𝐂𝐚𝐫𝐩𝐞 𝐍𝐨𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐦

Act IV, Scene I

"Be sure your sin will find you out."
~ The Bible, Numbers 32:23

__________

Lucy didn't recognize herself.

She stared into the reflective depths of the mounted mirror in Dr. Reed's powder room. The woman who stared back looked more animal than human. A savage vampire. A Lupine, in Virgil speak.

Her hair was an unkempt tangle. Her dress, so pristine mere hours ago, was stained and tattered from her neckline to her waist. The skin around her mouth and chin bore dirty red smudges and dried smears. Flecks of red caked the creases of her lips.

Her eyes were still swollen from crying, but all traces of tears had dried and been wiped away.

To think, she had looked so lovely when she'd left Wilhern Manor. A lady. A Penn. Now she looked like she had walked through the battlefield of a nightmare.

Lucy let out a shaky breath.

Running fresh water into the basin, she used the soap and cloth provided to her and began scrubbing her face. Her dress was a lost cause, but her face could be renewed; the water washing away all telltale signs of the sins that had been committed that night. If only the mind could be cleansed of memory the way the skin could be cleansed of blood.

She scrubbed harder.

Beyond the closed powder room door, she could hear Virgil telling Dr. Reed all the knowledge that had been gathered and deduced. He spoke of the Ceremony of Unity, the intent of the Nosferatu, the trinity of rites...the third of which Lucy had performed just hours ago, unbeknownst to them all, hammering the final nail into her proverbial coffin.

She glanced at her reflection again.

Her skin was raw from the rigorous scrubbing, but clean at last. She sighed in halfhearted relief, and dried her face and hands.

She picked up the small brush that lie next to the basin. A few strands of Dr. Reed's dark hair remained caught in the bristles.

In a trancelike state, Lucy brushed the tangles from her hair. She heard Virgil speak of his contract with her, concluding his speech. Dr. Reed said nothing, but her keen ears picked up a despondent sigh.

Opening the door an inch or two, Lucy peeked through the crack. At the end of the hall was the kitchen. She could see Dr. Reed sitting at the table, his forehead in his hand. Virgil appeared next to him, reaching down and squeezing his shoulder.

"I was there when you lost Enola, Thomas," Virgil said. "I won't let you lose Lucy."

A warmth spread through Lucy's stagnant heart. These men cared for her, and she was touched in the most acute and profound of ways. She thought love and friendship of this magnitude was lost to her forever, having fled along with Arthur's dying breath, but no: the universe was not finished with her.

There was more to come.

Arthur was gone. No amount of prayer or begging for forgiveness would bring him back. Yet perhaps she did not have to face the long and uncertain road ahead alone. The connection she had with Dr. Reed was stronger, deeper, and had manifested faster than any she'd felt in her life — or after it. He was dedicated to his work above all else, but she sensed a fierce loyalty in him — something he had demonstrated most selflessly earlier that night. He would not leave her to loneliness; of that, Lucy was certain.

Taking this lull in conversation as her cue to emerge, Lucy walked down the short hallway and joined the men in the kitchen.

"If the Nosferatu will come for me tonight, I cannot be anywhere near Wilhern Manor," she reasoned. "It is not fair to put Sir Wilhern, Evelyne, or Dr. Rosencrantz in danger."