Free Dracula (A Modern Telling) by Victor Methos

jabbed them into her flesh herself and, like I said, they don’t heal so I think she’s doing it everyday.
    Please let me know what you would like to do. I’ve spoken to Lucy’s mother and she’s fine with a commitment but I would like to avoid that if possible. Let’s just save that as a last resort.
    Is there anything you can do to help?
     

HOLY CROSS OF MERCY MEDICAL CENTER
    12 North Medical Center, Bel Air, CA 90077
     
    Dear Ms. Murray,
     
    I have left two voicemails and haven’t heard anything back. This letter is to inform you that we have a Mr. Jonathan Harker here at our hospital in Los Angeles. He’s been in our critical care ward for almost a week but is out now and recuperating. He was diagnosed with stroke and it was accompanied by an intense fever, but he’s doing better now and there doesn’t seem to be any permanent damage other than portions of his hair going grey, which he informed us was not so just a short while ago.
    When I told him you didn’t answer your phone he asked that I write this letter as quickly as I could. He should be released in the next few days. He has asked that you join him here.
     
    Yours with sympathy and blessings,
     
    Sister Agatha

DR. SEWARD’S EVERNOTE JOURNAL
     
    August 19
     
     
    A sudden change occurred in Renfield last night. At about eight in the evening he grew excited and I was told he was bouncing around his cell and shouting. He kept saying, “You don’t count any more. The master is at hand.”
    The orderlies here know that I have a scholarly interest in him and they called me. I was on a date at the time, so I did what any gentleman would do and came down to the hospital. He kept screaming about “The Master” and I immediately thought of religious mania. Inside a man who’s prone to violent outbursts, religious mania can be an extremely dangerous thing because anything c an be justified.
    I will say that he didn’t seem to notice the difference between myself and any of the orderlies and didn’t address us by name. I guess the difference from one man to the next doesn’t matter to an omnipotent being.
    I watched him bounce around his cell for half an hour. My date, Mary something, grew bored and so I called her a cab. I’m guessing there won’t be a second date.
    I sat with Renfield in his room when he had calmed down. The difference was so sudden it made me genuinely afraid and I made sure an orderly was standing right outside.
    Renfield got a shiftiness in his eyes, not sure how better to explain it than that, and then sat down on the edge of the bed and stared at the floor. After a few moments, I started trying to talk to him. I asked him about his pets, usually a subject he loves talking about.
    “I don’t give a shit about them,” he said, his voice flat. “You can do what you want with them.”
    “Really? Not even your spiders?”
    He said, “The bride maidens rejoice the eyes that wait the coming of the bride.”
    He wouldn’t explain what he meant by this and started this slow rocking back and forth. I just couldn’t take any more. I wasn’t feeling well and I had expected some affection tonight from the date I was on but it looks like it’s another night alone for me. I’ve been taking Ambien to help me sleep but have been having the most awful dreams and I’m hesitant to take it now. Better no sleep than sleep filled with nightmares.
    So I went home and lay in my bed for probably two hours just staring at the ceiling. I don’t think people who can sleep normally understand how difficult life is for those of us that can’t. You never feel refreshed and you have this gray, heavy weight around your neck from exhaustion all the time.
    But tonight it turned out to be a good thing that I couldn’t sleep.
    At about one in the morning I got a call from the hospital saying Renfield had escaped. I threw on some clothes and rushed down there as quick as I could. The orderlies were all standing around talking about how it