Rumpelstiltskin stared at the two standing across from him. Monster hunters by the look of them….and smell (okay, they weren't that bad, but he noticed). No one else would go after someone like that monster. So, what did he have here? The man wasn't much to look at. He was there to be all brawn, he stood at 6-foot-tall with a neck so thick that it obviously had no trouble holding his head up. The woman that called herself Mina Harker was who he had his eyes on. She was the leader of this two-man anti Dracula army, she'd pulled a gun on him and thought she could shoot him faster than he could summon the gun away. He didn't want anything to do with this. He knew young hunters, he knew their arrogance. Many had tried and failed to come after him after all. This could be easily dealt with, He turned these two into rats, and go about his night.
But Dracula. Rumpelstiltskin hadn't…. officially….met him but he'd heard enough to make his blood run cold.
"Dracula's dead," he stated simply. He knew that, everyone in his circles knew that.
She scoffed, "How would you know?"
"I know," he looked into her brown eyes and studied her closer. She'd been at this hunting business awhile, the ones that lasted past five years or so had that same dead haunted look that she had, "I know who did it. I oversaw it done."
It'd been 35 years ago, but he'd seen it done. He knew the bastard was burned and scattered
"And how is that I wonder?" she asked bitterly, "Since this evil queen's curse landed you here 28 years ago? What, were you making vacation trips nine years ago? I bloody well don't remember you!"
He froze at that. How could that be? Had Dracula come back? But they'd defeated him! They'd been sure of it, that monster couldn't hurt anyone else after they dealt with him.
He looked her over, "What business do YOU have with Dracula."
Rumpelstiltskin watched every muscle in her body go rigid, "Making sure he stays dead this time."
"Seems to be a task easier said than done."
"Clearly," she muttered.
The man she was with, the man both were ignoring shuffled, "Why are you trusting him?"
"Thomas," she warned.
"He just said he knew who Dracula was. He could be lying to us. Setting us all up to be the creature's dinner."
"Easy there, I have no love for that demon," Rumpelstiltskin hissed, "I have known many evil beings in my time but he surpasses even me."
"We need the globe," Mina reminded him.
He wanted to pull it out immediately but this woman was giving him more questions than answers. And his pride was getting in the way. After all, he wasn't scared of a small gun. But the fact was she thought herself invincible enough to put it to his head when he was defending his own shop.
"And why should I give it to you?" he snarled, "Perhaps it's not for sale."
"I'm not looking to take it, I just need to use it," she said again.
"Why should I waste that time?"
"It doesn't have to be your wasted time, you can go home and go to bed," she said simply
"And trust two hunters in MY shop near MY magic and MY precious belongings? Dearie, who do you think I am? If you two don't steal my wands, you'll steal my Mickey Mouse phone. And I need that."
Meathead glanced at them, "Why should a mouse have a phone?"
Oh wonderful, they were new to ALL this!
"I don't have the globe."
"Research says differently," Mina told him, "I traced it to your Cora and she came here and had the fortune for us to die. And so, since this is a bloody pawn shop, I can't bring myself to believe you'd toss away a locator globe. Unless you have something more powerful for locating If that's the case, may we see that then?"
"It won't even work for you."
"It will," she told him with terse confidence, like she knew where this was about to go and she didn't want it to.
"The ones that can find something based on this globe are linked by blood."
"I'm aware of that."
"So, are you going to tell me you're related then?"
She went pale. She gripped the table like she was either holding on or holding herself back. Her eyes went from holding annoyance to revealing a dangerous rage, "His blood runs in my veins, but not in the way one might automatically guess, but if you DO know Dracula, I'm sure you can put it together."
Rumple deflated a little as he was putting together more of what was going on. She was marked then. He'd forced her to drink blood and somehow, they'd stopped it nine years ago. And they killed him, or so they thought.
"You alright, dearie?" he asked a bit softly, far more than a trigger happy hunter would deserve, "Turning is a rough process."
She shrank a little in his gaze, and chose to look over his shoulder than at him, "I know."
"But it was stopped?"
She nodded and managed to look back into his eyes, "Please. Let me see the globe. You know very clearly what he is. I can't not know."
"You pulled a gun on me," he reminded her stubbornly, "How do I know you won't do something that insane again? I'll not be your hostage to get to do what you want."
"I don't want you as a hostage," she told him, "I have the feeling you'd be a terrible one."
Meathead snickered behind him and Rumple wished he could turn him into a rat without getting shot by Mrs. Trigger Happy.
