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Headcanon - The Vasile Parvan Institute
Category: Stories
// This is mostly, almost 100% my very own headcanon for modern times (past the 17th century) what Alucard might have made of his promise to become the Guardian and keeper of the collection of knowledge of the Belmonts and his father //  „Professor!“ – Alucard, currently heading down one of the arcades of the venerable neo-romantic building home of one of the oldest Institutes of Romania and Central to Eastern Europe, if not even the world – the Vasile Parvan Institute, stopped in his vigorous steps and turned to face the person belonging to the female voice calling after him.
“Katerina, how can I help you?”, he gave back, a faint, patient smile playing round lips kept shut carefully to not reveal his non-human nature to the young female freshman and her two friends. She was one of 100 new students who managed to gain one of the highly coveted places at the renowned Institute.
The new semester did start only three weeks ago and especially among the new students the buzz of excitement about basically everything here still resounded strongly.
Gaining his attention seemed to suddenly leave her rather abashed, even though she had been calling for it in the first place. Yet, especially among the new ones, and especially the female students his appearance and the announcement that he was Professor and lecturer for classes in Ancient languages always caused a bit of... well, those classes seemed never to be lacking in attendance numbers.
“I… uhm… - we, we just found a plaque outside in the yard that said that one of your forefathers founded this Institute… - and that, well, - that there are connections to the Castle?” -
The Castle, was nothing less than “The Castle Dracula” as it was called by the locals, and located just on the other side of a small forest.
“Hmmm, did you not?” the Dhampire who officially was holding the function of a part-time lecturing professor and lead-researcher smiled back while confirming her inquiry with a little nod.
“Yes, indeed the tablet is telling the truth” – sort of, he added in thoughts – “the Institute was founded in the early 16th century by one of my great, great, great,… a lot of greats... forefathers, Adrian Tepes… as you surely already noticed he also is my namesake. - And, yes, again – as you easily will find out, Count Dracula, as he was know so infamously, who went under the real name of Vlad III Dracul Tepes was a nobleman residing in this castle in the 15th century and can also be counted to one of my – very distant – forefathers” … sweet little lies…. “So, yes, Castle and Institute are connected in some way. However the Castle has long been handed over to the State and turned into a museum. That way it will be preserved and professionally taken care of.”
Awe and excitement were written all over the three faces.
“That is awesome, Dr. Tepes… you must be proud of being able to trace back your family such a long way, and that they were such wonderful Philanthropists who left the world such a tremendous gift like the Institute and the Castle…” the brunette young woman going under the name Adriana if his memory didn´t betray him – and it never betrayed him, curse of being a Dhmapir – gave back enthusiastically.
Enthusiasm which was met with a, for them, probably strange melancholic even slightly sarcastic expression.
“Hmmm, it is a long family line to trace back; most certainly it is… but... I´d not go as far and call them Philanthropists, at least not all of them… dig a little deeper and you´ll surely find his not so very philanthropic nature being source of all the myths about the most famous, or rather infamous ancestors of mine, Dracula”… my dear, murderous, mad father, he silently added suppressing an ironic, sad huff as well as a wave of till this day unprocessed emotions.
Not really willing to discuss his family history further, always treacherous waters for him anyway, he gave them an asking and slightly urging look.
“Don´t you have a bus to catch to the boarding house? Or are you three planning on sleeping on one of the tables in the library tonight?” - the sun hanging low above the Carpathian Mountains in the distance, casting long shadows through the leaded windows lining the outer wall of the arcade posed as a reminder that late afternoon was about to advance into evening.
Awe and excitement gave way to surprise and slight panic followed by hastily expressed gratitude and an equally hasty farewell. -
Moments later the most erratic movement filling the old hallway was the silent dancing of dust grains in the golden rays of evening light while hurried footsteps faded away in the distance.
Before turning back to his original task Alucard allowed his gaze to wander outside and across the swaying treetops to where the distinct silhouette of Castle Dracula, his former family and childhood home, was painted all colorful by the sinking sun.
It changed drastically over the centuries – the extravagant, almost out of this world shape was replaced with a more traditional medieval appearance, that way attracting less attention. These days it indeed was mostly a museum – at least the upper, publicly visible and accessible levels.
However as much as with the Institute there were those parts closed to public or students, those underground libraries, laboratories and training areas.
A vast area of vaults and basements – yet not the gloomy ones one might expect underneath such old walls and buildings, not those kind which sent a pleasant or frightful shiver down ones spine, filled with old coffins and whatever creatures shying the light.
No, these underground spaces, developed, expanded and modernized over the centuries were the place housing the unofficial purpose of what those working and training there just called “The Institute”.
A place filled with ancient wisdom and knowledge about the supernatural, non-humans, magic, forgotten languages, forbidden sciences but also stuffed with modern high-tech equipment, fit to meet the challenges of a Monster and Vampire Hunter of the modern world.
