‘The Vampyre Hunter: Excuse Me is that a Stake in Your Pocket.’
Here is the link to the first chapter if you have missed it:
http://brassgoggles.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,35305.msg767239.html#msg767239Chapter 2Telegram from Prof. Van Helsing to Dr Seward
April 5th
Dear Friend John [stop] I arrived in Palermo Sicily in the afternoon 2nd April [stop] Things have become complicated in Sicily that I am in need of your assistance [stop] Please do not be alarmed I have sent one of the Don’s men to meet you and bring you here [stop] Bring your bag for an exorcism [stop]
Dr Seward’s diary
April 5th. I am vexed. After such a wonderful day with my patient Miss Spellows, I have returned home to a roast dinner, a sherry and a prompting telegram by the professor that is calling for me in Sicily. I am left anxious, which to me makes poor digestion of my evening meal. And I am wondering how much my previous surmise yesterday of the airship incident in Sicily is in relation to the professor’s being over there?
Now all I can do is wait for this person from Sicily. Hopefully I can get some answers from this gentleman in what is going on. Lest the professor has truly succumbed to his opium affliction? If this is the case, I suppose it will not keep me away too long from the asylum?
Like all the days since her internment, Miss Spellows does not fail to make me welcome by her side which is a rarity amongst mental patients. Today we discussed about the metaphors of the wolf in relation to intercourse. And how she uses such sexual interpretation to discover the meaning behind the children’s fairytale ‘The Little Red Riding Hood’. She explained to me that that story was to warn children of sexually charged strangers and wood cutters. A sort of topic that is usually not fitting to talk about with a lady. But I have learned not to be as shocked as I was with the initial discussion I had with Miss Spellows on her first day at the asylum.
In becoming more conditioned to her subject matter, I have found it very interesting indeed. I am fascinated to how she interprets the wolf in this fable as being a werewolf, or a man with wolfish desires. Using me as the unconscious example. That is to say that I am unknowingly a werewolf who is unconscious of my nature who would have Little Red Riding Hood and her Grand-mother for my carnal appetites.
As Miss Spellows divulged this, I must admit to myself how she is not far from knowing how my mind focused on her as though a werewolf on the hunt. My eyes and ears devouring her divine beauty and sweetest of voices that would inspire the best sculptors of our age. And from a scientific point of view, ridiculous and exaggerated as it may seem, her mind is one cache of the exotic. I wonder…is Miss Spellows the goddess Pandora in disguise? And whether conversing with her whole heartedly would successfully open the box that would unleash all the evils in the world she so tenaciously holds close to her exquisite bosom?
Dr Seward’s Diary
(First Phonographic-Auto-Type-Recording)
April 6th Morning. Elah…1...2...3…my first “Phonographic-Auto-Type Recording“. This morning I received my brand new “Phonographic-Auto-Type-Recorder”. On receiving it by the delivery men I was over come with joy and excitement to try it‘s workings. Hahahhh….
This is a fantastic device. It replaces my old phonograph and I do believe the “Phonographic-Auto-Type-Recorders” will replace all office jack phonographs.
Since Madame Harker transcribed my phonograph recordings during the incident involving the Count, I returned to writing out my diaries in her absence that prove simpler to file and reference. When I discovered the advertisement for the “Phonographic-Auto-Type-Recorder” in ‘Titbits’ magazine that described what it can do, my heart leapt to send an immediate order.
The “Phonographic-Auto-Type-Recorder” records your outspoken words on disc as opposed to the larger cylinders that would make for good storage in one’s filing cabinet. Not only that, the “Phonographic-Auto-Type-Recorder” also prints out your outspoken words on paper so there is no need for transcription thus duplicates are quickly and efficiently distributed. I find it a humorous thought that Madame Harker now sits on my adjacent tabletop transcribing my diaries…hehehe [cough]
In addition to this pioneering feature of my brand new “Phonographic-Auto-Type-Recorder”, I am able to replay my recorded discs that can be switched to silent and/or automatically record the content of the disc to paper. I do believe I will be using this quite extensively. Not only for my personal diary, but also for my other journals and official documents.
