The old man moved with a fluidity that belied his years, the grey bearded face suggested something else, something primal, a flash of white teeth when he smiled was all too wolf like.

“You’re no longer a Priest?” The youth asked warily, there was thinly veiled subtext of contempt.

The old man drank from his mug of tea, in the cold of the far older Church this steamed almost aggressively.

“What is this building John?”

“A former Church.” John replied pointedly.

“But still a Church.”

John’s eyes strayed to his Smart Phone. It was serving as Dictaphone.

“So although the Bishop no longer recognises you as Priest, this doesn’t change who you are.”

The old man smiled. There was warmth in his eyes, a flicker of life, before the steely gaze returned shuttering it out.

John persisted. “But it was your interest in the paranormal that came between you and you… err calling?”

The old man placed his hands on the table between them. “I chose Holy Orders to learn.”

“So what you are saying is that your religion was a means to an end - your work as a Paranormal investigator and Exorcist?

“Life is in the blood. Did you know that?”

“Sure that’s in the Bible – that’s why Black Pudding isn’t Kosher.” John chuckled saying. “It was something easily observed, drain a man of blood and he died, hence the superstition that is still with us - look at the kids dressing in black and practising blood drinking.”

“This began long ago in the cradle of civilisation, the sacrifices, the drinking of blood – a quest for immortality.”

“So what you’re saying is these ancient peoples believed the secret of immortality lay in taking human life, in blood drinking?”

“In a way they were right.”

“What! That is something you’re going to have to explain.”

The old man sighed. “Survival of the fittest ensured the practise continued across bloody human history - because for an enlightened few the practise worked.”

“That’s crazy! You’re implying Vampires existed.”

“Exist.”

John laughed. “Then why aren’t the morgues full of dead bloodless bodies.”

The old Priest shook his head. “Because they long ago discovered drinking blood is but one way of obtaining the life force they crave.”

It was John’s face which became stern. “Explain.”

“It was sudden brutal ending of life that these Dark Lords fed from. Now consider our society, look at the individual tragedies…”

“Your not suggesting every murderer is a Vampire!” John laughed.

“Only that Vampires have evolved, just as society has embraced knowledge so have they.

“Vampires feed on individual acts of bloodshed, each murderer is a proxy for their subsistence. Each War fought a feast for them, as they steal the unspent life force from each untimely death.

“They are not the primitive monsters of fiction that need to drink blood from the neck of a virgin, any more than I need to hunt a mammoth with a flint tipped spear.”

John rose to his feet. “You know too much old man.”

“Enough to recognise you for what you are. What are you going to do with me?” The old man asked.

“Nothing. You are too old to be good for food.” The Vampire stated collecting his Smart Phone; he turned to leave, and as he walked away John said. “Besides who but a Vampire is going to believe any of this is true?”