DRACULA REDUX

This was my third Sim story ever, posted at TSR Oct 31, 2006 (my God, have I been doing Sim stories for over 2 years!?) I have not changed the shots, so forgive any grid marks on the ground or other slip ups. I photoshopped out some stuff like plumbobs.
I have re-written this as a writing exercise for myself.
You can compare it with the original at TSR.
I also 'spiced' this one up a bit, LOL! A few lines from the 'Dracula' movie 1992 are in this story as well as a few lines from Bram Stoker's classic novel.

This was a lot of fun!!

London, 1863. Jonathan Harker is a clerk in a prominent law office. He is engaged to Wilhelmina Murray, a young lady of better fortune than himself.
Jonathan took Mina's small hand in his, a wave of desirous affection rolled through him. God, he loved this woman so. It will be a wretched hardship to be parted from her as Jonathan has just learned he must leave the country on an important business trip.

Jonathan gently led Mina over to the settee. The room was redolent with the scent of greenery and rare flowers and citrus from the orange plant. Mina's parrot squawked and chattered in the background.
"My dear, we will have to wait to make our wedding arrangements until I get back from Transylvania..."Jonathan said soberly. "I have an important business deal to finalize with a Count Dracula, my firm insists I go."

Mina's lips turned down slightly. To say she was disappointed was an understatement. But she could not berate Jonathan for wanting to better himself, make a name in the firm. Their very future depended on it.

Jonathan kissed her hand gently. He stood to leave. "Oh be careful, Jonathan...there are a lot of unknowns in that part of the world!" Mina said worriedly.

Jonathan leaned toward Mina and gave her a gentle, chaste kiss. He was tempted to pull her in a passionate embrace, kiss her as deeply as he dreamed of doing many lonely nights of tossing and turning in his bed.
But that would not do.
He did not want to frighten her with his desire. Mina was such a fragile, innocent, and proper young lady.

"Do not worry...I will write you as often as I can..I will be back before you know it. The weeks will fly..." Jonathan murmured.

After his long train ride from London to Budapest, Jonathan was whisked away deep into the Carpathian Mountains by a mysterious carriage and driver. He soon found himself standing before the Count's home.

It was a dark, murky property, broken cobbles beneath his feet were covered with fetid moss, the leafless trees groaned and swayed in the howling wind. Rats scurried and squeaked at his feet, wolves howled in the distance...a gruesome place indeed. A Count lived here? Impossible!


The large weathered oak door opened on its on accord, the hinges squeaking loudly. Jonathan peered into the darkness and tentatively stepped across the threshold. Gliding out of the blackness was a formidable man dressed in formal wear. The candelabras on the wall roared to life if by an invisible hand.

"I bid you welcome, Mr. Harker...to my humble abode. Leave some of the happiness you bring with you. Come...I had a light meal prepared for you..." The deep, raspy voice intoned with a slight accent.

Jonathan felt a inexplicable chill come over him...this must be the man himself.

Jonathan found it strange there were no servants about, that the Count was escorting him through the manor. But no matter, perhaps they did things differently in Transylvania, he silently surmised.
Dracula led Jonathan to a dining table, the aroma of fresh bread filled his nostrils. A cold supper had been laid out consisting of chicken, bread and cheese. A bottle of red wine sat on a silver tray. Jonathan was famished, he began to eat. He notice the Count did not partake of the repast.

"Count Dracula, will you not join me in a toast?" Jonathan asked politely.

"I never drink...wine." The Count replied.

After the meal, Dracula led Jonathan up several flights of narrow stairs to an isolated room in the north tower. The room was cold, damp and sparsely furnished. Cobwebs glistened in the corners of the room.

"I hope you find your room comfortable...I ask that you please not explore the lower levels...they are not...safe." The Count smiled briefly. "Tomorrow we will discuss my purchasing of the property in London. So sleep...my friend...sleep is good for the blood..."

A couple of days later, the business deal all but completed, Dracula came to Jonathan's room, the sun had just set behind the Carpathian Mountains leaving a red/purple trail in the sky. Jonathan had noticed he only saw the Count in the evenings. Again, perhaps a strange local tradition. Dracula walked over to the desk and stared intensely at the framed picture. His dark gray eyes narrowed.

Ah!" Jonathan said. "You have found my Mina! Is she not lovely? We are to be married as soon as I return..."

