The orange flames from the candles flickered incandescently as a draft trickled through a cracked window pane into the crowded dining room. Every one of the slayers, breathers and vampires occupying the room looked either bored or fed up. All except for Renfield, who was stood in the corner of the room, clutching his favourite tiara and twirling round and round on the spot.

'Where did Vlad and Erin say they were?' Jonno asked as he sat rather uncomfortably next to the Count at the dining room table.

'The schools holding an opening evening tonight and the swots said they'd help,' Ingrid said as she examined her nails nonchalantly.

'You'd think he would have more important things to do,' Mina said, folding her arms irately.

'Open evening! What open evening!?' cried the Count. 'It's my school! Why does nobody tell me anything?'

'Because you're an incompetent fool, maybe?' Ingrid put in with a laugh, earning a deadly look from the Count. He was about to retort with an equally nasty remark, but was quickly interrupted by a rather loud burp from Bertrand, who yet again had his head in a glass of blood. This was followed two seconds later by a thud and a very high pitched scream as Renfield lost his footing and fell over backwards into a wooden chest.

The Count redirected his attention towards the bumbling servant as the latter struggled to get back to his feet. 'Renfield, you idiot!'

'Oh master, where's it gone!?'

'What?'

'My tiara!'

'You mean this tiara?' Ingrid said sweetly, pointing to the jewelled crown that had landed by her feet. Renfield's face lit up momentarily before she brought her heeled shoes crashing down on it, smashing it into the floorboards.

Renfield let out a saddened cry, then buried his face in the chest full of cloaks and began to sob.

Ingrid looked across at the rest of the table with a smirk on her face, at which Mina looked utterly appalled. The Princess of Darkness grinned nastily at her, then decided to change the subject. 'Now listen. What are we going to do about that art teacher? Vlad has failed to do anything so far.'

'It's all very tricky,' said Jonno, watching as Renfield slowly stood up and started blowing his nose on a black and yellow cape, that the young slayer had just realised was the same one the Count had worn when they'd been living in the castle in Stokely.

'No, it isn't. And I've got two fangs here that agree with me.'

'If you go anywhere near any breather Ingrid you know what will happen!' said Mina coldly.

'Alright alright Meany Mina, your slayer buddy is safe... from biting at least,' said Ingrid, licking her lips mockingly.

A loud thud made the whole table jump as Bertrand's hand stopped supporting his head and let it fall smack onto the polished mahogany table. He jumped upright immediately afterwards, yawning.

'I need another drink I think,' he slurred. 'Would any of you... drink? Except you of course,' he said pointing at the slayers, 'cause then you'd kind of be drinking yourself, which would be weird...'

'Hang on hang on hang on! Is that slayer blood you're drinking!?' the Count exclaimed suddenly. He grabbed Bertrand's cup and took a deep sniff. 'It is! You useless retch! You're drinking all my stock!'

Jonno and Mina looked at the cup in Bertrand's hand, slightly unnerved by the fact that it could easily be their blood he was drinking, considering all the donations the Guild had given the Draculas.

'This stuff is much harder to come by you know!' the Count said, looking sideways at the slayers on his left.

'And no wonder you've been off your head for days!' Ingrid said, notes of jealousy in her voice. 'Slayer blood is like champagne to vampires!'

'Yes!' said Bertrand, wobbling slightly as he stood up. 'And it's time for some more!'

'Oh no you don't!' said the Count, and he grabbed the drunken vampire's glass.

Bertrand's look of addled happiness turned to that of outrage. He made a grab for the Count's arm, but instead completely missed and gave him a harsh blow to the head.

'Ow!'

'Oh sit down both of you! We're not getting anywhere... this was meant to be a meeting! We need to talk about this art teacher!'

'Why are you so bothered?' the Count said in a muffled voice, wrestling with Bertrand in a head lock as the supposed tutor tried to snatch his glass back.

'Because I'm sick of it! I haven't washed in days, all because the stupid water supply is tainted with garlic!'

Renfield leant over from behind and took a sniff near her arm pit. 'Umm... tangy.'

'Fine, if you all refuse to do anything about it, I'll do something myself,' she said, standing up.

'Yes, good! Relieve us of your irksome presence!' said the Count, waving her away. Bertrand used this momentary distraction to grab the crystal glass, and quickly downed the remaining dregs of blood that hadn't spilt from it.

'Ahhhh!' cried the Count in anguish, stamping his foot like a toddler parted with his favourite toy.

The stumbling tutor followed Ingrid as she whooshed from the room, leaving the Slayers, the Count and Renfield all alone.

'No rest for the wicked!' said the Count as he sat back down with a sigh, resting his head on his hand with a sulking expression on his face.

'Brilliant, so now Bertrand's off drinking himself to dust and Ingrid's gone to plot against the art teacher!' said Jonno, throwing his arms up in the air.

'Alright drama queen!' said the Count. 'Vladdy will fix it just you wait!'

'You know, for a vampire, he is rather... human,' Jonno said thoughtfully.

'And WHAT... did you mean... by that?' asked the Count, leaning in towards the slayer threateningly.

'Oh! Nothing... nothing...'

'Good.'

'Well, Vlad better be able to sort this out... peacefully!' Mina put in. 'If he can't do it, I'm not sure who can.'

All for now, I'll hopefully update soon. Thanks for all the reviews! Keep them coming! :)