The Van Helsing Conjecture – Excerpt No. 274

There were more chuckles and even a few howls of laughter. Silky’s heart rate blipped in the span of a single breath. Clara imagined that the man would not accept being shown up by a girl. They may be as old as those who fought in the Great War, it doesn’t make them wise.

“Ecclesiastes 4:10,” Silky said without any modulation, instead aggression filled in that void.

Clara knew the answer:

If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.

It was a jab at having taken down Clara, leaving Julia to stand on her own. The werewolf was not so quick to respond this time. Her heart rate went sky high and she gulped loud enough for everyone to hear.

a moody, high-contrast, cinematic portrait of a young, olive-skinned woman, with dark, wavy brown hair and piercing brown gaze, donning a black, worn leather jacket, paired with a bright, fire-engine red backpack, her facial expression intense, yelling defiantly at a menacing figure clad in a tattered, dark brown hooded robe, his face obscured, set against the eerie, mist-shrouded atmosphere of a dense, primeval forest at night, with towering trees, their trunks and branches like nature's cathedrals, illuminated only by faint, diffused, silver moonlight, emphasizing dramatic shadows, textures, and the intense emotional confrontation between the two figures.

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.