"Yes..." Dracula said softly in a menacing tone. He smiled slightly, his glistening white teeth on display.

Many more days passed. The business had been concluded, but at the Count's insistence, he demanded in a rather abrupt tone that Jonathan write Mina and his family stating he would be staying another month.
The Count was not a man that would take any refusal. Besides, Jonathan did not want to appear rude, angering the Count may affect the real estate deal now in place.

The miserable weather never let up. A cold, driving rain fell in torrents, battering the windows in his room. The days seemed like weeks...Jonathan was becoming uncomfortable with Dracula's obsession over Mina's picture...and the many probing questions he was asking.

Night has descended again, covering the Carpathians in a dark, shrouded blanket. Below stairs, deep in the catacombs of the decrepit estate, Count Dracula has arisen from his deep slumber. A slumber of the undead...Jonathan is fast asleep in the rooms above, oblivious to the horror that lives within these stone walls.
Dracula begins his transformation into a winged creature of the night. It is time to hunt...to feed.

Restless and bored one evening, Jonathan took a long tour through the dank, dour estate. He did not take heed of the count's warning, and started to explore the castle. Most rooms were empty. What rooms did possess furniture, the paltry sticks were either broken, or worn, centuries old by the looks of it. Hardly the home of a wealthy and propertied Eastern European Count.

Jonathan soon found himself in the lower catacombs. Over by a rain-spattered window, was a coffin, with two torches burning on either side, the only lighting in the room. Thunder cracked outside.
"A coffin...?" Jonathan spoke aloud. His curiosity soon got the better of him, and without thinking he began to lift the heavy black oak lid.

Jonathan's heart was beating in his throat, for inside the coffin lay Count Dracula. In one smooth fluid motion, the Count sat upright, Jonathan jumped back in horror.

"How dare you!" Dracula hissed. "I warned you about coming into this part of the castle...you will pay for your defiance!"


Dracula stepped out of the coffin and advanced menacingly on Jonathan, who by now, was truly terrified.

" You will remain here in my castle....a prisoner! While I go to London...my Brides will keep you occupied and amused..." Dracula roared.

Out of the shadows, two women began to advance on Jonathan, their faces twisted in lust. The blond woman licked her lengthening canines and her lifeless eyes traveled over Jonathan's trim, masculine form, lingering on his crouch area. She began to smile, and chuckled low in her throat.

"No...Please...I beg you...leave me alone!" Jonathan cried.

He could hear the Count's evil laughter echoing throughout the castle. Jonathan was left to become the plaything of Dracula's brides...

Over a month had passed, and Dracula had made the arduous journey to London.
Count Dracula had moved into Carfax Abbey in London, with the help of a few gypsy servants. Now safely settled at his newly purchased home, he is passing himself as a Prince Vlad of Vojvodina.

Dracula has managed an invite to the Westerly Estate, as he knows Mina will be there that night visiting her friend Lucy. Dracula's thoughts have been filled with Mina ever since he first seen her picture. In all the centuries he has walked the earth, no woman had such an effect on him.
Mr. Westerly begins to make introductions, but Dracula has eyes only for Mina...

"Prince Vlad..." Mr. Westerly said. "I want you to meet a colleague of mine, Dr. Edward Van Helsing..."

Dracula eyed Edward suspiciously. Dracula's keen intuition sensed danger, this man would be a threat to him. "You are a professor, sir?'

"Actually I am a meta-physician and physiologist, with a particular interest in the occult..." Edward replied.

Dracula eyed Edward warily.

Dracula charms Mina into meeting him for evening supper tomorrow night at the Inn. He is so enamored of Mina, he is not aware that Dr. Van Helsing has noticed the Prince shows no reflection in the mirror...Edward keeps a sharp eye on the Prince the rest of the night...

Mina for her part is entirely entranced with the prince, from the moment he touched her hand and raised it to his cool lips. It was if the floodgates had been opened. All manner of sensations and feelings began flooding her very core, feelings she had never experienced before. Her insides rolled and shook at the smallest glance from his expressive gray eyes.

The next evening, the Count rented out a private room at the back of the Inn for himself and Mina.
She should not be here, she is engaged to another man. She was behaving as a wanton, meeting this prince in secret. But she could not help herself, she was drawn to him.

Dracula held out his hand and pulled Mina into his arms as the distant sound of voilins filled the air, a mournful tune. They share a dance in the evening twilight...their bodies close, the heat between them building.

Dracula began to lay slow, langourous and passionate kisses up her arm. The sensation makes Mina tremble with desire. Things are progressing nicely...Mina is entirely enchanted with her Prince...all thoughts of Jonathan seem to have disappeared.

Dracula's blood begins to boil and roar through his veins. He wants Mina, desparately. To feel her caratoid artery between his teeth was more than he could imagine. He had to have her, her blood, her innocence...her very essence. He was becoming aroused in all ways, his body responded and hardened.

Dracula began to pull Mina into a deep trance. Her violet eyes began to glaze over, she gave herself up to the power and raw energy and sexuality exuded from the Prince. Whatever he was doing...she reveled in it.

Dracula's full cruel mouth curved into a self-satisfied smile. The thought of feeding from this woman was stoking him to heights he had not experienced ever. He had to have her...

His canines lengthened, his mouth watering at the thought that her warm flowing blood soon would be in his mouth. He began to breath hard, a raspy, ragged sound. Her head was thrown back in silent invitation...drink from me...she seemed to be saying.

Dracula stopped himself...he cannot do it, his feelings for Mina are deeper than he realized, far deeper. He was falling in love. A feeling he had not thought himself capable of. Dracula groaned aloud in frustration.

Deep in a trance, Mina has no inkling of Dracula's menace. Nor his conflicted feelings and emotions.

Dracula accompanied Mina back to the gate of her home. He kissed her romantically on the hand. The sensation of the touch of her skin went straight up his spine in a shiver of desire and love. Centuries old and he was trembling like a school boy caught in the first flush of infatuation.

"My dear Mina..." he said smoothly, struggling to keep his voice steady. "I will pick you up again tomorrow night..."

Mina flushed with pleasure.

After weeks of being kept in a weakened condition by Dracula's evil brides, Jonathan finally escaped and was taken in by the good Sisters of Hope. How he escaped those women was beyond him. He tossed and turned in his bed, awash in a cold sweat, dreaming of those women, they fed on him, licked him, sucked him...every inch of his skin, every part of his body. Never was he filled with such revulsion, nor was he exposed to such lascivious feelings. He would be haunted by these disturbing images until his dying day.

After days of delirium, Jonathan finally awoke...

"Mr. Harker!" Sister Agatha cried. "Please get back into bed! You are still too weak to travel..I must insist! We must strengthen your blood before you can go anywhere!"

Jonathan sighed deeply. He knew she was right. Even standing made him feel dizzy. He must get word to Mina...and quick...he sensed she was in danger.

The next morning Mina sat in her dressing room and dreamed of the prince. She cannot stop thinking about him...she has never felt this way before, she cannot explain her feelings.
Why is she drawn to this prince? And why did she not mention she was engaged. Mina suddenly felt wicked. Even now feelings rolled through her, she could not recognize them...want? Need? Love perhaps? She was so confused!

She thought briefly of Jonathan and felt a pang of guilt. Her betrothed. Jonathan did not stir these feelings in her, not at all. What was she to do?

Mina and the Count meet once again for another romantic tryst. They had met every night now for over two weeks, growing closer. Mina now recognized her feelings for her prince. She was in love. Not the affectionate love she felt for Jonathan, but a burning white-hot passion and love that was beginning to consume her very soul. She did not want to be parted from him, not for a moment.

Mina just received a cable from Jonathan, he was on his way back to London. Mina knows she must now tell Prince Vlad the truth...

"My dear..." Mina began. "I have not been honest with you...I am engaged to another, and he is on his way back from a business trip abroad. He should be arriving any day.. I...I don't know what to do..." her voice quivered.

Dracula hid his astonishment. How did Harker escape? He knows now he must act fast. "My love," he said gently. "Let me think on it, do not let it spoil our evening together..."

Dracula cannot wait any longer. He knows Harker is returning, and he senses Dr. Van Helsing's growing suspicions.
So late that same night, outside a sleeping Mina's bedroom window, he watched her sleep, her chest rising and falling in a deep slumber. It was now, he had to tell her all.

