Mrs. Dracula: Vampire Anthology Page 4

  She was intelligent, witty, coy … all the things to draw Jericho Wilson to her. Back then, she’d gone by Edith.

  “Jericho, why are you still awake? You need to get your rest, you’ve been ill a lot lately.”

  “Mina, darling, don’t worry about me. How was your evening?” His papery hand covered her delicate one.

  “It was marvelous. There was a young man, who tasted positively divine.” She smiled broadly at Jericho, exposing her elongated canines. “He was walking in front of the Omni Hotel. I was able to feast on him and his friend. The second sod was too stoned to notice his friend was lying next to him dead.”

  “Mina, please, be careful! Remember what happened at our last home?” Jericho suddenly felt older than his sixty-four years.

  “Yes, yes, Jericho. Seriously, you’d think you were the old maid in this relationship with as much as you nag. I’m just having a bit of fun here. This city is exciting and almost as full of witchy good fun as New Orleans or Savannah.”

  Mina stood and turned toward the window. “I know it’s still early for me, but I gorged myself tonight, and I think I’m going to retire now. You should have been abed hours ago. I suggest you do so as well.”

  “Mina, would you please look into getting another human consort. I need to have time to properly train someone, so they can take …”

  “Oh shush! I wish you’d stop with this nonsense. When I find a proper replacement, I’ll do so, but until then, stop harping already, Jeri. It won’t make it happen any faster. Besides, there can never be anyone to replace you.” She reached over and smoothed down his still rampantly curly hair. “I can still offer you the gift. It’s not too late. You’ll feel much better than you’ve ever felt.”

  “You know I won’t do that. That was never for me. Besides, look what happened to you and your husband.”

  “Yes, well, van Helsing killed Lord Dracula, didn’t he? I’ve yet to be found by that lunatic or any of his descendants and I intend to keep it that way!” Her eyes fairly glowed with her anger.

  “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I’m just old and tired and I was callous.”

  “Yes, well, good night then.” She rose stiffly and left the room with determined steps.

  Jericho knew that she was still angry. He knew that she would be for days to come. She always was whenever he brought up Lord Dracula. He got parts of the story from her, but he wasn’t sure how much was accurate or how much she just made up over the centuries.

  Apparently, the famous novel, written at the latter part of the nineteenth century, had gotten many parts of the story right. She was engaged to Jonathan Harker. She did spend a bit of time with her friend Lucy, and she did meet van Helsing. What the book got wrong was the timeline, as it wasn’t in the nineteenth century, and that she was married in secret to Lord Dracula. And that she was changed but never fully turned into a vampire by him, and that she turned back human after his death, were also false.

  Jericho often wondered about that. What if he was still alive?

  He rose from his seat at the kitchen and gathered up his brochures. Mina never noticed them, or if she did, she never commented. Which suited Jericho fine. He wasn’t prepared to talk with her about the frailty of humans again.

  —3—

  A few weeks passed and Mina found Charleston more and more to her liking. She was certain that some of the people here knew what she was. It was almost like there was a dawning on their faces when they looked at her a moment too long. But never did anyone confront her or say anything.

  She experienced the same thing in London and in New Orleans and she was in grave danger whenever she visited those places. People in both cities took it upon themselves to rid the world of her.

  When rumors got placed into myth and lore, there were always many false things that people staunchly believed to be true. Like she couldn’t stand in broad daylight at Nathan’s Deli in West Ashley. Another common falsehood people believed was that she couldn’t eat real food. She did. It didn’t sustain her like it had in her former life, but she could still experience the tastes and enjoy the atmosphere.

  It was times like this that Mina felt almost human again. No one paid her any attention. She was just a woman sitting down eating an everything bagel and drinking a nice cup of hot tea.

  Mina was wearing typical touristy clothes instead of her darker, nighttime look. She had on khaki shorts and a salmon-colored, sleeveless top. Her long, black hair was pulled back into a ponytail and she was wearing the little round sunglasses that were so popular.

  She liked having different looks for different times and areas. It made it harder to lay anything weird at her doorstep.

  Mina was just about finished with her coffee when some students from the local culinary arts college came in. They were still in their uniforms. A couple had on chef whites, while one of the girls had on a dark-navy skirt and white blouse.

  “Did you see the newspaper this morning, Jessica?” the skirted blonde said.

  The only other girl turned to her, her dark ponytail hanging down her back. “No, I don’t generally read the paper. When do I ever have time? Chef Petr is always giving me a boatload of crap to do. Not to mention being in soups and stocks all day long.”

  “They said that the body of the guy who washed up on Kiawah Island was none other than Jacob Morgenstern. He’s, like, some huge bigshot from New York who was down here developing real estate for his dad. Like, he was murdered.”

  “Oh yeah, I heard of that dude. He was worth several million, wasn’t he?” The tall, lanky boy next to the brunette joined in the conversation.

  “Yeah, like, I’d heard he had bite marks on his neck like some vampire shit. Do you think it was one of those crazy goth kids getting kinky? You know the ones that hang out around the Customs House steps at night,” the chunkier boy threw over his shoulder as he stepped up to the counter.