Belle gave him this jacket.
She was about to speak again when he heard the familiar sound of a baby started crying in the backroom. Mina stopped, her eyes grew. He saw the wheels turning in her mind as she looked towards the back curtain and then towards him.
"Well, that's very interesting," he smirked.
Meathead pulled out his gun, Rumple waved it away without even looking. Gods, he hoped Meathead wasn't the father. That poor kid.
"Don't," she warned.
"It clearly wants its mother," he smirked wider.
"I WILL shoot you."
He waved his hand; The gun was forced by her side, "Let's go meet the little darling!"
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Things were quiet at the diner for the past two months, Red was extremely grateful for that. Her grandmother was as gruff and demanding as ever but there was something different in her eyes, a spark lost. They didn't talk about it, Red didn't know what to say. But it was there.
It was in a lot of faces now that had that same look. Mr. Dark had won in a lot of ways, he'd taken a part of them figuratively. A lot of them would never be like they were. It broke Red to know her grandmother might be one of them.
She heard the door start to ring that night and turned, 'Sorry, we're clos-."
She stopped when she saw her ex. Regina still looked good, and Red felt her body start to arouse itself with desire but at the same time her stomach clenched and her heart started racing. It used to be that Regina didn't like 'no' for an answer. Graham learned that the hard way. And here Red was...all by herself late at night with no one here to help her unless someone heard her from the inn.
"Hi Red," Regina started and didn't move from the entrance. Studying her with as much apprehension as Red had in HER eyes.
"Regina."
"I don't want trouble," Regina said gently, "I couldn't sleep. I just saw you in the window and maybe thought we could talk."
"No one can these days," Red still found it hard to relax, not after what she learned. But it'd been two months since they talked last. They had to figure this out sometime, "Beer?"
Regina made a face, "You know me better than that. I can summon some wine."
"Sure, that'd be great."
Regina summoned a battle and two glasses. Red took out a corkscrew, uncorked the bottle, and poured them both something to drink.
"You look good," Regina started.
"You look good too," Red told her. God, how did she talk to an ex? She never had one before, "Haven't seen you though, in two months."
"I didn't know if you'd want to see me."
"It varies," Red told her honestly
Regina looked hurt and took a sip of her drink, "I suppose that's understandable. I knew you'd look at me the way you do now, I've kept a wide berth. I can't bear the thought of you looking at me like most of the rest of them do."
"The people you tormented."
Regina frowned and put the glass down, "I'm reminded of that every day, Red. And I know you probably think I should constantly be reminded. What I did was reprehensible."
"It was enslavement."
"You didn't care about it those nights we were sleeping together."
"I thought you'd changed."
"I have."
"You've kept some really dark secrets," Red spat. She forced herself to calm down and looked at her, "Were you really ever going to tell me?"
"I don't know," Regina admitted quietly after she hesitated, "I thought...I thought since I was moving on and being better, it wouldn't matter. I could tell you later. Then it...we were sleeping together and falling in love. And the right time to tell you most of what I've done came and went. I was scared to lose you. There are two people I can't bear the lose; My son and you. You two are it, you're the only two that truly matter to me."
"And Emma."
"Emma is neither here nor there, she's Henry's other's mother and we have a working relationship. I know what I did to her, I know what I took from her. But she may tolerate me, but she won't look at me the way I want her to. Too much has happened between us. She may give me my chances, maybe more than she thinks I deserve...but she'll never fully trust me. Not really. I didn't want that for you and me."
"But by not telling me things like that…. I can't trust you."
"I know, that's the unwinnable thing, isn't it? My sins have come back to haunt me."
"You haven't hit rock bottom, you know. You do have a support system.'
"Who? Snow? She wants to believe in the best because it's easier but she doesn't understand how hard it is. That darkness always wants me to take what I want to be mine. But I can't, because then I know I'll lose it. And I know that's not the right answer. I know I shouldn't want to take the darkness back because it's the right thing to refuse it. But that's the problem, Red. I don't care what the right thing is. Ever since I lost Daniel, I just stopped caring. And no matter how much I want to, no matter how hard I try...I can't make myself care."
Red sighed and reached for the bottle, "So, in other words, another round then."
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Rumpelstiltskin noted immediately that Harker had put pillows in a cradle he'd been working on for Charming and Snow and placed the baby inside to sleep. Better than the cot he supposed. The baby could roll off. He was glad the mother had THAT much common sense but one never knew when it came to unwashed masses called monster hunters.
