as an endless road. I see it as the tick of the clock. Once you understand the enormity of what you will experience, you will understand why I do such ill-advised and seemingly irrational things.”
Walter bowed his head again. He didn’t understand yet; in that, Dracula was quite right. He dreaded the day that he might.
“Take solace, dear Walter. Tonight will be exciting, if nothing else.”
“That does not make me feel any better in the slightest.”
Dracula chuckled and turned to him. He placed a hand on Walter’s shoulder. They were nearly the same height, even though the elder vampire was far broader and filled the room in a very different way than he. Walter suspected he would always feel like a child in Dracula’s presence.
“These hunters will pose you no threat. Now, go. Fetch the others. Ensure they are ready. Ensure Zadok is sober, most of all. And pull Mordecai out of whomever he is buried inside and insist he wear pants to this affair.”
Walter grunted. “It is not only because of the presence of the hunters that I loathe the idea of this night.”
Dracula grinned and patted him on the shoulder before turning back to the mirror to finish dressing. “I have faith in you, dear Walter.”
“I wish I shared your sentiment.” He bowed at the waist and turned to do as he was told. He did not know which of the vagabonds he dreaded speaking with more, Zadok or the incubus. They were each irritating in their own right.
The scales weighed out about equal.
Letting his body dissolve into a swarm of bats, he resigned himself for what was to come. He could only pray to the gods above and below that tonight ended as smoothly as it could.
Oddly enough, he found himself sympathetic toward Miss Parker. Death had come to claim her, and not in any way she could have possibly guessed.
“You look beautiful.” Maxine smiled at Bella’s reflection in the mirror. The young woman really did look stunning in the deep sapphire-colored taffeta gown she had chosen. It was the lightest-colored dress Maxine owned.
The public did not wish for a spiritualist to wear rose, after all.
The young woman had squawked and yelped as Maxine had tightened her corset. She hadn’t ever worn one before, at least not the right way. She was still shifting uncomfortably in the steel bones. Maxine hadn’t even done it up as far as it could go. She figured Bella would need to breathe if—when—there was a fight.
“As do you.” Bella smiled at her in the glass. Maxine was pinning up Bella’s long blonde hair into curls and a fashionable bun. The black silk gloves she wore made it more difficult, but they were a necessity. She couldn’t chance an accidental brush against the young girl.
“No, I look sad.” Maxine slipped a jeweled pin into Bella’s hair. She looked like a princess with her blonde hair and sparkling blue eyes. Maxine always looked like a vision of death. Her pale skin stood out sharply against her dark hair, and with the jet-black silk dress she wore, she was better suited to be standing by someone’s grave, not at a gala.
“Are you?”
“I feel the emotions of all those around me. Loss, grief, and anger greatly outnumber happiness in the human race. So, I suppose I do.” She placed another pin into Bella’s hair.
“Is that why you live here alone? With no servants? I can’t imagine being around others all the time is comforting. It must be very, uh, loud. I’m not sure if that is the right word for it.”
“It’s a perfect word for it. And you’re right.” It was rare that someone understood. “How old are you, Bella?”
“Nineteen.”
Only four years separated them, yet she felt as though it were forty. Maxine had always been too old for her body—she had seen too much, felt too much. It aged her soul, even if her flesh had not yet followed suit. She expected she would go gray before she turned thirty. “I saw glimpses of what led to this life, but nothing concrete enough to form a full story. What happened that drove you to hunt vampires, Bella?”
“My family was murdered by a pack of ghouls when I was very young. It left me an orphan. But Alfonzo found me a few years later and, hearing the story of my survival, offered to take me in. He trained me. He is like a father to me.”
“How did you survive?”
Bella held out her hand, and Maxine