Uncle Vlad-Book 1- The Lost Dracula

Chapter 5: The Dream Gift

Marlin was dreaming again, but to his relief the old vampire in purple mist was nowhere to be seen this was one of his normal dreams, well normal to him at least. Normal dreams that regular people have weren't so real and vivid Marlin could smell, taste, feel and he could remember everything in his dreams. His dreams were not fuzzy like the dreams other people had, his were real like he was actually there and that the events in them actually happened, or what was happening or in rare cases what was going to happen.

Once when Marlin was about seven or eight he dreamt that he saw his mother but younger and more breather looking, she had more colour in her skin and her hair was shorter, and she was not as powerful, but he did see her accidently set fire to a throne and was shocked when she realised what he had done. In the morning when he asked his mum about it she was asking Marlin how he could have known that but Marlin couldn't answer, this happened a few other times as well but in the end he decided to speak no more of them and keep them to himself.

But this although it was like the others it was one that would always remain in his mind throughout his life, at first it was quite puzzling and it wasn't till he was a bit older that he was able to understand the emotional influence that it had on the members of his family.

Marlin found himself in what he guessed was a castle hallway but it was a lot older than his Uncles, the floor was covered in old red moth eaten carpet and the walls were made of grey cold stone with hints of green moss hiding between the cracks, he looked out of the small arched window, it was night, looking down he could see little village houses made of wood with little farms scattering around, in the distance he could see mountains of grey and white. It was a beautiful sight and Marlin knew from that moment he was in Transylvania, he had only been their twice, once as a baby and once when he was five but he hadn't been there since and didn't have many memories of the place suddenly a shatter of glass broke Marlin out of his thoughts. He heard from behind the door a cry of anger as a tall man bashed open the doors, he was a deadly pale with high cheek bones and sharp nose his eyes were as black as coal were raging with fury as he swept along the hall way his long black cloak flowing behind him making him look like he had wings of a bat.

Marlin knew there was no need but he pressed himself against the wall to let the raging vampire go past, the vampire didn't notice him they never did, he suddenly noticed that two small children were following behind the vampire, a boy and a girl both with black hair and pale skin just like the vampire. The girl looked about seven her dark hair was tied neatly into two plaits and she wore a scarlet red dress covered in black bows down to her knees while the boy had hair falling over his eyes like Marlins only the boys hair was darker, and his eyes were a greyish blue, he wore black shorts up to his knees and grey shocks with black shoes he also wore a white shirt with a grey waist coat. Both children looked pretty smart they also looked very familiar, they followed the older vampire to the other room as fast as their little legs could carry them, Marlin followed close behind.

The vampire had lead them to the dining room were the older vampire smashed his fists against the table making the glass and cutlery roll off going down with a smash, "HOW DARE SHE!" He bellowed as lightening struck outside make the room shake, the kind of shake when his mother was in a rage.

"Daddy?" said the little boy who was standing right next to Marlin, he knew this boy from somewhere...

"You're angry about mummy aren't you?" the little boy said with his eyes filled with tears that were threatening to come out, "she's going to leave us for the werewolf isn't she?" the poor boy sniffed Marlin could feel his heart give a pang looking at the poor boy. Marlin looked towards the girl who also looked familiar her eyes were red and puffy but she was holding back her tears alot better than the boy but her teary eyes turned into fury as she turned towards the boy, that Marlin suspected was her brother.

The older vampire that seemed to be children's father snapped his attention towards the children his eyes now glowing a blood red "GET OUT!" he roared in anger and the two children sprinted out the room and so did Marlin, he didn't want to be in a room with that fuming vampire much longer. The children didn't run far they only stopped at the end of hall looking out of the arched window, Marlin stood by the side of them.

"Why did you say that?" snapped the girl as she stared down at her brother who kept his gaze to the window.

"Because it's true!" the boy cried his tears now running down his face.

"How would you know any better, Vlad?" the girl asked in anger, her voice shaking with emotion "you are nothing but a little breather-lover you're too dumb and little to know what's going on!"

'Vlad?' thought Marlin, his Uncle Vlad? Now Marlin knew how he recognised the boy so the girl must be...

"I am not!" Vlad blustered "you know it's true Ingrid, she sneaks out every night when dads busy, I've seen it so have you, she's gone!" all of a sudden Marlin's mother raised her hand and slapped his Uncle across the face and the little boy landed to the floor with a thump.

