You have known me by many names, but the one that you would be most familiar with is Dracula. However, before that, I was known as Vlad, the Impaler. What you hold now in your hands is my story, the beginning of a tale that spans countless lives and countless souls. It is a tale that is not so much a tale, but instead the complete and utter truth, if truth is what you seek, which I know that it is. That is why out of the mass of hundreds, it was you who picked this book from the shelves.

Do not be alarmed or think it strange that I know of this, for that is irrelevant to the course of actions that will follow. Now, it has become too late and you have begun this journey whether you wanted to or not. You see, this is a cursed book, and you are a seeker of truth, a seeker of knowledge, a seeker of the unknown. That is why you will open the pages and will look inside not knowing what to find, and afraid of seeing what I truly know of you and all of humanity. Before you go on, I warn you that what you will read inside is haunting, desolate and grim, and not civil or kind in any way. It is a story that will leave you changed and disturbed, and if that is a journey that you wish not to take, then I implore you to put me back on the shelf where you found me and leave at once from here. For now that you have read what you have read, I will call for you...always.