Dracula (A Modern Telling) (12 page)

When I turned away for a moment, she inhaled as much as she could until I physically took it away from her.

When the lead singer of this band came out, the crowd went into a frenzy. The screaming was actually louder than the music and I had to cover my ears. The singer swaggered on stage and reminded me of a muscular Jim Morrison. He was wearing leather pants and no shirt and moved his hips in rhythm to music, something that made the women in the audience swoon.

At one point, he looked out into the audience and said, “This is for a very special lady.” It seemed almost like he was looking directly at Lucy
, but it had to have been a mistake because I asked her about it and she said she’s never met him before in her life.

We lasted the entire concert and the encore
, despite my begging Lucy for us to go. I was drenched in sweat from the sheer heat of that many people crammed into a single space and I reeked of marijuana and fog machine. As we were leaving, a black man in a sleeveless shirt came up to us.

“The Cou
nt has asked that you come backstage, if you want to.”

The girls squealed
, and before I could protest Lucy was bounding behind the man, headed backstage. I figured it was better for me to go with her than leave her at the clutches of musicians after a concert.

The backstage area was dark and lit only with a black
light. The furniture glowed crimson under the glare and gave one a disoriented feeling. We went through several rooms, all filled with the most beautiful people I had ever seen: both men and women. We got to a back area where the band was throwing a party. No music was playing, thank goodness. My eardrums were aching and I figured everyone else’s were too. Unfortunately, we were there only a minute when loud metal started playing over the speakers.

The girls jum
ped into the party but the man said that Lucy should come with him. I followed her to a back room. No music was playing here and there were only three figures: the lead singer of the band, and three women who sat at his feet like concubines to some ancient king.

“The girl you asked for,” the man said before turning and leaving.

“What’s your name, child?” the singer asked.

“Lucy.”

“Lucy, Lucy. Come here, Lucy.”

She did as she was asked and the singer placed a hand gently on her breast. “I’ve been waiting for you, Lucy.”

“Excuse me,” I said, “she’s with me.”

The man kept his gaze on
Lucy a long time before turning to me. “Of course. Where are my manners?” He walked over to me and held out his hand. “Vlad.”

“Dr. Seward.”

His hand was cold, far colder than it should have been considering he had been on a hot stage for two hours. And his grip was so strong I thought he might break my hand. Out of pride, I didn’t grimace but instead just wiggled out of the handshake, which caused him to grin.

             
“Thank you for coming to my concert,” he said, walking back to Lucy. “I hope it was enjoyable.”

“I loved it,” Lucy said. “I’ve loved your music since your first album. I listen to it when I’m alone and it feels like you’re speaking directly to me.
Especially that song
Love in the Ages
. That’s my favorite song of all time. It feels like you’re singing that to me.”

“Maybe I am?” he said with a smile.

One of the girls rose and walked toward me. She had raven hair and large, fake breasts, her outfit revealing enough that I didn’t feel it proper for me to look down to her body. She smiled as she rubbed her hands over my chest.

“And what’s your name?” she said.

“Dr—Jack. Just Jack.”

“I’ve always liked that name. It’s so simple. So
many people try to be complex. I love simplicity when I find it.”

She spoke with the hint of an accent and in
a far more erudite manner than I thought she would. It threw me off so I wasn’t prepared when she pushed me down onto a velvet couch and lay on top of me, her long hair whispering on the skin of my face as she went down to my chest.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the Count discussing something with Lucy and then Lucy following him to another room.

“Wait,” I said, trying to get up. But the woman pushed me back down. Her lips came to within an inch of mine and I inhaled her breath. It was sweet, like sugar, but had an underlying staleness to it.

“Let them go,” she said. “We can have our own fun.”

She kissed me viciously, biting my lower lip and pulling so hard I thought she would tear the skin. My shirt was torn off my body and I heard the rip but didn’t care. I was gazing into her crystal eyes and there was nothing more in the world I wanted to do right then than make love to this woman.

Sliding down my body like a snake, she undid my belt and pulled it off. Unbuttoning
my pants and dragging them down, she ran her hands over my boxers. I lay back, staring absently at the ceiling, when I heard a scream from the other room.

Suddenly, I was
forced back to exactly where I was. It seemed like a glow had been emanating from everything in the room while the girl was kissing me, but the scream snapped me out of it. Then I saw the chipping walls and the dirty floors.

I pushed the woman off of me.

“No, make love to me,” she said. I again pushed her off of me and she growled at me like an animal. I leapt off the couch.

“Stay
the fuck away from me,” I said, pulling up my pants and running to the door I had seen Lucy and the Count go through.

In a blink, the woman was in front of me. I hadn’t seen her run there.
She just appeared. It startled me, but the worry I had over the scream was more powerful and I stepped around her and grasped the doorknob.

The woman’s hand was over mine and she bent down and kissed each
of my fingers, removing them from the doorknob with the strength of a pro-wrestler.

“Get
… away,” I said.

“You don’t want that. You want to
be inside me. To feel how wet I am.” She slipped off her clothes and they fell softly to the floor. I took a step back. “Don’t you want to make love to me, Jack? Don’t you find me attractive?”

She was sensual in a way I haven’t seen in any other woman. Every move was intended to bring out desire in a man, every gesture of her lips, the way she dragged the “s” in all her words
. It was … intoxicating.

But there was also something about her that was extremely unsettling. Like watching a sunset when it should be morning.

“No, I want to see Lucy.”