"Well, isn't she divine," he cooed and looked at her dark hair and blue eyes that didn't match her mother's brown ones. Mina moved around him, tucked the gun into the waistband at the small of her back and picked the child up, purposefully blocking his view "And what's a hunter doing with a child in a life like she leads?"
"It's not like that," Mina snapped and rubbed the baby's back until she settled down.
He took in the child. Girl obviously, the mother had her in pink. She had dark hair and blue eyes. She couldn't be more than three or four months.
"Please tell me your hovering dunderhead companion isn't the father," he muttered.
"Hey!" Meathead protested, "Keep your distance. If you touch them-."
Rumple scoffed and waved him away. Magic would take him to the toll bridge where he'd have a time of it coming back. Meathead wasn't his concern, what the Harker woman had to say WAS.
But waving him away made her jump, she pulled out the gun from where she'd put it at the small of her back and aimed it at him.
"Oh stop, that can't hurt me. He'll be fine." Rumple waved his hand, summoning two chairs and the globe, "Now let's talk."
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Two months and Emma still didn't know anything of what she was doing.
Mr. Dark had been the least of her problems. There was a new baby in the house that wouldn't sleep past two hours. A baby that her parents got to love and pour their hopes and dreams into. Who got everything she never would in a relationship with her parents. She never got that as a child. She just had to take what relationship they'd developed 29 years later.
She'd also spent 2 months of living in fear that Regina might regress again. What Emma had seen Regina do was irredeemable. It was unforgivable what she'd done to all of them. And Emma wanted nothing more than to take Henry and remove him from Regina's possible influence. Regina hadn't expressed any remorse for what she did. How was she supposed to teach Henry to have morals when she felt nothing?
But Regina hadn't regressed. She took her time with biting remarks but not much else. Emma was hoping it'd be the end of it. She wasn't sure when she'd lift the supervised visits, it felt half assed anyway. They all deserved better than just limited visits with Regina's son when they were all dead. But she didn't know what to do. Anything else would be full out war with Regina and they were lucky to survive the last time.
But she had to give Regina a chance, because Regina hadn't regressed. Emma could see she was trying. But what about the people she hurt?
Mr. Dark's mocking words about helping abusers over victims played in her mind daily...and nightly, they haunted most of her dreams
And then there was Bae, who kept his distance and waited. Emma couldn't believe she was stressed out by the fact he was respecting her wishes. But she knew he was waiting for something, anything. Acceptance? Rejection? "Not Now" was just the same as not knowing and that ate away at a person.
But her biggest problem and worry was her son. This was the third time he'd nearly died. Emma knew it affected him, and why shouldn't it? It would affect anyone. But he didn't want to talk about it, and therapy was almost like bathing a cat. The only reason he went to a couple of meetings was because Regina set an example by going to some herself. Another reason why she was allowed visitation. She was also concerned and trying to help.
He wouldn't talk. They always talked but this time he was quiet. And Emma didn't know what to do.
So, when the baby woke up crying and Emma didn't want to lay there thinking about these things beyond her control or wish to control, she'd quietly dress and use her magic to slip out into the night.
Sometimes she went to the inn to sleep, Red or Granny always kept a constant vigil. But other times she just wandered around town. On most nights, she just ended up in the pawn shop for a nightcap. She'd also seen the horrors Rumpelstiltskin did to everyone when he took the Dark Curse in that mirror maze. But with him, there was no pressure to forgive him or hear how he'd changed. He just…was. And there was an understanding. Rumpelstiltskin also had problems in getting Baelfire to talk to him, and at the most, he didn't judge her decisions. He knew how it was, he saw how hard things were for her, and all he did was pour her a drink and they didn't talk about it. He didn't tell her most nights he didn't sleep either, whether that was the Dark One curse or his year in the carnival she didn't know. He never divulged it.
So, when she passed by his shop for a quick drink and noticed the lights where on and Rumpelstiltskin was talking with an unfamiliar woman holding a baby. She wouldn't have said anything, that was their business. But when she saw the gun on the table, she immediately walked in. There was a baby there, she had to protect the infant.
"Sheriff Swan," Rumpelstiltskin greeted with that snakey smile he was so good at.
"Gold," Emma greeted and focused more on the miserable looking woman holding the baby. She saw the globe too. The plot thickened, "Everything okay?"
"Well, I suppose that depends on our visitor," he told her, "This is Mina Harker."
Emma's eyes grew a bit, "Like...Dracula "Mina Harker?"
"I'm famous then," Mina noted, no pride in her voice.
