of time alone. He can command animals such as rats, owls, bats, moths, foxes and wolves. However, his control over these animals is limited, as seen when the party first enters his house in London. Although Dracula is able to summon thousands of rats to swarm and attack the group, Holmwood summons his trio of terriers to do battle with the rats. The dogs prove very efficient rat killers, suggesting they are Manchester Terriers trained for that purpose. Terrified by the dogs' onslaught, the rats flee, and any control which Dracula may have had over them is gone. Dracula can also manipulate the weather and, within his range, is able to direct the elements, such as storms, fog and mist. Shapeshifting Dracula can change form at will, able to grow and become small, his featured forms in the novel being that of a bat, a wolf, a large dog and a fog or mist. When the moonlight is shining, he can travel as elemental dust within its rays. He is able to pass through tiny cracks or crevices while retaining his human form or in the form of a vapour; described by Van Helsing as the ability to slip through a hairbreadth space of a tomb door or coffin. This is also an ability used by his victim Lucy as a vampire. When the party breaks into her tomb, they open the sealed coffin to find her corpse is no longer located within. Vampirism One of Dracula's powers is the ability to turn others into vampires by biting them. According to Van Helsing: The vampire bite itself does not cause death. It is the method vampires use to drain blood of the victim and to increase their influence over them. This is described by Van Helsing: Victims who are bitten by a vampire and do not die, are hypnotically influenced by them: Van Helsing later describes the aftermath of a bitten victim when the vampire has been killed: As Dracula slowly drains Lucy's blood, she dies from acute blood loss and later transforms into a vampire, despite the efforts of Seward and Van Helsing to provide her with blood transfusions. He is aided by powers of necromancy and divination of the dead, that all who die by his hand may reanimate and do his bidding. Bloodletting Dracula requires no other sustenance but fresh human blood, which has the effect of