Dracula: The Undead By Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt

Mina and Jonathan Harker never wanted their son, Quincey to know what they had experienced in the hands of the vampires of Transylvania. In the official Stoker family sequel to Dracula, writer Dacre Stoker teamed with Ian Holt, take on his grandfather's monster and give the Count a chance for reemergence crediting his grandfather, Bram Stoker's only successful book.

Quincey Harker never understands why his parents grew estranged and his father, Jonathan disappeared farther into a bottle each day. Even their friends were mysterious to the young man. All he knew was something had happened after the death of their friend Lucy that had torn apart the group and somehow they had never recovered.

His parents were staying in separate bedrooms now and Mina was falling further away into a deep depression about the time that Quincey left for school. Jonathan only wanted for Quincey to follow in his footsteps and become a lawyer, although it had lead the the horrible misfortune of that had torn apart his group of friends.

Quincey felt destined for the theater and fell back on an agreement with his father to continue his studies. It is only after the death of several members of his parent's group that Quincey realizes his true destiny.

In the twenty-five years since Lucy has passed, nothing was the same between the group of friends that had survived Dracula. Mina and Jonathan were at odds with each other as he still blamed her for the affair with the Count that had lead their group int he wild chase through the mountains to get her back. Not found out until now, Mina was already pregnant with Quincey when the romance with Dracula had taken place.

Mina blames herself for not being able to get over the man that had lured her away, if you could call the monster a man. But he was all she could dream about at night and no one made her feel the way that Dracula did. His blood was still inside her, and Mina could not break free from the dream that he would one day come for her- even though most nights that was a nightmare in itself.

When strange deaths begin to happen around Whitechapel, the work of a madman that the press was calling Jack The Ripper, Mina fears that it is not the work of a man at all but a powerful vampire. This could be the sign that Dracula is still after them after all this time.

Little do they know, someone just as powerful as the Prince himself is watching.

She was unhappy all of her mortal days.

Sent away to an arrange marriage to a man that abused her and locked her in a tower, finally Elizabeth was able to break free and run to an aunt that only took her in for a short period of time before sending her back.

While away, Elizabeth Bathory grew strong though, and she would never let anyone ever hurt her again finding strength instead in the taking of blood from others. She would murder young women and began to bathe in their blood and feed the blood to her maidens creating a coven of vampires.

Faced once with her cousin, another powerful vampire by the name of Count Dracula, the Countess would be second to no man no longer.

She set out into the world to find those that had defeated her cousin once and began to kill them one by one in terrible deaths that only a vampire could arrange.

As the Whitechapel murders continued, Elizabeth knew that someone else was pulling the strings in the form of a vampire and she had to find out who was committing the murders and end them.

No one would suspect the old man.

Twenty-five years had passed since Dracula and after the fall of the group and all those that he trusted, Van Helsing had taken advantage of the dark nature that surrounded him and surrendered to using vampire tricks of his own.

No one would suspect the feeble old man that he pretended to be was able to perfor such horrid murders.

His friends were none the wiser, remembering Van Helsing for his bravery in the face of the vampires the first time around. Oh but they would be so wrong if he was able to pull off his plan.

Quincey was unborn when Mina Harker was taken during the events of Dracula. Because his mother shared a blood bond with the vampire that she was in love with, Quincey was also of that bond.

Drawing upon the power of Dracula's blood inside them both would be the savior of Quincey and his mother when they need it most.

When Dracula finally returns, he is not the monster that we recall and actually seems to still love Mina, even after she was returned to her husband after her capture.

Helping them fight down Bathory, Dracula has redeemed himself in the eyes of Mina.

Dracula: The Undead is a new take on the character and sets up for the prequel which speaks of Bram Stoker's childhood and the first vampire that is encountered.

I like how Dacre Stoker worked his grandfather as a character into both novels and kept the book true to the facts of Dracula but put his own spin on the character. It was clever how Quincey in the theater was offered a role by Bram Stoker writing about the experiences in Dracula as a stage play tying together all the events.

The only thing that seemed a bit far fetched was that Dracula genuinely seemed to care for Mina and that it was that bond that worked to her benefit and saved her and Quincey after the vampires had killed everyone else that they had known an loved.