Nyssa: I swear I tried to talk her out of it.
Me: Hush! Let them read the story.
Nyssa: They can't read it until you say your lines.
Me: But-
Nyssa: If you don't I'll sick Joss on you.
Me: Okay, Okay! I do not own Vladimir Todd, blah blah blah, my only characters are... well, you'll find out.
Chronicles of Nyssa Dracula – Chapter I
The trees around me seemed to grow thinner as I followed two boys through the forest. My charge, the one being led, looked around again as he felt my eyes on him. I backed into a shadow, staying out of his sight. I could never be seen, especially not by him. I would never interfere unless it was absolutely necessary.
He and the other, his friend as far as I knew, entered a small clearing. A figure stood in the center, a monster I knew all too well, someone who could never mean anything but bad news. I paused just outside the open, hiding among the fringe of trees, and listened to the conversation held between the boys. This was not good. My charge whispered something to his companion, making him chuckle.
"Vlad, no offense, but I'm a slayer. I think I know how to spot a vampire. Besides…" I felt my hair bristle in anger at the mention of slayers, "He's the guy who hired me." No. This was dangerous, Vladimir shouldn't have been in this position. What had he gotten himself into? Said boy glanced at the man before them.
"You hired a slayer?" The man glared back at him, a slight sneer on his lips.
"I had no choice. Believe me, boy, I would relish taking revenge directly. But you see, our little brush last year left me scarred, which stole the council presidency from me. Last year, killing you would have been Elysian justice. This year, as the council now insists that if you are indeed a vampire, you are to be interviewed and tried, a justified murder of you by my own hand without the council's consent would be illegal. If I ever hope to regain my presidency – and I will; that force is already in motion – I can't go breaking the highest law by killing my own kind. That would condemn me to death – assuming the council ever consents that you are one of us. And I rather enjoy living." My vision went crimson with rage, and in my attempt stop myself from tearing the man apart, I missed part of the conversation. I only caught the mention of the Lucis, and being healed.
"I'm not the Pravus," Vladimir muttered, though it sounded more like he was trying to convince himself. If only he knew the half of his heritage....
"Oh, I believe that you are. Certainly even you can't deny the possibility." I let out a silent sigh, saddened immediately by the emotions coming from my charge. He would eventually accept this part of his destiny, small as it was. The rest, if I had my way, he would never have to suffer through. Vladimir suddenly smirked at the man.
"If I am the Pravus, that means I'm a vampire." Of course he was quick enough to twist this to benefit him. "So, why aren't you taking me to be interviewed and tried for my crimes? Or do you plan to capture me and harvest my blood?" I suppressed a hiss as my fangs elongated against my will. No, I couldn't interfere, not yet.
"No. I have no plans to capture you. I cannot kill you by my hand, but by a wayward slayer's hand, I can. It's really quite simple. I must prove that you are the Pravus, and the only way to so that is to do what I can to kill you. You have what I want, and trying you before the council won't give it to me." And what exactly do you want? I thought. Vladimir mirrored the question.
"Ultimately? To take your place as the Pravus. But for that, I require three specific items… and, of course, your life." Vladimir stepped back and didn't respond to him. The man chuckled and spoke again. "If you are the Pravus, as I believe that you are, I will require your life to perform a very special ritual. First, of course, I must locate the precise instructions for performing that last part of the ritual. If you manage to survive tonight, I'll be back to collect you. After all, I'm ill equipped to care for a prisoner. Until the time when I discover the passage I'm seeking. It may take years. Though I hope it will be much sooner." I could have laughed at the sheer ridiculousness of what he was proposing. This was the kind of stupidity one acquires from understanding only a fraction of the stories. "It's not a proven method, of course. But texts that I've studied over the years insist that once the ceremony is complete, I will be the one to reign over vampire kind and to enslave the human race, and you… you shall rot." We shall see about that.
