“Yes, I too can love.”
These are simultaneously the five best and worst words Jonathan could have heard from Dracula.
Best: Jonathan is claimed. Jonathan matters enough to Dracula that he’s worth protecting from the others’ appetites (for now). Jonathan has the biggest predator in the game keeping him safe even as all his freedoms and personal boundaries are abused. If he is guarded from other perils and Dracula’s direct harm, there is time to work with. Time to think. But…
Worst: Jonathan is claimed. Jonathan is never going to leave this place. Time is only going to be useful for so long.
Yes, I too can love.
And Dracula doesn’t seem the type to set free what he ‘loves’ if the Brides are any indication. Whether the word can be taken at face value or not, the facts of the Count’s protection, of his wanting, of a guarantee that Jonathan will ultimately be gift-wrapped and handed over to the ladies, kills any hope Mr. Harker might have had that he’d get to leave the castle at all, let alone alive.
Or human.



