"She's not gone!" she screamed with her own tears pouring down her face, "she won't just leave me, she loves me, she would take me away with her!" and like that she was off, both children were left in tears.

That's when Marlin awoke, cold, wet and shivering...

Xxx

Marlin didn't know how long he had been asleep for, but it couldn't have been too long, looking at the cloudy sky he could guess it was probably about seven or eight. He got up trying to brush the wet mud off but it only seemed to make the mess worse, the mud was now smothered over his grey/white hoody, that was going to stain it, it looked like his Uncle owed him a new hoody. Remembering his Uncle who had shut him out in the rain he felt a sudden surge of anger but then he remembered his dream he remembered his Uncles little teary face and suddenly felt a little guilty. Maybe his Uncle hadn't locked him out maybe there was something else going on? But first find a way out of this ditch!

He looked around seeing if there was anything he could use to get himself out, this ditch wasn't that wide but it sure was deep and looked wet and slippery so there was no used trying to climb it there wasn't even anything that could help him up not even a rope, but it wouldn't make much difference anyway he would need second person to pull him up. Was it worth shouting for help? Why should he? They didn't hear him when he knocked on the door so why should they hear him all the way out here.

He slunk to the floor not caring how muddy it was, he was a mess anyway. Someone should come round soon surely? Luckily Marlin didn't have to wait very long until he heard footsteps above him, he looked up to see the head of young looking man peering down into the ditch, peering down at Marlin. He had rich dark down hair that he kept flopped to the side and he had light brown eyes looking down at Marlin in confusion.

"What are you doing down there for?" He called down, Marlin blinked was this guy from the castle? No, he seemed ordinary, if not a bit dim.

"I fell in!" Marlin called, did the man think he was in here for the fun of it?

"What did you fall in for?" The man asked, Marlin was tempted to say, 'I didn't do it on purpose' but he wasn't in a Harry Potter movie.

"It was an accident!" He called up, then he asked the man "Can you get me out of here?" Hoping that the man could be of some use instead of asking stupid questions.

"Sure I can!" He called out, he pulled his backpack from his back and reached inside it, Marlin could make out a rope and a pair of gloves, "here!" the man said as he threw the gloves into the pit, Marlin caught them with ease, they were black normal looking gloves made of a velvet material not the kind of this you would expect a guy like this one to carry around with him, another thing as well as that they looked about the size for a four year old!

"Why that you given me these!?" He called out "They are far too small and my hands aren't cold!"

"They are to wear when you climb the rope so you don't burn your hands!" The man called out "and they aren't too small they will fit to the size you want them!"

"What do you mean?" Marlin asked not understanding the last statement; he was beginning to worry for this mans sanity...

"Try them and you will understand!" Marlin stared at the man doubtfully but pulled on the gloves and to his surprise they fitted like...well...a glove, they had grown to the length of this hand and they weren't even too tight for him. Maybe this guy was sane after all, maybe he was sent by the castle to find Marlin, it would make sense if he magical cloves.

"Here comes the rope!" the man called and he flung the end of the rope down, Marlin grabbed onto it as he waited for the guy to tie the other end onto a strong tree. Once the guy gave the signal Marlin began to climb the rope with ease, it must have been something to do with the gloves Marlin thought, without them he couldn't have climbed so fast. Once Marlin was high enough the young man grabbed Marlin arm and helped him up pulling him away from the pit.

"Thanks for saving me," Marlin said giving a sigh of relief, he was glad to be out of there, now he was in an open space and the sky had cleared up a bit but it was still spitting with rain and Marlin bet it would pour down anytime soon.

"No problem mate," the guy smiled slapped Marlin on the back, Marlin winced in pain he still hurt from the fall the guy noticed this and frowned, being serious for once Marlin could see him properly now that he standing right next to him. Marlin figured if he was from the castle he might have been a zombie, for you cannot always tell the difference between zombies and breathers but this wasn't a zombie, his touch was warm and alive and his eyes where bigger and sharper than that of a zombies, almost like a werewolves.

"Say," the man said stepping off from Marlin a bit as he looked him up and down, "you don't happen to be the new boy around here, Marlin is it?" the man asked tilting his head to the side.