He gestured to the other boy, the one I had assumed was an ally. The slayer. "Our dear slayer here will try to take your life in a moment. If you live, we will have proven beyond all doubt that you are the Pravus. And the naysayers, the millions of vampires who insist that the prophecy is nothing but a fairytale, will at last become believers. Believers who will be forced to follow me as the new Pravus once I complete a ceremony that is already in the works. They will obey my law, my customs, without question. No more councils, paperwork, difficulty. I will rule over all vampires with an iron fist. If you die, I was wrong about you – a shame, really, but nothing I'll feel condolences for. Either way, it is a win-win situation for me." I suppressed another hiss as my charge started to slowly back away.
"Otis said that you and my dad were friends," he eventually stated, still retreating. The man laughed humorlessly, his eyes cold.
"We were. But Tomas is dead. What greater gift can I give him but to send him his own son?" This time I wasn't quick enough to stop the growl from escaping my throat, but no one in the clearing noticed. Another man stepped into the light, coming to stand beside his employer. Vladimir kept the conversation going, and I could see he was trying to keep the others talking to buy himself time.
"How did you know Joss would bring me here?" Joss must have been the slayer, for he jumped slightly at the sound of his name.
"You act as if planting suggestions in the mind of a human is complicated. It isn't. Neither is blocking from his thoughts the fact that Jasik and I are of the same species that he is hunting, or keeping him in check during our little reunion." It brought me no comfort to know that this Joss was not acting of his own will. He was going to try and harm my charge, and that was unforgivable. Vladimir didn't give up.
"So why did you wait all year long? It's not like Bathory is a metropolis. I'm not exactly hard to find." The second man, Jasik, sighed impatiently as his master continued to humor the boy.
"Though you are of the most importance, sire, it was necessary for my being healed and regaining my presidency. However, if I take the council nine months of logs documenting the procedures and locations of the Slayer Society, they will warm up to me, I assure you." He was clearly losing patience in the conversation.
"Don't you find any irony in a vampire sucking up?" I smirked, though I seemed to be the only one who found it funny.
"Enough of this! It's time to face your destiny, Vladimir Todd." My charge took something out of his pocket, aiming it at his tormentor.
"Not so fast," he said, earning only a laugh.
"You should have listened to your uncle's warning concerning taking the Lucis with you everywhere, Vladimir. For all you know, some rogue vampire could easily steal his way into your room one day while you were studying human biology, and pluck it from atop your dresser. And if he was cunning, he might replace the real Lucis with a fake one so as not to raise suspicions." Idiot! Vladimir lost the Lucis?! I fumed as he asked the slayer something I couldn't hear. Joss said nothing in return, but stared hard at the symbol on his so called friend's wrist. Finally he spoke, dropping his pack to pull out a wooden box.
"All this time you pretended to be my friend, and you were one of them, Vlad?" He said as the box opened with a barely audible snick. I knew what was coming, and by the look in Vladimir's eyes as he spotted the silver stake, he did as well. The slayer continued. "I don't want to do this. You have no idea how difficult your death will be to explain to Henry." Movement caught my eye from the first man, and I noted carefully which pocket he dropped the real Lucis into.
"That's two of the three items. And the third we'll collect soon enough." The slayer lifted the stake to lay a killing blow, but just as it came down, Vladimir spoke up.
"Henry knows." Those two simple words were enough to freeze Joss.
"What? What do you mean? You told him I was a slayer?" he exclaimed in panic. I stifled my laughter as I crept silently towards the man who initiated this whole ordeal.
"He knows I'm a vampire. He's known since we were eight. He keeps my secret for me – Nelly does, too. So you see, no one in Bathory was ever in danger from me. I drink donated blood, and never from the source. I know you think that vampires are evil monsters, but I'm not. I'm different." By now I was behind the two men, though I kept inside the trees for the time being. The slayer shook his head in doubt.
"You're lying. Henry tells me everything."
