IDrakula - Bekka Black [16]
I drank and I drank until the Count pulled me off, and I was so dizzy I collapsed on the floor.
I crawled over to Abe. I could hear his heartbeat again. I could feel how warm he was, even though he was far away.
When I touched him his heart sped up. I tasted his fear, and then I tasted his blood. It was different from the Count’s, not as strong but still heavenly. Abe groaned, but he didn’t try to stop me. I finished. I put Abe on my neck. He drank and I knew that he would be one of us. He wouldn’t die. But the Count just laughed and said I wasn’t strong enough to make a vampire and that Abe was too weak to make the transformation anyway.
I stared at Abe. His heart sounded stronger to me. Was the Count lying?
I felt hot and weak. The Count told me, “It is time for you to rest, Little One. Dawn has come and gone already, and I have much to do.”
He pulled me to my feet and led me over to the coffin. He gave me a long kiss. It was wonderful like before. I had his blood in me now. The heat of it burned in me. I felt his heartbeat throbbing through my whole body. It was slow but much more powerful than mine or Abe’s. My heart and the whole world slowed down to match the Count and still it was all one kiss and I melted into it and just let go…
But this time I knew it couldn’t be good night. It had to be good-bye. Otherwise I was trapped. I would have to kill. Abe would wind up dead or he would be trapped, too. How could I trade the lives of all the people I would have to kill for my own immortality? This was probably the last moment I would ever be strong enough to know that.
I pulled the stake out of my pocket and buried it in the Count’s chest. It slid in more easily than I expected now that I was so strong.
The Count staggered back and stared at me. He was surprised. I realized that was the first genuine expression I’d seen on his face. I don’t think anything had surprised him that much in hundreds of years. I asked him if had predicted that, because humans in love are not as predictable as he thinks.
And he vanished, too, just like you did, one heartbeat at a time. As each heartbeat took him away from me I felt colder and sadder. I had killed him, and you, and my own chance of living forever.
Abe struggled over to my side, but I think he was afraid to touch me. He wanted to know if we were vampires, but I reminded him of what Renfield said: “Kill the master and the fledglings are released.”
I couldn’t hear Abe’s heartbeats anymore or even my own. I knew that we were released. I was human and mortal and cold and lonely. Abe took me in his arms and that helped, but it wasn’t the same as the Count. And it won’t ever be, will it?
We heard sirens then, and we bolted.
I picked up Mr. Bubbles on the way.
I’m going to take him to your tomb, the real one next to your mother, and put him in there.
I love you, Lucy. I always thought we’d go through every adventure together forever, that I would follow you into the darkest of places and back out again. But there are places too dark for me to stay.
I am so sorry for how everything ended up. I hope, wherever you are, that you are with your mother and at peace. I miss you.
Love always,
Mina.
From: Mina Murray
To: Jonathan Harker
Subject: Good-bye
Sent: June 27 11:59 PM
* * *
Jonathan,
We’re done. The marks on my neck are healing. I bet yours are, too.
I wish you well. Be faithful to the next girl, Jonathan. It matters.
Mina
Text message from Abe Van Helsing to Mina Murray
Mina’s browser (seven years later)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
After a childhood often spent without electricity or running water, Bekka Black escaped the beautiful wilderness of Talkeetna, Alaska, for indoor plumbing and 24/7 electricity in Berlin, Germany. Accustomed to the cushy lifestyle,