His heart lurched in his chest. Dracula, the undead, was terrified. To confess his life-state would make him vulnerable, what if she turns from him in horror? He did not think he could bear it.
Dracula scratched at the window. A Vampire can only enter if invited in. He invades Mina's dreams, she bids him enter...

In a haze of a swirling purple mist, Dracula transformed himself into a bat, and entered the estate and into the inner sanctum of Mina's boudoir. The silence is deafening, except for the flapping of bat wings.

Tranformed into human form once more, Dracula stares intensely at Mina Murray. He never thought that after all these centuries as one of the undead, he would ever feel this way, he thought himself devoid of such human emotions. His love for Mina is so intense, it hurts.

"Mina....wake up..." he hissed softly. "Awaken, my love, come to me..."

"Yes...my love.." Mina said dreamily. "I wanted you to come...I know that now..." Mina rose from the warmth of her bed into the icy fire of Dracula's embrace.

Dracula pulled Mina close and put her hand on his heart. "Mina...listen to me...there is no life in this body. I am nothing, lifeless, souless,I am a hunter and the hunted, hated and feared...I am the monster men would kill...I am Dracula, the undead..."

Mina was astonished, there was no discernible heartbeat. She leaned her forehead toward Dracula's and touched it with hers. "I don't care...I love you...I want to be with you always, I want to be what you are, see what you see, feel what you feel!" she murmured seductively.

"You do not know what you are saying. Mina, to be with me always you must die, and be reborn to my life...you will be as cursed as I am...I love you too much to subject you to this..." Dracula said, his voice laced with regret and deep love.

"I don't care! "Mina cried. "Please...I want this. You are my life and my love...always!"

Dracula snarled, his blood stoked beyond all his experience. He quickly grabbed Mina and bit her on the neck to begin the process, a process that would require a second bite 24 hours later. He drank, savouring the warm copper life fluid.

"I give you life internal...to be my loving wife and walk with me always. My love." Dracula whispered breathlessly into her ear. He drank some more. Mina began to groan and writhe in his arms. She cried out in ecstasy.
Dracula pulled away, licking his lips, ensuring he gathered every last drop.

"Love me..." Mina moaned. "Take me...oh I beg you..."

Dracula kisses Mina ardently. "I will show you ways to love Mina, you could not imagine. I will take you to places you never dreamed of, heights you have never climbed. You are mine." Dracula brought Mina in close to that part of him that ached for release. Cupping her buttocks, he melded her next to his hardness. "And this shall be yours my love, to do with what you will."

Mina felt her legs give away, if Dracula had not been holding her, she would have fallen at his feet. She moaned aloud once again.
Dracula swept her into his arms and carried her to her bed...

The next morning, Jonathan has finally returned to London, he wasted no time in running to Mina's home. What he found there shook him greatly.
Mina lay ill in bed, she is pale, and has no strength...worried, Jonathan called Dr. Van Helsing.
After a thorough examination, Dr. Van Helsing's worst fears are realized.

"Tell me the truth, Doctor, what ails dear Mina?"

"She has manifested extreme blood loss, I have found 2 marks on her neck, which can only mean she is the prey of the Vampyre, a dead but not dead creature of the night...if my calculations are correct, he will return tonight to complete his foul deed." Dr. Van Helsing said gravely.

"Yes..." Jonathan said angrily. " I told you of this Count who held me prisoner in his castle, he slept in a coffin! I was lucky to escape from those...those...women...Mina has confessed to me she has been meeting a Prince while I was away."

"Yes, I met the prince, I would not be surprised to find out that your Count and Mina's Prince are one in the same...if so, we fight a powerful, evil creature, we must form a plan, but first tell me Harker, during your infidelity with those creatures, those demonic women, did you for one instant taste of their blood?"

Jonanthan lowered his head. "No...I did not."
Van Helsing nodded. "Good, then you have not been infected as poor Mina has been. Make haste, we must plan at once..."

Very much later the following night, Dracula appeared in Mina's room once again. She ran into his arms. Hidden, and watching closely, was Jonathan and Dr. Van Helsing.

" My darling! I have been waiting...please, take away from all this...death!" Mina cried.
"My most precious life... how I love you." Dracula's deep voice rasped.

"My Love..." Dracula said. He moved in for the final bite. Mina moaned softly.
Just as he was about to plunge his lengthening fangs into Mina's neck, Harker and Van Helsing came out of their hiding place.
"MINA!! stop!" Jonathan yelled.

