Adapted from the novel by Bram Stoker
Level B1+ Intermediate Plus British English
Chapter 1 * Chapter 2 * Chapter 3 * Chapter 4 * Chapter 5 * Chapter 6 * Chapter 7 * Chapter 8 * Chapter 9 * Chapter 10 * Chapter 11
Midnight was approaching as the carriage wound its way through a wooded pass, deep in the Carpathian Mountains. Jonathan Harker, a young English solicitor, lay dozing in his seat, tired out. The journey from England had been a long one, and since his arrival in Transylvania, an eerie one, too.
A wolf howled in the distance, and Jonathan stirred uneasily. He had heard much talk of wolves, vampires and witches in this lovely but strange country. Only the night before, the innkeeper’s wife had been horrified to hear where he was going.
‘Castle Dracula!’ she had gasped. ‘Must you go?’ ‘Yes, I must,’ Jonathan had replied. ‘Count Dracula has bought an estate in London, and I have papers for him to sign. He is sending a carriage for me tomorrow.’
The old woman had hesitated, then put her own crucifix round his neck.
‘Then wear this, for your mother’s sake!’ Puzzled, Jonathan had agreed, to please her. He could feel the cross now, under his shirt.
The carriage stopped. Jonathan’s heart leapt in fright. Wolves were all around, teeth gleaming, tongues lolling. All at once, they began to howl. The black-cloaked driver jumped down. He gave one wave of his arm, and the wolves melted away into the darkness. He took Jonathan’s bag from the rack, and opened the carriage door.
‘Castle Dracula,’ he said.
Jonathan got out. Before him lay a vast, ruined castle, its broken battlements a ragged line against the sky. Not a light showed. Behind him, the carriage rattled away. He was alone.
Jonathan waited. Before him stood a great door, studded with iron nails. Should he knock? It seemed an age before the door grated open. A tall man stood in the doorway, dressed in black from head to foot.
‘I am Count Dracula,’ he said. His English was good, but he had a strange accent. ‘Welcome to my house, Mr Harker. Enter of your own free will.’
Following the Count into a well-lit room, Jonathan found his fears vanishing. A log fire blazed in the hearth, and a table was set for supper. The Count opened another door, revealing a comfortable bedroom.
‘This is your room, Mr Harker. First of all, please eat. Excuse me if I do not join you. I have already dined.’
While Jonathan ate, the Count asked many questions about the journey. Afterwards they sat by the fire. The Count’s questions continued. This time he asked about Carfax, the estate he had purchased in London. He also signed the documents Jonathan had brought. Hours passed, and still he talked. Dawn was breaking when at last he stood up.
‘Sleep as long as you wish, Mr Harker,’ he said. ‘You may go anywhere in the castle, except where doors are locked. I must warn you, however. Sleep only in your own room. Transylvanian ways are not English ways.’
Jonathan was so tired that he thought nothing of this strange warning. He slept late into the next day. When he awoke, he found a cold meal waiting.
Of Count Dracula there was no sign, nor yet were there any servants. That was odd. Who, then, had driven the carriage? Count Dracula himself?
Dracula did not appear until evening. When he did, the young solicitor, his business completed, asked about his journey home.
‘You must not go yet, my friend!’ cried the Count. ‘You came to settle details of my new estate, Carfax. Now I must learn about London. How I long to walk through her crowded streets! I know of her only through books. You must tell me more!’
The Count questioned Jonathan far into the night. Only with the coming dawn did he allow him to fall into bed, exhausted. This went on for days. In daylight, the Count was nowhere to be seen, and Jonathan slept. By night, the Count was with him, talking endlessly. Jonathan never saw him eat or drink.
One evening, the young man was shaving when Dracula came unexpectedly into the room. He was not reflected in Jonathan’s mirror!
Startled, Jonathan let his hand slip, and cut himself. The Count’s eyes blazed at the sight of the blood, and he started forward. Then he drew back as he saw the crucifix at Jonathan’s throat.
“Take care how you cut yourself here.’ His voice was a snarl. ‘It can be more dangerous than you think.’
He was gone. Trembling, Jonathan went to the window, seeking fresh air. The castle stood on the edge of a precipice. Looking down, Jonathan was just in time to see a figure emerging from a window lower down. It was Dracula! He was crawling down the castle wall, like a great bat!
‘What kind of man was this?’ thought Jonathan.
