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He shrugs. "There are advantages and disadvantages. Certain technology is useful and is considered contraband here. You can get into legal trouble for owning so much as an electric toothbrush. But here, I am not subject to the whims of the sun, and I do not have to hide who and what I am."

"Good thing you have a magic castle that can go anywhere, then."

He smirks. "Yes, good thing."

I scan around the room, refocusing on our task. "So, what are we looking for?"

"Anything that might give us a hint into Mary's life. Did she have other lovers? Other children? Enemies? Any letters? Journals?"

I nod. "Do I need to wear gloves or avoid touching anything?"

"No. The area's already been examined by the Enforcers."

I head to her closet as Sebastian checks the dresser and bedside tables.

Everything in this room and in the closet appears to belong to her. "Did Dracula sleep somewhere else?"

"Yes. They had separate rooms. We can look there next."

I shiver at the thought of going through the personal items oftheDracula. That's just so wild my head can't fully comprehend it. And yet, it's astonishing how quickly we can adapt to new life circumstances, no matter how outlandish they might be. We are remarkable at survival, for a species with so little physical protection.

Mary has a lot of fancy dresses that show little to no wear, indicating that they were rarely used. Same with the shoes and hats I find. It's not until I get down to the bottom drawer of her dresser that I find the clothes she preferred. More casual clothing. Cotton pants and blouses. Comfortable clothes that aren't stylish, or appropriate for the Otherworld from what I've seen.

"Did Mary like living here? Being with a vampire?" I ask, coming back into the bedroom holding jeans and a Grateful Dead band shirt.

"I don't know. She and I weren't close. But she wouldn't have been allowed to wear those in public." He glances away, and I leave it at that for now.

We continue searching her room for a few more hours. We find nothing and are about to give up when a flash gives me pause. I walk to the fireplace and run my hand over the stones, feeling for something but not sure what. So far nothing. Frustrated, I push a sitting chair over and stand on it, balancing myself against the wall as I feel the along the stones I couldn't reach on my own.

"What in the blazes are you doing, woman?" Sebastian says, grabbing my hips and nearly causing me to topple from the chair.

"I'm checking something."

I ignore the warmth of his hands on my hips, his fingers digging into my flesh, as I strain to reach the top stones. Finally, my persistence pays off. One of the stones is loose. I struggle to pull it out and then reach into the dark hole and smile as my hand touches a box. I take it and replace the stone.

Sebastian helps me down, and still has his hands on my waist as I hold up the box to show him. "She was hiding this. Let's find out why."

It doesn't take us long to realize Mary was hiding a secret.

I hold up a letter and read:

My dearest love,

It pains me to stay away for so long, to not hold you or caress you or see your face every day.

When can we be together again?

Yours,

L

We read through a few more,and they are similar. None are dated. None are signed with anything other than an L.

"Who's L?" I ask, putting the letters back into the box.

"I don't know," Sebastian says, frowning. "Given we don't know when these were written, they might not mean much."

"Is there a way to determine how old they are? Science or magic or…" I shrug, still so new to this world that I don't know the right questions to ask yet. In the absence of knowing what is possible, I choose to believe nothing is impossible. It keeps more options open that way.