Author's Note: This story follows along the story of Fighting Evil, although it is not in perfect harmony with it. To read the full story here is the link: class=MsoNormal align=center 'text-align:center'>
We believe in
one God, the Father the Almighty,
maker of Heaven and of earth. Of all
that is seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten
by the Father.
God from God, light from light, true God from true God.
Begotten not made, one in being with the Father, and through Him all things
were made.
For us men, and for our salvation, He came down from Heaven.
By the power of the Holy Spirit He was born of the Virgin Mary, and became a
man.
And for our sake He was crucified under Pontius Pilate.
He suffered and died and was buried.
But on the third day he rose again, in fulfillment of the Scriptures.
He ascended into Heaven, and is seating at the right hand of Father.
He will come again to judge the living and the dead, and His kingdom will have
no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father [and the Son],
with the Father and the Son, He is worshipped and glorified.
He has spoken through the prophets.
We believe in one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come.
Amen-
Nicene Creed (325 AD)
In early 1803, a little over six years after the destruction of Castle Dracula, Maria roused me from my sleep and literally dragged me out the grave. She still looked as gorgeous as she did the first time I saw her inside the Castle, and she told me that there might indeed be a way to free me from the vampire's curse. She told me about an ancient Christian blessing that according to tradition could cleanse a person from his or her vampiric state, and this leads into my understanding of religion.
I believe that there is indeed a God, or what might be called a 'higher power.' I based this belief on how my father would react to anything Christian, but my father had a different twist on it than compared to what is taught by the Christian Church.
Father always taught me how God was nothing more than a lie. Not a lie in that He did not exist, but that He was not the 'all loving' God that Christians made Him out to be. I did not completely prescribe to this theology based upon my understanding of Jesus from my mother. My mother was brought up in the Orthodox Church—which is the dominate Church in our country—although Catholics are a significant minority. My mother taught me the story about Jesus' birth, about how He—in the form of God—came down to earth by being born of a virgin woman to save humankind from its sins. After the incident with my mother's parents she always told me never to hate humans, because sometimes they could not help being what they are. Based on her philosophy I could not hate God, as my father did, because I was taught the traditional Christian teaching about God being born into the world of men.
When Father and I did occasionally discuss religion I did ask him a few times if other gods existed. Father said that he really did not know, and I feel the same way; but I do have to wonder something on the subject about the possibility of other gods. When my father saw or heard anything Christian it affected him in some particular way. For example, if a priest said to Father, 'In the name of Jesus Christ I command you to be gone!' it would affect him by either turning him away in fear, or making him become very angry. But what if someone were to use the same rhetoric, and instead use the name 'Zeus' over Jesus, what would happen? My brother-in-law would tell me that nothing would happen because Zeus does not exist, but then again he is a Christian priest. Truly I do not know the answer, but I do know that Father would occasionally talk about Zeus and the other gods of old in probably the same manner that they are taught in any major university that teaches mythology. It never affected him; but then again he could talk about Judeo-Christian stories if he wanted to as well, although he detested them.
The other day before my children went to bed I told them a fairy tale that my mother told me long ago about St. Joseph, the foster father of Jesus. After we laid Lysander and Alcander down to sleep Maria asked me how my mother could have read such a story to me given the temperament of my father? Well, when I was young Mother always told me that it would best if I did not talk about this story around Father; but I am just like my own two sons and did so anyway. Father, of course, did become upset and demanded that Mother never tell that story again to me. Mother did so until I asked her to tell me the story about St. Joseph again. At first she refused, but relented when I told her that I would not tell Father.
Although my father denounced Christianity in 1462 he actually converted to Catholicism one year later, but he did not do so because he decided to reform his ways (other wise there never would have been a vampire Dracula). Father's conversion was purely political.
After Father denounced Christianity he lost the throne of Wallachia, and was forced to go into hiding. He found safety in Hungary, and threw himself on the mercy of his cousin Stephen, the Hungarian king. Although unfortunately for Father he found himself more as a political prisoner than as a family member in hiding, but Stephen's decision was not based on Father renouncing Christianity. In fact, it is quite doubtful that Stephen even knew anything about what happened to my father regarding Christianity.
Hungary, unlike what would eventually become Romania, was a predominately Catholic country. Stephen agreed to help Father regain his throne, but under one condition. Father had to marry one of Stephen's daughters. I do not know how pretty this daughter of Stephen's was, but Father was willing to do anything to regain his throne, so he agreed to marry the King's daughter. However, Stephen wanted the marriage to take place within the Catholic Church, and he wanted Father to convert to Catholicism (which honestly is not much different from Orthodoxy). Father honestly could have cared less about any of this, so he converted to the Catholic faith so he could achieve the army that he needed to regain his throne.
