Dracula (A Modern Telling) Read online

  I looked to the women and then ran out of there as quickly as I could.

  September 8

  I drove to Lucy’s house in an absolute panic. This was after about thirty calls to her cell phone and two hours of searching everywhere nearby the stadium. I rang the doorbell and pounded on the door before Lucy’s mother answered.

  “Dr. Seward?”

  “Please tell me Lucy is here.”

  “Yes, of course. She’s upstairs asleep.”

  I exhaled a sigh of relief. “Oh, oh you have no idea how relieved that makes me. We got separated at the concert. How did she get home?”

  “Some girls dropped her off. She’s sound asleep right now though so you’ll have to ask her in the morning.”

  “That’s fine, thanks. Sorry to wake you.”

  As I turned toward my car, I glanced up to Lucy’s room and saw a shadow in the window just before the blinds went down. I got into my car and turned it on before I realized that Van Helsing had asked me specifically to stay with her all night. I turned the car off and knocked on the door again.

  “I’m sorry, Ms. Westerna, but I have to stay here tonight.”

  “Why?”

  “Just keeping an eye on Lucy. Dr. Van Helsing asked me to do it and I think he’d be bothered if I didn’t. I can just sleep on the couch.”

  “No, that’s all right we have a guest bedroom. Come in.”

  I followed her in and she showed me the guest bedroom which thankfully was right next to Lucy’s upstairs. Once her mother had left me, I went to Lucy’s room and opened the door.

  She was sitting up in bed, staring at the walls. I came and sat down next to her.

  “You know I looked for you for two hours.”

  “Sorry, I … I lost track of time.”

  “What were you doing?”

  She paused. “I don’t really know.”

  “You don’t know what you were doing?”

  “No.”

  “Maybe we should call the police?”

  “And say what, Jack? That I was backstage and I don’t remember the drive home after that? Not unusual considering how much I drank and smoked.”

  I exhaled, relieved to just see her. “Well, get some sleep. You’ve already exerted yourself more than Van Helsing would want you to.”

  “I can’t sleep.”

  “Why not?”

  “You wouldn’t want to either if you had the nightmares I did.”

  “I’ll be right in the next room, Lucy. Nothing’s going to happen.”

  She reached out and touched my hand. “Please sleep here, with me.”

  I swallowed. “Um, I can sleep on that sofa over there. Let me get some blankets.”

  By the time I returned to the room with a blanket and a pillow, Lucy was already sound asleep. I pulled the covers up over her and went to the window where I had seen the shadow and looked out into the night.

  I slept uncomfortably on that stupid sofa the whole night and threw my back out. I would get up occasionally and look over to Lucy to make sure she was okay but she seemed to sleep through the night just fine. I wondered if I had made the right decision in sleeping on the sofa? Of course I had. Lucy is sick and engaged to one of my closest friends. What kind of man would I have been to take advantage of that and sleep in the same bed with her?

  In the morning I said goodbye to her and told her we would be back soon to check on her. I went directly to my masseuse for some back work and when it was through I went in to the hospital. I was glad to hear my zoophagus patient had completely behaved himself the previous night and everything seemed to be going well. I’d received an email from Van Helsing informing me he would be at Lucy’s house tomorrow and that I needed to spend the night over there again tonight. I didn’t see the point, but I accepted long ago that Van Helsing is far more brilliant than anyone I’d ever met and I’m sure he had his reasons.

  So I arrived at Lucy’s house, exhausted and hungry after a full day’s work, and she seemed in good spirits.

  “You look weak,” she said.

  “I’m okay.”

  “Come upstairs.”

  She showed me to the guest bedroom and I noticed for the first time that the room had a fireplace; a warm, crackling fire was burning. She brought up a meal of soup and meatloaf with apple juice and I gladly ate it.

  “Sleep here, and I promise that if I need anything I’ll call you. I’ll leave both doors open.”

  I couldn’t help but say yes. I was fatigued to the point of hallucination and my ears were still hurting from that damn concert. I took off my shoes and socks and lay on the bed, passing out shortly after my head hit the pillow.