"Not in the ways you'd probably recognize," Rumpelstiltskin assured her.
Emma was so confused, "What's going on?"
"Well, I was about to get my questions answered but now I really wanna know how you know who Dracula and Mina Harker are," Rumple stated, "It's petty but I'm curious."
"I had a foster dad who liked old movies, I used to watch some. But how can this work? How is she…here? I saw it when I was like 10!"
"How does this world know any of our inaccurate stories before we arrived?" Rumpelstiltskin asked and summoned a third chair, "It's alright dearie, sit down, No one's going to torture you terribly now that the savior's here."
"Piss off," the hunter snarled at him.
He smirked and then grew serious, "She thinks Dracula's alive."
"Ookay?"
"He was supposed to be dead 8 years ago," Mina told her.
"And 35 years ago," Rumpelstiltskin said simply to Mina's obviously confusion.
"So, in other words, the other shoe is finally dropped in our little two-month paradise," she muttered.
"That's the simplest explanation, yes," Rumpelstiltskin said and put his hand on the globe to spin it, "But we don't even know if he's alive or not, that's what we were just about to do."
Mina braced herself and put the baby in her arms in the cradle next to her. She took off her black glove and hesitated.
"Afraid of a pinch, dearie?" he tilted his head.
"I'm worried about what else may be on there."
"Nothing. you're quite safe."
Emma studied him, realized he was probably telling the truth and nodded when the woman looked at her for assurance. She watched the woman prick her finger and let the blood drip on the globe. The blood on the globe swirled and formed a very familiar map.
Storybrooke.
Dracula was here in Storybrooke.
"Shit," Mina whispered.
Emma felt her blood run cold. Surely, they'd had enough, it'd been two months and none of them were even recovered! How much more could they possibly take? How much longer until was over.
"Well, that's that then" Rumpelstiltskin poured three glasses. Emma could see he was pale and shaking too, like he knew something. And if he knew Dracula...if he was this worried about him, then they should all be afraid.
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"You were the one," Regina said as they sat at one of the booths. Red fired up the grill and made them both a very very very early breakfast in order to absorb some of the alcohol, "I knew it when we were in the dark castle."
Red smiled, "Those were passionate times."
Regina smirked, "Almost every night. Three or four times."
"Once was six."
"I remember that night," Regina looked at her juice and clearly wished it was wine, "I didn't want it to end. I didn't want...anything about us to end."
"I didn't want it to either."
Regina seemed relieved to hear that, Her hand went to hold Red's "I love you. I always have, since we got together."
"I love you too," Red told her and tried to ignore her body, "But I can't abide by what you did. You need to understand how terrible it actually was."
"All I know is every time I try to be good, it backfires. I lost Daniel. My mother came back and manipulated me. I lost you and my visits to my son are supervised. Tell me, what does being good, get me?"
"Generally? Not much. Because I've been good and I've lost a whole lot too. Some of that was because of you. But that's not the point. We don't be good for the rewards. We're supposed to be good because it's right."
Regina sighed and rested the heels of her hands against her eyes, "You forget I didn't …. get the same upbringing that you did."
"I haven't forgotten. I remember the glimpses of how Cora treated you quite well."
"Glimpses, yes. But you weren't there," Regina said quietly, "I was a princess for a while before we lost that due to my mother's thirst for power. And then we were high ranking nobles because my mother made sure we didn't sink to anything lower than that. She taught me to take what I was after. That I was entitled to whatever I wanted. I learned that before I could walk. My father tried to soften the blow. He tried to teach me morals but my mother thought that was coddling. I did have some...before Daniel died. He helped me, so did my father but….my mother was very strong. She taught me to take and so I took. And it worked for me for a very long time. I've hurt people, Red. Men, women, and children are dead and were enslaved because of me. I took so many hearts I lost count. And I can try and try to be good and feel regret but we both know I can't force it. If it does happen, it'll happen when it's ready. And that might be years from now."
"But until that happens, I'm not comfortable being with you."
"And what if its not now or years? What if it never happens?"
"If you've changed as much as you claim you have...I fully believe it can happen. I saw you struggle that year up in the mountains, but I saw the gradual changes. I think you're giving yourself too little credit in not fully regretting what you've done. I think you can. But you have to change for you, you can't change because Henry will tolerate you, or because I'll get with you again. You have to change because it's right. You have to do it for you."
"How can I do that when there's no one there?" Regina demanded bitterly, "You've left me, Henry's visits are supervised by Emma or the sperm donor. I don't have anyone to support me."
