The Historian

Barley is upset with her for slipping away; he knows he will be held accountable for her absence or potential injury. The narrator is secretly relieved to see him. When he asks her why she ran off, she says that the story is complicated.

Dr. Bora gifts Paul and Helen a talisman to deflect evil. He says that he knows a great deal about the legend and reality of Dracula. He believes that Dracula is significant to the history of Istanbul itself: The sultans feared Dracula, and Bora has the documents in the archive mentioned by Rossi. Bora says that he became interested in vampire mythology after finding an antiquated book with a woodcut of a dragon imprinted across it.

The narrator tells Barley the stories from her father and Rossi. He accepts these without question, citing some connection to Master James, his mentor at Oxford.

Bora’s admission of having another book shocks Paul; it seems a very strange coincidence. Though Paul is suspicious, Bora can help them find the archives, and they will meet at the restaurant in the morning.

Paul and Helen are early, so they walk along the streets like tourists. They happen upon a chess game in the plaza and find a brimming book stall. When they meet Bora, they follow him to the annex that houses the sultan’s archives. The librarian brings them a box, marked at the top with a label, “Here is evil” (217). The librarian says that the box was locked in 1930—around the time of Rossi’s letters.

Barley reads Paul’s letters alongside the narrator, and she narrator admires his worldliness; she is attracted to him and to university life. When the train stops at the station in Brussels, the narrator observes a woman on the platform who seems to be looking for someone.

Paul, Helen, and Bora open the box to the scent of old documents. Bora translates for them, noting that the war with the Order of the Dragon was expensive for the sultan. He finds the map that Rossi copied, saying he has never been able to understand it. They also find the bibliography of the Order of the Dragon—the notation in Rossi’s materials that intrigued Paul. The books it lists are unusual: rare books on torture and heretical books, most published after the death of Vlad Ţepeş. Paul notices the name of his mentor, followed by a Latin phrase. Bora, too, knows of Bartholomew Rossi.

The narrator wakes from a deep sleep, still determined to find her father. Barley bemoans her stubbornness but suggests that they hop off in Paris to get sandwiches.

While they look for sandwiches, Barley suggests they ask about the schedule for the train to Perpignan. The narrator is surprised: She did not share her final destination. Barley saw the book her father was reading about the Pyrénées-Orientales.

Bora has never met Rossi, but the previous librarian at the archives told him about the foreign professor who was disturbed by the contents of the sultan’s box. A few days later, the librarian found a man with blood on his mouth perusing the same material. So, the librarian locked up the material for safekeeping. Bora wrote to Rossi, but Rossi claimed to know nothing of the materials.

Rossi’s name on the bibliography was added recently, Bora claims. The Latin phrase following it means something akin to “the ghost in the amphora.” Paul remembers that Rossi was working on an article of that title. Mr. Erozan, the current librarian, tells Bora that someone was looking at the archives yesterday and again today, upset that others were looking through the box.

Bora assures Paul that he has copied the materials in the sultan’s box. Paul believes that they are the key to finding Rossi.

The narrator and Barley board a train to Perpignan. She is tired, so Barley leaves her to sleep while he goes up to the dining car. When the narrator wakes, she realizes that a man, dressed all in black, sits across from her, his face hidden behind a newspaper. He never turns a page.

Paul and Helen follow Bora to his apartment. Paul now believes they can trust him fully, and he shares the full story of Rossi. Bora believes that “Rossi was punished for something” (240) and insists that he will be found if he is in Istanbul. Bora believes that the coincidence of their meeting, and the three antiquated dragon books, is reason to hope for the best.

The stranger in black asks the narrator where her father is. She bolts out of the compartment, leaving their luggage behind. She finds Barley, who suggests they get off at the next station to trick him into following. They will jump back on the train at the last moment. But the stranger re-boards the train, and the narrator and Barley are stuck at the isolated station. The narrator sees the stranger angrily staring out at them from the windows.

