Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2021 20:54:59 -0500
From: Richard McQueen <mcqueen.richarderic@gmail.com>
Subject: Blueblood: Dracula, Chapter 2 Romania

Story: Blueblood: Dracula

Chapter 2 Romania

Author: Eric McQueen (mcqueen.richarderic@gmail.com)

Adult Readers, Sexual Situations, Sex

Freedom of expression is precious. To do that Nifty needs help. Your
donation is greatly desired. Give to http://donate.nifty.org/ or this story
ends and all the others! That would be a crime!

Lies, deception, misdirection is a lot of what they leave to go through to
find Dracula.

Romania

The flight was a long one. We did stop for refueling. We weren't a big
plane. Well, it was not the size of one of those big passenger planes, but
it was bigger than most there. We landed at the Targu Mures Airport which
was a smaller airport just north of Sighisoara in the morning. So, we had
no problems. There was one person that met us at the airport from customs.
We had to show passports, but when he saw what we brought into Romania, all
documented with paperwork for both equipment and medical supplies. The
customs agent held up one of our translators.

"What's this for?" He asked in accented English.

Colin chuckled as he picked up a translator and earpiece. "Our CPU is on,
so..." he said putting one of the earpieces in his ear, "say that again, in
whatever language you normally use."

The man nodded. "Ce este acest lucru pentru?"

Colin nodded. "Does this answer your question?" He asked back and we heard,
"Aceasta răspunde la întrebarea dumneavoastră?"

"Traduce din engleză în Română?"

"That's why we're here. We want this to translate everything." Colin smiled
and we heard. "Thats de ce suntem aici. Vrem ca acest lucru sa traduca
totul."

The man's smile grew even more. "Asta e uimitor!"

Colin nodded and held up his hand. "Yes, it is amazing. Stick with English
for now for the others who don't have one on."

"Can anyone have one of those?" The man asked happily marveling at the
devices.

Colin nodded. "Yes, but the problem is, in order to translate so many
languages, we need a computer with a lot of memory. The computer we use
is...kind of connected to the one in Manhattan." He grinned as Stan walked
off the plane with Mark. "My friend Stan here is the computer man. A
genius, really. He named the computer Buddy. Buddy works well and is
connected by satellite. Buddy hears what you say and tells me in English
what you said. I speak in English and you hear Romanian from this!" He
lifted the device with the speaker on it. "We are creating something you
can install on your laptop to translate one language and wear one of these
and do it with this." He smiled. "We're trying to make one smaller and have
all languages." He held up the small scanner. "And this...will read all
languages...when we're connected." He looked at Stan. "Let him take one
set." He waved at the customs agent. "We'll be here a while." He handed the
agent one of the scanners and translators. "This will work while we're
here."

The man was thrilled instantly putting the earpiece in his ear. "And this
will translate all I hear to English?"

Colin shook his head. "No, this will translate anything to the language you
choose. If you want Romanian, it will translate anything to Romanian."

I chuckled as now I believed we could come in with anything and he'd let us
in; nothing better than a boy given a new toy to win his favor.

We rode toward Sighisoara. My first impression of this country
was...old. Not ancient like Egypt, but it was old. There were a lot of
hills and thick forests. I had a good imagination, so I could see how it
would look at night. The road to Sighisoara was a highway, but when we
arrived in the town, I got a slight...German opinion of this beautiful
town. That wasn't quite right. It was European construction. No wooden
houses, but stone covered in a smooth covering of mortar maybe stucco? As
with most towns established, Sighisoara was on the Tarnava Mare River. Most
of this town was level...sort of. There were hills on which they built many
homes and businesses. There were no colossal skyscrapers or metal and glass
constructed buildings. Many buildings were the color of stone, but as we
came in I noticed that there were peppered throughout the town were various
tones of that stone color, some were white, but there was the occasional
green, blue and one eye-catching orangey-red! It caught my attention. There
was the central clock tower that stood higher than any other. We hired a
couple of transport vans to pick us up and another to carry our
equipment. If we hadn't had drivers, I wondered if we'd find it. The house
was on a town corner and the front door was in the center or that
corner. The house spread out behind on both sides. The house was two floors
but we were driven around toward the rear and I saw the house was pretty
big. I found out it was large L in shape spreading out on those sides, as I
said. The back road was...well, they had to fill in land to make it and
barely one lane and built a wall to keep the earth they moved there to
stay. There was a short wall that kept you from rolling down the hill that
fell drastically from that road. We parked in the parking area. We walked
to the entrance from the private garden that had a long stone path edged
with shrubbery. The house was like the town, old, but well maintained. The
going theme was earth tones. There was a dining room, eat-in kitchen, the
den where we thought the CPU for Buddy would go along with Stan and
Mark. Stan insisted he stay with Buddy. Mark insisted he stay with Stan. It
made sense. There were the few bedrooms, some only had two beds...and I
mean two beds as in twin beds.

I shrugged. "It is a family home. There had to be room for the children."

Then we met Eva. She was in her mid-forties whose hair was blonde and
white, blue eyes and had a few more pounds than she needed and greeted us
with some English, but it was very accented as she probably didn't use
English often.

I smiled at her. "What language do you prefer?"

"I...raised...Hungarian." Eva said. "My parents...move here...I was child."

I did some adjustments to my translator. "How about this? Is this better?"
We heard, "Mit szólsz ehhez? Van ez jobb?"

Eva's eyes grew. "Hogyan tett csinálsz ez?"

I smiled. "That's why we're here," I said and it was translated into
Hungarian. "The easiest thing is for you to wear this earpiece and always
wear the translator. You will hear Hungarian and can speak back in
English."

She smiled and showed us the rest of the house. There was a room that led
to the back entrance we would come in and out. A salon? It was long and had
a stone floor. And like England, who didn't make the rooms too big to heat,
these were a little smaller to just sleep in, but each had either a stove
or fireplace in them for when it got cooler.

That day was pretty much used to unpack. We got Buddy's CPU powered up and
Stan sighed and switched from his laptop to this CPU for Buddy.

"There we go, now you can do it much easier." Stan smiled patting Buddy
affectionately. "Running the program off my laptop worked, but now with
Buddy, it will work faster and better now." He grinned. "The customs agent
and Eva won't have any worries." He sighed. "With the satellite connection,
we're all connected."

I waved at the computer. "Can I?"

Stan looked surprised. "It's your computer."

"But he's your friend!" I reminded Stan which made Mark chuckle and Colin
smile. "I just want to check the messages," I said and hit a few keys on
the keyboard display on the black glass part of the CPU. I brought up my
email. "I sent Andrei a message before we left. I've gotten nothing back
from him."

