Work Text:
There had been a funeral. Mina had been told this on quite good authority. It had apparently been a very good one, especially for the short notice. Lucy and her mother laid side by side, set against all sorts of flowers with a fine silver cross hung around Lucy’s neck.
Mina sat on a headstone in the graveyard the Wistenras kept their mausoleum, and stared at the door till she thought she might burn a hole in it with the intensity of her looking. The last time she’d seen Lucy- the last time she’d ever see Lucy- she had been fine. A touch tired from a recent recurrence of her old childhood malady of sleepwalking, maybe, but fine. Had something been wrong, even then?
None of the people who had been tending to her as her health began to fail had explained what happened. When she’d asked, they’d just looked at each other and drawn into themselves without saying anything and- and-
Mina carefully unclenched her shaking hands from her skirt, and took a deep breath. She knew these people. Knew that, whatever it was, they’d done everything they could for her friend. They would explain everything when they were ready to talk about it, and Mina could be patient. It would be alright.
It just didn’t feel real yet. Mina had a feeling it probably wouldn’t for a while. Certainly not until she found out what happened.
She sighed, and stood up. Staying around the graveyard like this certainly wasn’t going to give her any kind of closure. Besides, it was starting to get properly dark, and the wind was picking up. It would be best to be getting home quickly.
The wind brought a fog with it, which flowed through the streets of London like hot honey and made everything more than a foot away from where you stood seem strange. Mina ignored it, and traveled her route back to the house with what she hoped was a reliable memory.
She only realized that it wasn’t when somebody cleared their throat besides her pointedly. She spun around, all bright smiles. “Why hello there!”
The person besides her was a bit taller than her, willowy and garbed in loose white dress. A hat with a veil on it covered the upper half of their face. “Hellow miss,” they- she said in a light, soft voice. “Isn’t this an odd place for somewhere like you to be out at night?”
Mina pulled her jacket a bit tighter. “Why, I can’t say I’ve ever had much trouble, ms…?”
“Miss…” She cocked her head, almost seeming to be listening for something. “Lace.” She smiled. It was quite a pretty one, warm and showing a hint of teeth. Oddly familiar. “It’s lovely to hear you’ve had no trouble, Mina! But still, it never does to not be cautious. Where are you headed?”
“Home.” Mina said carefully.
“Ah yes of course, home.” Ms. Lace said. “If it’s no trouble, may I follow after you? I would hate to see you come to trouble without someone to mind you, after all.”
Mina couldn’t see the stranger’s eyes, nor most of her face, through the cloud of fabric. There was something about her that set Mina at ease, though, that she just shrugged and set off continuing towards home.
Ms. Lace kept pace with her. As they walked, Ms. Lace asked a number of questions whose answers didn’t really matter so Mina gave them freely. When they reached the house, Mina paused in explaining about how the window latch at the back leftmost door on the second floor had a loose window bolt when she realized that Ms. Lace was standing several paces back. Staring.
“Is something the matter?” Mina asked.
Ms. Lace looked down from the windows with a jolt. “Yes? What did you say?”
“Are you quite alright?” Mina asked.
“O- oh!” Ms. Lace said. “Why, of course! It’s just… nostalgic, is all.”
“Nostalgic?”
Ms. Lace shrugged. “Not a complicated thing, really. I used to live in a place much like this. Fun, really. Though I suppose I was a fairly different person at the time. Oh well, so it goes.”
“Is there anything you miss?” Mina asked. Somehow it felt like the only thing to ask.
Ms. Lace looked over at that. Her jaw went tight, and then… “Oh, oh my dear Mina.” She stepped forward, her hand stretched out.
Mina stumbled back. “W- wait.”
Lace closed the space between them in a single stride, and hugged her. Fiercely.
Mina awkwardly patted the stranger on the back, and then paused. What was she doing? Why did this stranger know her name, and why had she only thought to question this now? Something was throbbing in her chest. “Do I know you?”
Lace giggled, and there was something very familiar with that sound. “Well, dear, I really was hoping you could tell me.”
“Oh?” Mina was struck with a sudden and inexplicable suspicion. It was probably just paranoia left over from what she’d seen in her husband’s journal, but… she looked down at the fine pale linens the woman was garbed in. “Are you wearing a winding sheet?”
“Perhaps.” She squeezed a bit tighter. “Would you like to remove my veil?”
No, that sort of thing didn’t really happen. So surely she couldn’t… “And would you happen to have sharp teeth?”
“Perhaps.” The monster said. “Would you like to remove my veil?”
Mina tried to shove it away, but its grip was like iron. “I- I could scream.”
“Perhaps.” The monster said, softly, in a voice horribly familiar. “Would you like to remove my veil?”
Mina opened her mouth to refuse, and found she couldn’t.
“You have some idea of what’s under it, don’t you?” the monster said. “But would you like to be sure?”
This… whatever was happening here was plainly impossible, and surely a trick. Shaking hands came up to grip the edge of the fabric.
The monster took a deep, harsh breath. Two lights like rubies bored into Mina.
The veil lifted.