Dracula engsub

CHAPTER 11: Lucy Changes Some More

Van Helsing was please by Dr. Seward's promise. "I will give you one specific answer," he said. "The small holes in the local people's throats were not made by the creature that bit Miss Lucy." He paused. "They were made by Miss Lucy herself."

"Professor, are you mad?" Dr. Seward exclaimed.

"I can prove the things I say," Van Helsing said. "Come with me tonight to the cemetery." He took something out of his pocket. "I managed to get the key to the tomb."

Dr. Seward had never been more confused.. However, he trusted nad respected his old teavher more than anyone else in the world, so he agreed to go. He would try to believe. He would try to have faith.

In Lucy's tomb that night, Dr. Seward watched as Van Helsing unscrewed Lucy's coffin and opened the lid. The coffin was empty.

"Proof enough?" Van Helsing asked.

"Could have been a body snatcher," John Seward replied.

"All right," Van Helsing said. "I will give you more proof."

That night they waited for Lucy's return. Something white came through the trees, but it was not Lucy. It was a child. Van Helsing suspected that Lucy was not far away, and had probably been chasing the child. Luckily the child was not harmed, only tired and dirty and scared. Van Helsing felt their first priority had to be to take the child to the police, out of harm's way. "I think that is an excellent idea," said Dr. Seward. He was not convinced about Van Helsing's theory about Lucy.

The next morning Dr. Seward returned with Van Helsing to the tomb, and this time Lucy was in her coffin. She was, if possible, even more beautiful than she had been while alive. Her cheeks were pink and her lips were bright red.

"Convinced yet?" Van Helsing said.

"Well," Seward said uncertainly, "maybe the body snatcher returned her."

"This is not the face of a dead woman." Dr. Van Helsing said. He pulled back Lucy's lips to reveal long, sharp white teeth. "But these are the teeth that have been biting the local people. " As he spoke, he arranged some garlic around the coffin, and laid a crucifix around Lucy's neck. "All right, John. Here is the plain truth, all of it: Lucy was bitten by a vampire when she was sleepwalking. Now she is a vampire. And I must kill her in her sleep."

"Go on," Dr. Seward said, his mind spinning.

"I must drive a stake through her heart. I must do this to her first and then to the great vampire who did this to her. But not tonight. We need to break the news to Arthur first."

"Arthur!" Dr. Seward exclaimed. "We cannot tell him. He will not be able to take this news."

Van Helsing disagreed. "We have to tell him. He senses something is wrong, but does not know what. This leaves him filled with anger and worry. In that state he will never heal. He must know the truth."

The next night, as requested, Dr. Seward gathered Morris and Arthur and met Van Helsing at his hotel.

"Do you trust me?"Van Helsing asked the three men standing before him. "Will you support me in doing whatever it is that I must do?"

John Seward, already  knowing of the plan, silently bowed his head. Morris said, "I don't know what's going on here, but I trust the professor and swear he's honest, and that's good enough for me. I'm in."

Arthur was not as easily convinced. "I dom't mean to be difficult," he said, "but I am a Christian and a gentleman. If you can assure me that what you intend does not go against either of those two things, then I will support you."

"I accept your limitation," Van Helsing said. "Follow me."

As Van Helsing led the men into the church-yard where Lucy was burried, Arthur grew more and more tense. "Look here," he said, grabbing Van Helsing's arm. "What are we doing?"

Van Helsing spoke directly. "we are going to go into Lucy's tome and open her coffin."

"Absolutely not!" Arthur cried.

"Why?" Van Helsing asked. "If she is dead, there can be no harm to her."

"If?" Arthur asked wildly. "Do you think she might not be dead? Was there a mistake? Was she burried alive?"

"She is not alive," Van Helsing explained patiently. "But she may very well be undead."

Arthur looked as if he might cut off Van Helsing's head. "I warn you, sir," he said quitely. "I have a duty to protect her grave, and by God I shall do it."

"I have a duty, too," Van Helsing replied. "I have a duty to others, to you, and a duty to the dead, and by God I shall do it. All I ask is that you come with me, that you look and listen, and then decide."

Arthur agreed.