"Snow supports you."
"Yeah but she doesn't understand."
"It's still support," Red leaned forward, "And….and just because we're broken up doesn't mean I don't still support you. I want you to succeed, Regina. I want you to find your redemption. And you know your son supports you, so does Emma. She wants you to be the best you can be for everyone as well. Henry's happiness depends on it."
Regina sighed, "I have to unlearn everything my mother taught me."
"That's as good a place to start as any," Red told her, "Better even."
Regina bent down and pressed her lips on the back of Red's hand, "Being better's hard."
"I know." Red told her and stroked her hair when Regina rested her forehead on Red's hand, "But it's rewarding in the end. We don't usually get much, but those moments we all have together…. they're memorable. They're worth it. Every bit of them."
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"Does this thing pinpoint his exact location?" Mina asked, she kept looking at the globe from different angles.
"No," Rumpelstiltskin set all three glasses down, "Now you're going to tell us everything you know. Because I'm no fool dearie, I know you didn't just HAPPEN to stumble here with your child in search of the beast that also happens to be here. You're here to hunt."
"No," she flinched.
"You should be ashamed of yourself, bring a child into this hunting world to hunt your enemy."
"I didn't come here to hunt him, I came to seek your help!" she snapped, "I didn't bring him here, I didn't chase him here. He came of his own free will and I tracked him. I had to! Because if I don't, and he gets at full strength, then he's coming after me. And He's coming after my daughter. That cannot happen. Once he's at his full strength, I can't stop him. So, I'm here to make sure we all get the advantage in getting our common enemy destroyed."
He tensed. He didn't want this anymore than Emma did. But if it truly wasn't her fault …. they might have an advantage, "He's weak?"
She nodded, sat down, and took the drink in her hands. Without a word, she drained the whole glass. A few minutes passed as she readied herself, "He tried to turn me eight years ago, to be a vampire like he had done at least three other women before me. It was a slow turn, an agonizing one. I had no control, I saw the darkness closing in and all I could think about was the thirst. My husband, my friends….and a professor named Van Helsing could only watch until they discovered...that perhaps if they killed the bastard, they could save me. So…. we went. My turning was nearly complete when we got there, I was no help to anyone. I was more monster than me by that point….so they put me in a circle with charms and herbs to hold me there so I couldn't hurt anyone and the bastard and his three wives couldn't take ME."
Rage took over her features, and shame, "I could do nothing as my husband tried to stand up for me when he came down the mountain. He ripped Jonathan's throat out right in front of me. I was lucid. I saw the whole thing and thanks to my…. very advanced abilities at the time, I remember the sounds, the smells, the sight of it…. everything."
Emma felt her heart break, she wasn't sure what to say. What did one say after that that didn't sound so empty? So, she just let her continue.
"We killed him, or so we thought," the grief and rage took her voice then, "But it appears Jonathan died for bloody nothing."
She slammed the glass down angrily and put her head in her hands.
Gold was tense, but Emma saw him force himself to relax as he went to sit next to her, "And you hunted?"
"No one believed me," she put her hands down, her eyes were red, "They said…. they said- they said it was some foreign disease. Like my husband had when all this mess started and he'd gone to visit Dracula's castle on business and came back half mad. Bloody hell, if I'd believed him…. this trouble could've all been avoided. So, I hunted for eight years, until I got pregnant with Elizabeth. And I was bloody settled down. I was doing it for HER. And then the dreams came back. Not the ones I usually had but ones like the dreams I used to have when we were psychically linked. And so, I did my research and I knew it was possible he MIGHT be here. But so was the Dark One. and so was the globe. I had to know for sure. You think I want to be within five feet of that monster for what he did? I don't….and at the same time I want to be the one to rip his throat out. But I have my daughter now. And since his vampire blood is dormant in my veins, I worry he'll want my child and that cannot happen. I have to strike when he's weaker. It'll be impossible when he's at full strength, he's at least 5000 years old."
"Indeed," Rumpelstiltskin said and looked at Emma, "He'll be looking for revenge, we need to keep Mrs. Harker and her child safe until he can be located. She cannot stay in the inn. There are too many ways in."
"I can talk to my parents," Emma said quickly, "We can probably take you in."
"In your little apartment? I think not! It's cramped enough already."
"And the look you two were giving each other, I don't think trust is established yet. It's not like she's living with YOU," Emma snapped, "She stays with me until we can get our feet on the ground and figure things out."
