Differel."
"The devil you say." He went over to the bed to examine her.
"She gave her something to paralyze her. She's conscious but cannot move or respond in any way."
"Right. I'll have some blood drawn for a full toxin screen." The elderly doctor stood to press the call button.
"I also need you to analyze this fluid." He held up the syringe as LeClerc turned around. "We have to know what kind of drug it is. Vlad claimed it would stop her heart."
LeClerc took the syringe and held it up to the light, then stepped out of her vision. "I'll start on it tonight."
A nurse appeared in the opening. "Doctor?"
"Take blood for a tox panel, start her on oxygen, and have a crash cart standing by."
"Yes, Doctor." And she hurried off.
Differel felt as if the paralytic was wearing off. She could control her breathing and work her throat with some effort. "Ah--Ahl--Aehlffff...
He approached the bed. "Never fear, Madam, you're safe now. I will stay with you until Vlad returns." He smiled and squeezed her hand.
She couldn't manage a smile yet, but she sighed with relief and let herself sink.
The next day, her condition had much improved, except for one annoying factor:
"Why can't I walk?"
She sat in one of two chairs in LeClerc's office in the infirmary in the basement of her manor; Aelfraed sat beside her in the other, while Vlad stood behind her. She got the impression he wouldn't leave her until the current threat had been resolved.
Old Doc LeClerc had been her personal physician for as long as she could remember, as well as Chief Medical Officer for the Caerleon Order. She wasn't sure how old he was, but he was the spitting image of the kindly elderly country doctor, a bit crusty at times, but with an enormous capacity for caring.
"I'm not sure, Differe." He was the only person, other than Mandy and her father, who called her by that diminutive. Though he was the only person she would have permitted to do so. "Blood tests this morning demonstrated the paralytic has been removed from your body, and I can find no other physical cause."
"Physical?"
He nodded. "There is the possibility it might be hysterical paralysis, what we in the medical profession call conversion disorder."
"You mean it's all in my head."
"In a matter of speaking. The effect is real, the nerves simply will not fire, but it's not due to a physical cause."
"So, what can we do about it?"
"It may clear up on its own. Otherwise, we would need to discover the cause of the psychological trauma and rectify it."
"We can't wait too long, Doctor," Aelfraed said. "Though Sir Edward Penbryn will have to be informed, the Privy Council could move to put her aside if they believe she is crippled."
"I understand, but I recommend giving it a few days before we try psychotherapy."
"Agreed," she said before Aelfraed could reply.
"Very well. What have you found out about her initial paralysis and the drug the nurse tried to inject?"
"We isolated an unknown glycopeptide from the blood we took from her last night. That's a short sequence of amino acids with sugars attached to it. We've sequenced it, but there's nothing like it in the databases or the literature. The syringe contained a different glycopeptide, also unknown, but when we injected a dose of it into an experimental rabbit, its heart stopped."
"Then she was trying to kill Dame Differel."
"I would be prepared to testify to that, yes."
"So what happens now?" Differel asked. "About my condition, I mean?"
"There's nothing more I can do, medically. I am prepared to release you, on the condition that you take it easy and rest for the rest of the week. We can talk again after the weekend. I'll have a nurse check on you each evening and I've ordered daily physical therapy, but if you feel any change, for better or worse, contact me immediately. Is that understood?"
She smiled; that was some of his crustiness showing through. "Yes, Doctor."
He smiled himself. "I have a wheelchair waiting for you in reception."
Aelfraed nodded and stood up. Vlad reached down and picked her up, cradling her in his arms. He followed her butler out of the office and down a short hall into the infirmary's foyer. There an orderly stood beside the chair. He blanched and danced away as Vlad approached, and Aelfraed gestured for him to leave. The Vampire placed her in the seat and unlocked the wheels, but when Aelfraed made to take hold of the handles he confronted him.
"I will ferry her around, Manservant."
"There is no need." Aelfraed's voice was stiff; she could imagine him getting his back up.
"Shut it, both of you! I'll handle this bloody contraption myself." She gripped the handles on the wheels, and in her irritation turned them with such force that she raced forward faster than she expected. Aelfraed sprinted ahead to hold the double doors open, and she shot out into the corridor beyond, nearly running down a couple of guards talking with a pair of nurses before she could get the chair under control. Aelfraed ran to her and pulled her back as Vlad strolled through the doors in a nonchalant manner.
"Excuse us," Aelfraed said. The two couples moved into the security block. He maneuvered the chair to point her towards the service elevator.
"No, please, I need to learn how to drive this thing myself."
He hesitated, but finally nodded. "Very well, Madam."
She turned the chair and headed into the security block, but at a slower pace.
"Where are you going?"
"Eventually to the office; we need to talk. However, first I want a word with our prisoner."
She rolled through the open double armoured doors, past the offices and the lounge and the armoury, towards the rear where the holding cells were located. The three high security cells were set at the farthest back end, encased on three sides by solid earth.
"Which one is she in?"
The guard on duty indicated the center cell. "That one, Madam."
