CHAPTER 1

Julius Belmont, a legendary vampire killer and the man who permanently killed Dracula in 1999, sank into the couch in his living room after a hard day's work. His wife, Megan, kissed him on the cheek. "How was work, dear?"

In truth, Julius' head spun from all the data he had to crunch with his colleague Genya Arikado, a member of a top secret Japanese government organization.

Genya Arikado, of course, was an alias. His birth name was Adrian Fahrenheit Ţepeş, son of Dracula and his wife Lisa. Since his father was a vampire and his mother a human, Arikado was a dhampir. Arikado also liked to go by 'Alucard', Dracula backwards, to prove that he was nothing like his father.

Julius and Arikado collected data on various supernatural activity in the area. And that day, they had to analyze it. If Julius had to look at another pie chart, he'd scream.

Despite all of that, he settled for, "Great. How was your day?"

Megan brushed a lock of black hair behind her ear. "Wonderful. Nicky visited me this morning."

Nicholas, or Nicky as Megan called him, was their 30-year-old son.

"That's nice. What did Nicholas want?"

Soon after he said those words, Julius started to fall asleep.

A dark-haired young woman wearing a light blue dress stood next to him. "Greetings. I am Sara Trantoul. I knew your ancestor, Leon Belmont."

Julius nodded. "Yes. If I remember correctly, you were kidnapped by a vampire at Dracula's orders."

Sara frowned. "Indeed. I was part of Dracula's quest to become immortal. After Walter captured me, he infected me with vampirism. It was only then that the Alchemy Whip could become the Vampire Killer. It needed my soul to fuse with it."

"Your story was passed down from Leon to my generation. Your sacrifice was not in vain, Sara. You've done a wonderful thing."

Sara furrowed her brow. "It is time for it to end. It is time for me to join God in Heaven. I must leave the whip."

Julius staggered. "But how can we fight evil without the Vampire Killer? Without your soul, I think it will revert back to the Alchemy Whip. And the Alchemy Whip is so much weaker…"

"There is a way to permanently power the Vampire Killer without my soul. You will need the Sanctifying Stone."

With her words, the Vampire Whip started to glow light blue.

Julius awoke with a start to find a glaring Megan. "Honestly! Am I so boring that I put you to sleep?"

"Meg, I'm doing a lot of work with Arikado. I'm too wiped out for anything else."

Megan's eyes widened. "Do you think that it's time for Nicky to take your place? Come on, Julius, you know you have to retire someday."

The Vampire Killer besides them started to glow light blue. Julius jumped to his feet. "SARA! The dream!"

Megan slipped her arm into Julius'. "What dream?"

"Sara Trantoul … I have to call Arikado."