"Mina..What in God's name are you doing? Get away from that creature! This is Dracula! I told you what happened in Transylvania!" Jonathan snapped.

Mina turned and looked at Jonathan. "I know...I love him..I want to be with him, for eternity."
Jonathan was incredulous. "You do not know what you are saying, he has you under his spell! It is the power of darkness that draws you to him, nothing else!"

"You!" Jonathan yelled. "I knew as soon as you saw my picture of Mina you would come here...You will not have her..I will destroy you utterly."
Dracula began to chuckle low in his throat, a most menacing, confident laugh. "You fool..." he hissed.

Dr. Van Helsing said in an even tone, "You have lost all track of time, Count...dawn soon breaks, and for you there is no escape!"

"Your war with God is over, Dracula...you have lost...you shall not walk this earth anymore, nor spread your foul disease...Now you must pay for your crimes!" Van Helsing declared. "And you shall not claim Mina Murray as another of your victims!"

Dracula turned and hissed..."She is MY bride, in ALL ways! ..she belongs to me!"

The meaning was not lost on Jonathan. He glanced over at Mina, who was looking at the Count with such love he had not seen in her face before, ever. Jonathan felt his stomach lurch, Mina laid with this foul creature??

Just at that moment, the sun's rays streamed through the windows, Jonathan and Dr. Van Helsing's trick worked. They kept Dracula in Mina's room until sunup....

Dracula roared..."No!!!!!!"

The sun's rays pierced Dracula's skin, the pain was tremendous...it weakened him immediately, he moaned softly. He could not flee now even if he wanted too, he was caught. He clutched his stomach, he could feel it, the burning, it was starting from within.

"My dear!" Mina cried. "What is wrong? What can I do?"

"There is nothing you can do!" Van Helsing yelled to Mina.
Dracula tried in vain to ward off the sun's deadly rays to no effect. Again, he tried to move, to no avail.

Dracula stopped and gave one last longing look to Mina...he said nothing.
But his pale, gaunt handsome face spoke more than words. His love, his Mina...was being ripped from him. Before they even had a chance. Dracula was overcome by such sadness and regret. He cursed himself for his life-state. He cursed his weakness, for in his weakness, his love for Mina, he let his guard down. Now he was caught, as a rat in a trap.
Goodbye...my love...

Mina ran to Dracula...but it was too late.
The dawn had done it's deed.
The Count's howls of anguish filled the room. It was the sound of a wretched animal, tortured...injured. He dropped to his knees, the pain was unbearable...in a sudden burst of flame, he was consumed.

Mina began to sob uncontrollably...all that was left was a pile of ashes, the Count was seared to a crisp by the early dawn sun.
Her grief was deep and inconsolable. "Noooo!" she cried.

A few weeks have past...Mina is still not over the loss of the Count. Her thoughts are haunted by him day and night, her body aches to be in his arms again. Concerned over her fragile mental state, Jonathan asked Dr. Van Helsing to attend.

"She still hardly speaks Edward...and she still goes into fits of crying..." Jonathan whispered, his voiced laced with concern.

"My dear Jonathan.." Edward said soothingly. "She is still in a state of shock, her body and her mind have been through a terrible ordeal...she was infected by Dracula and it takes time to heal. Be patient."

Van Helsing glanced over at Mina sitting serenely on the love seat. She was strangely calm, her countenance serene in it's complacency. Edward was immediately skeptical. He did not trust this woman, not at all. "You are still going to marry Mina?" Edward whispered to Jonathan.

Jonathan was firm and resolute in his steely determination. "Yes, as soon as you say she is well enough...we shall." Jonathan did not want to think about anything but Mina, she did not know what she was doing...surely. She was under the spell of that creature of the undead.

Van Helsing nodded slowly. "The sooner this terrible episode is behind you both, the better". Or so he hoped.

Later that evening, after Jonathan and Dr Van Helsing had left, and her family abed, Mina climbed the stairs into the musty attic...and got out a worn granite container she had secretly hidden. It contained the ashes of Dracula that she had carefully preserved.

"Oh, we will be together my love..." Mina said in a soft ominous whisper. "Soon...very soon..." A small but menacing smile curled about her lips.