"I barely even know who you are," Mina said.
"I'm the savior," Emma told her, and tried not to show her slight excitement as she realized what this woman being here meant. The Dracula stuff…. that was going to be a new stress in her life but the hunter here, the hunter saved people too. She knew the blessings and burdens that came with that. Maybe she could even understand, ""My lifetime destiny to save people, just like you."
"I'm not a savior," Mina muttered, "I've saved a whole lot of people I suppose, but-"
"You are a savior then!" Emma told her as if it settled it.
"There's a difference between her being a savior and you being THE savior," Rumple told her, which she just ignored.
"We have baby things," Emma told her, "Food, diapers, bassinets, toys…unlimited suppy. We have it"
"Where is she going to sleep, dearie? That wicker loveseat?"
Emma still ignored him. She was the savior, she could keep the baby safe. She could keep them all safe. There were still a lot of holes to fill in and Emma wanted to hear this all again away from the stress this woman probably felt at having the Dark One standing over her.
"What about my colleague?" Mina shot an accusatory glance at Rumple.
"He can take an inn room, he'll be fine," Rumple saved a hand, "But Emma's right, you'll be safe there. Her magic's more powerful than mine."
"And why are you so interested in helping me?" Mina asked her.
"Because I was taken away as a child," Emma told her, "My brother nearly was two months ago. I've lost my son more than I care to admit. And I'm not going to let anyone come back in here and try the same with your child and you. Not in my town, not again."
Mr. Dark and his mirror maze played over and over in her mind.
"We gotta go talk to my parents," Emma said.
"And then we must talk to Regina," Gold told her.
Emma tensed. And she saw Mina straighten in her chair as well. The look in her eyes told Emma that she knew ALL about Regina already.
"We'll talk about that later," Emma told him.
"It's all magic beings on deck, dearie. She has to know."
"I said, LATER," Emma went to open the door, "One group at a time."
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It was getting a bit too warm in the diner, so Red went to walk Regina home. Some would figure Red was setting herself up for that old trap but Red felt she was made of stronger stuff than that.
"Has there been anyone since we broke up?" Regina asked.
"Some interested," Red admitted.
"Oh," Regina started.
Red glanced over, and added quickly, "I don't want them though."
"Why not? They're normal healthy individuals."
Red stopped outside the gate leading to Regina's house, "Because they're not you."
"That'd be the faster reason to get with them."
Red shook her head, "Don't you get it? It's not just that you think I'm the one for you. I think you're the one for me. If it's not you, then I don't care. I don't love anyone else like that. That year was everything for me."
Regina shuffled and looked down, "You can date who you want. I don't want your pity."
"Who says it's pity?" Red asked, "I believe you can find redemption. I just told you that. I love you. I want to be with you again, and I want to support you as you find that path you've set out on. You're my true love, I love you."
"Then come back to me!" Regina snapped, "Help me figure this out. I can't do it alone while you hold me at arm's length! I can't do it while I barely see my son."
"And I can't handhold you all the way, neither can your son. He's not even 14. You can't expect him to have that responsibility. You have to stand up and do it yourself while we support you."
"What if I can't?"
Red sighed, "I think we both know that can't be an option."
Regina frowned and looked back towards the house, "I'd ask you to come in."
"I'd want to, but I'd refuse."
Regina bit the inside of her cheek, "Thought that might be the case. Anytime you're willing. I'll refuse everyone else for you too, though I doubt there'd be many genuine takers. The door's always open."
"I know. Goodnight Regina," Red told her, "Or…. good morning, more like."
Regina smiled, "Goodnight Red."
They turned to go their separate ways when four figures approached them. Regina took a step back but sighed when she saw it was Rumple, Emma, and a woman she didn't recognize holding a baby, "What?"
Red stopped too.
Gold drew in a breath, "We have a problem."
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"Dracula?" Snow exclaimed.
They were all there packed in this little room. Rumple had even roused Belle and Neal to get them to come. So, it was everyone: Emma, Regina, Snow, Charming; who held her new brother Christoph, henry, Regina, Red, Belle, Neal, and Mina Harker also holding her daughter. This meeting should've been an hour ago, but Mina had refused until she made sure they found her friend and seen that he was alright. Then under her orders, he reluctantly went to the inn to rest and get their supplies ready.
"Has anyone noticed people turning up missing?" Charming asked.
"He doesn't work like that," Mina told them, "He can feed on someone for months and hypnotize him to forget about it. No one would notice anything but an ache, a cut they can easily explain away."
