The Mystery of the Haunted Vampire (Chapter XXX.)

Dr. Armitage’s Journal. October 31, morning. Near Salisbury. — If we are marked to die, we are enough. I wrote my will and mailed it from Cambridge with the Marlowe book. I left everything to Eleanor. She can sort through my papers and books and decide which should be donated to Miskatonic. I thought of Eleanor and my love for her as I watched the wedding of Miss Lucy Westenra and Mr. Thomas Carnacki. "He has only agreed to marry me because he believes he will die tomorrow," Lucy said last night, her eyes sparkling with happiness. "I have other reasons as well," Carnacki said. We congratulated them. We had just finished cleaning and loading the weapons for tomorrow’s expected battle when they made the announcement. "We’ll need to find a minister," Adena said. Albion shook his head. "We should not risk going into town," he said. "The place may be crawling with the Un-Dead." "What do you recommend?" Lucy asked. "I have married off soldiers to local girls when they were in a, uh, predicament," Albion said. "I did not have the authority, but they did not know that." "But we would know it," Lucy said. "That rather ruins it." I smiled as an idea came to me. "I have the solution." "What is it?" Lucy asked. "Before the abomination of slavery ended 30 years ago, the slaves in America’s South were not allowed to marry in churches so they practiced a custom that may trace its roots to antiquity. The couple would jump over a broom together. It would not be a legally binding wedding, but I believe it would bring a couple together before the eyes of God as well as any service in St. Paul’s Cathedral." Lucy’s fangs gleamed in the lantern light. She looked at Thomas, who returned her smile, and they nodded in agreement. Jacob brought out a broom from a tack room and laid it on the floorboards of the barn. As he did, Lucy knelt suddenly and began counting the broom stalks tied to the end of the handle. "There will be a slight delay in the ceremony," she announced. "What are you doing?" I asked. "I felt compelled to count these for some reason," she said. "I don’t know why." "I thought that was just Romanian folklore about vampires and brooms," I said. "Apparently it is not," Lucy said. "Please do not distract me." After several long minutes of silence, she stood. "Eight hundred forty three." Lucy clapped her hands together to wipe away the dust. "Let us begin anew. Captain Albion, may I beg a favor? Would you stand in for my father?" Albion blinked. "I would be honored," he said, stepping to her side. I directed Carnacki to stand on the other side of Lucy. "May God bless this union," Captain Albion said. I officiated. "Hold hands and on the count of three, jump over the broomstick," I said. We all counted together and they jumped. And Living joined with Un-Dead in marriage. We applauded the couple. Then Anne sang a traditional Scottish tune in a sweet voice and Lucy and Thomas danced. We ate our cold provisions, drank from shared bottles and were lighthearted for a time. Lucy Westenra’s Diary. 31 October, 4 a.m. Near Salisbury. — I want to remember everything about yesterday for as long as I exist and shall write it down on the chance our time is not short. We spent part of yesterday at a wonderful pub in Salisbury called the Haunch of Venison. The place has a most curious collection of artifacts. I pointed out a mummified hand to Jacob. The card said the hand belonged to a gambler who cheated at cards. Jacob pretended ignorance of my intended message, though no one could be so unlucky as I am when playing him. We left town after spotting three of Lilith’s rogues and took shelter from the rain in a barn. Thomas sweetly apologized for not having a better place for us to spend the night, considering it may be our last. I looked around at the spider webs in the corners and between the rafters. I heard the squeak of mice frightened by the horses. I recalled the lonely lairs of the vampires in London and Jonathan’s account of Dracula’s ruins in Transylvania. If we survive, will I become like them? "Thomas, I sleep in a coffin packed in soil in a crate," I said. "This is fine." He smiled at me and I bit my lip, fearful of his dying on tomorrow’s battlefield. I wanted to hold him tightly to me. "Do you really believe this is our last night?" I asked, clutching his arm and looking up into his eyes. "We may survive," he said. "Stonehenge must hold mystical power or else Lilith would not be using it for her ceremony. Our ‘Defensive Circle’ will draw upon that energy to keep out the forces of evil." Then his smile faded. "I will not lie to you," he said. "There is much that can go wrong. It will not keep out werewolves or humans. They can destroy the barrier if they reach it. And once it is down we will not be fighting just vampires, but also ghosts, maybe even the horror that haunted us at Hillingham." "So you believe this is our last night?" He looked into my eyes for a long time. "Yes," he said. "But you still plan to fight? Even though if we stay here and let her perform her ritual, we will live in the Garden of Eden together forever?" "Yes," he said. "Thomas, if she kills me, I may lose my only chance at paradise," I said. "My soul may spend eternity in the fires of hell. Will you still fight her knowing that?" His eyes glistened suddenly with unwept tears, but he held my gaze. "Yes," he said. "And should I arrive in heaven and you are not there, I will seek you out and bring you forth from even the darkest pit. And if I cannot rescue you, then I shall stay there with you for I would be tormented even in heaven if you were not there with me." His sincerity touched me to the core. There was no bravado in him. I had tasted his blood. I knew the man. "Thomas, will you marry me? Tonight?" "Yes," he said, smiling again. Dr. Armitage’s Journal. (October 31 — continued). Later, I whispered to Adena, who lay nearby, asking her why she had not prevented the wedding. "Why didn’t you?" she said. I thought for a time, but I didn’t answer. In the darkness, she reached her hand out and took mine. "Henry, are you frightened?" I tried to keep morbid thoughts out of my mind, but I calculated the number of hours I could expect to live. "No," I answered as bravely as I could. She squeezed my hand. "I am too," she said, moving closer and resting her head on my shoulder. I put an arm around her shoulders to comfort her. Soon she fell to sleep, exhausted beyond measure by the strain. I stared up at the darkness for a long time feeling the thoughts of a condemned man before his execution. It was a long time until sleep came to me. Lucy Carnacki’s Diary. (31 October — continued). The others piled straw at the far end of the barn, leaving the loft to us. Before Thomas and I climbed the ladder, Adena and Anne pulled me aside. "We need both of you with us tomorrow," Anne said. "Do not kill him," Adena said. I smiled at them. "I won’t," I promised. The three of us embraced like sisters and though it was not the advice I expected to hear as a newly wed bride, I knew they meant well. And though Thomas and I approached each other with shyness, it did not last. I discovered my innocent lover matched me in lurid excitement. It is nearly dawn. Thomas has just fallen to sleep. I am exhausted yet too excited to sleep so I turned to my old confidant, my diary. If this is to be my last entry, it is a pleasant one to end upon.