We boarded SHIELD Helicarrier before nightfall. Fury called Victor in tactics room as soon as we arrived, and I was left to common area. I was feeling hungry because we had missed the dinner and I didn't have armor with internal stores for food, water and air like Victor did. A smart supervillain never ate enemy food, so embassy chef had packed lunches for me.
I took the little packet of grease proof paper from my backpack and one of the cartons. Heavenly smell rose from the packet and I had to bite my tongue to prevent a laugh. Someone had a word with chef, because he had supplied me with traditional Latverian dishes. Four blood sausages and a carton of blood pudding. Well, I was hungry and I was going to eat them. It wasn't like I hadn't had them before. You either got used to Latverian cooking or died from hunger.
I found cutlery from kitchen area and started munching the sausages happily.
"What are you doing?", Tony Stark stared at me, eyes wide. Johnny Storm stood beside him.
"Haven't you ever seen anyone eat before?", I queried and took a big bite of my second sausage.
"It smells disgusting.", Stark wrinkled his nose. "What is it?"
"Latverian blood sausage.", Johnny supplied. "And that's the blood pudding. They fed us those when we were prisoners there."
"Is it made from peasant blood?", Stark asked curiously. "Do you eat peasants?"
"Of course not, you idiot. Victor would never allow it. The blood is from cow or a pig.", I replied.
"I should have guessed. I asked Jarvis to summary Twilight for me. Apparently your eyes would be red if you fed on human blood. Animal blood makes them amber. I'm knowledgeable man.", Tony Stark claimed.
I had finished the sausages and was ready to start spoon the pudding.
"Do you want to taste?", I smiled at them. "This is very nourishing dish. I have several in my backpack."
"I try everything once.", Stark took a spoon and scooped some. It was amusing to watch how his face twisted and he spat the pudding on the floor.
"You shouldn't throw away something as valuable as blood.", I remarked. "Even if it's from a cow."
"Darce, what happened to you?", Johnny asked. "I remember you. You had blue eyes. You were much shorter. When I held you, your head was below my chin. And you weren't this pale."
"And sparkling. Don't forget sparkling!", Stark interrupted.
"It is a stupid question, Johnny.", I said, letting edge in my voice. "You saw what happened. I'm first to admit my memories of the event are somewhat hazy with pain, but I understand Dracula broadcasted what he did to me. Don't try to lie you didn't watch."
Johnny had the shame to look uncomfortable.
"Tread carefully, Storm. I'm not able to hurt anyone except those who have wronged me, but the limitations forced on me don't stop me from draining you. You poisoned me and lied about it. I'm not your friend.", I hissed. I saw Johnny take a few steps back.
I collected my things and turned my back on them, walking angrily away.
"Oh, hell!", I heard Johnny whining. "She used to be sweet little thing and now she's downright scary. I even had a crush on her."
"I think I'm going to have Twilight marathon tonight. Care to join?"
"I fear I have to.", Johnny groaned.

I slept alone in the cabin assigned to me. As a precaution, Victor had most of my items in his luggage. It would look odd if I had silver-tipped sword and my vampire killing stuff with me. I didn't sleep well without him. Our arrival at Dracula's hideout was estimated 1PM following day, and I was nervous. I would either kill him or die. For real.
At 4 AM I woke up once again and decided to give up. Sleeping was overrated, and I didn't need as much as mortals anyway. I changed my clothes, put the pebble in my pocket and headed to Helicarrier gym. I saw some agents on my way, and I was rather amused to see they were wearing crosses in a chain around their necks. I looked pointedly at the wall as they passed.
Gym was empty. I opened the computer and searched for music. As Adam Lambert's "Marry the night" started to blast from the speakers, my mind emptied itself and I started Stefan's routine. Cartwheels across the room, aerial cartwheels back, back handstands, and then the new move only made possible by my harder, quicker body. I made half a turn and flipped two times in air before landing.
"Excellent Arabian Double Front, miss Lewis!", I heard a familiar voice and clapping of hands.
"Mister Coulson.", I greeted him. The man who had lived on the same street. My mother had tried to woo him with blueberry pies. "So this is where you disappeared. My mother was very worried when you stepped inside black car and stopped collecting your mail."
"A small world, isn't it.", he smiled blandly. "I'm sorry if I caused your mother to worry, but my death prevented me from collecting my mail in timely manner."
"You too?", I asked and stopped the music. "Your people should check if there is something wrong with Sunstrand communal water. Or air. It's not often I meet somebody else who has actually died."
"I went to Tahiti. It was a magical place, miss Lewis. I was surprised to see you are gifted gymnastic. Your style has distinctive Romanian flair. Your mother always talked about your singing and dancing lessons, but she never mentioned gymnastics.", Coulson said.
"This is a relatively new pursuit.", I replied. "But I had excellent teacher."
"It is certainly true. If you started your training after your marriage, which is the most likely option given your distinctive style, you have trained only for an year at most. And yet you can execute elite move like Arabian Double Front flawlessly. I think we should offer a generous relocation package for your teacher. He would work wonders with our recruits."
"I'm afraid it is impossible. He is dead.", I smiled politely. "I'm sorry to cut our discussion short, but I'm hungry. I have to get a breakfast."
"Of course, miss Lewis. If you take the left turn, you will get quickly to kitchen area. I understand mister Stark and mister Storm have spent the whole night watching Twilight movies, and are currently sitting there. If you could calm their minds, it would be much appreciated. The mortal men need their sleep before the fight.", Coulson remarked.

