.”

I wanted to argue but I knew he was right. It was blazingly obvious that I had no place in this world. I was young, naïve and had enough to handle in my own world.

The way to the clock tower meant we passed through the armoury where even more humans worked, sharpening their tools. I shuddered at the racks of blades, the cross bows, the vials of what I guessed were holy water, crucifixes hanging on the wall and wooden stakes sharpened to deadly points. And then my horror increased tenfold when I saw a guillotine on a stage.

“Abram…”

“I’m sorry, I should have taken you a different way.” Abram muttered. “But if the door moves on now we…wait…”

“Wait? For how long?” Abram held up his hand, staring at the underside of the door we were heading towards. There was a line of smoke coming out from underneath it.

“Bethany,” Abram breathed, “get behind me.”

I didn’t have the chance to question or even to obey when the door was suddenly torn from its hinges and thrown backwards, a dark and terrible figure on the threshold.

“To arms!” Abram cried, grabbing and pulling me behind him. The humans in the resistance were fast to respond yet I had seen the speed of a vampire and knew that, if he wanted, we would all be dead.

And yet we weren’t.

“I’d stay back there if I were you.” Abram warned and I trembled, hiding my face.

Dark fog poured across the floor as if someone had spilt tar.

“You are welcome to try to stop me, but when I am still moving and you are all dead, I will take her and leave. Hand her over to me and I will let you live.”

I shook violently at the void that seemed to exist within his tone.

“I think it’s safe to say you want to avoid bloodshed…as do I.”

“Coming from a man who has a vampire hunting armoury at his disposal, I highly doubt that. I suggest that young man put down his crossbow before he accidentally instigates a slaughter.”

“Wil…” Abram lowered his hand. “In fact, all of you…”

“Sir!”

“Do as I say.” Abram was quietly calm yet I could feel the tension within him. “The second son of Queen Catina has not come here to fight.”

“Not unless you refuse to release the girl.”

“Bethany,” Abram spoke softly over his shoulder, “do you want to go with Rafael Grayson?”

How was I supposed to answer that?

“Stay back, vampire!”

I heard a shoe click on the stone as if Rafael had taken a step forward.

“Bethany,” he implored gently, “come with me and I will get you home. I swear.”

The memory of the bite, the pain I’d felt and the heartache at the betrayal returned tenfold and I flushed hot and cold, unable to brave a look up.

“It seems she does not wish to go with you.”

“Let her go.”

“I am not holding her captive.”

“She cannot stay here!”

“Not with you blocking her way out.”

“I said…”

“Hold your fire!”

A flurry of violence unfolded, weapons were unsheathed and crossbow cords made a whipping sound through the air.

“Stop!” I screamed, dashing in front of Abram, standing before Rafael. “Don’t hurt him!”

I faced the stunned expressions of the resistance and a warm smile from Abram. It occurred to me that I was out in the open.

“Bethany, please, let me take you home.”

I felt the lightest touch of his fingers and darted away from him, twisting to see his shame filled expression, his pale features and tearless blue eyes that wept without shedding. Despite the assault on him, he was uninjured yet he hadn’t lashed out in retaliation. Instead, he had gone to reach out to me but his fingers curled under, withering from my fear.

He looked down at his other hand, grasping something white and familiar.

“I…brought you your coat…” He said lamely and then, because he could risk another rejection, he hung it from the edge of a weapon’s rack. “I’ll leave it there…”

None of us seemed to know what to say or do…none of us except Abram.

“If I may be allowed to clear up a misunderstanding,” Abram offered, stepping forward so that his resistance couldn’t attack Rafael without risking hitting him, “Bethany is not our prisoner…and I would want to see her returned to ‘House of Figs’ as much as you do.”

Rafael stared at Abram in astonishment. “How do you know about it?”

“If you will stay your fangs and my people will lower their weapons, perhaps we could speak of it? After all, good fortune has brought you here when all our attempts to reach you have failed.”

Rafael swallowed. “Why would you, a vampire hunter, wish to commune with one who made a covenant of eternal torment?”

“Because I have a plan to end the vampire reign.”

