Chapters: 21 and 22

Dr Seward arrives in Renfield's room to find him lying in a heap on the floor. The attendant believes that he may have broken his back. Van Helsing is sent for and then Arthur and Quincey also come down to see what's happened. Renfield wakes and recalls what happened. He explains that the Count came into his room a few days ago in his smoke form. Renfield however realised, that Dracula had been feeding on Mina, because of her pale appearance when he last saw her. Wanting to protect Mrs Harker, he tried to attack the Count when he came to visit him again. The Count's strength was too much for him and his injuries led to his eventual death. It is a mystery though as to why the Count fed on Mina, but not Renfield and similarly on Lucy and not Jonathan whilst he was staying at Castle Dracula. He may possibly prefer female victims or he was just using Renfield and Jonathan for purposes other than food? Dr Seward, Van Helsing, Arthur and Quincey go straight to Mina's room, where they have to barge their way in and are horrified to see the Count forcing Mina to suck blood from his chest. She has bite marks on her neck and Jonathan is still asleep and in a trance thanks to the Count. Dracula advances on the four of them until Van Helsing produces a crucifix, which scares him off. Mina and Jonathan soon come to their senses and are terribly upset and horrified about what has happened. Arthur goes to the study to find some manuscripts have been burned, luckily there was a spare in the safe. Mina is now going through similar stages that Lucy suffered and the others have time against them now in their battle against Dracula. The next day they visit Carfax and in each of the boxes of earth, they place a piece of 'sacred wafer' rendering them useless in future for the Count. They also manage to get into his Piccadilly home and do the same to eight more boxes, meaning they only need to find one more. Arthur and Quincey go to search the remaining houses whilst the other three wait at Piccadilly. Religion is a major theme in the novel that is particularly evident in this section of it. Renfield was heard shouting "God! God! God!" as he's being attacked by the Count in an attempt to get help from him. It is used as a superstition against vampires, which is evident when Dracula flees at the sight of Van Helsing's crucifix. This is also evident when the cross used to bless Mina burns into her forehead leaving her to believe "Even the Almighty shuns my polluted flesh!"