  To: [email protected]

  From: [email protected]

  Subject: Last Night

  Date: September 10, 2012

  Mina, I can’t tell you how much better I feel!!! I know everyone was worried about me but I feel great now. And you won’t believe where I was last night … at the Blood Burn concert!!!!!!!!

  How did we not know they were playing here? I wish I could’ve been there with you but Jack was great. I … he’s very sweet in a way that Arthur isn’t. Arthur’s very manly and kind of reserved but Jack is really open about his feelings. He seems like someone who understands himself. He’s sleeping in the room next door and I’d really like to go see him, but I won’t. I know how close he and Arthur are. What kind of slut would I be to do that to them? So I’m here writing to you instead.

  Please tell me everything that’s happening with Jonathan. I’m really worried about him and I’ll make sure to pray for him tonight.

  Loves and kisses :)

  DR. SEWARDS EVERNOTE JOURNAL

  September 10

  I woke up with a hand on my forehead and it startled me so bad I think I yelped. Van Helsing stood over me with a grin. I looked to the clock by the bedside and it was six in the morning.

  “How’s our patient?” he said.

  I sat up, yawning. “When did you get in?”

  “Just now. Couldn’t wait until later. How is she?”

  “When I left her she was fine. Walking around, her color was back in her cheeks. She seemed fine.”

  “Let’s go check on her.”

  We went into her room and I walked over to the blinds to open them and let the faint sunlight in as Van Helsing walked like a cat over to the bed. I heard his gasp just then and my heart dropped. I ran over and saw Lucy lying there, looking worse than ever.

  She was nearly pure white. Even her lips were white. And her gums had receded like they do on a corpse. Her breaths were quick and shallow and I don’t think she was conscious.

  I tried to wake her as he felt for a pulse. I hadn’t brought my bag with me. I’d been so tired I’d packed it with adrenaline and various other things in case something like this happened, and then I’d forgotten to bring it.

  “There’s still a heartbeat,” Van Helsing said. “It’s not too late. But she needs a transfusion right now. And Arthur’s not here so it’s going to have to be you, Jack.”

  I immediately rolled up my sleeves as Van Helsing pulled out his equipment and we began a blood transfusion.

  “I’m not sure we should have her awake just yet,” Van Helsing said as my blood pumped out into a bag and then dripped into Lucy’s veins. “I’m going to give her a shot of morphine IR.”

  The effect seemed to be slight as she groaned softly once the morphine hit her system. I could see color returning to her cheeks and lips and … I can’t describe the feeling. My blood was going into the woman I loved and bringing life back to her … the woman I loved. Did I just write that? Is that really how I feel? And so what if I love her? She’s already pledged to Arthur. I could lose both of them if I tell her how I feel. I can’t risk that.

  Van Helsing looked at me. “That’ll do.”

  “That’s it? You took a lot more from Art.”

  “He’s going to be her husband. You have a lot of other patients and a lot
of other work to do. That’s enough for now.”

  After a cotton swab and a Band-Aid, I turned to leave the room. Van Helsing ran up to me and almost in a whisper said, “Don’t tell anyone about this. It’ll make Arthur frightened and jealous at once. It’s not a good combination. Now go have a big breakfast and drink lots of fluid and lie down for a while.”

  I did as he said because I knew I needed to. It was amazing how fatigued just giving that much blood had made me. But it was tough to sleep. I kept thinking about Lucy’s condition and how it could have regressed so quickly.

  When I woke, I went and checked on her and she was up. Pale and without strength but up and with her smile spreading across those lovely lips. I sat next to her and she held my hand a moment and tried to speak. I put my finger to her lips and told her to save her strength.

  Van Helsing was out in the hall talking on his cell phone and when he came back in he said, “Go get some rest. You’re looking pale.”

  “I’d like to stay with her.”

  “I’ll be here with her. I’m staying the night.”

