Chapter Twenty

Dear Doctor Van Helsing,

I am unsure if you remember me or not. Even though I am told we blood-letters are able to procure memories in our mind's eye, I'm afraid the longer I live, the less space I have inside my brain for everything and everyone I encounter, and perhaps the same is true for you.

But let me reintroduce myself. My name is Eros Fausta. I worked with you at the monastery, San Juan de la Pena. I helped teach many of the reformed disciples how to read and write, and I know you had formed a deep friendship with one of them, the witch Armand Alcaraz, whom you renamed Aragon. I wasn't with the monastery for long—my calling pulled me away elsewhere—but when I had returned much later, it was said that you and Aragon had left for a settlement at the bottom of the world.

I, too, ended up this way, for different reasons, on a ship that went through the Strait of Magellan. It was here, from the bow, that I glimpsed who I believed to be Father Aragon. Or rather, it had been the priest. He was half-monster, with a broken wing, standing on the shore and watching the ship pass. I could smell him, and I remembered his scent, which is what made me recognize him, for there were no real signs that it was the man I remembered.

I am in India at the moment, and I am unsure whether you are back at the monastery or if you perhaps were with Aragon down below. I don't know if you are alive, but I have a feeling you are. In the event that this is news to you, I wanted to let you know what I saw. There is a chance I was wrong—I was the only one who saw the monster—but I don't think I am. I wish I was. There seemed to be something wrapped around the creature's wrist—a rosary, perhaps.

Coincidentally or not, when we passed the settlement of Nombre de Jesus, there was nothing left of it. It had been burnt to a crisp, with only a few gravestones standing. A chilling sight, to say the least, and I've seen a lot.

I'm sorry if I am bearing bad news. I am even sorrier if Doctor Van Helsing is no more. I hope whoever receives this letter finds it to be helpful in some way.

Your old friend,

Eros Fausta