We were disappointed that we spent 10 days in the Carpathian Mountains of Romania without meeting a single vampire. Disappointment changed to joy when my host, Gustave, informed me that he had arranged for a meeting with a five hundred year-old vampire in Bucharest. Driving through the Transfagarasan Pass on our way to Budapest was an exciting moment, one that I will never forget.We stayed at the Kempinski Hotel Corvinus, probably Budapest's finest hotel. After a delicious dinner of cooked cabbage rolls, a traditional Romanian meal, I slept for several hours before a midnight meeting with the vampire, who I will call Mr. Radescu. For obvious reasons, I cannot mention his name or given any information that would identify him.
We went to his luxury apartment in the downtown city center, near the financial district Mr. Radescu, a ruggedly handsome and urbane vampire, is about 5'10" tall and somewhat slender. He wore a fine English tailored suit and spoke without any trace of an accent. His apartment was furnished in the Art Deco style, which he said reminded him of a time when he enjoyed his existence very much. Mr. Radescu offered us some fine Romanian wine, but because of the lateness of the hour, I declined to accept any.
Gustave and I sat on a sofa opposite Mr. Radescu who seemed comfortable on an odd-looking chair. He was charming, as well as gracious, and answered almost all the questions we asked. He told us how a vampire attacked him over five hundred years ago and of the years that followed. He was quite apologetic for the injuries and deaths he caused since that time, and told us that he stopped taking blood from humans early in the 18th century. He spent the next 200 years taking blood from farm animals, which did not provide all the required blood contents and left him perpetually weak. Mr. Radescu was delighted when whole blood became available. He was able to regain his strength and had not had any human blood up until fifteen years ago.
He chuckled when he told us about the impact of Ann Rice's novels throughout Europe and the flourishing of the vampire subculture among the youth of Romania. One night he ventured into one of the underground nightclubs, and was suprised when a young woman approached him and offered him some of her blood. When he declined, she was offended and walked away. By the end of the evening he had learned more about the culture, and when another young lady offered him some of her blood, they went back to his apartment where he took a modest amount of blood from her wrist.
Since then, he has been able to sustain most of his need for blood by going to clubs where young men and women offer him as much as he wants. Mr. Radescu was quite amused by the sudden romanticization of the vampire and had seen most of the recent movies. His thoughts and observations about the current times were quite illuminating. All in all, it was a wonderful chance to meet an extraordinarily interesting vampire. Before we left, he made it clear that Vlad Tepes was not a vampire despite all the books that had been written. Tepes had committed horrible atrocities, and he defended Romania from infidels seeking to conquer it. Mr. Radescu invited us to drop by again if we were ever in Bucharest. It was the highlight of my trip, and one of the great experiences of my life.
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