Free A Christmas Homecoming by Anne Perry

better.”
    “A pity he hasn’t shown you yet!” Vincent retorted.
    “No doubt he will,” Joshua cut in. “But until he does, let’s see what we can do on our own. We’ll start with thunder and lightning effects …”
    Vincent stared around the room and then toward the windows. “Probably unnecessary,” he observed.
    “So was that remark,” Joshua said tartly. “The coffin will be on the stage and dimly lit, and I will climb out of it. Then the lights will go out, and come on again to be moonlight. Caroline, can you manage that?”
    “Yes,” she said immediately. She had practiced with the limelight contraption and she felt more confident, though not quite as confident as she sounded. She too could act!
    Joshua smiled. “Good. Lucy will be sitting on the seat or by the shore. I will attack her—”
    “Are we going to go through that?” Lydia asked. “Please? We haven’t done it yet.”
    “Yes, I suppose we’d better,” Joshua agreed. “Then we see Lucy at home with Mina and Harker. She is ill. Harker sees the bite marks on her neck. She gets worse and Mina cares for her. Dim lights to see Dracula at the window. He comes in and bites her again. In the morning she is far worse.”
    “I thought Harker was supposed to be in Budapest?” James interrupted.
    “In the book he is,” Joshua answered. “But since we have written Arthur and Dr. Seward out of the play, we have to have him here. We’ve altered the storyline appropriately.”
    James shrugged.
    “Van Helsing arrives and tells Harker about Renfield,” Joshua went on.
    “When do Mina and Harker get married?” James interrupted again. “It’s supposed to happen in Budapest.”
    Joshua glanced at Alice.
    “They’ll have to be married before we begin,” she answered. “I didn’t think of that, but I can’t see that it matters.”
    “Good.” Joshua looked at his notes again. “Lucy is attacked again and gets worse. We don’t need to see the attack—”
    “Yes, we do.” Lydia was the one to interrupt this time. “Otherwise it doesn’t make sense.”
    “No, we don’t,” Joshua told her. “If we show Dracula attacking too often it loses impact. The audience can deduce what has happened. One really dramatic and powerful scene is better than two weaker ones.”
    “They aren’t that powerful,” Vincent pointed out. “You need to be far more sinister. At the moment you look like a lover coming up the garden ladder to elope. Or a burglar caught in the act!”
    Alice was frowning. “There is something else important that we missed—”
    “
You
missed,” Lydia corrected her.
    “I missed.” Alice accepted the rebuke.
    “What?” Joshua was puzzled.
    “Mr. Ballin said that the vampire cannot come in unless he is invited. Someone has to invite him, and the audience needs to see that.”
    “Mr. Ballin says?” Vincent allowed his contempt to darken his voice. “Since when has he been in charge?”
    Alice blinked, but she did not retreat. “The suggestion is a good one, Mr. Singer, and that is all that matters. It is an important point that evil cannot come in unless we invite it. It is our choice.”
    “But none of the characters had the faintest idea what he is, or that he’s evil,” Vincent argued. “Or did you miss that point?”
    “Perhaps they should have known,” she countered. “It is naïve to imagine anyone is so good that they are immune to evil. Or perhaps it isn’t a lack of goodness, but a total lack of humility that makes one vulnerable?”
    “Vincent wouldn’t know anything about that,” Mercy remarked. “Humility, I mean. He probably has no idea what you are talking about.”
    “Neither have you, my dear,” Vincent said to Alice. “This is supposed to be drama, not a schoolgirl philosophy.”
    Joshua drew in his breath. Caroline knew it was to defend Alice, but she spoke for herself before he could say anything.
    “I did not invent vampire lore, Mr. Singer. I am simply quoting what Bram