As they now walked the streets of London, it seemed that the whole place was abuzz and the streets were busier than what you would usually expect from a city. And Joan and Roland, the two people who had been there themselves, could attest that London was relatively one of the calmest major cities in the world.
Sure there's always no end to the sights to see and the places to go to. But it's not as loud as when Harker went to Las Vegas, and people tend to be enjoying the more 'refined' side of luxury. They enjoyed going to neat little pubs rather than party clubs, and Harker found more old people strolling in parks or academics in turtlenecks more than any place he had been to before.
London has an air of reservation and even sometimes gloominess, and so being rowdy wasn't common unless there's an event.
And there was. Roland soon realized it as he saw all the paparazzis and cameramen following a bunch of celebrities, some unfamiliar and some quite popular.
"Right, how could I forget. It's London's Fashion Week." He grumbled covering his face.
Harker's eyes widened. "Right. The Devil herself said she would be here soon too the last time I saw her."
"The Devil is real too?" Joan blinked. "And she's a woman?"
Roland chuckled. "Oh, Harker's exaggerating. Angela is many things, but there are far worse people deserving of the title 'the Devil' than her. Not to mention the devil would have been far more good-looking, even as a woman."
"You're not worried about meeting your fiancee here, in these very streets?" Mina frowned.
He shrugged. "London is large, and we don't even know if Angela would be traveling around. She always complains about her skin being too sensitive to the sun and getting pimples from sweat. That's the kind of girl she was."
Mina shrugged. "I guess so. But everyone seemed to be making the chance to flaunt themselves over the paparazzis, and I've seen familiar faces of the models I read in magazines."
"I don't like cameras. Always made me uncomfy, those bright flashes." Joan said, putting her hands inside her pockets. "Plus I've never liked seeing my face in those photographs, haha! Paintings always make my face more presentable."
Harker snorted. "Nonsense. Painting or photo, it doesn't matter since you are Joan Seward. The 'bombshell professor' of Stoker Uni, everyone says."
"Lies, lies, lies. Never heard of that before." Joan rolled her eyes. "You're just buttering me up, Jones."
"But it's true, though—"
Harker noticed Mina's dark expression in his peripheral vision, and cleared his throat. "Anyway, let's get to the Clink as soon as possible so we'll also have time looking for the An Xin sect."
"I already sent some of my men to look into that." Roland said. "This fashion week might even be a good cover, since people would just assume that they're holding cameras to take pictures of celebrities rather than catch cult members."
Mina nodded. "I'm keeping an eye out as well while we're walking, since I'm the one who's most familiar with the members."
She clenched her fist. "I would never forget every single face of those bastards. To think they even thought about trying to convert me to them."
Harker recalled the memory of Mina and the priest with wings. He wasn't able to finish it, so he doesn't know how Mina responded. But seeing her expression and how she's still chasing after them, it's safe to say that she must have given them a pretty hard refusal.
He wondered if the priest and his meteor of a dog were still alive though. And if he could find them here…..
For what? Why would he need to find them? Harker shook these thoughts off his head.
He should focus on one task at a time, and the most important thing would be Victoria. The congregation was Mina's bone to pick, and he was merely invested in An Xin because of a silly dream.
Speaking of Victoria, Harker and Joan had talked about her during the ride in the jet plane.
"Are you alright? You seemed a little….. out of it." Harker sat beside her. "Look, about last night—"
Joan waved her hand, taking off her earplugs.
"I've gotten over it. It's fine. I pushed you away, you looked for her. Things must have developed after, and who am I to be mad when they do? Both of you are young and full of bloody hormones— at least, physically. Dunno how old she was, but it's clear she has the mind of a regular young adult."
She sighed, looking out the window. "My mind is more occupied by what my sister might be up to than what you kids doing hanky-panky."
"She must be performing even more experiments in the Clink." Harker guessed. "Roland said how perfect the underground cells of the place would be for doing that. There's a lot of hidden areas and passageways that haven't even been explored yet, some buried from erosion but could eventually be excavated and turned into a good laboratory."
"I have no doubts about that. I just wonder what's on her mind." Joan said. "Victoria had never been one to open up to me. I tried. God knows I tried— But it's hard when your parents constantly pit you against each other for a sick research on nature vs. nurture."
She gritted her teeth. "My father was making this thesis, you see. Would the daughter of two geniuses be more successful and smarter than the daughter of two Irish immigrants, none of whom had finished 6 years in school? Or would the pressure of proving herself make her the 'better child'?"
Harker grimaced. "That's sick."
"It was." Joan's eyes were glossy over the memory of it. "Two unsuspecting children were placed in an arena like gladiators without being aware of it. And my father's not the only one. Of course I know that not all of them are the same but….. Some men like my father loved pitting excellent women against each other all the time. Whether it's for our careers or….. well, being their preferred mate."
Harker looked away, hoping that it didn't come across to her that what happened last night was like that. Him trying to pit them against each other as his 'preferred mate'.
But Joan seemed to have read his mind, when she turned to him and said.
"I know you're not like that. Don't worry. If you are, you won't just be facing my wrath." She chuckled. "I have full belief and support in blondie over there. She'll rip you to shreds and I'll just be left to stomp on your remains once or twice."
Harker rolled his eyes. "Thanks. I guess that goes to show how much I am loved here, being threatened to be ripped to shreds and stomped at your feet."
"Hahaha!"
Joan's laugh was truly beautiful, as he could only ever hear it once in a blue moon. Hell, it's even rarer than a blue moon, which in scientific terms was just an extra full moon within a year, a 13th one. It's as rare as a Super Blue Blood Moon, a total lunar eclipse happening in the 13th full moon and when the moon was in its closest approach to the Earth's orbit.
Which will be happening a few days from now, and what Mina speculated to be the date of the congregation.
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