The men tried shooting the lock, but the door did not open. They then started battering the door down, but they had to charge against it from an awkward position on the stairs, and it would not yield. As they struggled to open it, Jane and the doctor went back down the stairs and searched for another way out.
'Cassandra didn't recognise me,' Jane said to the doctor as they pulled boxes away from the walls. 'She's completely under that monster's spell.'
'Take heart,' Porter said as she toppled a pile of wooden crates. 'Those under his spell will be released when we destroy him.'
If we destroy him, Jane thought. We've got to escape this basement first.
She wrenched a box away from the wall. There was a barred casement window. The window looked like it hadn't been opened for years.
'Here!' Jane cried.
Doctor Porter raced over. 'Getting through those bars might be a battle,' she said.
At that moment, there was a violent splintering of timber from above. The women raced to the bottom of the stairs just in time to see the men break down the door. There was a mighty whoosh and a great burst of red light from beyond it. The men quickly pulled the door closed again as the heat drove them down the stairs.
'The hallway's ablaze,' Eddy said. 'The whole building's alight.'
'Dare we make a dash for it?' Porter asked.
'We'd never get through. Is there another way out?'
They showed the men the window.
'We need a lever,' Max said. 'A piece of metal we can brace against the bars.'
They quickly searched for something to use.
Max gave a cry as he spotted an old fireplace poker in one of the crates. 'There!' He smashed the window, raked away the jagged glass, then wedged the poker between the bars and the stonework. 'Everyone! Push against this end!'
The four of them fought for a spot against the short length of iron. At first, there was nothing, but then there was a crack, and the frame of bars edged free of the stonework.
Max repositioned the bar. 'Again!'
Jane put all her effort into it. She could smell the acrid smoke in the air. Something crashed into the floor above them. There was another crack, and the bars moved again. For a third time, the bar was jammed into place, and they braced themselves against the end of the poker.
'Again!' Max yelled.
They threw themselves behind it—and the metal frame tore loose from the wall and came crashing onto the floor.
'Quickly!' Doctor Porter said. 'Max! You first!'
Max slipped up through the slim gap into the air beyond. He reached back down for Jane, who went next. Gasping for air, she fell onto the grass beside Max. He helped Doctor Porter and then finally Eddy. Wiping soot away from their faces, they raced away from the building.
It was fully ablaze now. All the floors were consumed by fire. Flaming pieces were being cast up into the sky as the light from the burning building scorched the surrounding grounds.
Their coach was not where they'd left it; the fire had panicked the horses, and they were now standing some distance away in a field. Whatever coach Dracula had used must have been parked elsewhere. He and his followers had obviously escaped in it.
'We're free,' Jane said.
'Perhaps,' Porter said. 'But I won't relax until I've got a pint of beer in hand and a fire at my feet.'
They headed for the Fruitful Vine. Behind them, the building burned, sending a vast, ghastly halo of light into the sky. Their figures cast long shadows across the ground. Jane thought of the poor souls in the attic. They'd fallen victim to Dracula and his hordes, and now their bodies were being consumed in flames. None would receive Christian burials.
And what about Cassandra?
Jane felt sick at the thought of it. Cassandra was utterly under Dracula's power. Jane thought of her beautiful, dear sister: her endless companion over the years, her sole confidante in all things in life. Her will had been stolen away completely, and she lay under the monster's parasitic control.
When Dracula tired of her, he would undoubtedly finish her off and leave her discarded like rubbish.
Jane clenched her hands.
I hate that man, she thought. I wish him dead.
It was not a Christian thought. The Reverend George Austen would not have approved, but nor would he have approved of a demon creature taking control of his daughter's mind.
'Watch out!' Eddy yelled.
Jane pivoted to see dark forms racing across the field; half a dozen vampires were running at full speed toward them.
'Jane! Max!' Doctor Porter cried. 'Get the coach ready!'
The doctor and Eddy started shooting as Jane and Max raced for the coach. The horses were spooked again by the gunfire in the night. They started to trot away, but then Max grabbed at their reins.
'Get on board!' he yelled to Jane.
Jane climbed into the coach—just in time to see a vampire scrambling into the opposite door. Screaming, she snapped her formidable guns into place and fired a deafening barrage at the creature. It fell back out the door, snarling as the coach started to move. Jane leapt out after it, snatched up a stake from her leg holster, and plunged it into the creature's heart.
