We had been riding along the muddy dirt path and into the town of Transylvania from which I had received a letter. In the letter I was told to meet with a man named Abraham Van Helsing in the local pub. Watson and I stepped inside the pub, which smelled of liquor, tobacco spit and cigar butts. We took our seats at an empty table and waited for the arrival Helsing. Not even five minutes passed and through the door walked in a man with long hair, a long brown coat and stubble upon his chin. He looked down at us and asked us...
"Are you Mr. Holmes and Mr. Watson?"
"We are." I answered.
"Then you must have received my letter."
"I did." I told him, showing the letter.
"I presume you are Mr. Helsing?" asked Watson.
"I am." nodded Helsing "If you two could please, follow me."
Watson and I stood from our hard wooden seats and followed Helsing out of the door. I have to admit I was sort of relieved we stay around that place for long. The smell was enough to knock the strongest of men out. Anyways, once we were outside Helsing had us hop into his personal carriage.
"So Helsing..." I start as he climbs into the carriage, planting himself in the leather seat "What is it that you called upon us for?"
"We're heading to a castle. A young woman named Mina Harker had gone there." Helsing explains as the carriage driver snaps reigns, taking us out of the town "She hasn't been seen since."
Helsing, after reaching his right hand into the left side of his coat, hands me a picture of young brunette woman, who looked as if she was in her mid thirties. I placed the photo in my coat pocket and began to ask Helsing a few more questions.
"So Helsing, what line of work are in?" I asked, taking out my pipe, pouring a little bit of pipe tobacco inside and lighting it.
"I'm a hunter, Mr. Holmes." answered Helsing, who seemed a tad unpleased with my question.
"A hunter?" asked Watson, who had a growing interest in the subject "What do hunt? Pheasant? Quail?"
"Not... exactly." answered Helsing "I hunt for things... that are much harder to catch."
"Such as... the supernatural?" I asked, resulting in Helsing giving me a look of amazement mixed with confusion.
"How did ever guess?" asked Helsing.
"He has a knack for this type of thing." Watson chimed in a chuckle.
"Well Mr. Holmes, you seem to be an observant one." said Helsing, crossing his arms and leaning back on his leather seat "Why don't you tell me more about myself."
"Alright then." I start, taking the pipe from lips and leaning forward "You're in your early sixties, you have a habit of carrying a flask of whiskey in your pocket, your aiming is accurate, you were married twice, the second time to a widow, you're a scholar, you appreciate art, but you would rather be in a pub drinking booze with rabble rousers, your father and mother died when you were very young, your favorite food is pressed duck, you prefer liquor over wine and your favorite color is purple."
The carriage got deathly quiet as leaned back onto my seat and placed the pipe back in my mouth. Both Watson and Helsing were quite astonished at my little guessing game. All of which I guessed right. Well, I might have gotten the favorite color wrong. It may not have been purple, but rather indigo or violet. So I corrected myself.
"Actually, that last one I got slightly wrong. Your favorite color is actually a toss up between indigo and violet."
"I'm impressed." laughed Helsing "It's no wonder you are renowned as the World's Greatest Detective."
"Please, let us worry more about the girl." I commanded "Wherever this castle is, once we arrive I will try to focus on finding her."
"I truly believe you will." said Helsing "But there is something you need to know about the castle."
"What is that?" I asked.
"It is quite haunted." started Helsing "I've been in there myself. There's constant knocking from inside the walls, bats on the ceiling, cobwebs in every corner, pictures tend to move, shadows of demonic creatures show up but are never around, and ghosts seem to haunt the mirrors."
"You're a hunter of the supernatural, why not be rid of these things if there are such things?" I asked.
"Because... and I never thought I'd ever say this... I need help. There are just some things in that castle that are beyond me figuring out." explained Helsing.
The rest of the ride to the castle was quiet. Something seemed... strange about this whole thing. But I knew better to ask questions. Once near the castle we all stepped out of the carriage. The ground quite soft beneath us. Very muddy, as if it had rained earlier before we got here. The castle was tall and black, almost hard to see at night. It looked like the kind of castles I would read about in books. Castles that housed kings, queens, knights, princesses. It was truly extraordinary. After wiping our feet we stepped into the main door and into a dark room with long winding staircase leading up to multiple doors. At the second set of stairs stood a rather young fellow wearing a red cloth. He stared down at us and spoke.
"Welcome everyone. Please make yourselves at home as I come down."
And so we did. We sat in the chairs in the corner of the room, waiting for the young man to walk down. Fortunately he was rather quick so we immediately stood to greet him.
"You must be Holmes?" asked the young man.
"I am." I replied.
"And you must be his partner, Dr. Watson?"
"Yes, I am." replied Watson.
"I assume you are both here because of the disappearance of Ms. Mina Harker?"
"We are." I replied again.
"I am sure you will find her soon." smiled the man "For now I would like for you all to stay for dinner."
"I think we could take a moment to eat something." said Watson.
"Yes. We haven't had anything ever since we arrived in Transylvania." I agreed.
"Then follow me gentlemen." the man bowed "I will take you to the dining room. By the way, my name is Alucard."