  Mina didn’t give their conversation a thought until they mentioned the bite mark. She was going to have to be more careful. She could have sworn that her dinner that night wasn’t anyone. Most people weren’t. Figures she’d pick one that was important to more than their parents.

  Mina had expensive taste. She couldn’t help it if those who were affluent were more palatable than those who were poor. They could afford to take better care of themselves, and that was reflected in how they tasted.

  She knew of others of her ilk that would target only the derelicts. She tried that in the beginning when the idea of what she was saddened and disgusted her. If she didn’t require fresh blood to survive, she would have been the vampiric equivalent of a vegan. But physically it wasn’t possible, and now most humans were nothing more than breeds of cattle. It was more about their station than their ethnic group, though there was some country folk who tasted sweet and tangy.

  Mina stood and disposed of her waste and strolled down the street. She really liked this time period because the strongest SPF helped prevent her from getting blistered in direct, intense sunlight. Other than the blisters and being weaker in the daytime, she never suffered any other ill effects.

  She hailed a taxi and settled into the backseat. She glanced at the driver who turned and smiled, his white teeth gleaming in his round face. “Do ya know the address?”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. Yes, 150 Meeting Street, please.”

  “Yes’m, the Circular Church it is. That’s the oldest church in all of Charleston, back when it was started the city was known as Charles Town…”

  Mina tuned him out and watched the rushing scenery. Jericho had probably already seen the news which meant that he was going to be in full-blown hysterics by the time he saw her again.

  The driver pulled up to the church; Mina paid him his fare and just stood, staring at the building. Another myth about vampires was that they couldn’t enter into a church. Which was woefully inaccurate. It was created so people had some sanctuary and felt safe. Mina wasn’t certain if there was a God anymore, and she’d known of several vampires who po
sed as clergy in order to lure humans to them.

  Though Mina didn’t think twice about consuming and eventually killing humans, she refused to bait them in that way. It was one thing to trap them momentarily, but something completely different to play a long con on them. Those tended to be vampires older or just simply more sadistic than her.

  But the church wasn’t really her destination, but rather the graveyard. Here in the United States, it was hard to find a graveyard that made her feel young, so this was a gem. Sometimes it was nice to be reminded of her origins. That she wasn’t always alive and around. She entered the gate and watched as some other tourists looked at the graves and the inscriptions.

  She allowed her hands to lightly brush the tops of the tombstones, her mind wandering not to her beginnings, but rather to Jericho. He’d be under one of these in the near future. He was constantly reminding her that he was getting older and that he was tired.

  She’d offered to give him the gift often in their time together. Every time he’d declined her, saying he’d rather be by her side caring for her in a way that she couldn’t. Now that he was older, she had been sure that he would agree when she offered last night. But again, he refused.

  He had that smell about him. Mina wasn’t sure when it started, but one day it dawned on her that he had the smell that others with cancer had. This must have been affecting his organs because he was beginning to turn sallow.

  He hadn’t mentioned anything, and Mina wasn’t sure if he even knew. Of all the humans she’d found as consorts, he was the one she cared about most and she was sad that he was dying.

  She wandered from the church and turned down Meeting Street until she reached Market, then she caught another cab and returned home, closer to White Point Garden.

  —4—

  Jericho had seen the news. He didn’t know why he was shocked. It was like this in too many cities that they’d moved to over the years. Granted, it generally happened much later than this. She really needed to be less impulsive, something he was certain was a throwback to her age when Lord Dracula changed her.

  He unlocked the door to their house and set the grocery sacks down on the kitchen counter. He passed by the cordless phone hanging on the wall and noticed that there were messages on the answering machine. He hit the “play” button and listened while he started putting the groceries away.

  There were several unimportant phone calls, mostly telemarketers looking to sell something, but the last message was from his doctor asking him to come back in to discuss his options.

  He deleted all of the messages.

  It was several hours later when he woke from his nap. He lifted his arms over his head and turned this way and that, trying to rid his body of the stiffness that seemed to be his constant companion. He listened to the way his joints popped and crackled from the simple movement.

  Jericho knew that this new tiredness, this bone-wariness, was partly due to his age, but most of it was the cancer. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep up the charade with Mina. She was much too astute to put off for very long.

  He pulled his trousers up and slipped on his day shoes and padded his way down the stairs of their home. Taking in the time from the grandfather clock on the landing, he knew that Mina would be rising soon.

  “I’ll just talk with her then,” he muttered to himself as he shuffled the rest of the way down toward the kitchen.

  “What will we talk about, Jericho?”

  He started at her voice. His head whipped toward the direction of the parlor where it came from. He didn’t realize she was awake already, and said as much. She stepped forward out of the shadows of the room and waved his words away with a swish of her delicate hand.

  “What did you have to tell me? Would it have something to do with your condition? How long were you going to wait, Jericho?” Mina asked as she strutted toward him, her face a mask of disappointment and sadness.

  “Mina,” he began, “I didn’t want to trouble you with my mortality.”

