DRACULA - Chapter One

Chapter One

1. Oct.21st.1897 Thur. 6:40 pm King Street, London - Mina's Secret

"Thank you very much indeed, Mrs. Patterson and Mr. Patterson, I think both of you're too kind to me,"

A 38-year-old lady of English, Scottish, and Japanese descent with modest beauty signed her autograph on the top of the title page of her second novel 'Stella The Vampire Slayer' in both hands of Sarah Patterson and expressed her gratitude with an American accent to those two fans, a married couple, 32-year-old half Welsh half Indian Sarah Patterson and 31-year-old half Irish half Egyptian James Patterson both had supported her two novels, closing the book, the lady happily gazed at the book title, 'Stella The Vampire Slayer' overlaid with bright, beaten gold first on the top of the book cover in dark gray and lastly her name, the author's name, 'Mina Harker' overlaid with ambient, beaten silver on the bottom of the book cover,

"As your first novel did, your second novel makes us feel impressed by those truthful, honest, and instructive stories and also feel excited and thrilled by the diverse amazing adventure with the dangerous fight, a vampire slayer versus many vampires," said Mrs. Patterson,

"I agree with my wife, and when Stella stabbed the vampire's heart, we were really surprised, how could you describe that really well? as it was real! you're a natural-born writer," said Mr. Patterson,

"Yesterday my friend also bought this novel, I'm sure that she's going to love it, and someday she'll also buy your first one," said Mrs. Patterson,

Mina thanked them again,

"That's really sweet of both of you to say that, Mrs. Patterson and Mr. Peterson, I'm truly grateful for your every praise,"

She directly took an English silver key-wind ladies' pocket watch with a long silver chain out of the pocket of her coat, opening the lid of the watch, she checked the time,

"Actually I was on my way to my fiance, I didn't realize how late it was," said Mina smiling,

"Oh, all right, I'm sorry that we stop you so long, Miss Murray," said Mrs. Patterson,

Soon Mrs. Patterson continued to say,

"Oh dear, what was I thinking? I'm very sorry about my mistake, Mrs. Harker, although I read the report that you've changed your original surname Murray to your fiance's surname Harker this October first and will hold a wedding ceremony this November first, sometimes I forget to recall your present surname, because I'm used to recalling your maiden name, the author's name, 'Mina Murray' on the cover of your first novel 'The Vampire's Secret'." said she smiling,

Mina smiled at her broadly,

"Think nothing of it, please, Mrs. Patterson, and it was really nice to talk with both of you, Mrs. Patterson and Mr. Patterson."

"Us too, Mrs. Harker, we hope you have a nice evening with your fiance Mr. Harker," said Mrs. Patterson heartily,

"And congratulations on the engagement and the upcoming wedding of you and your fiance, Mrs. Harker," said Mr. Patterson sincerely,

"Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Mr. & Mrs. Patterson, I really appreciate both of you supporting me." thanked Mina one more time with constant gratitude,

Mina turned around and directly went in the direction of the central area of the city, and at the same time Patterson couple went in the opposite direction where they parked their carriage, soon they stopped in front of the carriage's door,

"James, how could she describe the stabbing scene like that? the scary scene was really like, it was real," said Mrs. Patterson, wondering,

"I wonder, too, Sarah, she expressed the bloody scene in detail as it's real with, real blood."

Even while they sat in the carriage on their way back home, they still wondered, after a little, even when the carriage stopped in front of the front door of their house, their curiosity never stopped, and meanwhile, still on her way to her fiance, Mina mused, secretly,

"Because I did many times…"

2. Oct.21st.1897 Thur. 7:05 pm restaurant 'Muse', King Street, London, Britain - An Uninvited Guest

Every high-class restaurant was filled with many people of the upper class and middle class, soon at 7:10 pm, Mina arrived at the front gate of the restaurant 'Muse' where her fiance Jonathan Harker proposed marriage to her that year September first, after entering through the door when she directly approached the reception desk next to the entrance of the dining hall, the receptionist welcomed her courteously,

"Good evening, lady,"

"Good evening, Sir, I'm Mina Harker, this morning I reserved table 11 for 7:10 pm in the name of Mrs. Mina Harker,"

"All right, Mrs. Harker, let me check, just a moment, please."

He checked the list of the reservation,

"All right, Mrs. Harker, your reservation is confirmed, and I'm sorry to say that Mr. Harker's errand boy visited here an hour ago to let us know that because his work was delayed, he'll be here at 7:40 pm,"

"All right, thank you very much for letting me know that,"

"You're welcome, Mrs. Harker."

He turned his head to the dining hall and called the waiter just finished carrying meals to the nearby table,

"Mr. Gibson, I hope you guide Mrs. Harker to table 11, please,"

"Yes, Sir," said Mr. Gibson,

He directly approached her,

"This way, Mrs. Harker," said he with a respectful attitude,

"Thank you,"

When they stopped at the table, he pulled one of those two chairs back for her,

"Thank you,"

As soon as she sat in the chair, he walked to the section of the kitchen, soon carrying a silver tray with two silver teaspoons, a pot of warm black tea made of 'Camellia Sinensis'1 grown in Cornwall, a pot of fresh milk and two empty teacups with two saucers; all made of white porcelain with wavy red trims and patterns of each two red rose blooms fluttering many petals, he went back to her, once he finished setting the table for tea, lastly he picked up the teapot and poured tea into the teacup in front of her,

"I hope you have a wonderful evening, Mrs. Harker."