Colin gave a shrug. "We can still begin looking, even if he won't help."

I shook my head. "It doesn't add up. In his email messages, he was begging
us to come and give the serum. I don't understand the lack of messages
now. He wants us here, and then doesn't answer."

Colin nodded looking over my lists of emails. "Well, he is a vampire
lacking trust and all that."

I sighed and nodded. "Right." I grinned. "He might, like all the others
will send someone like Edwin and Amasis did or just show up!"

Colin nodded. "Probably." He sat down next to me. "What do you think our
first thing should be?"

I sat back a little when he asked me that. "I'm not in charge."

Colin chuckled. "Yes, you are. This was your idea." He reminded me.

I gave him a look that wasn't so certain I liked all this thrust on
me. "Well, it might be that whoever this vampire is, is Vlad Dracul."

"Oh?" Colin asked.

I gave a shrug. "There are stories...some think he is buried in
Naples. There is also documentation he was buried in a monastery in the
middle of Snagov Lake. It was recorded that Vlad Tepes in 1476 disappeared
during battle and was never seen again." I shook my head. "In Naples, they
have a headstone they say could be his...the tomb is covered with symbols
representing the House of Transylvania. The Carpathians. What made them
think it was his grave is the dragon on it and the sphinxes. The dragon and
sphinxes are for Dracula, the dragon and Thebes, also known as Tepes. The
symbols are his name!" I shook my head.

"When did you find out all this?" Colin asked in shock.

"We flew for almost a day, Colin. I couldn't sleep and what else was there
to do?" I grinned. "I did research. There are just too many things that I
read...and what you told me...you said the battlefield was almost fair
game. You helped a number of men die during the Civil War. Vlad disappeared
during a battle. No one knows if he's in the monastery or Naples or
anywhere." I frowned. "I hope it isn't Vlad."

"Why?"

"He did a lot of things..." I gave a somewhat of a shrug, but it was
wary. "...like strangulations, burning, cutting off noses and ears,
mutilation of sexual organs, scalping, skinning and his famous
way...impaling his enemies on stakes. It was said he drank the blood of his
enemies." I shuttered. "That was while he was human!"

Colin frowned but nodded. "I take it back. Having a former pharaoh at the
table is a good thing. I don't think I would want him to be if he is Vlad."

I smiled. "Well, if this vampire is the inspiration of Count
Dracula...there are just too many variables for Bram Stoker not to have
someone he modeled his character after." I looked at the CPU and read
through the emails. "We can begin this trip by patrolling. We have two very
good trackers with us. There are vampires here. Maybe they can sense one
and we can get some answers." I smiled and stretched. "I sent Andrei the
address we are staying, maybe he'll just...show up."

"There is seven hours difference between where we left and where we are
now." Colin grinned. "You might want a nap before we go patrolling." He
reached over and pulled me up.

"I won't fight you on that." I grinned. "But we might be busy later. I need
to adjust my biological clock."

I was a bit worried about how Eva would react to the fact that Colin and I
were married. We also had Stan and Mark, George and Burke who were
same-gender relationships. Romania did not criminalize us, marriages were
not allowed for gay couples, but unions were. Semantics. When we told her,
she shrugged.

"I don't know why people get upset about it." She said. "It's everywhere
around the world. It doesn't bother me." She waved to my mother. "She said
she was at your wedding. She could have objected, but didn't. Who am I to
say otherwise?"


I did lay down a few hours and did fall asleep with Colin. After we got up,
Eva had dinner ready for us. It smelled wonderful. Eva had help come in
with a young woman named Greta. Blonde and about her mid-twenties and not
unattractive, but you know about me. I'm gay. My head wasn't turned.

"A word of warning Eva," I said sitting at the table patting Colin on the
back.

Her eyebrow went up. "Warning about what?"

I patted Colin's arm. "He and Amasis eat." There were chuckles at the table
from the others. "I mean they eat a lot!"

Rather than being upset, she seemed delighted. "Of course, look at
them. Two big strong men that work hard need big meals. I have plenty and
if needed, I'll make more." Eva said proudly revealing what she
cooked. "This is Musaca cu patlagele vinete, that's Moussaka with Eggplant
in English. Ground beef and eggplant and spices...my late husband loved it
when he was alive." She laughed. "I had to make it every week." She waved a
spoon at Colin. "He was a big man, too." She smiled. "With this many
people, if there's anything you want or something you don't want, let me
know." She smiled holding her translator. "I love this! It makes my work
here so much easier. It works already, what more are you searching for?"

Colin smiled. "Our computer, Buddy, is like any person who uses a
language," Colin explained. "The more you use it, the better he gets. We're
trying to work out a way that whatever language the earpiece hears; is the
one it translates back. It should be automatic but isn't yet. We still have
to choose. We want our Language Buddy to work more autonomous. This is
country a lot of varied languages, we need to have the program used to
dealing with that. This is the best place for that."

I added. "You have a nice mixture of both Indo-European; Italic, Germanic,
Baltic, Slavic, and others...and you have the Uralic; Hungarian like you
use, Finnish and Estonian and even the Kalmyk. That's Mongolic." I smiled
and watched Colin's eyes widen as he looked at me surprised. "What? I don't
know why we're here?"

Colin grinned. "I married a very smart man!" He shook his head. "Anyway, in
order to work well, we need all languages, accents, and dialects. This is a
good country to do that in." Colin smiled and shrugged. "And this is a
great town. We thought we'd look around."

Stan smiled. "I'm asking this to get more information only." He said
carefully to Eva. "One of the reasons we chose this town, was Vlad Dracul."

Eva frowned. "What about him? He was a great man."

Stan nodded. "He was. He was. He did what many would never have considered
doing. He dealt with those hostile Ottoman Turks. People only seem to
remember what he did, not why he did it."

"What do you mean?" Colin asked.

"The size of those Ottoman forces was huge. He came up with a plan that..."
Stan nodded. "...was pretty gruesome," he looked at me, "you read it, but
effective. Vlad's forces were small, but he kept those Turks away. He
himself was taken as a child into bondage to the Turks. As was his
brother."

Eva smiled now. "You know our past?"

Stan nodded. "Oh, I was fascinated by it." He said emphatically. "Granted,
I did it after reading Dracula the novel." He shrugged. "I wanted to know
about the real man they said was Dracula. Not the character in that
book. They are not the same."

Eva nodded smiling now. "My husband was born and raised in Sighisoara." She
smiled. "It's been my home for over forty years. It's nice a Westerner
appreciates what Vlad did, rather than find the monster they made him out
to be. There's plenty to see about him here." She said and went back into
the kitchen.

