Mina Read Online Free PDF

crew of a ship twice the size of the Demeter . I had promised
them that I would make a place for them in your new, crowded land and that later
they could come and be with me as they had been for years upon years in the
past. The arrangements would take some time, but as you know, my blood-kin and
I have time to spare."
    Another pause before he went on. "I had not counted on my
loneliness, especially for the fair one, my last mortal lover. And the loneliness
was all the greater for the life surrounding me in England. I sensed it, even
as I slept, and it made my need for someone, anyone with whom to share my
existence, that much stronger.
    "Ah, I
see the pity in your eyes, Mina Harker. I suppose it is inevitable when I bare
my soul like this.
    "Oh
yes, I have a soul, and it is much as it was when I lived. When I first saw
Lucy on a crowded Whitby street, her brown hair
    shining with its golden highlights even in the foggy afternoon
light, I felt loneliness. Such a wonderful land, your gray-shrouded England,
where I can walk even at noonday without fear of the sun. I joyfully followed
her. My intent then was not to use her, for I am of noble lineage and know the
danger of preying on the wealthy and powerful. No, my intent was simply to
observe her, to hear her laughter, to see her smile.
    "You and she were together, but in truth, I noticed only
Lucy. I watched her climb the hill to a great house and despaired. I had hoped
she was staying at some public house where I could go inside and order some
food that I could not touch and sit and listen to her voice, perhaps even
share a brief conversation with her.
    "Such
loneliness is dangerous, no? I knew that even as I went on, staying well behind
so she would not see me following her.
    Afternoon turned to twilight
while I stood in the protective shadows of the trees and watched the house. I
don't know why I stayed.
    Perhaps
because the spot is so beautiful, the view of the harbor so magnificent. I
watched the ships swaying on the tranquil evening sea and thought how free
mortal men are. They can travel anywhere while I, trapped by needs, had been
forced to plan my journey so carefully, going even so far as to be certain
that the ship's crew would be large enough to sustain me.
    "Am I
speaking too fast for you, dear Mina? No? Good." I stayed until night,
thinking of this. Then I heard men's voices
    whispering in the trees. I
knew they were thieves, for their dress and actions were the same as thieves
throughout the world.
    "I
could feast on one and kill the other. Their bodies could be pitched into the
rocky strand. The tide would account for the loss
    of blood, the marks.
    "I had
moved closer to them when a figure coming from the quiet house startled us all.
The men retreated, but I, for whom
    darkness conceals nothing,
knew it was Lucy coming to me. She had sensed me, and I had not even called
except through desire."
    "She walked
in her sleep," I told him. "She did so before you arrived in England.
We always feared what might happen to her."
    "Silence!"
His voice seemed to thunder in the little room. "She came to me, else why
would she have chosen the exact spot at
    which I waited?"

 
    "We
often picnicked there. The place has the most ideal view of the harbor."
    This time he
let my comment pass and went on. "Her gown was thin. I could see the
outline of her breasts, the cleft of her sex,
    and I sorrowed for I could not
love her as a man loves a woman. That was gone with so many other possibilities
centuries before.
    "Even so, I gave her pleasure,
and when I tasted her, she felt no pain. The sigh, that tiny perfect sigh she
made as my teeth pierced her, I noted it, recalled it in the nights that
followed. When she was strong enough, I came back and used her again and later
again."
    "You
killed her," I replied savagely.
    "They killed her!
Yes, she had my blood in her, as you do. She would have survived and lived her
natural years. Later, I would
    have claimed her, restored to
her