"Thank you very much, Mr. Gibson."

She picked up the milk pot and poured half of the milk into the tea in the teacup, sipping the tea she waited for Jonathan quietly, a little later, she put the empty teacup on the saucer, then at that instant, abruptly, many petals of white rose blooms touched her left cheek tenderly, she turned her upper body to the left, surrounded by the fragrant scent of those gorgeous autumn white roses with surprise, and at the same time when she held the handle of the rose bundle, a 38-year-old good-looking gentleman of English, Scandinavian, and French descent stuck his head over the top of those blooms, smiling broadly,

"Jonathan, how mischievous you are, I'm really surprised," said she smiling broadly with love,

"Surprise!" said he bursting into laughter with love,

After pressing his baby pink daisy petal-shaped lips to her baby pink rose petal-shaped lips tenderly, he sat in the empty chair,

"Darling, I'm very sorry that I couldn't be here on time," said he with a warm voice like a cup of Camellia Sinensis tea,

"Darling, think nothing of it, please, and I'm just terribly sorry that you had to work so long,"

"I hope you don't worry about that anymore, please, because now I'm with you, Mina," said he pouring a cup of warm tea into the rest empty teacup in front of him,

As she was a capable writer, he was a competent interior designer, he was intelligent, artistic, modest, gentle, tender, calm, and warm-hearted as she was, after taking a sip of the tea, he continued to talk,

"When I saw you in this beautiful white dress like a beautiful bride, as usual, because I wanted to make you happy, I ran to the flower shop next to this restaurant, and yes, as you see now…" he smiled at those beautiful roses meaningfully,

"My darling, Jonathan, why are you so perfect to me? thank you so much for this beautiful present, my Jonathan, my husband,"

"My pleasure, my darling, my Mina, my wife, and finally, this November first, we'll be the real husband & wife,"

After kissing each one's fragrant petallike lips for a little, they opened the menu smiling happily together,

Then at that instant, while several new guests entered through the door of the restaurant, soon abruptly, cutting the dark evening air, a dark gray bat with bloody red eyes quickly flew into the restaurant through the open door, soon a lady found the bat,

"Aah~!" screamed she with a scared face,

Everyone looked at her first and lastly looked up at the uninvited guest,

"Oh dear, how did that bat get in here?"

"Oh no! it's coming here!"

"Watch out!"

"Aah~!"

While many of those guests got scared and screamed, soon several waiters wielded each one's empty tray to the bat in the air urgently, but dodging those trays quickly, the unwelcome guest rushed to the table of Mina and Jonathan rapidly, and at the same time he wielded the menu at the bat to protect her, but dodging the manu skillfully, the unwanted guest soared towards the ceiling, soon baring its all canine-shaped teeth, it rushed him at biteneck speed, then while the bat flew to him, soon she picked up a knife for meat course on the nearby table and threw it at the bat ably, as soon as the heart of the bat got stabbed by the keen blade of the knife, it weakly fell to the floor,

"Whoa! Mina, how did you do that? like Stella in your novel, you really looked like a vampire slayer," said he with surprise,

"! um… actually while I stayed in Bristol because of the last book signing of my first novel, actually I did 'throwing dagger game' and 'shooting revolver game' in the game section of 'Lake Compounce'2 many times, even these days, sometimes I enjoy doing the kind of games for fun, haha…" said she smiling, barely,

"Really? whoa, Mina?"

Soon a waiter carefully picked up the dead bat that looked like a dead devil, directly entering through the back door of the restaurant, he approached the waste disposal site and threw it into the garbage basket, then as soon as he turned around, abruptly, the dead body of the bat transformed into a pile of black dust, and at the same time, when she put the rose bundle on the edge of their table, the sharpest rose thorn deeply pierced the tip of her silver engagement ringed left finger,

"Ouch!"

"Um? oh no, Mina, are you all right?" asked he examining her bleeding finger in worry,

"I'm all right, Jonathan, it's nothing serious, it's just a slight graze."

Then holding her hand with his silver engagement ringed left hand, before he pressed the bloody wound with a white napkin in his right hand, two drops of blood in vivid ruby red fell down one by one, the first drop fell to a petal among those innocent white roses, the last one fell to the skirt of her bridal gownlike dress in pure white, not only like a rose petal in bloody red, but also like a drop of real bloody tear…

'Camellia Sinensis'1 : is a species of evergreen shrubs or small trees in the flowering plant family Theaceae. its leaves and leaf buds are used to produce tea. Common names include "tea plant", "tea shrub", and "tea tree" (not to be confused with Melaleuca alternifolia, the source of tea tree oil, or Leptospermum scoparium, the New Zealand tea tree). - source by Wikipedia

'Lake Compounce'2 : is an amusement park located in Bristol and Southington, Connecticut, United States, opened in 1846, it's the oldest continuously operating amusement park in the United States. - sourced by Wikipedia