Episode 19

The Vampire of the Ancient Castle (古城の吸血鬼, Kojō no Kyūketsuki) is the nineteenth episode of the D.Gray-Man anime.

Short Summary
Allen is sent to a village in order to find his master, General Cross. Upon his arrival, he meets with the village's mayor, who tells him about the vampire who lives in the castle, Arystar Krory, who in recent months has killed nine villagers. Even though this is not the reason came to the village, Allen finds himself agreeing to help them.

Some time later, Allen and Lavi head off to the castle to confront the vampire.

Long Summary
As she looks out of the window, a blonde woman notices there are people heading into the town, which is unusual. A tall man embraces her from behind and she tells him she is worried that the people will cause them trouble. After reassuring one another no-one will find them, the tall man bites down onto the woman's neck.

Meanwhile, Allen Walker gets off the train and recalls Komui telling him they have lost contact with General Cross, leaving Allen to wonder if he would ereally be in a place like this. There he meets an old man and introduces himself. The man notices the exorcists cross on Allen's uniform and suddenly flees. After a moment Allen sees the man come back with a crowd of pitchfork-wielding villagers. They capture him and tie him to a chair. The old man, George, is the mayor of the village as well as a bento merchant. He explains that a vampire named Count Krory has lived in their village for a long time. Even though they feared him, the villagers and Krory lived in a bizarre harmony - the Villagers stayed in the village while Krory stayed in his castle. However, one night the Villagers bore witness to Krory drinking the blood from an old woman. In the following months, he killed eight other villagers.

They suddenly kneel before Allen as they claim it was prophesied that a black clergyman would come and kill Krory for them. But to their shock, Allen replies that he simply came to their village to look for someone. He easily unties himself and shows them the drawing of Cross Marian. The mayor recognises Cross and says Allen is indeed the person they have been waiting for. Just before Krory became violent, Cross arrived at the village and visited the castle. The mayor had begun to think he was dead, but after three days Cross appears once again, telling him that if Krory begins acting out, then to wait for someone wearing the same uniform as him to come and help. As the mayor cries with relief and the villagers applaud at Allen's arrival, someone observes them from behind the door.

They offer Allen a room for the night and as he lays in bed, he thinks about the situation. Some time later, a man sneaks in the room and shoots Allen after transforming in a level 1 Akuma. However, the Akuma soon realises Allen is not in bed and is in fact standing behind it. Allen had realised the Akuma had been watching him all night. He promptly destroys the Akuma but more show up. He searches for an open area to fight properly but he is hit in the eye by a bubble that renders it unusable. However at that moment, the bubbles are burst by Lavi and Bookman, who have arrived just in the nick of time. In the commotion the Inn begins to collapse and the Innkeeper is buried underneath the rubble. After the Akuma make their escape, the exorcists rescue him.

The next morning, the mayor is ecstatic to now have three exorcists to help them, stating the Akuma and vampires are the same. After dealing with the inujured Innkeeper, Bookman examines Allen's wounded left eye and notices there is no moisture in it but it has already started to regenerate, meaning Allen should be able to use it again after a short while. Bookman explains he is worried about the Akuma attack so he plans to stay in the village while Allen and Lavi go to the castle.

On the way to the castle, the villagers closely follow Allen and Lavi armed with typical anti-vampire tools, such as stakes and garlic. Before Lavi can reveal why he and Bookman had arrived in the first place, the mayor tells them to stop for they have now reached the gate to Krory castle. They head through the gate but both Allen and Lavi are clearly on edge and soon sense that someone is swiftly approaching.

Something rushes passed them and to their shock, they realise it is Krory, who has attacked one of the villagers. The horrified exorcists ultimately realise he is not an Akuma but a true vampire.

Episode Notes

 * Due to the filler episodes preceding this episode, the wound Road inflicted on Allen's left eye is already healed, unlike in the manga. They fixed this by having an Akuma shoot Allen's eye in order to render it useless again, as the plot requires.
 * Bookman is present in the episode unlike his manga counterpart. However, he stays in the village while Lavi and Allen head to the castle.