Part 11 (1/2)

Dracula looked at her. I could have slain him for that look! 'Five. Sit down, then. Let us all sit down.'

'We prefer to stand,' said G.o.dalming.

'As befits a hero,' said the Count. 'As you wish. You are good hosts and I have not forgotten how to be a gracious guest.

Although I have had little practice of late, my memory is long.' Then he inclined his head to each of us in turn in a courteous greeting - or the mockery of one. 'Doctor Van Helsing .. . Mr and Mrs Harker .. . Dr Seward .. . Lord G.o.dalming.'

The Count's gaze met Mina's again; she stared back at him in such wide-eyed horror that my heart broke to see it. Fearing he was exerting some vile influence on her, I drew her head down on to my shoulder. The Count gave a soft laugh at this, as if my gesture was expected, but futile. I raged silently at him. I wondered if the poker might make a weapon with which to strike him through the heart, but I was powerless - whether through his influence or my own weakness, I couldn't say.

It was as if we were all paralysed, bound in our impotent circle by the chill blackness of his will. Mina, despite her terror, was perfectly composed; her spirit seems unbreakable. Van Helsing had a forceful but controlled pa.s.sion about him. But the Count was wholly in command of the situation. 'I have not come to harm you - although I have every cause to desire vengeance.'

Then why - what do you want of us?' Van Helsing said gruffly.

'I simply wish you to know dial you have not destroyed me. That you cannot. My l.u.s.t for life is greater than ever your desire to extinguish it could be.'

'No,' I answered, unable to contain my rage. 'It is more likely that you are so evil, even h.e.l.l itself rejected you!'

The Count laughed to himself, as if at some private joke. His mirth aroused my hopeless anger all the more.

Van Helsing asked, 'How did you cheat death? What did we do wrong?'

Another laugh. 'That is a puzzle to exercise your great mind, is it not?' The Count turned back to the desk and picked up the bundle of papers, brandis.h.i.+ng it contemptuously. 'Is me answer in here, in this collection of rambling nonsense?'

'Put dial down!' Mina cried. 'It is not for your eyes!'

Dracula appeared to mock her courage; he could never appreciate the value of such qualities in anyone. 'There is nothing,' he said, addressing her in a low, ambiguous tone that repelled me, 'that is not for my eyes.' Mina looked away from him, blus.h.i.+ng.

How violently I hated him! I stirred, but felt Van Helsing's hand on my shoulder.

The Count went on, 'You have seen that I can enter your minds - yours, Mr Harker, even yours, Professor, though you fought me manfully. Even that of your little cat. Who then is safe from me? Your son?'

Mina went white. She leapt up, but Seward held her back.

'You have no defence against me,' said Dracula, 'for you do not know when or how I may next strike. You cannot escape my revenge. All your lives, I will be there.'

Van Helsing broke in pa.s.sionately, 'Have we not suffered enough at your hands? We did nothing but good to you! We tried to bring peace to your restless soul, an end to your accursed existence. Surely you cannot wish such to continue? Even the Devil, they say, will repent and be redeemed at the end of time!'

'You term it ”good” that you destroyed those I love?' The Count's sharp tone deepened my fear.

'The three hateful fiends in the castle?'

'Hateful to you,' Dracula said softly, a baleful gleam in his eyes, 'but not to me. Who are you to judge what is hateful? You know nothing of love.'

'That is not so. You are the one who put aside love, put aside the grace of Heaven, the day you chose to become Undead.'

The Count's expression became fierce; his red lips lifted over the dreadful teeth, his nostrils flared. 'Do you love life, Van Helsing?'

'Of course. It is G.o.d's creation.'

'You grow old, Professor. You grow weary of life and wish fondly for death. You will never know what it is to love life as I do - to love it so pa.s.sionately that you are prepared even to cheat death. To love it so deeply, indeed, that you cannot die - or cannot remain dead! What can you know of such pa.s.sion? How then dare you judge me? Those three were not fiends to me. They cannot come back as I have. In my destruction you broke your own rules. Meditate upon your mistakes; you have time. Months, or weeks, or a lifetime of looking over your shoulder, watching and waiting for me to come again.' He shook the sheaf of papers. 'And I shall find much amus.e.m.e.nt in discovering what it is that you think you know of me.'

At that - taking all of us by surprise - G.o.dalming seized the poker on which I had cast my own eye, and lunged at Dracula. The Count seized the shaft before it came within a foot of his body. G.o.dalming cried out and released the handle; the poker fell, and singed the carpet, though it had been in its stand and not in the fire. At the same instant, Dracula threw our typescript into the air, and vanished. The pages scattered into a snowstorm. As they settled, we saw a layer of mist flowing out between the window and its frame.

G.o.dalming was cradling the hand in which he had wielded the poker. Mina and I went to him; the moment Dracula disappeared, the nightmarish chill left the air and we could move freely again. 'Foolish, foolish,' Van Helsing murmured. 'You should not have let your pa.s.sions get the better of you.'

'D'you think I don't know it?' G.o.dalming grated.

'Were you burned?' Mina asked anxiously.

'The poker was cold when I seized it. But as he touched it, the handle turned red-hot! It is nothing, a slight burn.'

'I can't believe this is happening!' Mina exclaimed. 'Hurry, I must see that Quincey is unharmed. If ever Dracula harms him-'

We rushed into the hall and up the stairs. 'At least the enemy has shown himself!' I said as we went. 'Now we have a solid enemy to fight, instead of phantasms. It proves we are not mad!'

'But how did he get in?' said Van Helsing, hoa.r.s.e and agitated.

'What?' I said. 'I don't know.'

'For he cannot enter a dwelling unless he is invited in by one of the inhabitants! So who? Who invited him to enter?'

Chapter Ten.

JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL (Continued)

Mina was now so pale I feared for her, but she hushed us as we entered Quincey's room. We found the boy sleeping peacefully; nothing had been disturbed in the room, the windows were firmly shut and there was no sign of any injury upon him. He barely stirred as we examined him, keeping our voices low so that he should not be disturbed. He looked so innocent, with his fair hair dishevelled on the pillow, his round angelic face abandoned to sleep. The thought of any harm coming to him causes us unspeakable anguis.h.!.+

As we left, Elena came out of her room, which is next to Quincey's. She was yawning, her hair loose, her face pale but for a rosy flush in her cheeks. 'What is wrong?' she asked.What could we tell her? Nothing!

Mina guided her back to her room, saying, 'We thought we heard Quincey crying. It must have been the wind. The weather is so wild tonight, I was worried it might have disturbed him.'

The other men and I returned to the parlour. Van Helsing sat down and closed his eyes; I have never seen him look so weary.

Soon Mina returned and said she had given Elena a cross and asked her to wear it at all times. 'She was puzzled and a little frightened. I told her I would explain, soon enough,' Mina sighed. 'We must tell her something!'

Van Helsing opened his eyes. I thought he had been resting - but of course, his mind was at work. 'We must tell her the truth,'

he said.

'I dreamed of the Count last night,' said Mina. 'He appeared in my room and told me that I must give him my blood of my own free will! Oh G.o.d, now I fear it was not a dream!'

Van Helsing was by her side in a moment, looking carefully at her throat. 'There are no marks upon you. You have no memory of him attacking you? No weakness?'