Marlin nodded and smiled, "yeah that's me, are you from the castle?" He asked.

"Well I'm more of a free spirit," the guy said "I live here and there, just travelling around the country, but yeah I'm always welcome at the castle, me and your uncle are kinda like family."

"So the two of you aren't related then?" Marlin asked, wondering how the young man was involved with his uncle in some way, Marlin was one curious boy.

"Well that's where our family starts to get a bit complicated," the young man laughed rubbing the back of his head, "to put it this way I'm not related to your Uncle but I am related to your mother which kinda makes me your uncle too."

"Ok..." Marlin said, it looked like he had another Uncle now but how did that work if he wasn't related to his other uncle?

"Yeah it's complicated it's just how the Dracula family is, I'm Wolfie by the way," he held out his hand and Marlin shook it smiling, he hoped Wolfie was here to stay for a bit, it looks like he had made a new friend.

"Come on, you're all wet and muddy and I bet you're cold," said Wolfie putting his arm around Marlin, "let's get you home."

Xxx

On the way back to the castle Marlin told Wolfie about the big dog that attacked him and how he fell into the pit, he didn't mention the dream he had had, he was going to keep that to himself for now and he had long forgotten about the camera he found near the castle. But Wolfie listened to his story with interest and when Marlin had finished Wolfie put his thumb between his teeth and thought.

"How strange," he said.

"What's strange?" asked Marlin.

"All of it," Wolfie explained, "your uncle would never shut you out it's just not him, and it's defiantly not like him to forget to give you the keys to the door, Vlad's quite organized he was telling me in his last letter how excited he was that he was going to see you, he would of had plans and wouldn't put your life in danger like that, getting you chased by that dog, I didn't even think any dangerous wild creatures lived in this area, besides werewolves of course."

"Do you think what I saw was a werewolf?" Marlin asked, thanking his lucky bats that he wasn't bitten.

"Hmm," Wolfie thought, "we werewolf's are usually quite gentle creatures, we don't hunt anymore and try to make friends with nature."

"So you are a werewolf, I thought so," Marlin blurted out, but Wolfie just laughed.

"You're a clever kid aren't you" Wolfie said as he reached the castle, "here we are home sweet home."

Wolfie took out his own pair of keys and opened the side door once they were through passed the dining room the pair stopped at the top of the stair case when Wolfie called out.

"Oh Eddie, are you there!?" Suddenly a small boy appeared through one of the doors Wolfie and Marlin jumped in surprise, the child looked about Marlin's age but at least a head shorter with sandy blond hair and glassy blue eyes that where so pale that there where event hints of red in them, his pupils where quite big but overall he was pretty normal looking and looked quite healthy, he must be one of the zombie's that served around the castle but wasn't he too young?

"Marlin, this is Eddie, his parents are servants around the castle and top ones at that, Eddie was chosen to be your manservant."

"My servant?" Marlin gasped mouth open wide, were they serious? Marlin wasn't that special!

"Yes sir," Eddie bowed with all seriousness, "have you never had your own personal servant before?"

Marlin shook his head, why hadn't his Uncle told him about this himself? Marlin didn't know if he wanted some kid his own age following his orders it didn't seem fair on the zombie himself.

"Your Uncle planned this" Wolfie said "but he wanted to wait a bit to see if you weren't a spoilt brat but you seem like a nice chap to me." Wolfie then turned towards Eddie, "Edd, I need you to run Master Marlin a hot bath and fetch him clean and comfortable clothes from his room and throw his old clothes in the wash."

"But wait!" Marlin shot "Where are you going?"

"To find your Uncle Vlad, I bet he's asleep in his chambers, well he will have to wake up because their are a few things I need to talk to him about" Wolfie frowned, he meant business, "well I will see you after your bath," and with that he went to find Vlad.

Only one REVIEW! Where have you all gone? Right! Pentety! If I don't get more than one review the chapters grows shorter and you will have to wait longer, but if I get more reviews the chapters will get longer and hopefully you won't have to wait as long, it that a good deal :D It is summer afther all and I would rather get at least half this fanfic finshed before September so REVIEW! FAVROITE! STORY ALERT! WHATEVER! JUST DO SOMETHING TO TELL ME MY EFFETS ARENT IN VAIN!