Then began my terrible task, and, I dread it. Had it been but one, it had been easy, comparative. But three! To begin twice more after I had been through a deed of horror; for if it was terrible with the sweet Miss Lucy, what would it not be with these strange ones who had survived through the centuries, and who had been strengthened by the passing of the years; who would, if they could, have fought for their foul lives.
– Bram Stoker
Dracula, Chapter 27. Vampire killer Van Helsing feels the weight of what he has to do on his shoulders: kill Dracula’s three Brides and put an end to their evil in the world. As he is about to destroy them, he remembers how terrible it was ending Lucy’s undead state.