“She’s fine. The Count will take good care of her.”

I tried to jerk away but she pulled me in with such force it almost knocked the wind out of me.

“Lucy!” I shouted. “Let’s go. Now. Lucy!”

The woman put her finger to my lips and said, “Shhh.” I nearly fell over. Her hand came up and her fingers slinked down my face like teardrops and I couldn’t move, felt that I didn’t want to move. She kissed me again and then her hands came up to my neck and I heard her yelp, like a cat in pain. She pulled away, holding her hand, and I thought that she had cut it on something. But nothing was on my neck but the crucifix my mother had given me.

The door opened and the Count stood there. “What’s going on?”

I brushed past him into the room. It was empty.

“Where’s Lucy?”

“She left.”

“Left where?”

“Home, I would assume. Would you like Charlene to drive you, Doctor? You don’t appear so well. As if you’ve seen a ghost.”

I looked to the women and then ran out of there as quickly as I could.

September 8

I drove to Lucy’s house in an absolute panic. This was after about thirty calls to her cell phone and two hours of searching everywhere nearby the stadium. I rang the doorbell and pounded on the door before Lucy’s mother answered.

“Dr. Seward?”

“Please tell me Lucy is here.”

“Yes, of course. She’s upstairs asleep.”

I exhaled a sigh of relief. “Oh, oh you have no idea how relieved that makes me. We got separated at the concert. How did she get home?”

“Some girls dropped her off. She’s sound asleep right now though so you’ll have to ask her in the morning.”

“That’s fine, thanks. Sorry to wake you.”

As I turned toward my car, I glanced up to Lucy’s room and saw a shadow in the window just before the blinds went down. I got into my car and turned it on before I realized that Van Helsing had asked me specifically to stay with her all night. I turned the car off and knocked on the door again.

“I’m sorry, Ms. Westerna, but I have to stay here tonight.”

“Why?”

“Just keeping an eye on Lucy. Dr. Van Helsing asked me to do it and I think he’d be bothered if I didn’t. I can just sleep on the couch.”

“No, that’s all right we have a guest bedroom. Come in.”

I followed her in and she showed me the guest bedroom which thankfully was right next to Lucy’s upstairs. Once her mother had left me, I went to Lucy’s room and opened the door.

She was sitting up in bed, staring at the walls. I came and sat down next to her.

“You know I looked for you for two hours.”

“Sorry, I … I lost track of time.”

“What were you doing?”

She paused. “I don’t really know.”

“You don’t know what you were doing?”

“No.”

“Maybe we should call the police?”

“And say what, Jack? That I was backstage and I don’t remember the drive home after that? Not unusual considering how much I drank and smoked.”

I exhaled, relieved to just see her.
“Well, get some sleep. You’ve already exerted yourself more than Van Helsing would want you to.”

“I can’t sleep.”

“Why not?”

“You wouldn’t want to either if you had the nightmares I did.”

“I’ll be right in the next room, Lucy. Nothing’s going to happen.”

She reached out and touched my hand. “Please sleep here, with me.”

I swallowed. “Um, I can sleep on that sofa over there. Let me get some blankets.”

By the time I returned to the room with a blanket and a pillow, Lucy was already sound asleep. I pulled the covers up over her and went to the window where I had seen the shadow and looked out into the night.

I slept uncomfortably on that stupid sofa the whole night and threw my back out. I would get up occasionally and look over to Lucy to make sure she was okay but she seemed to sleep through the night just fine. I wondered if I had made the right decision in sleeping on the sofa? Of course I had. Lucy is sick and engaged to one of my closest friends. What kind of man would I have been to take advantage of that and sleep in the same bed with her?

In the morning
I said goodbye to her and told her we would be back soon to check on her. I went directly to my masseuse for some back work and when it was through I went in to the hospital. I was glad to hear my zoophagus patient had completely behaved himself the previous night and everything seemed to be going well. I’d received an email from Van Helsing informing me he would be at Lucy’s house tomorrow and that I needed to spend the night over there again tonight. I didn’t see the point, but I accepted long ago that Van Helsing is far more brilliant than anyone I’d ever met and I’m sure he had his reasons.

So I arrived at Lucy’s house, exhausted and hungry after a full day’s work,
and she seemed in good spirits.

“You look
weak,” she said.

“I’m okay.”

“Come upstairs.”

She showed me to
the guest bedroom and I noticed for the first time that the room had a fireplace; a warm, crackling fire was burning. She brought up a meal of soup and meatloaf with apple juice and I gladly ate it.

“Sleep here
, and I promise that if I need anything I’ll call you. I’ll leave both doors open.”

I couldn’t help but say yes. I was
fatigued to the point of hallucination and my ears were still hurting from that damn concert. I took off my shoes and socks and lay on the bed, passing out shortly after my head hit the pillow.

To:
[email protected]

From:
[email protected]

Subject: Last Night

Date: September 10, 2012

Mina, I can’t tell you how much better I feel!!! I know everyone was worried about me but I feel great now. And you won’t believe where I was last night … at the Blood Burn concert!!!!!!!!

How did we not know they were playing here? I wish I could’ve been there with you but Jack was great. I
… he’s very sweet in a way that Arthur isn’t. Arthur’s very manly and kind of reserved but Jack is really open about his feelings. He seems like someone who understands himself. He’s sleeping in the room next door and I’d really like to go see him, but I won’t. I know how close he and Arthur are. What kind of slut would I be to do that to them? So I’m here writing to you instead.