This was the true purpose of this establishment, had been ever since he was left with the task to take care of both, the Belmont-holt and Dracula´s, his father´s, collections.
It was the home of the biggest and oldest Vampire and Monster Hunter Academy in Central and Eastern Europe. Surely a big achievement – one that had not been planned or been foreseeable at all; one that started with the feeling of forlornness and despair mostly.
He still remembered the moment when his original plan to lay himself to rest eternally inside the Castle and thus rid the world of the Tepes was foiled and instead he agreed to honor the claim of becoming the Guardian of those two treasure hoards of wisdom… and to use them to build something good.
Initial excitement soon gave way to a wave of feeling overwhelmed, overwhelmed by the sheer task, by loneliness, by … everything.
The first attempts were meek and mostly futile and it needed several months before things really got in motion – not at least thanks to a group of local refugees, stripped off their homes and belongings and often enough even their loved ones by the dark forces evoked by his father and his deadly rampage.
Looking for a place to be, to settle down again they found a grieving Dhampir in despair, torn between the urge to hide himself away and on the other side craving for company. Originally it was a pact based on shared loss and yet mutual determination to rebuilt. -
The foundation of something great –
The creation of The Institute and the first squad of scholars and Vampire- and Monster-Hunters under his, Alcuard´s, tutelage. Over the centuries the place grew, changed – got an official facade as it quickly became clear that the ordinary purpose was not something the general human world was fit to know.
So the foundation of The Institute soon was followed by the official foundation of the Wallchaian Institute of Arceology in the early 17th century when science, human curiosity and the craving for knowledge became more and more prominent.
Later in the late 19th Century it was named after one of its famous offsprings, the Romanian Archaeologist and Historian Vasile Parvan who started his successful career in the Institute and headed it for almost two decades.
Alucard himself always took great care that especially with the official part of the place his name did not pop out too obviously, never taking on one official leading roles, mostly remaining in the background, explaining his constant presence with his family ties located there, and with a more passive role as a researcher and only part-time lecturer.
Every few decades he even took a long vacation from the place, utilizing one of the Institute´s many outposts all across Europe to hide away, to fake his absence to not raise suspicion with his ever so young-looking appearance which never changed.
This secrecy of course was not only to keep his identity and unusual nature away from the normal students and teachers, but also to remain as unnoticed as possible among the non-human society – especially among the Vampire society.
Although founder and 1st man of The Institute also the below board branch was not officially lead by him but always by one trusted right hand man acting as a proxy so that his too well known name for most outsiders only was part of myths and legends and mentioned in mostly forgotten books.
Well aware that his very nature, being a Dhampir, was enough for many among the blood-sucking guild to feel a strong desire to rid the world of what they considered an abomination of soiled blood and also the fact that he was the one to end one of their most famous leading figures still even more than 500 years later caused a lot of them to harbor a certain craving of ripping his heart out in order to parade his head around on a stake.
Alucard - this name hardly ever went public, was only used by the few handful of humans and non-humans occupying the unofficial part of the place, researching, working and training to be Scholars and Guardians of two worlds, to stand between good and evil – no matter which form it took.
This was one of the highest principles he tried to convey to those training alongside him and learning under his tutelage: there were those needing their help and protection on both sides, human and non-humans.
Evil came in many forms and with many faces and they would not deny to help any innocent being no matter its nature.
Only when the lights above him light up Alucard noticed that he´d been standing there for rather a while, taken by the view, pondering, watching the sun go down while twilight crept into the valley and fog rose between the trees.
A spectacular sight, and sometimes while he took time to take in such beauty he felt a brief understanding why his non-human brethren envied him his life between the worlds and his ability as a Daywalker so much.
Yet with his mind back to the here and now he noticed that he´d dawdled long enough already. Before having been interrupted by the students he indeed had been on the way to take care of some official unofficial business. - While his Institute was rather well known among the European continent and also kept close bonds with similar Institutions in Russia and Asia up to these days the contact with their American brothers in arms had been rather distant, sparsely and sporadic.
However just recently, two days ago they received some rather promising sounding correspondence from accross the ocean. A matter of such official importance however was calling for him to tend to it personally, not at least to offer the necessary respect and attention in order to hopefully pave the way for a closer and more permanent interaction.
Casting a last glance through the arched leaded windows he eventually took up his way again, long, elegant strides carrying him to his private rooms – a little house located remotely in the far end of the vast, park-like garden of the area. Formerly the gardeners house he moved in there, a place much lighter, much cozier and more welcoming than the huge halls and endless corridors of his family castle.
However as it was with almost everything here also this place held a second face, a very modern, high-tech one at that – and it did not stop with the fact that his apparently slightly cluttered and old fashioned looking office held access to the most modem digital tech but also that in the back a well disguised elevator was installed to bring him down into the Institute labs and training grounds, and to grand access to his place for Hunters and Scholars whenever they needed it.
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