His eyes flinched, uncertainty rippling across his alkaline features.

“I think you should listen to him, Rafael.” I said softly. My words broke his resolve, the fog dissipating as his arms hung limply by his side. I couldn’t understand how I could feel such pity for him and be utterly terrified of him at the same time.

“Very well.” He swallowed. “Would you permit Bethany to leave? Rob is very concerned about her.”

“You saw him?” I asked.

“When I discovered you’d escaped, I went to ‘House of Figs’ first. Rob told me you had not returned.”

“The door had moved on. How did you get out?”

“By being able to access the door where no human can get to it.”

“Oh.”

“It’s for the best, Bethany,” Abram urged gently, “you will be much safer back home…but you will miss the chance if we do not leave now.”

“Alright,” I breathed, “take me home.”

Rafael and Abram glanced at each other. “Which one of us?”

“Both of you.”

Abram led the way through the underground passages of the castle and what had probably passed as the former throne room to a winding staircase. At the top there was a trap door which Abram opened and helped me climb out of.

“This place is a maze.” I whispered and turned to Rafael. “How did you ever find me?”

“When I knew you had not returned home, I followed my nose.” Rafael explained. “You don’t smell anything like anyone in Engaland.”

“Vampire noses…”

“Yes.” We were in the foundations of the clocktower and climbed up some stairs. I could feel the thrum of the gears and cogs winding up. “We must hurry. The tower will move on and soon not even a vampire will be able to reach it for another three hours.”

We began to sprint, taking the steps two at a time when I spied the door above.

“There it is!” The tower began to chime. Outside of it, the sound was quite pleasant. Inside it was deafening and painful.

“Keep running!”

With tears streaming down my cheeks I made it to the door and pushed it open, the lights on in the Observatory. Rob was waiting there for me and his face expressed deep relief.

“I’m so sorry!” I blurted, stumbling out of the doorway.

“Query, are you injured, Bethany St James?”

“No, no, I’m fine.” I insisted then shrieked as a form filled the doorway and grabbed Rafael with an animalistic snarl, dragging him across the threshold.

“I’m going to rip you to pieces!”

“Bastian, don’t!”

“Get your hands off of him!”

The clocktower rang out loudly, filling the Observatory with the musical chime and the gears and cogs churned and turned, the gangplank we’d used to access the door moving on with the shifting of the hour, firmly facing a solid wall.

Inside the Observatory, we had a bit of a Mexican standoff going on. Bastian had Rafael by the lapels, his amber eyes wild with fury. The vampire was doing nothing to fight Bastian, hanging from his grasp but Bastian held fast because Abram van Helsing wielded a six inch blade against his throat.

“Put him down.” Abram ordered.

“Please, Bastian,” I begged, “let Rafael go.” I turned to Abram. “Bastian can be trusted although he can also be a little hot headed.”

“I swore when I saw this fiend again…” Bastian snarled.

“I’m asking you, Bastian…begging you…please.”

It took an enormous amount of self control for Bastian to release Rafael who pulled his shirt straight and flicked his hair out of his collar. Abram sheathed his hidden blade. I turned to him.

“You’re stuck now, aren’t you?”

“Until the clocktower turns to a position that will allow me to leave.” He admitted.

We stood awkwardly, unsure as to what to say or do.

“I am kind of hungry.” I said a little pathetically, turning my eyes onto Bastian.

“And leave you within his reach?” Bastian muttered darkly.

Rafael held his gaze but without defiance. I imagined it was a well practiced expression, coming from hundreds of years of living under the oppression of his mother.

“Query, why do we not all go inside and eat?” Rob offered gently.

I turned to Abram. “You can see where Aunt Jo lived.”

“I have to admit, I am deeply curious.”

Abram van Helsing admired ‘House of Figs’ all over. He seemed to be breathing in the atmosphere as he walked around the café, trailing his fingers over the books and picked up the photograph of me and Aunt Jo from the counter. I spied his warm expression and his soft smile. My heart twisted.

“That was taken a little over ten years ago.” I explained.

“You almost look like mother and daughter.”

“She was like a mother to me.”

