Preys and Predator Part II; the monster and witches' Chapter 15

 

15.

“It is awake.” Victor was told when he was to join for breakfast by Henry. He was stunned and then turned to his lab. He ignored the calls by Sven and walked on. He found the door unlocked and walked in. He approached the table and saw the figure there was intact, but the eyes were open.

“I came in when I saw the door unlocked. I walked in and saw it.” Henry said. “It was not moving but her ……...”

“Lock the door.” Victor was calm and yet excited. He pulled out the electrical nodes and saw the creation of his blink. It was alive.

“Bring me my coat.” Victor called out. Once he got it, he draped the coat over the body. He was feeling uneasy to stare at a naked body and more to it, one that resembled a lady. He checked for vitals, and there were none. Technically, it was dead, or not alive, but the eyes moved. He stood by the creation.

“Can you hear me?” Victor asked. The eyes moved to his voice.

“Can you see me?” The responses in the eyes showed some movements. Victor turned towards Henry.

“Leave me now. I need to do my work.” Victor shooed the other off. He was getting possessive over his creation. He looked around.

“What went right?” Victor pondered. He reached for the scalpel and did a small incision at the toes. There was no blood seen. He did another incision at the left ribs, and there was no reaction. He took out the microscope before he took samples of the skin. It was all dead cells. He flashed the light at the eyes, and the creature blinked.

“My God! It is alive.” Victor was elated, but the signals he got were vague. He checked the head from the ears to the scalp and found nothing to indicate anything was not right or wrong. He grabbed a seat and sat there. It was unbelievable, yet it was there before him.

He took out his writing pad and wrote his findings.

Not all findings matter, but to some they do.

“Justine Moritz, I am glad you have taken our invite.” Justine was surprised that she was called to meet her sponsor. It was three figures: one lady and two men. “We are members of the Theology Society. We represent a selected group of people who are keen to preserve the ways… or, rather, the right ways.”

Justine had accepted the grant to do the study of skin grafting; it was a huge grant and allowed her to have her own lab.

“Thank you for the grant, but how does theology come into the works of … God. He created life and death. He created us.”

“In theology, our coverage is wide, and where it involves the living flesh or the living humanity, we are there. We like your earlier findings and would like to see you do more.” The lady looked at Justine. “I am Doctor Judith Landis. I am a professor in the subject of living science. And it is not about pots and pans. He is…”

One of the men cut in.

“I am Doctor Edward Theodore III, with a doctorate in theology and medicine, but I am now an ……. An emissary of the House. I am assisted by …”

“Legal doctorate, Esquire Irwin Wallace. I am into the legal matters. Theology inclined. We are keen to meet you.”

“Thank you. My work does not need any concern of the church but may be of interest to medicine.” Justine smiled.

“Absolutely, Justine. Belgium you were from? I am from Scotland. My mother married a Scotsman, but I retained her family name upon their divorce. Scandalous, but the church's influences did not reach that far north.” Doctor Landis smiled. “And my mother did not remarry anyway.”

“We are keen to learn more from you on your earlier works as a prelude to the one you were to do.” Doctor Theodore cut in. “We knew of your involvement with Doctor Victor Frankenstein.”

“Pardon me. Doctor Victor and I are colleagues and friends, but we were not….” Justine felt singed then.

“No, do not get us wrong. We knew of your workings. We are focused on the works there.” The legal fraternity defended there. “We are… or rather, we want to know more about Doctor Frankenstein.”

“Well, he is an eccentric, but he loves his subject matter. He was into the study of the anatomy.” Justine smiled. “Mine was not included. I have nothing for him to study.”

Justine jutted out her bosom.

“I can assure you we all have our attributes.” Doctor Landis smiled; that was from a lady who had let gravity take its toll there. “But his works were extensive. I was told….”

“We have knowledge that he acquired body parts from the morgue…rather secretly.” The legal was at the helm.

“Oh, that. I heard of it, but I was not involved, nor am I inclined to confirm or deny any of that.” Justine leaned back. She guesses the panel was not keen on her works at all.

