Disclaimer: I don't own Young Dracula, just my own character and story line.
Author's Note: Okay so this chapter sort of deviates from the show a bit in terms of Malik's past and background, but then we are not really told much about it anyway. Hope you enjoy and thanks for reading!
Blood Isn't Always Thicker Than Water
Chapter 11
The next night they agreed to start searching for answers as to who Malik's father might be. They headed to the nearest library to try and see if they could dig up any useful information. The library was a few minutes away, by flight of course. Unsurprisingly, the library was closed as it was well past the normal opening hours. However, this didn't deter the two vampires who simply turned into smoke and drifted through a crack in a carelessly left open window.
They had no idea where to start looking for specific books as they weren't entirely convinced the library would have anything on vampires at all, so instead they headed straight for the computer bank. Jess clicked her fingers and used her new-found flames to light a nearby gas lantern. Malik managed to somehow open the browsing software on the computer but then stared blankly at the blinking cursor on the glaring white screen.
"So now what?" he asked prodding random buttons.
"Really, you're a three hundred year old vampire and you can't even use a computer?" Jess said whilst trying not to laugh. Malik glared at her and reluctantly got up out of the chair for Jess to sit down.
"Okay, so what do you want me to search?"
"I don't know try my name" he suggested. Jess typed Malik Vaccaria into the search engine and a birth certificate appeared; an extremely old birth certificate.
It read:
MALIK HELLFIRE VACCARIA
BORN: 24th December 1715, Romania
MOTHER: Elisabetta Vaccaria
FATHER: Unknown
"Great, that's very helpful" Malik kicked the desk in front of him angrily.
"Just be patient Malik" Jess rolled her eyes and typed in his mother's name to try and find the vampire equivalent of a marriage certificate. Eventually she found something but it wasn't at all helpful. It was a scan of a thin piece of brown parchment, the colour you might achieve by staining paper with teabags. In curling inky script across the page it said that Elisabetta had been blood-bound to Count Dracula for a few short years, but they both already knew that The Count wasn't Malik's real father.
"Maybe we would have better luck in the book section. We might be able to find the original copy of these certificates or a family tree or something" Jess suggested, though she could see Malik was getting impatient again.
"In case you haven't noticed this is a French library, it won't have Romanian documents" Malik said matter-of-factly but Jess wasn't listening. She was searching through book titles on the screen.
"Found one!" she exclaimed. "It's called 'A Slayers Guide to Traditional Vampire Families'".
"Slayers guide really?" Malik said unconvinced, raising his eyebrows sarcastically.
"Oh come on, you know how superstitious the French are why do you think they carry garlic around their neck?" Jess stated obviously.
Despite Malik's lack of faith she got up and started looking through the shelves in the restricted part of the library where the oldest and weirdest books were more likely to be kept. Malik joined her search and after about half an hour he called Jess over to the shelf he was looking at. He pulled a thick bounded black book off the self. In silver lettering across the front it said 'Traditional Vampire Families: A Slayers Guide'.
He quickly flicked through the yellowing pages to find his family name; he stopped near the back and placed the book down on a desk. Spread across the left-hand page was the Vaccaria family tree; it wasn't very big. Malik's name was at the bottom with two branches coming off the top. One showed his mother's respective side of the family and the other showed what Jess assumed was his real father's name: Rau.
"Hey I recognise that name from one of Vlad's books. That translates as evil in Romanian doesn't it?" Jess asked. Malik didn't answer her; instead he slammed the book's cover shut.
"This is bad, very bad" he said in a low voice.
"What's bad?" Jess asked slowly; not certain if she wanted to hear this or not.
"My supposed father Rau, I've heard of him before, something Bertrand said in class. He's not just a vampire, he's a demon". Malik's face had no expression at all which scared Jess. She had expected him to get angry like he usually did but this time his arms hung by his sides limply, clenching and unclenching his fists. She knew this was bad if even Malik being serious, she didn't know much about demons other than that they were very dangerous and purely evil, so finding out that Malik was actually half demon was also pretty scary.
Back at their hotel room, Malik was pacing back and forth debating what to do. Jess was sat on the sofa trying to calm him down but not really succeeding.
"I want to try and find him" Malik announced suddenly coming to a halt.
"What! Did you not hear yourself earlier? Your father's dangerous Malik, he's a demon for bat's sake."
"I don't care I need to know who my father is, I've waited three hundred years to find out!" he snapped at her, unaware that his fangs were on show. Jess stood up to face him with her fangs showing too.
"Listen you're not thinking straight, let's just talk things through -"
"I need a drink" Malik sighed despairingly, cutting off Jess.
"I can get you some water-"
"Not that kind of drink. I need blood Jess, I haven't had any for nearly a week and I'm starving"
"Fine, well they must serve some downstairs" Jess sighed frustratingly. "Come on let's go"
The bar downstairs was serving all different types of blood, not just French but vintage antiques from all over the world proving once more how out of place they were in this upmarket hotel. Malik ordered a pint of A+ but Jess still refused to drink some. She asked for soya blood instead but they just laughed at her so she settled for plain old water. Malik sat sipping his blood at the bar and Jess could see him visibly relaxing. The metallic yet fruity smell filled her nose and she felt a sudden craving but quickly dismissed the thought. If the Chosen One could resist it then so could she.
"I hate to admit it but I think we need help" Jess stated. Malik nearly choked on his blood.
"I think we should go back to the Dracula's. I know Vlad will help us"
"Help you maybe but they hate me, I betrayed them remember".
"Look if you want to go after Rau yourself then fine but I don't think it's safe"
Malik stopped drinking and looked at her. He spoke in her head so no one else could hear.
"I told you before that I wasn't safe but you still chose to stay with me. You're not regretting that are you?"
"What no! I like you Malik and I want to help you. I just think that going after your dad is not our only option. We need help, well at least I do because I don't about you but I have no idea how to deal with a demon if things turn ugly. Also I don't want you putting yourself in danger anymore than you have to." Jess explained tiredly. After a long time Malik finished his drink and spoke again.
"I trust you Jess and if you think we should go back then we will, because I don't want to be responsible for you to be in danger either", he said gripping her hand tightly, "We'll fly back tomorrow".
Author's Note: Thank you for reading this chapter, I'd say that its nearly 3/4 of the way through my story now, so only about 4 chapters left!
As always any reviews are useful so I know that you still like the story or if there are some glaring mistakes that I nee to fix; thank you anyone who has reviewed previously as its nice to hear :)