The Unholy Night

Chapter XXV

"Look what you made of me, I'll make you see, you'll never know what hit you, won't see me closing in, I'm gonna make you suffer this hell you put me in"

- The Devil Within by Digital Daggers

So the day before was weirdly uninteresting for Halloween, but the first of November was eventful. 

Van Helsing was paying our way through the country. Local families were getting compensating handsomely for feeding us and taking care of our horses. 

It didn't stop people from being superstitious. An older woman from the first house we went to crossed herself when she saw Bess, Mina, and I. In the case of Bess and I, I wondered if perhaps she had heard about us. With Mina, it was probably because of the burn mark from the holy wafer, which she was still sporting on her forehead. 

I also noticed that the woman had put copious amounts of garlic in the food that she had been so kind as to provide for us. I can tolerate garlic, but that doesn't mean I'm not gonna notice when there's a lot in whatever I'm eating. 

After that, Mina started wearing hats and veils to cover her burn. 

Van Helsing drove us the whole way throughout the day, which meant the entire time we were inside the carriage was dedicated to the formation of plans, except for when Mina was sleeping. 

At sunset, Mina was hypnotized again, and she offered the same answer. 

That night, all four of us alternated turns driving. When it was my turn, I kept a close eye on the sky, checking for bats, or perhaps mysterious smoke.

I have a love-hate relationship with bats. They're cool, and obviously, my kind have been associated with them so much over the centuries, it's kind of hard not to like them, but Dracula took the form of one an annoying amount of times, and I absolutely hate transforming into one myself. I can't hold the form for too long. My record is two and a half minutes, and I take care not to fly too far up, because I will spontaneously transform in midair, and then I throw up. 

The houses were becoming fewer and far between, and on the third of November, we reached Borgo Pass.

It was treacherously cold. Snow drifted down in flakes, and Mina began to sleep more than she already was. She lost her appetite, and it was now impossible to hynotize her. 

That day, we reached a crossroads, where Van Helsing and Mina started arguing, and took it as the perfect time to execute our plan. 

"This is the way!" Mina exclaimed. They had both left the carriage, and were standing in the middle of the path in order to properly argue about the crossroads.

"How do you know?" Van Helsing asked. He was clearly suspicious.

Mina rolled her eyes. "Jonathan is very thorough when it comes to writing about travel. Don't you trust my judgement?"

Before he had a chance to answer, Bess and I promptly turned into bats, and flew out the open door of the carriage, and landed about twenty feet in front of them. I fought a wave of nausea, and did the best evil cackle I could muster.

"How humiliating," I jeered. "His hunters taking in his daughters!"

"Stupid, stupid man!" Bess added. "Foolish, foolish woman! You've kept us among you, that which you hated most of all!"

Van Helsing's face twisted in confusion. "And what do you mean by that?"

In unison, we smiled to reveal our fangs, and I saw horror flit across his pale face.