“Jo doesn’t look like she’s changed at all.” Abram turned to me. “I don’t suppose I could see her?”

“Visiting hours are over.” Abram’s shoulders sagged. I turned to Rob. “How was she today?”

“No change either bad or good.” Rob blinked in perfect unison. “You took advantage of my absence to go into Rafael’s book.”

“Rob, I’m sorry.” I pushed my hand through my hair. “I just desperately needed to do something…”

“We were concerned you had run off to confront a certain vampire about his behaviour.” Bastian said, giving Rafael a glare. They were both behind the counter, one cooking and the other preparing coffee.

“I wanted to find the haiku.” I explained then turned back to Rob. “I shouldn’t have lied to you.”

“I would have gone with you, had you insisted on going.” Even though he was emotionless, I couldn’t shake the weight of guilt that I had betrayed him.

“Your presence would have only raised questions about your origin.” Rafael said quietly.

“You don’t get to have an opinion about anything.” Bastian snapped.

“He’s right, though.” Rafael’s eyes flashed surprised before he ducked his head at my words. “What if the vampires of Atannica had discovered the door? Our world might have fallen just like Engaland.”

“I’m trying to save Engaland. I can’t fathom saving two worlds.” Abram chuckled.

“You save Engaland. I’ll save this one. That’s fair, right?” I joked with him.

Bastian announced that dinner was ready and we all helped in taking it to the table. It was a large tray of seasoned chicken marylands, fried until their skin was crispy then baked in a dish with chunks of chargrilled capsicum, chili and garlic in a delicious sauce and a side of smashed sweet potato with feta and a deep bowl of fresh salad.

“And you called my soup good.” Abram shook his head. “Mr Werewolf, this is a feast.”

“It’s Mr Wolfgang to those who defend vampires.” Bastian said, spinning his chair around and straddling it.

“Are you defending me or your own ire?” I demanded of him.

“Those who attack my princess deserve to have strips of skin peeled from their bodies.”

“Oh and you’ve never done anything you’re ashamed of?” I hated bringing the memory of the night Bastian almost forcibly seduced me in his bedchamber to his mind but I had to put it in perspective. Bastian’s eyes blinked.

“This was different.”

“Of course it was,” I nodded, “but he risked coming back here to find me and when he couldn’t, he went into a vampire slaying stronghold to try to rescue me.”

“You’re justifying him?”

“No,” I said strongly then paused, “I’m saying…maybe we should hear Rafael’s side of things?”

We all turned on our chairs and looked at the vampire who worked without speaking behind the counter. He felt our gaze and glanced up.

“You wish me to excuse my actions?” He asked bitterly.

“I think there’s a reason behind them.” I admitted. “I, for one, would like to know.”

He brought over a tray of coffees and set it down.

“So would I.” Abram added.

I looked between Abram and Rafael, wondering if the vampire would recognise his blue eye heritage.

Rafael picked up his cup. “You should eat while it is hot.”

“Is that your way of weaselling out of an explanation?”

“No. Bastian’s cooking is not to be undermined by tardy consumption. My explanation can wait.” He walked to the front window and looked at the garden in the half moonlight.

“He’s got a point.” Bastian shrugged. “Let’s eat.”

The food was a warm comfort and as always, Bastian had layered flavours over the top of each other to turn every mouthful into a happy bite. Abram was deeply impressed and I suspected Bastian was reluctantly the same towards van Helsing. It wasn’t just any human who could get the drop on a werewolf.

Abram picked up the coffee cup and eyed the contents.

“What is this?” He asked.

“Coffee.” I picked up my cup and watched him sniff it. “Don’t you have coffee in Engaland?” He shook his head. “What did you drink at the café where you met Aunt Jo?”

“Mulled wine or tea.” Abram put the cup to his lips and sipped. His eyes went wide and he took a larger mouthful before swallowing it down despite its hot temperature. “Oh…we need that in Engaland.”

“You think if the resistance was fuelled on coffee, you’d have overthrown the vampires decades ago?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised.” Abram sighed then looked at me as I offered him my cup. “Are you sure?”

