A/N: Disclaimer in Chapter 1.
I really hope this chapter does the last chapter justice. I spent hours writing and rewriting this chapter.
Chapter 11: FalloutVlad propped his head up on his hands; he didn't have a clue how to deal with this. Olga had been stupid.
Ingrid was curled up into the corner of the sofa, she hadn't moved from there since Vlad had regained his control. Bertrand remained quiet, scouring the law books for a solution. Vlad knew he wouldn't find one in there. This was more to do with opinion than law, yes a law supported it, but vampire opinion was difficult to sway even if they did find a law to combat it.
The Count and Ivan were silent in the corner of the room, Vlad had silenced Olga but she was still imprisoned in the corner of the room, cuffed to the radiator. Ivan was shooting daggers at his daughter, her perfect image completely destroyed now.
Erin let out an "Oomph", bending over slightly as her kidney was kicked – hard.
Vlad immediately raced to her side, his concern clear. Erin waved him off, "He's got his Dad's strength." She smiled at him. Her face contorted again as the other kidney was kicked. A grin crossed her face as the baby shifted slightly. "And he likes football."
"She." Vlad corrected with a small smile. "She will like rugby." He liked playing football but had preferred to try out for the rugby team when he was younger. He gently placed his hand on her bump, rubbing gently trying to soothe the infant. "I'm sorry." He whispered to her.
"What for?" She questioned not understanding why he was apologising.
"All of this, you're not married to a 'legitimate' Dracula and that will taint the baby."
"Vladimir compared to the rebels this is a small problem. If I have to lose my surname I can handle that, as long as I don't lose my husband we're fine."
"It won't come to that," He told her softly.
"If all else fails we'll name the baby Dracula." She teased, "Then they can't say it's not a Dracula." Vlad snorted and shook his head.
"The baby won't be called Dracula." They hadn't discussed names for a boy or a girl but that one was definitely out of the question.
Erin chuckled and kissed his lips softly, "You'll always be Vladimir Dracula to me."
"Master Vlad, the vampire clans have gathered downstairs."
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As soon as Vlad stepped into the hall he was immediately bombarded with questions.
"Is it true?"
"Are your parents married or not?"
"The Chosen One should be respectable!"
"This is a scandal!"
"We need a new leader!"
"QUIET!" The Count roared, no one seemed to notice his request for silence.
Vlad shot a fireball into the air and immediately everyone quietened. He'd decided honesty was the best way to deal with this, if he lied then another lie would have to be created later on then another and another just to protect the Dracula family name.
"It's true my parents never married…"
"I told you he was illegitimate!" A vampire spoke up from the front. Ingrid ground her teeth.
"BUT," He continued, "My father has raised both my sister as Draculas, we are Draculas."
"I anointed Vladimir the heir to my throne, Ingrid was anointed before him."
Ingrid looked at her father, she never thought she actually had any vampiric claim to the throne, clearly she did. She was curious as to why he'd never told her this before. Vlad had been reanointed when he was disowned when Wolfie was born. Her father obviously hadn't minded her being his heir until Vlad was born.
"You can't inherit anything!" The same vampire spoke. Erin flicked her finger and immediately the vampire's mouth was sealed.
"We can't have a leader who doesn't have the right to inherit anything!"
"I am your leader I don't need to inherit anything."
One of the younger vampires screamed next, "A leader with a scandal!"
"He has no true claim on the Dracula name!"
"We can't have a leader known just as Vladimir."
Erin chose that moment to stand, this was purely ridiculous. "You disgust me!" She roared at them all, "All you seem to care about is your precious clans. How many of you have benefited from what Vlad has done for you? Do you honestly think the next Grand High Vampire will keep the same laws? Vlad has prevented most of these clans being attacked in this war. He is the only one who can hold the alliance together, I don't think the wolves or the slayers would support anyone else."
The vampires were shocked into silence at her outburst.
As if on cue a panting Jonno and a perfectly composed Scott entered the room. Jonno shot her an apologetic look for being late but they had journeyed from Stokely to get here on short notice.
"We'll only support Vladimir Dracula."
"Us…too." Jonno gasped. "Neither of us cares about legitimacy, just that he is the only person who can rule your nation."
"Vlad has done everything you have ever asked. You demanded he show his powers – he did. You demanded he marry – he did. You demanded an heir – one's on its way. You have done nothing but challenge my husband, he could have had every single disbeliever staked but he didn't he gave you a second chance."
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Jonno and Scott moved towards the stage climbing on it, Jonno collapsed onto a nearby seat trying to get his breath back. It was ridiculous for them to lose their leader over something so trivial, that's how backward their laws were.
Considering Magda had tried to kill the Count to get her hands on the castle when they almost did get married Jonno knew their father had made the right decision for him and his children by remaining single.
An idea came into Erin's head; she was second in power to Vlad. They doubted his leadership because of his 'illegitimacy' they had no reason to doubt hers.
"Okay then I want everyone's clan trees examined, I want to see which clans should and shouldn't exist."
A mumble echoed around the hall and Erin realised that her words had struck a chord. If clan trees were examined it would unearth many skeletons. Clan trees would show who was the rightful heir and who wasn't as well as questioning the disappearance of relatives. Cans of worms could be opened.
Fromik was the one who questioned her, his face clouding in fury, "How dare you…"
"The half fang is still Queen." Dhamphir announced, "Her say is final." Dhamphir was actually on Erin's side, which was suspicious.
"I'm willing to bet that no one in here will have an unblemished family tree. If that's the case castles and lands will be taken from you. If you want the law upheld we'll do it now."
