"Rummy!" Laughing, Jason counted out the cards, adding his score to the total with a quiet whoop. Red eyes had watched the entire game, and at the indication of some sort of curiousity, Sam had explained how it worked to the vampire. This last round had taken Jason well past a full hundred points, and he couldn't help but gloat a bit and grin at Sam as he collected the cards. "And here I thought you said you know how to play!"
Grumbling, Sam muttered, "Just letting you get ahead so that my next stunning victory is all the more shocking." Grinning, Jason flicked out seven more cards each, and a new scoring box was set up on the scrap of paper being used as a scorecard.
There was simply no luck in the cards tonight. Sam stared at his hand, frustrated. He'd been building to sixes, and then the six of hearts had been laid down in set of Jason's. He still had two, but the fourth six was still buried somewhere in the deck. A pair of aces, and a king, all of different suits. He drew a four, and reached to pick up the king...only to have a narrow white hand reach over, and a thin pale finger tap on the three of clubs in his hand. Surprised, for Alucard had never participated beyond watching the card games, he moved back to the king...only to have a more authoritative tap on his cards.
Well, the vampire couldn't possibly do worse than he was. With an internal shrug, he tossed the three onto the stack., then looked up to meet Jason's grin. "Well, Sam, looks like you may have a fighting chance with him on your side." A quiet snort from the vampire was the only response, but the red eyes remained fixed on the game. Jason tossed down a queen...of the same set as his king! Sam snapped it up, and Alucard, without pause, tapped a six...and then watched Jason discard the Ace to match his king and queen, or his set of aces! As he leaned to grasp it, a thin white hand wrapped about his wrist, and Alucard shook his head. Instead, Sam drew a nine, and added it to the pile with a nod from Alucard.
And then Jason tossed down a five to match his four...and complete the build to the six...4, 5, 6. With a grin, Sam scooped up the last three cards. Queen, King, Ace...4, 5, 6...it was looking much more promising. "Seems like you know your game!" he praised the vampire, receiving one of the vampire's rare smiles in return. With Alucard assisting, it wasn't long before he was laying out all his cards in books, and laughing as Jason swore and subtracted several face cards of points.
By two more hands of cards, it had become obvious that Alucard was a consummate card-counter with an uncanny ability to remember exactly which cards had been discarded and in which order. Jason and Sam looked at each other, looked down at the vampire, and back at each other...and Sam nodded, tapping the cards back into a smooth deck. "We've got to teach him poker."
Within the hour, they were very glad they had not opted to play for real cash, as Alucard would have cleaned them out. The vampire was still quiet, almost impossible to hear, but he'd spoken for the game. A quiet "hold" or "pass" and the bets were clear, but so very faint that they had to strain their ears to hear it. And a ghost of a smile played on his lips as, by the end of the game, Alucard sat with a pile of chips in front of him and both of the men down to a few shillings' worth!
x x x x
It was difficult sneaking downstairs out of sight of the soldiers, and Alucard longed to be able to simply move there invisibly. However, with the seals in place...he was forced to move physically. At least the soldiers were forbidden from harassing him during the day while he slept and for the first half hour after the sun set. A sleeping vampire could and would react violently to being awakened and Abraham had found it best to simply deny the soldiers access until Alucard was awake and alert. They were also forbidden from being in the basement or playing with the vampire for the last half hour before sunrise; Alucard had been caught out of his coffin, trapped in a room with them, and fallen asleep as the sun rose. Moving him had woken him and nearly gotten Abraham bitten! That half hour each evening assured them that he was awake and vulnerable...but it also gave him time to dodge them if he was sufficiently creative.
The basement reeked of blood and the thick scent of rotten vampiric flesh, as well as the more usual musty decay common in such old buildings. Rats and spiders abounded, and the men were reluctant to enter that domain unless needed even after Alucard's half hour of grace had passed. Unfortunately, Abraham was not reluctant, and the men were the lesser of two evils. Being easily accessible to Abraham too often ended in agony, and Alucard tried to make his escape upstairs as quickly as he could. This morning, though, he would tuck himself into his coffin and sleep, ignoring the ever-present hunger pangs and misery.
Or at least, that's what he thought he'd be doing. It was open. Someone...had come down there, and opened the lid. A stab of worry went through Alucard. Had they damaged it? A sniff...urine. They had urinated on it, in it. His coffin, his home, the last thing he had of his own, his sanctuary, what was always and forever most precious to him...violated. Even Abraham had been careful of it, keeping it intact and undamaged, and using the occasional denial of it as a punishment. Moving closer, he looked inside, cringing as he saw that it was worse than he'd expected.
They'd tossed a few silver coins in it, a handful of bullets...and someone had added a crucifix pendant, half-draped across the damp urine-yellowed fabric. A pair of empty beer bottles had dripped their last remnants and added their own scent to the miasma...at least those he could snatch out and fling to smash into the wall! The rest...
He had nothing in his room, no tools, no tongs, not even a spoon to remove any of it, and nothing to wash his coffin with.
Sinking to his knees in despair, Alucard stared hopelessly at his coffin. Tugging at his mind, the sun crept to the horizon. It rose to shine on a grand home, with beautiful gardens and the scent of baking bread rising from the kitchen, and a forlorn vampire curled hopelessly into the corner of his dank cell.