I'm posting this up before rushing off for Canada Day celebrations, beware of un-proofread chapter.
Warnings: Alternate Universe, Yaoi, Out of Character, Original Characters, violence, vampires, angst and long descriptions
When day arrived, the nations slept. Last night's meeting took longer then expected but even then, the nations stayed up discussing plans and telling each other their encounters with the vampires. Within minutes, even recent newcomers like the Italian twins knew that the full details of the fights the nations had with the vampires. Afterwards, Romania showed them their rooms and everyone quieted. Since the vampires didn't normally – although America proved an exception – attack during the day, the nations decided it was best they sleep then. Come nightfall, they needed their wits, they needed to be rested and fully prepared when the vampires finally act.
Finally, when the sky was red and the sun touched the mountains, it saw a sight it probably had not seen for centuries: A man tied up on a makeshift sacrificial altar, torches surrounding him to draw the vampires' attention and to warn others away. Ropes wrapped around his waist and legs, another held his wrists above his head. A bird cawed, and blue eyes shot to the side. The man had been alert for those last few hours, waiting, watching. Rustling came from his left, and the man thought he saw a large animal slink away in the shadows. The altar was set up on small platform to keep the animals away, but one could never be too sure.
The man grit his teeth, he had volunteered for this, but even all his confidence and bravado earlier shrank when he was actually set up. The sun was setting, the vampires should be moving, but the agony of waiting alone could drive people mad. No wonder prisoners always found complete isolation a greater threat then the guards. "Come on, you bloodsuckers, this should be a hotbed for you. Try and attack me."
In the distance, a wolf howled, and silence took over. No more birds or animals, the sudden transaction was alarming.
And suddenly a figure was moving, crashing through bushes and jumping over rocks. Footsteps running faster then anyone thought possible ran from the woods and straight at the man tied on the altar. The newcomer was but a blur even to trained eyes, but Ludwig was no normal person. Just as the blur jumped over the platform, Ludwig gripped the ropes around his wrists and swung upwards. The ropes holding him fell aside as Ludwig flipped atop the altar, escaping the vampire's clutches. He slammed his foot down, and the altar fell apart to reveal several knives pointed in every direction, they flew everywhere as soon as they were revealed, but the ones that flew at the vampire were knocked aside.
"Whoa! That's dangerous, man," The vampire had an almost lazy drawl as he moved, the shroud fluttering around him like some shadowy aura. A wide-brimmed hat covered his face, hiding everything except the pointed chin and curved lips. When the knives disappeared, the face beneath was revealed. Dark eyes looked up at Ludwig, "Those can really hurt, Germany."
"Mexico," Ludwig slammed his foot on the altar again. This time the platform gave away, and Mexico stumbled as he lost balance and fell. The support at the side remained to form the cage as new boards slammed over them. Not surprised by the vampire's name choice for him, Ludwig was able to watch impassively as the vampire looked around his new cell, "You are under arrest for the murder of…"
"Are you serious? It will take you hours to recite all the charges I must have pending against me," Mexico shook his head slowly, relaxed, unafraid. "I know you are a strict follower of rules, but really?"
"You will be escorted by myself and several others to the man you know represents Romania, who is the heart and will of this country, who stands at the highest order…"
"Oooohhh, I shall have to practice my curtsey." Mexico didn't turn away from Germany, but he saw the shapes coming from the corner of his eyes. The nations had arrived, and despite Ludwig's words, Romania was already among them. Mexico smirked, "Then again, Romania and I are very familiar with each other, I'm sure he wouldn't mind being roughen up a bit. For I'll love to talk to him, and I'm sure my vampire kin would too." Before Ludwig could react, Miguel smashed his hands against the iron cage, and bent the bars enough. Another push, more iron bars bent, and Miguel slipped out like a snake. His eyes zeroed to Romania and he pounced.
"Shoot him!" Romania shouted as he fell back. He pulled out his own weapon, but Mexico disarmed him before he could fire a single shot. Left with no choice, Romania ran, pursued by the vampire and the bullets fired upon the fiend. None of them found its mark, if anything they were another thing for Romania to run from, so instead of running in a straight line he started to make a curve, narrowly missing the vampire's hands. As he ran off in the new direction, Russia suddenly stepped out. Formerly hiding behind a boulder, the cold nation now raised his familiar water faucet and swung it at the vampire.
It hit its mark, for Mexico flew backwards and smashed against a tree. Several leaves came loose and scattered all over him, and the vampire batted them away irritably. He stood up, noting that his hat had fallen off and was hanging behind him by the string around his neck, but just as he was about to put it back on France was upon him. Miguel grabbed a branch and threw it against the Frenchman's firearm, throwing the bullet aim off, before knocking the man down (1). Before Francis could get up, Miguel's hands were around his throat.