“I’m starting to come round to liking it but I’m not as big of a fan.” I laughed and let him drink it. “You’ll be awake half the night now.”

“This is utterly delicious.” Abram twisted to study Rafael. “This is what you do?”

Rafael shrugged. “Yes.”

“I can see the appeal.”

“No you can’t.”

We were all surprised at Rafael’s blunt response. He turned to face us, his fingers grasping the coffee cup tightly as if to let go was to fall from a cliff.

“You can’t possibly understand…”

I could see Bastian becoming irate. I put my hand on his arm and shook my head. Abram gazed at Rafael without anger.

“I’d like to try.” He said gently.

Rafael swallowed and walked across to the table.

“You all know how I came to ‘House of Figs’,” he said quietly, “what state I was in…”

“I am aware.” Abram confirmed.

“I tried to crush myself in the gears of the clocktower,” Rafael closed his eyes and shook his head, “but as cruel fate would have it, my broken body was dumped before the door which is where Jo found me and brought me here. I deeply resented her kindness, wishing she’d thrown me back into the gears. As it was, even with my vampiric immortality and healing, I took days to recover.”

“How did you cope with the craving?” Abram asked.

“Query, craving?”

“For blood. Vampires crave satiation at least once a day.” Abram explained.

“I was fighting the need, still so broken I could not reach the door in the Observatory,” Rafael gazed at the cup sadly and put it on the table, “when Jo made me a cup of coffee…and my insatiable craving ebbed to a dull throb.”

Abram sat up straight. “It diminished your need?”

“Considerably.” Rafael confessed. “So taken was I by the possibility of discovering a way to appease the blood lust of my eternal soul, I set about learning the art of being a barista, researching coffee, discovering the endless flavour combinations and different blends…trying to find one that would silence my blood craving forever.”

“You were looking for a cure.” I breathed.

Rafael nodded. “Several times I thought I had come close…but the need for blood always returned and I knew that if I denied it, the darkness within me could overpower my restraint…”

I listened to his explanation, told simply and sadly and my heart began to understand.

“That’s why you always had to go home…why you always drank coffee…”

“Why did you attack Bethany?” Bastian demanded.

Rafael swallowed. “I thought…I had finally found the right blend. After the scene in the courtroom…after my confession of thinking of ‘House of Figs’ as my home…with the anniversary of my mother’s cruel reign approaching…having to celebrate what she had done…to all humans but especially to her children…”

“You didn’t want to go home.”

He looked at me without crying yet I wanted to weep for him.

“I tried to stay,” he confessed, “I tried to hide what I was going through…and for a while, a short while I thought I was succeeding…but the craving for blood returned. I was desperate…”

“Query, was this when you began to drink Faelan’s fermented cherry syrup?” Rob asked.

“I still can’t believe you drank that stuff.” Bastian was aghast.

“Until I could no longer stand.” Rafael put his hands on the back of a tall chair. “That is when you found me,” he looked in my direction but I noticed he didn’t dare meet my eyes, “you were so kind…so trusting…but the moment you were close…” His lips trembled and his words faded. He closed his eyes and turned away.

“The smell overcame you.” Abram finished. “You lashed out, the darkness within acting out of self preservation and instinct.”

I studied him and wondered again at his claim of having been a vampire.

“The moment I tasted the blood, reason returned…and I ran.” Rafael shrugged. “You know the rest.”

We sat in silence, all of us brooding over Rafael’s confession.

“Why the hell didn’t you tell any of us?” I asked after a long pause. “Why didn’t you tell us what you were going through?” I stood up and faced him though he kept his eyes diverted. “If this is your home, then we’re family yet you shut us out and nearly drove yourself mad! Why couldn’t you talk to us about it?”

“Because I hate what I am!” Rafael cried, his voice breaking. “Because I hate what I do! I am beyond the pale! The covenant of death is made and I am bound to it!” He closed his eyes and put his fingers to his face. “I’d rather die than hurt you…but I couldn’t even manage to do that.”

He was shaking and in that moment, I forgot all about his assault. I put my hand out and touched his shoulder.

“I forgive you.”

Though it was the lightest touch, it seemed to break him and he felt to his knees, weeping at my feet.

