oarded the bus in Bistritz and rode up
switchbacks into the mountains
towards Tirgoviste. When it grew dark, there seemed to be some
excitement among the passengers. One of
my companions grabbed me as I was about to deboard at the Count's
address, pressing a crucifix into my
hands and whispering "For the dead travel fast." Yes indeed, I thought,
over T1 lines, no doubt.
The castle is a dramatic affair, perched atop a hill with virtually no
vegetation and an outstanding view of the valley below. Would have been
a pleasant walk up the drive were it not for all the howling dogs.
The Count met me at the door, an unusually fit, elderly gentleman with gray eyes, wearing a black turtleneck sweater. "Welcome ... welcome to my house." I thanked him and he showed me to my room. "Please join me for dinner after you've had a chance to freshen up."
On entering the dining room and finding nothing set, I took it upon myself to explore the castle. I soon found the Count's study, where a gleaming 17-inch monitor sat atop a mahogany desk.
The Count actually has a fairly impressive system: a Power Mac 8100 sitting beside a Radius monitor and a 1,200-dpi scanner of uncertain manufacture. His Internet connection (only 14.4) appears to be a toll call to Bucharest; he says they're talking about ISDN.
I pulled up Netscape and found the home page set on The Chronicles of the Family Dracul , a site promoting two volumes of work by author Jeanne Kologridis. The site includes images of a medieval nobleman, Vlad Tsepesh, and his castles, and the cities where he lived and fought. Perhaps a family relation.
"I see you have ignored my warnings and decided to explore!" The Count was behind me, though I had not noticed his reflection in the monitor.
"That's right, Count! Explore the Web!"
He elbowed me aside brusquely and grabbed the mouse and immediately took me to the crimson home page of Vampyres Only out of British Columbia. The site is a bit cluttered, but it's an exhaustive resource of vampire images, photos from old Hollywood horror films, excerpts from books and short stories, and pointers to other Web sites "in a similar vein."
"Something like this!" the Count declared.
I snatched the mouse from his icy grip and typed in the URL for The Vampire Chronicles. "I prefer a cleaner look, Count," I told him. "I think you'll like what we can do for you."
