The following day, Professor Seward knocked on everyone's door while banging up a pot.

"Rise and shine, sleepyheads! We have a mountain to hike today!!! Hurry up, the Blue Ridge won't climb itself!!!"

Harker groaned. What the fuck was her deal now?

He slowly opened his door, eyes still half-closed. "What is this, Prof? I thought you're not going...."

"Changed my mind again. You know how hormonal women in my age can get sometimes. It's nothing." She giggled like a teenage girl and smacked his shoulder. "I made some corn soup! I remembered you sayin' it was your favorite from the class introduction, right?"

Seriously, what is up with her today—

"By the way, Hark." She grinned. "I have a question. Hope it doesn't offend you in any way."

Harker yawned and grumbled at the same time. "Shoot."

"Do you perchance swing both ways?"

This woke up Harker completely. "Huh? Swing what ways?"

"You know. Goes for guys, goes for girls. Bisexual. Like Frankie Mercurie." She grinned, whispering to him. "Coz you know... If you are and your boyfriend don't mind, I'm always down for a menage a trois—"

Harker just pushed her face away. "You're fucking high again, aren't you? And even if I was bisexual and willing for that kind of arrangement, it wouldn't be with you. You ain't my type, with all due respect."

"Oh really now?" Professor Seward gives an almost knowing smile. "If you say so..."

She went down the stairs, swaying her hips as she walked. "Well then, you should call the others or this soup will get cold. It's a long 6-hour drive from here to Blue Ridge, you know? And we're probably all so... exhausted yesterday."

Harker had a bad feeling about the way she's acting. But then again, they really need to get to West Virginia soon to check if the GPS signal would really pick up there.

As they were now on the road, Harker went to give Roland a call. He borrowed one of those Nogia Communicators from Alejandro.

"Hey, Roly-poly. Just checking in." Harker said.

It sounded pretty noisy on Roland's end. "Hey, Hark. I don't have much time since the trial will start soon. But how are you guys? I was told you were headed to Blue Ridge with Victoria's sister."

Harker turned to Professor Seward who was far back on the limousine.

She was drinking Kahlua so early in the morning, wearing a big giddy smile on her face. When her eyes met with Harker she just gave a wink. Harker made a disgusted face, and spoke Roland's name loudly.

"OH, ROLAND. IT'S SO NICE TALKING TO YOU AGAIN. I MISSED YOU SO MUCH!"

He waited to see her reaction and she just continued writing something on her notepad. She then went to show it to Harker.

[ Tell him: Me + You + Him= Good time ]

Harker's eye twitched and he gave her the middle finger. He mouthed: 'Go fuck yourself, Prof.'

Roland sounded confused on the other side. "Huh? Are you okay, Hark? You're shouting."

"Oh, yeah. I'm all good, I just thought you couldn't hear me over the sound of the waterfalls here."

"Waterfalls?" Roland looked confused.

"Yeah, coming from a very pinkish and old mountain. Someone's gettin' real wet around here. Anyway, how about the fam? Are they doing well?"

"Yes, Mr. Jones gave me a call once they got to Louisiana to spend the summer there. Chloe was saying you better not get killed dealing with Sasquatch or the Mothman in the Appalachians."

Harker laughed. "Hah! Those are probably not real monsters.... probably. And even if they are, they're not really a problem. They're not unkillable like zombies."

"I don't really think there's a real immortal being." Roland said. "Everything meets their end eventually. Maybe even gods if they exist. Death comes for us all."

Harker frowned, remembering the source of his strength again lately at the reminder of death. ".... Have you heard anything from Mina?"

"Well, she asked me for more samples of my blood to be delivered in Portland. So she's still alive, and possibly going after places that were reportedly having paranormal activity in Oregon since she went to the Bagdad Theater. My bets are that her next stop is in Salem."

"Ah, yes. Witches." Harker sighed. "I don't like the sound of that. They might put a hex on her."

"Um, that's a different Salem, Hark. That's the historical town of Salem in Massachusetts." Roland corrected. "Also, those witch trials were mostly a hoax that killed innocent civilians due to mass hysteria and lies of the court."

"Oh. That's good then, I guess." Harker said.

Roland chuckled. "If she's dealing with ghosts, she'll be much safer than you are in the mountains. So please be careful."

"Roger that."

"Good. I have to get going, the judge's here."

"Yeah. Good luck—-"historical

But he was cut off before he even finished, as it seemed that signal had been lost.

"We're at the foot now, Sir." Alejandro pointed out.

They really were reaching the piedmont of one of the peaks in Blue Ridge. Harker suddenly frowned.

"Why is it still snowing? It's almost summer already." Harker thought.

Professor Seward suddenly popped out from behind him like a random mushroom puffing out. "That's strange too. It is always pretty cold in Blue Ridge all year round, but it's not like the mountains in Maine where it can snow all year."

"Guess we could only ask the locals what's going on."

They went to wear their thick fur coats, though they still felt a little underdressed for this unexpected wintery weather. It wasn't too thick, but there were still snowcaps far up. The temperature was still at 54 degrees Fahrenheit or 12 degrees Celsius.

Harker sank his trekking pole and the snow was as thick as about 4 inches or so. "This makes no sense."

"Hey, look, Sir! The GPS is reading something!" Alejandro showed the device that was customized to reverse track the one Victoria used to track the chips she implanted on the zombies.

"This really must be the place, then. Be alert." Harker said seriously.

"Be alert for what?" Professor Seward asked, wearing a beanie as well.

Harker did not look at her at all, focused on the signals. "It's a secret. Unless there's something you wanted to tell us."

Professor Seward laughed ironically. "Oh, I see what's going on here. You like keeping your secrets while you peep into someone else's."

Harker's eyes widened, and it finally hit him. "You were watching me last night, weren't you?"

"Was I the only one?" Professor Seward gave a wry smirk. "Eye for an eye, as you said."

Harker did feel a little guilty at this. "Since when did you know?"

"Since you went to my room and moved my things. So I tested you, reading our past encounters." She smiled. "I gave you quite a show, didn't I?"

So this was it. The truth was finally out in the open, here in the cold and freezing mountains.

Harker gritted his teeth and gestured at the guards. They did not hesitate and took their guns out in synchronized fashion, aimed at this woman.

"What are you, Prof? You're not supposed to be in this world."

Professor Seward was not fazed at all by the guns. She just continued smirking while shaking her head.

"I should be the one asking you that, Jones. What are you? Because I don't seem to be the only one that's not supposed to be in this world."

She went closer to Harker...

And she took advantage of their confusion to stab him with a knife she'd been keeping this whole time!

The wound on his stomach had quickly closed up, and only three drops of blood fell to the snow.

The bodyguards quickly fired shots at her right after the stab. But though she was severely injured and not healing up, Professor Seward remained standing there.

She reached out with her hands stained with black, viscous blood. With those hands, she caressed Harker's face with the void within her eyes seeming to show a glimmer of light within the darkness.

"I'm just a ghost. A ghost that had waited so long for you...."

She collapsed but wore a smile.

"Edmund."