“Please…please don’t forgive me. Let me suffer.”

“You’ve suffered enough.” I stroked his hair as he sobbed. “I think it’s time you had a fresh start.”

“I can’t…not with the evil I carry around inside of me.”

I turned to Abram. His eyes were briming with tears and as I watched, several broke free and trickled down his face.

“Please…” I whispered.

Abram nodded, swallowing and stood up, coming around to kneel by Rafael’s side.

“I can help you end your curse, Rafael.” Abram said quietly and gently. “You have to know…there is a chance the cure might kill you…but it is possible to break this terrible covenant.”

“You’re lying,” Rafael rasped through a throat torn to pieces with raw emotion, “it isn’t possible.”

“Rafael, I was once Sir Abraham van Helsing, Captain of the vanguard of Lord Jurian Cyneweard…a vampire.”

Rafael shook his head. “You can’t be…Jurian’s campaign against the vampire Tsar, Isidor Maksimilian was a disaster…his entire infantry was lost in Rusia eight years ago.”

“All my men were cut down and killed but I survived only to become stranded in a terrible snowstorm and sought refuge in a cave.” Abram explained. “I don’t know how long the storm lasted…but my isolation broke the addiction and the covenant…and I emerged a human once more.”

Rafael looked at Abram, shaking. “You should have died…”

“I nearly did.” Abram admitted. “However, the same strength in me exists in you. We both entered the covenant unwillingly. I believe you could survive the breaking.” The hope in Rafael’s eyes was knee buckling. I wanted to embrace him and hold him tight but I stayed where I was. “If you want to go through the breaking, I will help you…but I need your help first.”

“To do what?”

“End the reign of Catina and indeed, of all the vampire lords and give humans back their freedom.”

Rafael swallowed, shaking. Abram helped him to rise.

“How do you plan to do that?”

Abram looked around at the rest of us awkwardly.

“What? We can’t be trusted?” Bastian asked sharply.

“Actually I’m concerned that once you hear the plan, you’ll do something phenomenally foolish like offer to help.” Abram chuckled with remarkably calm insight. He wasn’t afraid of Bastian’s anger or any of our emotions. He stood tall and firm, unmoving in his conviction. “This isn’t your fight.”

“Rafael is family,” I retorted, “if I can help, I will.”

“You will not.” Rafael said, a hint of his old huffiness returning to his voice.

“Just try to stop us.” Bastian folded his arms.

“Us?” Rafael raised an eyebrow.

“What? You think I’m so full of my own virtue that I can’t be swayed by a heartfelt confession?” Bastian shrugged. “And don’t think for a moment that the others won’t want to help either. You could do with a werewolf’s speed and agility.”

“I am a machine and, as such, impervious to a vampiric attack.” Rob added. “It makes sense for one such as I to offer my assistance.”

“What with a water dragon who breathes fire and an elf who can shoot a feather out of the air during a hurricane…you’re in pretty good form for a revolution.”

“And there’s me.”

“No.” Rafael glared at me.

“Not your choice.” I retorted and looked at Abram.

“No.”

“Oh come on!” I stamped my foot. “Surely I can help somehow.”

“Bethany, you are not only vulnerable…you are a dangerous hinderance should Catina get her claws into you.” Abram argued. “It’s not fair to ask those who care about you to put your life on the line.”

“But I…”

“Please,” Abram’s gaze pleaded with me, “I need to know that Jo is in good hands.”

How was I going to say no to that?

I wanted to but ultimately, I could see why Rafael and Abram both refused my help.

It galled but it made sense as well.

Abram spent the rest of his time at ‘House of Figs’ exploring it keenly and asking questions about how it ran. He insisted that Rafael show him how to coffee machine worked and to explain the process from the way the beans were grown, where they were grown and even the way they were picked and roasted which changed flavours dramatically. I showered and changed, coming down to see Abram praising Rafael’s latte art, marvelling at the detail of his work.

“You think he knows?” Bastian whispered to me, leaning against the railing with his arms folded.

“Knows?” I looked at him.