"Oh...well...simple then...go around at night looking in windows until we see him feeding and then trap him in the day until he dies," Regina shrugged.
Mina was confused, "What?"
"Daytime doesn't kill Dracula," Rumpelstiltskin told them, "that's a myth for this world."
"AND our job now becomes harder," Bae said.
"I can do some research, see if there's any way to kill him that everyone's missed...at least twice," Belle offered
Emma nodded, "Guys, this is important. He's dangerous. If you see anyone acting suspiciously, you need to tell me. We're going to have to alert the town tomorrow."
"They're going to be frantic," Regina told her.
"I know. But they have to know."
"I have some memories of what Dracula looks like," Rumple told them, "Bae, if you will in the morning, we can make a sketch. And Mrs. Harker here can add to it, I'm sure all I remember is the very basics."
"I'll increase the patrols," Charming said, and looked at Mina more than anyone else, "He's in this town, we'll find him."
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"I thought this was done," Snow whispered as they climbed back in bed.
"I know, Snow."
"What's going to happen?" she demanded through frustrated tears, "Villain after villain comes to this town until we die or fate runs out of them?"
"Perhaps this time will be the last."
"The last time was supposed to be the last! How did they get in! They didn't come with us! And we put a cloak on the border…"
"I suspect a portal or something like that."
"I remember when getting to this world was supposed to be impossible."
"Me too," he muttered. But that'd changed since magic was brought here. Like a tunnel built in the mountain between two train stops and now it only took seconds to get from one point to another
"And Rumple's scared? And this hunter's scared? How are we supposed to take that? What if...what if one of us dies? What if both of us dies and our son doesn't have a parent?"
He put his hands on her shoulders. He knew this was coming. Since their son had been ripped away from them and nearly aged, Snow was so afraid of losing him, or him losing them. And why shouldn't she be? It happened with Emma, it nearly happened again with Christoph. What if that was their fate? What if it always course corrected and they lost their children?
It was a thought that terrified him too.
"It will work out," he whispered, "We have two people who've dealt with him before. Our daughter's the most powerful magical being here. We will be FINE."
"You can't know that."
"Maybe not. But I believe in what you taught me yourself and that's hope."
Snow hung her head and crumbled into tears, "I'm just….so tired."
"I know," he also felt it. Snow wasn't just talking about the physical exhaustion but the mental and emotional as well. HE wrapped his arms around her, "I'm exhausted too."
"I don't think I can do this again."
"I know," he told her again. He wrapped the covers around her and held her until she fell asleep, "But we have to."
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There wasn't going to be any sleeping in Rumple's house, he knew that as soon as he saw Belle get that determined glint in her eye. Bae looked blearily at them at the kitchen table. HE had some art supplies in front of him, ready to go.
"Vampires are monsters," He told them, "They're usually dangerous mindless animals that just want to drink and sate the thirst that can never be quenched. They live past the first few hundred years? They adapt become dangerous thinking animals, and that's what we have going on now. Dracula is the oldest vampire I know of. Which means that even as he's weak, he's stillgoing to be infinitely harder to kill."
"So, we have to kill him," Baelfire said, "No question."
He nodded, "Though I doubt our Mrs. Harker is going to give anyone a choice in the matter if anyone wanted otherwise."
"It'll darken her heart though," Belle said, "TO kill him out of vengeance."
"She's doing it to protect her daughter," Baelfire said.
"Some of her reasoning," Rumpelstiltskin said, "Not all of it. But I wouldn't worry about her heart darkening through this act, not really. She's a hunter. And since she's from another world...I imagine the rules are different for her. But given what she's probably had to do, given what she's seen…. I doubt another mark on it will mean that much difference to her."
"How many hunters' hearts have you seen up close to make that judgment?"
He stopped, he knew this was already a trap so he just kept it honest, "Enough."
Baelfire sighed. Rumple felt shame at the pain that always crossed his face when he saw what his father really was. He opened his sketchpad, "Let's get started."
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It would've been a REALLY good night for Regina to have Red over. And the way Red looked at her, she could tell Red was thinking the same. Red would've refused though, she had a stronger motivation than Regina. So instead of going home, Regina went to the old vault she hadn't visited in months. She pushed it as hard as she could to get the coffin moved and she walked down the stairs.
She hadn't been down here since the beginning of the second curse, she quite forgot part of this place existed until recently.
The hearts started beating louder as she approached. Her vault. Where she ripped out so many hearts she lost count. Some had been returned upon their arrival back to the enchanted forest but not all of them. Regina had forgotten where she'd stored them. So, they all came here when the curse brought them back.
