Chapter 2

A single word could surmise the entirety of the keep: filthy. Through neglect over a century, it had become dusty and grey, however, its walls and foundations, the rooms stood strong. The many items some broken, some whole, still remained, unused, speaking the haunting tale of a past era of prosperity, and richness. Yet, it mattered very less. The crippling pain I felt in my heart, was immense, the feeling of losing a loved one, oh the misery!

However, I needed to move past it. I was aware, that there were many things I needed to do, and to do them, I needed expertise. The first thing I did, was bask in the sun. The body of Dracula, functioned just like an ordinary mortal, except, it required vitality to function. Anything else was not enough. Due to Dracula's mad frenzy, I had an immense treasure load of vitality. It was not very hard to identify, just a few moments of meditation, and I could identify my core. The core, I knew from the memories of Adoneous, that it was the representation of a living creature, the very essence of its existence, and powers, if it possess any. My core was that of Vitality, a pure, most unblemished vitality, that was the source of life in this Universe.

My analytical mind started to explore the applications of it. I had already improved my body to its peak, making myself look like a mixture of both Adoneous and Dracula, after all I needed to live upto my name. I had also made sure, that my strength and power was maintained, along with an athletic pleasing view for all. After all, what is a predator, if it cannot attract its prey?

Two days have passed. I have brought a hound from the nearest village. At first it was rageful and loud, but after me bearing my fangs, it had considerably calmed down. Good. Now I needed to observe what vitality could do to a living organism other than me. I injected a small amount of vitality in a clear drop, and fed it. Before approximately ten seconds, it bursted apart. Interesting, it seems such concentrated vitality was too much. I thus decided to furthur my experiments. Making sure to keep a log in a series of papers, I started to dilute the vitality and then feeding it to various animals, in fact, any animal I could get my hands on. There were cats, hawks, dogs. I had finally settled on blood as a substituent. It was quite lucky for me, that my blood type seemed to be O-, considering the fact that the RBCs lacked any antigen or antibodies. That was when I finally made a breakthrough.

A black cat, a part of a litter, that I had picked up from the outskirts of a village. It was the only survivor of its batch. Yet it was no longer normal. The size of an ordinary panther, it had dark fur, unblemished by a single mark. Its eyes, which were yellow, had turned red, and it seemed to have gained some form of higher consciousness. It seemed to slowly recognise my speech, and always seemed to follow me. It seemed as if it knew I was the one who gave him the gift. Interesting. I want to see how furthur it, no she progresses. Then again I suppose I should name her. Well, thoughts for later.

I have found out that non-living objects seemed to reject my vitality, unable to accept them. Thus I wanted to experiment with corpses. It was also time for me to feed. My body, although almost as strong as peak, had visibly aged, with white hair and wrinkles appearing on my body. Putting on a black cloak, I said to the cat,

"Keep the place safe."

With that, I jumped from the window, across the cliff.