"Oh no you don't!" Spain jumped forward, and Mexico moved back to avoid the nation's sword. Surprisingly, the vampire didn't retaliate, and he never broke his gaze with Antonio. Miguel's eyes were dark, intense, and deep, he looked at Antonio in a way the nation couldn't quite place. Remembering how the vampire had stared at him last night, even after being flung into a fire, Antonio felt his hands slow. To his surprise, instead of taking advantage of him, Miguel jumped back from the nation, breaking his gaze and turning back to Romania. The vampire jumped towards him, a hand reaching out.
Panting, Romania turned to run, but Ludwig was suddenly beside him. The German pushed Romania down on the ground before raising a gun and pointing it directly at Mexico's chest. The vampire's eyes widened, but he was already falling forward towards the man…
"Let me help!" Feliciano's voice flew forward with the young nation. The Italian was swinging down a rope he had managed to attach to a tree, straight at them. Ludwig's eyes widened as the Italian pulled the trigger of his gun, and came up with a blank. "Oops…I guess I used all my bullets earlier!" The 'when I was first chasing Mexico' never got out of his mouth, because he crashed straight into the vampire, knocking them both down a cliff.
"Feliciano!"
"No!"
"The vampire!"
"They're both at the cliff!"
Ludwig rushed forward to the sharp slope, where he saw two figures rolling down the side. Meows of pain escaped the Italian's lips, while the vampire looked like he was silently enduring it. Before Ludwig could, Romano jumped down and began sliding down the cliff after them.
"Romano!" Worried, Spain jumped in after him. The two nations followed the two rolling forms as they continued down the steep side. Finally, Feliciano came to a stop, his body getting caught on a large rock prodding out from the dirt. He whimpered in pain, and his brother was instantly beside him, cursing him for his stupidity but checking for wounds anyways.
Mexico rolled down further, not one sound escaping his lips, before his body hit the trunk of a fallen tree. His head took the collision, and the vampire laid still, bruised and cut. Spain was beside him in seconds, but maintained a wary gaze. Gripping his sword tightly, the nation cautiously turned the vampire over. Miguel didn't resist, his eyes closed and body limp. This close up, Antonio could see what Romania meant by calling the vampires young. Miguel couldn't even be his age.
"Spain! Get back!" Romania's distant call came too late, Miguel's eyes snapped open, and this time the intensity in those dark eyes were obvious – fury. Before Antonio could react, a vice-like grip was around his throat.
"Spain!" Romano sound concerned, but Antonio was probably imagining it. Miguel jumped back, one hand still around Antonio's throat, and carrying the nation with him landed atop a boulder. The Spaniard choked at the harsh grip as Miguel held the nation in front of him, stopping China, who had been closest to them, in his tracks.
"Nuh-uh," Miguel turned one of his fingernails into Antonio's throat, and Spain gasped as the unnaturally sharp nail cut through skin. "Don't move."
"Let him go!" Korea, always near where China was, shouted. "If you know what we are, you'll know he can't die! He's not hostage material!"
"No, he's not," Miguel smiled, pointed fangs making him look more menacing then possible. "But as a shield, he will do."
"Release him!" Before the others could react, Romano made to grab the empty pistol from his brother's hands. He didn't know how weak his brother's grip on the thing actually was, so when he pulled, it was with too much strength. The pistol flew out of his hands and straight towards the vampire's face. Normally such a clumsy attack would have been easy to dodge, but Miguel's battle mood was already set, and he was high on adrenaline. All he saw was something being flung at him, something big enough to be a bomb. So the vampire reacted, he sprang up to the trees, taking Antonio with him.
"No!" Romania ran forward, but the vampire was no longer focused on him. Miguel took off, and as if testimony for the legendary vampire strength, he took Antonio with him as if the Spaniard weighed nothing. The other nations ran after them, but Miguel, jumping from tree branch to tree branch, was hard to keep track of. Not even the vampire's mocking laughter could be traced, it was everywhere and nowhere at once, surrounding the woods and wrapping around their minds.
"You should have considered the safety of your bait, Romania!" the vampire's voice echoed everywhere, it was as if the wind had blown it in every direction. "I may not be able to catch Germany, but Spain is more then enough as a substitute!"
"Mexico! You won't be able to get away with this!" But those words were said with the voice of one who was getting used to saying them, of one who knew that the vampire will get away with it. Even as he cried those words, Romania knew he could do nothing when the vampires carried off their victims. His eyes burned with unshed tears, and his vision swarmed, before he knew it he tripped over a tree root and fell. The nations paused to help, and Mexico disappeared, laughing. Romania pounded the ground, familiar despair overwhelming him, "No, no!"