Without a word, she started stacking the boxes. They were to be returned. She would tell no one. Because if she wasn't going to learn instinctively what was right and wrong, then she supposed she was going to have to teach herself to return the hearts simply because it was the right thing to do.
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Emma took a glance at the hunter getting ready for bed. She wore a threadbare white gown that came to her knees, frayed at the bottom like she ripped the excess material away to allow better mobility for her legs.
Emma took a glance over to find Henry had gone back to bed. He'd been quiet throughout the meeting. Emma was going to talk to him tomorrow, push for therapy again.
There was really no place for the hunter to sleep except for next to Emma. She hadn't said anything when Emma admitted there was not much room despite the size of the apartment. She just asked for some privacy and changed into the gown and put her baby in the bassinet that Charming brought up for them.
Mina reached down to hold her baby's hand. The baby's blue eyes met hers and she smiled warmly at her daughter, probably for the first time since they all met.
"How old is she?"
"Five months," Mina told her and looked back as Emma crawled in the bed, "Thank you, sheriff. For offering all this."
"Call me Emma, and you're welcome. It's...no problem, really. I just…. I know what it's like to be targeted. I know what it's like to want to keep yourself and your child safe. No one really helped me when I was just starting out. I can certainly help you."
"Thank you all the same," she sighed and pulled back the covers, "I have nightmares, I should warn you."
"We all do."
"I'm in good company then," she pulled the warm covers over herself, "You're not a snuggler are you?"
Emma gave her a teasing smirk, "Only if my bed partner likes it."
Mina blinked, a bit shocked and gave a smirk, "Interesting."
"I hardly know you!" Emma pretended to be offended.
"The way you just talked, you were looking to change that in a biblical way," Mina turned off her lamp.
Emma smirked herself and stared up at the ceiling, "It's just venting."
"Getting out tension because of the carnival still?"
"You were here for that?" Emma asked shocked.
"No, but I've been here for four days learning all I can, I hear things. Plenty of things, far more than I wanted."
Emma thought of something, "Do I have to worry? About you and your partner taking more than just Dracula?"
Mina was quiet, like she was mulling it over, "No. What you do with this town and your villains is your business, unless they get in the way of what I'm here to do. Other than that, we have no problem."
"Good," Emma nodded, "Good."
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Alina was 4000 years old. Anyone that looked at her would know there was something off about the 40-year-old blonde haired blue eyed woman. She was elegant and dignified like someone in her station would be, but stare at her too long, someone would say she wasn't quite right. She wasn't, she was above these beings. She was the oldest surviving wife of countless women that Dracula had changed and lost interest in over the years. Some he lost favor in, some got killed, but she stayed on, his constant loyal companion. And that had rewarded him twice now, because she'd been there when he'd been given to her, at death's doorstep to restore him as he was.
She walked through the house, she'd barely managed to get him to this place before Harker arrived. And it was a grand house. The owner, a family and their five children were being used to placate Dracula now, but it wouldn't hold him forever. They needed something stronger.
Alina went to her husband's bedside. He didn't look himself. It was a painful process, for him to come back twice now. Due to his age and his heritage, he was VERY hard to kill. Alina hoped they wouldn't have to do this a third time or he might go mad.
"She's here, my love," Alina brushed his thin white hair back from his nearly transparent face. She loathed Mina Harker, that bitch hadn't killed Dracula herself but she was the war call for those who did it. Their battle cry. She was just as responsible. Just as she was responsible when she hunted down and murdered the other two wives. Just as she was responsible for the rest of their kind that she slaughtered.
The mention of that...woman…. being here did nothing to stir him. His heart monitor that let her see stats she quickly learned to understand did not change.
"Are you hungry?" Alina went to the refrigerator and pulled out a blood bag. One of the children's. She'd have to ease up on them, they were not as strong as other families had been in the past. She went to hang it next to the IV stand and placed the drip next to him.
Alina rested her forehead against his, "She's found them for us. They're all with her now. They've taken her in."
Nothing. Now he was just being stubborn.
Alina leaned forward, "She has a baby with her."
It was her last resort. The last thing Alina wanted was for Dracula to feel any sort of attachment to that woman other than making her life as shattered as it already was. Alina remembered how she was before. It was quite the contrast with how she was now. But it wasn't enough, it would never be. Not until they took everything.
But with her words, he gave a weak moan.
Dracula's eyes opened.