The Private Diary of Elizabeth Quatermain, vol. II: The Egypt Chronicle
by Lady Norbert
5 October 1899
In the light of day, my words of last night hardly seem like they can be real; indeed, the brightness of the sun is almost enough to convince me that the entire meeting to which I was privy was nothing more than a dream. But I know that it happened, and I must record it accurately.
Once the League members and I were aboard our boat, we adjourned to the lower level where we have been fitted with sleeping quarters. After we were settled and some candles were lit, Nemo asked Mina to speak her mind freely.
"I have suspected it since first we entered the Tomb of the Door of the Horse," she said in her soft, cool voice. "After what I have seen of Dr. Carter's behaviour today, I know it to be so. There is evil here, a terrible and dangerous evil that could consume all of you."
"What evil?" asked Tom. His face was intent as he watched her.
"My kind has few...gifts," she said. "But one of the more valuable is that we can recognize the presence of another vampire. When we looked at that unmarked coffin, I felt the sensation rising in the back of my mind. I hoped I was wrong, but then when Nemo's men reported hearing the struggle, I began to fear the worst. Dr. Carter is now acting as one does when a vampire has begun to feed upon them."
She paused, and Skinner said, "But we've seen you feed, Mina. It's not a slow process, you do it once and they're done. So what's happening to Carter that's different?"
"Dr. Carter is being slowly drained of his blood," she replied. "Some vampires feed differently than others; I am not inclined to prolong the suffering of those whom I kill, so I bring their deaths as swiftly as I am able. Others take their time, stretching the feeding process over a number of days. That is also part of the process by which vampires are made. It is quite possible that the one who is feeding on Dr. Carter plans not to kill him, but to make him into one of us. If that is the case, then he has drunk of the vampire's blood just as the vampire has drunk of his."
My confusion must have showed on my face, because she directed her next comment at me. "Dr. Carter will begin to grow hungry for blood. The longer he remains bound to the one who feeds upon him, the worse the desire will become; he will begin seeking to replace that which is taken from him. If the vampire who is causing the trouble is destroyed soon, Dr. Carter can be saved and returned to his normal self. Otherwise he will either die, or else he will succumb to the bloodlust and become a vampire in full."
I admit freely that I still was not fully comprehending all that she said, but this much I understood: Mina wishes to save Dr. Carter from her own fate, and if we do not act swiftly, there is no hope for him.
"So how do we catch the feeder?" asked Henry, quietly.
"And if we manage to catch it, how do we kill it? Where's it hiding now?" asked Tom.
"That I do not know," she admitted. "I was too unnerved by the scent of the other vampire to pay much attention in the tomb, but if I can examine the crypt more closely, I may be able to understand what happened. As to capturing the vampire, that might prove easier; we could accept the hospitality of Dr. Carter's rest house and simply wait with him until the feeder arrives. The lure of additional blood -- especially innocent blood -- should prove almost irresistible."
"How...how exactly do you define 'innocent' blood?" I ventured to ask, though I wasn't sure I wanted to know the answer.
She regarded me with those inscrutable eyes. "The blood of an innocent person, Elizabeth," she replied. "Someone who has not indulged their...baser desires. Someone who has never willingly done harm to another person for their own pleasure."
"And how does a vampire recognize an innocent?" asked Nemo, curiously.
"They smell differently," she said simply. "I couldn't describe it to you exactly, but the blood of those who are not innocent has a taint, which changes the smell forever. It can't ever be removed. Innocents have a more pure scent to their blood. Elizabeth has innocent blood; so does Tom. Other vampires would be drawn to them like moths to a candle flame; the lure of innocent blood is difficult to resist for those who are completely turned. Dr. Carter has already proved irresistible."
"How can my blood be innocent?" Tom demanded. "I've killed people -- I'd call that doing harm."
Mina brushed aside the objection. "The only times you've killed are times when the lives of others have been endangered," she told him. A funny little smile was toying with the corners of her mouth. "Trust me, Tom. If you took any real pleasure in bringing those deaths, I would know." They stared at each other for a moment, and there was a strange sort of hunger in both gazes -- though his hunger was different from hers, I think.
Needless to say, I'm hardly delighted at the prospect of a vampire inviting himself to dinner on my throat. But when I think of poor Dr. Carter, slowly turning into something as foul as the monster who made Mina what she is, it breaks my heart. If we can help him, then I believe we must.
