August William Derleth

“ If this house is inhabited by vampires, it is only too obvious that these skeletons are those of their unfortunate victims. However, I firmly believe that there is another cavern somewhere below, wherein the bodies of the vampires are hidden.
Later—I have been looking over the book by De Rochas and I have hit upon an excellent plan to discover the bodies of the vampires! I shall use the Book of Thoth to summon the vampires before me and force them to reveal the hiding place for their voluptuous bodies! De Rochas says that it can be done. ”

“ Dracula, with all its vampires; Plammarion's Atmosphere, with its diagnosis of the Gods of peoples; and De Rochas, of whom all I can say is to quote from August Strindburg's The Inferno, the following: "I do not excuse myself, and only ask the reader to remember this fact, in ease he should ever feel inclined to practise magic, especially those forms of it called wizardry, or more properly witchcraft: that its reality has been placed beyond all doubt by De Rochas." ”

“ Prayer? But I can not pray! I am forever banished from the sight of God for calling upon Satan to aid me. But even for that I can not pray . . . . I am hypnotized by the malefic leer disfiguring the countenance of the baronet. ”

“ But Lamais was a species of female vampire known intimately to a few select sorcerers only, and the Book of Thoth was the Egyptian book of magic. For a few minutes I entertained the rather wild fancy that the Book of Thoth was ensconced somewhere in this building, and as I racked my brains for a suitable connection between "tablet" and Book of Thoth I at last became convinced that the book lay beneath the tablet at the foot of the cellar steps. I am going down to investigate. ”

“ My meditations on this matter were rudely interrupted by Mortimer, who complained of bats in the cellar—a rather queer coincidence. He said that he continually felt them brushing against his cheeks and that he feared they would become entangled in his hair. Of course, Leon and I went down to look for them, but we could not see any of them. However, Leon stated that one struck him, which I doubt. It is just possible that sudden drafts of air may have been the cause of the delusions. ”

“ I also learned that several small children disappeared from the countryside during the life of the last of the Lohrvilles;—not that they should be connected, but it seems the ignorant people ascribe their vanishing to the baronet.
June 30—Leon claims he did not have the dream (which, by the way, revisited me last night) , because of the potent effect of the holy water.
July 1—Mortimer has left. He says he can not live in the same house with the devil. It seems he must have actually seen the ghost of old Lohrville, although Leon scoffs at the idea. ”