Part of the 'Du Fortunesa' series. I don't own Young Dracula, although I can't say I'd change much if I did.
Dawn was breaking outside the library, and Bertrand was beginning to notice holes in the ceiling that hadn't been apparent when he'd arrived the previous evening. In the end, he had pushed a few desks into the space between two tall bookcases and was lying in his shroud beneath them, safe from the sun's rays. His quest to stop obsessing over Vlad appeared to have backfired on him, however, as there was nothing else to occupy his mind.
The boy's date with Erin had probably taken him into town, which was no real cause for concern, but Bertrand found himself wondering if it had gone well for the pair. He hoped it hadn't gone too wrong – stakes and garlic wrong – but he couldn't help hoping that the couple had argued; the slayer was a distraction. He was also becoming increasingly aware that while Vlad was out of the school, he was at increased risk of attack from other vampires or slayers. The tutor briefly regretted his decision to leave, before logic reasserted itself. He would have been at the school, anyway, not out in town, and would have been no more use there than here when it came to protecting Vlad.
No, on the whole Bertrand was confident that this was for the best. No matter how much he wanted to be at Garside Grange, running his student through the finer points of how to deal with the High Council, Vlad would be safer if he kept his distance until these strange thoughts faded away. Thoughts of getting Erin out of the way, which had served him so badly in the past; thoughts of becoming Vlad's most trusted friend; thoughts of taking out the slayers who threatened the boy destined to lead them to glory... none of these things would help either of them. He would simply have to remain here until he had reconciled himself to his place as one of the help, just like Renfield. Well, smarter and cleaner than Renfield, but still – if he were to receive any more respect or affection than him, it was a bonus. He certainly shouldn't be thinking of revenge every time Vlad took the side of his friends or family against his lowly tutor.
By the next midnight, Bertrand had realised that he hated being idle. Unable to do anything to further Vlad's cause, he found his fingers tracing the titles on the spines of the abandoned books around him as he regarded them thoughtfully. The library was well stocked, but every title was intended to be read by breathers. He unearthed a dusty catalogue and began flicking through it, looking for any reference material that he might be able to use to prepare for his return to the school. The politics section yielded nothing exciting – Bertrand understood politics better than most of these authors could imagine – and obviously there was nothing of merit in the supernatural section, since everything was labelled 'fiction'. Eventually, he came across a title that caught his eye – it was also marked as fiction but 'Teach Me' sounded as if it might help him in his tutoring work. He set off among the shelves to track it down and soon found himself staring at an entire row of similar books.
The shelf was empty by the time he tossed 'How It's Done' to land on top of a pile of its similarly-abused brethren half an hour later. These books were not about education at all; they were about student-teacher relationships and they were all... just... He stormed back to his desk-fort, sitting on top of it to enjoy the darkness while it lasted. He didn't want to think about relationships between students and teachers – certainly not the sort the books he'd discarded had portrayed. Besides, for all their protagonists' struggles with age differences, they had nothing on a vampire's woes. It was irrelevant – he didn't feel like that about Vlad - and anyway, that was the sort of thing he was trying to ward off by hiding out in the library in the first place.
Sitting was boring; Bertrand was restless and couldn't bear to remain in one place for long. He made a dash for the supernatural fiction section, deciding that it was probably better than nothing, but veered away when he found himself confronted with six copies of Bram Stoker's magnum opus, wedged between Frankenstein and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde. Perhaps he should just go outside, where he wouldn't be surrounded by Draculas.
He had reached the door before he realised the flaw in his plan; if he went outside he would soon find himself in the centre of town, and even assuming that Vlad and his breather weren't out on another date, it was just a short walk from there to the school. If he opened the door, he knew his mission would be over and he would be back in the training room by dawn. He wanted to be back in the training room, and as much as he would rather pretend the room's solid ceiling was the reason for his longing, he knew the real draw was his duty to Vlad. If he was honest, duty or no duty, Vlad would be what drew him back there in the end.
With a great effort, he turned away from the door – he wasn't ready yet, it wasn't safe – and made his way up to the upper floors of the library. Perhaps he could amuse himself until dawn by seeking out all the rotten floorboards and finding a solid path between them. The main thing was not to think about Vlad. Well... clearly that was easier said than done. Perhaps he could give in, just for a few minutes.
Hours of planning new training regimes slipped by and before he knew it, Bertrand was dodging the first rays of morning to slip back into his shroud, resolving to make a clean break from his protégé the next night.
Books mentioned are:
- 'Teach Me' by R.A. Nelson & 'How It's Done' by Christine Kole MacLean - I've never read these and probably never will, so please don't take Bertrand's reaction as any kind of indication of their merit. I just found them on an Amazon booklist.
-'Dracula' by Bram Stoker, 'Frankenstein' by Mary Shelley, and 'The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde' by Robert Louis Stevenson - classics all.