Dracula (A Modern Telling) by Victor Methos Read Free Book Online Page A

great, bass howl. As if responding to it, I heard the howl of wolves in the surrounding hills. Within minutes, a pack of them poured into the courtyard.
    As they circled the woman, she began screaming again, but this time not for her child. The wolves licked their teeth and I was reminded of the three women.
    “Don’t do this,” I shouted in the direction of the Count’s room. “Let her go!”
    The wolves lunged. One bit into her leg and even in the dark night I could see the blood pouring from her, black in the moonlight. Another jumped onto her back and she was flung forward onto the ground as a third bit into her scalp and she screamed a shriek that turned me cold.
    “Count, Count don’t do this! Let her go. Count!”

June 25 th
     
     
    I remember once I was hiking through the Andes. We couldn’t reach our destination by dark so we had to set up camp on the side of a mountain in snow that was waist deep. We were freezing that night and had nothing to warm us but a few cups of hot tea. I remember when the sun came up that morning, how filled with joy, just pure joy, I was at seeing the daylight. I knew that someone had to suffer in the night to truly appreciate how glorious the daylight could be.
    That’s how I felt now as the beams of light broke through the window and flooded my room.
    I was comforted in daylight because I never once saw the Count or the women during the day. I was left almost completely alone. The only exception were the roadies that I would sometimes see working in the courtyard or somewhere like that.
    I thought about escape the entire night. But the only place I could see to escape from is where the Count leaves at night: through the window. If he does it, is it possible that I can do it to? The worst that can happen is that I fall and die or break my legs and those awful wolves would be back. It doesn’t matter. Maybe if there is a God, he would accept me. Whatever the outcome, it’ll be better than just waiting here for those three women to finally get a hold of me and tear me apart.
    If this is my last entry, Mina, I love you so much. I didn’t appreciate how much your love meant to me until I didn’t have it with me anymore. I’m so sorry for this. For the life we should’ve had. Those children you dream about are our children, that house you see is our house. We were the old people on the porch sipping lemonade after a lifetime together. That was our life. But I don’t think it will happen now, and I’m just so sorry.
     

June 25 th , Continued.
     
     
    I’m in a quiet section of the house. I crawled out of my window, staring down at the ground the whole time. It made me dizzy and I realized how stupid that was so I looked straight ahead into the mansion walls instead. I can’t guess as to how high up I was, but it had to have been at least four or five stories , with the courtyard below.
    The exterior was comprised of large, mortared stones, and I slipped off my shoes and socks for better grip. If I went really slow, I could climb one or two steps at a time going down. I climbed a few stones and then went to the right to an open window. I crawled in and saw that it wasn’t much different from my room; a guest room. The furniture was the same: old and with portraits of people that looked like the Count. Including a woman that could easily have been my Mina. It’s amazing how similar people can look, even from different centuries.
    One portrait struck me in particular , that of a man in medieval clothing who looked exactly like the Count. But the painting appeared hundreds of years old and was faded and tattered. I wondered if it were possible that one of his ancestors looked that similar to him, or if he had just had a painting done of him in medieval clothing.
    I snuck out into the hallway and looked down both sides of the corridor. No one was around. I made my way down the staircase. I was in a part of the mansion that seemed cut off from the rest of it. I couldn’t see