（五）斩不断理还乱的四百年情缘
德古拉的全貌是什么样的呢？小说《德古拉》第十八章，范·赫尔辛教授把所有人的日记整合在一起综合分析，给出了清晰的描画：
“存在于我们中间的这个吸血鬼和二十个男人一样强壮，比常人狡猾，因为他的狡诈是随着岁月而增长的。他得到死灵法术的相助，正如这个词汇暗示的，通过死灵来预知未来。所有他能接近的死者都听命于他。他残忍无比；他的外表是冷酷无情的恶魔，但他的心仍有热度。他可以在自己的范围内指挥风暴、大雾、雷声等元素；他可以命令所有卑鄙的事物，如老鼠、猫头鹰、蝙蝠、蛾子、狐狸和狼，他可以变大和变小。他有时会难以察觉地消失或到来。”
（This vampire which is amongst us is of himself so strong in person as twenty men, he is of cunning more than mortal, for his cunning be the growth of ages, he have still the aids of necromancy, which is, as his etymology imply, the divination by the dead, and all the dead that he can come nigh to are for him at command; he is brute, and more than brute; he is devil in callous, and the heart of him is not; he can, within his range, direct the elements, the storm, the fog, the thunder; he can command all the meaner things, the rat, and the owl, and the bat, the moth, and the fox, and the wolf, he can grow and become small; and he can at times vanish and come unknown.）
“吸血鬼一直活着，不会仅仅随着时间的流逝而死亡，当他可以饱餐活人的鲜血时，他会焕发生机。更严重的是，我们当中有人发现，他甚至变得更年轻，他的身体机能更加强壮，似乎满血复活。” “但是如果不吸活人的血，他就无法做到精力充沛，他不吃别的东西……他没有投下阴影，在镜子中也没有反射。他的手劲很大…… 他可以变成狼……他可以像蝙蝠一样……他可以躲在自己制造的大雾中前来…… 但是，据我们所知，他制造的雾覆盖距离是有限的，仅能把自己裹住……他在月光下化作尘埃而来……他变得如此小……从坟墓门口的极小的缝隙滑过。一旦找到出路，他会从某样东西里钻出来或钻进另一样东西，哪怕那东西被紧紧束缚或者与火熔合 - 你可以用‘焊接’一次来形容。他可以在黑暗中视物，在这个有一半时间看不到光明的世界，这是不可小看的能力……”
（“The vampire live on, and cannot die by mere passing of the time, he can flourish when that he can fatten on the blood of the living. Even more, we have seen amongst us that he can even grow younger, that his vital faculties grow strenuous, and seem as though they refresh themselves when his special pabulum is plenty. ”
……
("But he cannot flourish without this diet, he eat not as others……He throws no shadow, he make in the mirror no reflect……He has the strength of many of his hand……He can transform himself to wolf……he can be as bat……He can come in mist which he create……but, from what we know, the distance he can make this mist is limited, and it can only be round himself…… He come on moonlight rays as elemental dust……He become so small……slip through a hairbreadth space at the tomb door. He can, when once he find his way, come out from anything or into anything, no matter how close it be bound or even fused up with fire, solder you call it. He can see in the dark, no small power this, in a world which is one half shut from the light……”)
