Lord of the Vampires

After the death of his half brother, Stefan, at the hands of Vlad Tsepesh--also known as Dracula--and after the destruction of his vampire father, Arkady, also at the hands of Vlad, Abraham van Helsing has traveled the world slaying many vampires. With every vampire he destroys, Bram becomes stronger and Vlad weaker, and soon Bram hopes he will be able to finally kill the fearsome vampire who has kept the Tsepesh family enslaved through a centuries-old blood ritual.But a desperate Vlad and his vampire great-niece, Zsuzanna, summon help from the most powerful, brutal, and beautiful vampire of all--Countess Elizabeth of Bathory. Bram learns of their plot to destroy him, and makes his own move to strike out at Vlad before Vlad can put him to death. He teams up with a courageous band of humans as he hunts Vlad--including Mina Harker and John Seward--and they finally succeed in killing the head of the Tsepesh clan, just as Bram Stoker foretold in Dracula. But the terror does not end with the death of Vlad, for there is another force that drives Vlad, Zsuzanna, Elizabeth and all the vampires, an ancient entity more evil than anything Bram has ever encountered: the Lord of the Vampires. And for Bram to defeat this dark lord, he must once again risk losing his very soul, to save not only his family, but humanity as well.In her final book in The Diaries of the Family Dracul trilogy, Jeanne Kalogridis brilliantly melds her own fascinating story of the Tsepesh family with that of Bram Stoker's classic, Dracula. Told in diary form like the first two books and Stoker's own chilling tale, LORD OF THE VAMPIRES reveals the dark, startling truths behind the original Dracula.From Publishers WeeklyThis final volume in the trilogy of The Diaries of the Family Dracul merges the histories of Vlad the Impaler and Count Dracula in a prequel to, and retelling of, the Stoker classic, seeking to fill some of the gaps left by the original. This novel begins with Vlad's journal entries about wartorn Bucharest in 1476, but it swiftly moves to the more familiar territory of Transylvania and London in 1893. There, it follows the starving Count, his vampiric niece, Zsuzsanna, her servant, Dunya, and their undead cousin, Countess Elizabeth Bathory, as they lure mortals, such as Jonathan Harker, into the castle to feed on them. Meanwhile, the noted vampire slayer Abraham Van Helsing awaits Dracula's arrival in London. Using powerful paraphernalia (garlic, crosses, holy water, etc.), he attempts to save Luch and Mina from the undead's evil embrace while trying to foil the family curse and decipher the angelic Arminius's motives. Kalogridis has a firm command of atmosphere, language and character. After the opening chapter, the Count is seen mainly as a shadowy figure integral to, though not illuminated by, the novel's plot, but the spunky Zsuzsanna and ravaged Van Helsing manage to carry the book handily between them. With its descriptions of iron maidens and flaming pokers it would be hard to call this a kinder, gentler, vampire novel, but Kalogridis reconciles the forces of light and darkness in a manner likely to please fans of justice and the genre. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library JournalThink of Kalogridis's series as an embellishment of Stoker's Dracula. While the first two parts (Covenant with the Vampire, LJ 10/1/94, and Children of the Vampire, Delacorte, 1995) were prequels, this volume runs concurrently with the famous novel. Here, Dracula prepares to leave his castle, but he has enemies within. Two other immortals also walk these dark halls, his cousin Zsuzsanna and Countess Elizabeth Bathory, a woman more vile in nature than the count. Together, these women plot his destruction. Meanwhile, using occult powers he has obtained, Van Helsing continues his hunt for Dracula and his spawn. Other characters, such as Mina and Jonathan Harker, Dr. Seward, and Lucy Westenra, also make appearances but not necessarily in the same way as in Stoker's classic. Kalogridis presents a fine mixture of sinister atmosphere, horror, and eroticism. For most public libraries.?Patricia Altner, Information Seekers, Bowie, Md.Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.