Bastian jerked his head towards the coffee counter where Abram and Rafael were engrossed in the coffee making endeavour. They didn’t look much like father and son in their overall appearance but their eyes were perfect mirrors of each other. It would be more obvious with Aurelius and Adela who had inherited their father’s golden hair. Rafael’s striking looks came almost entirely from his mother.

Bastian tapped his nose and winked.

I shook my head and he nodded.

“Are you standing guard?” I asked.

“Can you blame me?”

“What about not being so full of your own virtue?”

“I’m sympathetic, not stupid.” Bastian turned to where Rob was coming from out the back. “Time?”

“The door to Engaland has become accessible.” Rob confirmed. “Sir van Helsing, you may return to your world.”

“Thank you, Rob.” Abram nodded, picking up his coat. Rafael walked with him.

“You’re going too?” I asked the vampire.

“If Abram’s plan has any chance of succeeding, I must return to Atannica to make it happen.” Rafael explained. “Eustace…is he coping with being the sole barista?”

“He’s rising to the challenge and getting faster in his brewing.” Bastian admitted. “Not Rafael speed but hardly a slouch.”

Rafael paused. “Would you mind asking him to continue to do so?”

“Yeah, I will.” I nodded.

“Query, will you send word when the revolution is to take place, Sir van Helsing?”

Abram sighed. “Are you sure you want to be involved?”

“I think if you’re serious about winning, you will accept all the help you can get.” Bastian grunted.

“I won’t deny that.” Abram held out his hand and Bastian took it, shaking it firmly. “I promise I will come back before the main event.”

“Hey,” I caught Rafael’s eye, “be careful.”

He nodded and followed Abram into the Observatory, through the door and into their world.

My heart sank.

“I’m not sure we’ll ever see either of them again.”

“Query, do you believe Sir van Helsing to be deceptive in his acceptance of our help?”

“I’m not sure…” I thought about the way Abram had gazed at the photograph of Aunt Jo and bit my lip. “Well…maybe, just maybe…”

It took a little while to explain the situation to Eustace and Faelan who arrived the next morning, not realising that I had gone missing. Our explanation lacked the emphasis of Rafael’s breakdown and the weight of Abram’s conviction. However, Bastian’s fury was well known and for him to do a complete turn around to the point of offering his werewolf assistance to the revolution of Engaland, it meant a great deal to the water dragon and elf.

“If you are willing to put aside your anger to fight alongside the humans, then so will I.” Faelan bowed.

“And as long as Bethany doesn’t mind?” Eustace looked at me pointedly.

“I think it’s a good idea.” I assured them. “I’ve seen a glimpse of what humans have gone through…I’d like to see them freed from vampiric oppression.”

“Then we will make it happen.” Bastian said firmly. “Until then, our customers await.”

When Jet arrived that morning to look after James while Eustace worked, I told him what happened.

“One of these days I’m totally going to visit all these worlds.” He grunted. “The big question is, though, did you find the haiku?”

I nodded. We were upstairs, James surrounded by my old picture books, studying the pages with rapt interest.

“I did.”

“That’s…big!” Jet breathed. “What are you going to do with it?”

“Take them all to the hospital today.” I fingered the papers in my pocket. “Pray for a miracle.”

I entered Aunt Jo’s room in the hospital with heightened anxiety. I closed the door slightly and stood at the end of her bed.

“Well, Aunt Jo,” I breathed, taking the slips of paper out of my hand, “I found all the haikus you hid. I still don’t know why you did it but, if Ah’Man’s message in his memory pocket can be believed…this could save you.” I laid them across the little table at the end of the bed and, feeling like an amateur magician, began to read them out in my most confident, albeit quiet, voice.

“Enchanted I was.

Friend or Fiend? Take care.

Too trusting was I.

The folly of man.

The pride…the fall…then nothing.

Bones groan in despair.

Conceived in darkness.

To see transgression undone.

Frail, tenacious hope.

Seed of creation.

Earth, metal, water, wood, fire.

Elemental borne.

Sacred feminine.

Pregnant with my salvation.

My goddess divine.”

