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"Are you sure this will work?"
"Sure as I've ever been."
Alfred stood over Herbert's cold, lifeless body, stake in his hand. The moonlight ever so lightly grazed over his skin, catching itself on all his best features. The vampire was hauntingly beautiful, and Alfred couldn't look away, even for a moment.
"Well! Get on with it!"
"Yes-" Snapped out of his daze, Alfred slowly brought the stake to the vampire's chest, aligning it perfectly where his heart would be, though Alfred wasn't even sure he had one. Surely a creature that lay still as a corpse and had the complexion of a marble statue would have no need for a heart. But a stake through the heart was the only way to prevent more from popping up-- At least that's what the theory was.
Now it was time to put it to the test.
Alfred readied his hammer, preparing to strike. All he had to do was hit it. Once or twice. It was easy. It was supposed to be easy. He was hesitating. "I can't."
"What do you mean you can't? Just drive it through."
Alfred broke his gaze for a moment, looking up at Professor Abronsius. When he looked back at the lifeless Herbert before him, his heart sank with guilt. He couldn't do it. Not when the creature before him looked so beautiful and still. He wanted to preserve that moment forever, even if it meant letting the vampire live to see another day.