[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

to live. Perhaps at twelve, or ten, or seven . . .'
By now tears were running uncontrollably down my face. His words undid me utterly.
I managed to hold myself upright in my chair but I was racked by sobs.
'He need not die, Mina. I can give him immortality.'
'Make him-'
'Immortal, yes.'
'Undead!' I cried in horror.
'Whatever term you care to use, the point is this; what mother would not desire her son
to live for ever? Or to outlive her, at the least. Mina, I have not touched a hair on his
head; do you not trust me with him? I could almost love him like my own. Three kisses,
so gentle he would not even feel them in his sweet sleep. Of themselves they would not
kill him; I can be as delicate as I am brutal. But when his time comes - ah, then you need
not mourn his death. For you know he will rise again, and come back to you, and be with
you for ever. Your angelic, loving son.'
My brain is on fire. I cannot rest or sleep for the endless grinding of my thoughts.
When Dracula left me, it was without touching me physically; he took no more blood
from me, nor did he force me to drink his. But with his words about Quincey, he did
something far worse.
I will not sell my soul for my own immortality. But for my son's -!
Oh dear, dear God, what have I done to be so tormented, so cursed?
16 November
Thank heaven for shorthand - I write at speed, and in inexpressible distress.
After Dracula had gone, and I had finished my diary, I lay down beside Quincey and
stroked his golden hair. He stirred in his sleep; I promised him that we will soon go
home. He murmured, 'But this is home, Mama. Elena says so.'
Now I curse the day I ever befriended her!
I fell asleep, and slept very deeply, almost as if I had been drugged - indeed, I am now
almost certain that I was.
When I woke, it was well into morning, and Quincey had gone.
I ran down to his room; there was no sign of him or Elena, and the fire was dead in the
grate, as if there had been no one there for hours. The door from the keep to the house
was locked as always. I was frantic for a few hours, though I endeavoured to be as calm
as I possibly could. I knew where the Count must be - unless he also had deserted me.
But at midday- a very foggy, grey day, with leaves dropping like brown rain from the
trees - I heard the locks and bolts being drawn back. I ran down the stairs and was met
half-way by Dracula. He looked so grim and angry that he quite unnerved me.
I told him I could not find Elena and Quincey. 'I heard nothing, my son was gone from
my side when I woke!'
'They have left Carfax,' he said simply.
'Why?'
He took my wrist and led me back to my room. 'Elena has taken Quincey away,
against my wishes,' he said, low and furious. 'She has defied me.'
I could not understand, and said as much. Dracula seemed as outraged as I was
distressed. He answered, 'Yesterday she begged me to make her Undead. Her impatience
angered me, and I refused. She is jealous of you, beloved. This is her revenge against us
both.'
And it is worse than Dracula himself taking my son - for at least he has some
authority, some integrity; he may be a devil, but he is at least a familiar one! Elena - who
knows what is going on in her tormented mind? I put my hands upon his chest and
implored him to help me find her.
'Of course,' he said. He was calm again, and so tender I was comforted. 'Mina,
whatever else I may be, in this you can trust me. We will find her together. She went on
foot; she cannot have gone far. Make ready to leave.'
As he went to the doorway, a thought occurred to me. 'But how did she get past the
dogs?' The Count did not answer; he began to turn away but I became more insistent.
'Surely I would have heard a commotion, at least? They would not have let her pass in
silence.'
'But I trained them to treat her as a friend,' he replied. 'That was my misjudgement.'
'What if Van Helsing and the others are watching the abbey? They might have seen
her leave. They may see us leave, and follow.'
'The worse for them if they do,' he said harshly. 'But these are my concerns, not yours.
Your presence will ensure that your foolish hero-husband and his accomplices keep their
distance.'
I am still being used as hostage, I know, but my only care is to find Quincey. I can but
pray that if Jonathan and the others follow us, they do nothing to endanger Quincey's life.
'And if Elena has taken a carriage, or a train? How are we to find her?'
Dracula answered, 'She cannot escape me, for my blood is in her, and wherever she
goes, her brain cannot help but call to mine.'
JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL
16 November, evening
I don't know if we have been heroes or lunatics today.
Seward has had a couple of men watching Carfax Abbey; they tell us there's been no
activity, no coming or going, but whether they have been idle or unobservant, I do not
know. Whatever the case, Dracula has outwitted us.
We made a second assault on Carfax this afternoon, armed with meat, clubs and a rifle
against the dogs. As before the dogs attacked us, but this time we were ready; the meat
provided only a temporary distraction, and Seward shot two dead before we gained the
crypt door.
We knew the sound of gunfire - even muffled by the mist and thick stone walls of the
abbey - must have been heard inside. Our hope was that, as it was afternoon, Dracula
would still be at his rest. Yet as we entered the crypt, the house had an eerily dead feeling
 as if nothing were left there to hear us.
The crypt was as dark and odiferous as I recalled, the walls furry with grime. Now we
had time to look around, I saw that the earth boxes, which he brought seven years ago
from Castle Dracula, were still there, apparently undisturbed since we had last seen them
there. I wondered, but did not voice the question (for it seemed sacrilegious), if the effect
of the Holy Wafer were permanent, or if it faded as the Wafer dissolved into the soil?
Whatever the case, Dracula seemed not to be using them.
The first tomb we opened was the one into which Dracula had forced Mina. It was
empty.
We slowly explored the niches, pushing back lids and looking into tombs, finding only
ancient skeletons. I remained terrified that we would find Mina in one. Or even Quincey,
or Elena. So terrified that I was near to hysteria.
We did not find Mina, but suddenly Van Helsing let out a heart-rending shout. Seward
and I rushed to him, and found him staring down at a male corpse, which lay wide-eyed
in an open coffin on a dais. It was Kovacs. His skin was ruddy, the lips positively swollen
with blood and indented by the tips of two sharp canine teeth. On whom had he fed his
unholy appetite?
'Oh, mijn God, Andre!' Van Helsing cried. He beat his forehead with his fists; he
sobbed in such a paroxysm of grief that Seward and I were powerless to help him. When
he began to master himself, he said, 'It did not sink in until this moment, that this terrible
thing has happened to my dear friend! When we spoke to him, it was possible to believe
he was still human. But to see him like this - oh, God Almighty, what justice is it that so
good a man should come to this?'
Then the corpse blinked. My heart beat violently, despite all the horrors I have seen - [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]