1

	I woke up and, with some effort, managed to get the lid of my coffin off 
and I crawled over the side, landing on the hard marble floor below me and 
bonking my chin. I didn't know why my Daddy got me a big coffin even though 
I'm only 5 years old...

	Rubbing my eyes, I walked downstairs, nearly stumbling over the last step 
and bonking my chin again.

	I walked into the first room, and before I turned the corner, something 
came out of nowhere and grabbed me, digging its fingernails into my ribs and 
tickling me, lifting me off the ground easily. I laughed and turned around 
when it stopped and hugged my Mommy around her neck. Mommy usually tickled 
me in the morning to wake me up so I didn't fall asleep later on in the day, 
but this morning, I was dead tired (No pun intended) and I leaned my head 
against Mommy's shoulder and started to fall asleep again, but she shook me 
slightly, saying, "Alucard, you need to wake up... I'm going to the Market 
today and I know you like coming with me..."

	I kept my eyes closed, but bared my fangs, which weren't even sharp enough 
to puncture anything yet... that won't happen until I'm about 8 years old, 
however. I growled along with baring my fangs.

	Mommy let out a small laugh, "Oh, I'm so scared... how late did you stay up 
last night?"

	I held up three fingers.

	"You stayed up until three in the morning?"

	I nodded.

	"Okay... since you stayed up past bedtime, there's not gonna be any rabbit 
blood for your snack today."

	My eyes popped open and I looked at Mommy, "Okay, I'm up, I'm up!!! Please 
don't take away snacktime! PLEASE!!!!"

	Mommy laughed some more, "Oh, alright, alright... just don't try to fall 
asleep, okay?"

	"Okay!!!" I said, and to prove that I was awake, I started whistling. (I 
can't whistle when I'm sleepy, for some reason) Mommy laughed again.

	I liked hearing Mommy's laugh; it had a nice pitch, but it wasn't too high 
like mine, and it wasn't too low like Daddy's.

	I blinked, "Where's Daddy?"

	Mommy shrugged, "Still asleep."

	I blinked again, "Oh, yeah, Daddy stays up all night and has to sleep all 
day, right?"

	"Yep."

	Mommy carried me back to my room and helped me get dressed. I was still in 
that age where I couldn't get dressed without coming out wearing a green 
shirt and pink pants. I was still tired, but I didn't show it. I was tough, 
like my Daddy, and didn't show any weaknesses unless something really bad 
happened.

	"What time are we going to the Market, Mommy???" I asked, trying to loosen 
my shirt collar.

	Mommy helped me loosen it, "As soon as you finish getting ready and stop 
fidgeting, Adrian, that's when..."

	She didn't always call me 'Alucard,' because she knew I hated that name. 
But occasionally she would call me that just to get on my nerves. Daddy 
calls me Adrian until I yell at him enough to call me Kid Dracula.

	We finally got ready, and we walked to the Market. Mommy always wore a 
cloak and hid me under it so people, for one thing; wouldn't see me, and for 
another, wouldn't recognize Mommy as the wife of the bane of Transylvania's 
existence. I didn't mind it, simply because I didn't want to be killed. The 
hard part about it was walking right beside Mommy without giving a hint that 
I was hiding under her cloak. But I loved my Mommy; she's my favorite person 
in the whole Transylvania.

	When we arrived at the Market, which was basically on the south side of 
town, we saw something going on in Town Square. I smelled fear, and lots of 
it. I even smelled fear coming from Mommy.

	Mommy whispered to me, "Adrian, don't move and don't make a sound..."

	I whispered back, "What's going on, Mommy?"

	"Shh..."

	Mommy started moving into an alleyway, where she let me come out of her 
cloak. I looked out and saw the people in the Town Square yelling things, 
and a girl was hanging from a wooden cross. Mommy had told me about what 
this sort of thing was; it was called an Execution, but for some reason, men 
in the town had been thinking that some women were witches, and were killing 
them, and that's another reason why Mommy wore a cloak to hide her face. She 
even disguised her voice to sound like a man's voice when times were bad.

	I looked up at Mommy, "What's going on?"

	"I've told you before, Sweetie; they think that girl's a witch, and they're 
going to kill her because of it," Mommy said.

	I clutched Mommy's black dress with my little hands, getting scared myself, 
"Do they kill boys because they think they're witches?"

	Mommy nodded, "Yes... only boy witches are called Warlocks, Adrian."

	I couldn't help but look as the fire below the girl was lit, and men 
shouted, "Burn, Witch!" and other things that I'm not allowed to say yet.

	A short time later, my face paled, more pale than it already was; I smelled 
death, and it was coming from the girl hanging from the wooden cross. Mommy 
turned away, and slowly sat down. I hugged Mommy to try and make her feel 
better, "What's wrong, Mommy?"

	Mommy hugged me back, a little tighter than I had expected, "Nothing, 
Sweetie... you're too little to understand..."

	I never bothered to ask why she always told me I was too little to 
understand things, but then again, I KNEW I was too little to understand 
them.