In the early 1920s, Nick was intrigued to receive an invitation from archaeologist Thomas Monroe, who asked him to come an archeological dig he was conducting near Khartoum, in the Sudan. When he arrived, Nick was told that his old friend had just made a marvelous discovery of mutual interest. An ancient Kush papyrus in the tomb he was excavating included passages that suggested the ancient Egyptians had known a cure for vampirism.