Hey! Back again ! :) Well I was up late so I figured, another chapter! Yay! As promised it is over a thousand words longer!
"I'm planning a ball!"
"…What?"
"I'm planning a ball. All of the local women will be required to attend and I can take my pick-"
"Dad! I said, no biting!"
"Yes well, I'm sure a little nibble isn't out of the question?"
"Yes, it is!" Vlad groaned, exasperated. Ever since Miss McCauley had cancelled her date with the Count last week, he'd been restless and sad and absolutely insane, and it was driving everyone else around them just as crazy.
"Oh just let him bite someone, maybe he'll get a disease and we'll refuse to treat him properly." Ingrid scowled from where she was lounging about on the sofa. The Count scowled right back at her, and then looked pleadingly back at Vlad.
"She's half right, for once, just one ball!"
Bertrand snickered from where he was sitting opposite Wolfie, playing chess, as The Count had snapped at him to entertain the small boy.
Vlad gave Ingrid and Bertrand both condescending looks. "Do you want to be staked then?" He asked Ingrid, still sore from their 'talk' earlier on.
"Depends."
"On what?" Erin asked, looking surprised. "Whether it hurts or not? Because I'm fairly sure it hurts."
"No. On whether or not I get to watch Vlad die first."
Vlad's nails dug into his palms and he just forced a flat smile. "You're so nice today Ingrid. So feminine and sweet."
Ingrid just smirked and shrugged, as Wolfie came to her side and tugged her arm.
"What?" She snapped. He widened his big brown eyes at her and pouted.
"Bertrand's cheating."
"Of course he is, it's Bertrand." She said simply, raising her eyebrow at the little boy. "What did you expect?"
Bertrand glared sharply. "Excuse me?"
"Oh come on. You're a liar and a cheat and you betrayed us all."
"Might I remind you that you did as well?"
"That's different, Vlad's my brother."
"Oh, you use that excuse every time, that doesn't change anything!"
"Yes it does, it's normal to have sibling rivalry."
"You tried to kill him!"
"Same thing."
"Both of you, shut up!" Vlad groaned. "Why can't I live a normal life? Why?"
"Because you're the Chosen One Vladdy, Destined to-"
"Yes, yes, I know." Vlad rolled his eyes and met Erin's. "Erin and I are going out. You two, stop fighting, Wolfie you have permission to play with the toys in the basement and Dad," He narrowed his eyes, a glint of knowing in them. "No Ball."
"No fun." The Count pouted as he watched them go. "Come Wolfie, I'll show you my many conquests and I'll tell you all the brilliant stories behind my murders."
"I don't think that's legal," Renfield mumbled, speaking up for the first time since this morning's incident. He'd been in an awful, jealous mood all day.
"Well I'm going to go paint my nails." Ingrid said after a second of silence, getting up as quickly as possible, not looking back at Bertrand as she left. Yes, she couldn't possibly be more obvious. Of all the things, one romantic dream and now she couldn't get him out of her head, and she absolutely hated it.
…
"Where did you get this?" Erin laughed, squeezing the giant plush elephants ears and looking at Vlad curiously. She'd found him very different to anything she'd ever thought of a vampire as, and honestly the comparison just got more and more amusing.
"Uh, well…" Vlad bit his lip, and then blushed a little. "My Aunt Helen gave it to me as a puberty present."
"A puberty present? What's a puberty present?" Erin couldn't stop her laughter at this point, making it harder to breathe and talk.
"It's a gift. For when you start going through pub-You know what, it doesn't matter. I don't like it anyway." He pulled the elephant out of her arms and threw it behind him. It seemed that ever since he met her, all he did was make a fool of himself, over and over again. Why, why did he bring out the elephant? He should've known she'd ask about it, but she'd liked the monkey so much that he figured she'd just think it was cute and leave it at that…Ugh, he was like a lovesick puppy.
"I liked it. I thought it was cute." She beamed, her entire face lit up. "I think you, are cute." She added a moment later, stepping closer to him, and pressing her lips to his. He grinned into the kiss.
He loved this. He wasn't sure if he loved her, but he knew he really liked her. After a few minutes they broke apart and he smiled at her.
"Arcade?"
"Arcade!" She agreed. The Arcade was where they had their first official date, it was after school and they'd been bored and really, the whole thing was improvised, but it'd turned out to be a lot of fun, they'd compete on the rides and just be themselves, away from vampires and werewolves and chosen ones.
