Preys & Predators IV; Monster and Witches Chapter 12

 

12.

 

The elderly Helsing looked out from the window from his table by the corner, smelled the old wooden décor, and saw the drawings of the infamous Robin Hood, although Sherwood Forest was far from there. A wooden sign hung over the bar counter situated to the left of the entrance; “Hail the Merry Me, we all are” was etched on it, along with the tavern keeper’s name, Howard “Merry” Mann.

Doctor Abraham was a man of habit to sit with his back to a firm backdrop like a wall. He also liked the vantage view of the surroundings, and from the window, he has the external view of the street. There were few pedestrians out there on the hot summer day, and they saw the brougham parked there. He turned his attention to the interior there. The place was cooler there and well-lit by the gas lamps. The area where he was seated was converted into a café during the day and a drinking bar in the evening, not necessarily in that order. It housed three round tables and was situated on the ground level of the tavern. There were a few patrons there that afternoon, two of whom were at the bar counter, enjoying the ale there.

“The best pie is here at the Merry Men. It will go well with your cup of tea.” The tavern owner, who had on the apron over his bartending wear, set the plate down then. The man was served with the slice of meat pie strongly recommended by the owner; it was stale in its crust, as noticed by Doctor Abraham.

Doctor Abraham was unreserved on his meal. He was famished from his noon workout; the lady was a contortionist with the vixen appetite, and he had obliged her. He left there holding his walk supported by the walking stick he found at the doorway.

“How was the pie, sir?” Doctor Abraham was interrupted in his thoughts when he set the plate aside and settled for the cup of tea.

“Howard, was it?” Doctor Abraham looked at the tavern keeper and the pie. “Oh, I am still eating it.”

Doctor Abraham smiled. It was then he saw the gentleman walk in towards the bar counter. The gentleman was dressed in the dark three-piece suit and held a top hat.

“Pardon me, Sir. I got a guest checking in.” The tavern keeper strode off to meet the newly arrived gentleman who walked up to the counter.

“Victor Frankenstein.” The gentleman introduces himself. “I believed……”

“Frankenstein … Indeed.” The tavern keeper frowned on his expression. The others at the tables and counter all looked over at the gentleman. That moment then was tense.

“Sir, if my coins are not good for you, I can stay elsewhere.” The gentleman was agitated by the attitude of the other. “I will get my daughter and leave now.”

“None at all, guvnor. The other taverns are all occupied as I was told, but The Merry Men had never turned down any guests. I will even offer my personal chamber if need be. The tavern keeper placed on a weak smile. “I welcome your return, Mr. Frankenstein. Chamber at the top right. Best view of the town.”

“I shall be here a night or two. Have some food sent to my daughter there.” The gentleman turned to go to the stairs when he was faced by a gentleman.

“Pardon me, Mr…. Frankenstein. I am ….” The gentleman held forth his right hand.

“I am not interested in commenting to any local tabloids on my……” Victor ignored the extended hand.

“My apologies, Mr. Frankenstein. I met you two years ago at the Steinbeck Uni’s…” The gentleman put on a smile. “Dr. Abraham Helsing. We ……”

“My apologies, Dr. Helsing. I ……. Did not recognize you.” Victor Frankenstein held out his right hand. “I had just arrived.”

“Da …. I was inconsiderate.” Dr. Helsing smiled. “Perhaps……”

“Let me attend to my daughter, Sir.” Victor turned to leave. He then turned back. “Have the meat pie. I shall be down shortly.”

It was not long before the two gentlemen sat down over the pot of tea and untouched meat pies.

“My apologies again, Dr. Helsing…” Victor looked at the man whom he had met before and spent hours discussing the subjects that involved them.

“None required, Herr Professor.” Doctor Abraham smiled. “You had apologies twice already.”

“Associate Professor, Doctor. I was not given the recognition.” Victor smiled. “I had the honour to be in the faculty that studied……”

“Galvanizing and the resurrection of…” Doctor Abraham stopped in his tone. “We have to be subtle on the subject here.”

“Resurrection, alas, yes.” Victor laughed when he saw the owner eyeing him. “The town is still living with the notion of it, although its local faculties ignored the subject matter.”

“Taboo?” Doctor Abraham picked the word.

“Indeed. As if incest was committed. And they do here in this town.” Victor had his voice raised. He saw then the frowns on the other patrons there.

“Let us move onto our subject matter. You studied under the Uni’s…” Doctor Abraham directed to move the subject matter.

“I was an associate professor at several universities; my ……. words reached them before I was to apply.  Academics discussed …… Grant provided and utilized sooner than expected. I had to move on. The ……”

“Gossip…my venerable term for it. The difference was … their …. Perhaps bickering was to … pioneer the subject after they ditched you.” Doctor Abraham smiled. “Trust me. They are worse than bitches in the marketplace.”

“Obviously, Doctor. Abraham. Our previous discussion persists.” Victor laughed. “I left this town with a heavy burden of suspicion that I was experimenting with the dead. I am a man of science. I do experiments to unravel mysteries, and mine was the reanimation.”