He was filled with fear and foreboding. He must get away from this place, back to England, and Mina, the girl he was to marry.
Escape was not so easy. The great main door was locked and though Jonathan searched, he could find no other way out. He was a prisoner! At length, as he went on searching, he found himself in a room he had not visited before. He was worn out, and, remembering the Count’s warning to sleep only in his own room, he took pleasure in disobeying. Uncaring, he lay down on a silken couch.
Time passed. Suddenly, he was not alone. The room was the same. His own footprints and no others were clearly marked on the dusty floor. Yet three lovely young women had appeared through a misty shaft of moonlight. They cast no shadows. All three had brilliant white teeth and red, ruby lips. Jonathan was filled with deadly fear, but he could not move.
One of the women bent over him, and he felt her sharp teeth fasten on his throat. At that instant, another presence was in the room - Count Dracula. he was in a fury. With a fierce sweep of his arm, he threw the woman away from Jonathan, and waved the others back with the same gesture the driver had used against the wolves.
‘How dare you touch him!’ Dracula hissed. ‘This man is mine! When I am done with him, then you may have him!’
‘Are we to have nothing tonight?’ one of the women wailed.
Dracula pointed to a bag on the floor. It moved as if something alive were inside, and Jonathan thought he heard the muffled cry of a child. The women bent over it eagerly, mouths open, teeth glistening. They were about to feed on the blood of a child!
It was too much. Jonathan fainted clean away.
Daylight was creeping through the castle windows when Jonathan came to himself. He was alone once more, but fear still filled his mind. He had to escape, and there was a way, if he dared take it! Dracula himself had climbed down the face of the castle wall. Jonathan made up his mind to do the same.
He stepped through the window on to the ledge outside. Below lay a sheer drop over the precipice, but there were foot-holds in the rough stones of the castle wall. While his courage was fresh, Jonathan began the climb, trying not to look down. After an age, he came to the Count’s room, too tired to go any further. The room was empty, and he scrambled inside.
In one corner, a door led to a dark staircase.
Jonathan cautiously followed it downwards, and found himself in a dimly-lit crypt. The floor had been freshly dug over, and great boxes, filled with earth, lay around. He counted fifty in all. In one of them, Jonathan saw something which filled him with horror. The Count was lying there!
He was not breathing, and had no heartbeat, yet his face was gorged with blood. His lips were stained with it, and drops ran down his chin. Like the three terrible women, this creature fed on human blood. And he was going to London, with all its millions of innocent people. He had to be stopped!
Snatching up a shovel, Jonathan struck out at the hateful face. As he did so, the head turned towards him, dead eyes blazing with hate. The shovel turned in Jonathan’s hands, so that the blow was only a glancing one.
Dropping the shovel in terror, Jonathan rushed from the crypt, away from the monster that was Dracula.
Jonathan found himself back in the Count’s room. The door to the staircase slammed behind him, and when he tried it, it was shut fast. A feeling of despair came over him. Just then, he heard the rolling of heavy wheels in the castle court yard, and the sound of merry voices. Hope flared. A tiny window overlooked the court yard, and he peered out.
A band of gypsies had arrived. They seemed to know of some secret way into the castle, for they were bringing out the boxes from the crypt, and loading them on to their waggons. Try as he might, Jonathan could not attract their attention. They finished loading. The heavy wheels began to turn, and singing all the way, the gypsies left.
‘Come back!’ Jonathan cried in despair. ‘Help me!’
They were gone. His heart sank. He knew that Dracula lay hidden in one of those boxes. Was this the first stage of the Count’s journey to Carfax, his new estate in London?
Now Jonathan was alone in the castle with those three terrifying women, and soon they would be looking for more blood.
‘Oh, Mina,’ he groaned. ‘Will I ever see you again?’
He got to his feet, his face determined. He would try to climb down the castle wall to the valley below. Then he would leave this cursed land and return to England, and Mina.
Far away in England, Mina Murray, Jonathan’s fiancée, had just arrived in the Yorkshire town of Whitby. She was to spend a holiday with her friend, Lucy Westenra, who had a holiday house there.
Lucy, a lovely young woman of twenty, could hardly wait to tell Mina her news. She had received three proposals of marriage in one day! All three men were close friends. The first, Dr John Seward, was a clever young physician who was in charge of a London lunatic asylum. The second was an American from Texas, Quincey P. Morris.
