Free Anno Dracula by Kim Newman Page B

bullets, the hand of God, the claws of the Devil, armed insurrection, suicide, a swarm of infernal bats, bubonic plague, dismemberment by axe, permanent transformation into a dog.
    Brando suggested that he play Dracula as a Green Suitcase.
    Francis was on medication.

30

    ‘Reed, what does he mean to you?’
    She thought Francis meant Ion-John.
    ‘He’s just a kid, but he’s getting older fast. There’s something...’
    ‘Not John. Dracula.’
    ‘Oh, him.’
    ‘Yes, him. Dracula. Count Dracula. King of the Vampires.’
    ‘I never acknowledged that title.’
    ‘In the 1880s, you were against him?’
    ‘You could say that.’
    ‘But he gave you so much, eternal life?’
    ‘He wasn’t my father. Not directly.’
    ‘But he brought vampirism out of the darkness.’
    ‘He was a monster.’
    ‘Just a monster? In the end, just that?’
    She thought hard.
    ‘No, there was more. He was more. He was... he is, you know... big. Huge, enormous. Like the elephant described by blind men. He had many aspects. But all were monstrous. He didn’t bring us out of the darkness. He was the darkness.’
    ‘John says he was a national hero.’
    ‘John wasn’t born then. Or turned.’
    ‘Guide me, Reed.’
    ‘I can’t write your ending for you.’

31

    At the worst possible time, the policeman was back. There were questions about Shiny Suit. Irregularities revealed by the autopsy.
    For some reason, Kate was questioned.
    Through an interpreter, the policeman kept asking her about the dead official, what had their dealings been, whether Georghiou’s prejudice against her kind had affected her.
    Then he asked her when she had last fed, and upon whom?
    ‘That’s private,’ she said.
    She didn’t want to admit that she had been snacking on rats for months. She’d had no time to cultivate anyone warm. Her powers of fascination were thinning.
    A scrap of cloth was produced and handed to her.
    ‘Do you recognise this?’ she was asked.
    It was filthy, but she realised that she did.
    ‘Why, it’s my scarf. From Biba. I...’
    It was snatched away from her. The policeman wrote down a note.
    She tried to say something about Ion, but thought better of it. The translator told the policeman Kate had almost admitted to something.
    She felt distinctly chilled.
    She was asked to open her mouth, like a horse up for sale. The policeman peered at her sharp little teeth and tutted.
    That was all for now.

32

    ‘How are monsters made?’
    Kate was weary of questions. Francis, Marty, the police. Always questions.
    Still, she was on the payroll as an advisor.
    ‘I’ve known too many monsters, Francis. Some were born, some were made all at once, some were eroded, some shaped themselves, some twisted by history.’
    ‘What about Dracula?’
    ‘He was the monster of monsters. All of the above.’
    Francis laughed.
    ‘You’re thinking of Brando.’
    ‘After your movie, so will everybody else.’
    He was pleased by the thought.
    ‘I guess they will.’
    ‘You’re bringing him back. Is that a good idea?’
    ‘It’s a bit late to raise that.’
    ‘Seriously, Francis. He’ll never be gone, never be forgotten. But your Dracula will be powerful. In the next valley, people are fighting over the tatters of the old, faded Dracula. What will your Technicolor, 70mm, Dolby stereo Dracula mean ?’
    ‘Meanings are for the critics.’

33

    Two Szgany gypsies throw Harker into the great hall of the castle. He sprawls on the straw-covered flagstones, emaciated and wild-eyed, close to madness.
    Dracula sits on a throne which stretches wooden wings out behind him. Renfield worships at his feet, tongue applied to the Count’s black leather boot. Murray, a blissful smile on his face and scabs on his neck, stands to one side, with Dracula’s three vampire brides.
    DRACULA: I bid you welcome. Come safely, go freely and leave some of the happiness you bring.
    HARKER looks up.
    HARKER: You... were a Prince.
    DRACULA: I am a Prince still. Of