Something wicked this way comes! Chapter Twenty Six of "Things that go bump in the Night" of the new Sherlock Holmes Baker Street Adventure is now posted!

Chapter Twenty Six "But on a more humorous note." Dracula interjected. "The idea of a vampire injecting anything through its fangs is ludicrous at best and ridiculous at its worst. Impossible. That's rubbish that that silly old author Bram Stoker spread about my family in order to steal my family inheritance."

Larry looked over at him. "I thought he was a kind old man."

"Sure. If you like axe muderers."

Larry grinned. "Isn't that the only way to kill a vampire?"

"Another superstition. He only does it because he likes seeing the gore. The clean and most effective way..."

Challenger raises his arms and clears his throat so loudly that Dracula stops midsentence.

"Off topic." Challenger notes.

Dracula inclines his head, showing a touch of fangs as he does. "My regrets for the intrustion."

Darling scoots over next to Dracula. "Are those real?"

She tries to touch one of the fangs and he catches her hand. "Children shouldn't play with fire."

"Miss Heaven!" Challenger roars.

She looks over at him, seeing the anger and jealousy spilling over into his face and shivers for a moment with delight, then scoots back next to him. "Sorry, dear."

Watson leans close to Mrs. Hudson. "I fear a war is coming soon."

"Nonsense, John. A little jealousy is good for a woman's soul and keeps the male wolves hungry for more."

Watson straightens up. Shocked. "

Challenger continues. "Holmes, you say the victims all had evidence of fang marks?"

Watson spoke up. "All of them. I noted that immediately, as did Doctor Jekyll after his examination as well. Sherlock was merely using our scientific backgrounds to affirm what he had already deduced."

"Which is that the victims were not murdered at all."

The room grew deathly silent a moment, then burst into loud comments all at once, as everyone tried to make sense of what he just said.

Challenger raised his arms again. The room fell quiet once more.

Lord Graystone looked uncomfortable as he opened his own mouth to speak. "I'm afraid I know what the source of the wounds are."

Everyone looked to him, even his wife.

Sherlock inclined his head as if not truly interested, but his eyes were twinkling with interest.

"It's a creature I saved from certain death but a few months back."

Watson glared at him. "That shape shifter you rescued from the Queen's Palace?"

"Exactly."

Sherlock considered this a moment, then shook his head. "No. That's not true either."

Lord Graystone gave him a surprised look. "What else could do such a thing?"

Sherlock looked to Dracula.

Dracula shifted uncomfortably in his chair a moment, sighed, then looked up. "I'm afraid he's right. There is another solution. I dread speaking it, because I thought I had vanquished its miserable soul from our lovely town a long time ago."

"What, pray tell, could be as bad as a vampire...my apologies, Dracula..." Madame Curie said.

"None needed, Madame." Dracula responded.

"What could leave the same marks, inject a fluid into the victim, not kill it, and yet leave its victim ravaged as if a werewolf had torn it apart. My apologies to you as well Mister Talbot."

"You have my uttermost respect, Madame Curie. Please continue. I'm eager to see how this plays out."

She sighed, then said. "The Count and I were working on a chemical based on a radioactive treatment that might reverse the genetic order within a vampire so that it could no longer foster further progeny of the night."

Everyone looked at Dracula. He spread his arms. "Just because I suck, doesn't mean life doesn't suck." He quipped.

Everyone laughed nervously a moment, then looked back at Madame Curie.

" We spent the better part of a decade doing the experiments."

"I volunteered for the work as you might guess, not wanting any harm done to any but myself if the process failed."

Watson looked over. "You mean there's more vampires out there?"

Sherlock smiled. "Watson, you can be so naive sometimes."

"And that's what makes him so precious." Mrs. Hudson said happily, patting his hand by her shoulder.

He rolled his eyes, but obviously loved the compliment anyway.

"Oh so many more." Dracula explained. "More than the grains of sand on our beaches."

"That's quite a few." Lady Shareen noted. "So how come we don't hear about more deaths from them?"

"How do you know you don't?" Dracula asked. "The Queen can be quite secretive when she has such a powerful force at her disposal. She might deign to overlook a few stray deaths here and there if it meant safety for her nation and its peoples."

Watson blanched. "I would never have thought such things of Queen Mary of Scots."

Dracula looked at him. "Who said I was talking about your queen?"

Watson sighed. "This is getting too complicated for me."

"Then who were you talking about, Count?" Challenger asked.

Dracula waved his hands as if dismissing the question. "No matter to you at this time. Even I have my allegiances beyond this group."

That didn't sit well with most there, especially Watson, who glared at him.

Dracula looked over at him. "Oh get over it, Watson. I'm not going to rain down terror on London with an army of vampires, even if I do have one."

Watson's jaw dropped. "You have an army of vampires?"

Challenger sighed. "Gentlemen. We again deviate from our present need. To determine our next course of action."

A scream came from outside the flat.

The Bobby who had been watching over the cars.

"Oh dear God!" Watson cried out.

Holmes and Watson were the first outside, but his body already lay on the pavement, torn apart as if ravaged by a fierce animal.

"Over there!" Challenger cried out, sporting a revolver, he fired again and again.

Something cried out in pain in the alley he had fired into. They heard a falling sound.

Dracula dashed down the steps and flew through the air into the alley.

A new scream of horror.

Lord Graystone and Larry Talbot dashed into the alley, ready for combat, but the only thing they found was a great glob of green blood and Count Dracula impaled on a wall by two tire irons through his back.