Chapter 108
Previously: The Rose of Whitby – Chapter 107
What is happening here? Jack finds he has no data to go on. He threw the dice of probability at seeing Arthur rush off at Dracula’s words. He decided this is the place he has to be (much as he does not like to leave Art on his own in a situation like that).
But seeing the situation before him, he isn’t sure what the problem even is. Only that his rose petal is deeply upset and no matter what upset her, he’ll always look after his little girl. So he pulls the chair right up next to the bed and reaches for her, gets rewarded with her throwing herself at him, arms so tight he wheezes for a second, patting her hair, and yes, answering her sniffling howls about how worried she was about him. He’s safe, he’s here, and it looks like so is the man he went to find, so he supposes he has no reason to leave.
He allows her to berate him that no, he shouldn’t ever leave her again, and please don’t give her away. Why he would ever do that is beyond him, but he is pretty sure that she is in no state to answer any real questions, and when he looks to John if he could fill him in, he notices that as Darcy threw herself his way, John basically collapsed over her.
He’s breathing, Jack can ascertain that much, and a reach over to his wrist makes him relax further. The young man is asleep. Deeply so. Whatever was going on, he did as Jack asked him to, he looked out for rose petal, and for that he’ll always be grateful.
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Right, Arthur thinks, what does he do now? Then John pretty much keels over, and after Dr Seward checks for a pulse, he looks up and at Arthur, and gives him a wave and an encouraging nod, even while Darcy still clings to him in her crying fit, and okay, yes- checking on John, Arthur can do that!
He heads inside the room, and rests a hand on John’s shoulder. And yes, there’s a bit of healing he can do. It’s not a huge amount, not like a broken bone or something. More like he’s felt with the animals that are ill or poisoned; a more subtle kind of damage. It doesn’t take long to heal at all, and unlike an illness or a poisoning, the spell ends itself. So Arthur guesses the damage was being caused by staying awake so long, and now he fixed whatever it was and John just needs to catch up on his sleep.
He gives Dr Seward a nod to tell him he’s done what he can, and Dr Seward nods back, and Arthur… he wants to think it’s in approval. He thinks Dr Seward looks like he thinks Arthur did okay.
Before he can decide whether or not that’s really what he’s seeing, and what he feels about it, renewed shouting erupts from downstairs- Mrs Harker’s strident tones, and the low rumble of Art.
Now what? Arthur wonders, shares another look with Dr Seward and heads quickly for the door, to get out into the corridor where he’ll be able to hear better.
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“Rose petal, Ruby, no, I’m not leaving you. I’m just checking up on your daddy.” Jack finds himself unsure what to do, looking down at Darcy, with her eyes teetering into red, her words slurring into whines. He thinks he’s looking at her drac, but that shouldn’t be possible, she’s not berserking, he can clearly see that she does not have two sets of fangs, she’s just whining and clinging hard.
“No? Just to the door so I can hear better then, please?” She’s still unwilling and there is the slight prick of her claws through his clothes, but finally, she looks down and lets him get up. He meant it, he will only go to the door to hear what those two are arguing over now, because frankly, as long as he can hear those two yell at each other he knows Art is alive and that’s his priority.
Why can’t he hear Lucy, though? She was right behind them, she should be able to calm Mina down, maybe even talk to Dracula. (The thought of the man standing down there still makes him feel faint.) But even at the door he can’t understand the words properly. “Arthur, be so kind and see what is going on. I seem to not be allowed to leave.”
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Arthur nods, and starts heading towards the stairs to find out what the shouting is about. Something about Lucy?
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Knowing that his rose petal trusts Arthur, Jack decides to trust him fully, too, and rather than staying at the door, turns to go back to consoling his little girl. Only that when he looks to the bed, she’s not there, but a slight sparkle is still settling down, glitter dissipating into nothing even as his eyes widen and he curses, in his mother tongue, because having his rose petal kidnapped right from underneath his nose is about his worst nightmare come true.
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Arthur’s almost to the top of the stairs when he hears Dr Seward cursing behind him. He doesn’t understand the words, he thinks that was… French? But the tone tells him it’s bad, and so he whirls around and dashes back. “What’s wrong?!” His eyes skim through the room- the room without Darcy in it, and, oh no, did she…? But the window is intact, what…?
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After a futile walk around the room, hoping against hope to spot a rat or bat hiding out, Jack groans bitterly. “Glitter in the air. Fey, I have to assume.”
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“Fey? What…? Why would a fey…? Uh,” Arthur says, his mind whirling. “I’m going to assume not just any fey can pop in here, and Llew… Llew wanted to take her to the nexus until the enthrallment wears off, but we wouldn’t agree, and…” Maybe Llew just decided to do it anyway? In which case… what do they do? What can they do?
