For some time, I've had an inkling to write a vampire story in the NWZorroverse. Roughly based on both Bram Stoker's Dracula and the movie of the same title, I'm re-imagining the tale with our favorite characters reincarnated in the principal roles with the notable exception of the vampire himself. This is AU, M rating for violence, sex, et all.
Alois
London 1897
Diego Vega's journal.
7 August.
I do not know where to begin to write of this day. In the early hours of the morning, I was summoned to offices at the firm. Mr. Hawkins, my immediate superior, informed me of the tragic fate of Jamie Mendoza. The man fell mad following his return from the distant lands of the Transylvanian region and resides now within the lunatic asylum at Carfax.
Thus sadly affected, he shall be unable to continue his ministrations in service to our great client, Prince Alois of said region. Henceforth, and even as the junior member within our firm, I inherit the remainder of his obligations. It is a great opportunity, though I am saddened it should come at so dear a cost. I am to leave at early morrow and all that remains now is to tell my poor Victoria the our wedding must once again be delayed. I hope and pray that the deferment shall be a brief one.
Victoria Escalante's journal.
8 August.
I have just come from the station and find it hard to write this as my eyes are heavy with tears. My dear Diego is parted from me again. He journeys now to a wild and distant land at the foot of the Carpathians as I linger at Hillingham, aching with sadness and dread.
Felippe hovers at my side, his handkerchief deployed at reparations for I fear I have ruined my dress and papers. He is so kind, and although he is not my brother in the sharing of our blood, I cannot imagine a warmer or fonder regard than is my daily receipt. Having dried my tears, he even now engages in amusing rhetoric and comic lampoon to drive away my ill feelings, and in truth, he has made me laugh.
So much of misfortune has touched me that I still have no trust for easy moments. I seem to fancy that they shall be snatched from me and held far from my reach even as my dear Diego has been, but constant and true Felippe is now so whimsically gesturing as to drive even these dark moods from my breast.
It is true what has been said of the harshest of times, for as joy is fleeting, so too, will this pass.
Dr. Ignacio De Soto's Diary.
9 August
In all my years in the practice of medicine, never have I known so confounding a case. Jamie Mendoza, educated man and respected solicitor, suffers a full and utter loss of faculties upon returning from business abroad.
It is true that the measures of stresses weigh heavily upon the minds of prominent men. Many are subject to fits of exhaustion, and even to fevers of the brain, yet never have I been disposed to confine such a man within gags and jacket to ward off the ravages of assaults by manner of bite.
His character itself is befuddlement, for he passes periods of almost serene calm, and reason, wherein he is given to great grief at the pains he has caused and falls to most wrenching prayers and weeping. At a seconds passing, he might then shriek and fall upon our staffs in a fearful gnawing, intent to bring forth blood. Within these lapses, his wild and widened eyes seek out the window glasses and he gives utterance but to a single word, which I have learned in the Spanish tongue, is a title.
How profound is this mystery that I cannot begin to fathom its cause. I must stop writing now, for the poor soul has fallen again to fit. I shall administer a concoction of morphia and give note to its effect.