The third was the Hon Arthur Holmwood, son of Lord Godalming - and she had accepted him.
‘We are to be married in the autumn!’ she told Mina, her cheeks pink with pleasure.
Time passed pleasantly in Whitby. The two friends spent their time walking along the cliffs or sitting in the sun, looking over the town’s rooftops to the sea, Sometimes they talked to the coastguard, or to an old fisherman.
July passed into August, and Mina began to worry. She had received only a brief note from Jonathan, and Transylvania was so far away. To make matters worse, Lucy had begun to have nightmares, and to walk in her sleep! Mina could not understand why.
One fine afternoon, as they sat talking to the old fisherman, a dark cloud covered the sun.
A cold wind blew in from the sea, and the old fisherman cried, ‘There’s something in that wind! It smells like death!’
By late evening, clouds massed in the sky. Sunset was so beautiful that people gathered on the clifftops to watch, Mina and Lucy among them. Without warning, a storm broke. The sea raged, and the wind roared like thunder.
‘Look at that ship!’ cried the old fisherman, pointing.
A schooner, all sails set, was driving through the huge waves, heading for the shore. As it drew closer, the watching crowds gasped. A dead man was lashed to the helm.
The schooner rushed on, and drove hard on to the beach with a mighty crash. At that instant, an immense dog sprang up from below decks and leapt on to the sand. The crowds watched it race up the hillside towards the old churchyard. There it disappeared amongst the tombstones. All of a sudden, it was dark. Lucy shuddered.
‘It’s time we went home,’ Mina said, cheerfully, taking her arm.
The excitement of the night was not over. Lucy seemed disturbed, and fell into a restless sleep. Around midnight, she left the house, walking in her sleep. Mina heard her go, and throwing on her dressing gown, ran after her. As she reached the old churchyard, she saw Lucy sitting on a seat near the gate. Then she caught sight of a dark figure bending over her friend.
‘Lucy! Lucy!’ she called out in fright.
The figure looked up, and Mina saw a white face and staring eyes. Then it was gone. Somehow, Mina got her friend back to the house and into bed. She was in a daze, and there were strange marks at her throat.
The following day dawned clear and fine, and Lucy seemed quite herself again. In the morning, they strolled down to the beach, where the stricken schooner still lay. Men were unloading great boxes from her hold, watched by the coastguard.
‘Good morning, ladies,’ he greeted them.
‘Was anyone saved from the ship?’ Mina asked. ‘There was no one aboard but the captain,’ he replied, shaking his head. ‘He was dead. The vessel came from the Balkan port of Varna, loaded with these boxes. They are addressed to a house in London, so we’re sending them on.’
He shook his head again. ‘It’s a strange affair.’
Mina soon forgot about the wrecked schooner. A letter arrived that morning, from Budapest. Jonathan was safe, but in hospital there. He was ill with a brain fever, following some frightening experience in Transylvania.
‘Mr Harker has had some fearful shock,’ the letter explained. ‘He is recovering well, and asking for you.’
‘I must go to him!’ Mina cried. ‘Will you be all right, Lucy?’
‘Of course you must go,’ Lucy said. ‘It’s time I returned to London in any case. Arthur will be expecting me.’
Some time after Lucy’s return to London, Arthur Holmwood called on his friend, Dr Seward. A specialist in mental illnesses, John Seward had a house attached to an asylum. The friends often met there.
‘I’m puzzled about Renfield, one of my patients,’ John Seward told the other man, as they sat talking. ‘I thought he was cured, but now he is acting so oddly.’
‘In what way?’
‘Last night he broke out of here, and was found trying to get into Carfax, the house next door. It’s a big place, with an old chapel attached, but it’s empty. When we got him back to his room, he kept telling us “The Master is at hand.” Then he lay in bed, smiling, watching a big bat flap around outside his window. Very odd behaviour. A pity, for he did seem better.’
He looked quizzically at his friend. ‘But something is troubling you, Arthur. What is it?’
‘It’s Lucy,’ Arthur said. ‘She’s not at all well, and I can’t find out what’s wrong. Will you see her?’
‘Of course.’
He saw the girl next day. Apart from looking a little pale, he could find nothing wrong with her. Yet she was certainly far from well. He sent a note to Arthur Holmwood.
