There Is No Me Beyond You

~7~

"What is your plan, Uncle?" Lucas asked as we sat down at one of the tables.

I took my phone from my bag and tried to call Alina, once, twice, but there was no answer, not even a voicemail. Hopefully she's alright. Hopefully they all are... What if this fire is somehow... in Vlad's version of the castle too...

"It depends," Stoker said, bringing his left hand under his chin and running his fingers along his jaw thoughtfully. "Do you still want to go in today, Samara?" He asked all of a sudden, looking at me seriously.

"I do. Of course I do." I said, pushing the phone back in the bag. I spent the whole year waiting for this day, and came all the way back here... I couldn't simply turn around and go home now. And if Stoker's theory was correct, then I could not afford to wait another year... And now this fire, what if something happened to him... "I must get to him today."

"Then we'll walk in from Poenari. I'll come with you, you can't possibly cross there on your own," he said, sighing.

He wasn't happy about this, but, apparently, he saw me as his responsibility, he wanted to deliver me back to Vlad.

"No." Lia and Lucas said at the same time.

"I'll go with her." Lucas beat Lia to the next line. "We'll take that bus and find the passage in the ruins, and someone, any one of 'them' to lead us through."

"Lucas, it might be dangerous, I don't want you to risk..." I started, but Stoker interrupted me.

"You must be extremely careful..." he said slowly, considering the idea.

"We'll try not to get noticed too much on the bus, so no one looks for us on this side once we are in, but if they will, you must invent something, Uncle. You and Lia must stay here, and take Aurora to the castle as soon as it reopens. If everything goes well, we'll meet you there tonight." Lucas explained his plan.

I took a deep, shaky breath. "Should I not come back," I said, looking between Lia and Stoker, "but you meet Vlad, please, give Aurora to him. But should you not see him either, take her back to London. Here," I added, passing Lia my handbag full of Aurora's things for the day, keeping only my copy of Dracula, "are letters, for everyone, it's all explained and settled... Only read them if I don't return, please," I instructed, trying to suppress my tears when I saw those appearing in Lia's eyes.

I glanced at Stoker meaningfully, he knew about the letters; it was one of his many vampire lawyer friends who helped me with them. But there was no time for explaining this to Lia now.

"You two," Stoker said, shaking his head at Lucas and me, "must promise me that you will try to avoid any danger. If something happens to either of you, your father, Lucas, and your husband, Samara, shall have my head!"

Nodding, I opened the jar of baby food Lia had passed me in the meantime, before I freed Aurora from the baby carrier and took her from Lucas, to feed her.

"Listen carefully now," Stoker said and I forced myself to hear what he had to say, even though I wished I could only think about my baby right now. You only have half an hour left with her, my subconscious announced, making my skin crawl.

"Samara, this is important," Stoker called me to attention, and I looked up at him. "From what I've read about Poenari Citadel recently, I don't think there will be many visitors there today. It had been shut for years because of bears, see, the ruin is on top of a steep hill, surrounded by forests, in the middle of nowhere. There will most likely be a person to check your tickets at the foot of the hill, maybe not even that. Then, you'll have to climb more than one thousand concrete steps leading to the ruin, it will take you a while to get up. I don't expect you to meet another guide on top, however, be careful!"