  I left the house after talking with Lucy’s mother a bit. Some maids were cleaning and I felt uncomfortable speaking in front of them but her mother insisted. I told her I would be back soon and that Van Helsing would be spending the night. Her reply was, “Can we really trust this foreign gentleman with Lucy?”

  “Yes, he’s the smartest man I know.”

  Then I came back here to the hospital and am writing in this journal as I await sleep. I’m not sure I can make it home before it comes.

  September 11

  Today after my rounds I went over to Lucy’s house and found her in good spirits. Van Helsing was opening a package that’d come for him and he took out what looked like a bouquet of flowers. He brought them to Lucy and said, “I’m going to be putting these by your window and your side table. I’d like if you would wear some around your neck.”

  The flowers were bundled together and white and Lucy smelled them and said, “It’s just garlic.”

  “It’s a special kind of garlic, but I’d like you to keep some around your neck just the same. Doctor’s orders.”

  With that he began to walk over to her window and rub garlic over it. Then we walked into the next room and he started doing the same thing there.

  “Professor, what the hell are we doing?”

  “Rubbing garlic on windows.”

  “You know what I mean.”

  “I’ve travelled a lot, Jack. Far more than you or anyone you know. I’ve been to islands few people know exist, to villages that cartographers don’t include in maps. I’ve seen things that our modern science can’t explain. The mystical has died a little bit with the prominence of science. But just because something isn’t in our focus doesn’t mean it ceases to exist.”

  “I still don’t understand.”

  “There’s dark things in this world, Jack. I’ve seen them myself. Dark things that walk with us. They look human and speak human and even smell human, but they’re not human.”

  When we had secured all the windows with garlic, we went upstairs and Van Helsing made a little necklace out of the garlic and put it around Lucy’s neck.

  “Now, sweetheart, you can’t open any of the windows or take this necklace off. You’re going to want to because the room is going to feel tight around you but you can’t do it. Do you understand?”

  She nodded and the Professor, to my surprise, kissed her forehead before we left. He had wanted a hotel room and asked if I could drive him but I insisted he come stay with me. So as we drove away, I glanced back at Lucy’s window. This time, there was no shadow.

  September 13

  I was woken at two in the morning. I had gotten into the habit of leaving my cell phone on and it was vibrating next to me on the nightstand. It was Lucy’s number.

  “This is Jack.”

  “Dr. Seward, it’s Karen, Lucy’s mother. You need to get down here. I … an ambulance is on its way but you need to get down here. Please. Lucy isn’t breathing.”

  “I’m coming right now.”

  I hung up and jumped out of bed. I ran down the hall to wake Van Helsing and saw he was already up and putting on his clothes.

  We hopped into my car and sped on the freeway so fast I was nervous I might crash. Van Helsing had to remind me a few times to slow down. When we finally did arrive, the ambulance and several police officers were already there. We ran up to the house and an officer tried to stop us from going in but Lucy’s mother yelled, “They’re her doctors! Please let them in.”

  The officer looked us over. “I can’t let you in, sorry Doc.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Crime scene.”

  Seeing we weren’t getting in, Lucy’s mother ran out to us. Her eyes were puffy and red from recent crying and she threw her arms around my neck and sobbed into my shoulder.

  “What happened?”

  Before she could speak, I saw the gurney.

  Lucy was being carried out in a body bag by the medical examiner’s office to an awaiting van.

  “Wait!” I shouted. “I’m her doctor. I need to see.”

  Unsure whether I had the authority to do that or not, the assistants from the ME’s office didn’t stop me as I unzipped the bag and looked inside.

  It was Lucy, in all her beauty. Except that her skin was completely white. I touched her and she was as cold as steel on a snowy day. Van Helsing stood behind me, a look of utter sadness on his face as he turned away. After seeing so much death, it was odd that just one more of a stranger could affect him so deeply.

  “I … I don’t know what happened,” Lucy’s mother said. “I went to check on her and the room was really stuffy and there was this awful smelling garlic in there. So I took the garlic and opened some windows and I was sleeping and I had this nightmare.” She wiped at her tears. “When I checked on her again ‘cause I was awake, she wasn’t breathing.”

