39

Chapter 37

They have another busy week, with a contractor measuring and drawing the front-room, transforming their plans for a practice into something that can be made real. Through the same contractor they order a new boiler, which will be made and installed by a specialist craftsman within a few weeks, hopefully just before winter truly sets in.

Vincent starts to learn the script by heart, and oversees Catherine's efforts to change from herself to a toddler in the blink of an eye. He teaches martial arts and fencing to Mina, who gains skills quickly, spending hours on practise at night.

One day he visits the council house with Adison and Catherine, to get a licence to get married, and they find out that Adison needs her father's consent to get married since she is not yet twenty-one years old.

That is quite a setback for Vincent, part of him wants to meet his beloved's father, who is a very friendly, educated man by all her reports, and ask him for his daughter's hand in person.

But part of Vincent fears that meeting, though he knows Adison loves him, is committed to him for life as much as he is to her, her father may see things very differently. Envisioning himself as a concerned parent might see him, Adison's father will meet a pale, scarred stranger with jet black hair and sulphurous eyes, apparently half again her age, who moves like a panther.

What father would want his beautiful young daughter to marry a dangerous looking nobody ten years her senior? A man without name, who is to all intents and purposes just one year old?

A sweet voice breaks his surly musings.

'If we hire Neil's carriage, we can be back within twenty-four hours, Vincent, it's not that far to my father's estate. Though he'll be sadly disappointed to have us visit only to get his permission to wed.'

Adison loves him so much, Vincent knows she cannot imagine her father opposing a marriage between them, the idea of her father refusing his consent doesn't occur to her. She thinks Vincent's disappointment is due to the delay this will undoubtedly cause their marriage plans, she has no idea he is afraid to be rejected as suitor of a young lady of relatively high birth.

'What if I'm not good enough for him?' he asks, his usual composure gone, doubt in every feature.

'You're not going to marry my father, are you?' she asks passionately, 'how can you even consider yourself not good enough for me?'

Adison, passionate? That's a first, she looks inches taller suddenly.

'If you look at it objectively, Adison, I'm nobody. I don't remember anything that you didn't teach me, I look like a freak, I move like a predator, and this body is half again your age. Why would your father want me to marry you?'

And now he has made her cry. Damn. Adison never cries.

'Is that how you see yourself, Vincent? A freak?'

When Adison can speak again she is almost angry.

'How can you even think such a thing? To me you are the most beautiful man that ever lived, and the wisest, I don't know how you became who you are in just one year, is seems impossible, but I don't care. With you, I feel safe, and loved, and so do all your friends. Ask any of them, ask Catherine, she's known you for less than two weeks.'

Catherine looks at him significantly, and he takes Adison in his arms, his beloved, crying stormily against his chest, leaving him speechless and totally stunned.

He can see himself in the mirror every day, can't he? Why does stating the obvious make his beloved so upset?

With a very serious face Catherine observes, 'She's right, you know, I felt safe with you from the very first. To me you are beautiful, but even if you weren't, I'd love you and trust you.'

'But everybody has doubts, don't they? That is not such a bad thing, is it, love?'

Adison is much quieter now, and she takes him by his smooth jaws and looks him in the eye, a look filled with intense love.

She replies, reasonable once more.

'It isn't, beloved, you have a right to doubts, too. I guess I'm just too touchy to yours, you were so sensitive about your looks when you were young, I hoped the success and the appreciation you met with had given you self-confidence. I didn't know you still had those doubts, and you put them to me so bluntly all of a sudden.'

'Well, asking your father for the hand of his lovely young daughter is rather profound, especially since we've never met.'

Adison has to acknowledge that, but that is not what being a parent is about.

'My father just wants me to be happy, and as soon as he sees us together he will recognize our love. He has never been ambitious towards me, or he would have sent me to school instead of letting me stay home and attend his meetings. He spoiled me for marriage with a man of our class long ago.

Please forgive me for acting out, you're right, it is normal to doubt oneself, and you are entitled to your own share of uncertainty. It was selfish of me to want you in control all the time, sometimes you may rely on me to talk some heart into you.'