‘I’m concerned about Lucy,’ it said. ‘I have asked Professor Van Helsing to come from Amsterdam to see her. He is an old friend of mine, and an expert on mystery illnesses. Perhaps he can help Lucy.’
By the time Professor Van Helsing arrived from Amsterdam, Lucy had become very weak. Her face was chalk white, her lips bloodless. The Dutchman examined her, and his face changed when he found marks on her throat, under the velvet band she wore round her neck. He took John Seward to one side.
‘She must have a transfusion of blood, at once,’ he said.
‘What’s wrong with her?’ Seward asked.
‘I think I know, but I hope I am wrong,’ the Dutchman replied. ‘I must look through my books, and think. First, the transfusion. After that, keep garlic flowers in her room.’
‘Garlic flowers?’ The young doctor looked amazed. ‘But why?’
‘Trust me!’ Van Helsing said. ‘Do as I say, please.’ Mystified, John Seward agreed.
Lucy seemed better after the transfusion of blood, but as the days passed, she needed even more. Hearing of her illness, Quincey Morris came, to offer his help. He was shocked to see the change in Lucy. She talked of bad dreams and of a great bat at her window. The friends could only watch as she slipped away from them. At length, Lucy closed her eyes, and her breathing stopped. Arthur Holmwood was heartbroken.
‘She is at peace at last,’ John Seward said quietly. ‘It is the end.’
‘No, my friend.’ Van Helsing turned to him. ‘I fear this may only be the beginning.’
Lucy’s funeral was over before Jonathan Harker and Mina Murray returned from Budapest. They had been married there as soon as Jonathan had been well enough. The couple were saddened to hear of their friend’s death.
Mina kept a close eye on Jonathan. She had been shocked to hear of his ordeal at Castle Dracula, and he had been very ill. Now he was beginning to look better.
The couple were walking in a London street one evening, when Jonathan suddenly stopped dead.
‘What’s wrong?’ asked Mina anxiously.
Jonathan was staring across the street at a tall man with black hair.
‘It’s the Count!’ he exclaimed. ‘He’s already here, in London.’
Jonathan was trembling. Worried, Mina hailed a hansom cab, and took him to Dr Seward’s house. Fortunately, he was at home, and Professor Van Helsing was with him. The two medical men listened in silence while Mina told them the whole story. They exchanged glances.
‘Did I imagine it all?’ Jonathan asked, in a low voice.
‘No, my friend, you did not,’ said Van Helsing firmly. ‘And your experiences would seem to have a link with Lucy’s death. You say this evil being is now in London? We must hunt him out!’
‘I’m with you!’ Jonathan exclaimed.
Next morning, a London paper carried a frightening story of children being taken away by a ‘beautiful lady.’ They were found afterwards with puncture marks on their throats. Van Helsing showed the paper to Dr Seward.
‘What do you make of this?’ he asked. ‘Something attacked these children,’ John Seward exclaimed. ‘That something must also have attacked Lucy!’
‘No, my friend.’ Van Helsing shook his head. ‘How can I make you understand how Lucy died? Listen, there are many strange things in this world. In some places there are giant bats, which take the blood of cattle and horses. Sometimes they even suck the blood of sailors, sleeping on the decks of their ships. In the morning the sailors are dead men, white as Lucy was.’
John Seward stared at the Dutchman.
‘Are you telling me Lucy was bitten by a bat, and that such a thing is here in London?’
‘I fear it is worse than that.’ Van Helsing groaned. ‘I suspect that Lucy herself made the holes in the children’s throats.’
‘Are you mad? Lucy is dead!’
‘You do not believe me.’ Van Helsing shook his head sadly. ‘Tonight, after dark, we must go to the churchyard where Lucy is buried. Then you will see.’
After dark, the two men silently entered the crypt where Lucy’s coffin lay. Carefully, Van Helsing opened it. Dr Seward gave a startled gasp.
It was empty. Van Helsing led him outside, gesturing to him to be silent. They waited, behind a tree. As they watched, a figure flitted back into the crypt. It was Lucy.
Van Helsing took his companion by the arm, and led him back into the crypt. Again he opened the coffin. This time Lucy lay there, even more beautiful than she had been in life.
Van Helsing explained quietly. ‘Lucy was bitten by a vampire while she was in a trance, sleepwalking. The vampire returned again and again for blood, and Lucy died. She is not really dead, but Un-Dead. She has become like the vampire herself, and needs human blood. Her soul will not rest until a stake is driven through her heart.’