I looked up from the notes of my performance and studied Aunt Jo. She lay peacefully on the bed, the monitors beeping continuously without any change in frequently or speed, her chest rising and falling shallowly beneath the blanket.

“Aunt Jo?” I called softly. She made no response. I looked at the paper slips. “Maybe I read it out wrong?” I checked the reference numbers, making sure they were in the right order and tried again.

Still nothing.

“Come on, Aunt Jo,” I said in exasperation, “you gotta give me something here. A sign…a hint…I’d take a sharply worded rebuke over the unknown.”

Yet she remained as still as the first day I’d seen her lying on the bed.

I left the hospital, disheartened and disillusioned. I walked straight through the café, past the guys, up the stairs to flop on my bed and whimpered into the pillow.

“Bethany?” Jet called from the doorway. “I take it, it didn’t work?”

“Nope.” My grunt was muffled by the pillow. I could sense someone close by and swivelled around to see James gazing at me with big, empathetic eyes. “Hey James…”

He reached out and touched my face, scooping up my tear on his finger. It hung from his tip and he studied it, puzzled.

“I’m okay,” I lied and opened my arms so that he could clamber into them, “I’m okay…”

The failure of the haikus to revive Aunt Jo depressed all of us. Not even Eustace could summon his joyful attitude.

“Maybe Ah’Man lied?”

“Seems a strange thing to lie about.” Faelan protested weakly.

“Maybe he was all kinds of levels of mad.” Eustace offered.

“Maybe I don’t have what it takes…” I murmured.

“From what you told us about his message, you would possess the keys of life and death once you found the fifth and final haiku.” Rob quoted. “It is not about not having what it takes.”

“Rob’s right.” Bastian nodded. “We must be missing something else.”

“Five doors unlocked…five haikus found…I don’t know what it is I could be missing.” I lamented.

“Perhaps the unlocking of the doors pertains to something other than the doors in the Observatory being unlocked…”

We all looked at Rob, confused.

“Come again?” Eustace asked, doing a puzzle with James at the table.

“I am merely surmising that the unlocking of the doors might represent something other than physically unlocking them.” Rob explained. “After all, all five doors were unlocked the first night we emerged and encountered Bethany St James.”

I stared at him. “Oh…you’re right.”

“It seems such an obvious thing to have missed.” Faelan mused.

“So you’re saying ‘unlocking the doors’ might mean something else?” Bastian paused. “A metaphor for something?”

“An allegory?”

“A simile?”

“I knew I should have paid more attention in English.” I moaned. “I suppose all of the above could be right but if that’s the case, what am I missing in Rafael’s world that has happened in all the others?”

We sat or stood in the bay window of ‘House of Figs’, James happily working at his puzzle. Jet had left early to take Gary shopping but promised to come back later.

“In my world, you were instrumental in opening my eyes to the manipulation of the mother dragon and saved my son from my own ignorance.” Eustace said quietly. James looked up as his father ruffled his hair and beamed, his pointed incisors showing in a cheeky smile.

“You exposed the hypocrisy of Infinitus, the robots enslaving other robots and keeping the world in dangerous ignorance.” Rob surmised. “Without revisiting my world and risking a full memory and IDV wipe, we do not know if this has had lasting ramifications…but it is possible Infinitus has changed forever.”

“You certainly changed Alte Fehde and the relationship between werewolves and humans.” Bastian agreed. “I mean, if not for you…”

“If not for me, Christel mightn’t have been able to manipulate you into letting herself and two others go, only to slaughter them and blame the humans, driving you into conflict.” I argued.

“You stopped it, though.”

“I’m hardly a revolutionary.” I muttered then looked at Faelan. “I suppose, though, that trend falls down with Ilanard and the elves of Iffah, doesn’t it?”

Faelan’s eyes were introspective. “You have had more of an impact than you know.”

“How?”

“In fifty years, only two elves have left the boundaries of the divine light of Iffah…but in the last two months, there have been three elves enter Elvan and two more approached the edge of human territory.”

“Really?” I sat up. “Wha…why?”

“Because…they see my desertion as a reason to start questioning their own conviction.” Faelan was not boastful at all. I reached out and took his hand, squeezing it.

