The Seducer: A Gone From Daylight Inspired Story - 40. William Harker’s Journal: Entry 40

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Saturday, January 13, 1990

Something strange with Vlad this evening.

We had to take a way home rather than our usual route out of San Francisco. In doing so, we had to pass by what Vlad explained was a Catholic cathedral. They were having some kind of evening service because it was all lit from the inside. I wondered why they were having services so late and Vlad said that they were having a Midnight Mass. Not being Catholic, I really didn’t understand what that was.

In any case, that wasn’t what was strange. What was weird was Vlad punching through the area in the car and even running a red light to get distance away from the cathedral! It was like he was being chased by the cops or something!

His breathing was weird in that he was panting through his teeth and he’d even bared his fangs a bit so that they were overlapping his lower lip! I wondered what was up with that so I asked, “What’s the matter, Vlad? You seem…weirded out by something.”

“It…is nothing. Nothing of importance. Let us just…get home, yes?” Vlad’s voice was roughened with emotion, but his rapid breathing was calming down.

Later, when we did finally manage to get home and it was about a couple of hours before dawn, I asked again what the problem was back there. It bothers me when something bothers Vlad.

Vlad sighed and drummed his long fingers on the arm of his chair by the fire. He seemed to be hesitating in his answer.

“…you must understand, William. I come from a very…religious time. Faith was very strong when I was mortal. The wars we fought with such passion…they all stemmed from our beliefs. Especially, when battling the Turk.” Vlad sat silent for a enough time that I wondered if I was going to have to push harder to get a straight answer. A history lesson in old Wallachian religiousness wasn’t really answering my question.

But, he continued, “We believed with all our hearts in the Christ and His power to forgive sins. We believed in our Church and in all its tenants without question. Romanians were a very believing people. Many still are and were made more so when Communism forbade religion or religious expression. I find faith becomes stronger when it has something to struggle against.”

I sat listening, trying to understand and hoping Vlad would explain why all that religiousness seems to be a problem now.

”That faith. That…belonging. It is something I could never have again upon my being turned into a vampire. My people knew of the Vampyre and considered us the epitome of the Damned. We were a terrible evil that needed to be crushed out of the heart of the faithful as an abomination. I came to consider myself one of the Damned for a very long time. So much so that the very sight of a cross or any other sign of the Christian faith would revolt me because I found myself revolting. I was a demon. I was a creature of evil condemned by God and worthy of destruction. For a time, I embraced this evil and became the very demon the mortals thought me to be.” Vlad said with quiet sadness.

“These days, after centuries in Darkness, I have come to terms with what I am and have, through the council of my Elders, come to understand that I am not evil. I am merely a predator. A creature of the hunt that must needs to survive by preying upon mankind for sustenance. Whatever power or curse created Vampires must have been part of God’s plan for I had very little choice in my turning. Ambrosio coveted me…and so he took me and remade me.” Vlad continued.

“But…even now. To this day, I have trouble with places where the faith of people is strong. It troubles me because it is something I can never be part of again…and I do miss it at times. I miss the feeling of safety. That feeling of completeness I once knew…still haunts me after 500 years!” Vlad said in a desolately low voice.

“I…think I understand…at least a little.” I admitted.

“There are other reasons too, but I shan't go into those at this time. Suffice it to say, places and objects of faith cause me great discomfort and I try to avoid them wherever possible.” Vlad said with more strength in his voice.

I nodded and left it at that. Faith has never been a big deal with me. My folks weren’t really religious, so I was never really religious. I can appreciate and accept that people have a need to believe in something, but I just never much thought about faith and religion much.

However, knowing history as I have come to, I know that in the past, faith was one of the driving forces of mankind. It made wars, built civilizations, inspired great works of art, and paved the way to what we have as a society today.

I figure, having come from another time where faith was everything, it would leave a big hole in someone’s heart if they could no longer have it anymore. I have to remember how very old Vlad is! He’s a time traveller in many respects. He has adapted to his long life and works very well within any time he currently exists in, but he still comes from an entirely different world than the one I grew up in. It can’t be expected that he wouldn’t drag some of those old feelings and beliefs back here to the present with him. Not if they were as strong as he says they were back then.