The first order of business, while daylight is on our side, is to go back to the Tomb of the Door of the Horse and give it a good search. There may be clues there, as Mina has said, which will provide us with the vampire's origin and the knowledge of how best to destroy it. When night falls, we must summon our courage and guard Dr. Carter until the creature comes to feed again.
As the meeting ended and we all bade goodnight to one another, I caught Tom's eye. It was a strange sort of look we exchanged, and I sensed a kinship between us. I think we both feel as though, being the choice bait for the vampire, we're in this together. In spite of the fear which is threatening to overpower me, I am glad to have this affinity with him. It provides a bit of comfort.
later
Dr. Carter is, indeed, worse today; Mina believes the vampire visited him again last night. He is quite pale and wan. We elected not to mention to him that we wished to again visit the tomb. Mina says Dr. Carter must not know anything of our plans to help him, for the vampire can employ strange means of reading the victim's mind. She did not go into great detail, but she says that if Dr. Carter were aware of what we were doing, the vampire could also become alert to our intentions. This could have fearsome repercussions.
Instead, we told him we wished to split up and explore different areas, claiming that our interest divided us. Mina and Henry went one way, glossing over their actual destination; I think Mina really intended to go alone to the tomb, but Henry would not hear of it. The rest of us stayed with Dr. Carter, doing our best to keep him distracted.
It has been an unnerving sort of day. Dr. Carter is not a weak man, from what I judged of him prior to the initial attack, but I believe he is slowly losing the will to fight what is happening inside of himself. He seemed to keep closer to us than common decency would permit; at one point, he actually made a comment to me about how smooth and soft the skin of my throat appeared! If I were not aware of what is truly wrong with the man, I should have been affronted by the forwardness of such a remark, flattering though it may have been.
We are presently resting in the shade, having completed luncheon. It is, as usual, unbearably hot, and no one is in any particular hurry to move from this relatively cool location. Mina and Henry have not yet returned, which I hope means that they are having success with their searching, and not that they have encountered some sort of danger.
later still
We estimate that there are some two hours left until nightfall. Mina and Henry have rejoined us, and we managed to convince Dr. Carter to return to his rest house for, well, some rest. He is there, while we have been conferring on the boat.
There was little information to be gleaned from the Tomb of the Door of the Horse, or at least little of the variety which will help us. From what they did uncover, Henry and Mina tell us that the vampire was sealed in its tomb well over three thousand years ago. Most probably it had been terrorizing the region, and by some means unknown to us, they managed to trap it inside the coffin. (I am quite ready to believe almost anything of the ancient Egyptians. How is it that a civilization so remarkable, so capable of extraordinary feats, left so little indication behind of how their accomplishments came to pass?) The statue's purpose remains unclear, although Mina thinks it may have been included in the tomb for religious or mystic reasons which contributed to the vampire's entrapment; when the linen in which the statue was wrapped was removed, it undid the...enchantment, for lack of a better word.
One thing this does not explain, however, is how the vampire got out of the coffin before it was opened by the expedition. Dr. Carter said that on first opening, the coffin was empty. But Mina says that Dracula was capable of transforming himself into not only a cluster of bats, but other shapes as well, including a creeping mist. It may be that the Egyptian vampire can transform into something such as a snake or a scorpion, which managed to get away unnoticed.
We still have no idea where the vampire has been hiding during the daylight hours. Mina believes, however, that it can be brought down by the standard method of slaying a vampire -- a wooden stake through the heart, followed by decapitation. The mouth is then supposed to be filled with garlic, but that is in short supply here. She recommends that instead, we set fire to the vampire's body.
"Whatever happens," she added, "we must keep Dr. Carter away from here. We should try to get him to stay here on the boat. If he is here when the vampire comes, and we fight with it, he will most likely try to interfere. He won't understand what he is doing, or why, but he will almost certainly attempt to protect the vampire from us, and I don't believe any of us wish to harm him if we can avoid it."
"If we can just get him here, I can sedate him to make him sleep," said Henry. "Otherwise, Mina says he will try to get back to his house. Someone must stay here and guard him, though."
We all looked at each other.
"Tom, I think you and Elizabeth should remain here," said Nemo. "From what Mina told us last night, the two of you are in the greatest danger from the vampire. If Dr. Carter is sedated, he can do you no harm."
We consented to the plan, Tom more reluctantly than I. I know he wants very much to help bring down the vampire, but he is much safer here. I want to help too, but except perhaps as bait, I don't think I'd really be very useful. We will all go, however, to bring Dr. Carter back to the boat.