  Some family came up the driveway and ran to Karen and they embraced as I zipped up the bag to ensure they didn’t see. The ME’s people loaded her into the van, and drove away. Van Helsing came up behind me.

  “What the hell happened?” I said, my eyes on the van.

  “The devil happened, Jack. The devil happened.”

  TRANSCRIPT #153749

  SUBJECT: Interview with Vlad Dracula of the band Blood Burn for autobiography.

  INTERVIEWER: Miles Garrison, ghostwriter with Harlow Publishing.

  DATE: OCTOBER 2, 2012

  STATIC … INAUDIBLE …

  “Hello, testing … okay, Count, looks like it’s working. Are you ready?”

  “I am.”

  “Well, first I want to thank you for choosing me as the ghostwriter on this project. I’m sure you had a line out the door of people wanting to do it.”

  “I’ve enjoyed your work. There wasn’t another choice.”

  “So I guess my first question is: why do an autobiography now? After just three albums? It seems like this is the sort of thing people do later in their careers rather than at the beginning.”

  “There’re some things you just can’t keep bottled up for very long. Some stories need to be told. And I want to tell mine.”

  “Okay, well, the way I usually begin these is by—”

  “No, I don’t want to begin that way.”

  “What way would you like to begin?”

  “I’m going to tell you my story. It will take all night, and just one night. By morning I will have to leave. I expect you to tell this story accurately. Is that understood?”

  “Of course. You sure you just want one night? I mean I was expecting months of interviews and editing and—”

  “I know. But one night is all we must have. And I should tell you, you will hear things that will make you … uncomfortable. You must simply accept these things for now and save questions for later. Our time is short.”

  “Okay, it’s your book. You run the show.”

  … INAUDIB
LE …

  “Then I will begin, as they say, at the beginning.…”

  TRANSCRIPT #153749

  SUBJECT: Interview with Vlad Dracula of the band Blood Burn for autobiography.

  INTERVIEWER: Miles Garrison, ghostwriter with Harlow Publishing.

  DATE: OCTOBER 2, 2012

  I was not always a vampire. I was mortal, as mortal as you are now in front of me. But I came from a different time. I was born in the year of your Lord, 1431, and am now approaching my six-hundredth day of my birth. I was born to what are known now as Boyars in the province of Wallachia, which is a part of Hungary. Though I was born into nobility, the times necessitated that I be raised in brutality. There was no choice, you see, everyone, noble and peasant alike, had to fight for every scrap of their freedom and their lives. We had no security as you know today. At any moment we faced the possibility that a more powerful foe could invade at any time and conquer our nation and enslave our people. Because of this, the martial disciplines were prized above all others.

  I was twenty-four when I became a vampire, and my appearance has frozen in that age. It is what you see before you now. At the time, I was preparing to become ruler of the province, and a general. The greatest threat then were the Moslem Turks, who were known as the Ottomans. I was inducted in to the Order of the Dragon at five years old, you see. They were an organization dedicated to fighting the Moslem and defending Christianity. From the age of five, I had been told that the Moslems were heathens and brutes and wished for nothing more than to slaughter every Christian in the world, which, at the time, was true. Each side would have obliterated the other if they could, and each side believed they had the moral high ground.

  My castle was something to behold. I should say my family’s castle, as we had a long history of ancestors who’d lived there. Ancestors of the House Draculesti. It was brick and mortar with ramparts with dark corners that I couldn’t have explored in twenty years. But it didn’t stop me from trying. I had a natural child’s curiosity coupled with servants and an entire kingdom to explore. Until well into my twenties I explored the countryside in between my preparations for battle. It was there I met my … Elizabeth. She was a peasant girl, a farm girl, in a nearby province. I saw her in the field as I was riding through on a hunt and I was struck so powerfully that it felt as if Heaven itself had opened up and shown me my destiny.