It makes me sad that Vlad has these ‘ghosts’ that still haunt him and I have to wonder what other things he has from his past that I’ll come to know in his good given time. Somehow, I feel I’ve just scratched the bare surface of the depth that is Vlad Țepeș Dracula! It might take me 500 years of my own to learn everything there is to know about him.

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Wednesday, January 16, 1990

I won’t be doing that again!

I woke up around Noon today and figured I’d see if I could still tolerate sunlight.

That was a mistake!

The minute I opened the blinds to look outside it was like a strobe flash to my eyes! I actually was half-blind for about half an hour with floating shadows and halos in my vision. I had to sit in a dark room away from the windows just to make the headache and floaters in my eyes go away.

My change is obviously underway. I just can’t exist by day anymore and I’m assured by Vlad that once my transition is complete, I’ll never again be able to abide the rays of the sun in any way! They will burn me to dust if I am caught out in them when the sun rises.

I thought I’d might be able to take in one last sunrise before my Third Bite, but now I see that’s not going to happen. Even half dimmed, the sun will be too strong for my new eyes to manage. I might truly go blind if the sun is out even a little bit!

The idea of spending eternity blind does not sound very great to me!

So, I went into the lower levels of the mansion away from outside and read a bit having not much else to do.

I read a volume that Vlad must have translated into English. It concerned ‘Hunters’. I thought that it was going to be about the exploits of other vampires and how they hunted for humans. But, not so! This was about humans hunting vampires!

It seems that humans have known about the vampire danger for centuries and had come up with ways of dealing with them in the past.

One group called Ordo Beatae Mariae de Mercede Redemptionis Captivorum or the Celestial and Military Order of Our Lady of Mercy and the Redemption of the Captives (Mercedarians) had a sub-order called Qui Sub Sole, or ‘Those Without Sun.’ It was the main arm of the Catholic Church for dealing with vampires.

According to the the text, these human hunters were capable of hunting down and destroying vampires by some kind of Rite of Exorcism! They were afforded ‘tools’ to do this that only the Order knew about. These hunters also made use of certain Mystical Gifts to help them counteract the powers of the vampires. They were given the blessing of a Holy Defender also. A special angel to help in their hunting and extermination of the vampires.

I became engrossed in the story. It seems that due to the pressure of this Order, vampire Elders used their vast wealth to buy influence with governments, wealthy people, and even Church leaders to ‘come to an agreement’ in the hope of preserving the vampire race. By such influence, the Elders were able to restrain the Order’s hunting and effectively left it toothless for centuries. Only a very few of these ‘Mercedarians’ exist now and they are only allowed to hunt vampires that get ‘out of hand’ and are not taken out by hunters that are other vampires sent by the Elders themselves.

But, the Order is still frightening enough to the vampire community that the Elders keep a tight lid on all vampires within their rule. The fear always exists that if the bulk of humanity found out about the vampire threat that there would be a massive uprising against them. There would be the threat that the Mercedarians would be put back into full service and that then…no vampire would be allowed to exist! They would be exterminated like many of the predators of humanity have been like wolves, lions, tigers, bears, etc.

I had to wonder how powerful these human hunters were that they could take on vampires like Vlad…and destroy them! I’ve seen Vlad in action now and I couldn’t imagine any mere human being strong enough to face him, much less combat him! One word from Vlad and a human could be forced to slit their own throat or allow Vlad to kill them just like he’d done with the hunter vampire that wounded our friends that night.

I figured I’d have to ask Vlad about the Mercedarians - if, in fact, they still exist at all and if they would ever come after us. The prospect of facing one of these hunters scares me a bit now that I’m half way to becoming a vampire myself.

Hunters…they seem to be like a plague. If it isn’t humans hunting us, it’s our own kind! But, why come after Vlad? I can see why the Mercedarians might want Vlad’s head mounted on a wall somewhere…but why would other vampires want that too?

Questions. Always there are questions…