The Van Helsing Conjecture – Excerpt No. 75

“I was reasonable in comparison,” Ethereal said.

The deadpan delivery normally leeched the warmth from the very air Clara breathed. In this case it came across as an attempt at humour.

Clara glanced at Ethereal and despite her translucency, there was a smirk on those lips. Doubting her eyes she looked away towards the view out the window and took another look… It’s actually real?

“I didn’t think it was possible for you to smile,” Clara said to tease.

When Silver and Sparky laughed, Ethereal scowled. Clara kept her focused on the translucent goddess, winked, and mouthed noiselessly, ‘Thank you.’

A hauntingly lit, cinematic photograph of the goddess of ghosts and necromancy, adorned in an electric blue, beaded flapper gown that shimmers with an otherworldly essence, its sequins seeming to shift and ripple like the surface of a dark, mystic lake. Her partially transparent form appears almost spectrally superimposed onto a dimly lit, eerie backdrop, evoking the feeling of a forgotten, mist-shrouded cemetery at midnight. Her pale skin has a faint, ghostly glow, and her angular, striking facial features are set in an uncomfortable, stiff smile, as if humour is a foreign concept to her. Her eyes, an unsettling shade of indigo, seem to bore into the soul, while her dark, raven-like hair cascades down her back like a waterfall of night. Every detail, from the intricate beading on her gown to the subtle, misty textures of her surroundings, is rendered in exquisite, high-contrast detail, as if captured through the lens of a vintage camera.

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.