Lauren curiously gazed about the woods Dracula had teleported them to. Dracula had assured her that she could practice freely here with no mortal or even supernatural disruption. Somehow, he had arranged for them to room in a solitary cabin in the middle of nowhere for when the sun was out. He had told her that the owner had been only too happy to sell it to them after Dracula had explained things to him. Truthfully, she didn't want to know, knowing Dracula. Other than that, all Lauren could decipher was that she was somewhere in northern California. She detected the scent of winter and snow approaching, and could hear the crackling of each leaf that fell from the great trees. An icy wind whistled through the trees and bushes, but she did not shiver. She could feel it, but it would take far worse weather than this to make her tremble from the cold now.
The fledgling sighed, remembering her conversation with Emma. Why couldn't she understand? Why did she have to exile her from her heart? But could Lauren completely blame her? To learn that your loved one had become a demon was not something to be swallowed easily. Hopefully by the time she and the Count returned, Emma will have gotten used to the fact.
"Is something troubling you?" Dracula inquired, coming up behind her.
Lauren shook her head. "No."
Dracula placed a possessive hand on her shoulder and turned her around. "My sweet fledgling," he husked, his eyes dancing with blue fire. "Have you not yet learned that you cannot lie to me?"
Lauren forced herself to look away from his eyes. "It's nothing, really. Let's just focus on teaching me the full extent of my powers." She pulled away and headed towards a tree, running her hand absent-mindedly around the rough bark of the trunk while she circled it. Amazingly, this tree felt – alive. From the roots to its slowly dying leaves it was alive – which she wasn't any longer. Truthfully though, she wasn't too upset about that. She had powers of her own now, and she wasn't evil. She was still herself only she at last had power, power to be more than she had ever been as a mortal.
"It is something Lauren, otherwise you would not be so distracted," he said with certainty as he followed her. His intuitive sense of the female creature had yet to fail him. "Give your sister time. Be thankful that she did not try to destroy you."
"I know, but that doesn't mean that her reaction didn't hurt – ouch!" Lauren winced as she pulled her fingers back from the tree trunk. The sharp bark had sliced through the fragile skin of her fingertips, allowing a drop of blood to escape. "You really need to teach me how to heal," she muttered as she glared at her throbbing fingers and removed a few tiny splinters. Dracula silently took her bleeding hand in his. "It is not hard," he assured her and to her astonishment, placed her fingers in his mouth. Lauren gasped, but not in pain as she felt his tongue swirl to each of her bleeding fingers. Her body shifted of its own accord when she felt him begin drink from her fingertips. "Healing is perhaps the easiest power to learn. After all, when your body was alive, it healed itself from the living cells replacing each other."
He placed his attention back to her fingers, and Lauren hissed in delight when she felt him suck tenderly on her fingers. Nothing about this was painful, and the previous discomfort from her cut faded. "Um, I thought you said that vampires can't live off of other vampires," she whispered, her every word formed with uneven breaths. "We cannot," Dracula answered, and it became apparent that he was purposefully making her wounds worse from the sensual attentions his lips and teeth were giving. "Vampire blood will never satisfy our thirst, but that does not mean that we cannot taste each other from time to time."
Oh God. When Dracula said 'taste,' Lauren trembled from head to foot from his enthralling tone. Damn him!
Dracula smirked as he attended to Lauren's fingers with his mouth. He was aware of what he was doing to her, basking in it even. Good, he thought. She will give in to me. And… I will not have to spend the rest of eternity… alone. Slowly, he released her fingers with another lick, and forced himself to step back. Lauren hadn't been the only one taking pleasure from this. "Now, heal yourself," he commanded. Within a few moments of effort, Lauren found that her fingers had healed themselves. "Good," Dracula said with a nod of approval. "Your knowledge of your abilities has increased."
"Well, I know lots of things," Lauren shot back teasingly. Dracula cocked his brow and smirked. His eyes darkened a few shades of blue. "Really? What do you know?"
"I know that you're going to have lots of fun telling me what to do as you teach my how to fully master my powers. After all, you do have a dominance fetish."
Dracula eyed her with amusement and his smirk grew wider. "I have a dominance fetish? I was not aware of that."
"Yes, you do. Now let's get back to the topic of my powers before this conversation goes into an entirely different direction."
Dracula chuckled at the thought of what direction this conversation might have led to. A conversation he would not mind having. But that was sadly reserved for another time. "Healing, as you have seen, is very simple. And more brutal wounds are just as easy. For example, I was once thrown into a fireplace – "
"Ho, ho, ho. Why Santa Clause, you've changed!" Lauren interrupted with a snicker. " - and I was covered from head to foot in flames," he finished, ignoring her interruption. "Wow," she answered, impressed. "It'll be a while before I can do that though. I hate being a newbie at anything!" she groaned.
Dracula smirked cheerfully at her. "That my dear is why we are here. I can teach you how to perfect every skill imaginable. We have a lot of work to cover so you can function in mortal society without losing control of your new instincts."