Romano tried following the vampire, but even he knew when to give up when he lost sight of him. The older of the Italian twins returned to the others, face grim. Romania closed his eyes, and at the sight, Taiwan moved forward and patted his shoulder. Yet none of them could say anything, none of them except the ever tactless Korea. "The plan failed, and the vampires kidnapped one of us. Talk about a bad start to our campaign."
Something flashed in Romano's eyes, and he bowed his head. Feliciano rushed forward and hugged him, knowing that despite his attitude Romano did care for Antonio. For all his claims that he followed Feliciano to Romania because he needed to protect him from Germany, Feliciano knew Romano came because Antonio made the sudden decision to do so. When Spain dropped everything and headed off to Romania with Russia, Romano had tried looking for a valid excuse to follow.
But even when confronted last night, Antonio refused to tell Romano why he had changed his decision to not interfere. He wouldn't even answer the questions about his coming with Russia. That had upset Romano, who ended up yelling at the former country of passion before storming out of his room. They haven't even made up, and now, Antonio was taken by the vampires. Romano may never admit it, but no doubt he was beating himself up. Feliciano tugged at his brother's sleeve, "Ve, let's go back, brother. Who knows, maybe Prussia will have better luck then we do."
He told them he wanted to do this alone, and after much argument he got what he wanted. No one was sure what he was planning to do anyways, he claimed he was following another lead, but there was a good chance he just wanted nothing to do with the vampire bait idea. Prussia had argued with Germany's voluntary service as the bait, while he was not worried about Germany – Prussia trusted him to be able to handle himself – he did not like the idea. So, he claimed he had his own project to work with that might catch the vampires. After many arguments, they let him go alone.
They probably didn't believe his claims, but Prussia was confident. Everyone else had been distracted at the time, too concerned about the zombies, but Prussia had paid more attention when the second vampire twin appeared, and noted the vampire's choice of weapon. Hockey shouldn't be that common in Transylvania, ice hockey even less, so he went through a search. Eventually he hit something, a wealthy family who had helped built many skating rinks and swimming pools, one who also sold every type of sports equipment. The store was bordering the outskirts of town, so he set off right away to get there as soon as possible, but soon found himself listening to a man in disbelief.
"The vampires? They're hardly attack in this area, I mean, we have less prey than back in the city. Good thing they don't come by often, the owner of this shop is a rather sickly and almost blind woman." The store clerk nodded, misreading Prussia's disbelieving look. "She's a nice person, but rather reclusive since her family's death. Asking her about vampires won't help much, unless the vampires stood still in front of her with their fangs bared she won't recognize them as a threat. The few times the vampires are around they're moving too fast, and everyone's too busy running for their lives."
"How about the locals?" Prussia refused to return empty-handed, the vampires had to be around, maybe they were disguised as civilians. "Had there been any suspicious characters appearing only when the sun's hidden, who seem interested in hockey?"
"Sir, we have customers dropping in at the most random times and people trying new sports before switching to another everyday. I'm afraid I wouldn't remember."
Prussia frowned, and glanced out the window. The sun was setting, and a cloud was blocking most of its rays. The vampires might be roaming about already. Thanking the store clerk, Prussia turned to the door just as a customer stepped in. He was wearing different clothing and had a hood up, but Prussia was no idiot, he pointed to the young man and yelled loudly, "MATTHEW!!"
The customer's head jerked up, blue eyes wide in shock. At front-view not even the hood could hide his wavy blond hair, and while Matthew's closed lips hid his fangs he knew when he was caught. Without thinking, the disguised vampire turned and bolted out the store. Gilbert was hot on his heels, "YOU'RE NOT GETTING AWAY THIS TIME!!"
Matthew ran down the street, pushing people out of his way. Gilbert was no better, shoving anyone in his way aside. He sprinted after the vampire, who was no doubt trying to lose him in the crowd without resorting to his vampirism. Prussia was resisting a similar impulse, telling himself not to just reach inside his coat and fire a row of bullets at the vampire. Romania would not take it kindly if he caused such a disturbance in a crowd as large as this. So he chased after the vampire determinedly, refusing to be the first to give up. He pursued the vampire down several streets, knocking aside people and other things in his way. Matthew looked behind him, saw his relentless pursuer, and dove into an alleyway. It was a dead end, but that didn't stop the vampire from running forward and jumping. His feet bounced over the garbage bags effortlessly as he swung onto the balcony of the building.
Gilbert ran into the alleyway and saw Matthew easily scaling the building, not daunted, he grabbed onto a long column that might have once been used to support construction workers. Holding it straight in front of him, the Prussian ran and pushed one end of the pole to the ground. The other end flew up, and he swung into the air, laughing at the disbelieving look on the vampire's face. The look didn't last long, Matthew was scaling the building, jumping on the roof of another, and running off.
"Don't think I can't force you back to the ground!" Now without the crowds, Prussia pulled out his pistol. He took aim and fired.