She kisses her lover, only a tiny bit unchastely, they're in public after all.

'I love it, that you look like a predator, I mean, it always makes me think of, well, you know what. We've children present after all.'

'If Adison's father seems adverse to the idea, I'll sit on his lap and call him grandfather, and he'll melt and consent,' Catherine puts in her two cents, and as both Adison and Vincent look at her in alarm for talking like that in public, she adds cheekily, 'there is no-one here to hear me, when you kissed they all moved on quickly.'

The mood improves after that, and they decide to sleep on it a few nights. Adison can invite her father over for a few days' amusement in town, they can drive over as quickly as possible, or they can stay for a week or so, but that means Vincent will need to arrange some time off, which will probably not be easy.

Of course there is the possibility of waiting until the end of October, just before the rehearsals at the St James start, but somehow Vincent feels the need to face Adison's father quickly, have it over with so to speak.

Besides learning swords-craft and martial arts from Bruce and Vincent, and practising everything she learns until she nearly drops from exhaustion, at night, when everyone sleeps, Mina re-establishes contact with her father and Vanessa.

The first time she takes Victor along, to smooth things over, and she gets the impression her father likes Victor a lot. They both have incredibly sharp minds, and discuss scientific subjects heatedly, Victor giving as good as he gets.

He even manages to talk to Vanessa easily, and from Vanessa's reaction Mina can deduce that he didn't use to. Apparently he has gained some confidence towards women, something Mina may take the credit for.

Mina has a hard time forming an opinion on what her father thinks of her involvement with Victor. They have decided before the visit that they will refrain from any intimacy that is not polite in public, but that they will not try to keep their relationship a secret from her father, he knows Mina can never go back to her husband, and if he disapproves of her living with a man unmarried, that cannot be helped, after all, getting married is not an option.

The only way her father acknowledges her situation is by asking, 'I've taken the liberty to report your decease to the proper authorities, Mina, I hope you don't disapprove?'

Feeling only slightly saddened, she replies, 'No father, I don't see any other solution, poor Albert needs to move on with his life, find another woman he can love and have children with. It's just so hard on mother, losing another child when I'm still around.

But I agree with you she cannot know.'

Before her father can comfort her, she feels Victor's arms around her in true compassion, he obviously has better feelings, he just finds it very hard to show them. Because the thought of her mother, convinced both her children are dead before their twenty-fifth birthday, truly upsets her, and she really needs Victor's support, she does not see how her father reacts to this obvious display of affection between Victor and herself.

'Your mother was devastated, and frankly, very angry at me. Somehow she blames me for your misfortune as well as Peter's.'

Her father really suffers for this realization.

'She told me to stay out of her life from now on, she wants to stay married, for propriety, but to live in separation for the rest of our lives.

I cannot blame her, she never had anything in her life but the two of you, I was never there for her, we were always strangers to one another. Not having a body to bury makes it even harder for her to accept.'

Mina swallows her tears, picturing her mother all alone with servants in that huge manor, nothing to live for, but way too young to die. It's just tragic, but being very sensitive to the supernatural, her mother would never accept a daughter who was a creature of the night.

'I'm glad you managed to change your appearance so drastically,' her father remarks, 'no-one will ever suspect you are my lost daughter. I always have the curious feeling someone is watching this house, and to them it must seem as if the young doctor here has finally met someone and takes her along on his visits.'

That is the first allusion that the enemy may be stirring again, and not something to take lightly. Vanessa used to be the female vessel the enemy desired, and Vincent's body the male. He is now totally out of reach, not only connected to a priest by love, but raised by her in total open-heartedness, his rage and violence still part of his character, but totally controlled by his own disciplined mind.

Of his blood, there is Catherine, according to Vanessa a potential vessel, and having met her true self, a smart and world-wise adult in the body of a chubby toddler, Mina is not surprised. But she is raised in the same spirit that killed the beast in Vincent, so if the enemy wants her, he'll have to be quick.

