She paced through the museum late at night, a museum of the Smithsonian Institute, The Museum of Natural History; she worked here. Her name was Marie Von Krolock, the descendant of a brilliant man who had mysteriously vanished. His name, though in no history books, was chronicled, but some where in the early 17th century there were no records of him. Poet, philosopher, scientist, the Count Heinrich Giovanni Von Krolock had once been a genius. But there were no records of what became of him, his body never seemed to have been found. She was pale, her hair raven, slightly wavy, flowed past her shoulders. She'd seen a portrait of the 13th Count, he who had vanished; she looked like him, save for her black hair. She kept her swept back from her forehead, revealing her widow's peak, kind of like Dracula's. Her ancestor's silvery mane met above his brow in a sort of more rounded widow's peak.
Marie bore the same eyes that had been passed onto all children descended from the Count's daughters: Olga, Tatiana, Anastasia, and his youngest, his beloved little Marie. There had been a son, heir to the title and wealth, as well as twins, a boy and a girl, but they too had vanished from family history. Eyes that were a pale, icy blue, the iris ringed by a deeper blue: the eyes of the 13th Count. She usually kept it tied back in a loose pony tail, though lately she kept it pulled back in a fashion similar to that of Legolas, from the Lord of the Rings movies. She often snuck in here during the night, well, not really snuck in as the night guard would let her in. But she would come during the night, not too late, some time after closing, when there were still other employees. When they would cleaning and getting ready to close, she'd wander the vast galleries and exhibits at her leisure, when it was empty of tourists. But if this was a museum of natural history, why was there a coffin in storage?
Yes, there was a coffin, not a sarcophagus like that which holds an Egyptian mummy, but an elegant coffin. So, what was it doing in a natural history museum, where everything was fossils, artifacts, geodes, the Hope Diamond, among other things? Marie reached out to touch it, finding it smooth, her fingers leaving streaks through the layer of dust. She nicked herself on a loose splinter, a drop of blood falling to the floor as she pulled away.
"Ouch!" she exclaimed, bringing her finger to her mouth, "Damn it…"
She turned and left, going through the museum at her leisure, staring at the Hope Diamond longer than anything else there. The infamous Hope Diamond, God it was beautiful, and this time of evening there were no crowds surrounding it. She just wished she could touch it, hold it; that was how she learned best, hands-on. She could sit and listen to someone teach, but she learned far better when she was actually in the field trying her hand at it, helping a professional.
Night fell, Marie left the museum, much as she didn't want to, leaving the museum dark and empty… or so she thought. The scent of fresh blood, even a small drop, was enough to wake a sleeping vampire. In this case, the smell woke what humanity saw as the most dangerous vampire in the world: the dreaded Count Dracula. The cover of his coffin slowly creaked open; he'd been asleep ever since that Van Helsing incident. Not to lie low, but it had hurt so much to lose Lucy; he'd gone after Mina for revenge, but that backfired. He emerged and knelt, swiping a finger through the drop of blood, smelling it, before licking it off his finger. He recognized the scent, it had been centuries since he last smelt it, but he knew it.
"Von Krolock…" he said the name aloud.
It was pure blood, sweet nectar he had only had so many times; a pure, innocent soul, a virgin, female. Her scent was still strong, leaving a trail that he followed through the streets of the American capital, feeding upon a few innocents that had the misfortune to cross his path. It'd been centuries since he last fed and he was famished…
Dracula reached the apartment building he'd followed her scent to; it wasn't terribly far from the museum, so she had walked the whole way, which only made it easier to find her. He peered through the window of her apartment at this lovely young woman who bore a surname he knew well. She even had those icy blue eyes… His expression softened as he gazed at her; she was the female version of a man he had long ago turned. The Count Von Krolock… her black hair the same as his had been and she had his eyes. She was so beautiful, so like Von Krolock's youngest child, Marie; he pity he hadn't been able to turn her. He smiled tenderly; it was love at first sight, rather than first bite as was normally the case with Dracula. He would take his time, make her fall in love with him before taking her using as little of his vampiric powers as possible.