Jackanapes, Daddy Darwin’s Dovecot, and Other Stories (1893)

Legacy of Adrian Blackthorn, Vampire is the account of a young Englishman of noble birth who, after being cast out by his father because of an indiscretion, must leave Blackthorn Castle and seek his fortune in the army, where he is able to buy a junior officeras commission. It is 1854 and the Crimean War takes him to the Ukraine, where he is wounded in battle. Waking up on a battlefield littered with the dead bodies of his comrades, and weak from his wound, young Blackthorn seeks shelter in a cave, unaware that it is home to Drago, a thousand-year-old vampire. Drago turns the young officer into a vampire fledgling, keeping him as a slave. Despite being a vampire held in bondage by the mad Drago, Blackthorn is determined to return to England and claim his birthright.