Then she gave chase after the coach. Max was bringing the vehicle around towards the doctor and Eddy, who had both slowed down the vampires. One creature lay stationary on the ground. Another was dragging itself across the field, but others were still charging through the hail of bullets.
Jane angled herself towards the doctor and Eddy. The latter produced his crossbow and took careful aim. The stake flew and found its mark. The creature staggered, fell, and did not move. He fired a second stake. This took out another creature. He aimed a third time—and then the vampires were on him and the doctor.
Jane shot at the creatures to drive them away. One scalped a vampire, spinning it about, but did not halt its advance. Drawing her blade, Jane thrust it into the creature's neck as Eddy produced a stake and brought it up into its chest. It gave a final gasp and died.
In the meantime, the doctor had beheaded one creature and lopped the arm off another. The remaining vampires were injured, but moving more slowly.
Eddy cried out. 'There's more of them!'
Silhouetted against the burning building, another horde of creatures was racing across the lawn towards them.
'Quickly!' Max yelled.
The coach was at their backs now. Jane threw herself inside. The doctor followed her, landing untidily on the floor. They felt the coach sway as Eddy climbed on board, and then Max gave a great cracking of a whip, and the vehicle bolted away from the creatures.
Jane peered out one side of the coach at the vampires racing after them.
They're relentless, she thought. How will we ever defeat them all?
'Jane!' the doctor cried.
Spinning about, Jane was just in time to see two vampires pushing through the opposite doors. The doctor fired her guns again as Jane produced a stake. Jane drove it into the creature's heart. A spray of blood erupted from its mouth, and it fell from the door.
The doctor went into a pitched hand-to-hand battle with the other. Jane tried to get a clear shot at the vampire, but couldn't fire without risking hitting the doctor. Another vampire leapt onto the door opposite. Its hand reached in and grabbed Jane's hair. She screamed, spun about, and grabbed for one of the stakes at the same time.
By the time she had it ready, the beast had dragged her close and was angling to bite her neck. Jane slammed the stake into one of its eyes, and it shrieked in pain. Grabbing up another stake, Jane smashed it into its chest, and the vampire fell away into the night.
A yell came from the roof of the coach.
That's Max!
The doctor dispatched the vampire attacking her as Jane threw open the door. She took in the scene in a moment. Their coach was racing down a country road. Ashen moonlight illuminated the fields and valleys beyond. Several darkened shapes were racing down the road after the coach.
Eddy was urging the horses forward. At the same time, Max was standing on the seat beside him, struggling to fend off two of the creatures. Gripping the top rail of the coach, Jane hoisted herself up as the vehicle went barrelling down the road.
She fired into the back of one creature. The bullet found its mark, but when Jane tried firing again, her weapons clicked impotently.
I'm out of ammunition.
Worse still, the creature had turned and launched itself at her. She was still crouched on the roof. The beast threw itself onto her, and she struggled to fight it off as it straddled her, its bared teeth only inches from her face. Using all her might, she pushed the head back with one hand, pulled out one of the garlic bottles, and jammed it between the creature's teeth.
It gasped. Then it roared as it vomited bloody foam into the night, its arms swinging about in panic. Jane brought her knees up, flipped it over her head, and sent it flying off the back of the coach.
Max was still struggling with the other vampire. He wrestled it to the other end of the roof and tried to push it off, but without success. Jane grabbed one of its arms as Max seized the other. A kind of macabre cotillon dance ensued as they tried to wrestle it from the roof.
Max peered past Jane. 'Miss Austen!' he yelled. 'Down!'
She saw the obstacle just as he yelled the word down. Both she and Max dropped to the roof as it passed under the lethal, overhanging tree limb. The vampire crashed into the limb and was dragged off, a branch straight through its chest.
Jane breathed heavily. Then she remembered the doctor and was just about to launch herself back into the interior when the doctor's head appeared over the edge of the roof.
'All done?' she said, looking altogether too relaxed. 'Wonderful. We've taught the buggers a lesson. Now I suggest we find the nearest inn.'
'But what about Cassandra?' Jane asked.
'Planning is always easier with a pint in hand. We'll eat and drink—and then we'll work out our next move.'