Брэм Стокер
Дракула / Dracula

“Then write now, my young friend,” he said, “write to our friend and to any other; and say that you will stay with me for a month.”

“Do you wish me to stay so long?” I asked, for my heart grew cold at the thought.

“I desire it much; nay, I will take no refusal. When your master, employer, sent someone here, it was understood that my needs only were to be consulted.^[45] Is it not so?”

What could I do? It was Mr. Hawkins’s interest, not mine, and I had to think of him, not myself; and besides, I was a prisoner, I had no choice.

“I pray you, my good young friend, that you will discuss only business in your letters. Your friends will be happy to know that you are well. Is it not so?”

As he spoke he handed me three sheets of paper and three envelopes. So I decided to write only formal notes now, but to write fully to Mr. Hawkins in secret, and also to Mina, for to her I could write in shorthand.^[46] When I had written my two letters I sat quiet, reading a book. The Count took my two letters and left, the door closed behind him.

Soon the Count entered the room. He took up the letters on the table and stamped them carefully, and then said, “I hope you will forgive me, but I have much work to do this evening. You will, I hope, find all things as you wish.”

At the door he turned, and after a moment’s pause said, “Let me advise you, my dear young friend – let me warn you with all seriousness. If you leave these rooms don’t go to sleep in any other part of the castle. It is old, and has many memories, and there are bad dreams for those who sleep unwisely. Be careful! In your own chamber your rest will then be safe. But if you be not careful in this respect, then…”

Same day, later. – I will not fear to sleep in any place where he is not. I have placed the cross over the head of my bed – I imagine that my rest is thus freer from dreams.

When he left me I went to my room. After a little while,^[47] I came out and went up the stone stair. There I could look out towards the South. There was some sense of freedom. I felt that I was indeed in prison, and I wanted a breath of fresh air. This nocturnal existence is destroying my nerve. As I leaned from the window my eye noticed something moving a storey below me. There were the windows of the Count’s own room. I drew back, and looked carefully out.

The Count’s head was coming out from the window. I did not see the face, but I knew the man by the neck and the movement of his back and arms. The Count slowly emerged from the window and began to crawl down the castle wall over the dreadful abyss. His cloak was spreading out around him like great wings. At first I could not believe my eyes. I thought it was some trick of the moonlight, some weird effect of shadow. But I kept looking,^[48] and it could be no delusion. His fingers and toes grasped the corners of the stones, he was crawling just as a lizard.

What is he? I feel the dread of this horrible place; I am in fear – in awful fear – and there is no escape for me.

15 May. – The Count went out in his lizard fashion^[49] again. He moved downwards and vanished into some hole or window. When his head had disappeared, I decided to use the opportunity to explore the castle. I knew he had left the castle now. I went back to the room and took a lamp. Then I tried all the doors. They were all locked, as I had expected, and the locks were comparatively new. I went down the stone stairs to the hall where I had entered originally.

I went on to make a thorough examination of the various stairs and passages, and to try the doors that opened from them. One or two small rooms near the hall were open, but there was nothing to see in them except old furniture, dusty and moth-eaten.^[50] At last, however, I found one door at the top of the stairway. I tried it and found that it was not really locked. So I entered.

The castle was built on the corner of a great rock, and great windows were placed here. This was evidently the portion of the castle occupied by the ladies in the past.

16 May, morning. – When I had written in my diary and had put the book and the pen in my pocket I felt sleepy. The Count’s warning came into my mind, but it was a pleasure to disobey it.

I determined not to return tonight to my rooms, but to sleep here. I drew a great couch out of its place near the corner. I suppose I fell asleep; I hope so, but I fear I cannot in the least believe that it was all sleep.

I was not alone. The room was the same, unchanged since I came into it. In the moonlight opposite me were three young ladies. Though the moonlight was behind them, they threw no shadow on the floor. They came close to me, and looked at me for some time, and then whispered together. Two were dark, and had high aquiline noses, like the Count, and great dark, piercing eyes. The other was fair, with wavy golden hair and eyes like pale sapphires. All three had brilliant white teeth that shone like pearls. They whispered together, and then they all three laughed – such a silvery, musical laugh. The fair girl shook her head, and the other two urged her on.^[51] One said, “Go on! You are first, and we shall follow. Just begin!”

The other added, “He is young and strong; there are kisses for us all.^[52]” I lay quiet, looking out under my eyelashes. The fair girl bent over me till I could feel the movement of her breath upon me. I was afraid to raise my eyelids, but looked out and saw perfectly under the lashes. The girl went on her knees, and bent over me, simply gloating. Scarlet lips, the red tongue, white sharp teeth. Lower and lower went her head as the lips went below my mouth and chin and was ready to fasten on my throat. Her tongue licked her teeth and lips, and I could feel the hot breath on my neck. I felt the soft touch of the lips on the skin of my throat, and two sharp teeth touched and paused there. I closed my eyes and waited.

