Later that night

Mina was close by. Jane was sure of it. Somehow she could sense her waiting for her just beyond the horizon.

But now it was the middle of the night and it seemed unlikely that Mina would be showing up to rescue her. In fact, it seemed unlikely that anyone would be showing up to rescue her. Like it or not, she was trapped. Just trapped.

True, the weird girls had given her food and water earlier in the evening. Indeed, they had even given her three bowls in place of the usual two.

And yet Jane was still a prisoner, unable to leave the castle without the permission of the Count -- whom she never saw anymore -- or the weird girls. And all she had to wear was a collar around her neck and the rag she wore in her womanhood. True, that did not seem so bad right now. But what happened when winter came?

Jane tossed and turned and tried to go to sleep but for some reason, it seemed no use. The weird girls always came by whenever Jane fell asleep in the middle of the night and they would always find an excuse to play tricks with her till dawn. True, they hadn't come by since they've fed her but that didn't mean that they wouldn't.

Besides, the castle was just too noisy tonight. What with all the wolves howling outside and the bat wings fluttering through the air and the sounds of rats squealing in the darkness. Once she even thought she heard a rat squeal something that sounded like "Somewhere out there" but Jane was sure that that was just her hearing things -- though some of the rat squeals did sound a bit like Russian. And wait. What was it that the rats were saying now? "In America there are no cats?" What did that mean?

No, wait. All this was just her nerves playing tricks on her. And she really should ignore it. Otherwise she'll just go crazy.

After all, she was already in enough trouble without imagining things that weren't really there. Like, say, a big blue box with the words "Police" written on that. Now that had to be part of a dream, right? Why else would something like that be appearing in front of her? And making such a weird noise...

Wait. There was a big blue box in front of her. And it did have the words "Police" written on it. And it was making a weird noise. And it looked so close that Jane could almost reach out and touch --

Just then the front door of the box opened and out stepped two young girls just a few years younger than Jane. One was a skinny blonde girl who wore a black jacket and blue trousers; the second was a red-haired girl who wore a red blouse and a short black skirt. The first girl looked vaguely familiar; the second one, less so, though Jane found it odd that the redhead had thought to wear such a short skirt.

Hey, wait, who am I to talk? Jane asked herself. I'm just about naked over here. In fact, I would give anything to have a skirt like that to wear, even if it does seem embarrassingly short by modern standards.

"Hey, you," said the red-haired girl in a Scottish accent. "Where are we?"

Jane quickly realized that the red-haired girl was talking to her.

"Er, you don't know?" asked Jane.

"Of course not," said the red-haired girl. "I know where we're supposed to be but this obviously isn't it."

"Where are you headed?" asked Jane.

"Depends," said the red-haired girl. "What year is this?"

"What year?" asked Jane.

"Yes, did I stutter?" asked the red-haired girl.

"Oh, Amy," said the other girl. "Don't be like that."

"Be like what?" asked the red-haired girl.

"Be so -- Scottish!" said the blonde girl.

"Whatever you say, Yank," said the red-haired girl. "Why don't you try talking to her yourself?"

"Okay, I will," said the blonde. "Excuse me, please, but we're looking for vampires."

"Actually we're looking for aliens," said the red-haired girl.

"Hey, I got this, remember?" asked the blonde girl. "Anyway, we're looking for vampires -- and aliens. Have you seen any?"

"I don't understand," said Jane. "What's a vampire?"

"It's like a demon, only it appears in the form of a man and sucks your blood," said the blonde girl.

"A man, you say?" asked Jane.

"Yes," said the blonde girl. "Though some could be women too."

"Women?" asked Jane. "Do they tear off your clothes as well?"

The red-haired girl just blinked and shrugged while the blonde girl thought a moment and said, "Well, I suppose they could. I remember some nights with Angel when we did just th --"

"Er, too much information there, Yank," said the red-haired girl. "Just answer the girl's question so that we can get out of here."

"I thought I did," said the blonde girl. "Anyway, have you seen anything like that?"

"Why, yes, I have," said Jane. "Three of them. One was a dark-haired girl. The second was a redhead like your friend. And the third was " Jane paused for a moment as the penny finally dropped "you!"