The Unholy Night

Chapter IX

To be honest, I imagine from an observer, it would look a lot like a renaissance painting. 

And then Lucy gave the first sign of life she had given all day. 

Her eyes went wide, and then she smiled. 

"Perhaps those of a more, er, delicate constitution should be escorted from the room," Van Helsing suggested. "It's quite clear scientific things send the poor girl into hysterics."

Look at that. Late-19th century sexism at its finest. Hysterics, my ass. 

As if on cue, Arthur and Seward dragged Addy from the room. And I've got to hand it to her - she did not go quietly. There is a chance she may have kicked one of them where it hurts. 

Bess and I were permitted to stay as we had not attempted to make any attacks. 

I sort of regret not attacking now, but I also don't.  But as Addy hadn't bothered with any explanation, I did not assist her. 

Van Helsing mixed the medicine, which I would later learn was a narcotic, again, and gave it to Lucy uttering, in the way one might talk to the tiniest of children, "Here is your medicine, little miss. Now drink up, like a good child."

It took Lucy an awfully long time to fall asleep. 

"He is so young and strong and of blood so pure we need not defibrinate it," Van Helsing said, speaking of Arthur. 

For those of you who don't know, to defibrinate blood is to remove the clotting matter. I have limited medical knowledge, but I would suppose it is probably necessary for a blood transfusion. Also, the fact that Arthur is better because of like... upper class breeding or something is pretty problematic. It's like if you said you didn't have to go through all the processes of such a transfusion if the person donating was a one-percenter, because there's no way their blood could be gross. 

And another thing: blood transfusion was the hot new science at the time. Blood type wasn't considered. It is super weird to look back on this time while thinking about this. 

Anyway. Excuse my judgement/explanation. I'm a little angry tonight. 

The operation was performed very swiftly, and it left Lucy looking a little better, and Arthur quite weak. As Seward bound the wound on Arthur's arm, Van Helsing said, "The brave young lover, I think, deserves another kiss." 

Arthur didn't immediately acquiesce, but Van Helsing adjusted Lucy's pillows, as if to make things easier for Arthur. As he did so, a velvet band that Lucy had taken to wearing around her neck slipped, revealing the bite marks that had been left on her neck. 

Seward and Arthur didn't seem to notice this, but Van Helsing certainly did. His face immediately became a fixed smile. "Why don't you get the young lover some wine and let him lay down for a while. He must go home and rest, he must not stay here. But don't you worry! The operation is successful. You have saved her life this time, and you can go home and rest easy. I shall tell her of it when she is well, and she shall love you even more for what you've done."

I stifled a snort. It was bold of him to assume Lucy would ever love him at all, much less love him more. 

When Seward returned, this time without Arthur, they began examining the mark on her throat. Bess and I looked over their shoulders in an attempt to learn more information.

The bite marks seemed... wrong. They didn't look infected, but in the process of becoming a vampire, she was becoming immune to such things. The edges of the punctures were white and bruised, and I tried to see if I could figure out what they were from. I had interrupted Dracula while he was feeding on Lucy, and they might have torn, that was one possibility. Another was that Addy's quick cauterization of the wound might have injured her. The final possibility was that, since we knew Dracula had been biting her in an attempt to make her waste away, he might have been using the original puncture marks and that could be leading to their odd appearance.