But at that moment, another sensation came to me. The Count arrived, in a storm of fury. My eyes opened; he grasped the slender neck of the fair woman and with giant’s power drew it back.^[53] The blue eyes transformed with fury, the white teeth champed with rage. But the Count! The red light in his eyes was lurid, his face was deathly pale. He said, “How dare you touch him?!^[54] How dare you cast eyes on him?! Back, I tell you all! This man belongs to me!”

The fair girl tried to answer, “You never loved; you never love!”

The Count turned, and said in a soft whisper, “Yes, I too can love; you can tell it from the past. Is it not so? Well, now I promise you that when I finish with him you will kiss him. Now go! Go! I must awaken him.”

“We have nothing tonight?” said one of them, with a low laugh. She pointed to the bag which he had thrown upon the floor. For answer he nodded his head. One of the women jumped forward and opened it. If my ears did not deceive me there was a gasp and a low wail, as of a child. The women disappeared with the dreadful bag. There was no door near them, they simply faded into the rays of the moonlight and passed out through the window.

Then the horror overcame me, and I sank down unconscious.^[55]

I awoke in my own bed. I think the Count carried me here. This room is now a sanctuary, for nothing can be more dreadful than those awful women, who were – who are – waiting to suck my blood.

18 May. – I went down to look at that room again in daylight, for I must know the truth. When I got to the doorway at the top of the stairs, it was closed. The door is fastened from the inside. I fear it was no dream.

19 May. – I am surely in the toils.^[56] Last night the Count asked me to write three letters, one saying that my work here was nearly done, and that I should start for home within a few days, another that I was starting on the next morning, and the third that I had left the castle and arrived at Bistritz. It is madness to quarrel openly with the Count while I am so absolutely in his power. To refuse is to excite his suspicion and to arouse his anger. He knows that I know too much, and that I must not live, lest I be dangerous to him; my only chance is to prolong my opportunities. I am waiting for a chance to escape.

I asked him: what dates must I put on the letters? He calculated a minute, and then said, “The first letter must be June 12, the second June 19, and the third June 29.”

I know now the span of my life. God help me!

28 May. – There is a chance of escape, or to send word home. A band of gypsies^[57] have come to the castle, and are encamped in the courtyard. There are thousands of them in Hungary and Transylvania, who are almost outside all law. They are fearless and without religion.

I shall write some letters home, and shall give them to the gypsies. I have already spoken to them through my window. They took their hats off and made many signs, which, however, I could not understand.

I have written the letters. Mina’s letter is in shorthand. I have given the letters; I threw them through the bars of my window with a gold piece. The gypsy man who took them pressed them to his heart and bowed, and then put them in his cap. I could do no more.

The Count has come. He sat down beside me, and said in his smoothest voice as he opened two letters, “The gypsies have given me these letters. I do not know not whence they come, but I shall, of course, take care. See! One is from you, and to my friend Peter Hawkins. The other is not signed. Well!” And he calmly held letter and envelope in the flame of the lamp.

Then he went on, “I shall send, of course, the letter to Hawkins. Your letters are sacred to me.”

When he went out of the room I heard the key. The door was locked.

An hour or two after, the Count came quietly into the room. He was very courteous and very cheery, and he said, “So, my friend, you are tired? Get to bed.”

I passed to my room and went to bed, and slept without dreaming.

31 May. – This morning when I woke I decided to take some paper and envelopes from my bag and keep them in my pocket. But again a surprise, again a shock!

Every paper was gone, and with it all my notes, my memoranda, my letter of credit, in fact all that can be useful to me.

Moreover: the suit in which I had travelled was gone, and also my overcoat and rug…

17 June. – This morning the gypsies brought great, square boxes, with handles of thick rope. The boxes were packed in a great heap in one corner of the yard.

24 June, before morning. – Last night the Count left me early, and locked himself into his own room. Something is going on.

The gypsies are in the castle and are doing some work with the boxes.

When I watched from the window, it was a new shock to me. The Count put on my suit and slung over his shoulder the terrible bag! This, then, is his new scheme of evil: that he will allow others to see me, as they think.

In a couple of hours I heard something in the Count’s room, something like a sharp wail; and then there was silence, deep, awful silence, which chilled me. I tried the door; but I was locked in my prison, and could do nothing. I sat down and simply cried.

I heard a sound in the courtyard – the agonized cry of a woman. I rushed to the window, and peered out between the bars. There, indeed, was a woman. She was holding her hands over her heart. She was leaning against a corner of the gateway. When she saw my face at the window, she threw herself forward, and shouted, “Monster, give me my child!”

She threw herself on her knees, and raising up her hands, cried the same words. Then she threw herself forward. Her naked hands were beating against the door.

Somewhere I heard the voice of the Count, his harsh, metallic whisper. Suddenly the wolves appeared… There was no cry from the woman. The wolves went away, licking their lips.

What shall I do? What can I do? How can I escape from this dreadful castle of night and gloom and fear?

25 June, morning. – I must take action. Last night one of my letters went to post, the first of that fatal series. Action! I have not yet seen the Count in the daylight. Does he sleep when others wake? I want to get into his room! But there is no possible way. The door is always locked, no way for me.

