Part 13 (1/2)

My tongue loosened; by now I must have sounded as mad as one of Seward's own patients. 'But I saw - in the graveyard - I saw another one. Not Dracula. Another vampire!'

'You must have been mistaken!' Van Helsing said sharply.

G.o.dalming said nothing, but I felt the bream go out of him in a slow exhalation of dismay more vivid than words. No more. No more.

How empty the house seems without my wife and son! Like a deserted, haunted old pile. Van Helsing and I rested in the parlour as we talked, a sorry pair. G.o.dalming sat in an armchair, his head on his hands. Seward paced about in barely contained fury. He is a good man, made cynical by witnessing too much of life's ugliness. 'What have we done, that this curse should afflict us again? What proof have we that Dracula will even take Mina to Quincey? He is a liar, a cunning devil!'

'Don't talk in that way, I can't bear it,” I said. 'I must believe that at least Mina and Quincey are together, or I shall go mad. If I am not mad already!'

Mary brought us supper, concerned but accepting my request that she ask no questions, all would be explained later; though I doubt that I shall ever be able to explain to her. Then Seward told us what had occured in the churchyard. All through this, I had the creeping feeling that something was watching us, a presence walking round and round the house, staring through the windows and scratching at the gla.s.s, at once hideous and pitiful.

'We explored, looking for the tomb that matched Elena's description. The place is a maze. We found it eventually, a ramshackle sepulchre along an overgrown path; overshadowed by yew trees and the door rusting away. But as we entered we saw a tall man in black, leaning over a central tomb. It was Dracula. Our lamp sent a huge shadow against the far wall; the strangest shadow, like a kind of dull blue fire, full of sparks. We saw his face clearly; I'll never forget the expression of sneering, frustrated malevolence as he glanced up and saw us! His eyes were red as h.e.l.l-fire. We had surprised him in the act of removing his native soil from the tomb, apparently, and scooping it into a big leather bag. I saw a human skeleton heaped in one corner - so it was true, he and Elena had desecrated this tomb and usurped the rightful occupant!'

Van Helsing added, 'And the whole place stinks of the odour that we know, the odour on the shawl in Elena's closet, and that which lingers on the Count himself, that smell of earth and death. I am too late to scatter in the pieces of Holy Wafer; Dracula is on his way to another hiding-place.'

Seward continued, 'We stood off for a moment; Dracula said something along the lines of, ”You will die as you were born, Van Helsing; an interfering fool. Are you G.o.d? Then, until you see with my eyes, do not judge me! Again you think to thwart me, like sheep against a wolf, but again you are too late.” First he flung the bag past us; we dodged aside as it landed in the doorway and skidded a little on the leaf-mould there. The next we knew, the Count jumped clean over the bier and came for us. I tried to protect Van Helsing; Dracula caught me around the throat with one of his broad hands and flung me against the back wall. His palm was ice-cold. I slid down and lay winded, but I could see his face blazing with demoniac fury as he seized Van Helsing. I saw G.o.dalming thrusting a crucifix between diem. Dracula gave a roar of anger and threw aside Van Helsing, who hit his head on the corner of the tomb. Then the Count seized G.o.dalming's fist instead, and the metal crucifix that he was clutching in it began to glow red. G.o.dalming refused to let go. Dracula s.n.a.t.c.hed his hand away; the look of rage on his face was so terrible dial I thought he would kill us all. You could see him struggling to resist the power of the cross. Then Van Helsing and I picked ourselves up off the ground and we each held up our own crosses against him. At that Dracula fled, seizing the bag of earth as he went.

'We had to rest until Van Helsing had recovered enough to go on. Then we searched the graveyard for a time - close to leaping out of our skins - in the suspicion that Dracula might still be lurking there. Now it's obvious he came straight here, of course. Then we heard you shouting, Jonathan. The rest you know.'

I asked, 'Did Dracula mean to kill you?'

'I think he means to,' Van Helsing said thoughtfully, 'but not so quickly. He makes great sport with us first.'

G.o.dalming gave a faint groan. So far he had not said a word.

Seward asked, 'But what about this other vampire you mentioned, Harker?'

I explained what I thought I had seen. 'My mind was so full of imaginings. Perhaps I imagined that too. It seemed so real!' Even as I spoke, I still felt those desperate eyes upon me ... I shuddered, but could not admit to such neurosis.

We poured ourselves some brandy, and were silent a few moments. Then G.o.dalming began to stir, clenching and unclenching his hands upon his knees. I noticed a red mark on one palm, where the cross had burned him. 'It's no good,' he said suddenly, with a kind of dignified anguish that was very affecting. 'I can't go on, I can't stay. Forgive me; I never meant to let you down. It grieves me more than I can say to break my vow, to break up our brotherhood, but I must!'

Van Helsing stared at him; Seward looked angry. 'What are you saying?'

'That I cannot fight Dracula any more. It cost me too dear, losing Lucy, having to drive the stake through her heart with my own bare hands! I could never do it again. But that's what it would come to. For if I go after Dracula, make no mistake; he would come after my wife! And I cannot, will not place her and our child in such danger. I am going home to them now. I am going to take them abroad, as swiftly as possible, and out of danger.'

He was weeping now; I was close to it myself.

'Forgive me,' G.o.dalming said again, 'for putting my own family before yours, Jonathan, but I must. I am not betraying you, but protecting them.'

'Of course I forgive you. You have no cause to ask.'