And he cannot take her, he has to seduce her, as he seduced Mina herself, presenting her with her fondest wish, and promising to make it come true. For Mina it was love at first sight, and she fell for it to her eternal doom. What could it possibly be for Catherine?

And who will become the male vessel? Does it have to be Vanessa's offspring? In that case the enemy will have to take his time, Vanessa is not ready to settle and have children at all. Or is a close bond to her sufficient? Like Mina's own father?

Or would someone totally different do, someone with the same bent towards the occult, someone bored with his current life, and the mark of evil already upon him. Someone like Dorian Grey?

Mina's musings do not go unnoticed, but they all probably think she's still contemplating her mother's plight, when in fact it is very hard for Mina to keep thinking of her. She feels sorry for her mother, of course, but her mother has never even tried to take her own life in hand.

She had plenty of funds, and all the help she could need, she could have found something to do for herself in the time her husband was away. But she never did, she just waited for Sir Malcolm to return home, then clung to him and reproached him for his absences.

Maybe it is something inherent to vampires, a kind of lack of empathy for mere mortals, for weak mortals.

For Mina does care what happens to Victor, and he has been quite dependent towards her so far. But of course he is admirable in many respects, his dedication to science, his skill as a surgeon, even the way he can put his thoughts into words. And the taste of him, his skills in bed.

She squeezes his hand behind her back, he is still holding it to offer her his support, and she tries to convey her sudden desire for him through that chaste contact, and seems to succeed, for he swallows hard and looks at her with fire in his eyes. That white throat, so lovely and warm, so tender.

She can imagine her fangs sliding right into his vein, the sweetness of his blood, the heat of it, feeling his presence in the tiniest blood vessel in her entire body, no creature can be closer to her partner than a vampire. Though of course she is the only vampire to feel this closeness to someone she truly loves, most vampires only feel their veins tingle with the blood of someone they have killed hours before, without love, with some lust at most.

Maybe she is not such an unfortunate person after all, she may be bound to the night, she is also the only person experiencing a love this total.

The arrival of tea pulls Mina out of her distraction, and apparently Victor as well, he seems to have gotten some idea of her thoughts, for as he sits beside her he whispers, 'I felt that, you were thinking of my blood reaching even the tiniest part of you. It makes me wish for a specimen, I would so love to know how that works.'

That is the Victor she fell in love with, the obsessed scientist who doesn't care what other people think of his motives and deeds, who just cares about knowledge, of crossing that boundary between faith and certainty.

And instead of getting reprimanded for being heartless, as Victor more or less expects, actually regretting his blunt remark more than a little bit, he finds himself on the receiving end of a passionate, and very unchaste kiss.

With the reminiscences Mina just leaked to him, of biting him, tasting his sweet blood, feeling it fill her entire body, still fresh in his mind, he answers it way too passionately for decency, and when he finally manages to come back to reality, he finds Vanessa watching him encouragingly, she knows how much he longed for intimacy but never managed to find it.

Sir Malcolm doesn't look disapproving, merely slightly embarrassed by his daughter behaving indecently, and Sembene, serving the tea things, throws him a big, empathic smile, which speaks volumes about his opinions on Victorian morals.

Stunned with the realization that Mina actually likes him being, what was he just now, outspoken, rude, callous? Forthright? Determined?

'I'd call it impassioned, beloved,' Mina says. Does she really hear his thoughts?

'I don't hear your thoughts, but I can read your expressions and then I know what you're thinking. You were expecting me to be down on you for being callous. But frankly, I'd want to be there if you ever get hold of a vampire corpse.'

But they can talk of that on their own, this is the time to discuss the stirrings of the enemy, and his potential allies.

There is one thing mina really wants to know.

'What's up with this Dorian Grey, Vanessa? Is he in league with the enemy?'

Surprised by her question, Vanessa admits, 'I was going to ask you, I just found out that he carries an enchantment. I never felt it before, though I often had supernatural experiences after an encounter with him.