She rolled up to the armoured door as Aelfraed and Vlad waited with the guard. Inserted through it was a window of armoured glass. It was too high for her to see into the room, but she activated the intercom below it.
"Are you awake?"
After a few moments the nurse appeared and looked down at her with an expression of smoldering rage. "You can't hold me like this; it's false imprisonment. Let me go at once, or I'll sue you for every farthing you have!"
"I'm not a lawyer, but I doubt that holding a dangerous assassin to protect the safety of others constitutes false imprisonment."
"I'm not an assassin, and you can't prove otherwise."
"On the contrary, Dr. LeClerc can testify that I was injected with a paralytic drug, and that the second drug you were preparing to inject me with was lethal. That with my testimony should be enough at least to get you indicted."
"To quote your butler, do your worst." But her voice sounded less shrill, and she wore an uncertain expression.
"However, I am prepared to make a deal. If you explain who you are, who ordered or hired you to assassinate me, and why, and provide evidence to support your claims, I'll let you go. Otherwise, I am empowered under the Paranormal Security Act of 1927 to hold you incommunicado without warrant for up to ten days before I am obliged to turn you over to the Metropolitan Police."
"But I'm not a monster!"
"That makes no difference; the law applies to any force that threatens the United Kingdom, and an attack upon the Caerleon Order or its director is defined as such a threat. You should know, that the law also permits me during that time to interrogate you by any means I deem fit, short of physical coercion. That means I can have Vlad question you, as long as he does not physically harm you."
The nurse glanced up past her and flinched, and she could imagine Vlad giving her an evil grinning leer.
"I--" Her voice broke and she looked back down at her. "I'd need protection."
"The Order can protect you. Cooperate with us, and you can
stay in the manor until we've verified your story. Then we could move you to the station in London or Shrewsbury until the matter is resolved."
"How can I be sure?"
"You have my word. If your story checks out, I pledge we will keep you safe."
"How can I trust you?"
"You can't, but you have no choice. I could just release you, and then inform the Privy Council that you had cooperated after all."
She went white and threw herself at the window, panic-stricken, placing her hands against the glass. "No! They'd kill me!"
"Tell us who 'they' are, and they won't kill anyone ever again."
Shaking, she stepped back from the window. She looked like she would break down crying at any moment. "Alright, I'll tell you."
She smiled and nodded. Turning her head, she eyed the guard. "Release her, give her something to eat, then take her statement. Aelfraed."
"Yes, Madam?"
She backed the chair up and turned it around. "When security is finished with her, put her in one of the guestrooms, but under guard."
"Yes, Madam."
"Now, let's go to the office, and please summon Mr. Holt as well."
She headed out of the security block, but waited by the double doors with Vlad as Aelfraed made an announcement over the house intercom system for Holt to come to the office.
"What do you think?" She looked up at the Vampire as he stood next to her. "Do you believe she was sincere?"
"Are you asking me if I read her mind?"
She felt her heart flutter. "You can do that?!"
"I can scan surface thoughts casually, but deeper probes require that I concentrate, which means I would be distracted. It is something I prefer not to do unless there is no other choice."
"I understand."
"In this case, her thoughts did match her reaction, but a disciplined mind could simulate that."
"I see. What does your gut tell you?"
"My gut? That is a Human reaction. What does your gut tell you?"
"Hmph. I'm not sure I trust it yet, but I believe she's telling truth. Still, I think she should be watched for now."
He grinned at her. "It will be my pleasure, Master."
Aelfraed approached them. "Mr. Holt said he would meet us there shortly."
"Understood." She made her way to the service elevator with Aelfraed and Vlad in tow.
Once they were inside, Aelfraed said, "You are aware there is no Paranormal Security Act of 1927, are you not?"
She grinned. "Of course, but she doesn't know that, and it bought us some time. Meanwhile, have Doc LeClerc perform an autopsy on the bodies of Mandy and the guards immediately. Oh, and what of Mr. Mistoffelees?"
"I have taken charge of his remains. Rest assured, they will be safe until you are fully recovered."
"Good."
When the elevator reached the ground floor, she rolled out into the servants' hall and made her way through the entry hall, the gallery, and the security check room into the Administrative Wing. She turned north past the conference room and headed up the transverse hall, rounded the corner, and proceeded west into the office.
The room was dominated by a huge antique desk made from solid oak, with three high-backed padded leather chairs, two of which were placed behind and in front of the desk with the third set into a front corner against the side exterior wall beside a window. Between the two windows sat a grandfather clock with display shelves, while a bookcase with a pivoting central column of shelves had been built into the back corner formed by the two exterior walls. A display stand had been erected behind the desk between the two back windows, which bore the Union Jack and the flag of the Caerleon Order hanging from poles while the crest of the Order adorned the wall between them. Along the side interior wall stood a wall unit with display shelves and lower cabinets, in the center of which lay a niche containing a portrait of the Queen. Beside it was the door that led into an adjoining meeting room, standing next to the door she had just entered. In the front interior wall was the door to the room safe, where records were stored, and in the back of which lay the kick panel that gave access to the secret stairwell. What