I have much to consider now that my plans have been altered. I still intend to move to England with my Bride, Glynis, but now, instead of joining my in-laws, I must plan another route to enter the English high society.
We shall meet soon.
Your Friend,
Dracula
The Journal of Lady Glynis Wright
15th of August, 1819
It is becoming more difficult to write in my journal without detection. The others seek me out and interrupt me at the most inopportune times. I must admit writing down all that has happened to me is difficult. I may not be the same English girl who arrived at the castle, but I am at times overwhelmed with emotion. Upon writing of my rape and their first feast upon me, I found myself filled with rage and hid from them for three days. When I was finally found, I was beaten soundly, but it was a strange release. It is all the more reason to hate him.
I shall now recount the events that occurred after that terrible night in June.
Bright, harsh glaring sunlight pressed against my eyelids and forced me from my slumber. With my head throbbing painfully and my bruised body protesting every movement, I struggled to sit up in the giant bed.
“Oh, God,” I exclaimed in horror.
My nightgown and the bed were covered in dark brown stains of my blood. My body was sticky with dried blood and I whimpered as my hand felt the jagged wound cutting across the side of my neck. I started to crawl across the bed, and as my hands sank into the mattress, small pools of blood welled up beneath them.
“Oh, God, oh, God. ”
Slowly, I lowered my legs over the edge of the bed. My thighs felt as if they were rubbed raw and my sex was a throbbing wound. Clutching my hands tightly in my lap, I tried to fight the pain that tore through my abdomen and neck. How could I lose so much blood and still be alive? My hair was caked with dried blood and plastered to my breasts. As I pulled my curls free from my body, I saw how pale my body was and cried out in fear.
I looked dead!
I began to scream long shrill screams, my whole body trembling. Within minutes, two young gypsy women rushed in, their dark eyes staring at me with fear. They took hold of my arms and pulled me from the bed. My legs had no strength in them, and I fell to the floor in an anguished heap of flesh.
“Please, don’t hurt me,” I begged.
The two women spoke in a strange tongue, then one of them disappeared out the door. The second woman crouched down beside me. A strange smile came over her face as she began to speak to me in her exotic tongue.
“I don’t understand. ”
She pointed to one of my hands.
I looked down to see a ring on my finger that I had never seen before. It was gold with a dark, blood red ruby. The sight of it filled me with such disgust that I ripped it from my finger and flung it away. The gypsy rushed over to the sparkling ring and picked it up. Smiling, she tucked it into her blouse.
A towering swarthy giant of a man entered the room and moved toward me.
“No, no! Please, let me be! Go away! Go away!”
He plucked me up off the floor and I screamed in agony. Carrying me in his large hairy arms, the man took me to the room where I had been bathed the night before. Again, I was set down in the water of the large bath and the gypsy women gathered around me. The water was warmer this morning and soothing to my skin. My clothes had to be peeled form my body and the fabric made a sickening sound as it was torn free from my flesh. I did not want strange hands to touch me after my violation, but I was too weak to fight.
Soon the water was brownish red and my far too pale skin was scrubbed clean. The giant pulled my naked body out of the water and I was frightfully embarrassed. He set me down in a chair and the gypsy women dressed me in a soft white gown. They were unusually timid and gentle with me. I noticed how they exchanged looks and I sensed fear in them. Once I was properly dressed, they sat me in front of a window.
It was painful to move. Every movement made sharp pains explode through my abdomen and legs. Once I was seated for a few minutes, the pain subsided enough that I felt I could unclench my hands and raise my chin.
A gypsy woman began to brush out my long damp hair as the sunlight poured through the window and warmed my flesh. I stared out over the lush valley below the castle. It was so beautiful it made tears come to my eyes. Somewhere, nestled in the great lovely forest was the village where my family would have found shelter.
My family!
I could not think of them without the pain in my heart being so great I could barely stand it. Where was Father now? I knew in my heart he was dead, but I wished desperately that he had somehow escaped with Mother and May. Oh, and my mother… To see her overcome with fear last night had been too horrible to endure. And sweet dear May, where was she? Had she suffered as I had last night at the hands of the Prince and his Brides? I could not bear the thought. May had never secretly kissed a boy in the closet of her parent’s home or had the dreams of an illicit affair with Lord Byron. My friend, Mona, had told me that sex was painful after she had married, but surely this was the extreme. I felt as through I had been ripped apart. I could not even begin to comprehend how May could survive a similar attack.
Ilona, the old gypsy woman, entered the room, her craggy face staring at me disapprovingly.
“Time to eat, little girl,” she said in thick English.