I looked at Stan. "You think what he did was okay?" I asked.

Stan frowned. "I think he did what he did because he had no choice." He
said sadly. "To protect his country and his people...he did what he did to
keep those horrible people away." He shrugged. "It worked. It was horrible,
but it worked." And then Stan looked at Colin. "Sorry, I shouldn't have
done that. This is a search trip. My opinion wasn't needed."

Colin smiled. "You're wrong, Stan. Your opinion is needed."

I nodded. "That's also why you're here, Stan; to keep us on track."

Stan smiled and nodded. "If there is a vampire out there that was used as a
model for Count Dracula, that's scary. If he's Vlad, he could really be an
ally."

I shook my head. "Why do you say that?"

"He was willing to do whatever it took to protect his family and his
people," Stan said. "No matter how terrible it was, it worked! He kept
these people safe!" He was started to pound the table and Mark reached over
and put his hand on Stan's.

"Down, boy," Mark said softly. "We're all here on the same side."

Stan looked at Colin and me. "If someone threatened either one of you, is
there anything you would not do to protect the other? Colin would kill and
I know he would for you. Or if I was threatened, or Mark, or Wayne..."

I held my hands up. "I get it."

"You would kill!" Stan said. "And if there was another threat out there,
you might do something so horrible to that one you killed to literally
scare the shit of them!!"

You had to admire his conviction. "I was influenced by the book and what I
read. We need to find out." I nodded with a smile at Stan. "I'll try to
keep an open mind."

Stan chuckled and was comforted by Mark who was saying it would be alright
and calm down. Stan grinned. "Sorry."

I grinned back. "No problem. You're family and should feel free to say
what's on your mind. We'll find this person."

Colin smiled. "Which means, we just need to look." He said. "There is a
vampire at work here. Who it is...we'll see if he's got enough control of
the vampires here. Is he good or bad? We won't know until we find him."

Mom gave a sigh. "You know, he may not want to be found because of all
this..." she said. "He has more power being mysterious. Bringing him into
the open he may see as a way of...dethroning him."

"We don't want to dethrone him, but there are vampires here that will
benefit being on the serum," George argued. "If Dracula is a real vampire,
would he pass up the chance to go in the sun and have a somewhat normal
life after all this time?"

"Slow down, guys," Colin said. "First, we have to make contact with our
first vampire here and then we can go from there. If he is Vlad, we offer
options, if he's not but inspired Count Dracula, we offer options. We need
a vampire to start. Let's do that first." He sighed. "We've sent a message
to this contact here, this Andrei; if he comes here...or if we find another
out there. We start there."

"So, we're patrolling tonight?" Mark asked.

I nodded. "We are. We make our presence known and hope Andrei comes to find
us."

George brightened. "And the perfect time to field test my detector."

Colin grinned. "You finally got it working?"

"You knew I would eventually." George laughed. "We'll see. I'll give it to
Mark, Chuck, or Shelly. If Gabriella or Alex finds one, we'll know if it
works!"

Colin nodded and dug into his Musaca cu patlagele vinete. He chewed a
second and nodded. "This is GOOD! No wonder her husband wanted it once a
week. I will, too!" He said and dug in for some more.

After our meal, we got ready to go out on the town. This was my first
exposure to a true European village, I thought. Because of that, I thought
there weren't going to be the flashy buildings and lights being one of the
things of in a modern city or town. There really weren't that many, but
there were a couple of places we heard when we walked the streets. I knew
there was more to this village than just being famous for that one
vampire. What I found amusing was when we were getting ready, I found Stan
sitting near the computer rather than getting ready himself.

"Uh, Stan?" I began questioningly.

He looked up at me questioningly. "Yes?"

"Why aren't you getting ready?" I asked.

"I am ready," Stan said looking at where he was. He had his coffee and the
computer was on.

I looked at his jeans and t-shirt. "That's fine if you want to see
Sighisoara dressed like that, but you might want to put on shoes. Going
barefoot would be nice, I suppose..."

Stan's eyes grew. "You mean out there!?" He pointed to the wall and village
beyond. "I've always been the computer guy! I always look things up and
provide background support!"

I chuckled. "Not on this trip," I said coming to him and standing over him
while I put both hands on his shoulders and forced him to look at me. "I'll
bring my tablet if we need to look something up," I said stood up again. He
looked surprised. "You are our computer guy, but tonight, we see
Sighisoara."

Mark came out of the bathroom used for guests and visitors for the
house. There were three other bathrooms in the house. He brushed his dark
blue shirt to smoothness and looked up and then looked puzzled. "He's not
dressed." He looked at me. "Why is he not dressed?" Mark waved at Stan.

I shook my head. "You need to ask him."

"You're not dressed!" Mark said to Stan.

Stan was a little flustered. "But I...but...but..." He pointed at the
computer.

Mark nodded. "But, but...speaking of butts!" Mark said happily. "You have
those great pants that show off that great butt of yours!" He turned Stan
around and began to push Stan toward the bathroom to change. Mark grinned
at me. "If you're a girl with a great set of boobs, they say, if you got
it, flaunt it! Stan's got a great ass; I say flaunt that!" He winked at me
as he pushed Stan into the bathroom.

I shook my head and thought about it and gave a shrug. "Well, they both
have great asses." I then smiled when I thought of Colin's ass. "Yeah, his
is better." I nodded and went to find Colin. I had the sudden urge to see
it again. I'd probably touch it, too. I did.


We asked both Eva and Greta where to go that night.

Greta smiled. "There are only a few. One sticks out in my mind. Biserica
din Cornseti." She said in perfect but accented English. "It was a church,
but now it is a dance and night club. There is also the Vertigo Club."


No matter what country, city, town, or village; there is always one
constant. People liked to enjoy themselves. Getting to Biscrica din
Cornseti we knew what was happening. It was a big white church in the
village with the tall bell tower in the front, but the stained-glass
windows that had multicolored lights flashing and the throbbing bass was a
signature and once inside they were doing it. Dancing! Nothing odd here,
except there was a picture of the Last Supper, only it was rigged with
those colored lights that flashed to the beat of the music. I did chuckle
internally at the picture of the Nativity with Mary, Joseph, and a baby,
but the baby had a full white beard and a red and white hat for Santa
Claus. A baby Santa? Really! It is there!

Mom shook her head when she noticed the picture. "Is that...sacrilegious?"

Willie gave a slight nod. "It's a statement for sure; a tribute to modern
Christmas."

I smiled. "Sure, Santa is seen as Christ often at Christmas." I waved at
the picture. "That's how I see it anyway."