…
Ingrid was bored. Beyond bored. At least when she'd been out on her own, there'd been things to do. Like bite people. But no, Vlad just had to ban that. She'd decided that the most interesting thing to do, was either go and talk to Bertrand, or count all the doors, windows and bricks in the school. She'd decided on the latter. So far, there were thirty-eight windows and twelve doors, and a hole in a wall that one of the worse students had punched yesterday.
She was just about to give up completely, when she heard voices. She frowned, and snuck closer to the source. The art room.
"And this is a painting of your mother, surrounded in blood."
"Why's she surrounded in blood?"
"Because that was my anger phase, I wanted her to die."
"Oh."
Ingrid smirked. She remembered that phase well. He'd been absolutely ridiculously depressed, hardly moving. She'd liked him most during that period.
"Uncle Count?"
"Yes Wolfie?"
"How did you know you loved Mum?"
"Well, she shared a very delicious peasant with me."
"What about the first time you met her then?"
"Well…I was very young, only four hundred. She was an older woman, very appetising. I met her at a bloodbath, it was a very beautiful meeting. She was soaked in it, but she still looked very pretty-"
"Do all of your stories have blood in them?"
"Yes, why?"
"No reason."
Ingrid stifled a laugh and turned around, heading back upstairs. She really didn't need to hear the rest of the story, it got especially grotesque when he described her kissing technique, The Count used to tell this story a lot when she and Vlad were growing up. It seemed it was the only thing he actually told both of them, instead of just Vlad. Maybe he just wanted to disgust her, but it still was nice.
She was so caught up thinking about it that she wasn't paying any attention to where she was going, and as usual she was also wearing big heels, so the moment she slammed into something, she just came tumbling down. She landed badly on her ankle and let out a gasp of pain, shutting her eyes tightly for a moment to take it in, and then opening them again to see what she'd smacked into.
Bertrand looked down at her, startled. "Are you alright?" he asked cautiously, as if he thought she might lash out and hit him or something.
She glared at him harshly. "Do I look alright?"
"Yes, mostly."
"Shut up and help me up." She didn't really want to be very close to him but she knew she couldn't walk on her own on it, and if the Count came out and found her there he'd accuse her of eavesdropping, which she was but that wasn't the point.
He bent down and tucked an arm under hers, pulling her to her feet and watching her carefully, like a predator dissecting it's prey with its eyes. She hated that. It should repulse her, but it did the opposite and God, why couldn't she just not have feelings for anybody ever again. What was so wrong about that?
"Can you walk on it?" He asked, though he already knew the answer. He just wanted to see what she'd say. Oh, he'd noticed the avoiding and the scowling and the generally bitchiness aimed at him, and he'd put together why she'd be doing so. It amused him. He'd managed to attract the craziest woman possible, who also happened to be the Chosen one's sister. But it also irritated him. He was here on business, not pleasure, and he shouldn't be getting so comfortable with having her around. She was growing on him like a parasite, and vice versa. Neither of them really wanted to feel the way they did.
"Obviously not, Bats you're dim." She muttered darkly. "You're going to have to walk me to my room, if that's not too much of a hassle for you."
"It is, but your brother will have my head if I don't." He smirked. She elbowed him, hard. He glared at her.
"Oh, sorry. My arm jerks sometimes." She smirked this time, chewing her lip at the same time.
"You should get that checked out. And maybe find out why you're so psycho while you're at it."
"I am not psycho!" She snapped.
"There's a lot of past actions that are against that statement."
"You can't base mental health on actions-"
"What are you two doing?"
Ingrid smacked her head against the wall.
"Ah, Count, we were uh…Ingrid hurt her foot."
"And you're out here because?"
"We're on our way to the sick bay for some bandages, obviously. it's your school you'd think you'd know the layout."
The Count huffed. "Come on Wolfie, time to give the story between each bottle of blood in the cellar!" Wolfie dragged his feet behind him, his face devoid of any fun.
"Yay." He drew out, giving Ingrid a pleading look. Ingrid just shrugged and waved.
"Quick thinking."
"Had to do it a lot in Stokely." She explained, and then grinned at him. "Did you see his face? He had no idea what to say back."
"I've never seen him so unsure before. It was a nice change."
Ingrid froze. No. They were not about to just talk like normal people at a school. "Now could you hurry up and get me to my room? My foot still hurts, in case you were too busy thinking about your hair to realize."
"Fine." He said, shaking his head in disbelief at her. He sped her there and left her in the doorway. "I assume you'll be fine from here." He stated sharply. She just nodded and watched him leave.
"What's wrong with my hair?" he mumbled as soon as he was out of earshot, patting it down.
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Amy x
