Renfield part 2

The backstory of RM Renfield from Bram Stoker’s Dracula

Part 2

“May I ask, your excellency, how did I get to bed and who dressed me in my night clothes ?”

“Why we helped Mr Renfield, you are a guest of honour in my house, and have been afforded every courtesy.”

“Thank you, you have been very helpful, now may I help you Count Dracula? Would you like to discuss professional matters this night, or would the morrow be more suited for you?”

“I am keen to discuss matters straight away Mr Renfield, now please be seated and perhaps you would be so good as to answer some questions?”

And so we must have spent some hours talking and discussing legal issues, as when we stopped, I noticed it was dawn, light was filtering in through the window and shutters.

Dracula saw that I was tired and suggested I return to my chambers and rest. He told me he had business to attend to during the day and would see me each evening. When I awoke it was around 10 of the clock and the house was quiet, I wandered up and down stairs and corridors looking for staff but found none. I did find a kitchen but no food, there was a water jug, so I drank a large draught from it and returned upstairs to read and write.

In the evening I had been reading when I felt uneasy, I turned and found the Count standing behind me.

He gave me a wry smile and asked me to follow him to his library. I asked where his staff were and he said, he had a couple who had worked for him for years but had recently retired from ill health and he was currently interviewing for replacements. I mentioned that I hadn’t eaten and he replied that dinner would be served within the hour.

His English was excellent, he spoke with an accent but his vocabulary and grammar were exemplary. I asked where he had studied and he replied that he had several periods of study at a variety of locations. He had been a decorated soldier and had studied high in the mountains at something he called Scholomance.

He asked me about London, its population, the aristocracy, which he would like to be introduced to.

While speaking a large blue bottle flew in his direction, he pulled it from the air and swallowed the fly. I was both amazed and appalled but said nothing for fear of offending him. He looked at me and I could feel him inside my mind, laughing at me. I was quite disturbed. He then excused himself, and when he returned he led me to a dining room where a large evening meal lay awaiting me. He told me he didn’t eat in the evening and I was to eat while he spoke to me.

We then returned to the library and went through maps of London and English language books. I was about to mention breakfast but he disappeared not to return.

I am starting to wonder if Count Dracula is not a very strange gentleman! However I feel we have covered much ground so I will write to Miss Chalmers to say I will be returning to England, perhaps with business completed within two days.

17th April

Dear Miss Chalmers,

I trust you are well employed and the practice is functioning under your care.

I am pleased with my progress at castle Dracula and will discuss my return journey with the Count.

He is an intellectual scholar with, one must assume, a considerable wealth. Perhaps I find him a little unusual, but we are of different backgrounds and nationalities.

Yours faithfully

R.M Renfield

Diary of RM Renfield 18th April.

I have had quite vivid and peculiar dreams while in the castle. Last night I dreamt that the Count had entered my chamber and had climbed into bed with me! I awoke with a start and found no one there.

As with other days I awoke in the morning to find nobody in the castle, I found no food, but just water.

When the Count called on me this evening, he this time appeared first in my mind and then again behind me.

My mind does seem to be playing tricks on me, I am perhaps out of sorts after the death of dear Albert.

I asked the Count if someone could take my letter to post and he took it from me. He placed it inside his jacket pocket and I felt unsure of his intention to post it.

I discussed finalising our business and he suggested he would like more time and that I should stay a while longer, while piercing me with his eyes. I felt I could not refuse.

Diary entry 19th April.

Last night I dreamt of three beautiful women calling for me, repeatedly, and I felt as if someone was touching my neck, but again woke to no persons there.

I wonder if I am unwell, perhaps the scorpion sting is still in my blood, I wander the castle in a haze, and this noon I found myself in possession of a fly and was about to eat it, when I dropped it, returning to my chambers to lie down.

I slept poorly and again dreamed of the Count, this time he was standing behind me breathing a rotten stench against my neck.

This morning I thought I could leave the castle and perhaps walk to the nearest village or town, but I found the doors to be locked and no means of opening were available to me. So I returned to the Count’s library and inspected his books, finding several to entertain me.