“Faelan, you can’t be untrue to yourself. You didn’t want to leave Iffah but you knew the duel between your father and mother was unjust. You’re responsible for you.”

“Not as a prince of Iffah…”

“Bull,” Bastian snorted, “you think a title robs you of the right to make your own choices? That’s a snare, formed from a lie, designed to choke you.”

“Staying as a prince, enjoying the benefit of being of Iffah with the so called ‘transgressions’ of dalliances with humans would have been dishonest.” Rob pointed out.

“And it’s not as if you’re not responsible for your actions.” I added. “These elves…do they come to speak with your mother?”

“No, it is I they are seeking out.” Faelan turned to me. “So you see, while it has started small, a revolution of elves seeking more has begun…”

I put my chin into my hands and blew out. “Well…even if all that is true…I can hardly take credit for a revolution in Engaland. Abram van Helsing started it long before I arrived. I’m not even there!”

“You did put Rafael in touch with van Helsing,” Faelan argued lightly, “which, as Abram has said, is crucial to their plan to overthrow the vampires.”

“Are all the vampire lords really going to be in Atannica?” Eustace asked, turning a puzzle piece around for James who laughed excitedly and put it into place, revealing a green tractor on a farmyard backdrop.

“To celebrate the quincentenary of the rise of Queen Catina.” I confirmed. “It’s the largest gathering of vampire lords ever recorded.”

“Sounds prime for an assassination attempt.” Bastian chuckled darkly.

“Not without a sizeable advantage,” I stressed, “I mean, I’ve seen vampires fight…they’re so fast. You might be able to take one down, maybe two but by then…”

“So the plan is to poison the vampires?” Faelan asked.

“With deadly nightshade.”

“They toast at the grand feast, drink their wine, get a bit woozy and van Helsing gives the signal for us to attack.”

“No,” I warned Bastian, “not attack. I know it’s tempting to exact punishment on them, but Abram wants to offer them a chance to break their curse. They need to be bound.”

Bastian studied me a moment. “Of course…but even the best laid plans can go awry…which is where I come in.”

“And I’m so grateful that you’ll be there,” I insisted and looked at all of them, “all of you…it means so much.”

“As long as you promise to stay out of it.” Eustace warned and everyone nodded.

“I promise.” I said strongly.

It was hard not to become anxious in the wait for the signal from van Helsing but there were at least five days to pass before he would send word and just over six before the anniversary celebration came to pass. So we were all a bit surprised when three days later, Rafael appeared in the café.

I was visiting Aunt Jo at the time and came in to discover him helping Eustace behind the counter, admonishing him for his poor servicing skills of his beloved coffee machine.

“Rafael?” I asked. “What are you doing here? Has van Helsing sent you to bring the guys to Atannica?”

“No, that’s not for another two days.”

“Then I don’t understand…”

“I wanted to make sure my station was in as good condition as possible.”

I let him go, knowing he was happiest working behind his beloved coffee counter. I served the meals and collected the dirty dishes, cleaning as I went. James escaped Jet’s supervision to show me a drawing he’d done of all of us in front of the fig tree. I made sure to pin it up somewhere noticeable and praised him for his hard work and creativity.

When the day began to draw to a close, I was putting glasses in their draw and felt a presence by my shoulder.

“Bethany, may I speak with you?”

“Sure.” I led Rafael to an empty table and we sat down. “What’s up?”

He looked down at the tabletop, his long fingers clutching a coffee cup with a wonderfully rich aroma wafting from its mouth.

“What Abram van Helsing required me to do is done.”

“Already?” He nodded. “That was quick.”

“It was not difficult but it did require a vampire’s collusion to do it.” Rafael swallowed. “We had a deal. After my assistance, Abram offered to help me break my curse.”

I sat upright and stared at him. “What…now?”

“Yes.” Rafael’s eyes were subdued and a little embarrassed. “You accused me of not sharing my troubles with you…and you were right.” He licked his lips, his fangs showing. “I wonder…would you…could you…”

“Is there anything I can do to help?” I asked gently.

He gazed at me and I thought I saw his jaw tremble.

“Would you come with me?”