John Seward shuddered.
‘Arthur must know,’ Van Helsing went on. ‘Like you, he will not believe until he sees for himself. We will come back tomorrow night.’
Midnight had struck when they returned the following night, this time with Arthur Holmwood and Quincey Morris. Silently, Van Helsing showed them the empty coffin, and silently they waited for Lucy’s return. She appeared quite suddenly, and somewhere behind her, a child whimpered. By the light of a street lamp, they saw fresh blood on Lucy’s lips. Her face was evil.
‘That is not my Lucy,’ Arthur groaned. ‘Van Helsing, we must help her to go to her rest.’
Taking up the stake and hammer Van Helsing had brought, Arthur followed the Dutchman into the crypt. The deed was soon done. The stake was driven through the heart of the thing that was not Lucy. It screamed once. A look of peace then crossed the face. Lucy was Un-Dead no more.
‘And now for Dracula!’ Arthur Holmwood said, brokenly.
With John Seward’s house as their headquarters, the friends gathered to begin their search for Dracula. Before they began, Van Helsing told them what he knew of vampirism.
‘A vampire can direct the weather, and living things like bats and wolves,’ he said. ‘He is Un-Dead. He can take any shape, casts no shadow or reflection, and can vanish at will. His powers are limited to the hours of darkness, and by day he must lie in a coffin or earth box. He can only enter a house if he is invited in by someone living there. Some things take his power away - garlic, a crucifix, sacred wafers from a church. Unless a stake is driven through his heart as he lies in his lair, he will live for ever.’
There was a short silence. This was the terrible power they must defeat.
Van Helsing went on, ‘What do we know? It seems certain that Dracula, in the shape of a dog, came ashore from the wrecked schooner at Whitby. Mina has told us that boxes from the schooner were sent to London. My enquiries have shown that they were delivered to Carfax, the house next door to this which the Count bought. Dracula needs somewhere to rest during daylight. Each box is a place of safety for him.’
‘This has all been a shock to me,’ said Seward grimly. ‘Yet I had enough clues from the behaviour of my patient Renfield.’
‘Some of the boxes were taken away by carriers yesterday,’ Van Helsing continued. ‘Renfield was much affected, screaming that they were stealing his “Master”. We must now find the boxes still next door at Carfax. If we sterilise them with sacred wafers, Dracula can never rest in them again. Then we must find the others, and do the same. First of all, Carfax!’
Mina got up to go with them, but Jonathan put his hand on her arm.
‘Stay here, Mina,’ he said quietly. ‘You will be safe.’
Led by Van Helsing, the men left Seward’s house.
Before they went into Carfax, the Dutchman gave each man a crucifix and a garland of garlic flowers.
‘Keep these near your hearts,’ he instructed them.
Quietly, by lamplight, they entered the dark house through a broken door. The whole place was thick with dust, and seemed deserted. Yet they all sensed an evil presence. They found the boxes in the old chapel adjoining the house. The air there was foul.
‘Twenty-nine boxes,’ said Quincey Morris. Suddenly, the floor at his feet was alive with rats.
They came from nowhere, and multiplied until there were thousands of them. Quick to act, Arthur Holmwood gave a loud whistle. It was answered by the sharp barking of dogs, and his three terriers ran in. They rushed at the rats, their natural enemies. As they did so, the rats vanished. With their going, the evil presence seemed to go too. Relieved, the men got on with the task of sterilising the boxes.
From her bedroom in John Seward’s house, Mina heard the dogs bark. All was dark outside. Mist began to whirl outside the window, and two red eyes seemed to peer in at her. Mina fell back, remembering Jonathan’s three women. Her last conscious memory was of a white face, and two staring eyes.
Next morning, Mina was tired and pale, but her experience in the night seemed like a bad dream. She said nothing about it.
The friends continued their enquiries. The carters gave them the addresses in London where the boxes had been taken. Soon all but nine boxes had been dealt with. Only one address was left - a house in Piccadilly.
Renfield was still causing Seward concern. Now he had become unusually quiet. His previous moods had been linked with the doings of the Count, his ‘Master’. Seward wondered if he had become aware in some way of the coming destruction of the Count.
Mina had gone to bed, and the men discussed their plans for their visit to the house in Piccadilly.
