Whoops! I'm a day late! Sorry guys, but yesterday was a busy/interesting day. I hope everyone had a good time celebrating the St. Valentine's Day massacre, or Single-Awareness Day (S.A.D.), but if you did have a significant to share yesterday with, good for you. Anyway here's the super long chapter I promised! I hope you enjoy, and review if you wish, it's not require but it makes the happy!
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Chapter 29: Chateau des Morts
The chateau was outside the city limits of Rouen, and it took a thirty minute, and very intense car ride to get there. There were no words spoken, only glances that seemed to convey more than any word from any language. Inara kept her eyes to herself, but she could feel those golden eyes watching her. Every so often the feeling would stop, and she would look up to see the younger vampire looking away, and Dracula seeming to be content. Inara assumed that he had done something to stop the gawking-like behavior from the underling. Only stolen glances would persist through-out the duration of the ride, ending as the limousine pulled up to the chateau.
Séraphin opened the door and held it so for both Dracula and Inara, allowing for the two visitors to look over the chateau. The entire plot of land, about 150 hectares, was enclosed by a stone wall that was about five and a half feet high and two feet wide, and the only way in was an arch way about ten feet wide and twelve feet tall at it's highest point. Around that arch was a stone structure that had served as a storage area for carriages when they were once in use. There was a tower that a watchmen could control the gate from. Farther along the cobblestone road was the main house, two stories for most of the house, with exceptions at a few corners where the building rose to a third level. The structure looked as if it was from the 15th century, covered with ivy, and the windows had no screens. The place looked in pristine condition, and there was a smaller house, only one story, that Inara assumed had been the quarters for the servants of the house. There were emerald green hedges around the main house, and the only source of modern comfort came from the lights inside the house, they were obviously electric.
"Welcome to my home," Séraphin smiled, gesturing to the chateau. "The others are inside, a few brought servants, but we are not crowded for you and your... friend." He looked at Inara with a smirk, and she just rolled her eyes. The younger vampire walked up the worn marble steps, followed by Dracula with Inara in tow.
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The inside of the chateau was much warmer than Inara expected it to be, but it still had an unexplainable chill to it. The floors were either covered in wood or cold tiles, a few expensive rugs covered the floor. The entrance hall was not very large, splitting off into three halls that led to parts of the chateau that Inara did not want to explore alone. Séraphin led them along the central hallway, Inara for once willingly keeping close to her undead 'captor'. The hallway was lined with portraits and busts of important people, none of which Inara could name. The hall ended in a large open hall, almost like an oversized living room. There was a fireplace, small tables and statues lined the walls, and there were tables spaced around. There were some couches and chairs, as well as a few coffee tables. Inara counted seven people in the room, three were sitting on the ground or serving the other four lounged on the furniture or moving about the room, drinking red liquid from deep glasses. Once they entered the threshold, they looked up, grins passing on their faces. The first to stand was a women wearing a dark blue evening dress. Her wavy black hair was pulled back into a simple tie, and silver jewelry adored her neck and slender wrists. She looked like willow, lithe and tall, about the same height as Inara. She approached the three who entered with a smile.
"Séraphin, it took you long enough to come home. We thought you would arrive at the break of dawn..."
"What do you expect out of our little brother, Anwen? The boy always has to be fashionably late" chuckled one of the men, standing by the fire place he turned, bowing his head. "Master, welcome." Inara was feeling a sudden wave of panic swell over her, she tried to keep her beating heart from racing, but the longer she stood there, the more eyes came to focus on her. Could vampires really hear your heart beat?
"I see even as the times change, feeling between you six do not," Dracula chuckled, descending the small set of stairs to stand at the ground level.
"It has been a trying few centuries... but we've all seemed to have survived," another woman stood from her seat on a couch. This one was dressed in a dark crimson gown, that had no back at all. Her brown hair was pulled into a tight bun, and she wore rubies and gold around her pale neck and wrists. She curtsied at Dracula, "It is good to have you home once more. I'm glad that the Van Helsing did not finish you off like we feared..."
