Duncan Almonte sniffed the air. His prey was close and with ease slipped into a nearby cottage. Fangs protruded as he headed for the bedroom and saw a sleeping maiden. Dark skin with braided hair, she was beautiful. He had drained many ladies before but paused on this one. Something about her made him unable to kill her. Fleeing into the night he eventually realized why. With a single gaze, he had fallen in love with a human.
Over the next week, he slipped out at night to spy on her. Preying on stragglers to feed his bloodlust. He learned her name was Nancy Trust and she worked as a servant to a duchess. Some nights she was made to clean late and cried about being lonely. This broke his heart and one night he revealed himself to her. Horrified Nancy calls him a beast and screams for help. His pale skin and demeanor giving away his true nature. Duncan flees brokenhearted. Back at his castle in the mountains, he ponders on how to fix his problem. Then he realized that Nancy feared his nature, not him. If he wanted her then he had to become human.
Duncan called for the most powerful wizards and witches. With riches, untold many flocked to him offering cures and clues. None worked and as time went on he became more enraged. Even killing a few then feeling guilt over their deaths as he was trying to not be a monster anymore. Then one day a young wizard came to see him. The vampire had killed his master and left the boy penniless. But knowing of the monster’s predicament the wizard decided to be merciful and was there to help. Touched he found out the wizard was Mortimer and he had the book of the damned which his master had kept under lock and key. The price of stealing it was something you valued most which made the boy blind. Duncan promised to take care of the teenager and both went scouring the book for clues.
They came to three options. One was sacrificing one hundred virgin females under the full moon then doing a spell bathed in their blood with the ground littered in chicken bones. Duncan turned that down hoping for a better option. The next was murdering the love of your life and feeding the heart to demons who might grant your heart’s desire. Duncan immediately rejected that. The last was finding a genie and only making one wish after escaping the Cave of Temptation without taking any other item. Duncan and Mortimer decided that was the best option. Following a map to the cave, the pair went through defying all the temptations, riches, and voices telling them to take anything else and flee. In the final room, the pair faced off with a banshee. After defeating it both dash out of the cave. Duncan rubs the lamp and a female genie appears.
But instead of wishing to be human, Duncan wishes for the curse on Mortimer’s sight to be lifted. Shocked Mortimer is at first mad that his new master sacrificed his chance at happiness but then recalls that one wish went to the person who found the genie. Since they both did Mortimer demands a wish and wishes for Duncan to become human and no other wishes. The genie grants the wish and used the free wish to free itself. Duncan became human and the genie named Remar fell in love with Mortimer. All three went back to the castle that Duncan gave to the pair and created a new identity as a servant to an aging vampire who died and gave the palace to a young wizard. Mortimer was amused at ‘freeing’ Duncan with a small fortune and sending him off.
Duncan went to the kingdom where Nancy lived and made a name for himself as a tailor. The very profession he had before being turned. Determined to make his own way then seek out his love a second time. One day Nancy steps into the shop to buy cloth for her mistress. Their eyes met and the rest is history.