"Not this." There was silence for a moment, then, "If you kill me, Henry will find out that you're a slayer. Your whole family will find out."
"I can live with that – but you won't." He lunged at Vladimir, just missing as the other boy jumped away.
"You don't have to do this, Joss. Think about it. Who's the real monster here? It's D'Ablo that set this up. You and I are friends." The slayer would not be budged.
"You're a bloodsucker, and I can't let you live," he said as he lifted a vile of clear liquid. But he hesitated, which gave Vladimir time to push the matter.
"You'd kill me just because some guy told you to? Some guy who is, by the way, a vampire." And a sorry excuse for one at that, I thought as I moved closer, still listening intently.
"I'm doing this because it's the right thing to do. I don't give a damn what he is. This is beyond duty, Vlad. Now it's personal." I silently scoffed as he threw the vile at my charge. I could tell it was holy water from here. Of course, it couldn't really harm Vladimir, and he was obviously thinking along the same lines.
"Just so you know," he said, "the cross won't work either. They're myths – kinda like how all vampires are evil." The slayer's jaw clenched tight as he held up the stake again.
"But this will."
"You think you know so much about me, about those like me. But you don't. You just think we are mindless, heartless monsters. But we aren't. We're people, Joss. With family, friends, ideas, lives! Just like humans, there are bad vampires." Vladimir gestured towards D'Ablo as he said this. "But we're not all like that. I'm not like that."
"You think you're the only one betrayed here, Vlad? You're lying to everyone! No one in Bathory knows what a killer you are!" At this my charge ripped the stake out of Joss's hand and threw it down.
"How can you be my friend one minute and my enemy the next? That's not right! It's not fair! Vampire or not, I'm still the same person I was yesterday, the same friend you asked to come with you tonight. I haven't changed, Joss. Why have you?" His eyes, now tinged violet, showed clearly the anger and hurt he felt towards the slayer. "I'm not a killer."
Joss paled as he noticed Vladimir's eyes. "I've never seen purple eyes before. Not even on a vampire. What kind of monster are you?" He whispered fearfully. A single tear slid down his former friend's face, a sign of weakness. He didn't seem to notice.
You don't have to do this. You won't be killing a monster. You'd be murdering a friend. Please... don't." By now I was slipping the Lucis, unnoticed, out of D'Ablo's pocket. "I know it's been tough moving around, trying to make new friends. Well, you made one in me, Joss. We're friends." The slayer's face shone with determination as he brought the stake down, piercing Vladimir's heart. My chest exploded with the pain he felt, and I struggled to move through my panic. But I wasn't strong enough to withhold the scream that bubbled from my lips as he fell, and both vampires before me swiveled around.
I acted quickly, dodging both of their attacks and spinning around them. Jasik lunged towards me, only to meet my claw-like fingers through his stomach. I swiftly pulled him forward, tearing his head off with my fangs before tossing him to the ground. D'Ablo turned and fled as I finished with his mercenary, but the agony surging through my body was enough to convince me against chasing after him. I had to help Vladimir.
The slayer had noticed me by now, and was coming at me full force with the bloodied stake bared. A snarl ripped it's way from my chest as I grabbed his arm, twisting him around until the tainted point was pressed against his own throat.
"I don't have time for this, slayer," I hissed in his ear. "If you really want to do something useful, burn the body. I'm sure you'll be informed when Vladimir wakes up." He had the audacity to contradict me.
"No one could possibly wake up from that. Vlad is dead, leech." A single harsh, humorless chuckle escaped my lips.
"You'd be surprised. Now do as you're told." And I shoved him away, calling through my mind for help from the other vampires I could sense approaching. I knew them, they were friends of Tomas Todd, Vladimir's father. I had already gotten more involved than I wished, but now that I was, there was no going back. It was my duty to help Vladimir in any way I could.