As luck would have it, the moment before he pulled the trigger was the moment Canada looked over his shoulder. Blue eyes widened as the bullet came out, and Prussia watched in half fascination as the vampire fell back to avoid the shot. He succeeded, but slipped off the roof as the price. As he disappeared from sight, Prussia rushed to the edge, only to see Canada completely unharmed and back among the oblivious crowd. One hand had kept his hood in place, hiding his features, and the vampire used it to dive back into the mass of people. Prussia cursed and jumped down to the pavement, running after the escaping figure.
Matthew was fast, but back in the crowd he made the mistake of deciding to run at a normally fast human's speed. It hid his vampirism, but it allowed Gilbert to take advantage, as Prussia had no problems displaying his superior speed around crowds.
With a sudden burst of speed, Gilbert managed to reach out and grabbed the vampire's arm. When the vampire attempted to attack him, Gilbert seized on the other as well. "Ha, you think hiding your vampirism will stop me? Whether you show your vampirism or not, Matthew, the crowd here won't help you!"
"Don't call me Matthew!" The vampire hissed, "And you better let go of me, Prussia, before I show you just how I can turn everyone in this crowd against you!" Prussia did laugh then.
"Everyone against me? Just how do you expect to do that?"
"You're not letting me go? Fine," Matthew drew in a deep breath before he pitched his voice to sound younger then he really was. "Let me go! HELP SOMEONE! ASSAULT!! THIEF!! HELP!!"
"What the hell?" Gilbert saw the crowd stopping to turn and look at them. He knew what they were seeing, what the scene looked like, he knew Matthew was showing him exactly how to manipulate the crowd against him. Matthew began struggling harder, seemingly trying to escape desperately, but managed to quietly whisper.
"Want me to start screaming rape as well?"
Gilbert's eyes widened in horror and Matthew managed to pull one hand free. However, Gilbert was far from retreating. Deciding to play the same trick, the Prussian began yelling as well. "STOP MAKING A SCENE!! I'M TRYING TO STOP YOU FROM WASTING OUR MONEY BY GAMBLING!! IT'S NOT THIEVERY IF IT BELONGS TO ME AS WELL!!" Mentally, Prussia congratulated himself for turning Matthew's words against him. He continued acting, "I CANNOT TOLERATE YOUR RISKY BEHAVIOUR ANYMORE!! YOU NEED TO STOP YOUR BLOODY ADDICTION AND RETURN TO THERAPY!!"
Somewhere in the crowd, a woman muttered something that sounded like 'domestic fight', but Prussia was far from paying attention. He was far too amused at the half shocked, half angry expression on Canada's face. No doubt the vampire caught the message, and instead of running away, the vampire was shouting back at him. "I need therapy?! I NEED THERAPY?! IT IS NOT A 'BLOODY' ADDICTION BUT SOMETHING DONE IN MODERNATION!! YOU'RE ONE TO TALK ABOUT THERAPY!! YOU SUFFER A SEVERE CASE OF INFERIORITY COMPLEX JUST BECAUSE YOUR BROTHER TOOK OVER!!"
Prussia was half stunned at the accusations, but adrenaline kept him going. "DON'T TRY TO DISTRACT ME!! I DON'T EXPECT SOMEONE LIKE YOU TO KNOW OR UNDERSTAND ANYTHING!!" He seized Canada's other arm again, "I'M TAKING YOU BACK!!" He didn't need to say where.
"No you're not! LET ME GO!!"
"STOP STRUGGLING!!"
"I'LL DO WHAT I WANT!!"
"AND THE AWESOMENESS THAT IS ME ALWAYS GETS WHAT I WANT!!"
The ruckus they were making was causing quite the scene, more then half the street had stopped to watch the two fight. For all the shouting he did, because he was so close to Prussia, Canada's fangs were blocked from sight. The crowd was more interested in watching the strikes the two made at each other anyways. Because they were watching so intently, they failed to notice the person running through them until he burst into the scene and jumped at the two. Just as Canada was weighing the consequences of giving Prussia a badly needed kick, someone else tackled the man…and threw a hamburger wrapper over Gilbert's face? Well it was obvious who the newcomer was.
"I haven't heard you shout that loud for a while!" America, also in disguise, laughed at his brother's expression. Prussia gagged through the wrapper, and America knocked him down. Then, because he was always a vindictive child, blew a raspberry before launching onto Canada's arm, "Let's get out of here before he stands up and gets the last word! Miguel says we should head back home, he has a surprise for us!"
The vampire twins took off, America laughing madly as he dragged his exasperated brother into the crowd. Prussia was on his feet quickly, but they were already gone. Cursing, the nation glanced down at himself. His clothing was rumpled and he had several small bruises and scratches from Canada, plus one particularly large and painful bruise from America blossoming behind him. Muttering the rudest German words about the twins, Gilbert swore that the nations will only hear a carefully edited, cut version of the story about his new wounds.