Yes, there is a way! He crawled from his window. Why can’t I imitate him? I shall risk it. God help me in my task! Goodbye, Mina, if I fail; goodbye, my faithful friend and second father; goodbye, all, and last of all Mina!

Same day, later. – I have made the effort, and have come safely back to this room. I got outside on the narrow ledge of stone which runs around the building. The stones are big and roughly cut. I took off my boots, I knew pretty well the direction and distance of the Count’s window. I did not feel dizzy – I suppose I was too excited – and the time seemed ridiculously short. I was filled with agitation.

I bent down and slid in through the window. Then I looked around for the Count, but, with surprise and gladness, made a discovery. The room was empty! The furniture was covered with dust. I looked for the key, but it was not in the lock, and I could not find it anywhere. The only thing I found was a great heap of gold in one corner – gold of all kinds, Roman, and British, and Austrian, and Hungarian, and Greek and Turkish money, covered with a film of dust. There were also chains and ornaments, all of them old and stained.

At one corner of the room was a heavy door. I tried it. It was open, and led through a stone passage to a circular stairway. I descended. At the bottom there was a dark, tunnel-like passage, through which came a deathly, sickly odour. At last I pulled open a heavy door, and found myself in an old, ruined chapel, which was used as a graveyard. There were great wooden boxes, those which the gypsies had brought. In two of these boxes I saw nothing except fragments of old coffins and piles of dust; in the third, however, I made a discovery.

There lay the Count! He was either dead or asleep – for his eyes were open and stony. I fled from the place, and left the Count’s room by the window, crawled again up the castle wall. In my room, I tried to think…

29 June. – Today is the date of my last letter. I came to the library, and read there till I fell asleep.

I was awakened by the Count. He said, “Tomorrow, my friend, we must part. You return to your beautiful England, I – to some work. We may never meet. In the morning my carriage will come for you, and will bring you to the Borgo Pass to meet the diligence from Bukovina to Bistritz. But I hope to see you again at Castle Dracula.”

“Why may I not go tonight?”

“Because, dear sir, my coachman and horses are away.”

“But I can walk with pleasure. I want to get away at once.”

He smiled, a soft, smooth, diabolical smile. He said, “And your baggage?”

“I do not care about it. I can send for it some other time.”

The Count stood up, and said, “Come with me, my dear young friend. Come!”

He, with the lamp, went down the stairs and along the hall. Suddenly he stopped.

“Hark!”

I heard the howling of many wolves. Their red jaws, with ugly teeth, came in through the opening door. I knew then that to struggle at the moment against the Count was useless. With such allies as these, I could do nothing. But still the door continued slowly to open. As a last chance I cried out, “Shut the door! I shall wait till morning”. And covered my face with my hands to hide my tears of bitter disappointment.

The Count shut the door. In silence we returned to the library, and after a minute or two I went to my own room. Count Dracula was smiling.

When I was in my room, I heard voices at my door. I went to it softly and listened. I heard the voice of the Count, “Back, back, to your own place! Your time is not yet come. Wait! Have patience! Tonight is mine. Tomorrow night is yours!”

In a rage I opened the door, and saw three terrible women licking their lips. They all joined in a horrible laugh, and ran away.

I came back to my room. It is then so near the end? Tomorrow! Tomorrow! Lord, help me, and those to whom I am dear!

30 June, morning. – These may be the last words I ever write in this diary. I slept till just before the dawn. I came down and drew back the massive bolts. But the door would not move. Despair seized me. I pulled, and pulled, at the door, and shook it. No luck. It was locked.

Where is the key? I decided to crawl the wall again and get to the Count’s room. It was empty, but that was as I expected. I could not see a key anywhere, but the heap of gold. I went through the door in the corner and down the winding stair and along the dark passage to the old chapel. I knew now well enough where to find the monster.

The great box was in the same place. There lay the Count, but he looked much younger than before. The white hair and moustache were changed to dark grey; the cheeks were fuller, and the white skin seemed red; the mouth was redder than ever, for on the lips were gouts of fresh blood. I stopped and looked at the Count. There was a mocking smile on the face. I must rid the world of such a monster. I seized a shovel, and lifted it high. But as I did so the head turned. The sight paralyzed me, and the shovel turned in my hand and glanced from the face. The shovel fell from my hand across the box, and as I pulled it away the edge of the lid moved and hid the horrid Count from my sight.

I ran from the place to the Count’s room and listened. I heard downstairs the grinding of the key in the great lock and the falling back of the heavy door. Then there came the sound of many feet. I turned and ran down again towards the vault, where I might find the new entrance. But alas! I was again a prisoner.

I am alone in the castle with those awful women. They are real devils! I shall not remain alone with them; I shall try to crawl the castle wall. I shall take some of the gold with me. I may find a way from this dreadful place.

And then away for home! Away to the quickest and nearest train! Away from this cursed spot, from this cursed land, where the devil and his children still walk with earthly feet!

The precipice is steep and high. But it is better to try to escape than to stay here.

Goodbye, all! Mina!