Séance for a Vampire Fred Saberhagen (most popular novels of all time TXT) 📖

the period of his captivity. He was keenly interested when Dracula reported that Louisa’s tomb was occupied by a living member of that race.

“We must call upon her, Prince.” Holmes consulted his watch. “Tonight, if at all possible.”

“‘Call upon her’?” I asked, puzzled.

“In her tomb, Watson, in her tomb!” Even as I shuddered inwardly, I took comfort in the fact that my companion had so far recovered as to display a flash of his old impatience.

Prince Dracula took the suggestion with perfect calm. “To arrange a conversation with the young one who now sleeps among her ancestors should not be too difficult. It may be that in the process, we will encounter the one who put her there as well.” He smiled. “If so, that problem at least may be rather quickly settled.”

The detective now turned his attention to me and requested that I give him a more detailed account of the events in and near the house following the séance. I complied, describing as fully as I could the savage attack on Abraham Kirkaldy, my conversations next morning with Armstrong and Merivale, and the subsequent attempt to murder me in London.

Holmes reacted with considerable alarm upon hearing a partial account of my communications with Mycroft.

He beat a fist softly upon the arm of his chair. “but this I did not expect! I must telephone–no, I prefer not to appear in public just yet. Let my survival remain a secret, if possible, for a little longer. Watson, you must find a telephone at once. Call Mycroft and reassure him regarding my safety.”

“Cousin Sherlock,” interposed Prince Dracula, “before you do that, allow me to make a suggestion.”

Twelve

The prince proceeded with a formal request for our opinions on a plan that had suggested itself to him. This involved returning to the chapel and there setting up an ambush in force, with the object of trapping the slayer and kidnapper when the latter sooner or later returned to the hidden crypt. but Holmes immediately though diplomatically expressed grave doubts regarding the likelihood of success and soon we had all agreed that the idea was untenable. After all, Holmes had lain in confinement from very early on Wednesday morning until around midday on Thursday, and the villain had not returned to the crypt during that interval. Given his evidently uncertain mental state, it seemed perfectly possible that he might never go back at all.

With that decided, our next step was to communicate with Mycroft. Knowing the extreme regularity of the man’s habits, I felt confident of being able to reach him at his desk at the ministry–or at the Diogenes Club during the evening, from a quarter to five till twenty to eight. After that, he was sure to be found in his rooms just opposite the club, across Pall Mall.

The Saracen’s Head, like most other inns, boasted a telephone. but since the instrument was located in one of the public rooms on the ground floor, any conversation conducted there might be uncomfortably public. Other’phones were sure to be available somewhere in the village–at the other inns, and at the railroad station if nowhere else–but I felt a similar problem would surely arise whichever one we attempted to use.

The prince, always at his best when faced with an immediate tactical problem, quickly suggested a scheme to enable me to conduct my call to London without being overheard. Dracula proceeded me downstairs and went into the public room, from whence, a moment later, I heard his voice raised in unfamiliar tones, calling jovially for a round of drinks for the house. With bewildering facility, he had adopted the character of a commercial traveler. When I presently followed my ally downstairs, all potential eavesdroppers were concentrating eagerly upon a story of amatory adventure, as thoroughly improbable as it was distracting. This tale was scarcely concluded before it was followed by another. In using the telephone, my only remaining problem would be the occasional wave of boisterous laughter emanating from the pub down the hall, which might interfere somewhat with hearing.

Reasonably confident now of privacy, I put through my call and had the satisfaction of promptly reaching Mycroft–the further satisfaction of remembering to call him by that name, and of being able to assure him that his brother was now safe.

“But,” I added, “he wishes to remain for a time out of view, and so has sent me to the telephone.”

“Thank God!” came the heartfelt sentiment across the wires. “Sherlock has come through what must have been a terrible experience. Can you tell me whether the precise nature of it was... was...?” It seemed that there were certain words Mycroft could not quite bring himself to say.

“It was, I regret to say, of the kind that we discussed in London. but he has come through it well.”

“Thank you, John, for your honesty.” Again the voice on the other end was quavering. “Is there anything I can do?”

“There may be several things.” We conferred briefly, quickly agreeing that there was no immediate need for Mycroft to come to Amberley.

“I was not looking forward to the journey. Tell me, what does Sherlock request?”

“First, that you gather and pass along any information currently available on any unusual activity you can discover, taking place in the Russian immigrant community in London.”

“A large order.” Mycroft sighed faintly, a sound of relaxation indicating, I thought, that the fact of his brother’s current safety was sinking in, and that he was looking forward to being able to resume his own regular activities, which consisted almost entirely of the gathering and ordering of information.

After a moment’s thought, Mycroft continued: “Just now we have in London the unity conference of the Social Democratic Party, which includes in its membership Russians as well as many other nationalities. The gathering has just moved here from brussels, with the encouragement, not to say prodding, of the belgian police. There are several prize rascals to be found among the delegates, along with a number of sincere