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Godalming 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 passions get the better of you.'
'D'you think I don't know it?' Godalming 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, hoarse 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
anguish!
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 God, 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?'
'None,' said Mina. 'I am sure he did not touch me.' Then she lowered her head,
pressing her fingers to her forehead in anguish. I went to support her.
Van Helsing exclaimed, 'Ah, but now we have the advantage!'
'How so?' Mina asked.
'Our enemy is physical - therefore we can use physical means to keep him out! But of
course we must explain to Elena the reason for this, and tell the boy some tale to lull his
curiosity. Tomorrow we will set to work.'
I said with fervour, 'I wish Elena and Quincey were away from here. And Mina!'
Van Helsing shook his head. 'Impossible. They would not be safe. Without our
protection they would be all the more vulnerable to Dracula. We must all stay here.'
(Continued in Jonathan Harker's own hand.) Van Helsing has called a halt, saying,
'Go to bed, my friends; I will keep watch. Dracula's purpose was to frighten us, which he
has admirably achieved. I think he will not come back. But in case.'
Mina has gone to sleep with Quincey. But knowing I would not sleep, I am sitting up
with Van Helsing.
So we pass the night in a state of siege. My right arm is still in a sling, but by wedging
the pen between my fingers and bracing my wrist against the table, I can just manage to
write legibly. It is very slow and laborious. Van Helsing says I should learn to use my left
instead - the side of instinct and intuition, so he says, the irrational feminine side of
ourselves  but I think he is putting up a joke on me. He will always find something to
laugh at, even in the direst of circumstances. I am determined to use my right, the side of
God and the masculine!
The wind gusts unceasingly round the walls; I hear voices in it, semi-human groans,
the howling of dogs. The sound is enough to drive a man mad. Although we have turned
up the gas lamps and lit two candelabras, there never seems enough light. I check on
Mina and Quincey every hour, but they sleep soundly. At least they are at peace.
Now is the blackest hour before dawn rises in the windows. I feel sleep falling heavy
on me at last, and Van Helsing is urging me to bed.
11 November, morning
Strangest, most horrible of dreams. I fell asleep, exhausted -it must have been four in
the morning by then - and dreamed that a woman came into my room. I saw her leaning
over me, her white nightdress shadowy grey in the darkness, her dark hair hanging heavy
as snake's tails around her shoulders. It was Elena and yet it was someone else - Lucy? A
fiend from Castle Dracula? I lay in that state between dream and consciousness, when
one seems to be awake yet cannot move a muscle. She seemed to be all women; or rather,
the archetypal dark woman, Eve, who sided with the serpent and dragged mankind into
sin. I thought I had experienced enough terror for one night, but this woke new depths in
me.
Elena - the woman who looked like Elena - bent lower and lower over me, and I saw
her pink tongue moving over her deep red lips, making the lips shine. The tongue
protruded further and further, sliding over the pearly teeth, longer and longer, and I saw
that it was forked at the end like a snake's.
My whole being withered in dreadful anticipation as I waited for the two tips of the
tongue to flicker on my neck. The skin tingled. My paralysed body stiffened and arched,
wanting to escape yet wanting her to draw nearer - the two desires in exquisite conflict.
She lay down upon me and I could not stop her; almost did not wish to stop her, to my
shame. She spoke and it was Elena's voice. 'You do not want your wife,' she whispered,
her voice a hiss that hurt my ears. 'You want me.'
With this, her jaw opened so wide that it seemed to unhinge. Two great fangs
appeared, long and thin and curved as a snake's, as if they had unfolded from the roof of
her mouth. A clear liquid dripped from them, and in the dream I knew it was poison. I
tried to cry out; she lunged, and I felt a burning coldness in my throat, and my soul
seemed to lurch right out of my body in a spasm that sent me falling down into greyness;
drowning greyness, like the bottom of the ocean.
God, how horrible now I recall it! Why must I suffer such vile nightmares, in which
apparitions come to me and tell me lies? I feel that I can never bear Mina near me again -
that she is soiled and fallen, as are all women. No, I will not believe it! My love for Mina
is pure - as is hers for me. Dracula is the one who wishes to sully it. He makes unclean all
that he touches!
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