We stayed a few hours before I saw Gabriella get very still. Alex was
looking around the crowd that was there and then I felt it. There was a
vampire in the group of people dancing and drinking. Looking at where the
sensation was coming from. We saw a young man in his late twenties or early
thirties come closer. Dark hair and he had the eyes of a vampire, lacking
the needed moisture that was a signature visually for all vampires. He was
about my size of five feet and ten inches. He was Eastern European in
looks; you know what I mean if you've seen it, but not a bad looking
man. He wasn't even interested in the abundance of people that were human
to my relief.

He stopped in front of us. "You are vampires." He said in accented, but
perfect English. "I didn't dare hope."

Colin nodded. "Are you Andrei?"

The man nodded. "The real name is Alin. Andrei is just a name for the
Internet. It is Romanian and Greek for Andreas." He smiled.

I nodded. "Okay. You didn't respond to any emails. Have you changed your
mind about us?"

He shook his head. "No, but things here...have gotten a little more
complicated." He admitted with a nod and shrug.

"Complicated? How?" I asked.

"Recently, there has been a rise of a group, a man really, that became
rivals to vampires here," Alin said. "He is a vampire hunter."

George's eyes widened. "You're kidding."

Alin shook his head. "I am serious."

"You're in danger?" I asked.

Alin nodded. "We all are." He looked at me. "I mean you and the others,
including those of us here. That's why no one has really responded to your
emails. They are afraid to reveal anything that will tell them where we
are; including me."

"He's human," Colin said.

Alin chuckled. "Worse, he's Russian."

"Russian?" Colin asked. "Can he do it?"

Alin nodded. "Yes, I took a big risk coming here. You did also telling me
where you were going." He frowned. "They are led by the Russian who is a
vampire."

"A vampire hunter that's a vampire himself!?" My mother asked.

"Yes." Alin nodded. "His name is Iilya. He was KGB back in the 1950s and
1960s. He was turned when on a mission here for the USSR."

"How can he hunt his own kind?" Colin asked.

"According to him, he hates what he is and has vowed to rid the world of
vampires. He did it in Russia, he says." Alin explained and smiled. "But
there are still vampires in Russia, but he thinks they came from this area
in the first place."

I nodded. "Because of all the vampire lore here?"

Alin nodded. "Because of the vampire lore and others."

Stan came forward a little. "Is the leader here, the First Vampire
here...?"

Alin frowned. "There is a vampire leader, has been for several centuries."

Stan nodded. "There is a vampire leader that old?" He waved at Colin. "He's
over two hundred." He pointed to Burke. "He's nearly four hundred and
Amasis..."

Amasis growled. "Don't say it." He said to Stan.

Stan grinned. "Well, he's sensitive about his age. Let's just say, he's the
oldest of us here."

"Could this leader be Dracula?" I asked again carefully knowing how they
felt about Dracula and Vlad Tepes. "Or is it Vlad Dracul?"

Alin shrugged. "I don't know. He won't say for certain. I do know he's
old."

"Will he see us?" George asked.

Alin shook his head. "He's not certain about you."

"Why did you contact us? You were certain enough to reach out to us." I
said.

"Because we don't change..." Alin said sadly. "I was turned right at the
end of the USSR. That was in the early 1990s. Since then, I have tried to
stay in the world as it is." He shook his head. "That's so hard this way."
He waved at himself. "I can only move around at night and I must feed every
day." He sighed sadly. "They are old." He said. "And I'm not speaking about
their age in years, I mean, the way things are run here. That's
old. Christian is the leader here. He's been doing it a long time. Is that
his real name?" He shrugged. "No one can remember."

That's when we all felt it; another vampire had just arrived.

Alin looked a little panicked. "He's here!"

"Does he track?" Colin asked quickly.

"Does he what?" Alin asked.

"Can he sense where you go?" I asked. "Can he smell you?"

Alin shook his head. "I don't know. He can sense a vampire when he sees
one."

"Go!" Willie said. "You know where we are. We'll hold him off." Willie
shoved him away. "Run!"

Alin didn't question Willie and ran into the crowd.

I looked over the crowd to see some men come in the club. The one in the
center, I knew was Iilya. I knew Sasha was big, born and raised in
Moscow. This man was just as big. Dark hair in his late thirties or early
forties and...BIG. He had four men with him. They were human.

Colin reached for me and drew me closer to him. All of us drew closer to
who we were with, but moved to the area that Alin had been to confuse Iilya
when he came over. Iilya was no tracker, but he sensed all the others here
partying and dancing...and human. His eyes traveled over everyone until he
looked at us. His moisture lacking eyes narrowed and he walked over. He
looked confused as he got closer.

Iilya stopped in front of us. "You are a vampire." He said in accented
English.

Colin didn't back down. "So are you."

Iilya wandered between all of us. "You are not." He said to Mark and
sniffed near Stan. "Not you. I sense...something different."

"We're all different," George said. "Those here that are vampires are not
like you."

I nodded. "You can sense that, can't you?" I said taking a drink I had
ordered earlier and drank it in front of Iilya. "As you can see, we can
drink more than blood."

Iilya frowned. "How is possible?"

"Tell you what, Iilya." Colin began and watched Iilya's eyebrows rise when
Colin called him by name. "Yes, we know your name." He worked on his
translator. "Why not stick to Russian. It might be easier to follow you."
The translator came out with:
Почему бы
не
придерживаться
русский. Это
может быть
легче
следовать
за вами.

Iilya looked startled and what Colin was wearing and what he heard. "What
did you do?"

We all had adjusted our translators and understood what he asked.

"We had our words changed to Russian, to be understood by you," Colin said.

Iilya was interested in our translators, but right now, he was looking for
vampires and we were right there. "You are not vampires, but I sense you
are. Why?"

Colin gave the whole condition and medication explanation for Iilya.

"So, you are in between?" Iilya asked.

George nodded. "You could see it that way. None of us wanted to become
vampires."

Iilya nodded. "We should have died."

Colin nodded. "And yet, here you are." His eyes narrowed. "We heard you
were trying to get rid of these vampires here."

Iilya nodded again. "I was turned here."

I nodded. "Ah," I said understanding more now, "that's why you're hunting
them here. To get rid of the one that turned you."

"What kind of vampire was it?" Colin asked.

Iilya frowned. "It was a vampire."

Wayne chuckled. "Do you know the different kind of vampires out there?"

"They are vampires," Iilya said again simply.

"Do you want to kill us, too?" My mother asked.

Iilya looked at my mother who was holding on to Willie's hand. "I didn't
know you can be in between as a vampire. I don't know." He looked at
George. "Can you cure us?"

George shook his head. "Not yet, but I'm working on it."