In the evening the Count found me in the library, he looked different, his skin appeared less grey and less wrinkled. I commented on this and he replied that he was an alchemist and that he knew the key to eternal youth, that he drank of it and the he said that he could help me to live longer if I were so inclined. His voice echoed in my mind again, and I felt quite shaken. I asked about the locked doors and the Count became angered, he replied that the Castle is an ancient property and must not be open to thieves. I countered that I was used to breaking my fast in the morning and had not done so once, since beginning my stay, he apologised and said there would be a meal left out for me in the morning.

He discussed more legal issues wanting to know as much as possible about land acquisition and we discussed leasehold and freehold, he was a little perturbed at leasehold and said he would only buy a freehold property.

The Count also mentioned he thought there was a historical connection with property that had been bequeathed to his ancestors after a battle.

I replied that we may need to consult the Doomsday book on my return to England, but we would need a more specialised legal team.

Diary entry 20th April

I arose and performed my ablutions before breakfast. I then visited the dining room but there was no meal laid out, I visited the kitchen and found nothing there. I was finding this frustrating, was the Count playing games with me, trying my patience?  I thought about escaping but had no means of egress, and I was lacking in energy and strength from my depleted diet, and perhaps my continued illness. I could open the window from my bedroom but it was a vertical descent of some considerable distance to a ravine below.

There were areas of the castle blocked off and locked, inaccessible to me, I now was beginning to wonder what was behind these doors, if they could offer answers to me, or a means of escape.

I shall remonstrate with the Count at our evening meeting!

Evening Diary entry 20th April

I am fed my evening meal, as usual the count doesn’t eat, but he sits with me and asks questions about English law and London in particular.

I dare not complain during my meal in case I am not allowed to finish it as some form of punishment.

We moved to the library and as I go to sit down I see the letter I had handed him, scrumpled in the fireplace.

I am very cross now and I’m afraid I was quite rude, I shouted “Now look here Count ! I do not know what is going on, but I am being hoodwinked, please explain Sir! You have destroyed my letter, I am locked in, I am half starved. Why am I here and what are your intentions? “

The Count gave that wry smile, but stayed remarkably calm. “Mr Renfield, by all means explore the Castle, here is a key to the rooms you can access, you are not allowed into the basement, I am having renovations and it is not safe.

If you value your safety, do not fall asleep in any room but your own. My apologies for your breakfast, I do not eat a lot and it must have slipped my mind. I shall have breakfast ready for you tomorrow morning, please accept my apologies, I did not send the letter because I wish you to stay a little longer.”

He stared into my being once more, and I could feel him inside my mind. He walked out of the room and did not return.

I could not sleep after our conversation so I went out to explore the rooms I could, I found several empty rooms, in need of repair, others with discarded furniture. The last room I entered, I wish I had not, it disturbed me beyond the realms of my sanity. I unlocked the door and went in, to find the three women from my previous dream, they had wolf like teeth, and deep red eyes, devouring the neck of a young man of about 25, he was I imagine dead, and they had blood dripping down their mouths and necks. I must have screamed as the looked up and saw me, snarling, one broke free and was about to attack when I was quite sick. This stopped the woman and I quickly retreated locking the door and returned to my room.

I wrote this down as soon as I had stopped shaking and crying, I have never seen such a horrific act in all my years.

I could not sleep, instead I sat watching my door the whole night. As dawn brought a stream of light through my shutters I felt somehow that it might be safe to venture outside my chambers.

Diary Entry 21st April

The horror of last night will never leave me, I cannot shake it from my mind, I went to find breakfast, but entered the dining room to find cold meats laid out on the table, crawling with maggots and flies, I’m afraid I was sick in the coal bucket.

I returned to my bedroom and collapsed on the bed in a shaking fit, I think I shouted and screamed for help.

It is possible that I may have lost consciousness and sometime later I awoke in a cold sweat.

At night I did not try to find the Count , nor did he attempt to find me, I lay quite weakened from the horrors and the two bouts of sickness, I am hungry and thirsty, I fear I will die here.