He supposed it wasn’t an unreasonable idea considering she’d been foolish enough to wander around the courtyard in the middle of the night when the gate had been raised, but who was he to play God?
If Van Helsing had only known then what he knew now.
CHAPTER 31
Castle Dracula, Transylvania
Mina had stopped counting the days. She’d stopped tracking when Vasile visited, placing a tray before her only to vanish again for hours until his next delivery. She’d stopped feeling the pangs of hunger entirely, choosing sleep above all else.
When she slept, she could visit Lucy and Jonathan. She could feel the warmth of the sun on her skin and see the vibrant blue of a summer sky. She could sit in a meadow, a warm breeze pushing strands of hair across her eyes. She could lie back and watch the clouds drift overhead.
And then she would wake to utter darkness, silence clinging to the walls, oppressive. But she didn’t cry. She had no emotion left to summon. With every waking hour came an emptiness so consuming that she would have preferred death to her current, meaningless existence.
So she slept.
She was in the middle of a dream when footfalls echoed in the distance.
She turned away from the sound, desperate to cling to her dream. She was in Hampstead Heath with Lucy, listening as her friend spoke of her engagement. In the dream, she was happy for Lucy—yet a distant ache settled in her chest for reasons she could not name.
Then a sharp squeal cut through the park—a terrible sound of metal on metal. Lucy did not react, but Mina turned toward it, searching for its source.
A hand closed around her arm.
She gasped, her eyes flying open to darkness. A shadow loomed above her, hunched and peering down. She scrambled upright, pressing herself against the wall as visions of violence crowded her mind.
“Easy now,” a voice said. A man’s voice—though she could make out no features, only that it was neither the Count nor Vasile.
“You’re not real,” she whispered.
The figure remained still long enough that she nearly convinced herself he was imagined.
Then he spoke again. “Are you Mina Murray?”
She did not answer. Her thoughts struggled to catch up. Had he been sent to harm her? To finally end this?
The man knelt. When his hand touched her leg, she flinched away, pain flaring through her ankle.
“I need you to stay completely still,” he said. “Do youunderstand?”
She stared at the shadow, still unsure of whether he existed at all.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” he muttered.
Something whistled through the air, followed by the crash of metal against stone. A rush of cold air swept across her bare feet, and her heart thundered. Part of her longed to believe this man had come to save her—yet she could not let herself believe it. The disappointment would be unbearable if he had not.
Another sharpcrack—stone striking metal. Then the stranger rose to his feet.
“Come now, let’s go,” he said, reaching toward her. Mina scrambled backward, only then realizing her chain was no longer fixed to the wall.
Her gaze snapped to the door—the slim crack of light along its open edge. She surged to her feet, ignoring the pain in her ankle as she lurched toward it. She made it barely three steps before her legs buckled beneath her, sending her crumpling to the floor.
She gasped through the pain, dragging herself forward until a firm hand closed around her arm.
“Hey,” he said sharply. “I’m not here to hurt you.”
She stared up at the shadowed figure looming over her, feeling like a rabbit caught in sight of a fox.
“I’m going to help you up now.” He hesitated, as if waiting for her to resist, then slid an arm across her back and lifted her upright, placing her on her feet.
