The Private Diary of Elizabeth Quatermain, vol. II: The Egypt Chronicle
by Lady Norbert
7 October 1899
later
Dr. Carter has been moved from the other boat to this one. He still appears terribly unwell, but the fact that he has not been a food source lately seems to have helped a little.
It was Mina who wanted him brought here, and while Nemo's men made the transfer, she explained why. "When Jonathan and Professor van Helsing were hunting Dracula, the professor would put me into a hypnotic trance. I was then sometimes able to describe Dracula's surroundings, to give them an idea of where he was. I think we should attempt the same with Dr. Carter."
"Couldn't we hypnotize Skinner?" asked Henry.
"I don't believe so. Skinner has not drunk any of Kiya's blood; they do not share the same mental bond that a vampire shares with one of its 'children,' for lack of a better term. We have reason to believe, judging by his actions at the rest house the other night, that Dr. Carter is in the midst of the transformation process. He has a much better chance of helping us."
Once our explorer friend was settled, the matter was explained to him in gravest terms. He seemed confused more than anything, but was willing to make the attempt. Nemo borrowed Henry's silver pocket watch and used it to induce the trance. I had never witnessed a hypnotism before and found it as fascinating as it was unsettling.
"Where are you?" Mina asked.
"I...am not certain. I am hidden in darkness."
"What is near you?"
"It is cool in the dark...I am very small. Something large is nearby. I am resting at its base."
"What can you see?"
"There is light nearby. But I am safe and sheltered."
At this the trance was suddenly broken. Dr. Carter came to his senses with a great start. "What did I say? What did I say?"
Mina repeated his words back to him, and he looked bewildered. "No idea what that's about," he said blankly. "I'm sorry, my friends. I tried."
"And we thank you for that," said Mina curtly. "I think you should rest, Dr. Carter. You must recover your strength."
She, Henry, Nemo, and Tom went off to a corner to confer privately. Dr. Carter lay back and was asleep almost at once; Skinner, too, appeared to be sleeping. When Nemo beckoned, I followed the four of them to the upper deck, away from the patients.
"It seems probable," said Nemo, "that the vampire is concealing herself in one of the tombs in the City of the Dead. From what Dr. Carter said, she is not in human form, or she would certainly be noticed by explorers who enter her presence."
"Our best chance," said Mina grimly, "is to search the tombs. Once we find the right one, she will almost certainly resume her true shape in order to deal with us. But I can't begin to predict how long this will take, or how many tombs we may have to search."
"Couldn't we wait for her somewhere?" asked Tom. "Draw her out? I mean, if it's me she wants...she'll come looking, won't she?"
"Yes, but then we would have to fight with her again," said Mina heavily, "and she is stronger than any of you. She may even be stronger than me. Between Carter and Skinner, she's been feeding well lately, and that's only the throats we know she has bitten."
"So what do we do?" I asked plaintively. She rounded on me, and there was a look of something like pity in her cool eyes.
"You, Elizabeth, will stay with Kiya's victims. There is no point in putting you directly in harm's way. At least there is some time until sunset; we may get lucky." She appeared to be thinking, and then grimaced. "Professor van Helsing shielded me from harm by surrounding me with a circle drawn on the ground, its border sprinkled with crushed wafers from Holy Communion. But I don't believe we have any such sacraments here."
"Even if we did, would they work?" asked Henry, doubtfully. "I mean, she is a creature of ancient Egypt. Her origins predate that of Christianity itself."
Mina shook her head. "It doesn't matter. Unholy is unholy. But we're wasting time -- we must do all the searching we can before nightfall, and that is only a few hours away. It would be best, I think, to start in Kiya's own tomb, so let us go ashore and do what we can."
Henry put out a hand. I would later learn that this is something of a tradition for the League; Mina placed her own hand on top of his, then Nemo, then Tom. I added my own last of all. We regarded each other in silence for a long moment, as though it could be the last time we ever saw one another.
9 October 1899
It is quite early; the sun has only just risen. I don't believe I slept at all, but I don't care very much.
While the search party made to leave the boat, I went to where our belongings are kept on the second ship; Nemo's men have constructed a kind of walkway between the two, allowing for easy movement back and forth. I left all my mother's jewellery in the safety of my quarters on the Nautilus, which I do regret -- among her possessions was a splendid gold crucifix on a chain, which might have been of use to me. I did, at least, have the good sense to bring along my Bible, which was locked in my trunk, and this I retrieved and brought to where Skinner and Dr. Carter continued to sleep. I'd had an idea about placing it in the entrance to that chamber below deck.
It was very difficult to wait the long hours until the sun set, hoping against hope that the others would return in time. I felt vulnerable. Nemo's men are of no use against Kiya, as has been proven already; it may be that she can put them into some kind of trance, or sleep.
Night fell, and still the others did not return. I followed my plan, and laid the Bible across the threshold so she could not cross it. It turned out to be a needless gesture, for she did not come. Dr. Carter, however, awoke with a start and looked about wildly. "Where is she...is she here?" he asked.
"No, no," I told him. "Calm yourself, good friend. She is not here; we are safe."
His face contorted in anxiety. "We may be, but others are not." He was breathing heavily, and I noticed in shock that his canine teeth had grown a bit longer and sharper.
Skinner, too, awoke then. "Bess! Bess, where -- ?"
"It's all right, Skinner, she's not here."
"But where are they? Where is he?"