"This medication; if you don't take it, will you become a vampire again?"
Iilya asked.

"Yes." Colin nodded.

"I won't hunt you as long as you're on the medication," Iilya said roughly.

"If we get the vampires here on the medication...will you still hunt them?"
I asked.

That's when Iilya's eyes narrowed. "They turned me. They cursed me to be
this." He said waving at his own face. "I will hunt down and kill that one
that did this."

I nodded. "So, this is revenge." I wanted to clarify.

Iilya was beginning to turn red with anger. "I will slaughter the thing
that did this to me. I know he did it to others. They will all die."

Colin nodded. "But not all of them were involved. Why kill them all? There
are innocent ones as well as the guilty."

"They know the one that did this!" Iilya spat. "They are guilty of not
dealing with it and killing that one."

"How do you even know if this creature is even alive?" Alex
asked. "Vampires can die. We're talking about fifty or sixty years ago; he
could already be dead."

Iilya shook his head. "No. He lives. I feel it in here." He pounded his own
chest as his eyebrows came together.

"Do you feel him more or less right now?" I asked. "Can you tell if he's
close, or far away?"

"I feel he is here! In Sighisoara." Iilya said angrily.

"See? That's why we use these translators." I said holding mine up. "The
problem is now for this is the many voices and that music, it's having a
difficult time. You see, there is a difference in what you are
saying. There is the feeling that you know and a belief that you know." I
shook my head. "I'm getting the feeling that you believe he's here, but
aren't sensing him." I looked at him. "You believe he's here, but you don't
know he's here."

Iilya frowned now more. He was getting angrier. "I will kill all vampires
here. That way I know he's gone."

"And how did you get back to Russia?" I asked.

Iilya looked surprised at the change of subject. "I had a comrade take me
home."

I nodded. "And don't you see that this vampire could have moved on, too?"

Iilya let out a gruff sound of frustration and came a little closer to me,
which Colin stepped in between us. Toe to toe, they were about the same
size.

"Listen to him, Iilya." Colin said equally as gruff. "He's making sense and
I won't let you or any of these others touch him or anyone here with us."

Iilya's frown became more than a frown, it was almost rage. "They are the
ENEMY!! They should all die!"

Willie came up behind Colin. "So, you do want to kill us."

Mom nodded. "If we get these vampires on the medication, you won't be able
to catch them as easily."

Gabriella added. "They will be able to travel anywhere at any time and
scatter."

"We became a threat to you getting the vampires here because of what we
offer," Wayne said.

"The only thing you can do; is kill us." Alex reasoned. "If we're dead, we
can't give the medication and you have a better chance of killing all these
vampires."

Colin nodded. "We've met vampires that aren't nice. In fact, there are
vampires out there that are criminals, killers, and general sadists." Colin
said. "I was turned by one." He waved at Gabriella. "My daughter was turned
by the same one."

"But because one turned you..." I said to Iilya, "...you have determined we
all should die."

Amasis grinned. "So, go ahead." He challenged. "Do it now. Right here in
front of all these people." He waved at the many dancing people.

"How can you do this?" Mom asked him using the tone I knew when she scolded
me and ashamed of what I did; not that there were too many of those for her
to do it to me. "Condemning all of us because of what one creature did to
you?"

"Are you really that important?" I asked.

"Americans." Iilya spat. "Decadent, selfish Americans!"

"And there it is." Colin chuckled. "Yes, we are!" He grinned at
Wayne. "All, but Wayne. Amasis and Amir are becoming Americans. The old
American versus Russian ploy."

"You did know that there is no USSR now, didn't you?" I asked. "The Cold
War ended. The Communistic Government there is gone in Russia?" We all
turned as we heard a beeping sound.

George was grinning. "It works!" He said holding a wand looking thing at
Iilya. He was looking at a tablet that would beep, only when pointed at
Iilya. "If I didn't sense he is a vampire," he raised the device slightly,
"this says he is a vampire!"

Colin grinned. "That's great!" He looked back at Iilya. "See, we're trying
to put an end to the vampire stuff, too. Only, we're looking for a cure for
it." He motioned to Chuck, Shelly, Mark, and Stan. "Now, they can tell as
well if a person is a vampire." He looked at Iilya's eyes. "Seeing your
eyes would tell close up, but George is a good distance away. We wouldn't
want you that close if you are. We aren't the enemy, Iilya. Don't make us
one. If you do this, you will be. We will find the vampires here and we
will help them."

"Who is backing you?" I asked. "The government in Russia, or someone
privately?" I waved at us as a group and then waved at his four
accompanying men. "They are getting something to be here with you. We have
the backing of a few in our government. They know where we are and why
we're here. If anything happens to us, there will be questions." I pulled
up my tablet and hit the photo icon and there was a flash. I scripted a
quick message. "And I've just sent them a picture of you and your group to
them and explained why you're here and what you want to do. We have a
Senator, a member of Congress and a pretty good director in charge of the
FBI in America that are backing us. Now, there will be questions that will
need answering if anything happens to any of us." I turned the tablet to
Iilya. "I'd say that's a pretty good picture, wouldn't you? It looks just
like you."

Colin walked closer to Iilya. "In other words..." he said getting closer to
Iilya's face. "...BACK OFF!!"

Iilya let out an almost roar of fury! "This isn't over!" He said and headed
out of the club as he barged through some of the dancers who were
surprised, but shrugged and went back to dancing.

Willie walked over to Colin and put his arm around his shoulders. "Nicely
done, Colin."

I composed another message sending a warning. Attached was Iilya's photo
and warning that he was dangerous. "I had a group contact created," I said
and hit send. "Now, they all know around the world! Even those in Russia!"

Stan nodded with a smile. "Ain't technology great?"

Burke, who almost never spoke up much frowned and shook his head. "How
could he hunt us? He is a vampire!"

I nodded. "He's angry," I said simply. "For decades, the only thing he was
focused on was killing the vampire that turned him." I grinned at
Colin. "Other than not trusting, the other thing about vampires is they get
fixated."

Colin rolled his eyes. "I had a reason with Brett! Didn't I?"

I chuckled. "I was talking about Brett having the fixation. Not you."

"Oh," Colin said softly and nodded. "I guess I was, too."

I smiled pulling him in for a kiss. "You're good. That's over." I looked at
the others. "The emails and postings we're done recently...he knew if he
was going to do that killing, he needed to do it now."

Stan grinned. "And now we can resume our search for Dracula."

"Dracula!?" We heard behind us. "You're kidding. We talked about him,
but...I don't..."

We all turned to see Alin was back.