  The most unladylike snort burst out from her. “As if your mortality were an issue for me. Really, Jericho, how could you think that I wouldn’t know?” She tapped the end of her nose, reminding him that she could sense these things about people.

  Jericho sighed, feeling emotionally depleted. He hadn’t realized that her knowing would give him some relief. “I don’t know, Mina. Sometimes, I forget exactly what you are.”

  She walked up to him and wrapped her arms around his middle, and pressed her head to his shoulder. “Then you’ll let me give you the gift?”

  “No.”

  She flung herself back, baring her teeth to him, her eyes flashing anger and anguish. “Why not? Don’t you want to be healthy again? Don’t you want a life where you don’t ache or age or die of horrific diseases?”

  “No. I want to live as I was meant to. That includes dying as I was meant to. I’m an old man, Mina, and this cancer is making it hard for me to be who I need to be for you. Please, try and find someone soon that I can help groom for you.”

  All he received in response was a glare and her storming up the stairs. Moments later, Jericho heard glass shattering and he knew that she was having one of her rages. It was something that she hadn’t done since he first started working for her and it broke his heart to know that he was the cause of this one.

  —5—

  That man was so infuriating. Mina knew he was in love with her, yet he refused to take the gift.

  She changed her clothes angrily, haphazardly discarding her day clothes for something decidedly more “vampy.” She knew she shouldn’t go out when she was in such a state. Nothing good ever came from it, but she didn’t care. She was too upset to stay in this house with Jericho.

  She knew she should replace him, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She genuinely liked his company and didn’t want to replace him until she had to.

  “I shan’t think any more of this tonight.” She looked herself over in the mirror: her hair hung down her back in gentle waves and her makeup was smudged, giving her the goth look that was so popular here in Charleston.

  When she was still human, she couldn’t believe that people would purchase clothes that were intentionally torn and rubbed threadbare, yet here at the turn of a new century, this was all the rage. It made what she was easy to disguise because her fair complexion blended in with the group. Some even wore porcelain veneer fangs over their real teeth.

  She opened her window, taking in the salty breeze from the Atlantic Ocean, and leapt from her third story window, landing quietly on the street below. Without even caring if anyone saw her, she made her way toward Meeting Street and King Street. Meals were so easy to get down there.

  One thing that the movies and that Bram fellow did get wrong: there was no way of feeding without killing. At least as far as Mina knew. She was sure there was a way, but since Lord Dracula was killed by van Helsing and his cronies within a month of their marriage and her turning into a vampire, her education had been sorely lacking.

  She found herself in front of a club on King Street. Mina didn’t even bother looking at the sign over her head, she just went up to the doorman and he let her through. The music was loud and obnoxious. Most all modern music was loud and obnoxious to her. She wove her way through the warm bodies, lightly touching each one as she went.

  On the surface, they all smelled of warmth and sweat and some cheap perfume. Underneath that, Mina could smell their youth, their vitality, and their very life.

  At the bar, she ordered a simple Jack and Coke and leaned against it, watching the bodies undulating almost synchronously with one another. The bartender handed her her drink when she noticed her first taste. He was sitting in a corner booth shooing his friends off to the dance floor.

  Mina made her way over and slid in next to him, trapping him to the wall. He turned and looked at her, and before he could question who she was, she leaned over and started kissing him. She felt him stiffen then relax against her.
His arms wrapped around her midsection and he deepened the kiss.

  She pulled away slightly, sucking his bottom lip between hers, then she sank her teeth into it. He didn’t struggle. They never really did. He tightened his grip on her while she drank from him, slowly.

  To everyone else, they simply looked like they were making out in the corner, but Mina knew. He wasn’t going to die at that moment, but he would be dead within an hour or so. Her kiss always resulted in death, whether she drained them or not.

  She pulled away, brushed her lips across his cheek, leaving a little smear, and winked as she slid back out of the booth. She took another sip of her drink and found her next course.

  She continued through most of the night and sampled from most people at the club, when she saw one man standing off to the side. He leaned against the wall, a leather jacket hung over his very tattooed arm. His black T-shirt stretched tightly against his muscles.

  He wasn’t like most of the guys there with their attempt at androgyny. His black hair was pulled back into a low ponytail, he was muscular and tattooed, and exuded a raw masculinity that she responded to.

  Mina slowly made her way toward him. He watched her every step with a bored expression on his face. Before she got to him, a young woman stepped between them and pressed herself close, running drunken hands up and down his chest.

  He glanced down at the girl, gave her a small smirk, then looked back up to Mina. He never rebuffed the woman, but he didn’t exactly reciprocate her attention either. And still, Mina approached. She felt as entranced as the younger lady did.

  When she reached him, he stepped forward, forcing the other girl to step aside to prevent her from falling over. He bent down, his body coming into contact with Mina’s, and whispered into her ear, “Let’s go.”

  He grabbed her hand and pulled her from the club. They didn’t speak on the short walk to an old building. He unlocked a door and they made their way upstairs to a spacious apartment that was over an antique shop. The walls were brick and exposed. In places, there were wrought iron sconces and panels creating individual spaces as though they were walls.