Untill the end of time

Morgan cleared his throat. “Very well, here it goes. Morgan is the name I mostly go by these day. I was born with another name though, but that is of none of your concern now. I was born in the year 1207, which makes me 798 years old. The exact day I was born I don’t know. I do know I spend about 771 years of my life as a vampire. You usually don’t get born a vampire you see. I had a wife and 2 little daughters and lived just outside in a small town a little north of London, I was a blacksmith there and I raised a couple of horses.”

Morgan stopped and started smiling. “You ever seen that movie Interview with a Vampire?” Hellboy and Abe nodded simultaneously and then realized what the vampire was aiming at and started laughing.

“Well, doesn’t matter, and by the way Louis and Lestat never existed. Nor did Dracula for that matter. But okay back to my story, let me tell you more. Sunday I usually went into town to have a beer at the local tavern and hear the gossip and news. I usually returned just before the sun would go down, but on a late autumn Sunday I stayed a little longer, I just had sold one of my horses for a very good price and was celebrating it with an extra beer.
It was dark when I left the tavern, my loyal mare was waiting for me outside and I left town in an easy trot. The moon gave us enough light, but when I was nearing the house I got the uneasy feeling something was wrong. My horse suddenly stopped, refusing to go any closer near the house. That should have told me enough.” Morgan paused. Even after so centuries it still hurt.

“I think it’s enough to tell you my wife and daughters had been killed by a couple of vampires. I’ll spare you the details. I was made a vampire and abandoned by them after that. So there I was, I newborn demon not knowing where to go, what to do. Not exactly knowing what had happened to me. I managed to bury my family before the break of dawn and found shelter from the sun in a nearby cave.
I roamed the land during the night, finding shelter during the day, as younger vampires can not endure the sun for very long. I fed on animals and low-lives, who came on my path. Occasionally I ran into other vampires, some friendly some not. Over the years I gained strength and I was able to go out in the daylight for short times.
One night I was sitting out near a lake, thinking of stealing a horse on nearby farm, when I felt another vampire approaching. I turned out to be Riana here, in the end we stole 2 horses instead of just one a couple of nights later and traveled the land together. Over the years a group formed and now there is something you might call community around here. That’s basically the short summary of my life”

Hellboy raised his eyebrows “How can it be that we have never encountered your kind before?”

“What would you think you would have to find? I always think we could pass as human, am I wrong about that?” Morgan returned the question.

“No, but wouldn’t there be…. Er…. Bodies?” Hellboy asked.

“Good lord, no. Your ideas of vampires are wrong, but then again all those books on us didn’t help I’m afraid. Let me enlighten you. Vampires do not kill indiscriminately, we’re no gods and not without regret either. Blood can be obtained in other ways, blood banks are a great invention, animals will do as well. Most modern time vampires have no reason to kill.”

Morgan looked from Abe to Hellboy, who seemed doubtful. “Listen you don’t have to believe me and stick to the fairytales in the books. You wanna know more about vampires or do you like to stick to those hilarious books?” Morgan sounded a little annoyed.

Abe lifted his hand in an excusing gesture “No, please go on, we didn’t want to offend you, forgive my friend. Tell me more about the vampire race in general”

Morgan shifted in his seat and continued “Okay, what does the fiction tell us? Yes, holywater and crucifixes? Doesn’t work, don’t know which of those silly writers came up with that one. Churches? I can enter them without trouble, am not religious though, so I stay away. Streaming water? Doesn’t keep us from going anywhere. Don’t have to be invited to enter somewhere either. I have a reflection in a mirror, and I do have a heartbeat, do I have a soul? That I don’t know. Am I undead? Maybe should have been dead, but I feel very alive. Am I immortal? Yes, but I can be killed. How to kill a vampire then? Should I tell you that? Not very likely you are gonna run into one, so might as well. Or were you planning my death?” Abe and Hellboy shook their heads in unison, but remained silent hoping the vampire would continue

All-right, stakes? Uhm yes any object through the heart works, kinda logical: heart stops beating, you die. Does this stake have to be of any particular material, say silver or wood? Can be any material you like, even a ballpoint will work. Removing head from body works well, as well as making a vampire barbeque. If you didn’t get the point now, just injuring a vampire severely might be the end. So immortal is kind of a strong word. And my last point: sunlight. It won’t kill me anymore, younger vampires usually die in direct sunlight. Although you won’t see an older vampire go out in the daylight very often, as it is energy draining and uncomfortable.”

Abe seemed satisfied for the moment. “Thank you for all that information, this is a real big thing. We will have to redo all our reference material on vampires, as none of it seems accurate.”

Morgan got out of his chair and made a little bow. “Glad to be of any assistance, as thanks for saving Riana’s and my life.”

Hellboy was still thinking everything over “So my bullets with silver and holy water are a waste on vampires?”

Morgan had to grin. “Well yes and no, it doesn’t give them anything over normal bullets but aimed at the heart they are still deadly.”

That satisfied Hellboy after a quick glance to Abe, who gave him a small nod, he left the study.
Morgan was clearly exhausted and Abe escorted him to an empty guest room. Morgan thanked him and closed the door to get a shower and some sleep.

Abe made his way to the recreation room where he found John and Red having an argument about the vampires. John wasn’t really convinced that it was such a good idea to free the vampires and let them roam around. Hellboy tried to convince him, they would be fine and that he was still there if something would happen.

Abe sat down and reminded Hellboy that Morgan hadn’t had any trouble keeping him from grabbing him by the throat.

Hellboy frowned, “If he really pisses me off, me and the Samaritan will have our way with him, don’t worry.”

John was far from convinced, but there was not much he could do about it now. He just hoped Abe and HB were right about them. There was nothing more to do and HB and John settled to watch a movie. Abe went back to his notes, putting all that new data in the computer.

After the movie John made his way back to his room to get some sleep and HB decided to have a walk around the building making sure everything was okay. He found Abe near Riana’s cage.

“Has she come round yet?” Hellboy asked.

Abe startled, apparently he had not been paying attention “Er… no, she hasn't changed. And Morgan has been sleeping ever since as well. Nothing to worry about.”

“I’ll stay here with you” the red demon offered.

Abe smiled “Don’t worry my friend, I’ll be fine. Get some sleep, you need it. Riana probably will be out the rest of the night, and I don’t expect any trouble from Morgan.”

Hellboy snorted “So you actually trust him?”

Well, weird enough I think he spoke the truth so far and has done nothing wrong yet. I think he is as dangerous as you or me.”

Hellboy raised an eyebrow “well, I actually am pretty dangerous, don’t you think?”

Abe started laughing “off-course you are, just not to everyone around here, not really. Don’t worry any further and get some sleep. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Hellboy hesitated another moment, but then turned around and made his way to door “All-right, good night then, if there is something wrong hit the alarm-button.” And with that he walked out the door.

When Hellboy eventually got into bed, he noticed he was actually pretty tired and it didn’t take him very long to fall asleep.