"We were looking for him or the vampire that inspired Bram Stoker to write
Dracula," I told Alin. "We're not here to hurt him, but...maybe get help
from him if possible or whoever is in charge here...if possible."

Alin nodded. "I see." He waved at where Iilya had been. "I heard and saw
the whole thing. Good hearing." He pointed to his own ears and looked at
Willie. "I was going to run as you said, but I saw you were handling him,
so, I stayed."

"Do you have the trust of this Christian?" I asked.

Alin nodded. "I do."

I looked at George. "What better way to show Christian we mean no harm to
him..." I waved at Alin and turned back to Alin. "Do you still want the
serum?"

Alin nodded. "Yes, very much."

Colin nodded coming up behind me. "It does hurt at first. It will be very
painful."

Alin nodded looking at us. "I read on the many postings and emails that it
was painful." He smiled. "But I see you all. You're out in the
world...traveling and doing things...I'm willing."

George came to Alin. "Okay, you go to Christian and tell him what we're
going to do. Tell him it takes about a week to begin the treatment, but
tell him, when he sees you on the serum, he'll know what we can do for all
of you here."

Alin smiled even bigger. "Where do I need to go? At where you're staying?"

George looked at Colin. "I am a doctor." He began. "We can tell Eva and
Greta we have a patient coming and to keep out of the room. Do you think
that will work?"

Colin nodded. "I think so. He won't burn in the daylight after the first
two doses. We'll have to choose a dark room to start."

George nodded. "Tell Christian and then give us two days. Come at night
after you feed." He looked at Alin. "You don't feed on humans, do you?" He
asked cautiously.

Alin's eyes widened. "What? No! I never have." He chuckled. "I read that in
the postings and emails, too. No, I've fed on cattle. They survive the bite
and have enough blood. I just rotate the cows." He grinned. "I've gotten to
know a few cows and know who I've fed on. They never seem to mind." He
shrugged.

Willie snorted. "That beats rats."

"Rats!?" Alin balked.

"New York City," I explained quickly. "Dad didn't have the cows to feed on
in the abandoned subway." I chuckled at Alin. "How are you getting home? Do
you think Iilya will come after you?"

Alin shook his head. "He can sense me; I can sense him." He smiled. "I've
managed to avoid him and will continue to do so. I'll be fine." He assured.

George smiled. "The week after we give you the serum, we'll come back
here. We'll buy you a drink."

Alin's eyes showed excitement at that thought. "Wow, a drink that isn't
blood! It's been thirty years!"

I nodded. "Well, it's about time you had one." I looked at my watch. "It's
a few hours until sunrise, care to join us. We can talk and get to know
you."

"Sure." Alin smiled. "I'd like that. What are you telling this Eva I have?"

Colin and George looked at each other. Colin said with a simple shrug. "You
have Severe Polymorphic Light Eruption, just like I did."

George nodded. "It is a real condition and covers the why you have to be in
a dark room."

I nodded. "That's what Colin told me when we first met."


We talked a while, I leaned closer to Colin. "What do you get from Alin?"

Colin nodded. "He is what he says he is. I trust him." He frowned. "What
did you get from Iilya?"

"He's a man obsessed to the point he's unstable," I answered sadly. "Did
you trust him?"

Colin shook his head. "It's not that I didn't trust him, he meant
everything he said. He wants to gather all vampires. Would I trust him with
you, Gabriella, or anyone? No. He would do whatever to get what he wants."

"Do you think he'll be a threat to us?"

"I sensed some things I haven't before with him." Colin said.

"He was KGB," I said quietly. "I read with training, he could fool a Lie
Detector. KGB Agents could make you believe they were telling the truth."

Colin nodded and shrugged. "I don't know." He leaned in kissing me. "You
were smart to send his picture and information to everyone. He'll be less
likely to hit us anytime soon."

I nodded. "I hope so."

Colin grinned. "I love you."

"I know," I said kissing him again. "I love you."

Colin smiled. "I know."

We ended the night...well, it was practically sunup when we got back to our
house. We had told Eva we wouldn't be up for breakfast and to not worry
about making anything.

Sliding into bed that night, Colin pulled me close, resting his head
against mine. He smiled as he let out a breath. "This evening was..." he
didn't say anything for a few seconds.

I chuckled. "Unexpected?"

Colin laughed. "It was that."

Looking in his emerald eyes, I kissed him gently. "Tonight was
interesting. I never thought someone could manage to keep his humanity and
become a threat to us."

Colin shrugged. "A vampire feeds, but the only requirement is the subject
being fed on has blood." He thought a moment. "It's when there is a choice
the vampire becomes picky. Deciding to feed on a human is the first
selection when there is the luxury of a choice. Then the choice becomes,
are they fit?" He shook his head. "The idea of stability mentally is not
even considered."

"Iilya is a holdover from an era that was full of paranoia." I sighed.

Colin smiled and chuckled lightly. "I think you were right when you said
that other than distrust, we have a tendency to fixate on a subject."

I nodded. "I'm guilty."

Colin looked surprised. "You are?"

"But I was that way before I was turned." I smiled. "I fixated on you."

Colin smiled at that and kissed me. "That, I think, is okay." He shrugged
again. "I'm fixated on you, so, we're even."


If Eva and Greta were suspicious about us, we were gone mostly at night and
they didn't say anything about it. We patrolled the next night.

Gabriella frowned. "I'm feeling quite odd about this village." She
commented to no one and anyone.

Alex looked puzzled at her. "Why?"

"I hadn't read Dracula until I knew we were coming here." She said. "I got
the book when I knew and..." she chuckled, "...I began to think of this
village as vampire central."

"So, what's odd?" I asked.

"I just thought there were traces of vampires all around." She sniffed the
cool, but pleasant summer air of the evening. "I'm barely picking up on
even the slightest trace of any vampire."

"They could have been scared into hiding when Iilya came after them," Colin
said and then grinned. "As if they didn't trust enough as it is, they were
more careful."

Gabriella nodded. "I'm just not sensing much."

"Perhaps they are mostly in the outlying rural areas?" I suggested. "Those
that would prey on humans would be detected. Those like Alin that prey on
cows wouldn't."

Amasis, who almost never spoke up about too much, cleared his
throat. "Sorry, but...you're forgetting about the god aspect."

Alex frowned. "God aspect? We don't worship vampires."