"At least it wasn't like the old Van Helsing, who bled you for his own gain," growled one of the men, his glass shattering from his frustration. Inara jumped as the blonde shot to his feet, dressed in a similar fashion to Séraphin, only with darker shades of green. His blonde hair, tied back with a piece of black cord, was accented by blue eyes that in an instant turned to red. "If we could have drawn him out of that damn building I would have bled the bastard dry..." Inara was starting to feel less and less comfortable. She hadn't been there for five minutes and they were already cursing her mother and grandfather, she felt her days were numbered. She did not enter the room, standing fixed on those stairs, feeling like a lamb in the wolves den. And the wolves were getting angry...
"Calm yourself Hayden," the vampire by the fire place tried to soothe.
"Not all of us knew as much as you did. Simon! Not all of us could go spy on the Van Helsing brat as she kept him in that damned sarcophagus!"
"Calm, I assure you Hayden, Abraham Van Helsing met his end in a fitting way," Dracula chuckled. "Do not anger about it any longer, Mary poses no problem any longer..."
"We know," the last of the immortals spoke. He spoke with an irish accent, and didn't even rise, just taking another drink from his glass. "I heard of her death... such a shame... According to Simon, she had been quite beautiful in life..." His tone betrayed other motives, and both Inara and Dracula picked up on it.
"What did you do Quinn?" Dracula approached the vampire lounging on the couch, and the others parted away. From the look on their faces, Inara had an idea about what was about to happen and her own fists were clenched to her sides, if he said...
"I offered a reward to anyone who would take her out. I assumed that fledglings would take it up in hopes of gaining prestige among us... I didn't expect mortal rats to step in, or do such a good job..." Everyone in the room froze, waiting for Dracula's reaction, but it didn't seem to matter. Before he could react, a knife suddenly appeared in the sitting vampire's chest. The vampire's mouth dropped, the knife was dangerously close to his heart, and the most startling thing was that no one knew where it came from. Eyes searched the room, finally landing on Inara who stood, hand trembling as her left clutched another knife. This was when the other vampires took notice of the lone mortal, all on their feet at this point.
"Séraphin! Control your food!" Hayden shouted angrily. The other female vampiress turned to Quinn, concerned for their 'brother'.
"She isn't mine to control," Séraphin answered, taking a quick step away from Inara, who gripped that knife in anger.
"Then she is up for grabs," Quinn growled as he yanked the knife from his chest, tossing it to the side he was at Inara in seconds, and after suffering a cut to his face, his hand grabbed Inara's throat and slammed her into the doorframe. "You have no idea who you just messed with, little mortal." Inara gasped for air, but within a few seconds she jabbed that knife at his throat. The vampire let out a yell of anger and tossed the woman across the room, she skidded on the wooden floor until she hit a couch next to Dracula. Inara bit her lip to keep from yelling in pain, and she looked up to see Quinn pulling the knife from his throat. Flesh mended itself in an instant, leaving only blood in the wake of the large gash.
"I'll gut you girl!" the vampire roared, leaping to Inara, but he was stopped inches from the mortal. A strong hand grabbed him by the back of the neck, and threw him back into another couch.
"You will not touch her. No one here will, unless they wish to die," Dracula growled possessively. The others froze, and Séraphin finally descended the steps into the room, Quinn growled angrily at Inara, but it was silenced by a look from Dracula.
"Why?! She's just a mortal. She's just food!"
"Silence Quinn!" roared Dracula, quieting the enraged vampire. "You will do as I say and not question it!"
"He's just frustrated, Master," Anwen tried to sooth as all the vampires seemed to be on edge. "Why do you protect her? She just attacked one of your own." Inara was wondering the same thing as the fog seemed to dissipate from her vision. She had attacked the man who was responsible for her mother's death, a mother she barely knew. The man also happened to be a vampire who was hundreds of years older than her and much stronger. Dracula knew this Quinn, for longer than he had known her, so why be so protective...
"She is important to me, and that's all you need to know," Dracula stated simply, pulling Inara up to her feet, looking her over for a moment before turning back to the vampires, his eyes narrowing on Quinn. "I will deal with you later."
"For what!? The wench was the one who attacked me!" the irish vampire yelled, the other female placed a hand on his shoulder, holding the enraged man back as Dracula glared at him.
"Séraphin!"
"Yes Master?"
"Take Inara to one of the free rooms." Séraphin looked from the large vampire lord to the mortal before he sighed, motioning for her to follow him. Inara was hesitant, but reluctantly followed, no longer wanting to be in the presence of that angry vampire.
