The narrator transcribes her father’s letter, which she found several years ago, confessing his love and passion for Helen. It mentions her only “blemish,” the dragon tattoo on her shoulder, which he eventually comes to love (435).

Paul and Helen return to Istanbul to find Bora and Aksoy waiting for them. Bora informs them that Mr. Erozan has been bitten again. He and Aksoy have uncovered correspondence that seems related to their search. Written by Brother Kiril, a monk from the Carpathians, it describes his travels to Istanbul; Bora explains that the sultan was tolerant of Christianity once he had conquered the city. The sultan searched for an object that was already moved out of the city into Bulgaria; the year of the correspondence is 1477, one year after Vlad Dracula’s death. The letter is addressed to the abbot at Lake Snagov. In this year, there are also accounts of a plague. Helen connects this information to the Romanian ballad.

Bora impresses upon Paul the urgency of his search; Rossi has been missing for more than two weeks. Helen will again call upon Aunt Éva to help arrange their travels to Bulgaria.