Read Zamani for Free Online

and later as sirens for
Mina.   She did remember the killing
of the female vampires as the only kill scene where Van Helsing was alone, unaccompanied
by any other hunters.   She opened
the annotated version up and reread the scene to be sure. The novel clearly
eroticized the sleeping female vampires, and the hesitation in Van Helsing’s
voice was clear:

 
    “Then I braced myself again to my horrid task,
and found by wrenching away tomb-tops one other of the sisters, the other dark
one.   I dared not pause to look on
her as I had on her sister, lest once more I should begin to be enthrall; but I
go on searching until, presently, I find in a high great tomb as if made to one
much beloved that other fair sister which, like Jonathan I had seen to gather
herself out of the atoms of the mist.   She was so fair to look on, so radiantly beautiful, so exquisitely
voluptuous, that the very instinct of man in me, which calls some of my sex to
love and to protect one of hers, made my head whirl with new emotion.”

 
    She read the passage
multiple times; if Lucy was right and Dracula had a daughter, the special tomb
and the power to enthrall certainly made sense.   And Olivia was certainly beautiful to
the point of enthralling.
    She put the book down and
thought back to the films she’d watched; many of them gave more attention to
the three “weird sisters” but she couldn’t remember seeing any indication in
any films that the women were related to Dracula. Most film representations
focused on how they were likely his brides. A film she hadn’t watched before
she was killed she had put in her cart on Amazon to purchase and show at The
Ruby for movie night.   Lucy had a
laptop in the carriage house that she told Alex to use, and it didn’t take long
for Alex to access her shopping cart. She hoped that she wouldn’t get in
trouble for using the account; she reasoned that she and Liz shared it, so if
anyone was curious about it being accessed, they would probably assume Liz was
the one who logged in.
    The 1936 film was titled Dracula’s
Daughter .   The plot picked up
where the much better-known Bela Lugosi film left off--with Van Helsing having
defeated Dracula. In this film, he faced murder charges. Alex was mesmerized by
Gloria Holden’s performance as the Hungarian Countess Marya Zeleska.   While she didn’t really look a lot like
Olivia, she carried herself in much the same way and commanded attention.   Alex watched as the Countess struggled
with her desire to be free of her vampirism after her father’s death.    When she was unsuccessful at
freeing herself from the curse, she then embraced her darkness and tried to use
it to manipulate her Psychiatrist, played by Otto Kruger. Her goal was to
convince him to run away with her so they could live together forever.   Like all good monster films from the
period, though, good won out over evil and the Countess was slain at the end
while Dr. Garth and his beloved assistant made it out safe and sound,
presumably to live happily for a normal amount of time rather than for all of
eternity.
    Alex wondered if there was
any similarity between the film and Olivia’s earlier life.   She certainly hadn’t seemed evil to Alex
before; in fact she’d been quite polite and seemed to care about Alex’s
happiness and comfort. The spot as the research assistant had been a cash-per-hour
job and was a good help to her.   She’d always done well tending bar, but she’d felt like she was actually
accomplishing something working for Olivia.   But, knowing now that even the most
learned hunters like Van Helsing could be enthralled and mesmerized by her, she
wondered if Olivia had truly been watching out for her as a student or if there
had been bigger plans for her in Olivia’s life.
    But how were Olivia and Wren
connected?   She had no way of
knowing.   She couldn’t just call up
Wren and ask her.   After all, she
was dead and Wren was in jail for her