The Van Helsing Conjecture – Excerpt No. 313

Julia was dipping her bread in the broth before realising that Clara was abstaining.

Ever the shit disturber, Clara decided to follow Julia’s lead. While messy, it was a tasty way to enjoy dry bread without butter.

Clara came to realise that this generation of hunters differed from her own. In the early twentieth century, hunters were trained to be independent thinkers capable of taking action on their own. Whereas this group appeared to reward conformity. You can’t hunt effectively as an army.

There were times when Clara would have loved having an army at her back. Admittedly she imagined herself leading these troops out of here, which cemented her opinion of them.

In the far corner on a distant table, Clara noticed that Agnes and a small group of girls were also bucking the trend. I’m really starting to like her.

a warm, cinematic photograph of a young, dark-haired woman with a gentle, introspective expression, wearing a pair of fitted, light-faded blue jeans and a soft, cream-colored blouse, dipping a crusty piece of bread into a steaming bowl of broth as she sits at a long, wooden table in a grand, high-ceilinged meal hall with rustic, red-brick walls adorned with ornate, centuries-old tapestries, surrounded by a gathering of nuns and monks in humble, earth-toned habits, their faces aglow with soft, warm candlelight, the atmosphere tranquil and contemplative, the camera's focus soft and shallow, with a shallow depth of field, drawing attention to the woman's serene, bread-dipping gesture.

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.