Would you recognize Count Dracula?

For a four-hundred-year-old vampire, Count Dracula shows astonishing vitality!

I can see him now: thin, aquiline nose, lofty domed forehead, and (most terrifyingly!) his sharp teeth that protrude over his remarkably ruddy lips.

I, Jonathan Harker, have had the dubious pleasure of having my story told in print by the Irish novelist, Bram Stoker. You may wish to read the many journal entries, letters and telegrams that make up the record of my encounter with the Count in Transylvania, Whitby and London.

Ah, dear reader, forgive me...the thought of what this evil monster did to my fiancee, Mina, leaves me speechless at times...it will be but a momentary lapse. But his intentions were so evil!

Listen to 'Count Dracula' (Music by Alan J Moore)

There are times when I miss my old friends:

• Dr.John Seward (so sceptical, yet unable to save Renfield!)

• Abraham Van Helsing (such fine intellectual prowess)

• Quincy Morris (a brave and good-hearted American)

• Lucy Westenra (so attractive, so vivacious...so tragic!)

• Arthur Holmwood/Lord Godalming (Lucy's fiance and saviour)

• I must also pay tribute to my lovely heroine, Mina. Throughout the terrible ordeal, her wonderful qualities of innocence and purity, together with her unwavering Christian faith, helped us all to defeat the evil Transylvanian nobleman.

(Here's the real story of Dracula...)

How can I best describe him? Despite his evil soul, he possesses a certain aristocratic charm. He has many supernatural powers:

• he can take the form of an animal

• he can control the weather

• his strength is that of twenty men

However...he does have an Achilles' heel (or heels!):

• he has no power during the hours of daylight

• he cannot enter a victim's house unless invited in

• strangely, he cannot cross water unless carried

I mentioned earlier his "aristocratic charm." This presented itself when I was a guest (prisoner!) at Castle Dracula in Transylvania (Romania) - a magnificent gothic pile. I still shudder to think of my journey there across the Borgo Pass. Here, Count Dracula told me about the history of his proud family. He spoke of the "brave races who fought as the lion fights for lordship." His people had great power, but those warlike days were now ended. He seemed disappointed and almost lonely!

He talked a great deal about London:

"I long...to be in the in the midst of the whirl and rush of humanity, to share its life, its change, its death, and all that makes it what it is. But alas!"

(Read quotes from Dracula)

If only I'd known then what that evil vampire had planned... my dearest Lucy - destined to become one of the brides of Dracula. A Nosferatu!