For the "authorized" Dracula sequel by Dacre Stoker, see Dracula the Un-Dead.
A sequel to Bram Stoker's gothic horror classic Dracula, written by Freda Warrington and published in 1997 — thus predating the "authorized sequel" by Dacre Stoker which, confusingly has the same title. Warrington's book sticks closer to the feel of Bram Stoker's original than the authorized sequel, retaining the format of telling the story through multiple diary entries and trying to Retcon as little of the original Canon as possible (unlike the authorized sequel which literally retcons the entire book, arguably making it not a sequel at all).
Seven years after the events of Dracula, the Five-Man Band from the original adventure — minus, of course, the now-deceased Quincey Morris — revisit Transylvania to reassure themselves that Count Dracula really is dead. Unfortunately, doing so wakes up Dracula’s dormant spirit, which he managed to anchor to this plane of existence through the connection he formed to Mina Harker. Dracula then takes the opportunity to exact revenge on the Harker family — Jonathan, Mina and their young son Quincy — whilst simultaneously trying to regain his body so he can go back to the whole blood-drinking-scourge-of-young-women-everywhere thing. Meanwhile, back in Transylvania, a Professor André Kovacs — friend and colleague of Abraham Van Hellsing — has heard Dracula's story and is in search of the legendary Scholomance — a school run by Satan himself from which Dracula supposedly learned all his tricks. Naturally, such reckless curiosity leads him to discover that not even Dracula can lay claim to being the biggest bad out there...
Dracula the Undead provides examples of:
- Betty and Veronica: Jonathan and Dracula form a gender-flipped version for Mina, and later Mina and Elena return the favour for Jonathan.
- Bittersweet Ending: Even more depressingly than the original.
- Cheerful Child: Quincy is remarkably optimistic for an ill six-year-old who's just been kidnapped and imprisoned by a vampire.
- Cross-Melting Aura: Subverted. One of Dracula's new powers is the ability to heat metal, and he tries to use this on a cross Lord Godalming shows him. The cross, however, does not actually melt, and Lord Godalming doesn't even let go.
- Darker and Edgier: The sexual subtext of the original becomes, well, text, and the True Companions of the original is broken up and put through all kinds of hell. That's right, Freda Warrington tried to make Dracula darker.
- Deader than Dead: Three of the four vampires in this book are killed by being sent directly through a portal to Hell itself.
- Dead Guy Junior: Quincy Harker is, as mentioned in Stoker's original, named after Quincy Morris.
- Deal with the Devil: The Scholomance imparts its knowledge to ten students at once, one of whom has to give himself over to Satan as payment at the end.
- The Dragon: André Kovacs for Beherit and Elena for Dracula.
- Friendly Neighbourhood Vampire: Played with. André Kovacs seems friendly enough at first, but later turns out to be in league with Beherit. Also, Dracula himself develops a few friendly streaks towards the end.
- Incest Subtext: This book makes drinking blood into an explicitly sexual act — and also reveals that Dracula made his sister and daughter into vampires — which presumably involved drinking their...
oh.
- It's Not You, It's My Enemies: Inverted. Lord Godalming chooses to stop fighting Dracula rather than risk his family.
- Littlest Cancer Patient: Quincy is in a near-constant state of being very generically ill.
- Love Redeems: Dracula starts to develop positive character traits after falling in love with Mina.
- Luke, I Might Be Your Father: Quincy Harker is quite strongly implied to be Dracula's son and even refers to him as "father" in the end of the novel.
- Mama Bear: When Elena attacks Jonathan, Team Mom Alice Seward leaps across the room and pins her to the wall with a stake using her bare hands.
- Manipulative Bastard: Dracula, even moreso than in the original. Beherit manages a bit as well.
- Mind Rape: Dracula, both of the mundane and supernatural variety.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: As a spirit, Dracula can possess living bodies and animate dead ones, but such attempts can be fought off with prayer or, apparently, by cutting yourself.
- Our Vampires Are Different: Even from the original —– apparently, they can now feel love and survive being staked and decapitated so long as the stake wasn't made of wood and/or they'd given someone living a "Baptism of Blood".
- Paranoia Gambit: The Count plays a couple of times on the fact he could strike anyone at anytime.
- Pet the Dog: Dracula uses his knowledge of generic "medicine" to cure Quincy's generic illness. Yes, the same Dracula who murdered Lucy and raped Mina a mere seven years ago.
- Promoted to Love Interest: The tiresomely invincible Dracula/Mina Fan-Preferred Couple is basically canon in this book.
- Put on a Bus: Arthur Holmwood (Lord Godalming) leaves the True Companions because he can't risk his wife and child ending up like Lucy.
- Redemption Equals Death: Dracula. Also Elena, but she comes back.
- The Renfield: Seven in-story years after the Trope Namer turned out to be a subversion on him, the Count finally gets a proper one in Elena Kovacs.
- Retcon: While not nearly so much as the "authorized" sequel, it does change a few points from original canon — mostly to do with how vampires work. It also seems to assume that Dracula literally raped Mina where the original only implies metaphorical rape.
- Science Is Bad: Beherit claims that all human knowledge was given to them by Satan.
- Sex–Face Turn: Sort of. Dracula starts developing positive traits after Mina starts letting him feed from her, which is considered an explicitly sexual act.
- Taking the Bullet: Van Hellsing. Although it's a crowbar, not a bullet.
- Terms of Endangerment: Dracula constantly refers to Mina as "beloved".
- The Vamp: Elena, eventually. Dracula himself is a male Vamp in this book, appropriately enough.
- We Can Rule Together: Dracula tries to seduce Mina with immortality for her and Quincy.
- What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Dr. Seward briefly wonders whether they really have a right to kill vampires if the undead can think and feel as a human does.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Warrington tries to portray the Count himself as one, by focusing on the loss of his family and how much it sucks to be undead. YMMV on how well it works, of course, because it's hard to feel even slightly sorry for a guy who commits so much rape, both of mind and body.
