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Of course, we did not know the answer. But then Mina spoke. "I feel that I am half a vampire already, and sometimes strange thoughts come into my head. I think that these thoughts are Count Dracula's. Just now, when you were speaking, I thought that I could hear the sound of a ship moving through water."

"If we don't," Van Helsing said, "Mina will die and will be a vampire for ever. I have been back to the Count's house this morning, and the last coffin has gone. We must find it. Count Dracula will be in it during the day. If we can find him before dark, we can kill him."

The next day Van Helsing, Jack Seward, Arthur, and I made our plans. Mina was there too. She was very pale, but she wanted to help us. We knew that we had to kill Dracula before Mina died.

"Of course!" cried Van Helsing. "Dracula has decided to leave England! He knows now that we are his enemies and that it is dangerous for him here. So he is going back to Transylvania -- by ship! We must find out which ships left for the Black Sea last night."

"But where is it now?" I asked wildly.

"So," said Van Helsing. "The ship will take about three weeks to sail to Varna, but we will take the train across Europe and get there much faster. We leave tomorrow!"

We left London on a cold October day and four days later we were in Varna. We made our plans, and waited for the ship to arrive. Every day Mina told us that she could still hear the sound of water. But three weeks went by, and the ship did not arrive. Then, at last, we had news -- the ship was not coming to Varna, and was already at Galatz!

We took the first train to Galatz, but we were too late. The box was no longer on the ship. "Someone came and took it this morning," one of the sailors told us.

At the London shipping office we learnt that one ship sailed for Varna in the Black Sea the night before. We also learnt of a passenger who arrived at the last minute -- a tall thin man in black. He had a pale face, burning eyes, and a very red mouth. And he had with him a long box!

We hurried back to our hotel to tell my dear Mina the news, but we saw that she knew it already, and her face was white with fear. "He has gone," she said quietly, "and he is taking me with him. Oh my dear friends! Before I change into a vampire, you must kill me! Then you must do what you did to poor Lucy, to give me rest. Tell me that you will do this for me!"

We followed the Count's boat for five days, but we could not catch it. Then we learnt from some villagers that he was now travelling by road, so we bought horses and rode like the wind through the night.

I held her hands, but I could not speak. If that day ever comes, I don't know how I shall live through it.

Later, while Mina slept, we tried to make new plans.

"She is right," said Van Helsing unhappily. "Our poor Mina is in great danger. She is already beginning to change -- her teeth are getting longer and sharper, and when the Count reads her thoughts, her eyes are hard and cold. We must find him and kill him -- before it is too late!"

I can remember little of the next few days. I was wild with fear and anger. We learnt that the Count's coffin was travelling by boat up the river, and Jack Seward, Arthur, and I began to follow in another boat. Van Helsing took my Mina with him in a carriage, and they began to drive across the mountains to Castle Dracula. When I said goodbye to her, my heart was breaking. Perhaps I shall never see her again.

I had only one thought in my head -- to kill the vampire, to finish him for ever. Arthur and Jack were right behind me when I got to the cart. I jumped from my horse onto the cart, and while Jack and Arthur fought the driver and the other men, I pushed the coffin to the ground. It fell and broke open. Count Dracula lay there, and the last light from the sun fell on his terrible face. His eyes burned red and they looked at me in hate. In a few seconds, when the sun went down, he would be free to move. I jumped down to the ground, held my knife high over his heart, and brought it down as hard as I could. It went straight through the vampire's heart. Count Dracula gave a horrible scream, and then lay quiet. In the same second the sun went down, and when we looked into the coffin again, it was empty…

By late afternoon on the next day, we were getting near to Castle Dracula. "We must ride faster!" I cried to the others. The sun was beginning to go down and then, suddenly, we saw on the road in front of us some men with a cart. And on the back of the cart was the coffin.

Above us on the hill was Castle Dracula, and soon we saw Van Helsing. He hurried down the hill to us, and my dear Mina was with him. I ran to her and took her in my arms. Her lovely face was bright and happy again. "It's all right, my love," she said softly. "We found the tombs of the three vampire women. They cannot hurt us now, and Dracula is dead at last! We can begin to live again."