‘We’re on the last track now,’ said Arthur Holmwood.
Suddenly, Renfield screamed. The friends rushed to his room, and found him lying in a pool of blood. Just before he died, he whispered:
‘I let him in. He wanted to come in, and I let him. He has gone to take blood from Mrs Harker. When I saw what he was going to do, I tried to stop him, but his strength was too great...’
Now they knew where Dracula was! Rushing upstairs, the men burst into Mina’s room. Dracula was bent over her, and there was blood on her clothes.
The men advanced on the evil thing, Van Helsing holding out a crucifix, driving him back, away from Mina. Abruptly, he vanished, leaving Mina weeping.
‘He will have to get to the house in Piccadilly before dawn,’ exclaimed Van Helsing, ‘because he can only rest in one of his boxes, and that is where they are. We’ll go there now, and wait for him.’
As soon as they entered the Piccadilly house, the friends knew Dracula had been there. The place smelt just like the old chapel at Carfax. In the dining room they found eight boxes, and quickly sterilised them with sacred wafers. There was just one box left, and they could find no trace of it.
‘Where can it be?’ cried Jonathan.
Van Helsing shook his head.
As they stood there, the front door opened, and slow, careful footsteps came along the hall. It was Count Dracula. He faced them. His face twisted into a snarl, so that they could see his long, pointed teeth.
‘You think you have left me without a place to rest - but I have another. You shall all be sorry. My revenge is just begun!’
With that, he was gone.
‘What do we do now?’ demanded Quincey Morris, in despair. ‘He could be anywhere!’
Disheartened, the friends returned to Seward’s house. Mina was waiting for them, looking pale and anxious. She became paler as they told her what had happened, and turned to Van Helsing.
‘Professor, Dracula put me in a trance when he came to my room,’ she said. ‘If you also put me in a trance, perhaps my mind can sense where he is.’
Van Helsing looked at Jonathan, who nodded agreement. It was worth trying. Settling Mina in an armchair, the Dutchman began to hypnotise her. Gradually her eyes closed, and she began to speak.
‘He is in a dark room. Water is lapping outside. It is a ship, and it is leaving port.’
Her voice faded away, and her breathing deepened.
‘She’s asleep,’ said Van Helsing. ‘That ship will be leaving from your great Port of London. But how many others will also be leaving?’
‘Lloyd’s will help us,’ Arthur Holmwood told him. ‘They will be able to tell us which ships are sailing, and where they are going.’
It was well into the day before they had the answer. From Lloyd’s list, only one ship seemed to be heading in the right direction - the Czarina Catherine, which was bound for Varna, on the Black Sea. By the time they had reached the docks, however, she had sailed. A tall, mysterious man had been seen going aboard, and a huge wooden box had been loaded into the hold. Dracula had his earth-box, and was escaping, back to Transylvania!
‘We still have a chance,’ Van Helsing pointed out. ‘The journey by sea will take weeks. Travelling overland, we can be there in days.’
‘Yes!’ agreed Quincey Morris. ‘We’ll take the Orient Express, and be there, waiting for him.’
At once, they began preparations for their departure. While Mina was busy packing, Van Helsing took John Seward to one side.
‘John, we must catch Dracula soon,’ he said. ‘Say nothing to Jonathan, but Mina is changing. I can see the vampire signs beginning to show in her face.’
The journey to Varna was uneventful. Once there, they took rooms in a hotel, and waited for news of the Czarina Catherine.
‘We will board the ship between sunrise and sunset,’ Van Helsing told them all. ‘He cannot leave in daylight. We can make sure of him, as we did of poor Lucy, while he lies in his lair.’
Soon afterwards, a message came from the docks. Dracula had outwitted them! The Czarina Catherine had not called at Varna, but sailed on to Galatz, further to the north. The friends did not give up, but took the first train to Galatz. There they heard that a huge box had been unloaded from the ship, and was on its way upriver in an open boat.
Van Helsing gave a cry of triumph. ‘We will catch him yet. He cannot cross water by himself. As long as the box is on a running stream, he cannot leave it.’
Quickly, they made arrangements to follow.
Arthur Holmwood and Jonathan Harker would follow the boat upriver in a hired steam launch. Dr Seward and Quincey Morris would go by horseback along the river bank. Mina would be in Van Helsing’s care. They would hire a carriage and drive to Castle Dracula through the Borgo Pass.
