The Van Helsing Conjecture – Excerpt No. 229

“Putain!” Evelyn swore.

The vampire covered her mouth the moment those registered on Clara’s face. She may have been a whore in her distant past, but Clara experienced it more recently.

“Oh non—” Evelyn said, her eyes wide open and round.

“It’s fine,” Clara said. “You were just reacting and that’s okay. It wasn’t really me…. Entirely.”

“It doesn’t mean I can’t be sorry,” Evelyn countered. “It seems we both experienced firsthand the sting of that word.”

“Too true…”

This led to an awkward pause. They both looked at each other, smiled meekly and said the only thing that could not offend.

a moody, cinematic photograph featuring a brunette, her dark hair cascading down her back, with piercing steel-grey eyes gazing intensely at a mysterious woman with raven-black hair and piercing green eyes, standing at a distance, their bodies language screaming tension, yet their faces frozen in an awkward, unspoken stalemate, as if the words are caught in their throats, flooded with unspoken emotions, set against a muted, earthy toned backdrop with soft, warm lighting, casting long shadows that amplify the sense of unease, the overall atmosphere thick with anticipation and unresolved conflict, captured in a horizontal frame with a shallow depth of field, focusing on the women's faces, emphasizing the emotional intensity of the moment.

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.