Of Mirrors and Souls
Slim had been the chances of getting to see the reflection of a vampire that was not mindless in front of a mirror. Frankenstein himself had only managed it on two occasions. The first time had been pure coincidence.
He had set up a mirror in the foyer of his clinic to calm a patient earlier that same day. The creature had walked in just as it got dark pretending rather poorly to be an emergency patient. He had let the charade go on for a moment while he stared at its reflection.
A starved looking infant covered in blood that had fangs longer than its counterpart in reality. An infant who was looking at floating lights, 'human souls' Frankenstein's mind had supplied, with an irritated expression. The horrific reflection would often reach up to pop the 'lights' causing blood to rain on it. The blood would receive a smile, shocking with those teeth, and the puddles would be played in.
Frankenstein was simply glad that his staring had made the vampire look at the mirror. He creature had been terribly offended and shouted at him, waking him from the daze, before it attacked. It had not occurred to the man before then; the only vampires he had previously seen in front of a mirror had been mindless. They were the only ones that could be taken alive for cadet training. A little wake up to reality before they got themselves apprenticed to hunters. Vampires were said to have no refection because they had on soul. The thinking vampires had their own soul and that's what was being reflected. Twisted as they were.
The second time it was intentional. A particularly nasty vampire lord had turned up and many skilled hunters had been called to help with the staking. Frankenstein had brought up mirrors as a frenzy device if they needed to divert the creatures focus and it had been accepted. The fight had been too difficult for him to give the mirror more than one glance. It had shown a toddler pulling wings off the floating lights. Blood and fangs.
It had made him pay closer attention to the ones that were mindless; it was like a smug the image of those souls, completely burnt out gone. Still it was a visible distortion and the hunter community had been glad when he pointed out that part of his discovery. He had not mentioned the rest; it would mean suggesting strong vampires had souls. As the most acclaimed hunter in the area he had a strong grasp on politics.
...
'So why', Frankenstein thought 'do five vampires strong as a lord wish to speak with me?' They couldn't be hidden residence of the local vampire community, while even skilled hunters could only do so much in a city this large; it was still too small for that many high level vampires.
What's more there were two humans with them who didn't show signs of being mind controlled. He had agreed to follow them when they said they knew where some vampires were. He had thought they wished him to kill the creatures. They did not; apparently this was a meeting where they were supposed to talk. No one had mentioned the topic as yet. The two humans had placed themselves between him and the vampires. Exactly who they were buffering against was unknown.
It was meant to be a chance to talk sanely, so a public conference room had been borrowed, not that anyone sane would be out of home this late. If they truly meant what they said, "You won't mind if I use a mirror would you?"
They all started and glared with looks of reluctance but the one at the head, he gestured for them to quieten down. "Provided you stop pointing weapons at us and do not reveal our reflections to any other it can be permitted." The vampire seemed to see this as a generous concession.
For an actual friendly gathering pointing weapons at the hosts while dressed to kill them would be a bit much, but Frankenstein had no friendly feelings for these creatures at all. No, he was out right hostile.
In half concession he lowered the crossbow and pulled out a pocket mirror flickering the reflective surface in their direction for a moment showed him enough. All toddlers but with no visible fangs or blood, they hadn't seemed to notice the floating lights around them. He put the crossbow on the table, in easy reach but no longer pointed directly at them.
The tension in the two humans visibly dropped, so it was Frankenstein that had worried them.
If it doesn't make sense don't worry its two pages of a chapter that should be far more.