"So you recognized Canada's weapon from last night, located where he might have gotten it, found him and chased him down several streets, in which you ended up fighting the twins at the same time and they chose to retreat?" Romania asked, somewhat in disbelief. When the nations had returned from the forest, they saw Prussia in the mansion, and the nation had told them what had happened. Personally Romania was of the opinion that if the vampire twins managed to corner someone, they were more likely to drain him dry than retreat, but Prussia was sticking to his story and not changing it. Romania eventually chose to dismiss it, as long as Prussia was relatively unharmed and the vampires haven't done anything crazy, all was well. "Canada only carries that hockey stick occasionally; it's not a regular weapon, so I never paid much attention to it. After this incident I don't think he'll go back to that store, knowing that you know about it."
"The store clerk said the vampires rarely attack there anyways, it's not exactly a hotbed of activity," Prussia shrugged. He moved gingerly, watched by all the other nations, and scowled. "Don't look at me like that, I'm not in any serious pain. We should worry more about Antonio."
The other nations winced, all of them were thinking about what the vampires might do with a nation completely at their mercy. Spain may not be able to die, but there were things worst then death, and privately Romania knew just what the vampires were capable of. What was really maddening was the fact that they couldn't do anything.
Romania had been held captive by the vampires before, and when he escaped he made sure to remember the abandoned house they were hiding him at. When he had returned in full health and reinforcements however, the house had been empty, all the things that made the building home or hideout for the vampires had been taken away. He then remembered that while he was a captive, though at least one vampire always kept watch over him, the others sometimes never came back for the day. That had tipped Romania off that the vampires probably had several hideouts, and he was proven correct every time he saw vampires flying out at sunset from different directions. North, east, south, west; city, farms, forests.
"If what you heard is true," Germany was saying to Prussia, "Mexico has already told the vampire twins to return 'home'. They probably won't come out until later to feed, so if we wish to regroup…"
"There's a possibility that they won't come out at all," Romania's voice was soft, but at his words everyone fell silent, listening to him. Romania was grim, "A nation at their mercy, someone who wouldn't die, who won't ever run out of blood? Spain is literally an everlasting meal to them. True, if they wished those vampires can eat regular food, but what truly sustains them is blood. As long as they drink from Spain, they no longer need to hunt. At least for tonight, I think they'll prefer getting familiar with Spain than coming out again."
"We have to get him out of there," Francis had been unnaturally agitated about the whole bait idea, and now, the nation was worried sick about Antonio. It was well known that France was close to Spain and Prussia, together the three made the 'Bad Friends Trio' so the other nations understood his concern; but what good would it do? Not even Romania knew where the vampires' hideouts could be.
"We can't do anything until the vampires come out again, aru," China had been leaning against the wall, but now he straightened and walked forward to the group. "There is no point in searching, Transylvania has too many places to hide in. Only the vampires know where Spain is, we will have to wait until the vampires come out again before we can learn any clues. We may try negotiation, we can try following them, but the point remains we can't do anything until we see them. France, I understand your worry, if it had been Taiwan or Korea captured I would want to turn every stone over until I find them, but it is an impossible feat. Worrying won't help either, so save your strength until the vampires are out."
"I agree, da," Russia smiled, but China did not meet his eyes. The Chinese man stared at Francis, who gave no reaction to China's advice. Yao briefly wondered whether the man had even paid attention to him, sighing, he turned away.
"I'll like to retire to my room, excuse me." Politely, China left the group and went up the stairs. Korea and Taiwan glanced at each other before following, there was no need to stay with such depressing moods. The three parted paths and disappeared down the corridors. China began walking to his room, but as he passed by the upper deck doors, where England had pointed a sword at him earlier, he stopped.
"How kind of you, Yao, to give advice even to the westerners who tried to tear us apart, but I bet they didn't really listen."
"That's only to be expected," a soft male voice assured the female, "But the real purpose of Yao's visit here was never about those Europeans."
After glancing around, China stepped out to the supposedly empty deck. He shut the doors behind him, before speaking into thin air, "You three nearly got caught last night. England heard voices and came to investigate."
"Oh, he wasn't careful enough," A third voice, male and the oldest, answered. "Don't worry, he doesn't suspect our presence here." China heard rustling behind him, and finally turned around to look at the three nations nested on the vines the walls were covered in. Moonlight glinted off the glasses of the last speaker, and Thailand pushed his hair back to clear his vision. "Even if he does see us, he won't do much. England knows better then to try attacking another nation when in another country, especially without a declaration of war. And, well, I am known as being the only Asian country not once dominated by European powers (2). If you're worried about attachment, look at Hong Kong."
Hong Kong, the youngest in the group, frowned softly before turning back to China, "Like I said, whether the Europeans are here or not, we will be here anyways. How is Taiwan?"