Arthur is suddenly and acutely aware of how little he knows about fey, and their powers, and how this castle actually works. And also, there’s still the shouting from downstairs that doesn’t seem to be resolving itself.
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Seeing Arthur’s clear distress, and not hearing the downstairs situation improving in the least, Jack can’t do anything but throw the dice again, run with the data points he has, and conclude that for this very moment, the vampire danger is more likely to do them in than the danger from the fey his daughter has a contract with, so he straightens out with resolve and walks to the door. “Follow me. The sooner we can stop those two, the sooner we can focus on what’s really important, namely Darcy.”
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Arthur realizes he does appreciate Dr Seward taking charge, and follows after him, finally down the stairs and back into the library, where the shouting is coming from.
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“You stubborn idiot! Stop glaring at my vampire and focus on the important point right now: your vampire! How could you have lost Lucy?”
Mina is berating Art, who has no intention at all of not glaring at his old enemy. The one who started this entire misery. Twenty years. Twenty years of his life he’s lost to him! “He killed her once, who says it wasn’t him again, or one of his underlings? We fought them last time, too, you traitor!”
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Social confidence is not in Jack’s nature and the sheer fact that Art and Dracula are standing across from each other, close enough for any small voivode temper flare to kill the most important man in his life, makes Jack feel uncharacteristically light in his middle, as if his own stomach can’t decide if it wants to make him nauseas or so flighty that he faints. But this is not getting them anywhere, so from the door he makes his voice as calm as he can manage. “Art! Enough! I need information, or I can’t give you any useful decisions.”
He strides up to stand at his friend’s side, can’t manage to fully look at Dracula, eye contact might be a bad idea anyway, so he focuses on Mina. “You’ve normally been level-headed. Let us put the past to the side for a moment. It appears my wife just went missing, and I really can’t waste time on your emotions. Cooperate or get out of my way, because I will look for Lucy.”
With a scoff, Mina brushes her blouse down as she forcefully turns away from Art. “She was supposed to be right behind you, but when I went over to the other house, she wasn’t there and my husband can’t hear her anywhere closeby, either. Where would she have gone?”
Mulling that over for a moment in deep concentration, thinking over the message Arthur gave them… and all of their immediate assumption it would be Dracula, Jack snaps his fingers as he looks back up at Mina. “To look out for you! She may simply be at your house, hoping to protect you from,” and now he makes air quotes with a wrinkled nose, “your vampire.”
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“…You really didn’t get the ‘wrong vampire’ part of my message, did you?” Arthur asks; just to verify. “Mr Basarab isn’t the vampire who’s been stalking Darcy, it’s his brother. And I gather there’s some big misunderstanding business going on or something, ’cause you all care for Lucy, so really, you should have some good grounds for agreement.”
He looks at Mrs Harker. “Um, if she’s at your house, should we try to call or something? You had a telephone, right? Unless she already left again to search for you, but I doubt there’s any way she’s checking here for you…”
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“Stalking?” Now the hunter suddenly focuses on Mr Lancaster. “A vampire is directly after sugar doll?”
“Yes, and I have been trying to assist in keeping her safe. She is, after all, my granddaughter.” Vlad has just about had it with the hysterics, but clearly, they are all not quite done yet because that insufferable Godalming buffoon is right back to glaring at him, and his drac is at the ends of its patience, so despite his best efforts, this time he growls back.
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Nearly simultaneously, Mina and Jack each put a hand on Vlad’s and Art’s arms respectively while hushing them and rather teaming up on planning. Jack confirms that all they had in understandable message was: ‘Come back. Vampire,’ and Mina looks around for the telephone, because any second lost is one that might get Lucy into direct danger of being found by Radu.
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Assuming that it’s the telephone Mrs Harker is looking for, Arthur directs her to where it is in the hall, then returns to the library- just in case he does need to put any walls between any people. “Well, you were chasing after the wrong vampire, and also, both of them were in London,” Arthur informs Dr Seward as he returns.
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The panic scratching under the surface about his rose and rose petal both missing makes Jack snarky. “Had I calculated Art’s usual luck in, I should have known as much. Nevermind, chasing after the wrong vampire? I believe we were trying to find Lucy’s sire and given what this one,” he waves at Dracula, still making sure to avoid eye contact, “just declared about my daughter, I believe that would be the right one. I am again, lacking information.”
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Right… right, they left, of course, before they knew about any danger to Darcy. “I’m sorry,” Arthur says, with a sigh. “Everything’s a bit… much, and I’m getting confused about what happened when and who knows what… So, yes, I suppose in that case, Mr Basarab is the right vampire, but he’s not the vampire who’s being a danger to us.” He can’t help but slide a look at him. “I mean, aside from having a feud with his brother that we got stuck in the middle of…”
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That accusation Vlad cannot hold against, so he inclines his head, accepting the barb. “For that I apologize, but I am indeed not a vampire who is a danger to you. I was unaware of Lucy surviving you hunters’ gruesome attempt at murdering her. You will excuse that I was less willing to keep attempting to talk it out when the next woman you would disrespect was the one I cared about the most.”
