Atlas Nightshade

Day 68

"Then he spoke to me mockingly, 'And so you, like the others, would play

your brains against mine. You would help these men to hunt me and

frustrate me in my designs! You know now, and they know in part already,

and will know in full before long, what it is to cross my path. They

should have kept their energies for use closer to home. Whilst they

played wits against me--against me who commanded nations, and intrigued

for them, and fought for them, hundreds of years before they were

born--I was countermining them. And you, their best beloved one, are now

to me, flesh of my flesh; blood of my blood; kin of my kin; my bountiful

wine-press for a while; and shall be later on my companion and my

helper. You shall be avenged in turn; for not one of them but shall

minister to your needs. But as yet you are to be punished for what you

have done. You have aided in thwarting me; now you shall come to my

call. When my brain says "Come!" to you, you shall cross land or sea to

do my bidding; and to that end this!' With that he pulled open his

shirt, and with his long sharp nails opened a vein in his breast. When

the blood began to spurt out, he took my hands in one of his, holding

them tight, and with the other seized my neck and pressed my mouth to

the wound, so that I must either suffocate or swallow some of the---- Oh

my God! my God! what have I done? What have I done to deserve such a

fate, I who have tried to walk in meekness and righteousness all my

days. God pity me! Look down on a poor soul in worse than mortal peril;

and in mercy pity those to whom she is dear!" Then she began to rub her

lips as though to cleanse them from pollution.

As she was telling her terrible story, the eastern sky began to quicken,

and everything became more and more clear. Harker was still and quiet;

but over his face, as the awful narrative went on, came a grey look

which deepened and deepened in the morning light, till when the first

red streak of the coming dawn shot up, the flesh stood darkly out

against the whitening hair.

We have arranged that one of us is to stay within call of the unhappy

pair till we can meet together and arrange about taking action.

Of this I am sure: the sun rises to-day on no more miserable house in

all the great round of its daily course.