Chapter 18

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"The first Vampire, known, was not my father." Victor began, his eyes scanned Elizabeth as she listened intently. "His real name is lost to time, but it was believed that an unfortunate soul in Greece was cursed by one of the Greek gods. He would live forever in night, be burned by the sun and blessed water, have a weakness to silver, and live for as long as time permitted before being killed.

"This Vampire found that the only way for him to live healthily was by drinking the blood of humans, believing that maybe it was because we don't have blood of our own. He spent centuries in the shadows, just trying to survive. It was later he learned how to change human's into a Vampire. He made others slowly. But because of the sudden growth in deaths by 'animals' humans began to hunt us.

"Eventually, the first left Greece and made his way across Europe, towards what is now Romania. There he met a tyrannical ruler, known as the Impaler. He met my father in the woods and my father bestowed upon him the name Nosferatu, taken from the Romanian word Nosferat."

Elizabeth gained a confused expression at the name, "I'm afraid I don't know what that means."

"Back when Transylvania was existing, there was a legend that if a person was approached by a dark figure, and led into the woods, it lead to their death. Nosferat means 'into the wilderness' or 'bird of death,' depending on the country. Nosferatu is the plural form of that."

"I have heard about Nosferatu," she said with a nod.

"My father was at the decline of his raid around Europe. He begged Nosferatu to turn him when he found out who he was." Victor paused for a moment, "Vlad Dracula is a cruel man. He once killed one of his mistress' when she claimed to be pregnant. He was brutal back then, and still doesn't care for the life of what he calls 'lesser beings.' If it provides him blood, he is willing to kill.

"But, continuing, Nosferatu gave my father what he wanted. It was because of my father that Vampires became more known in the human world, and Abraham Van Helsing became a founding member of the Vampire Hunter Council.

"Shortly after Van Helsing came around, and the events with the Harker's, I was found and brought into the Dracula household. I truly don't know why I was so special, because my father usually gave the babies he found to his brides to devour, but he left me with Mina. She was the closest thing I could get to a mother.

"When I was eighteen, Vlad decided to, when I was the proper age, make me a Vampire and the heir to his empire. When he told me this, I was shocked, I hoped my father would have cared for me enough to allow me a normal human life, but I was wrong. When I turned twenty-one, he spend the majority of that year exposing me to the virus that made me a Vampire.

"Once I was one of them, I quickly accepted it. At first I was furious that my adoptive father wanted me to be more than I was and forced me to change. But this was a ruler of a chaotic and brutal age, I couldn't fight against him."

Victor paused, taking deep breaths as the old rage came back from centuries past. He hadn't talked about this in so long, that he forgot how it felt. Victor's eyes ventured to Elizabeth, she was still listening, never showing any sign of hatred.

"That's all I truly know about our history." Victor began again. "I wouldn't be able to help you much with a history test on this stuff. But I know one thing for sure, the first Vampire, Nosferatu, had the most potent of the virus, it took only one bite for my father to be transformed. My father's Vampire DNA isn't as strong, but it didn't take long for me to turn.

"Something you should know, Elizabeth, is that you are actually one of the strongest Vampires because of how close your DNA is to the first," he reached over and rubbed her shoulder.

"What happened to Nosferatu?" she asked. "I know that what I was taught that he was killed by one of the first Vampire Hunters, but I don't know much about him."

Victor removed his hand willingly. "Your history is mostly right, he was killed after Vampire Hunters were established. But what actually happened, is that he became engrossed with drinking a victim's blood that he didn't notice day light. All that is recorded is that he disappeared after sunrise, but most Vampires know he died.

"Nosferatu had something that only higher Vampires have a fraction of power of. He had the ability to compel a human and control them even if his shadow just simply touched them. My father has that ability, and he uses it often to get the blood he craves. I can compel if I wish, but I refuse to take away someone's rights. You have strong influence, but it's not as strong as compelling someone to do exactly what you want."

"Now I want to ask something." She held up a finger. "How did someone like Stephanie Myers come up with the idea that Vampires sparkle in sunlight?"

Victor shrugged, "Girlish fantasies?"

"It's ridiculous."

He laughed, "I was in shock when I heard the young women, who work at the industry, freaking out that Vampires were so awesome and that it made more sense that they sparkle in sunlight than burn."

They both started laughing at the false beliefs.

"What, they don't burn when they forget sunscreen in the summer?" Victor watched her laugh harder.

His eyes swept over her as she held her sides from laughing so hard. His gaze softened while she wiped away her tears. Elizabeth let out some quick breaths, calming herself from the hilarious conversation. Eventually, she looked to Victor who still stared at her with compassion.

"Is everything alright?"

He nodded. "I was just thinking how beautiful your laugh was."

Her eyes widened at the compliment. She quickly turned her head down to hide the small amount of blush that reddened her cheeks. Biting her lower lip, she looked back up at him with a small smile.

"It's been a while since I laughed like that," she said as she tucked some hair behind her ear.

Her smile quickly disappeared though, it worried Victor only for a moment until he heard something outside.

"Did you hear that?" she asked, her gaze serious.

"Yes." He stood up and walked over to the window.

Waving at Elizabeth to turn off the lights, she ran over and flipped the switch, engulfing the room in darkness. He carefully opened the curtains an inch to see through it. Shadows of men ran across the yard and to the cars in the parking area.

"Hunters or Vampires?" Elizabeth asked as she stood behind him.

"Hunters," Victor replied, "And I'm thinking they aren't that well trained. Their rigging the cars to explode."

"They probably would use the fire to slow us down long enough to shoot us." She glanced through the slit in the curtains.

Victor nodded. "Fire isn't effective to kill vampires, but it can slow us down. We should leave, out the back and get to a safe haven."

"My father would allow us to stay with him for a while."

"Perfect." He said as he grabbed her hand. "Let's go."

With that, they ran out the back door.