Only then did I put their words together and realize what they meant. God in heaven, help us...she's got Tom!
later
I am happy to report that things are not quite as bad as I made them out to be. That's not to say that they are going precisely well, but all is not lost.
It was not until close to dawn when the searching party returned. Edward carried the unconscious Tom in his massive arms; Tom's arms were hanging limply at his sides, his throat clearly punctured. Mina had flown ahead in her bat form, to prepare a bed in which he could rest and to fill Skinner and myself in on what had transpired. (We decided not to tell Dr. Carter, as he was already on his way back to sleep, and did not need to be further disturbed.)
They had guessed that Kiya was hiding within her tomb, so they set off in that direction. At their approach, she had roused and, sensing danger, summoned aid.
Mina explained that Dracula, in addition to being able to change his own shape, was also able to control certain other creatures, such as wolves. Therefore, she was not entirely surprised when a small army of scorpions appeared to attack them.
"We must be close," she had called to the men. They had borrowed Dr. Carter's horses for the trip to the tomb, which lay a fair way from his rest house on the West Bank, but these grew panicked at the sight of the deadly insects. The four searchers had little choice but to dismount and allow the horses to run free; they fled in the direction of the river and we assume they returned to where they are normally kept.
Tom, never far from his Winchester, had tried shooting the little monsters. He did manage to hit a few, but for the most part, the gunshots only scattered the group. Nemo and Henry crushed a small number under their boots; Henry paused long enough to drink his formula, for Edward's larger feet could destroy more of the scorpions, and Mina, in bat guise, actually condescended to eat some of them. "Disgusting," she acknowledged, "but effective."
The scorpion invasion delayed them nearly a full hour, and the sun drew ever nearer the horizon. They still had some distance to go and, now without mounts, had to travel on foot. By the time they actually reached the Tomb of the Door of the Horse, the sun had nearly set.
A fog drifted in from out of nowhere. It is, as Mina explains, another trick of the full vampire to be able to summon certain kinds of weather, such as storm and fog. The fog Kiya now called to her was so thick that the companions lost sight of one another entirely. Egypt itself was obscured by a mass of silver-grey. They wandered, lost, and before they were reunited it was too late. The sun was down.
For the rest of the tale, we were forced to wait until Tom awakened. He looked terribly sick, far worse than he had when he had been pushed off of Notre Dame Cathedral -- and that is saying something. When he had recovered his senses, he was able to relate his version of events.
In the fog, he had stumbled over the sands in what he believed was the direction of the tomb. He reached out blindly with both hands and, to his surprise, grasped the hand of another. "Mina? Nemo?" he had guessed.
There was no answer, but the hand which now gripped his pulled him forward. The touch was light, but he said he felt powerless to resist. In a moment, he found himself entering the tomb. Kiya stood before him, smiling mysteriously.
"Now I understand why Carter didn't resist her," he admitted. "She just turned me to jelly."
She was speaking to him, soft and low, but she must have realized after a moment that he couldn't understand a word she was saying. She then resorted to simply caressing his smooth face in her long, slender hands, which slid down to unbutton his shirt. She was fully as tall as he, and had no difficulty bringing her mouth to his throat.
"It was an odd sensation," he recalled later. "I knew what she was doing, I knew what it meant...but I didn't actually care. I couldn't have resisted her if I'd tried. It was like some part of me wanted it."
Once she had drunk of him, Tom could understand her words.
"I have awaited you for thousands of years," she said. "I thought it was the other -- the one who first awakened me -- but it was you. I knew it when first I saw you. You are mine forever. Together we will rule Egypt once again, and nothing will come between us but the night. I will kill all who would keep you from me."
He just stared into her black eyes. She smiled again.
"You will obey me. When I call you to me, there is nothing on earth that can keep you from answering the summons. You belong to me as surely as I belong to Egypt. Thus we seal our bond."
She put both hands on his shoulders and, with that strength beyond imagining, pushed him to his knees. Bending over him, she slashed her breast with her fingernail. She began to bleed, and fluidly, she pressed his face to her bosom to make him drink of her.
When he told us this, Mina gave a kind of soft moan. I could almost see the ghost of Dracula reflected in her haunted eyes; Tom's story was like reliving history for her. Edward, who was still among us, curled one hulking arm around her trembling form.
At length Kiya pulled Tom away from her, laughing. "Not so much, my love, as yet," she said. "But soon. Soon all will be finished. For now, come with me." She raised him to his feet again and kissed him, then pulled him across the room to her unmarked coffin. They climbed into it and she closed the lid.
Tom declined to elaborate any further. Mina looked surprised at this part of the story, for it was outside of her experience. None of us, save Tom himself, are entirely certain what happened once the coffin lid was closed, and while I'm sure we all have our theories, I would...rather not contemplate what may have occurred.
In any case, the fog eventually lifted, and the other three made their way to the tomb. Seeing no evidence that Kiya was there, Edward moved to pull the lid from the coffin. She somehow escaped, for only Tom lay inside, half asleep. He was in no state to answer questions or make any sort of coherent sense, so they decided to bring him back to the ship without delay. To their great surprise, they encountered no interference.
The sun has fully risen now. Tom, Skinner, and Dr. Carter all sleep. The sleep -- especially Tom's -- is most unnatural; they hardly seem to even breathe. Henry says we must all rest, for we have been awake all night and will be in no condition to fight Kiya if she comes for Tom after sundown.