Final Chapter

The final chapter begins with the continuation the groups' pursuit of the Count. As Van Helsing and Mina approach Castle Dracula, Mina's power to be hypnotised and reveal the position of Dracula lessens before disappearing completely. She also starts to show other characteristics of vampires, particularly sleeping patterns. She begins to sleep on their journey during the day and experiences periods where Van Helsing is unable to wake her. At night she doesn't eat, claiming she isn't hungry and seems fuller of life all of a sudden. One night Van Helsing decides to test her by using a holy wafer and placing it around the fire. He then asks her to come nearer the fire, but she says she is unable to. The duo are then visited by the three female vampires that Jonathan met during his stay at the Castle. The wafer defends Van Helsing from the women and Mina is safe because she is practically the same form as them. They ask her to come with them, referring to her as "sister" but her soul is still clean, meaning that she is able to resist them. Van Helsing goes the next day to the Castle, discovers the tombs of the three females and destroys their sleeping bodies, similarly to how he set Lucy free. He then discovers the empty tomb of Dracula and places a holy wafer so that he can't return to it. He also covers all entrances to the Castle with the same thing, so that Dracula can never return to his home. He then leaves with Mina who seems to already be in better spirits their horses have been killed though so they have to walk. They can hear wolves in the distance and find a cave to hide in. In the distance they witness the Szgany being chased by Jonathan, Quincey, Dr Seward and Arthur. As they approach the cave Van Helsing and Mina appear and help to surround the fleeing group. Jonathan appears to become possessed with immense strength as he battles his way through the group to get to the cart and to kill Dracula with the help of Quincey who gets wounded and sadly bleeds to death. To be honest I was slightly disappointed with the ending of Dracula. That is because I was anticipating one final encounter with Dracula in his vampire form, rather than them being able to kill him easier as he was in his sleep. However I did actually enjoy reading the book as it was quite interesting and at times you don't want to put it down.