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Adem set a chair beside me, and I gratefully sank onto it.

“I’m sick,” she whispered, her dry lips barely moving.

“I know, but you will be better soon. ” I smoothed her hair back from her face and nearly flinched as I felt the fever burning under my touch. There was a basin next to the bed filled with melting snow. Several clean cloths were folded beside it. I wrapped a clump of snow in one of the cloths and rested it against her forehead.

“I’m so cold. ” She tried to shove my hand away, but I kept it firmly against her brow. The fever immediately began to melt the snow and rivulets of water trickled down into her lank hair.

“I know, darling. But it’s the fever. We must try to reduce it, so you can get better. ” It pained me to listen to her tortured breathing. The soft whistle emanating from her lips frightened me with each breath.

“I loathe being sick. ” Tears formed in her eyes as her body seized in a terrible fit of coughing.

Adem and Maria surged forward to her bedside as she violently coughed. Adem snatched up one of the cloths and held it to her mouth so she could expel the terrible substance in her lungs. Once she was done, he gently cleaned her mouth with the clean edge of the fabric before stepping back. Maria clutched Laura, rocking her tenderly as Laura clung to her.

When the tea Brice sent was brought to the door, Adem retrieved it. I quickly poured a cup for Laura. Together, we had to cajole Laura into sipping it. After a cup, her breathing seemed to quiet a bit. Together, Maria and I tried to cool her skin with the snow in attempt to bring down her fever. Our earlier discussion was forgotten as we toiled at her bedside, nursing the poor girl the best we could. It was several hours before Laura’s fever broke and her breathing became less ragged.

Exhausted, Maria sat at her daughter’s bedside holding her hand. In silence, her eyes beseeched me to perform a task I did not truly know how to accomplish. As I gazed at my sick and possibly dying friend, I wondered if I would make her into a vampire if I knew the secret of the transformation.

Chapter 25

The Journal of Countess Dracula

November 26, 1820

The Dosza Palace, Buda

I despise doctors. Loathe them. Detest them! How can he say that he can do nothing for Laura? I do not understand! He claims that the damage from her previous illnesses has weakened her chest and that he cannot help her beyond the treatments he has administered.

How is that possible?

Every night I sit at her bedside and listen to her struggle for breath. Even the tea Brice has been sending her has lost its potency. Surely there is some miracle of medicine that can save her. Are we not a modern society?

I find myself bereft of all hope in science as I watch over her. I wish I could pray to God, the Virgin, and Christ and beg for her life. Yet, I fear they no longer hear me. Instead, I am tortured by the truth that despite my new, cursed nature, I am helpless. I do not know how to give Laura the terrible gift Vlad forced upon me.

I have dispatched Adem on more than one occasion to demand that Astir tell me the secret of the vampire gift. Each time, he was rebuffed. I even sent a letter to Astir demanding he disclose the ritual, or I would approach Ilinca and Gavril. He did not rise to my bluff.

I am so desperate now, I am inclined to risk my life to save Laura’s, but then I remember Ignatius and I am torn.

What to do? What to do?

“I hate him,” I sobbed as the door shut behind the doctor. His departure was a relief for I could not stand to hear him drone on about Laura’s dire condition. He was granting us no hope. Over the last few nights I came to despise his very presence in Laura’s sickroom.

Maria sat in silence next to Laura’s sleeping form, her gaze riveted to her daughter’s face as she drew in each tortured breath.

Pacing back and forth, I struggled not to cry. I was angry, hopeless, and torn. Once again I considered going to Borbála’s home and demanding to see Ilinca. I was not convinced she would impart the secret of the vampire ritual, but I was at the end of my wits. I could not bear to see Laura suffering so.

“If only he had told you,” Maria said at last.

“He tells me nothing,” I snapped. “Nothing!”

“Stephan says that he won’t even answer his correspondence.

” Maria let out a soft sob. Her eyes were terribly swollen and her face was doughy from all her weeping.

“Human life means very little to him unless it suits his needs. ” My words were bitter ones. I knew far too intimately the truth of Vlad’s regard for mortals. Adem and I had agreed not to respond to Sir Stephan’s pleas to Vlad. The very nature of Vlad Dracula would be to ignore the situation since it did not necessarily affect his plans.

“Stephan said he will refuse to do any further business with him,” Maria dared to say.

I shrugged. “Vlad would find another solicitor and possibly kill Stephan and you. ”