The clash erupts on Kaeltripton! Last time, Renfield tipped the scales and the team hit Carfax—now they face Dracula himself in a tense night raid, while Jonathan tracks the missing boxes. The hunter becomes the hunted. We’re serving this free slice of Dracula with a teaser excerpt below, followed by the full text from roughly pages 267 to 281—covering a chilling encounter and relentless pursuit. We’re dishing out Dracula in chunks—keep checking back for more, or grab a $ subscription to unlock the whole saga now, plus my takes on its heart-pounding stakes. Ready to meet the monster? Let’s brave the dark!

Dr Seward’s Diary (Continued)
9 October.—After smashing the boxes at Carfax last night, we waited—Van Helsing, Jonathan, Arthur, Quincey, and me—hoping to catch him. Near midnight, the air turned cold, and a shadow moved in the chapel. Then he was there—Dracula—tall, pale, eyes blazing red. ‘You dare!’ he hissed, voice like ice, and lunged at us. Van Helsing thrust up a cross—Jonathan and I followed—and he recoiled, snarling. Quincey fired, but the shot passed through him; he laughed, a sound to freeze blood, and dissolved into mist, slipping out a crack. We stood shaken—his power’s real, but so’s our resolve.
Van Helsing rallied us: ‘He’s wounded—those boxes gone weaken him. We find the rest, or he strikes back.’ Jonathan said: ‘He’s not far—I know it.’ We searched Carfax till dawn—dusty rooms, rat nests, but no more boxes. Twenty-nine left—he’s moved them.
Jonathan Harker’s Journal
10 October.—Mina’s safe with Seward while I hunt the boxes’ trail. Took Arthur’s clout—Lord Godalming’s name opens doors—and tracked the Demeter’s carrier, a rough lot called Bloomsbury & Sons. They’d moved twenty-nine boxes after the ship docked—one batch to Carfax, the rest to a house in Piccadilly, bought under a false name. I got the address—big place, near Green Park—and met the others there to-day. Van Helsing’s sure it’s Dracula’s new lair. ‘He’s cornered,’ he said, ‘but like a beast in a trap—deadly.’ We plan to hit it to-night, armed to the teeth—crosses, stakes, guns. Mina’s worried, but I kissed her fears away: ‘He ends soon.’
Mina Harker’s Journal
10 October.—Jonathan’s out again—I hate this waiting. Dr Seward’s kind, but his asylum’s a grim place. Renfield’s howling stopped—eerie quiet now. Van Helsing says I’m key to our records, but I feel the Count’s shadow over me. Pray they come back safe.