Silence descended over the room, vampires shuffled from side to side. "Maybe we were hasty…" One of the clan leaders announced, other's nodding in agreement with him. This was the reaction Erin wanted.
"Do you have something to hide?" Vlad asked loudly the leader shrugged before nodding under his gaze.
An elder vampire looked Vlad in the eye, one of the stickler for tradition that Vlad knew he'd face. "It doesn't matter because he has to uphold our laws."
Vlad wanted to know the answer to a question that had been bothering him. "How many of you actually knew that the law existed before you saw it in the Vampire Times?"
A smattering of hands rose in the air, it seemed they were going with the majority. If Vlad still held his position after this he would have the heads of the journalists once and for all. They had a deal and they broke it.
Erin turned to Bertrand playing ignorant, the majority of current vampire laws were created within the last couple of thousand years but vampires had existed for much longer. "Bertrand when was the law created?"
"The Illegitimacy law?" Erin nodded, "About 2000 years ago." He answered confused, Erin raised her eyebrow and he immediately understood. "But it's never been enforced."
She looked completely innocent as she was asked, "Why was that?"
Yao suddenly smiled looking at his Queen, Erin was a cunning queen. "It couldn't be enforced." She should be considering she'd studied it with Vlad until she knew it from cover to cover when she still was a breather.
"Why not?" Vlad asked completely lost, he couldn't follow a word of the conversation.
"Because it couldn't be." Erin told him, a smile on her face.
"I don't get it." The Count told her, he'd never really understood vampire law.
"They never thought through the wording, they just said 'children with unmarried parents at the date of the child's birth or conception are to be declared illegitimate and will not inherit either of their parents estate' but they didn't say when it should start from. If they enforced it their own children would be declared illegitimate, and so would their children's children. Before long other vampires would demand the Council recognise the law because they were illegitimate themselves and a power vacuum would begin."
"So…" Vlad was confused.
Erin continued, "So…everyone in this room is descended from what the Council 2000 years ago would call 'illegitimate' vampires. Vampires who should never had inherited their parent's estates. It was created to try and deal with who should genuinely inherit vampire estates and prevent anyone claiming they were heirs when they weren't."
Vlad turned to the crowd who'd been following the conversation. "Do you want me to enforce the law?" Vlad asked the vampires. A great majority shook their heads. "Hands up for yes." A small smattering of hands about 15, "No," At least a couple of hundred hands shot up into the air.
It wasn't an official vote but it would do under the circumstances.
"What do we call you? You can choose either Westenra or Dracula." Atilla asked him. His mother had never taken his father's name so he had two to choose from and Vlad knew which one he preferred.
Vlad hardened his expression. "I transformed in front of the Dracula Blood Mirror, I am a Dracula! I hold the power of the Blood Mirror for my clan, if I wasn't a true Dracula I wouldn't be able to do that."
"Prove it!" Vlad knew why they were asking, they needed to know if he was telling the truth over which mirror he'd transformed in front of.
Vlad groaned before leaning towards Ingrid and Bertrand, "Help Renfield bring the mirror in here."
Erin tipped her head towards him, "What are you going to do?"
Vlad turned his eyes towards her; it was the only thing he could do to prove his statement to the vampire community. "Take away Olga's powers publicly."
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Olga was thrown to the floor in front of Vlad as Ingrid and Bertrand moved the mirror to the stage, Olga shook her head her tears streaming down her face. Pleading silently for Vlad not to punish her.
Ingrid smirked at her cousin. This served her right, now she would never have a claim to the throne.
Erin stood away from Vlad, she wasn't sure if this was going to be a pretty sight.
A hush descended over the hall as Vlad extended his right hand towards Olga and his left towards the mirror, until his fingers brushed the cold, dusty glass. He closed his eyes, concentrating.
"Please Vlad!" Olga screamed but he ignored her, this was merciful considering the alternative.
He reached out with his mind and latched onto her power. Olga went rigid, her back arched. Purple sparks which developed into horizontal lightening flew from her and into Vlad. The power flowed through him and into the mirror. The mirror hummed and glowed as it hungrily absorbed the power from Olga, sparks danced around it like static.
After a total of one minute Olga slumped forward as the last of the power was transferred back into the mirror. Vlad opened his eyes and let go of the mirror.
The crowd watched in amazement, they'd never seen the power being transferred back into the mirror. The mirror didn't seem to put up a fight when Vlad touched it, other clan's mirrors would try to protect itself from the vampire that touched it.
Silence remained around the hall. Vlad knew he finally had their attention.
"I propose a new law!" Vlad boomed from the front of the hall, "The Blood Mirror decides the legitimacy of the heir. I couldn't transform in front of the Westenra mirror anymore than I could change in front of the Jaynara mirror. A vampire can only transform in front of their clan's mirror. If the mirror recognises the vampire that proves the legitimacy. This law would be recognised as from the beginning of our kind." Vlad paused, waiting for his words to wash over the vampires. "Who agrees?"
Immediately every vampire's hand rose in the air, the agreement to the proposed law was unanimous.
A brilliant blue glow filled the room binding the law to every vampire.
Immediately he felt lighter. He turned to Erin smiling, he wasn't considered illegitimate any more thanks to Olga trying to invoke the ancient law. He felt more like a Dracula than he ever had before. He caught Bertrand pulling Ingrid into a hug before freezing and stepping away from her.
There was one final thing he had to do…
Vlad looked at the crowd, "I, Vladimir Dracula am the Chosen One, do you support me?"
TBC
A/N: What do you think?
Thanks for reading.