The Van Helsing Conjecture – Excerpt No. 55

The last time a vampire bit Clara, a failsafe kicked in. Dozens of vampires ended up dead, and Clara did not want to take any chances. I’m not sure I’d ever forgive myself…

“So in a hotel for tonight until—(I figure this out).”

Her phone rang and her head snapped towards the source. She got up and slipped the phone out of the pocket of her leather jacket. Who actually calls me?

Clara looked at the screen and recognized the number. This was the phone she left for Julia, which immediately banished the contents of her stomach to the bottom of her toes.

The last time she got a call from Julia it was a plea for help. Julia was seconds away from being captured, and Clara heard every frightening detail of that scuffle.

A surreal and vibrant cinematic photo of a highly detailed, weathered cellphone lying abandoned on a damp, moss-covered forest floor, surrounded by dense, vibrant foliage, with warm, golden light filtering through the trees. In the background, a distressed female hiker with a look of terror on her face, dark brown hair disheveled, and a few scratches on her fair skin, is being dragged away from the scene by several ominous, shadowy men in dark clothing, their faces obscured. The image is rendered in a highly realistic style with a subtle film grain texture, evoking a sense of unease and foreboding, as if the viewer has stumbled upon a crime scene.

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.