The next morning, Jane went downstairs to eat breakfast in the bar. The others had not arrived yet, and she lingered there in quiet contemplation.
The night with Max had been incredible. She had never known such soul-stirring peace. It was as if she had been in a lonely place all her life but had not known it. Being with Max had taken her away from that loneliness. They had surrendered themselves to each other. Given freely of themselves and gone to a place where the rest of the world did not exist.
The front door of the inn banged open, and Jane looked up to see Eddy enter. He looked the worse for wear.
'Problems sleeping?' Jane said.
He nodded. 'It's not easy when you know those vampires are around. I've seen to the horses. We'll be ready once the doctor is up.'
It turned out the doctor was already up. She burst into the bar, ordering some tea and toast for herself, as Eddy retreated upstairs for a quick wash.
'I've already had a message from the Captain of the King's guard,' Porter said. 'It seems they've assembled outside Dracula's castle. We can go there when we're ready.'
'Excellent,' Jane said.
The doctor's blue eyes bored into her. Jane expected the doctor to make a crude remark about her scandalous activity, but Porter simply squeezed her hand.
'I'm glad for you, my dear,' she said.
'Is it that obvious?'
'To me it is,' Porter said. 'Plus, my bedroom backs onto Max's. I was almost going to bang on the wall, but I held off. It sounded like there was already enough banging going on.'
Jane rolled her eyes. At that moment, the innkeeper's daughter passed by, giving Doctor Porter a smile. The doctor nodded in return, and the girl continued to the kitchen.
'How did the examination go?' Jane asked.
'The examination?'
'You said the girl needed an examination.'
'Ah, yes,' Porter said, remembering. 'I had to give her a full examination. It took much longer than I expected, but it was all most satisfactory.'
Jane wondered what it had involved. Quite a bit of sound had come from the doctor's room as well.
It must have been quite rigorous.
Max appeared at that moment, followed by a refreshed Eddy. The men ordered some toast and tea.
Jane glanced at Max. 'Good morning, Mister Filador.'
'Good morning, Miss Austen.'
Porter explained that the king's men had gone to the castle. They quickly ate and were soon heading across the country. Jane felt a certain lingering trepidation at heading back to the castle. She knew her safety was assured, but she also knew that Dracula was cunning to the extreme.
'I wonder what we'll find,' Porter said.
Jane frowned. 'Surely Dracula, Cassandra and the other vampires—'
Porter shook her head. 'I doubt it. My guess is that they've moved on. Dracula probably escaped immediately after we rescued you.'
The doctor's words proved to be prophetic. Arriving at the castle, they found an army company grouped around the building. They even had a squat, iron howitzer with them, but it had not been needed. The drawbridge was down, and soldiers were coming and going freely across it.
A Captain headed over to Jane and the others. 'Doctor Porter?' he said to Max.
'That's me,' Porter said, introducing herself. 'What's the situation?'
'Oh.' The captain introduced himself as Ruskin. 'We've been right through the building. There's no sign of anyone.' He lowered his voice. 'We were told to expect some kind of demon creatures.'
'That's one way to describe them,' Porter said. She gave him a brief description of vampires and their ways.
'My mother used to see jack-o'-lanterns in the peat bogs at night,' Ruskin said. 'The world is full of strange creatures.' He said they had almost finished searching. 'Why don't you take a look and see what you can find?'
Jane and the others crossed the drawbridge into the castle. Seeing the interior brought back memories for Jane, and she shivered. They searched each of the rooms, and Jane showed them the door she had broken through.
'Goodness,' Max said, admiringly. 'You got through that.'
'Desperation gives you strength,' Jane replied.
She found her weapons. Other than this, the castle was able to reveal very little else.
'Dracula's left us no clues,' Max complained, as they assembled back in the hall.
'Maybe not,' Eddy said, angling over to a corner. Crouching down, he returned with a discarded scrap of paper. 'This might be something.'
They huddled around the paper.
'It's an address in Cromer,' Porter said. 'That's down the coast from here.'
'It could be the next stop for Dracula and his entourage,' Max said.
They showed this to the captain, who discussed it with his men before returning to Jane and the others. 'We'll take a look at this place,' Ruskin said. 'You might be right in saying it's where he's fled to.'
He and his men hurried back to their horses and carriages and raced down the road with Jane and the others following. This time, Jane sat in the driver's seat beside Max as they passed through the countryside. Winter snow painted the fields, but the day was clear and bright. For a moment, she could almost forget about the horrors of Dracula.
She leaned close to Max and put an arm through his. 'Max,' she said. 'Last night was special for me.'
'And me,' he said, pausing. 'You should know that there have been other women over the years, but they were simply flirtations. They meant nothing to me.'
'I know what you mean. There have been many other men for me as well. Dozens. Possibly even hundreds.'
Max looked at her with such alarm that she burst out laughing, and he shook his head. 'Jane Austen,' he sighed. 'You are a vixen.'
It only took a few hours to reach Cromer. It was a quiet salt-sprayed seaside village with fishing boats dotting the ocean. The building they were looking for was a red-brick estate a mile inland.
The captain and his men stopped outside the building. Jane and the others were close behind. To Jane, the place was reminiscent of her home in Sevenoaks, but smaller.
Porter grabbed Jane's arm. 'Let the soldiers go in first,' she advised. 'Just to be safe.'
Captain Ruskin banged on the front door. There was no answer, and so he knocked again. Now Ruskin went to a nearby window and peered inside. He turned to his men. 'Smash that door down!'
The men broke the door down and stormed the building.
'What's going on?' Jane asked.
'I don't know,' Porter said, frowning. 'It can't be vampires. They're not active during daylight hours.'
Eddy started to step forward, but one of the soldiers restrained him. A body was carried from the house and brought out to the road.
Cassandra, Jane thought.
She wanted to run to the person.
Please don't let it be her.
'I'm a doctor,' Porter yelled to one of the soldiers.
'It's too late for this chap,' he replied.
Then it's not Cassandra, Jane thought, and immediately felt guilty at her relief. She said a silent prayer for the person who had lost their life.
The soldiers finally parted so that Doctor Porter could examine the man. Jane and the others peered over her shoulder as she inspected the body. The victim had been dead for some time. He appeared to be a well-to-do, older man with a thick snow-white beard and hair.
'Possibly the owner of the house,' she said, examining his hands. 'He's obviously not a labourer, yet there's some black residue on his hands.'
A sudden cry came from inside the building.
'It sounds like they've found something,' Max said. 'I wonder—'
There was an incendiary, copper-red flash, and the house exploded.