Amasis smiled. "Don't you? Other than the God you chose to worship. This
Jesus Christ or another Holy Man...Since I've come out in this world, it
seems to me that you do." He smiled. "Devon showed me various movies about
Dracula and various themed movies after that. There were many other movies
and even performances on a weekly schedule that seemed to idolize
vampires. I've seen a lot of writings about the subject. This...Anne Rice,
Stephen King. There were movies, The Twilight Sagas..." he chuckled. "I
admit I liked the Buffy, The Vampire Slayer movie and series. There is a
lot of literature about us. A lot of it seems like worship to me." He
shrugged. "My point is...when there is a vampire in the community, family
or just one you know of...they are treated differently than other people. I
was. Why? Because I didn't die?" He shrugged again. "With people to help
them, they may not need to hunt." He looked at Wayne. "There were vampires
like you were. Alone, with no help. You hunted as needed. These vampires in
this village may not have to."

George nodded. "That's a sort of prison."

"It is." Colin agreed. "We need to work hard here. Get them some freedom."

"And we'll start with Alin." I said smiling.


That next afternoon we told Eva.

"There will be a young man coming to the house," George told her. "I am a
doctor. He is seeking treatment for a condition I have successfully treated
in the past."

Eva nodded. "So, you're not here for this...translation program?"

"I'm here because I invested in it," George explained. "I own part of that,
but I was first and foremost a doctor. There is a young man that will be
staying here about a week for treatment for what is known as Polymorphic
Light Eruption. That is a kind of sensitivity to sunlight."

Eva's eyes narrowed. "He can't take sunlight?"

"He burns if exposed," George said. "Colin had that. I treated him and he's
been cured. I want to do the same for Alin." George watched as she did not
look convinced about something. "That's his name. He will be coming either
tonight or tomorrow night." He looked at her. "Is there something troubling
you about this?" George pulled his wallet out and presented her with his
American Medical Association card. "I am a certified doctor."

Eva nodded and waved his card off. "I'm sure. It's just..." she
hesitated. "That's an unusual ailment."

George nodded. "But it is a real illness. I can treat him." He looked at
her still suspicious face. "I need a room the first couple of nights that
has little to no sunlight. Is there such a room here?"

Eva nodded. "There is a storage room in the basement. No sunlight there
comes in at all."

George nodded. "That's where we'll set up, then."


Alin couldn't wait to start his treatment and showed up that night. It was
only an hour after sunset he arrived.

Colin opened the front door to him and his eyes opened wider. "Wow, you're
in a hurry."

Alin nodded. "Yes, I am."

I was right behind Colin and I pointed to Alin. "We can see that." I
pointed to my own face and smiled. "You still have a little..."

Alin looked surprised and reached in his pocket for something to wipe the
corner of his mouth where a minor portion of blood was still there and
coagulated. "Oops. Sorry, I sort of ate and ran." He chuckled. "I think I
even surprised the cow at how fast I ate."

Colin smiled. "Those days for you are about to end." He waved him in.

I smiled as he cleaned up more. "Okay, how is it you speak English so
well?" I was curious!

Alin frowned but nodded. "Well, English is spoken pretty worldwide, but..."
he said sadly. "I was with a girl for twenty years in..." he shrugged,
"...sort of a relationship." He smiled sadly. "Her name was Linda. She was
one of those...Peace Corp; save the world types. She was from America that
came here after the communist government fell apart. She was in her late
twenties when we were together, but..." he waved at his face. "...this was
a problem. She aged. I did not." He shrugged. "I told her I didn't care,
but...she did."

I nodded. "I'm sorry."

He nodded. "It's okay. She was the one that taught me to speak English so
well." And then he brightened. "Once I'm on this medication, I can travel,
right?"

Colin nodded. "Sure, but you need a passport."

Alin nodded. "Maybe I can visit her! I'd love to surprise her. The passport
issue...I don't know."

"We usually work something out." I nodded. "You could, but you still won't
age. She will have moved on."

Alin shrugged. "Maybe she'd visit me. I should call her." He smiled. "I
still have her number."

We took him through the kitchen to the door that led downstairs to the
basement.

"Eva, this..." Colin began to introduce Alin. Eva was there cleaning up our
dinner dishes and turned as we walked in. She saw Alin and screamed
dropping the dish she had in her hand.  "Vámpír, egy
vámpír!" She said in horror as she saw Alin.

I didn't need the translator to know what she said. I hurried to her to
stop her from running away. "It's okay, Eva."

She shook her head. "Nem is beteg. Ő is egy
vámpír. Dobjátok!"

I did need the translator for that. In Hungarian she said: He's not
sick. He is a vampire. Throw him out! "Calm down," I said firmly. "We know
he's a vampire."

She looked at me in shock. "You know!? And you let him in!" She said. "You
invited him in!!"

"Eva!" Colin said loud. "We did invite him. Those old tales about inviting
a vampire in are just a story. We can treat him. He won't attack you or
anyone."

I frowned. "You recognized him as a vampire. How?"

"The eyes. I've seen it before." Eva said as she started to cry. "It was
one of them that killed my Marin!"

I nodded. "Marin?"

"My husband," Eva said still fixed her eyes on Alin.

"So, you recognize them," I said softly. "But you don't recognize anything
in us?"

She looked at us not sure she was understanding me. "I don't recognize you
as a vampire?" She shook her head. "But you're not vampires."

"Yes, Eva," Colin said. "We are."

Then it was again with the explanation about how we could eat and go in the
sun.

"Now..." I sighed as we finally got her calmed down. "...that's really why
we're here. We're doing the translators, but he's really why we're here. To
treat those here that are vampires, like us." I pointed at Alin. "Did he
attack your husband?"

She shook her head. "No, he was a bigger...vampire."

"Alin is here because he wants to be cured. We can't do that yet, but we
can stop his hunger and need to feed on blood." Colin explained.

George came up from the basement. "I was wondering if..." he looked at Eva
and saw her tear-stained face. "Is there a problem?" He looked at Alin.

I shook my head. "She recognized him as a vampire." I waved at Alin as I
took her toward the salon to get her to sit down.

Alin moved forward, which made Eva withdraw in terror, so he stopped. "I
didn't kill anyone. I never have. I mean you no harm. Believe me."

Eva looked at Colin and me. "You were both vampires?"

George smiled tightly. "We all were."

I grinned. "Except Shelly, Chuck, Mark, and Stan. They are still human."

Colin waved Alin toward George. "We're wasting the night. Can you start
without us?"

George grinned and tried not to look offended. "I have many times with and
without you." He waved at Alin. "Let's go." And they went down the stairs.

We sat down as she caught her breath and composure. Colin sat on her other
side.

"Now that our secret is out..." Colin said. "It's time to be completely
honest. How widespread is the knowledge of vampires in Sighisoara?"

She waved her head in a sort of shrug. "Everyone here pretty well knows
about vampires. This is where this began."

