The actual term for what I am is dhampir. There are accounts over the years, but they're mostly in the folklore of the Balkans.

[Alucard breathes out. This means getting more personal. He dislikes it. He doesn't even know why he's so hell bent on gaining Vanessa's trust, but it seems worthwhile. If only to argue in favor of not all night things being as god awful as the situation she has found herself in.]

My mother was, as I said, a doctor, and better than many in the current age we live in. She learned from my father's centuries of wisdom, but it was she who brought that knowledge out into the world. She was executed by an ambitious priest who branded her as a witch.

[He's learned to tell the story with precious little wincing these days. Had to. So many generations of Belmonts had to know the story, after all.]

Even in those moments my mother maintained a deep and abiding love for humanity. My own feelings are aloof, but I will always honor her wishes. Even -- especially -- when it brings me into conflict with my heritage.

[It is a choice to leave out the patricide. That is not a detail that demands to be shared at the moment.]