Something about a human creeping out the vampire is so funny. Jonathan is a legitimate menace
i am sure that if Jonathan had access to a mirror;
he would see a fresh wound upon his neck- red, irritated, with a fleck of dried blood on his collar
he would see a version of himself that has been denied true restful sleep, experienced the horrors, and unimaginable stress
he would see the dimming hope in his eyes, a candle lit for a love he may never see again that’s growing darker …
Oh, what a foul bauble of vanity those mirrors are, what wickedness they reveal in their silver depths
Today in Dracula: Local lawyer lives out every lawyer's fantasy of whacking their worst client with a shovel.
Dracula Daily sketch(es) for 30th June
In which Jonathan attempts his escape.
I went with two sketches today, because it's an important entry for poor Johnny, and I couldn't decide which moment to illustrate: his murder attempt (you almost did it, my lad) or his escape attempt. So have both!
there is no guarantee the trinkets are not cursed. choose at your own risk. reblog to keep the trinket shop traveling.
man i kind of. completely forgot that dracula was going out dressed as jonathan to convince the locals that he'd already been turned & was a threat to them. horrifying stuff. anyway
When Jonathon says shes better dead it sounds cold but the alternative outcomes are to be killed by vampires, turned into a vampire, or to learn what happened to the baby and live with hideous knowledge whilst still vulnerable to death or turning. Thats how he is living now. When he says shes better dead he means its better than living in the toils as he is. The vampires are a danger to life and afterlife - his next action is to risk death himself because its better to be dead than lose his soul.
He is not in a very good mental place right now.
“You know,” Dracula hums by the fireplace, the flames a shade dimmer than his own eyes. “I do believe I am becoming paranoid in my old age. Yet I keep my things in such precarious order, all things where they must be.” A log pops. His eyes flash. “Where they should be. And so I have noticed that my own bedroom was disturbed during the day.”
“Oh?” Voice level, Jonathan. Voice steady, Jonathan. Surprise. Concern. “How so? I was under the impression the door was locked.”
“So it was. And yet, I can tell something was…” His nails drum on the mantel, the click of claws, “…different. Meddled with somehow.”
Something between foolishness, sleeplessness, and a smoldering kernel of ire sparks in Jonathan’s chest. Its embers travel up to his tongue.
“Nothing was stolen, I hope. I admit I had a mild scare some time ago, when I realized I couldn’t find certain things in my luggage. Only it occurred to me that your servants must have already taken them away to clean and hold aside for my departure.” A smile so easy it borders on suicidal curls on his face. It feels like a rictus. Maybe it will see him dead right then. “The people here are the most discreet I’ve ever encountered.”
Dracula raises a snowy brow.
“That they are. As discreet as spiders minding their web.” Then, a sudden swerve out of the growing cloud. He oozes mirth. “Have you seen any here, my friend? Spiders?”
“None.” He hadn’t. Dust, motheaten holes, but no spiders.
“That is because of my people as well. More, it is the work of local aid.” His grin has too many teeth. “The bats quite love them. Whenever I or my servants come across a spider indoors, we save it for them. All those that would dare to come crawling along the outer walls?” He snaps his fingers. “They are eaten before they can spin their first thread. It is a most lucrative exchange.”
Jonathan fights not to swallow, not to acknowledge the cold twisting in his stomach.
“I’m certain.”
“A hypothetical question for you. Which would you rather be, my friend? Of the two, I mean.” Dracula’s hand is on him again, itself a titanic white spider. Cold and immovable from his shoulder. It squeezes just short of bruising. “A spider or a bat?”
“I wouldn’t know, Count. Neither is the best choice.“
“No?”
The hand is tighter.
“No.” Under the table, Jonathan crosses his fingers. “The best choice is a cat.”
The grip lightens and amusement sketches a change in the Count’s expression.
“Why a cat?”
“They can get away with much more,” Jonathan’s traitor tongue flies. He bites it. “If only for the fact of their comparative harmlessness as they serve their masters as they entertain and accompany. This, while it provides a more handy service in hunting pests of all sorts, be it spider and bat or beetle and rat. In exchange for doing the dual work of tending to the home and being pleasant and defenseless, the more powerful keeper ensures they’re housed and,” he gulps down glass, hot coals, acid, “and loved. A cat can only do so much, but it does just enough.”
Dracula shakes his head.
“Enough to get themselves in trouble, perhaps. No, my friend, if we must leave the smaller creatures behind, I must say a wolf is the better choice. He eats all in his path and has no master at all.” The cold hand gives another squeeze, the nails dimpling cloth and skin…then relaxes. Strokes. “But cats have their place as well. If kept in their proper place…”
The night goes on in this way for endless hours. And still Jonathan’s fingers are crossed out of sight. He has a fondness for cats. Even for spiders. He appreciates all creatures who take it upon themselves to hunt and cull those things that infest or take lives by little bites. But more than either, he has always had a fondness and fealty to dogs.
As the moon drags itself slowly across the sky, he imagines he hears their barking and baying meeting the wild cry of the wolves, and shepherd teeth sinking deep into bloodthirsty throats.
The entire cast of Dracula after they are ripped from their place in the natural flow of space and time and thrust a month into the future with no warning.
I'm 200% sure Dracula was fully aware of Jonathan entering his room
Okay but the TENSION between them that night must have been so thick.
Dracula trying to control himself because he did not expect this. He did not expect Harker to enter his sealed hideout. And we know from the mirror scene and the sisters scene that he hates it when he's not in absolute control. So during their nightly meeting, he's trying to not to snap and ruin this ritual he has been performing until its culmination in a few days.
Jonathan trying to deduce from Dracula's reactions if he saw, heard, felt him. He can feel the looming anger and fire lurking in his eyes that he's learned to detect, but despite knowing him intimately by now, he can't tell. But with each sudden movement, louder tone from the Count, his grip tightens to keep himself from flinching like he's trained himself to.
All while they play their good host and his good young friend roles.
Sound designing a vampire being hit in the face with a shovel is... challenging. Who would've guessed.
[Audio transcript: Ben Galpin voicing Jonathan Harker from Dracula by Bram Stoker. He says, "There was no lethal weapon at hand, but I seized a shovel which the workmen had been using to fill the cases, and lifting it high, struck, with the edge downward, at the hateful face," followed by a cartoon "bonk" and the Wilhelm scream. End transcript]