The Tragic Life of Shiela Whittier

 

It was in the first (and only) issue of Giant-Size Chillers where we saw the introduction of Lilith, the daughter of Dracula, slain by Quincy Harker three decades past but whose essence rises from the grave to possess the form of any woman who had suffered abuse from their father. But when meeting with her estranged father and proposing that joining together in future endeavors is in both their best interests, Lilith suffers abuse of a different kind--rejection and disdain.

From that point, we follow Dracula to Castle Dunwick, where he meets with its resident owner, Shiela Whittier, a distraught young woman who is being tormented by forces unknown.

Once Dracula returns from slaking his thirst for blood, he's confronted by one of his slaves, Lord Henry from Parliament, who has miraculously broken free of Dracula's control and makes a failed attempt to kill him, after which he ends up taking his own life. At first, Dracula, believing it was Lord Henry who was behind Shiela's harassment, seeks to reassure her that her nightmare is over--but the laughter that surrounds the pair afterward tells them, and ourselves, that the torment that Shiela has been experiencing is far from over.

You would think that the fact that Shiela has only now suffered a vicious attack--within arm's reach of Dracula, who was virtually helpless to prevent it--would make it impossible for Shiela to even consider sleeping, despite Dracula's consoling words. Mostly, however, the scene opens the door to Dracula himself facing this bizarre threat from whatever is stalking the halls of this castle.

As for why Dracula hasn't himself made a victim of Shiela, there are different reasons in play for his reticence--though he barely has time to muse about them (which is where that opening-the-door part comes in).

Dracula then learns a little of Shiela's family history--that when Dunwick died, he left Dunwick Castle to his niece, a woman he'd never met but whom he'd found by her photographs to be "irresistible." Upon seeing the castle, however, she felt intensely uncomfortable within its halls--even more so when her boyfriend who had accompanied her met his death from an "accidental" fall down the stairwell to the basement.

At that point in the recollection, however, Dracula departs for a time in order to satisfy his hunger--but for Shiela, all is finally revealed about her uncle and his reprehensible past when the man himself finally appears before her and, to her horror, reveals Shiela's true lineage as well as his intentions for her, long in the planning.

Dracula's return, then, is a timely one--and while hardly a knight in shining armor, as far as Sheila's concerned his help is most welcome.

As Dracula hoped, Shiela thereafter becomes a willing aide for him, having come to be aware of what is said about him but trapped in a state of self-deception that has her denying the worst and instead coming to believe their relationship is much more intimate than it is--the perfect enabler. And so she becomes the ideal person for Dracula to use to gain the trust of Yeshiva student David Eshcol, whose father, Joshua, was recently murdered so that the perpetrators could make off with an ancient, powerful artifact known as the Chimera, an object uniquely shaped with the head of a lion, the body of a goat, and the tail of a serpent. Forged in Atlantis by the mad wizard C'Thunda, the artifact was endowed with "the power of the cosmic eternal," making it extremely desirable for our power-hungry vampire.

During the struggle for the object, the perps left without realizing that Joshua had broken off the Chimera's tail, which David recovered after finding his dead father. That leads David (and Shiela) to Lydia, an old family friend who is able to tell them of the object's history, as well as its potential.

Yet it turns out another who seeks to possess the Chimera is Dracula's former antagonist, Doctor Sun, who manages to capture David, Shiela, and Dracula and reassemble the Chimera. But, Dracula being Dracula, the tables turn, and he is at last poised to wield the Chimera for his own purposes. But throughout the incident, Shiela has finally seen the light where Dracula is concerned--but what happens next may be her first and last act of defiance.

(I found myself wincing at seeing Dracula using the words "I guess" in speaking.  I suppose we can chalk it up to his being, well, giddy at finally having absolute power literally in the palms of his hands.)

As for Shiela, it's taken a long time for her to come into her own, but the veil is finally lifted for her as she finally washes her hands of Castle Dunwick and the circumstances of her past, as well as a man she now sees without blinders on (thanks in part to Sun, whose illusions courtesy of the Chimera apparently struck home).

As you might imagine, Dracula's ... supplication? sadness? dejection? ... is soon replaced with rage, which is then expended on a bloodbath involving anyone in public unlucky enough to cross his path in the next few hours, after which he retires to Castle Dunwick and his coffin while voicing thoughts of further repercussions to come.

The next day, however, David realizes that he must deal with Dracula if there is to be any future between himself and Shiela, and so he heads to the castle, stake in hand. Yet you and I have doubtless taken in such a scenario in any number of horror stories and/or films where the character on this sort of mission takes too long to reach the coffin in question and fails to keep track of the time--and so, later, when Shiela answers her door, we have a chilling fear of who and what is waiting to greet her on the other side.

Having nothing left to lose at this point (and we would find ourselves to be mistaken in that assumption), Shiela holds nothing back in this argument where she confronts one of the most dangerous, sadistic men on Earth, fully realizing that she may very well die at this man's hands this night or, in the extreme, suffer a fate worse than death. For his part, Dracula stands uncharacteristically at odds with himself, his feelings for Shiela in conflict with his pride and need to assert his authority--and if it weren't for his part in David's death, it's possible the person Dracula appeals to would have heard the earnest tone in his words.

But for Shiela, it's too late to offer Dracula anything but rejection, which finally takes the form of a single, plunging leap that will take away her pain, and her fear, forever.

-- Epilog --
We only find out the true depth of Dracula's feelings for Shiela Whittier in a somber and frank visit to Shiela's grave on a windswept night. We can only assume that a few days had passed after her death before her burial took place, which provided Dracula with time to collect his thoughts and provide him with a semblance of sympathy to offer at this moment for a young woman whose tragic fate had dogged her steps for much of her adult life.