"Ok, Mr. Military Man. That's great, except why does that look on your face tell me that your techniques will be fun for you to watch, but painful for me to accomplish?" Lauren inquired distrustfully.
Dracula eyed his fledgling with a gaze that held anything but innocent intentions. "I do not know what you are talking about, my dear. I have years of experience of being a warrior, and I only wish to share that with you. My methods will serve only to teach and strengthen you – regardless of what they are."
Lauren defiantly put her hands on her hips. "Ok then, General, do your worst!" Dracula flashed his fangs in a cunning grin. Challenge shone bright in Lauren's eyes like the brightest candle. Oh, training her would be delicious!
Lips curling as particular training techniques came to mind, Dracula slyly replied, "Believe me Lauren, you have no idea what the worst I can do truly is."
-----
Three months later…
-----
Dodge, weave, but I must be silent! He can't know I'm coming. But I have to be fast or he'll get away! Faster, fly harder, dodge the tree, and don't make a sound! Almost there, just past these trees… Don't let the wind from my wings give me away... Almost there…. He's… there! Now pounce but keep quiet! POUNCE!
Lauren shot down like an arrow released from its bow, aiming to knock her target over. She was nearly there! Her prey had his back turned. Just a few more feet… She had him! The fledgling guided herself so she'd nail her target with her talons. At the last moment, Dracula curtly stepped aside, his eyes still closed from when the obstacle course had began, and grinned as he heard Lauren come to a surprised, yet not clumsy stop. At least she had learned how to avoid flying into trees. Though he had to admit, her frustrated and embarrassed face after each past crash was for lack of a better description, cute and entertaining.
He waited until he heard Lauren land on the ground, obviously annoyed at failing to surprise him again before opening his eyes. "Two minutes and three-point-forty-two seconds," he announced. "You have gotten faster, but you are too loud. I heard your wings slice through the air like a dull axe chopping a tree. Begin again."
Lauren bit her tongue to keep from groaning. He hadn't been kidding when he said he'd do his worst. She was growing weary from repeating this same course over and over again since the moon rose "You must be one with the sky, let your wings flow with the atmosphere," he advised. "Now, back to the starting point." Sighing, Lauren materialized to where this particular obstacle course began and waited for Dracula to bark at her to begin in her mind. In the time they had been here, the Count had used training methods to strengthen her endurance, hone her strength, and enhance her speed.
She had thought that high school gym was bad what with the mile run, physical fitness tests, and swimming sections in horrible smelling pools filled with who knows what and too much chlorine. Nuh uh. Dracula's training methods topped all of that hands down, leaving her sore and making it difficult to sleep once the sun came up. Despite that however, she had never been in such fantastic shape in her life! But she had no intention of telling the Count that. He was too much of a smug bastard as it was.
Lauren tried yet again to surprise him. She tried, three, four, five, and six more times to pass this obstacle course, but failed. At the seventh try, she tried a different approach in her flying pattern, and finally succeeded in getting the drop on him, so to speak. "Excellent," Dracula replied with approval after dusting himself off. His eyes suddenly narrowed and he pursed his lips. "The sun is going to rise very soon. We must return to the cabin." Lauren nodded slowly and materialized to the front of the tiny abode.
She entered through the door, but paused when she felt the internal clock tell her – warn her that the sun was just over the horizon. Lauren sucked in her breath. She hadn't seen the sun in many weeks. And truth be told, she rather missed it. She had always taken the sun's light for granted. Now that she was a vampire, she felt a strong pull telling her, begging her to see the sun. Maybe just one peek wouldn't hurt. Besides, the safe darkness was right here for her to duck into for cover. One look to refresh her memory wouldn't hurt. Lauren turned around to face the sunlight. She watched as the rays gently touched the small wooden house and then her. She waited for the sun's warmth to caress her, but it never came. She hissed in blinding, unfathomable pain and flung herself into the back of the cabin, shaking from her singed flesh, the burnt smell of her own skin reaching her nose, making her feel ill. She heard a furious growl as the door was slammed shut, and angry, harsh hands captured her arms in an imprisoning embrace.
"You foolish girl! What the devil were you thinking!?" Dracula hissed in rage. "Do you not understand that the sun is now lethal to you? Or are you just dim-witted?" He shook her when she didn't answer. "Explain yourself!"
"Let go!" Lauren hissed. "You're hurting me! The burns…" Freezing immediately, he released her and examined her wounds with soft hands. Her right arm up to her neck was slightly charred, but Dracula saw to his relief that she was already healing on her own. "What were you thinking!" he demanded again, his furious sapphire eyes liquid pools of hellfire. "Are all my lessons simply to go to waste from your stupidity?"
Lauren stepped back. "No! I made a mistake! People make mistakes! I'm not stupid!" she shouted angrily.