“We respect the oath of the doctors, but we thought you may….” Doctor Theodore was snapped at the words.

“Unfortunately, I have not peeked into his pants nor him under my shirt. We met, we drank, and we laughed, but we remained clothed. I do not know of his other works.”

“No reason to be …” The legal shield was up, but Doctor Landis cut in.

“That will be all, Doctor Justine. Your grant will continue, and God bless you in your research.” Doctor Landis then looked at Justine. “Do you know that Doctor Victor asked for an extension of leave from the uni for three weeks? He claimed that he was unwell.”

“I do not know. I moved out recently and… Was not in contact since.” Justine replied. She inside her knew something was up. It was unlike Victor to take leave unless he was to continue his creation… alone.

Continuance was the work of Doctor Mitchell with the guest. They decided to meet Mrs. Hudson and perhaps visit the guest. It was near dusk then.

“I am sure Ms. Katherine is in her room. She does not join me here much.” The duo was with Mrs. Hudson at the house. The guest did not respond to the knocks by Mrs. Hudson.

“That is peculiar. She should be on unless she went out earlier. I was in the garden then.” Mrs. Hudson smiled. “I do not hold my custody to her movement.”

“None whatsoever. I am just asking. I am a doctor and may have had her checked if she was ill.” Doctor Mitchell smiled. “We will leave now.”

Both the men left the house, and it was then Spielsdorf suggested that they walk to the creek.

“At this hour? Well, I am free for the day.” Doctor Mitchell agreed to the request. It was a walk that will take them an hour, and the doctor suggested a cut through the forests.

“It is a trail that the woodcutter took if they were to go there. I learned of it from Jason; he is the one who supplies me the logs for winter. It will be shorter but hidden from the road.” The two men took to the walk and soon found themselves covered by the leaves over their heads, and the foliage was partially covering the trail path.

“I have to say that the wood cutting is now done nearer to the road. They cleared the woods there, and poof, a house was built. We are having several of those houses built by the city dwellers and only come over in summer. The village had become a novelty to them during that season.” Doctor Mitchell sighed. “Once we had a community, but today half of them are dead or migrated to the city.”

Spielsdorf remained quiet and paced his walk. His military training taught him that the soldier who was rested was able to fight. The walk came to a clearing in the forest, and then the unexpected happened.

“There she is.” Spielsdorf looked at the figure standing by the clearing. It was to him then, Stephanie Karnstein.

“Who? Who is that lady?” Doctor Mitchell has never met the lady. “I wondered…”

“No, we wait here.” Spielsdorf held the doctor’s arm. “We need to see whom she was waiting for.”

The elderly lady was standing there and looking at the forest. She was to meet Carmilla for her feast, but the other was not forthcoming. She felt uneasy to wait, but her instructions were clear. She stood there and watched, but her instinct also told her that something was not right. She looked around her and saw nothing out of the ordinary. It was near dusk, and the birds were back at the nesting. And it was silent there, saved for the wind rustling the leaves on the branches.

‘You are watched. Leave now. See me tomorrow at the creek.’ It was a message to her mind. She knew the caution and returned to the trail she took towards the road. She walked briskly back to the house.

“She is leaving.” Spielsdorf whispered to the doctor. “We can wait here or follow.”

“I will suggest we follow. It will get dark soon. And I have no lamp with me.” Doctor Mitchell was not up for the sleuth task more when it involved vampires. The tale narrated by Spielsdorf was already scary. Both men then backtracked on the trail.

It happened so fast.

One moment Spielsdorf was behind the doctor, and the next he was unconscious. Something or someone hit him from the rear.

Spielsdorf woke up later at the mansion.

“Sir, are you okay?” Spielsdorf found himself looking at the constable.

“I think so. What happened?”

“We do not know. You were found unconscious by the road and brought here by Henry.” The constable looked hard at Spielsdorf’s face. “You had some bruises and …”

“Where is Doctor Mitchell?”

“Well, that is the part we want to know. He is dead, found next to you at the road. And he had bruises too. He lost a lot of blood.”