chapter 3

At the asylum, Doctor Seward, the administrator of the asylum was curious about the changing behaviour of one of his patients. A Mr R M Renfield, who was fifty nine and a man of great physical strength. Doctor Seward described the man as "morbidly excitable" and had "periods of gloom ending in some fixed idea", which the doctor was unable to determine. He believed Renfield to be potentially dangerous and advised me to keep a closer watch upon him.
As I watched Renfield, his behaviour became more and more curious. I reported this to doctor Seward. Enfield had developed qualities of selfishness, secrecy and dubiousness; in addition, he had pets of odd sorts. His hobby was catching flies and he had a large number of them. Mr Seward demanded that Enfield got rid of them. Renfield asked for a respite of three days. Two weeks later, Renfield was interested in spiders and had several bug fellows in a box. He was feeding the flies to the spiders and also munching on the flies himself. Ten days later, the spiders were becoming a great nuisance and Seward ordered Renfield to get rid of them. As Seward missed this demand, a fly buzzed into the room. Renfield caught it and ate it enthusiastically. Renfield had a notebook in which whole pages were filled with masses of numbers, as if it is an account book. I assumed he was totalling up the number of flies he had eaten.
A week later Seward discovered that Renfield also had a pet sparrow and that Renfield's supply of spiders had diminished; it would seem tat Renfield also maintained a supply of flies for the spiders by tempting them with pieces of food. About ten days later, I reported to Seward that Renfield had a 'whole colony of sparrows' and that the supply of flies and spiders was almost depleted.
Renfield begged Seward for a nice little kitten which he can "feed - and feed - and feed." Seward refused Renfield's request . Renfield immediately became hostile and threatening. Seward feared that Renfield was an "undeveloped homicidal maniac". A few hours later, Renfield was sitting in a corner, gnawing on his fingers. He immediately begged for a kitten again. His request was refused yet again.
The next day, I spied Renfield spreading sugar on the window sill, evidently trying to catch flies again. The room was entirely empty of birds. Renfield told us they had all flown away. Seward is disconcerted, however, when he sees a few features and some blood on Enfield's pillow.
A few hours layer, I espied on Renfield, who had vomited and disgorged a large quantity of features. That evening Doctor Seward ordered that Renfield was to be given a strong opiate to make him sleep. Seward decided to classify Renfield as a "zoophagus (life eating) maniac". Seward defined this phenomenon as a person who tries to "absorb as many lives as he can," one who has laid himself out to achieve it in a cumulative way. Seward was thrilled with the possibility that he might advance his chosen branch of science and this become famous.

Night after night, I watched Renfield's behaviour. Dr Seward's presence greatly enhanced his strange behaviour. some nights, when we were alone I could have some quite rational, lucid conversations with the man. When doctor Seward was there he would often become violent, sometimes howling loudly like wolf, especially near noon. He was very contented catching flies and eating them. He reaped quite a harvest of them and kept them in a little tin box.
At sunset, Renfield could throw away his flies and other insects and he could try to grab the sun as it sunk on the horizon. Doctor Seward wondered if the sun (or indeed the moon) had any influence on Renfield's paroxysms of sudden passion.

Renfield could tell there was something different about me. He said that sometimes, in the darkest part of the night, his lord and master would come to visit him. He would come in his animal form to that he could get close without detection. He had bestowed a power upon Renfield that enabled him to take the shape of a large dog. As such Renfield could escape the asylum undetected.
Renfield would assist his master in acquiring suitable victims. He would lure them to his master's temporary home, an old forgotten manor on the moors. Apparently his master was not allowed to invite anyone there himself. Renfield would invite the victims over the threshold and serve them food and wine while they wait for his master to arrive.
Then as morning approached, Renfield could turn himself back into his dog form again and return to the asylum, with no one ever realising he had gone.
I was keen to meet Renfield's master for myself. Who was he, what was he doing in the Whitby area and what are his future plans?
Whoever he was, Renfield's master's presence was surrounded by all kinds of mysteries.
The newspaper talked of a speight of new attacks around town. Some of them were focused around the graveyard near the abbey. The victims all had their throats ripped out and their bodies had been drained of any blood.
The newspaper speculated about the attacks. They were quite unlike anything the town had faced before. I was always careful to hide my victims after I had satiated myself. This new creature did nothing to hide his deplorable crimes.
Some people were so terrified of the nocturnal danger that they moved away. Others protected themselves with folklore by wearing garlic around their necks. They would place garlic garlands around and over their doors and more garlic garlands around their windows.
Some prayed in St Mary's church daily for protection and salvation, yet others lost their faith altogether in the belief that the evil they faced was greater than any religion.

One night, I was one of the privileged few to get invited, but Renfield to meet his master at his moorland manor.
I did not know what to expect. A carriage and horse was sent to pick me up. As I got in I felt as if I was someone important.
I got out of the carriage at my destination and turned around to thank the heavily cloaked driver. I shivered as a saw the shape of a man, but he had no face.
Renfield was glad to see me. He ushered me into the house. The dining table was laid out for a big feast, but that kind of food did not interest me. Renfield took my cloak and I stood by the fire warming my hands on the roaring fire in the grate.

He appeared by my side swiftly and silently. He sniffed me suspiciously. He knew I was different to other men in that first moment.
He introduced himself as Count Alucard, on a visit from Wallachia, an area of Romania close to the Transylvanian border. He had come to England to escape the dangerous rumours and speculation from his homeland. There was a Mr Van-Helsing who was pursuing him. He wanted to destroy the count once and for all and he had the means to do it.
Alucard stood about seven feet tall. His figure was slim and elegant. He had a full head of shiny black hair that contrasted with his pale skin. His eyes were the darkest brown and I could understand a lady swooning in front of those mesmerising organs of sight. He was dressed in a black evening suit, complete with a white waistcoat, winged collar and black ribbon tie.
I, in contrast must have looked very much the poor relation. I had dressed for the occasion, but I could not afford fancy silks and satins. I had on a brown tweed suit and a rough cotton shirt that had seen better days. I had cleaned my scuffed shoes, but they still had holes in them.
Alucard said he could help me and my kind. He said we could work together to benefit us both.
My kind was less well known and, although I could only work at night I could lure hapless victims to their deaths much more readily than he could.
He had charm and charisma. He could even use mesmerism to his own ends, but that was no use, if his intended victim refused to invite him in or refused to leave the house. No one would suspect me of getting up to no good!

And so it was for another 15 years or so. Alucard, the vampire, otherwise known as the one and only Count Dracula would have his fill of the victim first. He would suck them dry of their blood, usually by means of two very small holes in the carotid artery that he made with his sharpened canine teeth. I would follow and suck all the fat from the body with my specially adapted teeth and tongue.
It was then up to me to dispose of the body so that it would not be found.

Alucard was satisfied with the arrangement. Van-Helsing lost his trail. I grew fat once again on the fruit of my victims.
With Alucard's help I was able to better myself. I earned more money and invested it well.

Van-Helsing eventually caught up with Alucard in the spring of 1904. He was unable to kill him outright, but he was able to make him safe by hammering a stake into his heart. Alucard was not dead, but he was in a perpetual stasis until such a time that someone tried to remove that stake.

I, myself managed to escape capture. I returned to the town, moved to the southern shore on the harbour, underneath the abbey (and closer to the graveyard) to a more expensive residence, but also one that would not bring me too much attention.