VAN HELSING - A Short Story

Prologue

I want to make this as clear as possible: the story you are about to hear is everything but flowers and rainbows. It will be full of death, tragedy and unfulfilled dreams. Let me ask you a question: What do you think of when you hear the word, "Vampire"?

I will give you a little time to think.

I am almost certain that you did not think of a beautiful princess, sitting in her white castle and waiting to be saved or of a noble lord who dedicates his life to saving the poorest and sweeping them off the streets of London and out of their misery.

I bet, you thought of vile creatures with almost transparent skin and sharp teeth, covered in human blood which they need to survive and to fight their animalistic urges with. Beasts.

I have to tell you something else though... The latter is a lie! Neither are we savages, nor do we rely on human blood. There are more of us around you than you might think because we too, are not pale. In fact, the sun does us no harm and neither does garlic. The only way to kill a Vampire is a silver bullet, a wooden stake and a bath in holy water. But who else does not die from being shot, impaled or drowned?

Vampires are not evil too. Whoever told you that knows nothing but lies and fairy tales! My name is Lady Ambra Van Fall and I have decided to tell you, where these ghost stories come from.

Six years in total, I spent with writing these journals and collecting those of our friends and enemies, deciding to record the tragedy of clan Van Fall after the disaster happened on the 15th of August 1640. But my story begins a little earlier. It begins with two very close friends...