He was ripped into reality, a heavy pounding shaking the room and rupturing the remnants of his dream.

"Andrei! Answer the goddamn door!" A grizzly voice roared from the other side.

Slipping out of his bed and into his slippers, he approached the door. "What do you want?"

"For you to open the door, retard!" The knocking ceased.

Andrei rubbed his eyes while he opened it. He was surprised to find a middle aged police officer on the other side. "I guess you need that police report, huh?"

"You have no idea."

They watched each other awkwardly.

"Umm, can I get dressed at least?" Andrei finally gave in, indicating his flannel pajama situation.

"Five minutes."

The streets were empty as a glimmer of sunlight outlined several mountains in the distance. The streets weren't merely empty, they were desolate. Brasov had become a ghost town over night.

"Where is everyone?"

"You didn't see the news?"

Andrei shook his head. "You gave me five minutes to get ready."

"Oh, right." The officer thought for a moment, then sighed. "I'll explain in a minute, but first I need your statement. We'll do it quick."

"Well, I-"

"No, wait." He pulled out an audio recorder. The red button was forced down. "Now go."

"Well, I was walking home last night when I happened to glance up at the castle."

"What time?"

"Around 11:30. I have chess club that night."

"Continue."

"I saw something fast block out some of the moon, then the tower blew apart."

"Did you see what it was, like a shape or something?"

No, it happened too fast. Then I called the police."

"Did anything happen afterwards?"

"Nope. Just fell asleep."

The officer clicked stop and threw the recorder behind himself with frustration. He drove with one hand, the other propping up his head.

"Are you alright?" Andrei asked, still trying to tame his long brown hair. He never had a chance this morning.

"I'm not looking for your damn sympathy!" The bearded man glanced at him with maniacal eyes.

The rest of the ride was bursting with oppressive silence.

Andrei stared out the window, afraid to ask what had happened or where they were going. The police station was in the opposite direction.

The car stopped in front of his house.

The officer continued looking forward. "The name's Floyd. Call me if you remember anything else."

Andrei looked at him with surprise. The angry man was gone. "Yeah, I will. Sorry ab-"

"Get out."

He stepped out of the car quickly. Never mind.

The car sped away, exhaust vaporizing in the cold slightly.

Andrei squinted up and down the forgotten street. His gaze rested on the damaged fortress in the distance.

"Might as well." He headed towards it on foot.

About a dozen squad cars were parked before the castle entrance, along with a lone ambulance. A barrage of footsteps surrounded the vehicles, but there was no one in sight anywhere. Caution tape was half unrolled, as if dropped in mid use.

He worked his way to the entrance.

Blood and tiny chunks of flesh covered the arched doorway and the stairs that it undoubtedly cascaded down. He looked down and found bullet casings strewn about in the snow, along with a single shotgun shell.

There, he found multiple sets of footprints that led into the woods. A single red arrow had been painted into the snow with blood. It pointed in the same direction as the trails. Andrei followed the indentations, carefully stepping over the red arrow. The trees grew thick and more bullet casings sat atop the snow. After pushing his way through some dense shrubbery, he almost threw up.

There was a wide cavity in the snow. A ring of bloody snow surrounded it. Inside, the ground was heavily saturated with blood as if someone had completely bled out. At the center there was another arrow. This one consisted of unidentifiable slabs of body parts.

Andrei suddenly felt uneasy, as if the horror of this place was poisoning his soul. The sudden feeling of threat sank down to his core. He turned to leave.

"I'm glad I'm not the only one brave enough to come up here." A young man, not even 21, grinned. Hanging from his belt were wooden stakes and an empty knife sheath. The knife was in his hand.

Andrei stared at the weapon in terror, taking a step back.

"Oh, this?" He spun the weapon in his hand and sheathed it. "My bad. Can't be too safe. Name's Grant."

"What are you doing here?"

Grant smiled. "Same as you, buddy. Checkin' it out. The news reporters were way too vague. Twenty two missin' cops, two missin' paramedics, one cop confirmed dead."

"How? What happened?" Andrei thought about the officer, Floyd. His temper had a reasonable cause.

"I dunno." Grant shrugged, walking up to the arrow of flesh. "They got all weird, tellin' everyone to stay indoors and away from the castle until the army arrived."

"The army?"

"Exactly. They say there is a serial killer up at the castle, but don't surround the place with police, or rope it off, or anythin'. They're so spooked that they hide in the city and call the freaking army." He patted his stakes with appreciation. "I'm tellin' you somethin's up. They're tryin' to cover up a vampire killin' spree."

Oh, it's one of these vampire assholes. Andrei felt less and less safe however. Whoever they were, did kill over two dozen people. While not everything made sense, a serial killer certainly was more logical than a vampire in Transylvania.

The vampire hunter followed the arrow through the woods. He followed in fear. If anything happened this guy would buy him a little time, at least.

Intestines marked their path, strung across the snow in a roughly straight line, outlined in blood. It ending with a deflated stomach, followed by a gaping hole in the ground.

They approached the hole cautiously. There weren't any footsteps leading to or away from the location. Inside, was a metal cylinder which had already been opened. Within the container, there was nothing.

Outside the hole, written in blood, was "Dues ex machina". Another arrow, also in blood, pointed behind them.

They turned slowly.

A void had been punched through the trees, lining up with the cavity in the tower. They stared through it all at the crisp, blue sky.

"Someone dropped this on us." Andrei spoke slowly, his logical explanation toppling like a house of cards. "Someone set something loose on us."

"Not only that. Look." Grant pointed at the castle.

He looked at it through Grant's angle. On the side of the castle, wildly scrawled in red and high above the reach over people, was a single word. Nosferatu.

"No fucking way…" Andrei immediately dismissed the idea that someone geft wrapped a real vampire and dropped it in Transylvania.

"Don't worry. Me and my bros have been waitin' for this." Grant mentioned for him to follow. "C'mon. It'll be safer at my place 'til we kill it."

"No." He rejected the offer bluntly, agonizing at the idea of staying with these retarded fanatics. The fact of the matter was that vampires just weren't real.

"Oh." The guy looked hurt. "Well, see you around then."

"I hope not." Andrei whispered under his breath. He walked home, cutting through a lot of woods so that he wouldn't have to pass by the castle again. On the streets, there were a few brave people walking the streets. Still, the day felt irregular and unnatural. He thought briefly about calling Floyd, but decided against it. Instead, he made a large lunch for himself and decided to forget that any of it ever occurred.