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24.2: UNMANNERLY BEHAVIOUR (part 2)

"This must be very hard for you, I understand," Gustav said smoothly, daring to reach over and pat Harriet's knee. She winced. "I have witnessed this kind of amnesia many a time upon rescuing those in similar predicaments."

"What predicament?"

"Why, your hypnosis by that dastardly vampire, Miss Winkton! Please, do not be alarmed. It is normal that you should remember nothing of the time you spent under thrall, at least at first. But believe me, it is lucky that we discovered you when we did, for a vampire does not dally long before making his captive his next meal."

Harriet blinked at him. Rupert couldn't thrall a fly even if he tried. And I don't think that's the fault of the desanguination...

"I was... in thrall?"

"Yes."

"...and kidnapped by a vampire?"

"Indeed, yes. But your courageous father took to the pursuit immediately, enlisting my expert aid along the way. He loves you dearly, it is clear, to seek you out in such a determined fashion."

Or else he was afraid to lose such a valuable tool, Harriet thought bitterly. Without me, he couldn't catch vampires half so easily.

"And the... slender gentleman? Who is he?"

"That is Lord Bloodless, my dear lady, a student of vampiric behaviour and physiology--knowledge he employs to aid the apprehension of such beasts. His unusual name is most apt, you will find, for he suffers from an unfortunate malady of the skin that prevents him from enjoying the benefits of the precious sunlight."

"Most unfortunate," Harriet agreed, wondering just how gullible this man was. She might have found the situation funny, if not for the bruises on her wrist and the memory of Gustav's attack of fury in the fairground. He'd hurt Harriet, punched Treever and ran off his daughter (thought she was secretly thankful for that), then thrown Henrick aside like a sack of flour. And yet, here he sat next to her, his face the picture of gallant-if-dim sincerity, gushing with reassurances and contrition. It was unnerving to say the least.

"And my father hired you to help find me?"

"I encountered Lords Winkton and Bloodless in Barthane town, my lady, where I was already on the trail of a vampire. Miraculously, our goals turned out to be the same--we discovered that we were all hunting the same potent specimen."

"Potent?" asked Harriet, raising an eyebrow.

"But of course, I have not explained!" exclaimed Gustav, pride lighting his features. "You see, my dear lady, I possess a curious power--the ability to sense the locations of vampires. They call to me." This last was offered in a dramatic whisper. Harriet tried not to let her scepticism show; clearly Gustav's power had not alerted him to the fact that 'Lord Bloodless' was not as human as he claimed to be. Nor, indeed, alive at all. Harriet wondered if her father knew. But no, he must. Even her father was not that blind.

And yet, this revealed another paradox surrounding Gustav Brightmann: he hadn't realised that Fang was a vampire, and yet, apparently, his power really had led him to Rupert. There was definitely something very strange going on and Harriet was determined to get to the bottom of it.

"So you used your power to find me?" she asked. "To find... my abductor?"

"Just so. My senses have triumphed once again!"

So it seems, Harriet thought, brain working furiously, but the victory isn't complete yet, is it?

"Then why does everyone keep asking me where this vampire is? Can't you just find him with your power?"