I took my packed breakfast and went to kitchen. Like Coulson had said, Stark and Storm were sitting there. They had bags under their eyes.
"Coulson sent me. He wants you to go to sleep. The mortal men need their sleep before the fight.", I told them and started opening my breakfast boxes.
"I can't sleep. My world has been shattered. Could you please perform some kind of mind trick to bleach over ten hours of Twilight from my mind?", Stark pleaded.
"I said I can't hurt you. Although I'm not sure if removing Twilight from one's mind would be bad thing. You have to ask Victor. He's the sorcerer in the family, and he doesn't like Twilight. Actually, he recently banned the whole thing. It's illegal to watch or own anything Twilight-related in Latveria."
"Oh, I can see why. I remember what he said yesterday when we were discussing tactics. It went something like this: 'Do you truly believe Doom embarks upon the least of his plans without calculating the smallest detail?'. He has banned the Twilight for you.", Johnny said. His eyes were bloodshot.
"Stop baiting me, Johnny. You were much nicer before you started your Fantastic Fool-act. I'd prefer if you got back to singing and drinking."
"She pushed me into ha-ha when I tried to kiss her. She had even built a carbon-freezing chamber for me, like in Star Wars.", Storm said to Stark.
"I merely saved you from committing a treason. Now go to sleep. You will be no use for me if you are too tired to fight. Remember the deal. You have to get me to Dracula, alive. Go away.", I dismissed them.

The last tactical meeting was scheduled on 10 AM. Victor arrived to my cabin to bring my gear. My hat, trench coat, riding leathers and long boots were neatly packed in innocent-looking plastic bag.
"This has been very amusing, but is time to set things straight.", he said as I changed my clothes. "If you won't tell the truth, those fools might try to kill you. It will be hard enough to get to Dracula. We don't need extra problems. Is you line still working?"
"Yes.", I said. "Once we get to place, I can hunt him down by following the line."
"We need to tell some details to make them believe you. Let me to be in charge of that. We might be allies temporarily, but it's not wise to give Richards' team, Stark or SHIELD any more information on you than they absolutely need to accomplish this task."
"Coulson knows me from before. He is already snooping around and asking questions."
"We will deal with him."
I had finished checking my equipment. My shotgun with silver bullets and my silver sword were on my back. The bottles of holy water were neatly packed inside the jacket and I wore a circle of small crosses around my neck.
"You are not going to face him alone this time.", Victor said, knowing my thoughts. "I'm with you. Sophie is safe with Loki. You have the manpower you need. It's not the same situation as in Latveria. Outcome will be different."
"It has to be.", I replied. We walked to tactics room.

