Blood to Blood (34 page)

From the journal of Mina Harker dated October 14:

After Arthur left with Van Helsing, Colleen and I sat holding Essie's hands, whispering words of comfort until we heard a commotion outside. The police were coming, and hopefully a surgeon. "You should go," I said to Colleen and Joanna, who sat nearby, beside Jonathan. They waited until someone knocked, then like ghosts, they were gone.

The police behaved as police often do when the victim is known to them. But my own injury, Jonathan's wound and Van Helsing's testimony were enough to convince them that I likely told the truth. My only difficulty was in explaining my reason for shooting him. I said I had not intended to kill him but only to stop him from killing himself, since he was most distraught after his confession. Jonathan corroborated what I said, and his word seemed enough to silence them for a time.

I did not know if they believed me completely, but Essie's wounds made them believe my words held some truth.

And apparently the doctor had spent a great deal of time with his journal, searching his thoughts and seeking mental balance, for when they searched his rooms they found diaries detailing crimes the London police had long since despaired of ever solving. They even compared his handwriting with the Ripper's, but though they were similar
—
a fact attributed to similarly deranged minds
—
the writings were not thought to be a match
.

So Jonathan and I ended a troubling series of murders and had our moment as heroes. I made a statement to the press explaining that Rhys had told me that the sight of so much London poverty had driven him insane. I suggested there would be more such insanity if something were not done to alleviate the plight of the most desperately poor.

Only the socialist papers printed everything I said, though even the edited comments in the more conservative papers caused some stir and an influx of checks for my own work.

It's been nearly six weeks since that terrible weekend. My broken rib troubles me occasionally, usually before a rain. Jonathan, whose wound was deeper, has healed much more slowly. The doctor who examined him thinks it may shorten his life, but so far he seems better every day.

As for Essie. We had been prepared for the worst, but the doctor Arthur brought
—
though still in his cups from a night out with friends—had far more skill as a surgeon than Van Helsing. Some four hours after he arrived at the cottage, he had Essie's neck wound cleaned, stitched and bandaged as tightly as he could. He moved her to her bed, propping up her head with pillows so she could breathe with greater comfort until her lungs cleared themselves of the blood
.

"Keep her quiet, keep the wound covered and say your prayers that no infection sets in," the doctor told us before he left. "One more thing: The monster cut through her larynx. She'll never speak above a whisper again."

If so, how did she moan and unwittingly draw Colleen's attention from me? A mystery, perhaps a miracle, though not the only one, since Essie did survive.

I never did ask where Arthur and vampire women went after they left my cottage that night. But Colleen alone appeared the following evening so she could learn Essie's fate. As she held my servant's hand, I could see the human part of her was still strong. Something of her soul had survived her terrible death.

They are staying somewhere close to town. Arthur, still wary, does not tell me where. But sometimes at night I or Jonathan will go to the cottage window and see Colleen in the garden sitting with Essie, or glimpse Joanna walking among the flowers, breathing in the scent of roses she is afraid to touch.