We chatted a little more in the evening, Ion was amazing. He told me so many anecdotes about everything he had lived through during all this time, from his awakening until the moment he started talking about the Lestat family or what he called the "Van Helsing".

- There is something I want to ask you Ion.

- Tell me.

- In that battle, where did you face Captain Van Helsing? Why didn't you turn him into one of your own? Why didn't the soldiers wounded in battle turn either?

- Why do you want to know, Irhin?

- My father mentioned it, but I never knew what happened to that battle.

- How old were you at that time?

- I was around seven or eight years old at the time.

- You were very young back then; I hope you can understand that back then, I attacked humans just for fun. I didn't turn them into vampires, I just fed them on.

Darklion paused, as if regretting what he was about to do, but he continued.

- We just attacked that little village. I was bloodthirsty; one of my captains went to attack, and we killed everyone, some of us turned the humans in that village into vampires. We entered the building of the city governor; he and his family were there. He was armed with garlic and holy water. Humans believe that garlic hurts us, but it doesn't. And holy water isn't effective against us.

Ion stood up from the bench where we were sitting and took a few steps towards where those beautiful flowers he loved so much were.

- I killed him, but I didn't turn him into a vampire... I reached the next room; his family was there. He had a little girl of about 8 or 10 years old, I couldn't tell. The mother protected her, standing in front of her daughter.

Ion still had his back to me, he picked up a small twig that was sticking out of the wall of the “Lady of the Night” garden and played with it with his fingers.

– The little girl’s mother lunged at me with a wooden stake she had in her weak hands, I easily dodged it. By then Marius was already behind me; he took her by the arms, so I was able to get closer to the little girl. She was staring at me with her huge, bright black eyes. You must know Irhin, that I was malevolent, that uncontrolled beast was the one who was present then. The little girl remained sitting on her bed hugging her legs. I crept closer, at that moment I had the mark on my left eye and my eyes were that bright red that everyone fears.

Ion took another step to take another twig from the bush.

– She spoke to me, - “Are you a vampire?” -. I nodded at her question. - “Your eyes look very bad” – she said – “They are” – I answered. - “Your voice, why does it sound like that?” – she asked – “Is that my normal voice, little one” – She kept looking at me at that moment and then asked me – “Does it hurt?” – I was surprised by her question, I didn’t know what she meant. So, I asked her – “What do you mean?” – “Your wound on your left eye?” – That little girl was more worried about me than about what could happen to her. I answered – “It used to hurt, now I don’t feel pain anymore” – Then she stopped hugging her legs and approached me, very slowly; she extended her hand to me. Marius reacted to the girl’s movement, and I stopped him by raising my hand to indicate that she shouldn’t come closer to us. - “Is it a wound?” – she asked me while running her little fingers over my mark. - “No, little one, it’s a mark; something like a birth scar” – Then she looked at my eyes. - “Is it going to hurt?” -

Ion then broke the two twigs he had in his hands at the same time, he paused and the echo of the wind blowing next to the fire of the burning lamps was the only thing we could hear.

- Her mere question affected me in a way I never expected. I had so many years of not empathizing with anyone but that girl. I never expected her to question. I stepped back; I went to Marius and told him that we all had to leave, the girl's mother was in a trance that Marius can cause others to avoid being conscious. The girl spoke to me again - "Your mark, you no longer have it! And your eyes no longer look malevolent" - She noticed my change, as I reacted to it my state of alert changed.

Ion paused, as if remembering that was difficult. Then he continued.

– I turned to look at her, and the little girl handed me a diamond necklace that she had around her neck – “I give it to you in payment for not hurting mom” – That little girl said with her innocent voice that she didn't want us to hurt her mother. Then I approached her stealthily and took the gold necklace, for that I got close enough to her; then the aroma reached me, the smell of human blood is so striking; Irhin is so delicious. It's inexplicable; but her blood smelled different. I didn't take her necklace, and I put it back on her neck – “Keep it little girl, but leave here at dawn” – then she told me. – “You are a good person, thank you for allowing us to live a little longer” – I watched her out of the corner of my eye. Marius can communicate with me without necessarily speaking, that is one of our greatest gifts. I have a wider field, while his gift only allows him to communicate with one person at a time. I asked him about the looting they had carried out and told him to leave the girl two bags, one with food and one with gold, so they could live well wherever they went.

- You did the right thing, Ion.

Darklion nodded, and with his soft voice continued to tell me that story.

- General Vanhelsing knew about the attack on the governor's town in Colchester, England. So that's where he went. In the morning, we were resting, we had just attacked another small town, and as you well remember the sun hurt us so we decided to hide. Normally we sleep during the day; we also regain strength. The neophytes who stayed on guard noticed strange movements during the day and at the beginning of dusk Captain Mihai notified us about these strange movements near our resting area and after that they attacked us. The castle we fought in was the one we had just looted the night before, but that royal guard thought it was my castle.

- An ambush?

- Yes.

- I know the details of the battle well; I eavesdropped when my father discussed it with the rest of the surviving soldiers. But I still don't understand what was the reason why you didn't turn any soldier or Lieutenant Vanhelsing into a vampire in that specific battle?

- He loved his family so much that he sacrificed himself for them.

- What do you mean?

- Irhin, General Vanhelsing wasn't some weak royal guard soldier, you know? He could have cut my head off; and he didn't. The fight with him was quite fierce, he was very strong with incredible skills to be able to keep up with me directly. But he had the same disease as that little girl.

Eh? The same disease? What did he mean by that?

- Irhin, he was sick and he was going to die.

I understood everything at that very moment. That was the reason why Ion didn't turn him, or any soldier in that battle.

- I wasn't going to turn him into a monster. Throughout his life he faced so many things, he didn't tell me about them himself, but I read his mind. He needed to rest.

If I could just tell Lestat what Darklion had just told me, would he be able to leave this war? I finally had my answer, so he let them all go, in honor of Lestat's father.

- I know my love, now I understand your reasons for not turning them... You mentioned something about not being in full light, is that what you had already told me about sunlight?

- That's right, we can't expose ourselves to sunlight.

- Why?

- Haven't you deduced it Irhin?

- No, of course not! What do you mean?

- I told you my love, that when I was human, I had a disease; I couldn't expose myself to light. Photosensitivity: It's like I would burn alive if I exposed myself, that was the sensation when I was human, but now as a vampire I can burn to death if sunlight touches me; I'm not sure if my disease was related to what I am now, but it is connected in some way.