"She seems to be well," China answered. "But I doubt she will remain still for long. Now that we're basically just waiting for the vampires, she will use this time to her advantage. Taiwan will start looking for him."
"How loyal of her," the female voice muttered. A breeze passed by, sending her hair, which had been tied into a ponytail, fluttering in the breeze. Vietnam, unlike Taiwan, did not hold strong alliances or loyalties to other nations. China looked at her, like Taiwan, Vietnam left his house years ago. Unlike Taiwan, Vietnam had made a sharp impression, showing the world that she was more than dangerous when provoked. "But I guess it is not so dangerous for her to wander about now, given that the vampires probably won't be coming out tonight."
"I trust you all heard everything the Europeans were saying?"
"Of course, poor, poor, Spain," Vietnam shrugged. "Although I have nothing against him personally, he's often with France, which biases my opinion. Is it really such a terrible event though? A nation cannot die, no matter what the vampires try. Why does it matter to us anyways, whether he is captured or rescued?" When Yao didn't answer, she continued, "We have nothing to do with him. In front of those Europeans, you have to act all concerned, but are you really? The only one in there who you should bother being concerned with is Iv…"
"Enough," China stated calmly, and the others fell into silence.
Blindfolded, wrists tied behind him, dragged roughly, tossed in the air, clawed by branches, scraped by bark, spun around so many times, and all the while with a hand around his throat, made Antonio lose all sense of direction and time. He was dizzy, tired, and his body protested at the rough treatment. Antonio almost felt like begging the vampire to please stop I'll do anything – something he hadn't done since England the pirate tormented him so relentlessly – because he could still feel pain even if he couldn't die. Sometime later, Antonio felt himself thrown down a tunnel, but at the last second Mexico's hands were around him again, and the vampire pulled up just before he could hit the ground.
"Miguel! Is that you?" A distant voice called, and without his sight Antonio relied on ears and previous knowledge to guess who the person might be. A young voice, seemingly cheerful, and addressing Mexico as Miguel, it had to be one of the other vampires. Mexico must have taken him to some sort of vampire base. "What took you so long? Matthew and I are in the lab!"
Matthew was Canada, so the speaker must be America, but even the prospect of seeing the other two vampires did not frighten him as much as the word "lab" did. Dread froze his body, and Mexico had to nudge him forward to move. Compared to the rough treatment earlier, the vampire was now gentle. "Go on, I apologize for the trip here, especially about throwing you down, but the tunnel could only fit one person. As for the rocky transportation, I was in a hurry and had to make several laps just to make sure I lose followers and so you wouldn't be able to ever find this place again." Well, at least Mexico was honest, the vampire rested a hand on Antonio's blindfold. "If you promise to behave, I'll remove this blindfold. There are a lot of things around here so sight would be vital in avoiding injury."
Antonio nodded, and was soon graced with vision again. He looked around, they were in an tunnel of some sort that had leveled out. Antonio guessed that the tunnel probably opened to the top of a cave, and then dropped down before leveling out to where he now stood. The tunnel continued deeper into the cave, but judging by the light and cleanness, the place was well kept. Mexico nudged him, clearly planning to leave Antonio's wrists tied behind his back as they began to walk down the tunnel. Very quickly the tunnel brought them to a tall, gas-masked zombie. Antonio stiffened, but the zombie took one look at Mexico and made no movement as the two stepped past him into the huge room.
Judging by the structures and supports, the place was old and worn, but the lab equipment crammed on black polished tables, while mismatched, was modern technology. Zombies were everywhere, handling the equipment, cleaning up, organizing documents, moving machinery, or simply standing guard. Bubbles frothed, machines hissed, clocks ticked and liquids dripped. At what might be the only clean table, pushed aside against the wall and away from the equipment, the vampire twins seemed busy with something. The messy-haired one, America, jumped off his chair as soon as he saw them. A wide grin spread over his face. "Oh no you didn't, Miguel, you caught a nation? This is an interesting surprise indeed!"
"Isn't it?" Miguel smiled, almost proudly. He glanced at the seated twin, and froze, "Matthew? Are you okay?" Matthew was seated by the table, blinking back tears. His normally peaceful face was now tightened into a grimace. A glass of water was held in his hands, a few drops were on the table but for all Miguel knew they could be tears. A note of concern came from his voice, "What's wrong? Did the people at the store treat your poorly…?" His eyes took note of a new bruise on Matthew's normally unscarred skin, "What happened to your arm?"
