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A TURNING POINT

Dr Seward&039;s Diary (kept in phonograph)

27 SEPTEMBER

After et disposed of, the Count turned his attention to the wife of his solicitor I believe he fixed on Mrs Harker even as he was paying his attentions to Lucy The toether in Whitby when he calutton sees a pair of fat pastries I have tried to recreate the record lost in the fire at Purfleet, now I must at last turn to the journal entry I was prevented froht of the 2nd and 3rd of October, 1885, a great stone was cast into the pond; we live noith the ripples, turned to tidal waves, of that splash

While Van Helsing was lecturing our little circle on the habits of the co Mina Harker As with Lucy, she was to serve a double purpose, to slake his thirst and to becoelical; he was bent upon turning assoldiers for his arathered behind its thick walls and iron bars as if they could keep out the vampire In addition to the destroyers of Lucy, we took in Mina and her husband Van Helsingout all the holy impedimenta that had served so little use in the earlier case

I was first alerted to the Count&039;s invasion when an attendant intruded to tell me that Renfield had met with so on his left side in a glittering pool of blood When I went to move him, it became at once apparent that he had suffered terrible injuries; there was none of that unity of purpose between the parts of the body which own and slippers, tried to save the patient&039;s life, but it was hopeless Betrayed by his et in the way While the Professor was readying for a trephination, I attempted to administer an injection of morphia Renfield bitoff the heads of birds had given hihtn&039;t have becoht, and when the sun came up, I had fled from Purfleet, no saner I fear than the poor dead , told us of his atte of a crush on Mrs Harker, and anger at the Count&039;s treatment of her broke his loyalty to the va of jealousy in his stand, I feel, as if he envied Dracula the slow taking of Mina&039;s life He alternated betweencourtesy When I showed hi&039;s father for the Windhareatness of the state of Texas, but he was always dismissive of Harker, jealous of the solicitor too Before any of us, including the presunosed Mina&039;s condition &039;She wasn&039;t the same,&039; he said, &039;it was like tea after the teapot had been watered I don&039;t care for the pale people; I like them with lots of blood in them, and hers had all see the life out of her&039;

Earlier that night, the Count had co mist The slave tried to throttle the ainst the wall &039;We know the worst now,&039; Van Helsing said &039;He is here and we know his purpose It may not be too late&039; With a more important life to save than Renfield&039;s - that opinion being reinforced by the patient hi abandoned plans to operate He had us gather up the weapons we had used against Lucy Our group crept down the corridor towards the Harkers&039; bedrooed husband in a French farce &039;Alas, alas, that that dear Mada his crucifix fro an elder by night, when his poere at the height, would be a very differenta feeble-minded new-born by day

We paused outside the Harkers&039; door Quincey said &039;should we disturb her?&039; The Quincey Morris I remember from our Korea expedition would have shown no qual lady&039;s rooiven pause if, as now, he knew the lady&039;s husband ith her The door was properly locked but we all put our shoulders to it With a crash it burst open, and we al into the room The Professor did actually fall, and I saw across hiathered himself up from hands and knees What I saw appalled me I felt my hair rise like bristles on the back of h the thick yellow blind the rooh to see On the bed beside thelay Jonathan Harker, his face flushed and his breath co outwards was his wife By her side stood a tall, thin man, clad in black His face was turned fronised the Count With his left hand he held both Mrs Harker&039;s hands, keeping theripped her by the back of the neck, forcing her face down on his bosoht-dress was smeared with blood, and a thin stream trickled down the man&039;s bare breast which was shown by his torn-open shirt The attitude of the two had a terrible rese a kitten&039;s nose into a saucer of milk to compel it to drink

As we burst into the room, the Count turned his face and a hellish look seemed to leap into it With a wrench which threw his victiht, he turned and sprang at us By this ti with one of his wafers The Count suddenly stopped, just as Lucy had done outside the to our crosses, advanced A righteous Christian aro proud We had the vaht have finished hiht but for a failure on our collective part Before &039;s belief in the power of sacred symbols to harm him, but my own faith faltered I would rather have had a pistol in my hand, or Quincey&039;s bowie knife, or one of my now-silvered scalpels To face the Count with a penny ornament and a broken biscuit struck me then, and strikes me now, as sheer folly As reat black cloud passed over the hter in the dark Quincey put aup All shadows banished, the Count stood before us, blood dribbling from the shallow cut in his chest I had expected to find Dracula drinking the blood of Mrs Harker, not vice versa

&039;Well, well, well,&039; the Count said, casually buttoning his shirt, and arranging his cravat &039;Dr Seward, I believe And Lord Godal Of course, Van Helsing Professor is it, or Doctor? No one seems quite sure&039;

I was surprised that he knew us, but, of course, he had information from many: Harker, Renfield, Lucy, Mina I had expected his voice to be the thick-accented croak of an Attila unschooled in English But he spoke in a cultivated, ale was certainly far in excess of that of Abraha or Quincey P Morris, to name but two

&039;You think to baffle me, you with your pale faces all in a row, like sheep in a butcher&039;s You shall be sorry, each one of you Your girls that you love are h them you and others shall yet beand to be , with a roar of rage, shoved his wafer at the Count, but Draculaaside to let the Professor fall again He laughed again, a cruel chuckle fro as if covered with scorpions Art, too, made no , in a , alive three years later

Quincey, ever putting deed before thought, rushed at Dracula, and stuck hih the heart I heard the bowie sink in as if penetrating cork As the Count staggered back against the wall, Quincey yee-hahed a victory yell But the blade was plain steel, not the wood that would have transfixed his heart nor the silver that would have poisoned hi it froash remained in his shirt, but closed in his flesh Quincey said, &039;Well, kiss my sister&039;s black cat&039;s ass,&039; as Dracula closed on hi it into the hollow of his throat, sucking briefly at the wound that erupted

Our gallant friend was dead

Next the Count picked up the unconscious Harker as easily as he would a baby Mina was by his side, eyes glazed as if drugged, blood on her chin and boso a bloody uest,&039; he explained, &039;but he abused hospitality&039;

He looked at Mina, as if coly like the new-born Lucy, setting her unholy blessing upon his intent She was turning fast With a quick snap, he broke Harker&039;s neck in his great hands He jabbed his thu vein of Harker&039;s neck, and offered him to his wife Mina, her hair swept aside with both hands, leaned over, and began to lap up the blood