They lost no time in leaving Galatz. Within the hour, they were all on their way.
On the journey, Mina slept most of the time, looking weak and ill. As they neared Castle Dracula, she became restless and troubled.
‘He is near. I know he is near,’ she murmured.
Night approached, and Van Helsing stopped the carriage. Using sacred wafers, he threw a holy ring around them. Then he lit a fire, for it was beginning to snow. Soon it was dark.
Snow came in flying sweeps, and with it, a chilling mist. Presently, the horses began to scream. Wreaths of mist took the shape of three women in flowing dresses. Van Helsing felt fear touch his heart.
The women came closer, and Van Helsing could see their red lips and pointed white teeth. They were Jonathan Harker’s three women from Castle Dracula. They twined their arms together, and beckoned to Mina. ‘Come, sister. Come with us,’ they crooned.
Van Helsing watched Mina. Would she go to them? The terror in her eyes, the horror in her face, told him that she was not yet as they were. He fed the fire to keep them warm. He and Mina were safe within the holy ring. The women could not enter it.
They remained like that until dawn came. Van Helsing watched the three women melt into the whirling mist and snow. The sun came up, and they were gone. The Dutchman turned to Mina. To his relief, she had fallen into a peaceful sleep.
Leaving her wrapped in blankets, safe within the holy ring, Van Helsing took the carriage. He drove like the wind to Castle Dracula. With a heavy hammer he had brought with him, he broke into the castle, and found his way to the ruined chapel. There the three women lay in three stone tombs, beautiful, Un-Dead.
There was one more tomb, more lordly than the rest, huge and nobly proportioned. On it was but one word!
DRACULA
This, then, was the Un-Dead home of the King-Vampire. Van Helsing laid some sacred wafers inside the tomb, so banishing Dracula from it, for ever.
His next terrible task was to deal with the three women, by driving a stake through each heart. When this was done, Van Helsing saw peace cross each woman’s face, before her body turned to dust.
On the way out of the castle, he sealed all the entrances with sacred wafers. The Count could no longer enter.
With one backward look at Castle Dracula, Van Helsing drove back to Mina. She was still asleep within the holy ring, but woke up as he threw more wood on the fire.
‘Jonathan is coming!’ she cried. ‘But so is Dracula!’
Van Helsing put his arm round her. ‘Don’t be afraid,’ he said gently. ‘We are in the hands of God.’
The day passed slowly. The light began to fade, and a wolf howled, far away. Then they saw movement. Van Helsing snatched up his field glasses. A band of gypsies was racing towards them, and on one of their carts lay a huge box. Dracula was coming!
‘They are racing for the sunset,’ groaned Van Helsing.
‘Look!’ Mina exclaimed. ‘Horsemen!’
Van Helsing stared through the field glasses for a moment, then shouted in glee. ‘Quincey and John are coming, and Arthur and Jonathan are close behind!’
Every instant seemed an age as they waited. The wind came in bitter, snow-laden gusts. Closer and closer drew the gypsies. Now they were barely a hundred yards away. The sun dropped behind Castle Dracula, outlining it against the sky.
The four horsemen had all overtaken the gypsies. ‘Halt!’ Jonathan shouted, in a passion. Instinctively, the gypsies reined in, although they probably did not understand the word. Jonathan and Quincey threw themselves through the ring of gypsies, fighting off their flashing knives. With a strength which seemed incredible, they raised the great box and hurled it to the ground. It broke open.
Arthur Holmwood and John Seward had pulled out rifles. Seeing the weapons, the gypsies fell back.
Count Dracula lay in his earth-box, red eyes gleaming in triumph. The sun was almost down – now he could escape, and take any form. In that instant, Quincey Morris plunged his knife deep into the Count’s heart.
It was like a miracle. A fleeting look of peace passed over Dracula’s face, then the body crumbled into dust, and vanished. Castle Dracula stood out against the sky, every stone of its broken battlements etched against the light of the setting sun.
Quincey gave a groan, and sank to the ground. A gypsy knife had found its mark. His friends rushed to his side, and Mina took his hand.
‘The curse has passed away,’ he sighed. And to his friends’ bitter grief, he died.
His death was not in vain. The vampire signs were gone from Mina’s face. She was safe. Count Dracula was gone for ever.
THE END