The Van Helsing Conjecture – Excerpt No. 158

“You always come up with these wild stories. Did you get that from Dracula? Carmilla?”

Before Clara could counter, Jack added.

“Do you know what the merchant seamen says at the pub about women like you?”

It was out of character for her, but Clara felt as though her strength and resolve had been sapped from her bones. Unable to utter a single word, Clara shook her head while using every trick she knew to keep from crying… I’ll not let this bastard win…

Jack leaned in close, enough for his vile breath to nauseate her. She nearly recoiled, but a part of her knew he used his fists to cope with disappointment.

“The crazy ones are always wild in bed,” Jack said.

a highly textured, warm-toned, cinematic photograph of a dimly lit, rustic pub interior in a 1900s Canadian coastal mining town, with rugged, weathered men clad in worn, earth-toned clothing, gathered around a wooden table, clinking glasses and sharing stories, amidst the warm glow of lanterns and the haze of pipe smoke, with worn, wooden barrels and antique nautical instruments adorning the walls, and a faint sense of misty coastal air seeping in through the open door, evoking a sense of camaraderie and rugged charm.

Disclaimer: This novel is an work in progress and readers may encounter grammatical errors and inconsistencies. Please view this a draft and not a published work.