The others spotted me as they entered the clearing, but they were too preoccupied with my charge to question me. I followed them through the forest after the Russian man stooped to carry the fallen boy. They were in just as much of a panic as I was, though they couldn't feel the pain I shared with Vladimir. By the time we reached a black vehicle, I could already smell the smoke coming from the mercenary's scorching remains.
Only when we arrived at a brightly lit building that I knew to be a hospital did the older men truly take notice of me, but they said nothing until after my charge was put under the knife. I felt every slice and puncture the doctors gave to him, but I kept silent about the pain, knowing it was the only way to make him heal. At least until he woke up, and could receive blood again.
Soon enough, the Russian vampire cornered me. I stood my ground as we stared each other down, literally for him as he was quite a bit taller than me. Or course, I could have dispatched of him as easily as I had Jasik, but he was an ally, and my dear Vladimir needed all of the help he could get at the moment, especially with the ruthless bastard D'Ablo still running loose in the streets. I mentally cursed the young slayer for causing me to allow his escape.
"So, Lyubov, how did you get involved with our Vlad?" Vikas, as I remembered to be his name, finally spoke. I found it strange that he would be more curious of my involvement in the recent events, rather than my identity. I let it slide, however, when I realized that I would do the same had I been in his position.
"Does it really matter, Sir? I am here to help him. That should be enough for you." He stared at me for a moment longer, then broke out in a large grin.
"Aye, Lyubov. You are completely right, and I thank you for your assistance in these matters. However, I am curious. Vlad has never spoken of such a sharp young woman as yourself, and I have never seen you before. What is your name?" My features were, as usual, carefully expressionless, and I thanked the Gods for my ability to think through the pain as I spoke with the large vampire.
"I am Nyssa. It's a pleasure to meet you, Sir." By now the other, Otis, had wandered over to us, and was listening. He laughed at my answer.
"My dear, there is no need to address either of us as Sir. I am Otis, and this is Vikas. I assume that you know Vladimir." Both men sobered at the reminder of their student. Suddenly, I felt the sensation of needles pricking at my torso, closing a wound that wasn't really there. My gaze shifted to the door through which my charge had been taken, and I knew he would be alright from that point.
"The doctors are almost finished. Vladimir will be out soon, but I doubt he'll wake up tonight." I stated quietly, glancing back at the men. Both gave me a strange look, as though I shouldn't have known such things. I didn't bother trying to contradict them; they were right. However, if I had been a normal vampire, I never would have been in that clearing to monitor the first Pravus, and then the Lucis would have been in the hands of D'Ablo. At this thought, my hand slipped to my coat pocket, where the thin tube rested. It heated slightly as my fingertips brushed the symbols. Of course, I could have used it to kill the bastard, but I was panicked at the time.
Our eyes snapped to the door as it opened, revealing an unconscious and very pale Vladimir being wheeled into a room. At the same time, three more people entered the lobby of the hospital, each in a unique form of distress. I recognized the woman as Vladimir's aunt, Nelly. She was sobbing into her hands, staring at the limp form of her nephew. The other two were boys, both whom I knew of. Henry, my charge's drudge, and consequentially his best friend, was a welcome face among the crowd. His cousin's smug but fearful countenance, on the other hand, made my blood boil.
I allowed the others to pass me without a word, but when they had all disappeared into a room around the corner, I stepped in front of the slayer and slammed him against the wall. His eyes widened slightly, but he had the dignity to not make a sound. I glared at him, my fangs elongated, until he started to shake in my grasp.
"Let's get one thing straight, you and I," I growled quietly, "I despise slayers. Especially those who encroach on my territory. And as of now, that includes Vladimir Todd. If you ever again come near him with the intention you had tonight, I will not hesitate to hunt you down and rip you limb from limb. Is that clear, McMillan?" The frightened boy was now hanging a foot off of the ground, me gripping him by his shirt collar. He was still shaking, but he didn't stutter as he answered me.
"Crystal."