The lack of street noise was so profound that for the first time I could hear the distant cathedral bells faintly ringing the hours. That sound was reassuring during the day, but at night they only rang once, at midnight. Otherwise there was the howling wind, and a spectacular series of nightmares that kept waking me up during those interminable hours of darkness. I couldn’t help remembering what Danilov had said about vampires and nightmares. I tried not to imagine fanged blood-suckers prowling around the inn. There were enough weird things going on without my imagination creating more. How could anything, even a vampire, even see out there? I kept thinking as I walked from window to window, hoping for any sign of a letup so I could slip out and try to find Alec. At least there was Tania to mull some of the mysteries with. We met downstairs late on New Year’s Day. The last of the fresh vegetables had been consumed, so hearty stews and meat pies were now the main dishes. As Tania and I sat over our pepper stew, we could hear Madam Waleska’s irritable voice fog-horning from the kitchen as she scolded generally everyone.