"Error leads to defeat, which will then lead to death if you do not think!" Dracula growled. "You know that the sun will kill you now! You know this! Yet you insisted to see for yourself! Why?"
Lauren glared at him. "I... don't know. I just, just wanted to see the sun ok! I'm sorry! I couldn't help it! It was almost liked I… needed to see it…"
Dracula sighed heavily and calmed down somewhat. "Your moment of idiocy was not entirely your fault," he quietly explained. "Fledglings especially feel the urge to see what used to give them life. That is why it is so dangerous to retire so close to sunrise. I had forgotten, a small error on my part. Excuse me for it."
Lauren nodded and looked down, suddenly aware of how close their bodies still were. Swallowing, she chose to keep talking. "But why would you care if the sun killed me or not? What do you have to get out of it?"
Dracula stiffened and ran his sharp azure orbs over Lauren's face. "I am determined to have you, as you very well know," he began. Lauren smiled ruefully. She did know. And it killed her inside to know that the only thing she could ever receive mutually from him was lust, but she wouldn't settle for just that with any man, not even him. Even the most desperate and heated lusts faded after awhile. She would not be a used woman!
" – And I do not intend to let you escape by death. I never lose," Dracula replied roughly, and finished with that conversation as he suddenly felt very uneasy in the presence of this woman, turned around and strode to the other side of the cabin to sleep. "You're ready," he said. "Tonight was the final test. Tomorrow night you will see your family again and assure them that you can live without trouble amongst mortals. Good day."
Lauren blinked. "Tomorrow?"
"That is what I said, is it not?"
Lauren looked at the floor, thinking for a moment. "You didn't fully answer my question you know. I'm your… your conquest, is that it?"
The room grew colder. "Good day, Lauren."
Lauren scowled at him. "You can try all you want to sate your physical lusts, but I would think that you would be smart enough to know that with me and my family's history, I won't give you what your body wants!" Hissing, the young vampiress witch marched to her side of the cabin and positioned herself for sleep. She could feel the Count's eyes burn into her back, but she ignored him. She also felt an overwhelming mixture of… torment and yearning and want and… love. But that couldn't be Vladislaus Dracula's feelings! That was insane! Those were no doubt her emotions, her own emotions that had only gotten worse since becoming a vampire. She hadn't become hollow, the complete opposite actually. And she hated it. Was this what her mom had felt like when her dad left? Did her mother feel this painful, suffocating desire of wanting and loving a man that you couldn't, and wouldn't have?
Yes.
-----
Lauren silently watched Holly and Chris play with their toys. They were so lucky to be naïve and innocent to everything horrible in the world. When they had found out that their aunt was now a vampire, the worst response from them was that Auntie Lauren would have to be the same thing every year for Halloween. The rest of the DiCamillos had welcomed her back, but the reunion after three months had been tense and awkward. Emma had at least said hello to her, but that was all. Harry and Bonnie did their best to cheer her up, but it only depressed her more. Her training didn't mean anything to Emma. To Emma, she was a traitor and the object of pained stares.
Lauren jumped when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She sighed. "What do you want?"
"You have been working very hard the past three months. Not to mention, you are obviously stressed." Dracula indicated her tensed muscles.
Lauren rolled her eyes. "Way to state the obvious, Count. What's it to you?"
Count Dracula grinned. "I would say you have earned the right to some entertainment – fun."
Lauren eyed him with immediate and potent suspicion. "And what do you have in mind?"
Dracula only eyed her with a playful and impish look. "You will see." He grasped her hand and dragged her down the hall to the garage. The garage was attached at the farthest end of the house. In other words, no one could interrupt them while in there. "No way!" Lauren protested and tried to pull away. "I don't trust you! Let me go!"
"You know, you say that so often," Dracula lightly mused aloud as he continued to drag her along. Once they reached the garage, he led her in and shut the door. Lauren whipped around to face the mischievous Count and placed her hands on her hips with all the defiance she could muster.
"Ok. What is your idea of fun that involves us alone in the garage?"
BUWHAHAHAHA! CLIFFY!
Hmmm..what fun indeed. teehee. Who wants to guess what they're going to do? I admit to nothing, imply nothing. Anyway, on the part where Wacky Draccy explains how cells heal themselves when they're alive - I can thank my Biology class for that. Also, I happen to LOVE the title for this chap! I would so attend Dracula's boot camp! I'd be there HOURS EARLY! Getting all down and dirty..and sweaty...with Dracula...And I'll spare you all now. lol.
This chapter didn't come out as good as I hoped it would..but overall I'm satisfied. What do you guys think?
Reviews would be great! Don't be shy! See that button over there! It's a sexy button. You push it and you hear Dracula say something like a 'Tickle Me Elmo' sort of thing...ok maybe not. lol. But that would make a GREAT toy woudn't it? Tickle Me Dracula..HA! I dunno about Tickle, something else that begins with a T but not tickle. 5 letters. lol.