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“That’s rich from the guy raping her with her husband a room over!” Art snarls right back again, only to stumble back as there’s suddenly a new-comer interposing himself between him and Dracula. A tall, red-haired and lilac-eyed newcomer.
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“Please, even if you did not talk it out last time, can we talk it out now?” Trying to placate the men who are clearly ready to go back to fighting with each other, Quincy has his hands up and smiles, but then feels himself flinch as he hears his mother’s voice.
“As you are currently staring at the result of that very much not rape, hold your idiotic urges to fight it out, Art. Nobody is taking the phone at my house and I believe you men need a breather. Vlad, go over and look for her.”
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Vlad bows to his wife, and agrees, because of course she is right. He gives Art one more glare, but then rather focuses on the fact that his son just stepped fearlessly between a voivode and hunter. He is so proud of him, and he wishes he could tell him, show him, but he can also tell that as much as Quincy wanted to stop the fighting, he is still not even looking at him, so he slinks off to do as asked. After one check, because he doesn’t trust Dr Seward but he always was the smartest one. “I assume you have tried to contact her via any kind of blood connection you have?”
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Zut alors, Jack had hoped to keep that in the back hand, but then, he appears to have Dracula’s own dhampir right in front of his eyes as hostage if nothing else, so he nods. “Nothing.”
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Now Arthur is getting worried- well, he was worried before, but about Darcy more than Lucy. Lucy is a vampire, after all, and pretty good at taking care of herself, and he’d really hoped Dr Seward was right and she just went to check on Mrs Harker and was at the house there. “That… doesn’t seem like a good sign.”
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“Honestly, that is what I would have said about finding a vampire, and that specific one at that, in this castle.” It’s half a groan from Jack, who takes a seat and kneads the bridge of his nose. “But it is Art who believes in omens, not me, so can we do as that other statistical unlikelihood suggested and talk it out? It would appear that Mina and I both have had our secrets the last time we all intersected around Dracula.”
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Always having vastly preferred Jack over Art, and willing to trade at least, Mina sits down across from him, orders her children to sit on either side of her and nods. “He really doesn’t like that name by the way. Jonathan misread it on the letters. It’s Draculya, if anything.”
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How his mother can focus on that specific detail is utterly beyond Quincy, but he takes the seat she indicated, glances over at his sister, who is pouting at everybody that they’re being too loud, she doesn’t like shouting. It’s hard to focus on her numbers and men shouting mean bad things.
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Hearing that, Art freezes where he was still staring in disbelief at Jack being willing to collaborate with the traitor, but the little girl being there and no, that one isn’t a dhampir, throws him. Especially when the actual dhampir soothes that it’s okay, her father won’t shout again, promise. And he never shouted at her, right, it’s him who’s the big disappointment to Harker.
What are the kids talking about? Sure, he hasn’t really met up much with Harker over the last… wow, the last twenty years. And looking at the dhampir, now he knows why he never got invited over. Would Jonathan realise what the kid is?
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“Less shouting and more talking would be welcome,” Arthur agrees. “I’m sure we can all agree that the less fronts we have to face, tactically, the better.” He takes a seat near Dr Seward, and gives Art an imploring look to sit down, and maybe settle down, as well.
And, uh, right, they kind of don’t know that Mr Harker is dead, do they… Or that none of his family are particularly sorry for him to be so… But then, his impression was that at least Dr Seward and Mr Harker didn’t like each other much, there was that very painful conversation in the solarium… He has no idea what Art’s opinion is, though, he realizes.
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Sensing the rising awkwardness with the still staring guy, Quincy decides to take one for the team to break the ice. “So, I guess I’m a bit too old to try to pull this into a better atmosphere by going Uncle Seward, Uncle Godalming, so nice to finally meet my bedtime story heroes?”
No… that didn’t land, up until it’s Lucy Jr, of all possible people, who saves his butt. “Those stories were boring.”
That finally gets at least Seward, (if Quincy mapped this household right and he’s sure he did,) to snort. “Why am I not surprised that Jonathan is not the most animated story teller.”
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For a moment, Art protests that he shouldn’t speak like that of a man they fought alongside with, then he sighs and sits down. “But having no conception that those battles shouldn’t be made into bedtime stories, yeah, that is him.”
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Since he has no experience with bedtime stories, Arthur doesn’t think he can comment on that conversation, but he glances over at Mrs Harker to see if she’s going to break the news of her former husband’s death, because someone kind of should at this point, probably.
