Dracula engsub

CHAPTER 16: Mina Is Burned by the Bread

The men decided they would go to the house in Piccadilly, and that Van Helsing, Dr. Seward, and Jonathan would remain there while Lord Godalming and Quincey Morris left to find the coffins at various other locations and destroy them. Is was possible, Van Helsing said, that the count might show up at Piccadilly during the day in human form, in which case they would confront him then.

Mina, who was still too sick to travel, would be safe at the asylum until sunset. The men would be sure to return before then. still, just to be safe, Van Helsing spread garlic and crucifixes around her room. He then took out a piece of sacred wafer and touched it to her forehead.

When the bread touched her skin, Mina let out a fearful scream that froze everyone's hearts. the wafer had burned into her flesh, branding her as if it were a piece of white-hot metal!

Everyone realized at once what that meant: The count had truly poisoned her, and she was well on her way to becoming one with him. Sinking to her knees, she cried, "Unclean! Unclean! I must now bear this mark of shame upon my forehead!"

Van Helsing tried to comfort her. "I know that scar will vanish just as soon as this moster that is still upon us vanishes, too. Your forehead will someday be as pure as the heart we still know."

Before heading to Piccadilly, the men stopped briefly at Carfax to sterilize it, scattering pieces of sacred wafer into all the boxes there. And, once at Piccadilly, they followed the plan they had come up with. Lord Godalming pretended to be the owner, locked out of his home. The others watched from a park across the street as a locksmith picked the lock. The police actually passed by on the sidewalk and tipped their hats, wishing the burglar Lord Godalming and the locksmith a good day! It was all in how you acted, the men realized.

Once the men were inside with the door pulled closed behing them, they did a quick search. The count was not there, but they did find eight more boxes and sterilized them all. The ninth box was missing, but they found many important papers, as well as keys to other houses where more boxes od earth were being stored.

Lord Godalming and Quincey Morris headed out to destroy the remaining boxes at the other house, and time seemed to crawl while Jonathan and Van Helsing awaited their return. To pass the hours, Van Helsing told Dr. Seward and Jonathan a bit more about the count. A long time ago, Van Helsing explained, this monster had actually been a wonderful man - a soldier, a statesman, and a scientist.

Van Helsing's story was interupted by a knock on the door. It was a boy delivering a message by telegraph. Van Helsing opened the door and the boy handed the, a piece of paper. It was from Mina.

'LOOK OUT FOR D,' the telegraph said. 'HE HAS JUST LEFT CARFAX AND SEEMS TO BE HEADED YOUR WAY.'

"Let him come!" Jonathan cried. "I can't wait to wipe this brute off the face of the earth. I would sell my soul to do it!"

"Do not say such things," Van Helsing warned him. "No one is going to sell their soul. We are going to fight this thing head-on."

Morris and Godalming returned and confirmed that the boxes of earth in Bermondsey and Mile End had been destroyed. But just then, the men could hear a key softly being turned in the recently picked lock of the front door.

Without a word, the men instantly came together as a team and took their planned positions, their crucifixes and wafers held tightly in their hands. The seconds seemed to passs with nightmarish slowness. Soon, careful steps came along the hall. The count was clearly prepared for some sort of surprise.

With a single leap he jumped into the room, running past them like a pather before anyone could stop him. Seeing them, he snarled horribly and show his teeth. Jonathan acted first, taking a knife and leaping at the count. But the count was quick and jumped backward, avoiding the blade except for a piece of his coat. Oddly, gold pieces fell from the hole and tumbled to the floor.

A strange look of hate and anger came over the count's face. His pale skin become greenish yellow and his eyes burned. Suddenly he ducked under Jonathan arms, scooped up some of the gold coins, and threw himself out the window, shattering the glass. Falling to the ground below, the count sprang up, unhurt, ran across the yard, and pushed open the barn door at the end of the property.

He turned to screamed up at them, "You hope to outwit me! You think that by purifying the boxes you have left me without a place to rest, but I have more! My revenge has just begun! I have spread it over centuries and time is on my side! Your women have fallen already and through them you and others shall also e meni! All of you shall do my bidding! I shall be your master!" 

With a scornful sneer, he entered the barn and shut the door behind him. The men ran after him and searched the barn, but by that time the count was gone. Van Helsing was not discouraged. "We have learned much," he said. "Clearly, he fears us, and he fears time. If he didn't, why would he hurry so? Why take those coins? We are making progress. We will make some more tomorrow. Only one box of earth remains."

The fear, of course, was that the one final box could remain hidden for years, and that Mina would get sicker and sicker until she was completely lost to the count. They were racing against the clock.

The men returned to the asylum where, that night over dinner, Mina made a surprising statement. She reminded them that while all of them were sad and suffering, the count was the saddest case of all. "Just thick how happy he will be when the evil part of him is destroyed so that his good part can live on forever," she said. "You must be kind to him in this way. too." She paused, and for a moment a scar on her forehead seemed to glow as an ever brighter reminder. "I may need similar pity someday. Amd I hope you will not deny it to me. You must promise me that, should the time ever come when I am so changed that it is better for me to die, you will, without a moment's delay, do whatever if necessary to give me peace."

There was a horrible silence. Quincey Morris was the first to respond. "I promise you, Mina, I will not flinch from the terrible thing you have asked us to do."

"My true friend," Mina said, kissing his hand.

"And must I, too, make such a promise, wife?" Jonathan asked.

"You most of all, my dearest," she replied.