Johnny Storm fell from the chair when he saw us enter.
"Don't be fooled by the cross!", Tony Stark warned him. "Twilight vampires do not fear religious symbols. Only traditional vampires do."
"What are you, miss Lewis?", Coulson asked, his voice polite but curious.
"Not Lewis.", Victor corrected sharply. "Death does not end my marriage."
"So 'the death does us apart' is not used in Latveria?", Coulson asked, sounding interested.
"It is, but as a sovereign I decided on different vows. Mine do not have an exit point.", Victor replied.
"It's all very interesting to you, but I'm a busy man. What are you?", Fury asked again.
"I'm a vampire hunter.", I replied. "And you are going to deliver me to Dracula, as agreed, so I can kill him. I have been training ever since Dracula attacked New York."
"I think she's telling the truth.", Coulson said. "In the film she killed two vampires without any visible means when they tried to attack her. They just broke into man fighting beside her was dressed like a vampire hunter. It would also explain your sudden gymnastic skills."
"If you are a vampire hunter instead of a vampire, why have you changed?", Reed Richards leaned forwards.
"My wife is not a riddle for you to solve, Richards.", Victor said sharply.
"I don't mean to pry, but for the tactics it would be useful to know what you can do. Could you please explain?", Captain America asked politely.
"When Dracula tried to kill me, I established a connection with him. I can use it to track him down. Then when he is in my line of sight, I will kill him through it."
"But how you do it?", Richards asked from me.
"It is beyond your understanding, Richards.", Victor replied.
"So what was the deal with tricking us?", Fury demanded.
"You only heard what you wanted to hear. If you think of my words, you will find every one of them true. Your weak minds filled the gaps with childish nonsense.", Victor said arrogantly. "Doom is not responsible for your lack of critical thinking."

I was sharpening my stakes when Sue Richards arrived in the room. We had reached an agreement: Sue would create a field of invisibility to escort me ahead of group and Johnny would serve as our backup. I had called Thor and told him the coordinates as I had promised.
"You need to make the shield airtight.", I said to her. "Vampires recognize the smell of my blood."
"Thanks. I just wanted to ask... Why are you doing this?". Her voice sounded honest. Like she truly wanted to know instead of just fishing for information. "I know how hard it can be to go after someone who has already hurt you badly."
"Do you know a page called 'Women in refrigerators?", I asked.
"Oh, the one which lists all dead or maimed superheroines?"
"Yes, that one. We both are on their list. Have you noticed most of the names belong to girlfriends, mothers or wives of heroes, not actual superheroines? Per capita, superhero girlfriends are involved in more random accidents, terrorist attacks, natural disasters, and mundane criminal hostage situations than any other demographic. I read a study conducted by the Commission on Superhuman Activities.", I told her. "The statistics are abhorrent. It's better to be a supervillain. They get into trouble periodically, by one or two protagonists, but girlfriends are constantly in danger from all directions. The guy's enemies, forces of nature, anyone who wants to be his enemy... Supervillains face only a small fraction of strife compared to girlfriends, and even if they are attacked, it's clean. No degrading and twisted stuff. Nobody cuts supervillains open to make a point about breaking deals.", I said bitterly.
"I see your point.", Sue said, surprisingly. "When I had only passive powers, my life was hell. I was abducted or attacked basically once a week. Getting me married by force was one of their not-lethal favorites. Oddly, they seem to have some kind of aversion towards marrying someone who is already married. Probably a claiming thing. Namor did it, even Reed tried it once when he had stolen Victor's armor. I don't know how he got the idea, but it was disturbing. I can't even remember all of them. Things cooled down considerably as soon as I learned to transform energy into psionic projectile weapons."
"I've seen that picture. You had a horrible 80s dress.", I grinned.
"How did you end up marrying him?"
"I was part of student group taking a tour in his castle. I burst into wrong bathroom. He was shaving and threw a fit when I saw his face. Then it was either marry or die, because he claimed I had committed a treason."
Sue started to laugh.
"Of course, it has been suitably edited in official histories.", I noted. "They don't mention he threw me into dungeon for two days."
"So, you have chosen to be a supervillain instead of a girlfriend?", Sue grew serious.
"Nobody would ever believe if I claimed to be a hero.", I said simply. "And Sue, before you leave: please remind your group that you do not need to make Franklin's vision a self-fulfilling prophecy. I can only hurt those who mean me harm."
Sue rose up and walked to door. She turned towards me and said:
"You are one of the oddest budding supervillains I've ever met, Darcy. If we survive this, you and I have to do something about this superhero girlfriend thing. It forces decent people to take unbearable actions."