One of the most influential lines in vampire literature was in a poem that features no vampires: "Denn die Todten reiten schnell" from Lenore by Gottfried August Bürger.
For fun, I must first address that this phrase also appears in what is considered Bram Stoker's first draft of Dracula: Dracula's Guest.
Impelled by some sort of fascination, I approached the sepulchre to see what it was, and why such a thing stood alone in such a place. I walked around it, and read, over the Doric door, in German:
COUNTESS DOLINGEN OF GRATZ
IN STYRIA
SOUGHT AND FOUND DEATH
1801
On the top of the tomb, seemingly driven through the solid marble—for the structure was composed of a few vast blocks of stone—was a great iron spike or stake. On going to the back I saw, graven in great Russian letters:
“The dead travel fast.”
Why it is in Russian when the engraving on the tomb is in German and why proto-Jonathan is able to read both languages when his first draft self knew not even a lick of German, I cannot say. What I can say is that Styria is a reference to Carmilla, of course, and we know from the engraving: "sought and found death" that the Countess likely committed suicide, which is often deemed a sin in Christianity that can condemn one to vampirism. Eternal life as punishment for seeking death against God's will. You could take this paired with the quote as a reference to Bürger's Ballad of Lenore, in which a grieving woman curses God for the death of her beloved and is punished with death... but it doesn't fit as well as it should. That bitch Dolingen ain't travelling nowhere.
Okay, okay, right to the book:
The parallels to Bürger's ballad start before the line is spoken. The driver drives dangerously fast, urged on by his other passengers, much to Jonathan's chagrin. How was it that Lenore was led to her death? A man resembling her beloved, Wilhelm, appeared on a horse and bid her to join him to go to their marriage bed. On the way, he rides wildly, distressing her. He inquires:
“What ails my love? the moon shines bright:
Bravely the dead men ride through the night.
Is my love afraid of the quiet dead?”
“Ah! no;—let them sleep in their dusty bed!”
(By the way, here, "Denn die Todten reiten schnell" is translated as "Bravely the dead men ride through the night")
"You are early to-night, my friend." The man stammered in reply:—
"The English Herr was in a hurry," to which the stranger replied:—
"That is why, I suppose, you wished him to go on to Bukovina. You cannot deceive me, my friend; I know too much, and my horses are swift." As he spoke he smiled, and the lamplight fell on a hard-looking mouth, with very red lips and sharp-looking teeth, as white as ivory. One of my companions whispered to another the line from Burger's "Lenore":—
"Denn die Todten reiten schnell" — ("For the dead travel fast.")
Here, the reference is a better fit. Jonathan's fellow passenger makes the comment in reference to the stranger, who we know is the Count, being one of the dead, or rather, Un-Dead. He's travelling. Rather fast. As the dead do.
As the ballad goes on, "Wilhelm" invites a passing funeral procession to drop their mourning and sing him and his bride cheery marriage songs, which they do.
The driver and passengers (who could, in a way, be described as Jonathan's funeral procession), do not follow the Count, instead leaving for Bukovina, lamenting their failure to outpace the dead. But no matter, they are replaced by the wolves, whose singing is praised by the Count:
"Listen to them—the children of the night. What music they make!"
Now, Dracula isn't putting on the familiar face of Jonathan's dear Wilhelmina, but he does still come in disguise. And even when he introduces himself properly as Count Dracula, his hospitality is a façade to trap Jonathan and lead him to his doom.
