Johanna trudged through the long, wet grass up the hill towards her hut. The warmth of the morning sun on her back did nothing to ease her exhaustion or grumpy mood.

“Lazy, shameless, stuck-up…” she muttered, her angry words directed at Orsalya.

With the help of Gustav and the villagers of Sirhalom and Bekdorf, the whole barony was now aware of the vampire’s presence. It had taken a whole day and she had carried on through the night without rest; now she just wanted to lie down and sleep.

She made it to the door of her hut and let out a long yawn before pushing the door open and stepping inside. Johanna looked down and froze at the sight of a tall figure lying on her straw bed. It looked to be a man though it was hard to tell as he was turned away from her and wrapped in a black cloak. The only part of him not covered by the cloak were his mud-caked riding boots. The man lay completely still, fast asleep.

The first complete thought to cross Johanna’s mind was, is this the vampire? She couldn’t be sure, but why would a man, likely a traveler judging by his cloak and boots, randomly appear in her out-of-the-way hut to sleep… during the day. Johanna raised her shovel and pointed it like a spear at the sleeping man.

“Get up!” she snapped loudly.

The man sat up with a jolt and turned to see Johanna, and the shovel aimed at his throat. As their eyes met, Johanna caught her breath and stepped back in shock. The man was a vampire; his appearance left little doubt about that, from his messy white hair to his pale grey skin and the dark spots of blood on his shirt. But it was his face that terrified Johanna; a face she hadn’t seen in two-hundred years.

“Eldrik?” she whispered in disbelief.

“Yes, it’s really me,” the vampire replied, surprisingly calm and collected though noticeably shrinking back from the threatening shovel. “And you’re Johanna, if I remember correctly.”

“Why!? Why, Eldrik, why!?” Johanna burst out, a mess of emotions contorting her face. “I thought you were dead!”

“Sorry for disappointing you,” Eldrik said flatly. “But I did promise I’d come back. It just took a little longer than I planned.”

“But, you’re… you’re…” stammered Johanna, struggling to control her voice.

“A vampire. Thank you for noticing.” Eldrik wiped a smear of stale blood off his face.

“You killed a child!” Johanna shrieked, thrusting her shovel at Eldrik. The vampire drew back in fear, but the weapon did not touch him. “What’s happened to you?”

“That’s a very long story,” Eldrik replied wearily. He sighed and continued solemnly. “First of all, I want to apologize. To you, personally. Not for killing that child or any of the others I’ve bled dry over the years. I want to apologize for lying to you. For justifying your suffering. For feeding you the age-old drivel that drives people like you and me to drag ourselves across burning coals as a demonstration of our misguided virtue. But I’ve given up all that, I learned the hard way just what a sham it was. Now I’ve returned to try and save you from the path I helped set you on.”

“Stop acting like you’re a victim!” Johanna snapped furiously, “you’re a monster!”

“We’re all victims in this world,” Eldrik replied matter-of-factually, “and most of us are monsters too. Those of us who aren’t fashion ourselves as ‘heroes’ and sacrifice ourselves on the altar of virtue. There’s no justice in this world save that which we bring into it; but heroes are few and monsters are many. Justice is a dream that burns its pursuers every step of the way, as if whoever rules this world actively seeks to turn people away from the so-called ‘path of righteousness’. In a world like that, struggling to be ‘good’ is not always the right  thing to do.”

“You’re not Eldrik!” shouted Johanna desperately, tears welling in her eyes, “you can’t be him!”

“Have I let you down?” the vampire asked with a twisted smile. “I like to think my oratory has improved over the years.” His face hardened. “I am Eldrik Brant. You know it.”

With inhuman speed Eldrik leaped up and rushed past Johanna, pushing her out of the way. Caught off guard Johanna fell to the floor, her shovel slipping from her shaking hands. She lay silent for several moments, staring vacantly into space. Regaining her senses, she pushed herself to her feet and stumbled outside.

“Eldrik! Come back! Please!” Her cries echoed back at her. The vampire was nowhere to be seen.

She should have killed him but because she was weak, weak when it mattered most, the vampire still roamed free. Johanna crumpled to the ground in a sobbing heap. In the tempest of emotions raging within her, she barely recognized the strange spark of hope. Reckless… selfish… hope.