| Van Helsing, with his usual methodicalness, began... 859 |
[Jan. 31st, 2010|02:45 am] |
Van Helsing, with his usual methodicalness, began taking the various contents from his bag and placing them ready for useFirst he took out a soldering iron and some plumbing solder, and then small oil lamp, which gave out, when lit in a corner of the tomb, gas which burned at a fierce heat with a blue flame, then his operating knives, which he placed to hand, and last a round wooden stake, some two and a half or three inches thick and about three feet longOne end of it was hardened by charring in the fire, and was sharpened to a fine pointWith this stake came a heavy hammer, such as in households is used in the coal cellar for breaking the lumpsTo me, a doctor's preparations for work of any kind are stimulating and bracing, but the effect of these things on both Arthur and Quincey was to cause them a sort of consternationThey both, however, kept their courage, and remained silent and quiet
When all was ready, Van Helsing said, "Before we do anything, let me tell you thisIt is out of the lore and experience of the ancients and of all those who have studied the powers of the UnDeadWhen they become such, there comes with the change the curse of immortalityThey cannot die, but must go on age after age adding new victims and multiplying the evils of the worldFor all that die from the preying of the Undead become themselves Undead, and prey on their kindAnd so the circle goes on ever widening, like as the ripples from a stone thrown in the waterFriend Arthur, if you had met that kiss which you know of before poor Lucy die, or again, last night when you open your arms to her, you would in time, when you had died, have become nosferatu, as they call it in Eastern Europe, and would for all time make more of those Un-Deads that so have filled us with horrorThe career of this so unhappy dear lady is but just begunThose children whose blood she sucked are not as yet so much the worse, but if she lives on, UnDead, more and more they lose their blood and by her power over them they come to her, and so she draw their blood with that so wicked mouthBut if she die in truth, then all ceaseThe tiny wounds of the throats disappear, and they go back to their play unknowing ever of what has beenBut of the most blessed of all, when this now UnDead be made to rest as true dead, then the soul of the poor lady whom we love shall again be freeInstead of working wickedness by night and growing more debased in the assimilating of it by day, she shall take her place with the other AngelsSo that, my friend, it will be a blessed hand for her that shall strike the blow that sets her freeTo this I am willing, but is there none amongst us who has a better right? Will it be no joy to think of hereafter in the silence of the night when sleep is not, 'It was my hand that sent her to the starsIt was the hand of him that loved her best, the hand that of all she would herself have chosen, had it been to her to choose?' Tell me if there be such a one amongst us?"
We all looked at ArthurHe saw too, what we all did, the infinite kindness which suggested that his should be the hand which would restore Lucy to us as a holy, and not an unholy, memoryHe stepped forward and said bravely, though his hand trembled, and his face was as pale as snow, "My true friend, from the bottom of my broken heart I thank youTell me what I am to do, and I shall not falter!"
Van Helsing laid a hand on his shoulder, and said, "Brave lad! A moment's courage, and it is doneThis stake must be driven through herIt well be a fearful ordeal, be not deceived in that, but it will be only a short time, and you will then rejoice more than your pain was greatFrom this grim tomb you will emerge as though you tread on airBut you must not falter when once you have begunOnly think that we, your true friends, are round you, and that we pray for you all the time
"Go on," said Arthur hoarsely"Tell me what I am to do
"Take this stake in your left hand, ready to place to the point over the heart, and the hammer in your rightThen when we begin our prayer for the dead, I shall read him, I have here the book, and the others shall follow, strike in God's name, that so all may be well with the dead that we love and that the UnDead pass away
Arthur took the stake and the hammer, and when once his mind was set on action his hands never trembled nor even quiveredVan Helsing opened his missal and began to read, and Quincey and I followed as well as we could
Arthur placed the point over the heart, and as I looked I could see its dint in the white fleshThen he struck with all his might
The thing in the coffin writhed, and a hideous, blood-curdling screech came from the opened red lipsThe body shook and quivered and twisted in wild |
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