“他可以做所有这些事情，但他不是自由的。是的，他比战船里的奴隶和他的地窖里的疯子还不自由。他不能随心所欲地去任何地方，他不属于自然界，但必须遵守自然界的一些法则，什么原因我们并不知道。一开始他不可以随便进入一个地方，除非那里的某位家庭成员邀请他去，尽管之后他可以随心所欲地去。和所有邪恶的事物一样，一旦白日到来，他的能力就停止了。”（He can do all these things, yet he is not free. Nay, he is even more prisoner than the slave of the galley, than the madman in his cell. He cannot go where he lists, he who is not of nature has yet to obey some of nature's laws, why we know not. He may not enter anywhere at the first, unless there be some one of the household who bid him to come, though afterwards he can come as he please. His power ceases, as does that of all evil things, at the coming of the day. ）
“他只在某些时候才能享受有限的自由。如果他不在自己的领域内，他只能在中午、或精准的日出或日落时刻变化自己……因此，当他拥有自己的土房，棺材房，地狱房，某个污浊之地时，他可以在自己的极限范围内尽力而为……但在其他时候，他只能在时机成熟时变化自己。据说，他仅可以在水流平缓或涨潮的时候才能穿过波流。某些物件对他造成困扰，使他失去能力，如我们所知道的大蒜，还有神圣的物件，如这个符号，我的十字架，迄今仍是我们这些人的寄托。在这些东西面前他什么都不是，只能躲得远远的，并保持沉默……”
"Only at certain times can he have limited freedom. If he be not at the place whither he is bound, he can only change himself at noon or at exact sunrise or sunset……Thus, whereas he can do as he will within his limit, when he have his earth-home, his coffin-home, his hell-home, the place unhallowed……still at other time he can only change when the time come. It is said, too, that he can only pass running water at the slack or the flood of the tide. Then there are things which so afflict him that he has no power, as the garlic that we know of, and as for things sacred, as this symbol, my crucifix, that was amongst us even now when we resolve, to them he is nothing, but in their presence he take his place far off and silent with respect……”
如何彻底毁灭德古拉呢？范·赫尔辛教授认为只能依靠传统和迷信。他建议：“在他的棺材上放野玫瑰花枝，可将他困在里面，向棺材里射出一枚神圣的子弹，可以把他真正杀死。至于穿过他身子的木桩，我们已经知道它能带来安宁，或者砍下他的头一了百了……”
("The branch of wild rose on his coffin keep him that he move not from it, a sacred bullet fired into the coffin kill him so that he be true dead, and as for the stake through him, we know already of its peace, or the cut off head that giveth rest……”)
为了保持永生，德古拉必须坚持三样生活方式：避免阳光、吸血、在装着故乡特兰西瓦尼亚的泥土的箱子里睡觉。不过传统文化里大伙儿普遍认为：德古拉一旦接触到太阳光并被一根木桩穿透心脏，必死无疑。
小说结尾，德古拉的死法与传说不尽相同：乔纳森·哈克用库克力弯刀刺进了德古拉的喉咙，吸血鬼猎人昆西（Quincey）用布伊刀（Bowie knife，一种特殊风格的美国匕首，刀尖上翘并且带护手的直刀）刺中他的心脏，吸血鬼化作了尘土。
德古拉伯爵的原型取自1456年至1462年间统治罗马尼亚地区的弗拉德三世（弗拉德·采佩什·德古拉），其人骁勇善战，多次击败土耳其人，但喜爱酷刑“穿刺”，将大量俘虏用木桩穿刺而死。斯托克在大量民间传说的基础上重新塑造了德古拉，吸血鬼形象丰满生动，小说情节诡异，但书中几位主人公的性格刻画却略显单薄，他们全是集各种高尚品质为一身的理想化人物，没有复杂的中间派。
1992年，好莱坞殿堂级别的导演弗朗西斯·福特·科波拉（《教父》三部曲的导演）将斯托克的吸血鬼小说搬上大屏幕，该片众星云集，包括“狗爹”加里·奥德曼、意大利电影女神莫妮卡.贝鲁奇、安东尼·霍普金斯，以及正值颜值巅峰期的基努·里维斯。电影版改动了许多，淡化了原著中正义战胜邪恶的主题，突出了爱情元素。原小说中的女主之一米娜变成了德古拉400年前的妻子的转世，他们相会于伦敦，彼此认出了对方，情难自禁。剧终，他俩明白了爱不是占有而是成全的道理，米娜忍痛用刺刀砍下作恶多端的德古拉的头颅，期望在下一次的生命轮回里，两人还能义无反顾地坠入爱河。