"Oh don't worry!" Alfred laughed, he slapped Matthew's shoulder, and the smaller boy almost choked. "The bruise came from a little scuffle he had earlier today. He's fine, his mind and heart are still whole. The only thing hurting has to be his tongue, that's the fifth wasabi in a row!" America cracked up laughing again as Matthew threw him a dark look, ruined by his pained face, before he finally swallowed. The glass of water was quickly on his lips as Canada gulped down mouthfuls of water. America chuckled as he held out a plate of sushi in front of Miguel. "Try one! Half the sushi here are stuffed with wasabi, the other half is normal. It's a common game, we don't know which is which as they all look the same. Matthew and I have been taking turns eating, but so far he's the only one getting his tongue burned!"
"Shut up," Matthew muttered, Alfred ignored him.
"If you ask me, it must be some form of karma, Matthew was really yelling earlier today! Getting his tongue numb and burnt now must mean something," Alfred chuckled. "Want one, Miguel? No? Fine, what about you Spain? Care to help us finish the dish?"
"I'll rather die then help you," Antonio hissed. Alfred rolled his eyes.
"Don't be boring, anyone who has ever said that to me has died. I've lost count already."
"Stop your teasing, Alfred." Miguel could feel Antonio tensing, it might be of fear, but it might also be preparation for a fight. So he said, "Work before play; Matthew, where's the rigged bracelet?"
"I'll get it," Alfred bound towards one of the lab tables and picked up what seemed to a thick metal bracelet with several bolts, albeit unlocked. Antonio knew what was happening, but just as he startled to resist Mexico's grip on him tightened again. Alfred quickly moved behind him, snapping the bracelet around Antonio's left wrist, and as he fastened the heavy accessory he began to speak. "I don't need to explain all the scientific jargon to you, but bottom line: This bracelet is hooked onto one of the equipment in this lab, I won't tell you which. Basically, there is a limit to how far you can go before the bracelet releases an electric shock. Now as you've probably figured, we vampires know exactly what you are, including the fact that you can't die. That's okay, the shock gets stronger the longer you stay away. You'll be alive as the shock gets more intense, more horrific, maybe burn off your lovely skin. It won't take long before you actually start screaming for death, I can say that because it was experimented on me."
Antonio's eyes widened in horror at the implications of those last few words, but he could see no wound on the vampire. Then he remembered how Miguel had healed after Ivan threw him in the fire, and guessed Alfred probably had similar abilities. That wasn't important though, "How far can I go?"
"Don't leave this lab," it was Matthew who answered. "Alfred made it to the door before he felt the first shock. Whether you linger in the same spot or move ahead, the shock will continue to increase, only by returning within range would the shock fade." A dark smile spread over the vampire's face, which no longer held the earlier grimacing about wasabi. Canada now looked every bit the vampire that had brought an army of zombies to America's aid last night. "Now that you're here, Antonio of Spain, we intend to make you useful. You will be staying with us for a while."
Mexico had been untying the ropes at that time, since the bracelet would be more effective anyways. To his complete surprise, Spain chose that moment to launch himself at the vampire twins. "I said I won't help…!" He never finished, because a zombie was suddenly in front of him, and Spain collapsed to the floor. Gasping in pain, he subconsciously curled up to himself.
"You," Canada addressed the zombie sharply, "Take our guest to Romania's old room. Don't worry," he added when he saw Spain's horrified eyes, "The room is within the permissible range, but if you're going to act hostile, some time alone might help."
Antonio couldn't even resist, the zombie was almost twice as large as him and a foot taller. He was dragged up without care and taken to the other side of the lab. The iron door with the barred window looked ominous enough, and Antonio tried to fight again. The zombie didn't even blink as he moved Spain under one arm while the other unlocked the door. It swung open to reveal a small, windowless room with only a bed, no desk or chair, and a small light hanging from the ceiling. Antonio was flung in roughly, but before the door slammed shut behind him a voice drawled, "Let me talk to him."
Antonio turned around to see Mexico standing there, the vampire must have followed them. The zombie, probably incapable of disobedience, left quickly. Miguel turned to look at the prisoner, who was struggling to his feet. "You know, even Romania knew not to attack us upright when he was in one of our 'evil lairs'. I'll advise you not to do that again, or we might lose our patience, and you'll be lucky getting away with complete isolation in this cell."
"What else could you do to me?" Antonio glared, "More electric shocks?"
"Of course not, we'll leave that as punishment for trying to leave. We'll try something else for your other crimes," Mexico's half lidded eyes glanced over his shoulder before looking back at his prisoner. "We can always try experimenting on you too, with the equipment in this room, the options are endless. Can you hear the twins talking?" Subconsciously Spain strained his ears, but the distance and other background noise prevented him from hearing anything. Mexico, however, was aided by his vampirism. "Matthew's talking to Alfred right now, seems like the wasabi had been Alfred's way to distract him after Matthew complained about the failure of our experiments. We try and we try, but I guess in the end, we never achieved the scientific brilliance of Gyula or our estranged friend."
