The Huntsman's Purpose.

December 31st 1829

-Huntsman Guild of Great Britain.

Personal Journal of Leon Wagner.

First Entry.

Its hard to believe we will be leaving out in the world tomorrow. Our time has come at last!

It seemed so long ago since I came here. But those days are dead and gone. This is my home now. And this is my family. And while I have chosen to reminisce and record about my past one final time in this journal. I will never look back again. There is only the future and the hunt that awaits me.

In the rising years of my childhood. I was wanting nothing more than a grand adventure just like this one for which I am about to embark. But still, it is fascinating to think of how so much can change in a single lifetime so quickly. A regret that if only I had known sooner, I would not have taken so much I held dear for granted in my early years.

My upbringing was that of a small community in eastern Prussia, surrounded by vast dark forests and green meadows that stretched far and wide across the secluded valley beyond our humble cottage. A peaceful life. A boring life. I almost wish I could go back to it knowing how things turned out in the end. I remember fondly the tale's my mother told me to ease my anxious mind into slumber in order to escape the secluded, hard life our family knew. Tale's of dashing knight's who heroically vanquished deadly dragons that threatened all people who were just and innocent. Champions whose deeds were rewarded and remembered for all time. These were the heroes of my youth. And I longed to be just like them.

How amusing. The optimism and fantasies of a child. By reading such stories I soon began to dream of becoming a legend greater than even the great king Arthur or Beowulf of old. I was left wanting fame and riches to appease my endless childish wishes. Only after my great hardship did my view of what made a true hero become unclouded by pride and the foolish thirst for adventure that had grown deep inside me.

My family was caught right in the crossfire of Emperor Napoleon's war with all of Europe. And after his victory over the Russians in the spring of 1813 all thought was lost. However our true enemy had been lying in wait throughout the conflict. Licking his lips and biding his time while we bickered and fought our fellow man like greedy wolves over a slab of meat. I am confident I need not explain who this monster is. For his name has become legend.

The fiend Count Dracula.

The immortal lord had long been watching the affairs of Europe from his home in Transylvania, seeing the chaotic continent as nothing more than a ripe prize that had prepared itself just for his taking. And once all of his enemies had become weakened from their own internal petty conflicts and desires for personal conquest. He felt at last the time was right to indulge in his twisted ambitions after waiting for centuries in seclusion.

He and his four wives led their crusade at the forefront of their Vampiric war that engulfed all of Europe. Not since the Black death has this great continent known such death and misery in a fight for life itself.

Soon all of Eastern Europe had fallen to the everlasting shadow of the vampire's scourge. The surviving Western nations of The British Isle's, Spanish and French Empire's united against a common enemy. But even an alliance between the age old rivals could not hope to halt the inevitable advance of Dracula and his legions of the turned undead. For the old count was never the kind to leave any victim behind if it could be awoken from the peace of their afterlife to serve in infecting his unholy disease upon others.

My parents were among those victims. My brave kind sister Lena was among those victims. Giving her life in exchange for mine as we fled together through the countryside as orphans. We were caught in the middle of yet another war. Only this time over the fate of humanity itself. With my beloved family now being reduced to nothing more than starved warriors in his vast horde, I fled terrified and aimless. I knew not where, or even If I could make it. I just kept running. And never looked back. For I knew thousands of glowing red eyes would be the last thing I saw If I did.

It was then as I hid under a bridge in the dark of night, hiding from ravenous creatures that resembled my family sniffing the air for my own blood, that I met a pair of huntsman for the first time in my most desperate hour. They killed my family in order to save me, a pain that still haunts me to this day, but there was nothing left of who they were in their previous life for me to love again.

As I looked upon these two modern knights in shining armor standing above me in the rain under the light of the full moon, at last I was no longer afraid. Nor have I been since. My dear Master Archevald Winters and Dr. Abraham Van Helsing. They were magnificent.

One, a true monster hunter trained from birth to exterminate such vermin who threatened our very survival as a species. The other a kind and caring man of science who would stop at nothing to combat such evil with sheer knowledge and determination. They saved me when I was lost in the greatest time of despair in my life. And I swore I would repay such kindness and fearless dedication they displayed in saving all that was good in humanity and in me. On that day I made the promise that I would live and die for them. And that I would make the monsters pay.

I immediately volunteered to fight beside them, not knowing the risk and dangers' I couldn't possibly have imagined or prepared for on my own. Of course they refused but Archevald told me that there was a time and place for vengeance. And mine would come soon. But only if I remained among the living long enough to do so.

I was heartbroken. I felt I needed to prove myself and make the vampire's pay for what they had done. I was vengeful. I was filled with hate. But there was nothing a malnourished boy of ten could hope to accomplish. As the war began to worsen for humanity. I could only act as nothing more than a mere witness.

With the end near. They and their hundreds of other huntsman from around the globe aided the desperate army in helping me and any other survivors escape the onslaught of the dead, either across the English channel or deep into France's borders.

