The Record of a Fallen Vampire
The story was serialized in "Monthly Shōnen Gangan" and has been collected into nine "tankōbon" published by Square Enix. VIZ Media released "The Record of a Fallen Vampire" from May 13, 2008, to May 4, 2010. Plot. Having cast aside his Kingdom of the Night a thousand years ago, the vampire king Strauss wanders the lands in search of the place where his queen was sealed. Dogged by the dhampires who are out to kill him, Strauss is fighting against time as he must continuously face humanity's curse, the Black Swan. Initially, the  story focuses on introducing Strauss and his quest for the seal, while fighting against the Black Swan and the dhampires. The main plot, which gradually emerges after volume two, revolves around repelling an alien invasion. The humans plan to use Strauss' powers and Adelheid's powers to repel the invaders before having the Black Swan finally dispose of them. Bridget, Strauss, and Adelheid use flashbacks to convey their perspective on the events a thousand years ago. The writer, Kyo Shirodaira, indicates that this method of deriving different truths from the same set of facts was inspired by Christianna Brand's  storytelling techniques. Characters. Vampires. Gottfried Dhampires. Those who have both vampire and human blood are referred to as "dhampires". All dhampires, except Laetitia, have united under Bridget against Strauss and his quest for the seal. Black Swan. The "Black Swan" is a curse created by humans to seek out and destroy Strauss. It is a spiritual parasite; its host is usually young, beautiful girls. It travels from host to host, forcing the wielder to hunt Strauss or die within five years, and it carries the memories and spiritual power of all previous hosts. The Black Swan will continue to exist  until the Vampire King and his queen are eliminated; thus, the only way for the host of the Black Swan to survive is for both Strauss and Adelheid to die. The initial catalyst for the spell was Stella and her unborn child, who were killed by Maria Saberhagen to create the Black Swan. Media. Initially serialized in Monthly Shōnen Gangan, the series has been collected into nine "tankōbon" and published by Square Enix between 2003 and 2007.