Rachel Van Helsing

 

Doctor Rachel Van Helsing was the descendant of Abraham Van Helsing, the legendary vampire hunter whose struggle against Dracula was documented by Bram Stoker.

 As a small child Rachel watched helplessly as Dracula murdered her parents as part of his revenge against Abraham Van Helsing and all his descendents. Rachel was saved by vampire hunter Quincy Harker who then adopted Rachel and raised him as his own daughter.

 Quincy as leader of an organization of vampire hunters became Dracula’s most persistent foe during his life time and he took it upon himself to train Rachel in all areas of vampire hunting. An exceptionally bright and focused child Rachel was a quick learner and exceptional student in her regular studies as well as the skills Quincy Harker taught her.

 Rachel was trained in self defense and the use of Judo though what belt she holds in this discipline has never been revealed. Rachel also became adept at archery especially at using the crossbow and by her late teens became an expert marksman with arrows, bolts and throwing weapons.

 On the night of her sixteenth birthday Dracula snuck into Harker’s estate after Rachel’s friends had left. When Rachel produced a crucifix Dracula hypnotized Rachel with his gaze making her drop it and then beg him to kiss her which she did but before Dracula could bite Quincy Harker caught Dracula before he could do so and drove him off with poisoned wooden darts fired from his wheelchair. Dracula fled vowing he would do battle with them again some other time.

 Because of this incident Rachel felt a confusing mix of erotic attraction and hatred for Dracula for many months afterwards though she was eventually able to overcome the effects of the hypnotism and focus her hate on him once again.

 Rachel excelled at her studies earning a Ph. D in anthropology and parapsychology becoming renowned in both at an early age. Rachel then used her expertise in these fields in her true career as a vampire hunter becoming as notorious and as formidable an opponent as Quincy and her ancestor Abraham among the undead.

 It has yet to be revealed when Rachel first battled Dracula but it is known she began tracking and hunting him relentlessly with the use of Quincy Harker’s worldwide network of agents.

 When Dracula led a band of vampires in an attack on a village in Jajpur, India Rachel Van Helsing had been tracking Dracula and managed to save Taj Nital before the vampire lord could rip his throat out and drove him off. Rachel also destroyed the vampire that had turned Taj’s son Adri into a vampire with a wooden arrow. Taj receieved a severe throat injury from Dracula that left him irreversibly mute for the rest of his life. In gratitude for saving his life and seeking revenge on Dracula, Taj joined Rachel’s band of vampire hunters and became Rachel and Quincy Harker’s bodyguard for the next five years of his life.

 Sometime afterwards Dracula was slain inside his castle in Transylvania by an unnamed Scottish agent of Quincy Harker who died during his final fight with the vampire. Later Frank Drake, Dracula’s only living descendant inherited the castle and his friend Clifton Graves accidentally revived the vampire who killed Frank’s girlfriend Jean making her his bride.

 In the aftermath of this prolonged confrontation with Dracula, Frank was forced to kill Jean and lost Clifton to insanity which led to him becoming Dracula’s slave. Broken emotionally from this ordeal Frank tried to commit suicide but Rachel Van Helsing and Taj Nital stopped him before he could plunge to his death.

 Introducing him to Quincy Harker and his band of vampire hunters Frank became an ally and then a full fledged vampire hunter. During his time with the group Frank and Rachel fell in love and both repeatedly clashed with Dracula, Doctor Sun and other supernatural threats.

 During one such confrontation with Dracula where Quincy Harker’s group was attempting to rescue Edith Harker, Quincy’s daughter, Dracula used bats under his mental control to attack Van Helsing's face, clawing at it and leaving her permanently scarred.

 The love between Drake and Van Helsing continued over these years, but their relationship was an uneasy one, complicated by Drake's feelings of inadequacy as a vampire hunter and Van Helsing's emotional inhibitions as well as her obsession with killing Dracula.

 Harker finally slew Dracula and died himself during a confrontation with the vampire lord in Transylvania. Harker left behind a letter for Van Helsing urging her to try to find happiness in her relationship with Drake. Thinking Dracula destroyed forever, Van Helsing and Drake tried to make their relationship work, but ultimately they parted, not without deep regrets.

 Needing a change in her life, Van Helsing took a leave of absence from her teaching position at England's Oxford University and became a visiting professor at Bard College in New York State. There she was taken by surprise and attacked by Dracula, who had been resurrected yet again. Dracula killed Rachel, who then became a vampire under Dracula's control. He made her his consort, and she served as his ally in his subsequent clash with the mutant adventurers called the X-Men.

 Unbeknownst to all Lilith, the daughter of Dracula, had possessed the body of the X-Men member Kitty Pryde using her mutant ability to phase through solid matter to steal a copy of the Montesi Formula from Pendarrow Hill and tried to destroy Dracula with it. Dracula at the same time was trying to gather new brides. He first targeted and killed Rachel Van Helsing, turning her into a vampire bride. Dracula then targeted Storm of the X-Men as a new bride and was in the process of seducing her while still maintaining control of the strong willed Van Helsing.

 Following Dracula to his mansion off the coast of Cornwall, England the X-Men and Kitty/Lilith battled the vampire lord. When Kitty began reciting the spell to kill Dracula but the X-Men realized the spell would also cost Kitty her soul and Nightcrawler disrupted it.

 Lilith made her presence known when Dracula sensed the spell was her doing and she threatened to keep possession of Kitty unless the X-Men destroyed Dracula. During the melee Dracula lost focus on controlling the strong-willed Van Helsing reasserted her own will and was appalled at what Dracula had made her. Enraged Rachel hurled a spear through Dracula’s heart and then, despite the intense pain to herself, brandished a crucifix to render him immobile and unable to pull the spear from his own body.

 As a result, Dracula died, his body turning to dust except for his skeleton. The mansion, kept intact by Dracula’s mystical will collapsed but Rachel and the X-Men escaped before it buried Dracula’s body in the rubble. Lilith thanked the X-Men for their “assistance” and flew off into the early twilight leaving Kitty unharmed.

 Having taken her vengeance, Van Helsing wished to end her existence as a vampire. Knowing that being reduced to dust by the rays of the sun, which would soon rise, would be slow and extremely painful, she asked the X-Men to give her a quick, more merciful death by driving a stake through her heart. The X-Man Wolverine complied with her request, plunging the stake into her heart and then holding her in his arms as she died. Rachel smiled as she watched the sun begin to rise and died before the rays reduced her body to ash which was taken by the wind and blown out to sea.  

 Months later, Frank Drake avenged Rachel’s murder by Dracula by playing a major role in assisting the sorcerer Doctor Stephen Strange in casting the spell that destroyed Dracula and all other vampires on Earth.

 Rachel Van Helsing, Quincy Harker, Frank Drake and above mentioned characters copyright Marvel Comics.

 Special thanks to for being the model for Rachel Van Helsing