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She notices his glance and shakes her head the tiniest little bit at him before focusing back on Jack. “To answer your earlier observation: Yes, we clearly both schemed to keep a vampire we love alive. You Lucy, me Vlad. And had I known, I would have helped you with Lucy, too. It was Jonathan and Art and that dreadful Van Helsing who are to blame for all this hysteria that I thought cost me my best friend. So, in an effort to protect not only the man I love but also our, at that point, unborn son, I did let you men run with your blood lust in hopes you would rest and believe yourself victorious. It worked. I could bring up Quincy in relative safety up until about a week ago. Jack, you of all people should understand why a parent would go to lengths to protect their child. You did the same for Darcy.”
Hearing herself say the name makes her narrow her eyes. “Wait. Who is seeing to Darcy? She ran away once before.”
Jack puts a hand over his eyes with a sigh. “Llew, apparently. And yes, I am well aware of the lengths a parent will go to, but him? Really Mina? He killed Lucy!”
“He did not! And I am sure he can explain that better than I could.”
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That discussion about who might or might not have killed Cycy’s mother is all fine and good, but Quincy has more important problems: “That poison moth has my Cycy?!”
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Arthur sighs. “When we heard the shouting, I went to see what was going on and Dr Seward went to the door of the room, and then…” He glances at Dr Seward, “um, well, I just heard you cursing and you said there was glitter, and Darcy wasn’t there anymore. So, since I’m assuming random fey can’t just pop in here, we have wards, after all, and how he wanted to… help with her sleeping off the enthrallment, we concluded that probably Llew took her to the nexus.”
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“Which brings up the next point. Enthrallment?” This time Jack’s voice is cold and he has to put a hand on Art’s arm, not to hold him back but to steady himself. Not that he can’t see the colour draining out of Art’s face, and he has the bad suspicion that for once, it’s Art with more hunter knowledge.
“Why would any vampire do that to her? Not that I’m not glad that they didn’t kill her outright but… force her to be beholden to them? Make her a slave?”
Ah, that is why Art is so pale, and Jack all put feels the fog his emotions normally are under turn to ink as he fights with the rest of the world to not go equally black around him. His rose petal, enslaved to a vampire. This is worse than slave to a hunter.
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“We’re working on a solution for it! Arthur and mother were and… and from everything I’ve heard from Cycy, when all the options suck it should be you who makes that decision. She’s been trilling about her papa the entire time I’ve known her, so snap out of it and get back to problem solving!”
No, Quincy’s voice definitely isn’t sharp at all, no, there’s no bubbling worry deep in his stomach, no completely irrational hatred and jealousy of Llew. He just needs somebody to do something! Now that the bloody poison moth took the one thing away he could do: taking care of Cycy and Blondie!
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“We don’t know why,” Arthur admits. “But yes, we’re working on it. It’s… made complicated by apparently her agreeing to the enthrallment in the first place.” Since it makes it stronger, clearly, he thinks that’s relevant information here. “We don’t know what exactly happened, because Radu took away Darcy’s memories of their meeting. …Unless she only said that, but, no,” he corrects himself, shakes his head. “She wasn’t enthralled at that point; I don’t believe she would’ve lied to us like that. I’m… I’m sorry we didn’t figure it out in time to stop it somehow.”
He ducks his head. “She just… She said she was happy, she was fine, she felt good. Even after we figured out there was a vampire involved- or, well, your staff figured out there was a vampire involved,” he says to Art, “we were trying to be careful, but I didn’t know a vampire could use her senses to spy on us. And she was so insistent that he must be a nice vampire…”
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“Ah shit, my town house staff is going to be trigger happy for months, at least, now,” Art curses only to snarl at Mina when she quips: “More trigger happy than you are?”
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“Focus on the problem! Mother, I’m supposedly the sassy one in the family, can you stop competing with me here?” Huffing only more upset, Quincy nods to himself and finds the black board he spotted earlier, rolls it over. “If I’ve learned half a lesson from Cycy, that man is her granduncle and that means that weird, bloody dhampir family-thing probably made her drac go all… well, what dhampirs apparently do.” He glances side-ways at Arthur, because sometimes his promise to behave on word choice is a real hindrance.
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Taking in the information and looking over the options on the board, Jack’s face hardens only more. Yes, he knows first-hand how his rose petal can get on family attraction, and a cunning vampire would easily talk her into things. “I hate saying it, but out of these options, the most benevolent is letting her get weaned off. However, it will require us covering up that the Lady Rossmore is missing.”
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Finally snapping back into action mode as well and giving the list an uncomfortable look before preferring to go with Jack’s assessment, Art nods. “I can likely help on that front to a degree. As long as her consort makes enough appearances and we keep the work going, there will be rumours, but what else is new? Where is her consort?”
“Hell if I know where my patron popped off to this time. Let’s pray that he didn’t decide to go searching for this Lucy and runs right into Radu,” Quincy sighs with a heavy eye roll.