He was power.

Young Dracula learned that at a very young age. His father never ceased to repeat it to him. He was power, he was darkness embodied, and others should fear him.

Especially humans. Humans, he was taught, were worth less than the dirt on his shoes. They were like ants, swarming the Earth, invading every corner, forcing honorable and powerful monsters like them to find more secluded places to retreat to, when they should be the ones ruling it all.

They were also, Dracula found, surprisingly easy to kill.

When he was about 50 years of age, his father took him to a human village, and gave him a simple order. "Feed".

And if Dracula feared humans, he feared his father more, so he entered a house through the window, found a young girl laying in her bed and got his first taste of human blood.

It was the most delicious thing he ever had in his life.

After that, he hunted both humans and animals with his Dad.

He grew older, and stronger, and found that he didn't fear the older vampire as much as he used to. So one day, he flew away, and decided to go see the world for himself. During these years, he solely preyed on humans. He kept moving all around the world, and a legend started to follow him, the story of a man who invaded homes at night and killed young people. A man who could turn into a bat, into mist, who had red eyes, fangs and claws and looked like the Devil himself.

Dracula thought that last comparison was taking it a bit too far for his liking.

He slowly stopped contacting and communicating with his father all together.

He met other monsters. Frankestein, Wayne, Murray and Griffin would become his closest friends. They feared him, as they should, but they also made him laugh. They had fun together, and sometimes, in their presence, he felt like the child he was never allowed to be growing up, though he would never admit that out loud.

One day, while they were in Hawaii, he crashed into a bat, who turned out to be the most beautiful and interesting woman he had ever laid his eyes upon.

She made him discover the existence of blood substitutes. "Near Blood" and "Blood Beaters" worked fine to satiate his thirst, but the taste was a very pale imitation of the real thing.

Martha told him that she found humans interesting. That was the most intriguing thing for Dracula. One night she proposed that they disguise themselves and go to the nearest village, were people were apparently celebrating something. He tried to argue and lost, so they both put on some human-inspired clothes Martha had somehow sewn together and joined the festivities.

And for the first time, instead of seeing preys everywhere, Dracula saw people. He saw a mother holding her child and softly singing to her, a young boy pretending to fight with a wooden sword, an old man alone reading a book, and many other faces.

And he started to realize why Martha had given up entirely on human blood.

They didn't stay long in the village. The smell of all these humans made it difficult for Dracula to keep his instincts at bay, especially since he was so used to killing the creatures, and not feel for them.

The Count became used to the taste of Blood Beaters. He and Martha settled in Castle Lubove, far away enough from humans to be safe, for both species. Martha became pregnant, and gave birth to the most perfect, adorable, baby girl vampire ever. She decided to name her Mavis, little bird, and Dracula could only nod in approval. He had never been so happy in his life.

Up until that night. The humans from the village nearby had found out what they were. They had come, driven by fear and hate, with lit torches and pitchforks screaming murder and revenge. Dracula could have easily crushed them all, but he knew Martha wouldn't want that, so he tried talking. He tried to calm them down, but they wouldn't hear any of it.

They killed Martha.

Dracula ran away with his daughter, and could only watch in despair as the symbol of the new life he had built with his love fell to shambles.

He hated them.

They were the real monsters, not him. Not his daughter, not his wife, not any of his friends.

In his arms, Mavis was sleeping, unable to comprehend anything that had happened around her.

Dracula looked at the child and promised himself that he would always protect her. No matter what.

She was all he had left.

A/N :

Hello there! I haven't written in three years, but this plot bunny was gnawing at me and I just had to write it all down. This fic is 6 chapters long, everything is already typed down and edited so I will update regularly. Please do not hesitate to tell me what you think in the reviews, and point out any typos I may have missed, as English is not my first language.

I hope you will enjoy the story! See you soon for the next update!