I shook my head. "No, it isn't," I said. "You became famous for it because
of Dracula and Vlad Dracul. We pretty much know the vampire began in North
Africa. There were vampires that were...created...around Egypt and various
villages in the Middle East about ten thousand years ago."

She looked at us. "You think so?"

"We know so. We've seen some evidence." I said. "There were vampires that
were sent out from there to weaken the people to get them ready for
conquest. There are a few types of vampire."

"But many here believe in vampires?" Colin asked.

Eva nodded. "I think the minority would be the ones that don't." She
sighed. "We don't talk about it openly. It's pretty much a thing we all
know, but don't talk about." She smiled. "That's why we're so cautious when
they talk about Dracula and vampires here."

"What do you know about the vampires here?" Colin asked.

She shook her head. "Not much. They keep to themselves mostly."

"Do you know any personally?" I asked.

She shook her head. "No." Then she looked at me. "Until now."

"There is a hierarchy of vampires in control," Colin said. "Have you heard
about any vampire that has control?"

"No."

I nodded and took her hand. "That's okay. We want to change things; for us
and for you. If we get the vampires here on our serum, they won't feed off
of people and livestock anymore."

Colin nodded and got up and went to our bedroom and returned with a
tablet. He pulled up the image we had of Wayne's drawing of an Old
One. "Have you seen one of these?" He said showing her the image.

She looked and shook her head. "That's a vampire? He looks...alien!"

I nodded. "Doesn't he?" I chuckled. "That...we believe was the first of the
vampires. They are the start of this whole vampire...thing."

Eva grudgingly nodded. "I think I'd remember seeing one of them."

Colin smiled and sat again. "I will promise you, in a few days' time...that
young man...Alin will look a lot different."

I chuckled. "He may become a big eater like Colin and Amasis."

"In a couple of days, we will begin feeding him food again. Think of
something bland that he will try, but by the end of a week, he'll love food
like anyone else."


I won't bore you with what you know by now. We came down to see George
insert the needle in Alin's heart through a bare chest and the pain
began. He endured the pain as his heart started again and fell asleep. He
woke and realized, to his delighted surprise, he wasn't hungry at all for
blood. The next night was the same. The third day he ate a little and loved
it. He enjoyed the sunrise for the first time in thirty years. When he had
gotten to the point he had the needed serum drug level in his blood, George
made a disc and inserted it into his arm. Alin was a nice-looking man!
Aren't we all?

We led him from the bedroom he was now staying in, for now, that moment. He
was completely different now.

Eva looked up from her cooking and smiled at Alin. "I would never guess
now."

"It's so nice to eat again." Alin chuckled. "But I do miss a few cows."

"Okay, that's a little creepy." I smiled.

"I'm a vampire." Alin shrugged and chuckled. "We're supposed to be creepy."

Colin nodded. "Go show Christian. We really need to speak with him."

Alin nodded. "I can go now!" He waved at the bright sunlit sky. "I'm used
to navigating in the dark. I hope I can find my way."


It was a couple of days before Alin showed up again. We did the patrols and
searched the area. We even saw some sites. When we got back one afternoon,
we saw that Alin waiting for us.

He stood as we gathered around. "He wants to see you." He said to us. "But
only Colin and George." He said.

"I don't go without Devon," Colin said.

He nodded with a smile. "I told him that." He looked at George. "And you
won't go without Burke?"

George nodded. "That's right."

Alin nodded. "He'll just have to deal with it." He shrugged. "I can take
you now if you like."

Colin nodded. "We would." He said and spoke in a whisper to Stan who just
nodded. He got a translator and a solar power charger. I knew Colin had
said to track us with our implanted personal data trackers. Colin waved at
the door. "Let's go. We can take our vehicle."

"That isn't necessary," Alin said smiling. "It's not that far."

Colin looked surprised. "Really?"

Alin nodded. "A couple of hours on foot at best through the woods."


We arrived at some ruins. There were many castles and fortresses scattered
throughout Europe. This area was often in a dispute about something. The
wooded area surrounding Sighisoara was thick with vegetation. It was hilly
and often rocky, but we arrived at what looked like what had been one of
those fortresses but falling apart due to neglect and age. He led us to an
entrance that was...not more than a crack in the rocky side of a hill and
below this fortress. Once we traveled a little ways in, like it was in
Egypt, it became stairs which we found widened and leveled off. Unlike
Egypt, the rock here was not like the color of sand, but dark earth and
rock. Alin knew this way through winding tunnels and turned corners without
considering where he was going. He just knew. At last, he came to a room,
but it unlike Amasis' large throne room with the high ceiling or polished
floors. This had a stone floor, a nice decorative rug on the floor. There
was a fireplace that had no fire now. I was reminded more of a home in
England. The walls had wood paneling and there was a sofa facing the
fireplace. A few chairs were about the room. There was a bookshelf of
books. This looked like a den or study, library? It could have been a room
in a nicely furnished home in Europe, if you went back a hundred or more
years. What I noticed then was a man sitting in a high-backed comfortable
chair reading. He was dressed in one of those jackets that gentlemen wore
to relax in a home like this. He looked up; he was holding a glass of
something...it had to be blood. He was a vampire! But blood served in one
of those Brandy...what did they call them? Snifters? He even held it like
it was Brandy or something in one hand as he read. He was in his early
forties, dark hair and he was a man, and I will say it this; beards will
age a man. Cut them off, a man can shed not only hair from his face, but
sometimes a whole decade can be literally shaved off! He had a dark, black
trimmed beard and he looked pretty good! His black hair was a little longer
than I would have liked on me, or Colin. It touched the collar of that
fancy jacket he wore, but he was a nice-looking man. I think we were to see
that he was cultured by the way he was dressed and sitting properly. He
looked up at us, and yes, he had the eyes of a vampire. He put his glass
down, closed his book, and rose. "Welcome to my home, gentlemen." He
greeted in a friendly, but again, accented with Romanian flection and
enunciation. "I am Christian."

Colin nodded as he stepped forward toward the man. "I am Colin Wentworth."
He waved at me. "My husband, Devon Wentworth." He motioned to George. "This
Dr. George Holms and this is John Burke." Then he looked at Christian.

"It is a pleasure to have you here," Christian said graciously. "What you
did, both with Iilya and with Alin was pretty impressive." He came over and
put an arm around Alin's shoulder. "Especially with Alin." Then he looked
at Colin. "But he informed me you have another question for me."

Colin nodded. "We do."

I looked at the man. "Are you Dracula?"

The man's expression didn't waver. He merely smiled pleasantly and
nodded. "I am Dracula."

I don't know what I expected, but not this. Apparently, neither did
Colin. Colin just looked at this man and said in English. "Bullshit."

Next: Confirming other Demons