"Huh… What's bringing that up?"
Diana blinked.
"I can't decipher a single thing he's thinking when his face is always so stern."
"Um… thank you."
Dracula gave a small nod.
"Let's be on our way. We don't have much time."
He turned and walked ahead.
Diana remained rooted to the spot, watching his back.
"Aren't you coming?"
She snapped out of her thoughts.
"Oh… yeah."
She hurried after him.
Moments Later — Hotel
Diana lay on the bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.
"He's such a strange man…"
She sighed.
"What did he mean by that?"
"Does he always say things like that?"
"Earth to Diana."
Rebecca waved a hand in front of her face.
"Is Diana still with us?"
Diana finally blinked back to reality.
"Huh? What did I miss?"
"Nothing much…"
Rebecca pointed toward the neatly arranged bags covering the room.
"I'm just trying to figure out how you managed to make that scary monster buy all of this!"
Diana smiled faintly.
"You know… he can probably hear everything you're saying."
Rebecca immediately slapped both hands over her mouth.
Diana couldn't help laughing.
"He isn't a monster."
Rebecca slowly lowered her hands.
"…Partially," she whispered.
Diana shook her head.
"There's more to the Vampire King than people think."
Rebecca folded her arms.
"If I were you, my ego would've been through the roof."
She gestured toward the children's clothes, toys, and supplies scattered across the room.
"He bought all this."
Diana chuckled.
"I'm not Dracula…"
"…but I don't think he'd appreciate that kind of behavior."
Rebecca tilted her head.
"How would you know?"
Diana paused.
"…You're right."
"How would I know?"
She smiled awkwardly.
"It's probably nothing."
Rebecca stared at her.
"You're living in a world of your own."
"Oh."
Diana suddenly remembered something.
"I heard you collapsed screaming when Dracula came looking for you."
She folded her arms.
"What exactly was I supposed to do?"
"Not lose your mind."
Diana struggled to keep a straight face.
Rebecca pouted.
"Whatever."
Diana burst into laughter.
Earth — Year 1600
Blood stained the stone floor of the cathedral.
Bodies lay motionless beneath shattered pews, their crimson pooling together like a river.
Dracula stood alone in the silence, his eyes fixed on the vaulted ceiling.
The cathedral doors groaned open.
A lone man stepped inside.
Dracula didn't bother turning.
"Were these your companions?"
His voice echoed through the empty cathedral.
"They were… disappointingly weak."
Only then did he glance over his shoulder.
"You must be Dracula."
"It depends."
Dracula turned fully to face him.
The man's lips curled into a smile.
"I've waited a very long time for this."
A radiant golden musket materialized in his hands.
He fired.
PSSSHHHH!
Half the cathedral vanished beneath the blast.
Dust and stone exploded outward.
When the smoke settled…
Dracula still stood.
His hand gripped the musket's barrel.
A clean hole pierced through the center of his wrist.
"He… redirected my shot… with his bare hand?"
Before the thought could settle—
KERGH!
Blood burst from the man's mouth.
Dracula's fists crashed into his stomach twice in rapid succession, launching him across the cathedral.
The hunter slammed into a collapsed pillar, struggling to force himself back onto his feet.
By the time he looked up…
Dracula was already standing over him.
The hole through Dracula's wrist slowly knitted itself closed.
He looked at the man through the opening as flesh and bone regenerated.
"Tell me…"
His voice remained calm.
"Do all of you take pleasure…"
"…in inhuman deaths?"
Dracula sat inside a bathtub, his eyes closed. The tub was filled with blood, and a glass of wine rested in his hand.
Crimson hands wrapped tightly around his neck and coiled over different parts of his body, unmoving.
A knock echoed from the bathroom door.
Dracula slowly opened his eyes, the crimson glow within them piercing the gloomy room.
The knocking continued.
His gaze shifted toward the door.
With a soft click, the lock disengaged, and the door slid open, revealing Varin.
"Spooky…" Varin thought to himself.
He stepped inside and quietly locked the door behind him.
"Did you get it?" Dracula asked.
Varin scoffed.
"You're so heartless. Couldn't you at least ask how my day was?"
He picked up the wine bottle from the table, walked over to the bathtub, and casually took the glass from Dracula's hand.
"Can't even offer me a drink," Varin muttered before taking a sip.
"Cut the crap," Dracula replied flatly.
"Coming from someone relaxing in an empty bathtub."
Dracula frowned and glanced down.
The bathtub…
…was empty.
Not a drop of blood remained.
"Do you know you're a very strange man?" Varin continued. "Sometimes I want to tell you to see a therapist… but then I remember no therapist would willingly sit in a room with you. That's honestly tragic."
He dropped a white box onto the bed before tracing a circle above it with his finger.
A crimson magic circle flared to life.
The box glowed.
Moments later, four cloaks and matching masks materialized neatly on the bed.
"What is this?" Dracula asked, studying the box with unusual interest.
Varin watched him for a moment.
"He's like a crow…" he thought.
Crimson mana enveloped the box as it slowly levitated into the air.
"It's called a Glass Box," Varin explained. "It was originally designed to imprison criminals."
He shrugged.
"But it shattered like glass whenever the person inside could overwhelm its finite space with enough mana. Eventually people realized it made a much better storage device than a prison, so now it's basically a magical bag… or wallet."
"Neat…" Dracula murmured. "I'm guessing stronger versions exist."
"Oh, obviously."
A brief silence followed.
"I met Val Hellsing," Dracula suddenly said.
Varin blinked.
"Wait… here? How come I couldn't sense him?"
"Not now," Dracula replied. "Long before I even met you."
"…Wow. He's that old?"
"I couldn't remember him before," Dracula continued. "Back then he was stronger than the rest of those religious fanatics… but still weak."
His gaze drifted.
"He stood right before me. I could have snapped his neck without effort…"
"…but I chose not to."
Varin's expression softened.
"And now he won't leave us alone."
"I saw myself in his eyes."
Dracula fell silent.
"…And despite being incomparably weaker than me… he was the only one there who could have harmed me."
"Maybe your memories are getting twisted again," Varin suggested.
"Maybe."
Dracula's eyes lingered on the empty bathtub.
"Then why… didn't I kill him?"
With a flick of his finger, the Glass Box shot through the air toward Varin, who caught it effortlessly.
"Give it to Diana," Dracula said. "Help her pack everything she bought."
Varin looked at the box before a grin spread across his face.
"Yes, boss."