Sample disc concluded. Dr John Seward. Stop.
April 6th Evening. It has been a shattering day today. Not long after my first “Phonographic-Auto-Type-Recording” this morning, I received a gentleman direct from London. It turned out to be the man that Professor Van Helsing so tersely mentioned in his telegram yesterday. Introducing himself as a Mr Roman Carini, he had a certain Latin countenance, the typical foreign middle aged gentleman one would occasionally meet from the Italian quarter of London. A well spoken chap was Mr Carini and a well dressed gentleman at that. By the by, after introductions, he immediately asked me whether or not I received a telegram from the Professor in Sicily. The moment I confirmed this and showed him the telegram note as evidence he told me that he was appointed the task to find me and take me to Palermo, Sicily, by direct instruction of Don Sandra Augustus of Palermo himself. He showed me the telegram note he received from the Don that very much confirmed to me that the Professor was not on one of his Opium ventures. He certainly is telling the truth this time as these two telegrams, and the article from ‘The Observer’ all seem to add up in what is going on. Yet whether or not a vampire is involved, remains to be seen.
When I asked Mr Carini the nature of this expedition he very much told me the same thing that what The Observer informed me about “The Ophiliac” incident. He also told me that Pietra Enna, Sandra Augustus’ daughter, is very ill from her ordeal that demanded Professor Van Helsing’s help. And it would be apparent that the Professor also needs my help too. Mr Carini was very sincere by this. I would imagine he was very much in the dark of matters himself as he was from London.
Mr Carini told me to inform one person who is close to me of where I am going. He said it is imperative to keep the knowledge of my location secret as much as possible. He allowed me the afternoon to tie up some loose ends at home and to pack my things for the trip. I immediately wrote a letter to the Harkers explaining the reasons of my departure and to be so bold as to ask them to keep in communication with my Orderly Mr Roberts and the Matron Miss Evans for the running of the asylum. [clears throat]
I packed an extra jacket, a light corduroy one for the warm climate of southern Italy, my straw garden hat for the harsh sun, two cotton shirts, hosiery, ablutions case and all the necessities of a travelling gentleman to keep baggage light. I packed my special doctors bag for exorcism. The one containing blood transfusion apparatus, oil of garlic, syringe box, silver cross shaped hammer, gag, leather bonds and a silver stake.
I also mean to take precautions in far away lands. Especially if there is a vampire involved. I am taking my elegantly long Volcanic pistol with silver bullets. An American made gun made by the Volcanic Repeating Arms Company that was bequeathed to me by the much admired and much missed Mr Quincey. Oh how much that wild man inspired the hunt in me. Not with foxes but with Nosferatu. God rest his soul.
After all my administrative obligations organised for my leave and my tartan “Wheeler-Baggage-Bag” packed up and ready for the long journey to Sicily, there was one more profound loose end that I had to tie up ever so pleasurably. That is Miss Estelle Spellows. Contrary to Mr Carini’s instruction, I spent an hour in company with Miss Spellows, explaining what I must do abroad. She listened to me intently, displaying a certain dread in her eyes. She bid me not to go, but I had to for an old friend who needs my assistance. I explained to her that there was a girl who was very poorly and needed our help.
To look at Miss Spellows, in all her enchanting guise, had an emerald gaze that reached out to me like a penniless street walker that would have the less likely philanthropist reach into one’s pocket out of sympathy. As soon as I told her that I am giving her free access to my library and bureau and that I am to correspond with her on a regular basis, she dived out of her seat and locked me into her firm embrace of love. Catching my senses in her waves of deep obscurite hair.
I could sense in her a certain gladness at this, that she will not be entirely left all alone in the asylum. For I have unlocked all the gates and opened every shutter to the outside world for her. Not just for her mental treatment, but for my own sanity. As it will very much be torture for me to not be in her company for the weeks ahead. At least hearing her charming voice through her written words would bring her spirit by my side in Sicily.
Dr John Seward. Stop.