“Oh, pardon me there, Herr Victor.” Doctor Abraham smiled. “In my pursuit of ……. Life studies—I have had fortunate encounters with reanimations.”

“Your articles on that subject were dismissed like the bogeymen in the cupboard.” Victor laughed.

“They do, but not in the cupboard. They could climb out from under the bed. Nocturnal creatures, they were claimed to…….” Doctor Abraham took on a serious tone.

“These so-named creatures were never proven to exist. But metaphysically, they may exist. Or what they claimed was of my doing.” Victor had his voice raised. A few of the patrons there shuffled their seating.

“The realm of …… supernatural intrigued the ……” Doctor Abraham moved the subject matter then. “Were you not to study the works of Luigi Galvani, the experiment with frogs' legs twitching with electric current …… the theory of "animal electricity" in nerves, suggesting life itself was electrical.”

“Yes, among the many others, I was, but all my experiments were inconclusive. I then moved to other subjects, and last was to study abiogenesis; the works of …….”

“The works of Andrew Crosse; poof… the rabbit from the hat. Was it life created using electricity, though viewed as dangerous blasphemy by the clerics?” Doctor Abraham smiled. “If it was a serpent from the hat, then the works of the magician will ……. Exorcised.”

Both men laughed.

“Was it theatrics or science? But what Crosse did was ……” Doctor Abraham was cut off in his words. “Promethean Spark?”

“Promethean Spark? It was not that we discussed. Galvanizing was what we were discussing then two years ago.” Victor moved the subject. “It was inconclusive. Why are you here, Doctor Abraham?”

Victor looked at the other. It was a sharp question aimed at the other.

“I was invited to speak on metaphysics in the philosophical approach. Perhaps the analogy that examines the basic structure of reality. Well, to some of us, we questioned the approach towards it.”

“The demented mind thinks otherwise,” Victor added. “Or are we the sane, the demented ones?”

“Call it opening the mind or rather the study of mind-independent features of understanding the world, but some will say it is an inquiry into the conceptual framework of human understanding.” Doctor Abraham smiled. “Sigmund Freud may …… Pardon me, I am no psychoanalyst. I will profess to support Aristotle, though, bless his mind, who designated metaphysics as the first in philosophy to suggest that it is more fundamental than other forms of philosophical inquiry.”

“You mean more bullshit.” Victor cut in.

“In my line of studies, I am theatrically saying …. May I use that term, the "self" or "soul"? Perhaps a detectable spark, a metaphysical idea that challenged traditional views by suggesting consciousness could be physically generated or restored. If embedding galvanism may breathe life into the inanimate, maybe the ……”

“You are driving your philosophy into my works, which claimed then from the gossips that it was my work on the creature.” Victor leaned towards the other. “Did they also say that witches were here then? In your line of studies, witches do exist. I suggest you work on those assumptions too, or you may be wasting your time here, Doctor. I must be returning to my daughter.”

Victor got up from the seat. Dr. Abraham watched the man take to the stairs. He then looked to the tavern keeper.

“A chamber for me, please. I can pay.”

“Another lunatic? My dead wife always says, “Never turn down a paying guest, even a lunatic.” The tavern keeper said. “Even you will find it with a cupboard without doors. The last lunatic broke it down, saying the devil was hiding there.”

“Devilish, I can sleep in there.” Doctor Abraham smiled. “Metaphysical terms.”

Howard the tavern keeper swore under his breath with his eyes watching the newly registered guest take to the stairs. He saw the unfinished pies left there on the table.

“Martha Sally, my dear. I must replace the meat pies soon. Your recipe is downright unappealing.” Howard turned his attention to his washing of the beer goblets.

“Slow day, Howie?” The tavern keeper turned to look at who asked.

“Another day of another week, Inspector.” The tavern keeper took out a goblet for the officer. “When did you arrive?”

“A while ago.” Inspector Watson sat himself at the bar counter. As a warlock, he could move without being seen. “I can see you have two guests today.”

“There are many travellers of late. I heard the Peregrine and Lafayette; used to be the Frenchie that stayed there, but of late, taken up all the chambers. Must be the weather or we are good for a stopover.”

“Still peddling the pies? I ……” Inspector Watson moved the subject when he saw the leftover.

“It is Martha’s recipe. God bless her soul.” Howard muttered a prayer for his departed lover. “Well, the meat there was not tantalizing. The cat was scrawny at best. Someone knifed her two nights ago.”

“Cats? Pardon me, but I disliked them. Give me a hound any day.” The Inspector smiled. He knew that Martha took in the kitten some years back when she was still the bubbly kitchen cook. She kept the cat as it was to deter ghostly apparitions, and the Inspector disliked the cat when it hissed at him. Cats were to be the companions of the covens, but that cat disliked the Inspector.

“Do tell on the new guests?” Inspector Watson wasted no time.

“One is named Helsing, Doctor Abraham Helsing from …. He did not tell. The other is ……”

“Frankenstein. I remember the face… any day.” The inspector looked at the stairs leading to the next level. He knew the coven was on the lookout for them.