At any rate, I agreed to follow Maria to her brother-in-law, Father Richter Belmont's estate, but I did not tell her whether or not I was willing to go through and receive this blessing. But on the journey to Richter Belmont's home I started to become more attached to Maria. I was always attracted to her physically ever since the moment we met inside the Castle, but now the attraction was becoming something more. I told Maria my birth name, Adrian, and asked her to address me as that from now on. Still I was reluctant to receive the blessing for a couple of reasons.
The first was that although I regarded my vampiric powers as a 'curse' they could sometimes be a blessing as well. If I were to receive this blessing more than likely I would have to give up those powers that can honestly be quite useful.
The second was the threat of mortality. The vampiric blood in my body gave me unnatural long life. Nobody enjoys the thought of death, but at the same time that is exactly what I would be expecting if I were to receive this blessing. Of course, at the same time, I was devoted to Maria; and if I did not receive this blessing there would be a period in my lifetime when Maria would leave me, and I did not want to think about that.
Finally, I wondered how would my body react to such a change. When I was born, I was born with a unique gift where my body absorbed all the food and drink that it consumed without the need to remove waste. If I was to receive this blessing that gift would probably be gone as well, and I was uncertain as to how my body would react. Would it simply digest food naturally, or would I have to be stuck having to wear a diaper like my two-year-old?
All of these factors were in my mind regarding the blessing, but eventually I decided to go through with it and receive it, thanks indirectly to a very small factor.
The day before I decided to receive this blessing Maria and I stayed the evening at the Belmont residence and I became aquatinted with Richter and Annette's young son, Christian. Christian was only three at the time, but he was already blessed with some of the physical features of his ancestors (his dark eyes and hair). I watched Christian play in his family's backyard, and I began to think to myself for the first time how I would not mind having a son like Christian with Maria. However, I did not want to have a son or daughter born with the same curse that I received at birth. The only way that I could have a child who was not born with this curse was to receive this blessing. Indirectly, it was young Christian Simon Belmont who influenced my decision to receive the blessing.
After I told Richter and Maria that I would agree to go through with the blessing ritual I was taken inside the Belmonts' family chapel that was dedicated to the Christian saint, St. George. This was the first time that I had ever been inside a church and I did not know what to expect. I took a moment to observe the church's interior. There was an altar, and a large crucifix behind it. Right below the crucifix there was a small box called a tabernacle, which houses the consecrated Host. Next to the altar was a small baptismal font, and along the walls there was a large portrait of Jesus Christ and two stained glass images of saints. One saint was the Virgin Mary, and the other was of St. George, who was depicted slaying a dragon.
(Richter told me years later that he dedicated his chapel to St. George, because George was always depicted as slaying a dragon that represents The Devil. The Belmont family slays another devil, Dracula, so it was just a perfect match for him.)
I mentioned earlier that when my grandfather hit me over the head with a large cross that it did not hurt me, but that it would hurt if someone with a tremendous force struck me on the head with one; but while Richter was performing the Christian blessing on me, the crucifix in his hand began to bother me. So did the crosses on his vestments. And the holy water he sprinkled burned my skin like acid. I assume that when Richter was asking God to exorcise the vampire's blood out of my body I began to feel the effects of its curse, and the fact that I was in a church did not make the situation any easier. I felt that while I was inside that building that some force was beginning to close in on me.
The blessing went on for a few hours, but it felt like days to me. My body was in absolute pain, crying out for Richter to stop, but I was not going to let him stop. I had made the choice, and I was going to stand by it and see it through.
Near the end of the blessing, the church began to feel a little bit more peaceful. I could look at Richter's crucifix without the slightest hint of fear. And the holy water splashing off my skin did not bother me at all. The blessing finally concluded after I grabbed Richter's whip and held it high in the air. I held the blessed object up for a few minutes before dropping it to the floor. No scar was imprinted into my hand. I was free from the vampire's curse!
Although my body was now free I still felt very weak. I felt like how a drunk feels after he throws up. I wanted to return to my coffin for a while. I wanted to sleep my body back to normal. Maria was against the idea, but I told her that I needed just one month to recover. Reluctantly she agreed, but warned me that one month later, in March, that she would drag me out of that coffin whether I wanted to leave or not!