My father accepts the bandages from the kind servant and expertly cleans the blood from my forehead and eyes. Then he clears his throat and demands in a most authoritive professional tone to see Felix Godwinson -- whoever that might be. I study the butler's behaviour as he worms his way out of a straight answer. He purses his lips and and glares at the manservant, but realises the futility of pressing this one further. Knotting his brow in frustration, he mutters something under his breath about impudent mannikins.

Now that I can see again, I prefer to ignore the machinations of this stange household. Crowded as the parlour is with more guests than intended by the architect, I am reminded of our own cozy parlour at home. A wave of homesickness washes over me that is far more compelling than any fear I may feel from the butler's mention of werewolves, ghosts and the like. Such apparitions pale against the beheading of my own mother's vampiric reincarnation, not to mention the disurbing sounds I hear nightly at the Abbey. It is hardly surprising that I no longer scream when the undead, or psychical appearances from beyond the grave, present themselves. Besides, tonight I am well equipped to face any such preternatural dangers, for I have with me my black bag full of the usual surgical equipment, as well as crosses, wooden stakes, holy wafers and vials of holy water. I also brought the sword cane my father had especially made for me, which hides inside its shaft a wooden sword for slaying vampires.

The tiny lady with the large luminous eyes turns over another card. It's the Magician, and he looks uncannily like the butler. The hairs rise on the back of my neck and a strange tingling sensation runs up and down my spine. There is obviously more going on at Drakesheath Manor than meets the eye, but what? How fortunate the lady is to be held safely in her manservant's arms. I clutch my bag and my cane and hover by my father's side, hoping against hope that the tools of my trades will be enough to protect us from whatever evil lurks in the shadows of this ill-begotten night.