Millions died in the fighting. And thousands of brave huntsman stayed behind to stop the monsters advance in the battle of bloody tears. A sacrifice that shall never be forgotten by those who are good enough to even bother remembering. But even so it seemed that Count Dracula and his horde might finally claim all of Europe for himself. And perhaps even the entire world might have been next.

But when all hoped seemed lost. A so called hero emerged. A man of science and discovery. Whose mind was as determined as it was devoid of all regard for ethics and caution.

A man by the name of Victor Frankenstein.

This lone pioneer of knowledge had discovered the secret to reanimating life itself. And he alone could control those he returned to the land of the living to serve any purpose he saw fit. With his new creation's made from the remains of slain soldiers and volunteers, his army of flesh knights were unveiled to the world in our most desperate hour of need for one final battle.

A triumph that is as legendary as it is infamous.

These golems of bone and muscle were devoid of all fear, and more importantly all blood. They could not be turned by the vampires venomous fangs and fought with such determination and obedience that it made even the dreaded Count Dracula fearful for the first time in his eternal life. With the combined efforts of the quickly growing army of Victor Frankenstein, the last of the British, Spanish, and French army, as well as any of the surviving huntsman still in service. The king of Transylvanian's day's were at last numbered.

The old coward fled back to his homeland in shame where he was soon betrayed, tracked down, and slain by Abraham Van Helsing! The hero known for all time as the man who killed Dracula! The old count's loyal wives soon went into hiding out of fear and the remnants of the monster's controlled victims either vanished into the shadows or were laid to rest at last. It was finally over.

With the threat now passed after four long years of darkness that had swept across the region. Europe was left licking its wounds in an era of hard fought peace. Archevald continued in hunting monsters. Helsing returned to his practice of medicine and science, uninterested in the praise and glory he had obtained. And I joined the Huntsman Guild of Great Britain as soon as I set foot on the shores of east London. However some indulged in their success far beyond reason or caution should have permitted.

Victor Frankenstinen became known as the man who had singlehandedly saved all of Europe and perhaps the entire world. I think he is deserving of far too much of the credit. He is egotistical and arrogant as any man could ever be. He may have helped end the war, but that does not make him any less corrupt and vile than the creatures he has created, who even now roam throughout the city streets in growing numbers as a rising police force.

Through his profits obtained from these valued creations, he has quickly become the wealthiest induvial in the entire world. Especially thanks to his patented formula for the secret of life, which he has kept well guarded from jealous competitors under lock and key. Now if any wish to either raise an invincible army, see their loved one again, or simply desire a permeant loyal companion. He was the only man to make their dream a reality. Provided the pay was good of course.

With the calm of peace now felt throughout the ruined continent, many are left to wonder of their place in this changing era of industry and progress. With remarkable mechanical marvels and methods of science being created faster than we could never have imagined. However many ways of the past are being left behind in favor of the advancement of the new. And it is with a heavy heart that I must inform of one group of brave individuals which is now becoming left behind as well in the changing times. It was this very order that had saved so many lives all those years ago. A fact that so many have seemed to quickly forget.

But I will never forget.

I did not regret joining the huntsman guild of Brittan as it began to decline in membership. For I wholeheartedly believed in their just cause and have dedicated my life to serving these men and women in protecting the innocent just as they had done for me. The huntsman's existence in the modern era is being questioned every day even as a write, but still I remain loyal.

The world and its people have turned their back on them ungratefully and without compassion, losing sight of all they have sacrificed for their wellbeing. But I will never abandon my brothers and sisters. No matter how few of us are left. So long as one survives. The hunt will never end. Now after twelve years of training I am ready to venture out into the world for my final trial along with my fellow initiates. It will be deadly. But I am not afraid.

I lie awake eagerly in the darkness of my bed as I write this paper in the final hour of candlelight. Our guild ceremony begins in the morning but first we must face our most deadly trial before we may call ourselves true huntsman of the night. My friends Noriko and Benjamin lie fast asleep in their bunks beside me, ready to confront whatever threat we must prove ourselves worthy of facing to our masters in the coming months.

Archevald and Van Hesling will be there. Along with all four of the other masters. I will not fail them. They have looked after me for all these years. Now It is my turn to return their kindness ten fold. I no longer desire the glory and wealth of my youth. For I know I will receive none of it in this line of work. We may be the final generation of Huntsman. But this does not dishearten my spirit. I am as joyous and determined as I've ever been throughout all my life. We are the defenders of the innocent whether they appreciate us or not. We do not care of riches and legacy. So long as we continue in our duties unimpeded by those who would wish to meddle in our affairs. I know I will be responsible for not only saving humanity from any future threat that dare emerge from the darkness, but also upholding the sanctity and continuation of this noble profession in its most perilous time in history from any who wish to disband us. Or destroy us.

I will not fail.

I will go into the dark willingly. Knowing full well of what awaits me there. I am not afraid. I am trained. I am ready. These creatures of the night will be reminded by my hand that their time in this world is over. Not ours. So help me god.