For almost as long as we've had motion pictures, we've also had vampire stories.

And rightly so, the tale of Dracula is a story of fear and suspense, and it's been told

over and over again over the last century.

Theater productions, early black and white films, and every successive film since the 1930s

has proven that our love of the story of Dracula is just as undying as the monster himself.

One of the results of this obsession with Dracula is that we often ignore or forget the other

major players in that story.

In a Murray is a powerful heroic woman who spends the bulk of the story fighting to destroy

Dracula rather than wallowing himself pity.

Quincy Morris sacrifices himself to defeat the monster.

And Jonathan Harker, mean as eventual husband, strikes one of the killing blows.

The novel is full of characters, but all seem to fade into the shadow cast by the vampire

Lord himself.

All that is, except for Abraham Van Helsing.

After the decades his character has received a good amount of attention from fans of the

book, and honestly how can you blame them?

He was intelligent, brave, and skilled in his craft, and in a lot of ways Van Helsing

represented something that we all aspire to be.

It's a side effect of growing up with stories of creatures who want to hurt us.

If there really is something living under the bed or in the closet or in that dark damp

corner of the basement, then shouldn't someone care enough to protect us?

These creatures are the antagonists of our nightmares, then surely there are also protagonists,

...