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The Three Mysterious Women and the Escape | Chapter 3: The Forbidden Room
After witnessing Count Dracula crawling down the castle wall like some enormous creature, Jonathan Harker could no longer pretend that everything was normal.
His suspicions had become fears.
The castle doors remained locked. There were no servants, no visitors and no apparent way to contact the outside world.
Jonathan was a prisoner.
One day, while Dracula was away, he decided to explore parts of the castle he had not previously visited.
He walked through dark corridors and eventually discovered a pleasant room with comfortable furniture.
Exhausted, he lay down and soon fell asleep.
But he was about to experience something far more frightening than any nightmare.
Chapter 4: The Three Mysterious Women
Jonathan awoke with a strange feeling that someone was watching him.
He opened his eyes.
Three women were standing nearby.
They were extraordinarily beautiful, but something about their appearance disturbed him. Their faces were pale, their eyes strangely bright, and their smiles carried an unsettling expression.
One of them approached.
She had long golden hair and red lips. She bent towards Jonathan, bringing her face close to his throat.
Then he noticed her teeth.
Two sharp points appeared between her lips.
Jonathan was fascinated and terrified at the same time. He could neither move nor call for help.
Suddenly, a powerful voice thundered through the room.
“How dare you touch him!”
The three women immediately stepped back.
Count Dracula stood at the entrance.
His expression was furious.
The women looked at him with a mixture of fear and disappointment.
One of them protested.
“You never loved us!”
Dracula’s face remained stern.
“Have I not?”
He moved towards them.
“Yes, I can love. You know that well enough.”
Then he pointed towards Jonathan.
“This man belongs to me. Leave him alone!”
Jonathan lay motionless, trying to understand what he had just witnessed.
The three women slowly withdrew.
But before leaving, one of them turned towards him and smiled.
It was not a friendly smile.
It was the smile of someone who knew that their next meeting might be very different.
Dracula approached Jonathan.
His expression had returned to its usual calmness.
“Come,” he said. “You must return to your room.”
Jonathan followed him, although his mind was filled with unanswered questions.
Who were those women?
Were they living in the castle?
And why had Dracula stopped them?
He wanted to ask, but something in the Count’s expression discouraged him.
That night, Jonathan heard strange sounds from somewhere deep inside the castle.
There were footsteps, whispers and occasional movements that seemed to come from the lower rooms.
He now understood that the castle contained horrors far beyond his imagination.
Chapter 5: The Child in the Bundle
One night, Jonathan heard a woman crying outside the castle.
“Give me back my child!”
He moved towards the window and looked down into the darkness.
Then he saw Dracula approaching, carrying a bundle.
The Count threw it towards the three mysterious women.
Jonathan realised with horror that the bundle contained a child.
The mother’s cries continued.
Dracula gave a signal, and a pack of wolves appeared.
The woman screamed as they rushed towards her.
Jonathan could hardly bear to watch.
He had witnessed a terrible act of cruelty, and the man responsible was the same person who had welcomed him as a guest.
Chapter 6: The Count’s Secret
Jonathan continued observing Dracula whenever he could.
One day, he noticed something deeply disturbing.
The Count was wearing Jonathan’s clothes.
A horrifying possibility entered his mind. Dracula might be using his appearance to deceive people outside the castle and make them believe that Jonathan was responsible for his actions.
Jonathan was determined to discover more.
He began searching the castle whenever Dracula was away.
One day Jonathan discovered the Count’s secret resting place. He found a narrow staircase leading down towards the lower parts of the building.
The air became colder as he descended.
At the bottom, he discovered an old chapel.
It appeared to have been abandoned for many years.
The walls were damp, and the air carried the unpleasant smell of earth and decay.
Rows of large wooden boxes stood inside.
They looked like coffins.
Jonathan approached one of them cautiously.
Then he saw something that made him stop breathing.
Inside lay Count Dracula.
His eyes were closed.
His face looked strangely different. The usual pale appearance had disappeared, and his cheeks seemed fuller and more youthful.
His lips were red.
His expression was peaceful, almost lifelike.
But there was something even more disturbing.
The Count appeared to be sleeping in a bed of earth.
Jonathan stood staring at him.
Could this really be the same man who had welcomed him at the castle entrance?
He looked around.
More boxes stood nearby, filled with the same dark earth.
Jonathan suddenly understood that these were not ordinary storage containers.
They were resting places.
The Count was not sleeping like an ordinary human being.
He seemed to belong to the earth itself.
Fear slowly turned into anger.
Jonathan realised that he might never escape if he did not act quickly.
He noticed a heavy shovel nearby.
Without thinking further, he picked it up and raised it above the sleeping Count.
He brought it down with all his strength.
But Dracula moved!
The Count opened his eyes.
Jonathan stumbled backwards in terror.
The blow had failed to destroy him. It had only injured his forehead, from which a little blood appeared.
The Count’s eyes were now open and filled with terrible anger.
Jonathan dropped the shovel and fled from the chapel.
He ran through the corridors, his heart pounding.
He had tried to attack a creature that was not bound by the ordinary rules of life and death.
He had discovered the Count’s secret, but he had failed to destroy him.
Chapter 7: The Last Opportunity
Jonathan knew that remaining in the castle meant certain danger.
He had seen Dracula’s terrible powers. He had encountered the three women and witnessed the Count’s cruelty.