I had no hesitation in releasing him from his vows. Seward and Van Helsing looked stricken, even betrayed; but after a few minutes they, too, reluctantly took G.o.dalming's hand. 'I understand,' the Professor said gruffly. 'Go then, and may G.o.d go with you.'

G.o.dalming left swiftly, and with few words; there was no more to say. After he had gone we were more disconsolate than ever.

I felt that our little band, which had once been so strong and vigorous, was now disintegrating - with age, tiredness, disillusion - while our enemy sprang renewed from the grave, ever reborn.

'You should both go to bed now,' said Seward. 'We can talk again tomorrow.'

I protested that I couldn't sleep, that I must go out in search of Mina at once, but Van Helsing said, John is right, there is nothing more we can do tonight. In this state our brains and bodies are of no use to Madam Mina. Nothing will help her better than our sleeping, and waking refreshed and alert.'

My sleep was poor, and fraught with nightmares. Nevertheless I feel refreshed, capable of setting pen to paper and even, to my surprise, in need of a good breakfast.

15 November, evening A fruitless day.

We were up early, our spirits quite vigorous; our vigour springing from necessity rather than physical strength. I could see, however, that Van Helsing was pale and having to make an effort. Over breakfast. Van Helsing, Seward and I again went through Elena's treacherous diary.

'How could she have taken us in?' I cried. To my shame, I wept - but I could not help it. To think of Mina and my son with that fiend is unbearable.

Van Helsing said, 'Elena is intelligent; she has a man's brain in that demure form. She says to herself, ”Evil, be thou my good!”

Well, she is unmasked, too late. All along she has fooled us. She came to us at Dracula's direction but how much at his direction, how much of her free will, I am not certain. Could she be again, in her heart, as sweet, good and pure as Mina, if she were only out of his power - or is she a demon from the pit of h.e.l.l?'

We talked of calling the police, but decided against it. They would not believe us, nor take us seriously; their questions might become awkward, and were more likely to hinder than help us. We must make enquiries of our own.

'It is tempting to rush into action, to expend our energy in useless ways only to satisfy ourselves that we sit not idle, but that is not the way,' said Van Helsing. 'We go slowly. First let us take stock of what we know of this monster.' The Professor began to seem his old, energetic self as he warmed to his subject. 'The vampire needs not blood to live, for he cannot die ... but without it he becomes old and torpid. Blood gives him vigour; it makes him young, as we have seen. He must have it. He steals life at the expense of his victim -but it is more than energy he needs. He craves the warmth of the living, for he is jealous of them; he hates their freedom, their devotion to G.o.d. He must have power over them, to make them serve him instead; to be his jackals, as once he said to us. So strong is Dracula's desire to live that he even cheats death; cheats it twice, that we know of. But think; what did we do wrong in dispatching him? He says that he can come back, but Lucy and the three women we dispatched cannot. Why?'

Dr Seward gave a cry. 'Professor, did you not prescribe a specific method of dispatching the vampire? A wooden stake through the heart. But we didn't kill Dracula that way, we killed him with steel! We broke our own rules.'

Van Helsing nodded. 'Yes, John. I have thought upon this. It seemed to suffice at the time - but we cannot break the rules of the Undead, any more than they can. But there is more. Dracula made Madam Mina drink some of his blood, so that he would always have power over her, and his mind would command hers. That blood in her was some part of him still warm and living. Remember what we read in Elena's diary - how she stole Madam Mina's blood to bring Dracula back to life!'

Being reminded of this was horribly distressing. I tried to hide my pain, but felt Dr Seward's hand on my shoulder. Sometimes I think Van Helsing does not realize, in his eagerness to hunt down the truth, how blunt he is being.

'But I think this is not yet enough for him. When first he became Undead, he lost some mental agility; he is in many ways a child, learning by experiment. Now with his second rebirth it is the same. He is weak - strong against ordinary mortals, but still weak by his own standards. To regain his old strength, he must drink from Madam Mina's veins. That is why he has taken her.'

This brought me to the edge of collapse. Van Helsing patted my back. 'Friend Jonathan, be not too distressed. There is good news.'

'How so?' I cried.

'When the vampire was in the form of a spirit, he entered other bodies; Elena, the cat, you, myself. He tormented us, bringing dreams, imaginings, madness, even physical harm. But think; since he regained his corporeal form, he haunts us no more! His will is now trapped within his own body. He has greater strength, but less freedom. He cannot have both! It may be, in spirit, he could have driven us all mad - but his greed to take flesh again was too strong. So, physical, we can fight him.'

'We have to find him first,' I said.

'And who knows what new lessons he may have learned?' said Seward. 'Last time he brought fifty boxes of his native earth; this time, a mere shawl-full.'

'He learns to travel light,' said Van Helsing, chuckling. 'He must go at dawn to his place of rest; but what happens to him then if he go not? For we have seen him abroad in daylight. Say he sleeps from dawn until noon, then is able to wander about until dusk, but without his unnatural power to change shape?'

'But I have seen him in the morning, too,' I pointed out.

'Yet still I say, he must lie in his native earth, once each day, for a time, however brief. . .'

'Even if he didn't - say he could not reach it for some reason -1 can't see that it would kill him,' I said.

'Not kill him . .. but cause him great distress, for that instinct of the Undead to lie in the grave is greater than ours to sleep and eat. It is sovereign. Therefore deprived of it he is lost, exposed, in a great storm of rage, of frustration . . .'

'A good deal more dangerous,' Seward said sourly.

'But more vulnerable! More apt to rash actions that may undo him.'