One said, “Go on! You are first, and we shall follow. Just begin!”
The other added, “He is young and strong; there are kisses for us all.[52]” I lay quiet, looking out under my eyelashes. The fair girl bent over me till I could feel the movement of her breath upon me. I was afraid to raise my eyelids, but looked out and saw perfectly under the lashes. The girl went on her knees, and bent over me, simply gloating. Scarlet lips, the red tongue, white sharp teeth. Lower and lower went her head as the lips went below my mouth and chin and was ready to fasten on my throat. Her tongue licked her teeth and lips, and I could feel the hot breath on my neck. I felt the soft touch of the lips on the skin of my throat, and two sharp teeth touched and paused there. I closed my eyes and waited.
But at that moment, another sensation came to me. The Count arrived, in a storm of fury. My eyes opened; he grasped the slender neck of the fair woman and with giant’s power drew it back.[53] The blue eyes transformed with fury, the white teeth champed with rage. But the Count! The red light in his eyes was lurid, his face was deathly pale. He said, “How dare you touch him?![54] How dare you cast eyes on him?! Back, I tell you all! This man belongs to me!”
The fair girl tried to answer, “You never loved; you never love!”
The Count turned, and said in a soft whisper, “Yes, I too can love; you can tell it from the past. Is it not so? Well, now I promise you that when I finish with him you will kiss him. Now go! Go! I must awaken him.”
“We have nothing tonight?” said one of them, with a low laugh. She pointed to the bag which he had thrown upon the floor. For answer he nodded his head. One of the women jumped forward and opened it. If my ears did not deceive me there was a gasp and a low wail, as of a child. The women disappeared with the dreadful bag. There was no door near them, they simply faded into the rays of the moonlight and passed out through the window.
Then the horror overcame me, and I sank down unconscious.[55]
I awoke in my own bed. I think the Count carried me here. This room is now a sanctuary, for nothing can be more dreadful than those awful women, who were – who are – waiting to suck my blood.
18 May. – I went down to look at that room again in daylight, for I must know the truth. When I got to the doorway at the top of the stairs, it was closed. The door is fastened from the inside. I fear it was no dream.