DRACULA

Bram Stoker

A lot has been heard in the town about this dark castle and its owner, Count Dracula; So much so, that when the young lawyer Jonathan Harker arrives in town, the inhabitants warn him of the dangers of traveling and staying in the castle, especially on the eve of St. George's Day, when the forces of evil have absolute power.

 

Jonathan has come with the intention of selling the castle and finding a home for the count in the city of London, but as the days go by he will notice that the count's habits are somewhat peculiar, in addition to the fact that there are mysteriously locked doors in the castle  in which entry is prohibited.

 

In the following days the young lawyer would dedicate himself to working and writing a detailed diary addressed to his beloved fiancée Mina, who was waiting for him in England, while the count attended to his business, or at least that's what he made him think, and returned home at nightfall, when dinner was already served, strangely, so far he had not seen any servant or anyone else in the castle but everything seemed to be clean and the freshly cooked dinner was served, although the count frequently excused himself from having eaten previously, so he just limited himself to talking while Jonathan ate and the conversation lasted until sunrise.

 

Despite it being a huge castle, Jonathan had not been able to find any mirror, limiting himself to using the small pocket mirror he had with him, but something stood out in his mind since that day when the count entered the room and surprised him while he was shaving,  Jonathan had not been able to see it in the reflection of the mirror although he could clearly see the entire room behind him, which added to the disconcerting things that had already happened, gave him a feeling of unease.

 

As time passed, Jonathan would end up becoming a hostage, and thus he would realize that the count is a mean and ruthless being capable of taming beasts and turning them into slaves, in addition to the fact that three women live in the castle,  ghosts whom he had seen for the first time on the unfortunate night when he decided to enter one of the forbidden rooms and when they had almost managed to bite his neck and drink his blood, just as they had done with what he believed was a child chest.

In the midst of the storms of the month of August, a ship carrying sacred land from Transylvania, and a series of chilling events and inexplicable deaths announced the arrival of Count Dracula to London where the missing young Jonathan, in the name of the Count, had acquired a Quite a large property with high stone walls in which there was an old house and a chapel.

 

Finally, after several months without hearing from Jonathan, Mina receives a letter saying that he is deeply ill with an apparent fever that has made him see hallucinations and she travels to meet him. Meanwhile, Lucy, her best friend, suffers from a strange bloodlust illness that has baffled both Professor Van Helsing and Dr. Seward who was in charge of the mental hospital next to Dracula's house.

 

Terrible events begin to happen in the town, children missing at night and found in the morning with the same marks that Lucy had presented on her neck shocked the inhabitants, but more so Vam Helsing and Dr. Seward who had followed the story closely  illness and death of dear Lucy, without imagining what would await them in the following days.

 

Could it be that the count is forming his own army of beasts  and servants...

Everyone is convinced that the Count must die, but first he would have to be found. Who will dare to kill him?...

Read more!! SPOILER ALERT !!

Meanwhile, Mina had found the diary that her beloved Jonathan had kept when he was thought to be delirious, and had typed it up in the hopes that it would give him comfort when needed.

Once Lucy loses her life, Professor Van Helsing and Dr. Steward prepare to return to their normal routine, and the professor contacts Mina to personally tell her what happened to Lucy and inform her of the strange illness that he suffered.

In this meeting, Mina gives the diary to Van Helsing seeking advice about what happened to Jonathan and the professor soon realizes that this writing is not a product of the young man's imagination, but a pure manifestation of the events that occurred in the castle of the Count, so now back and once he also finds out about the disappearance of the children during the night, his suspicion that the events have a connection with the diary and Lucy's death are confirmed.

Together with Dr. Steward, they take on the task of visiting Lucy's grave, but when they arrive at the cemetery and uncover the crypt, they realize that it was empty, so they decide to stand guard for several hour;  In the darkness of the night, they see a white figure entering the cemetery and leaving a child asleep under a tree. The doctor and the professor quickly leave the cemetery with the child in their arms and left him in a place where he easily could be found.

The next day, they both visit the grave again, but this time, with daylight, they find Lucy, who despite being dead for a week, had a beauty and joviality even greater than she had when she was still alive. 

Of course this was disconcerting to the doctor, but the professor believed it was all possible, especially after having read Jonathan's diary.

Now with Arthur's presence, they return again to the cemetery at midnight, but this time, they were prepared with a flashlight in order to make sure they had without a doubt the person responsible for the disappearances, and indeed, under the light of the moon and the lantern the figure was Lucy, but this time, that beauty that characterized her had vanished and in its place they found an evil being that did not miss the opportunity to call Arthur into its trap, but the intervention of the the profesor ends up making her even more angry, now they were sure of what they had to do, and the next night was the one chosen to kill her.

Once they finished the threat that Lucy represented, they had to do the same with the Count, who was an even bigger threat.

Thanks to the fact that Jonathan still had a set of keys to the old house that the Count now owned, they were able to enter and realize that some of the boxes with soil that the Count had brought with him during the boat trip were missing, and they gave up. task of investigating the whereabouts, knowing that when they found them, they would know where the Count's next refuge would be.

The investigations had revealed that the Count owned more properties than expected, but not only that, Mina had suffered the Count's attack on several occasions while she was sleeping and now it was more urgent to find him and get rid of him, so that Mina could recover her life.

Meanwhile, the tracking had worked and they had managed to destroy almost all the boxes, but one was still missing, so taking advantage of the fact that Lady Mina was under the Count's spell, they hypnotized her to gather information about where the Count was going.

Thanks to that, they learned that the count had boarded a ship heading to the dead sea in the only box he had left, and it was to be expected that he would want to flee to the safety of his castle. So they divided up to follow him by sea and land, taking Mina with them, who until now was conscious and showed no major signs of looking like a living dead but was able to recognize the paths that would take them to the castle.

The days and nights of the trip passed relatively normally, until, as they were closer to the castle, the three women that Jonathan had described in his diary materialized in front of Mina and Professor Van Helsing calling her to join them, but since  the professor had prepared a circle made of a sacred host around the two, they could not get closer nor could Mina leave.

The next day, while Mina slept all day, as she had been doing for several days, the professor entered the chapel of the Count's castle and found the tombs of the three women, who, although they hypnotized him with their beauty, did not hesitate to stick a dagger in their hearts, freeing their souls.

From where the Professor and Mina had made their camp, several men on horseback could be seen pulling a cart and on top of it, a wooden box. Those had to be the gypsies that the Count had hired to transport him and of course he had to be inside the box. There were also four horsemen who followed them quickly but at a safe distance, they were Jonathan, Dr. Seward, Arthur and his servant Mr. Quincey, until the moment arrived, the four attacked the gypsies who defended themselves from the attack by taking out their knives and guns, but Jonathan managed to reach the box and with the help of Qincey they were able to open it and cut off the head of the vampire who dematerialized under their eyes, breaking the curse of the living dead.

This book by Bram Stoker published in 1897 has been considered the most beautiful work of horror ever written, in addition to the fact that its protagonist Count Dracula became the most famous vampire in popular culture, being adapted to film and television as well as works theatrical.

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