I woke up naked and starving in a dark room, I could still see as clear as day though. I was covered in a white sheet and had fresh cuts in a Y shape along my chest. My teeth ached as well. With my tongue, I checked them and found one of my fangs missing. I wasn’t worried about losing a tooth because I knew from the time Genghis Khan punched me in the face that it would grow back; Khan’s however did not. I got up and searched around for something to wear, but all I found was a lab coat like a chemist would wear. I threw it on and looked my body over. I was sure I had been shot I the heart, so I don’t know how I was still alive. I didn’t feel the bullet inside of me anymore. I picked up a medical tray and tried to look at my back. I saw a small scar, that had almost already faded away, about the size of a bullet. I noticed I was in some kind of morgue the men must have assumed I was dead after the autopsy. Honestly, I had no idea how I wasn’t. During an autopsy, all your organs are removed and studied, so I absolutely should have died. “Huh, maybe I really am immortal?” I said to myself quietly. I didn’t have to try hard to escape, they must have assumed, just like I did, that a shot to the heart and removal of my organs would have killed me. I strolled straight out of the building, much to the surprise of a shocked man wearing nurse’s clothes. He went down with a flick of my wrist, so I didn’t have to worry about him calling for help.

I tried to go home, but they left officers at my house, most likely they assumed I couldn’t have been working alone. I snuck into an apartment a few streets over, to an old friend’s house to steal some clothes. I waited in Marshal’s house for an hour before he arrived too the sight of me sitting on his chair, wearing his clothes. “Ahh! Man, what are you doing here?” He shouted.

“I needed some new clothes. Is it okay if I borrow these and a coat?” I asked him calmly. I never had to pretend with him, in fact he probably knew the real me better than anyone. He closed the door and turned on the lights. These newfangled lightbulbs really were amazing.

“Sure, that’s fine.” He looked over at me and said, “so that’s what you look like without a mask.” He stopped staring at my face long enough to ask, “I heard you died?”

“I might have… I don’t really know.” I explained.

“How did the job with those sex slavers go?” Suddenly remembering the job, I cursed myself under my breath for missing my chance.

“I was… otherwise occupied and was not able to intervene.” I told him.

“What could have been so important?” He asked in disbelief that I would have missed such an important night.

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“I was shot in the heart and dissected.” I said simply.

“Yeah… that would make me miss too…” He said hesitantly. “So, I know I like to make jokes about you being a vampire…. But how are you still alive?” He wondered.

“I have no earthly idea. I was sure that was going to kill me.” I replied.

“Well at least I know you aren’t a vampire.” He laughed in his gruff, breathy way.

“And how is that I wonder?” I said.

“Because here you stand, and I didn’t invite you in.” He laughed again.

“I admit Marshal… I didn’t just come for clothes.” I told him.

“What, you want to borrow some sugar too?” He asked with a smile. I couldn’t help but actually smile softly as well, but it left just as soon as it came.

“I came to say goodbye. I’ve been found out and need to leave.”

“When?” He asked.

“Tonight, after I eat.” I said.

“Eat? Shouldn’t you worry about food once you’re safe?” He questioned.

“I don’t know how long it will be before I get another chance, so I want to do one more good thing before I go. Have you found out the names of the people who bought those girls?” I asked him. His face showed that he understood.

“Are you actually…” He started to ask, but I cut him off.

“Does it matter? You already know the truth, you’ve known for a while, but convinced yourself it was impossible. You made jokes, poked fun, all to convince yourself that I was simply a mad man… and not a monster.” I said. The room was dead silent for a moment as he processed this revelation.

Finally, he said, “I have one name Alucard. One guy who bought six girls… Franklin Stein.” I left Marshal a key to my apartment and told him not to go back there for at least another year, and that everything inside was his. I also told him that he needed to keep my secret, to which he agreed. I made my way to an address that Marshal had given me, a place he thought Stein might be hiding. Apparently, he was a physician or scholar of some kind because it was an abandoned laboratory.

I arrived and even from the outside I could taste the fresh blood in the air. He had probably killed most of the girls by now. I walked into the building and found a horror show, body parts were strowed around, and blood covered the walls. I heard crying in the distance and found two young women huddled together in an animal cage in the dark. I set them free and led them to the outside. I asked them what had happened, but they spoke in a language I didn’t, so that was pointless. I pointed them in the direction of town and went back inside.

I found many things that would cause lesser men to flee. Organs in jars, rats feasting on severed and discarded limbs, and steel bars that had been bent from the inside. I didn’t hear anymore heartbeats from the lab and soon found out why, No one was left. I found the man that Marshal described, torn in half and long dead. In his hands was a book, more like a journal really, about his experiments in trying to revive his dead brother. He had tried grave robbing, but that quickly revealed to be unsuitable, so he started buying test subjects. I left the book with him as evidence for the police and wondered to myself what could have killed him. I didn’t stay long just in case the police showed up. Instead, I went on my way for the night.

I spent the rest of the night hunting the old-fashioned way, in dark alleys and abandoned streets. The sun rose and I hid onboard a ship setting sail for Europe.