Bora ushers Paul and Helen into his study. Paul is astounded to see images of Vlad Ţepeş everywhere; Bora has a composite of all the images in one striking portrait. He also has a surplus of old instruments used to hunt vampires, like a silver dagger and knife. The room is festooned with garlic.

They examine the identical dragon books side by side. Bora’s wife offers them dinner, but Helen says that they have another appointment. Paul is confused but follows her lead. He registers how much Helen resembles the portrait in Bora’s study.

The next train does not arrive until the morning, so the narrator and Barley take refuge at a nearby farm. The narrator is anxious that Dracula is ahead of them, on his way to Saint-Matthieu. She is sure that is where her father is. Though she is angry with Barley at first, she realizes that he believes their unlikely story.

Helen has pulled them away from Bora to discuss their plans. She suggests that they travel to Hungary to talk to her mother. Helen’s aunt has connections within the communist government and can arrange for their safe passage. Their cover story is that they are working on an article about the Ottoman conquests in Europe.

They decide to return to the Hagia Sofia and talk about the possibility that Dracula’s tomb is somewhere in the city. Paul notices that the same man from the archives is watching them. He realizes that it is the dead librarian; he followed them from America.

The narrator recollects some photographs of her father before she was born: He looks young and carefree. Ever since the narrator has known her father, his once-bronze hair has always been white.

Paul cannot sleep, knowing that the vampiric librarian is following them, perhaps drawn to Helen’s bite. The next morning, he leaves her to sleep and goes downstairs. Bora is there, and they look through materials Bora retrieved from his bookseller friend, Selim Aksoy. Aksoy is an expert Turkish historian, especially of Istanbul. In one of the books from Aksoy’s collection, Bora finds a letter written about a mysterious plague in Istanbul in the late-15th century—after Vlad Ţepeş died. A particular grave in Snagov was searched, but nothing was found. The signature was torn off. There is clearly a connection between Istanbul and Dracula.

Aksoy joins them, and Paul recognizes him as the bookseller he and Helen saw while walking the city. Paul retrieves Helen from the room, and they all walk to the sultan’s archives. The dead librarian from America is waiting for them. Before he can attack, Helen shoots him.

Paul is stunned; he was not aware that Helen carried a gun. The librarian runs, and Helen shoots him twice more, but it is pointless, as he is undead. Helen says that her gun carries silver bullets, but she missed his heart. In the aftermath, they find the contents of the sultan’s box scattered everywhere. Mr. Erozan has been bitten. When Helen pulls out her crucifix to test the extent of his contamination, Bora stops her. In the Islamic world, they have their own religious instruments. Mr. Erozan recoils at first but eventually comes around; if he is not attacked again, he should recover.

The maps are gone, but Bora has copies. Paul is convinced that Rossi is at Dracula’s tomb. The dead librarian was likely headed there. Aksoy shows them more documents, which record a plague in Istanbul in 1477, a year after Vlad is killed in battle. It also notes the arrival of a group of monks from the Carpathians who “begged for asylum” in Istanbul (280). The tomb at Snagov was investigated the same year, and they must uncover the link.

The narrator cannot sleep. She wonders what she would do if something happened to her father. She looks outside the window and thinks she sees wings and a tail disappearing into the sky.

Once Mr. Erozan is settled—and a guard is posted to keep watch over him—Bora and Paul discuss an alleged lost work of Shakespeare, The King of Tashkani. Set in a fictionalized Istanbul, the play stars a ghost named Dracole who encourages the new king to drink the blood of his recently conquered people. Whether it is authentically Shakespeare, it is further evidence for Bora that Dracula left some sort of “legacy of vampirism” in the city (288). Bora also tells Paul about his encounter with what he believes was a vampire: A waiter noticed the name Rossi on a letter Bora was reading. Bora noticed his unnatural smell. As Bora stirred the tea, he saw a dragon rising in the steam.

Paul informs Bora that he and Helen will go to Budapest. Bora gives him a vampire-hunting kit for protection. He promises to keep looking in Istanbul for any sign of Dracula or his tomb.