I think the thing that possessed me kept his pull at bay. Have you felt it?'

'I have felt it, but it has no power over me. Do you think he might be the next vessel for the enemy?'

Vanessa is surprised again.

'I thought I was supposed to be the vessel?'

'The female one, yes, but there was to be a male vessel, too. When brought together they'd bring the end of the world as we knew it. Adison foiled both plans.'

Mina thought she might mention this since it was all in the past, and who knows what information might ensue.

'She cured another case of possession then? I hope it didn't cost her and her talented man as much as my case did.'

'On the contrary, it delivered him to her. Do you remember making indecent proposals to him during your deliverance?'

Exorcism was the wrong term, that was a Christian ritual, and Adison's methods were decidedly heathen.

'I try very hard to forget them, that whole night, they saved my soul and I repaid them with a beating and filthy language.'

Understanding starts to dawn on Vanessa, she is after all very sharp.

'You mean to say that he was the other vessel? That we were supposed to...? How can that be, he is the epitome of control, he didn't lift as much as an eyebrow at the worst I could throw at him.'

'He's an actor, Vanessa, he played you like he does his audience, 'Mina states, 'but the battle for his soul was fought long ago, and it was won with love only. Victor took him in with severe head-trauma, and though he managed to cure the poor wretch delivered at his workshop, the guy's memory was lost.

Adison nursed him back to health, and since he didn't remember a thing her morals became his. Her love formed him.

Then when they saved me, I recognized him as the most ruthless human ally my former master had ever had, a man totally without empathy and driven by the demons in his head. I led the attack that caused him the loss of his memory, the master wanted him to lose his memory, to make him more suitable to use as his vessel, for he had some memories of the past that made him unstable and very, very violent.

The man you just called an epitome of control was once an instrument of evil and a danger even to his own men.'

'He burned down the old textile mill,' Vanessa now states, 'he wondered what had been the use of that for the enemy, since in my opinion it brought nothing but good.

You know, I think we need to find the enemy's motives, why did he order that done, what gain was there for someone truly evil?

I'm going to find out, I'll look into that case, see if money could have been a motive, and find other unsolved cases. How long ago was it?'

Mina, pleased to have Vanessa's sharp mind involved in uncovering the enemy's plots and motives, states, 'Between Catherine's birth and the attack, so between two years ago and one year ago. Look for events that caused maximum upheaval, a public scare, bloody mayhem, and find what they resulted in.

After his disappearance I was involved in a good number of those plots, but I never considered the lasting consequences.'

Now Mina's father brings out a package, and hands it to her with a rueful look.

'Vanessa tells me you are taking up fencing, and offered to escort her. You may find a use for that, it's a family heirloom, but since I will have no descendants and my possessions will revert to a nephew or cousin some day, one of my children may as well benefit from it.'

As Mina unwraps the long shape, a beautiful saber is revealed, made of folded steel, a priceless heirloom of Sir Malcolm's house. She realizes only now that her father has not just lost two children, but his chance at posterity.

But in her heart she has always blamed him for her brother's demise in the African wilds, it is hard for her to feel sorry for her father over this. He should have taken better care of Peter, and then maybe, her brother would still have been alive and able to sire heirs.

For her soft-hearted brother would never have wielded this blade, he was never the manly, strong heir their father envisioned, Mina has always suspected taking him to Africa was a feeble attempt of her father to 'make a man' out of him.

Foolish. He should have taken Vanessa to Africa, she was much better suited to the hardships of the tropics, as Mina herself turned out to be.

Peter could have been so much more, and one of his sons might have been made of the steel his father found lacking in his offspring.

But nothing can change what has already happened, and Mina takes the blade in the grip Vincent has taught her and tries it for balance. Of course she is not an expert by any means, but this seems to be more than a posh dress-blade, it feels as if it was made to be used.

'It is old, and my forefathers have always used it, it's a superior blade, not just for show. I've been quite the swordsman myself, actually, once you've gained some expertise I'll be happy to cross blades with you.