"What does that have to do with me?" An image of Raul suddenly appeared in his mind, but Spain stayed silent. He could see now that the mysterious experiment Transylvania had been working on, that the stranger Raul Havana had apparently started, was indeed trying to be replicated by the vampires. Raul's warning had proven too true, but as he said, Gyula took the experiment's success with him in his disappearance.
"Oh, we can involve you in this," Mexico drawled. "You see, the experiment continues to fail, but maybe if we had better test subjects, we might succeed." Spain's eyes widened, knowing what role the vampire would like to put him in. Mexico covered his face with a hand and laughed bitterly, "We need that experiment to succeed, especially now since we know it is possible, but again and again our hopes are dashed. Listen to the twins, how their little souls comfort each other with better thoughts than you and I could have hit on. When they were younger, no person in the world could have ever pictured Heaven as beautifully as they did in their innocent talk. Every time I listen to them, I almost feel like sobbing, wishing I am there with all those I cared for, all safe together – including with our estranged friend."
His fingers opened a crack, revealing an eye that was no longer half-lidded, but sharp and almost threatening. "So tell me, was our friend there? Russia called out his name, didn't he, back at that swimming pool when we first met? If you tell us where Raul – if that is what he is calling himself – is, we might even let you go. Tell me, where is he now?"
"I have no idea," Antonio spoke the truth, he really didn't know where Raul was, but his tone made it more then clear that even if he did he wouldn't have said anything. As it was, Miguel dropped his hand and sneered.
"You've made your alliances clear," the vampire stepped back and slammed the door shut. He covered the iron-barred window for extra emphasis, then turned and walked leisurely back to where the twins were at. He found Alfred alone, and his footsteps slowed, "Where's Matthew?"
"One of the zombies mis-organized some files and he's gone off to reorganize it," Alfred popped the last sushi in his mouth and swallowed. "This is good, but nothing will beat hamburgers! What I wouldn't do to have another one now…maybe I wouldn't have wrecked that burner…"
"Again?"
"Again."
"Didn't you wreck our last one?"
"…it was the zombies?"
"That was because you pushed him!"
"You can try fixing it, or replacing it, you've always been quick at mass productions and duplicates and…"
"Don't make this sound like the auto industry (3)," Miguel sighed as he searched the nearby lab table and finally found the broken burner, along with some other science equipment he was sure had been thrown to the floor, sat on, smashed, and replaced on the table. Alfred had always been the most destructive around them. As Miguel started to remove the equipment, he spoke, "There's no doubt about it, he is calling himself Raul, and Antonio has had contact with him. Unfortunately, Antonio refuses to give us any information. I don't know if Raul's had contact with any of the other nations, so many have arrived to help Romania, but I doubt he will go that far."
"I don't think he would," Alfred agreed. "How many nations have Romania manage to recruit?"
"You saw most of them already. England and France are still there, as are those Matthew helped fight, China, Taiwan, and Korea. Russia and Spain, as I mentioned to you before, came together and were together until tonight. Germany was set as bait and the Italian twins tried to fight me. We're only missing Prussia."
"Matthew ran into Prussia earlier today, hence the bruise on his arm, so the nation's still around." At Miguel's expression, Alfred told him about Matthew's encounter. It was slightly funny, but what the encounter showed was the foreigners' intentions. "There are so many of them here, I didn't think Romania's vampire problem would spread to England's island at the west and the Asian countries at the east. We will have to deal with them, as long as they are here Raul might be tempted to help one of them 'deal with' us. What's more, if they find Transylvania before us they'll protect him with everything they've got. We won't ever be able to hunt or feed peacefully as long as the nations are here. If we can't kill them, either we drive them away, or at least make them disinclined to act against us."
"You're planning to do something crazy now, aren't you?"
"Well, if they're trying the whole 'leave bait out to draw the vampires' thing, let's go and confront them instead." Alfred laughed at Miguel's look. "If they want to see us, and I'm sure they would now that we have Spain, I am more then happy to go find them myself."
(1) Slightly exaggerated reference to the Battle of Puebla, France against Mexico
(2) This is true, although it was occupied by the Japanese during WW2
(3) Apparently, Mexico's auto industry produces more than America and Canada
A clue is already in this chapter about who Taiwan is looking for, can anyone pick it up? To sum up the chapter: Antonio's been captured, Gilbert and Matthew are driving each other mad, Miguel's been seen by all the nations, Yao has other reasons for visiting Transylvania AND has three allies hiding in the shadows, the mysterious experiment is still being set, and Alfred plans to confront the visiting nations himself!
HAPPY CANADA DAY!! Like the true Canadian, I volunteered at my local parade, cheered at local performances, saluted our military and police, helped our politicians connect to the community, ate all the stereotypically Canadian food, and will now rush out to see the fireworks. What did my Canadians readers out there do? And early regards to American readers for their upcoming indepedence day!
