Kapfenberg, Austria (1856)

István: Welcome, Inspector. It has been too long since your last visit. I take it you are well?

Tomas: By all means, you know I couldn't make the trip otherwise, those damned hills are nasty on horseback, let alone by carriage. 

István: Hah, is it not worth such troubles? To break free the confines of Judenburg and see an old friend?

Tomas: Old? You don't look a day older than the last time we convened, my Count. 

István: Ah, dear friend, appearances can be deceiving, wouldn't you agree? Time has a way of playing tricks on us mortals, and some of us are blessed with a timeless grace.

Tomas: As you most well may be, but not a strand of silver in your hair? Is it because you live alone now in the castle? All your family has moved on, but still, you harbor a desire to live in such... ruin?

István: Come, let us retire to the library. I'm sure you aren't here to discuss your envy of my appearance or lifestyle.

Tomas: By all means. 

István: Please, don't misunderstand, I appreciate the flattery, Inspector, but I can only imagine why you are here at this hour. 

Tomas: Precisely, I do need to call upon your social graces.

István: My eyes and ears are always at your disposal, Inspector. Sit, please. Tea?

Tomas: Thank you, Count von Stubenberg. 

István: The pleasure is mine.

Tomas: I'm sure word of the disappearances has reached you?

István: Certainly, the missing girls?

Tomas: Some are mere maidens, yes, but young mothers as well, plucked right from their very homes!

István: Horrible news, indeed.

Tomas: The villagers speak of demons and curses, but as a man of reason, I must seek a more rational explanation.

István: Rationality can only take us so far, my friend. There are secrets in these ancient hills that the modern world dares not fathom, that the Erlachhammer will never touch. You, as a scholar, must surely understand the allure of the arcane.

Tomas:  The arcane, you say? Are you suggesting there is a supernatural element to these vanishings?

István: Supernatural, preternatural, call it what you will. Legends older than time itself whisper through these valleys, tales of beings that walk the night, seeking to quench their insatiable thirst.

Tomas: Vampires, you mean? The stuff of folklore and legend?

István: Precisely. And Styria, my dear friend, has its own dark history with such creatures. Stories handed down through generations, hidden beneath layers of respectability.

Tomas: But surely, Count, you do not suggest we are dealing with a vampire?

István: I suggest nothing, Tomas. I merely offer a perspective, a whisper from the past. Sometimes, my friend, the answers we seek are obscured by the very shadows we fear to explore. What do you think compelled you to come here at such an hour?

Tomas: I needed the truth.

István: Yes, of course and the truth you'll remember will help you find those girls, but I cannot let you remember you heard it from me. 

Tomas: I don't understand.

István: You don't have to, Inspector, just... look into my eyes.

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Some character art creation fun is below:

Count István von Stubenberg:  

Inspector Tomas Keller:

Katalin Kiss, missing from Judenberg, 1856:

Vampires of Styria folklore and legend: