CHAPTER XXVIII

JONATHAN HARKER'S JOURNAL

13 November, evening.-

We are on the train back to Paris, and will arrive there shortly. I would like to use this chance to conclude this cursed journal, where I have been keeping my most gruesome of my fears for months. The count is defeated- destroyed, and nothing more can stand between me and my darling Mina. How much damage he caused? God knows what he was been doing in London that we do not know of. Van Helsing said that even if there were undead that we did not destroy, they are no more, now that they have no master.

Before I say 'fin', however, I need to tell of the discussion our company had today with Professor Abraham.

At noon the train stopped at a station, so we had time to have lunch in a nice small restaurant and enjoy the beauty of the French province. After that, we returned to the train, and some time after it started Van Helsing told us to gather round.

'Fellows, our journey has ended, and soon we shall part, each go to his own way. And yet, one secret has still not been revealed. It is that letter.'

And he took out Mr Morris' letter, folded twice, red and dirty now of dried blood.

'I will now open the letter and read it together with you.'

'Professor! You must not do so!' Lord Godalming interrupted him with much protest. 'Do you not precious his memory? We do not hold the right to read this!'

'I think you, his best friend and soul-mate, more than anyone else hold the right to read what he had to say before he died.'

'I… I do not wish to listen to this.' If there was any moment when Arthur insisted more on his noble behavior, this was the moment.

'I would not listen to that, either.' Dr Seward's mind was made. His heart was with Godalming. 'You are my mentor, you taught me everything I know, but I will not accept such unrespectful act of breaking into one's privacy.'

Suddenly Mina, who was sitting quietly, declared: - 'I am ready to listen.'

I looked in her face, and wished I knew what was on the mind of my dear one at that moment.

'I am staying also.' - I could not pick a side other than Mina's.

Jack and Art stood up from their seats and moved to another cab. For a few minutes we were sitting silently. Then I said: 'Are we about to begin?'

'Don't you want to wait until your fellows return?'

Surprised as I was by this remark, I understood what he meant when less than a minute later the two returned, and regained their places.

'If trusting you is a crime'- Godalming referred to the professor, 'Then I am now the biggest of criminals.'

The professor shook his head in response, opened the letter, and stated reading it to us aloud:

QUINCEY MORRIS' LETTER

Whoever finds this letter, please send it to Texas, USA, and make sure it reaches the hands of Rachel Morris, or Rachel Owens, what ever her name now is.

Rachel! If you received this letter, this means I am no longer among the living. I have given a terrible oath, that if I remain alive after all this ends; I will burn this letter, and return to Texas as soon as find a ship heading there from London.

But I am only in the hands of God now, and I do not know what will be my fate, so I write this letter.

If you only knew what I went through in the last half year! I am now so far away, in the heart of a wild land. I stand before a great danger. And this all is a punishment, a punishment from God for my sins… You do not know how much I regret that I ever left you and my son. There is nothing I wish more than to be with you now, in Texas, in that heaven you call home.

How much time has passed since I abandoned you? Five years? Because it seems like a whole eternity has passed.

What a coward I was! I, who feared nothing and no one on this earth, ran without any shame from such simple things as happiness, as love!

Yes, I sinned, Rachel. I sinned, forgetting about you, forgetting about my child, about the life I had in Texas. I started a new life in England, made new friends, gained a small fortune. My heart betrayed me, and I fell in love with a young lady from London. I thank the Lord that her heart belonged to another, so He prevented me from committing a more terrible sin. How unworthy I am of the friends I gained through those years, and yet… If only you knew them. Each and every one of them is gold. Their hearts are the purest and the bravest I had a chance to know. They all are here in Transylvania, the land where the Devil spreads his claws, as I write these words. Together with me they share the danger, the pain, the horror.

Do you remember the evil Count, the powerful Vampire I told you once about? The one my family was fighting throughout centuries? Yes. God chose to punish me through the hands of the monster. It killed the lady my heart wished for, and other women as well. He wants to spread chaos across the earth.

But I will not let him! No, not while my fist can hold a sword, and the blood of a Belmont runs in my veins! I will die, if that be needed, and only to stop that monster.

I am finishing this letter, my darling Rachel, because the hunt shall soon begin.

Again I say, if you have received this letter, then I am dead. Please don't cry, our love could never live.

One thing, only one I will ask of you- please, forgive me. I made a terrible mistake and from all my heart I regret it. But it is now too late, fate has been decided.

Forgive me; please do not tell young John that his father was heartless man. Tell him he was a good man, but a coward. A warrior who won all his battles, but would not accept his reward, because he feared that when there will be no more battles for him to fight, his life would become meaningless.

Loving you now more than ever, Quincey Morris.

October 30.

We could not speak after Van Helsing finished reading the letter. We were all too shocked from the content of it.

'This is too terrible to be true… Quincey had a wife and a child in Texas, and he never even told us!' Lord Godalming's response was just. I could understand him; Quincey was his best friend for five years, how could he hide such a thing from him?

'It is true'- Seward added, 'He never told us much about his life in Texas.'

'My friends.' The professor stood up and circled through our faces, 'It is not the time to discuss Mr Morris and his previous life. There are too many questions that rise in my head from reading this. What stands now above all other commitments is delivering this letter to Madam Rachel Owens.'

'I will make sure the letter reaches its destination, professor.' Godalming responded.

'No, Arthur, I will deliver this letter myself. Madam Owens might be able to answer the questions that rise from this letter. What did he mean, by saying that Belmont blood runs in his veins? How could it be, that he told his wife about the Count many years before we discovered anything about him? Is that true that his family was indeed fighting Dracula for centuries? That fellow had known many things he would not tell us of. But why? We agreed not to hide anything from each other.'

'So you are preparing to sail to Texas, alone?' John sure did not seem satisfied from that idea.

'Yes, alone; that is, if none of you gives me the honor of keeping me company.'

Everybody realized that Van Helsing's answer was rather an offer than a remark. We looked at each other with questioning looks.

'Mina, I…' I whispered to her ear.

'I think you already had enough adventures for the rest of your life, hadn't you?'

I smiled. It was as if she read my mind.

'I have much work that I must finish in Britain, but… I must know the truth about Quincey.' The professor shook his head in agreement with Godalming's words.

'The work in the asylum can wait. Wherever you go, I go, professor!'

'Good. So it is decided. Jonathan and Madam Mina will stay in London, and the three of us will take a ship to the United States.'

I feel a bit sorry that I can not join the professor in his journey to the States, but now that there is no more a danger over my head and the heads of the dear to me, it is time for me to return to my regular life. So here I say:-

"End"