He also knew that Dracula was wearing his clothes and might use his identity to commit further crimes.
There was no longer any reason to wait.
Jonathan decided to attempt an escape, even if it meant risking his life.
He remembered how Dracula had climbed down the castle wall, moving headfirst like a lizard.
It was an almost impossible route, but it offered a chance.
He waited for an opportunity when the Count was away.
For the first time since arriving in Transylvania, Jonathan Harker was no longer thinking about how to survive inside the castle.
He was thinking about how to escape from it.
He locked the door, although he knew that such a small barrier would offer little protection against Dracula.
He sat beside the window and looked out towards the distant mountains.
Somewhere beyond those mountains lay villages, roads and ordinary human life.
He thought of England.
He thought of his fiancée, Mina Murray, and wondered whether he would ever see her again.
The thought of Mina filled him with sorrow.
He had travelled to Transylvania expecting a few days of business discussions.
Instead, he had discovered a nightmare.
The Count was a creature of darkness.
The three mysterious women were equally terrifying.
The castle was a prison.
And Jonathan was trapped among them.
He began to understand that waiting would not save him.
He had to escape.
But how?
The castle stood high above the surrounding landscape. The doors were locked, the windows were dangerous, and the Count seemed to know everything that happened within his walls.
Jonathan looked once more towards the moonlit mountains.
Then he made a decision.
He would take whatever risk was necessary.
He would rather face death outside the castle than remain a prisoner inside it.
But he did not know that Count Dracula was already aware of his growing desperation.
And the Count had no intention of allowing his guest to leave.
Jonathan knew that he had to escape before it was too late.
Jonathan returned to the window.
He looked down at the enormous stone wall.
The castle stood high above the surrounding landscape. The rocks below appeared distant and dangerous.
But he remembered how Dracula had climbed down the wall.
If the Count could do it, perhaps there was a way for Jonathan to follow.
He carefully examined the stonework.
There were small projections, narrow ledges and irregularities in the ancient masonry.
It was a desperate plan.
But he had no better choice.
One evening, when the castle was unusually quiet, Jonathan prepared himself.
He looked once more at his room.
The comfortable bed, the furniture and the fireplace had once seemed welcoming.
Now everything reminded him of his captivity.
He approached the window.
A cold wind entered the room.
Far below, the darkness covered the mountains.
Jonathan climbed onto the window ledge and began his dangerous descent.
His hands searched for every small opening in the stonework.
His feet struggled to find secure positions.
He dared not look down.
A single mistake could end his life.
The height was terrifying.
But he continued. The night seemed endless.
Chapter 8: Beyond Castle Dracula
Jonathan eventually reached the lower ground and made his way away from the castle.
He was exhausted, frightened and uncertain of the route ahead.
The mountains stretched before him, and the wilderness offered little protection.
He carried the small crucifix given to him by the elderly woman before his journey.
He thought of Mina and wondered whether he would ever see her again.
He had escaped the castle, but he was not yet safe.
The journey through the mountains became increasingly difficult. His strength failed, and his mind was troubled by fever and exhaustion.
As Jonathan travelled away from the castle, the landscape gradually changed.
The isolated mountain paths gave way to routes used by travellers and local villagers.
He was no longer surrounded entirely by the silence of the wilderness.
But his condition was becoming worse.
His body was weak, and his mind was exhausted.
At times, he could hardly distinguish between what was happening around him and what remained in his memory.
The terrible experiences inside the castle had left him deeply disturbed.
He thought he saw Dracula’s face in the darkness.
He heard familiar voices.
He remembered the mysterious women approaching him.
And sometimes he felt that the Count was still watching him.
He struggled onward until he could no longer continue.
Chapter 9: A Place of Safety
Jonathan’s escape did not end with his arrival in a nearby village.
He eventually became seriously ill and was taken to a hospital in Budapest.
There, he remained weak and confused, haunted by memories of the castle.
News of his condition reached Mina Murray.
Without hesitation, she travelled to Budapest to find him.
When they finally met, Jonathan was overwhelmed with emotion.
Jonathan looked weak and exhausted.
His face had lost its usual colour, and his eyes carried the memories of something terrible.
Mina approached him gently.
“Jonathan!”
He slowly turned towards her.
For a moment, he seemed unable to recognise her.
Then his expression changed.
“Mina…”
She held his hand.
He had survived.
After everything he had experienced, he was finally with someone he loved and trusted.
Mina stayed beside him and helped him recover.
She did not demand explanations or force him to speak about his terrible experiences.
She understood that he needed time.
The mysterious castle, the strange Count and the horrors of Transylvania remained locked inside Jonathan’s memory.
But Mina was determined to help him return to normal life.
Mina cared for him as he recovered, and the two were eventually married.
During Jonathan’s recovery, Mina discovered his journal and read his detailed account of the terrifying journey through Transylvania—from the mysterious coachman and wolves to Dracula’s castle, the three strange women and his desperate escape. Although the events seemed almost unbelievable, Jonathan’s detailed descriptions and genuine fear convinced her that his experiences might be real. She carefully preserved the journal, sensing that it could prove important in the future.
Jonathan’s experiences had left a deep mark on him.
He had escaped from Count Dracula, but the nightmare was not over.
Far away, the Count was preparing for a new journey.
His destination was England.
Jonathan Harker had escaped Castle Dracula. But Count Dracula was coming to his world.
To be continued in Part Three: Dracula Comes to England.