Lucy Westenra

Lucy Westenra was the former fiancée of Arthur Holmwood, before she was turned into a vampire by Count Dracula and destroyed by Abraham Van Helsing. She was also the best friend of Mina Murray; and came from a wealthy family.

Physical description and personality
Lucy Westenra is a vivacious young woman who is much praised for her beauty, purity and sweet nature. These qualities earn her three suitors, all of whom propose to her on the same day: Arthur Holmwood, the wealthy son of Lord Godalming; Quincey Morris, an American cowboy; and Dr John Seward, a primitive psychiatrist.

History
Lucy accepts Arthur's proposal, but soon begins suffering from severe anaemia. She has, in fact, become the victim of Count Dracula, who is slowly draining her of blood. Despite the best efforts of Dr Seward and Dr Abraham Van Helsing, Lucy's condition rapidly deteriorates. Dr Van Helsing correctly identifies the true cause of her illness, and puts up garlic around her sickbed to repel Dracula. Even after four blood transfusions (from Holmwood, Seward, Van Helsing, and Morris, respectively) and despite the doctors keeping a constant watch on her condition, their efforts prove futile. By ill-fortune, Lucy and her mother are left unattended when a wolf - either controlled by Dracula or Dracula himself - comes crashing through the window. The shock causes the mother to expire from a heart attack, while Dracula drains Lucy of blood, almost to the point of death.

The men find her the next morning, barely alive, but as they try another transfusion to save her, Van Helsing sees the bite marks on her throat have vanished and she now has longer canine teeth: a sign that her vampirisation is complete, and that there is now no way to save her. She awakes, and for a moment, when Arthur is near her, she voluptuously requests a kiss. Van Helsing pulls Arthur away, saying that it is the monster talking, not Lucy. Arthur realises the truth of this when Lucy snarls at being denied. Abruptly, though, she reverts to normal and, realizing her corruption, begs Van Helsing to protect Arthur. He swears to do so for her sake. Soon, Lucy weakens and dies from her blood loss. While Arthur and the other two laymen think it's all over, Van Helsing knows that death marks her final translation into the world of the undead.

Lucy is interred, but not long afterwards, reports spread of children being attacked at night, each child claiming it was the "Bloofer (or Beautiful) Lady". The children also have bite marks on their throats, though none has been seriously drained. Dr Van Helsing realizes that Lucy has now risen again as a vampire, and asks Dr Seward, Arthur and Quincey to help him destroy the undead creature. When they doubt him, Helsing takes Seward to show him first-hand that Lucy's coffin is empty, and then waits until she appears with another child. Luckily, as they watch, she takes only a little blood before flitting back to her crypt. After tending to the child, Van Helsing and Seward go into the crypt, where the coffin now contains Lucy's peacefully reclined body; but as Van Helsing points out, it hasn't decayed a day since her death, since the undead never age.

That next night, Van Helsing gathers the rest of the men and applies a plaster made from consecrated hosts over Lucy's crypt while she's out feeding. The men wait for her until she comes come back with another victim and they see the monstrous form she's adopted. They confront her, and prevent another assault. Upon seeing Arthur, Lucy changes her tone to that of a seductress, beckoning him to join her so they can be a couple in the afterlife. Her hypnotic spell almost works until Van Helsing desperately brandishes a pectoral cross at her, and she is repelled. She flees back to her crypt, but is unable to enter until Van Helsing removes some of the plaster. Immediately, the men are astonished to see Lucy use her new supernatural powers to slip inside effortlessly. They prise open the door and find Lucy seemingly at rest in her coffin. Van Helsing explains to the others that the Lucy they know is indeed dead, but has been resurrected in a corrupted form that must feed on blood, the result being vampirism when a victim has been fully drained. He warns that she is now a bride of Dracula, under the monster's command. Unless she is stopped, she will continue her nightly feedings to the point of fully draining her victims, with no qualms about turning her friends or family into vampires.

Van Helsing feels it best that the men who loved Lucy in life play a role in freeing her soul. On his instructions, they each strike one blow on a wooden stake driven into Lucy's heart. Once the stake is driven home, Lucy's corpse regains its natural colour, indicating the vampire element of her is now extinguished. Van Helsing knows, however, that Count Dracula can reclaim his bride by removing the stake; so to preven this ever happening, he decapitates the body and stuffs its mouth with fresh garlic. Thus, the unfortunate Lucy can finally rest in peace.

Appearances

 * Department 19 (mentioned only)

Trivia

 * Lucy Westenra was at least partially formed after the character of the same name from Bram Stoker's Dracula.