Vlad watched as George climbed up a natural rock wall they found when exploring the nearby woods. George wanted to get out of the house and his dad asked him to come with him to check in on their home construction.
"You're going to fall," he called to his sister.
George stopped to take a breath, "No way. Mom and I used to rock climb all the time."
Vlad shook his head. "For a 13 year old you sure are energetic. Most teenagers stay in their rooms all day." It wasn't difficult for him to keep up with her, but he did get tired getting her out of dangerous situations she put herself in. He worried she would do something when he wasn't around and get herself in trouble.
George nearly lost her footing and slipped. Vlad flinched ready to catch her but she managed to recover.
George laughed, "See? Under Control."
Vlad groaned.
His dad appeared next to him, "She fall yet?"
"Couple close calls, but not yet."
The Count chuckled, "You don't have to watch her every moment. Kids get hurt. She's old enough to handle it and that height wouldn't do much damage."
Vlad looked at his dad, "So where's the new place?"
"Just a mile from here," the Count pointed behind him.
Vlad frowned, "In these woods?"
"Perfect right? Not far from town and the forest will keep us hidden from the slayers. The castle won't be ready for a little while though."
Vlad heard George slip again, but she once again recovered. "I'm ok," she called.
The Count laughed, "She's a daredevil."
"I wish she wasn't," Vlad said.
The Count looked back up at George. "Why don't you come down so your brother can stop worrying about you?"
George laughed, "He always worries." She grinned, "If I jump, will you catch me?"
"Please don't," Vlad shook his head.
"Catch me!" George kicked off from the wall, launching herself.
Vlad jumped up and caught her with ease before gently landing back to the ground.
George giggled as Vlad set her down, "See, I know you won't let anything happen to me."
"I rather you didn't test that on a nightly basis though," Vlad argued.
She rolled her eyes. "You're no fun."
The Count put his hand on Vlad's shoulder, "George, why don't you run along and explore a bit. I need to talk to Vlad."
George smiled, "Ok!" She took off towards a creek without hesitation.
"Don't climb on anything," Vlad called.
The Count started walking in the opposite direction and Vlad followed.
"So what do you want to talk about?" Vlad asked
"The slayers," the Count said. "You've done well to find as many as you have."
"It's not hard," Vlad shrugged. He had a special talent for sensing slayers at great distances. Vampires too.
"Still," the Count said. "I'm glad to see your hunting breathers finally, but maybe you should relax a bit onthe slayers."
"Why does that matter?" Vlad asked.
"Well we don't want to provoke them and the more you kill the more likely we'll be found."
"You've been talking to Dracu," Vlad accused. "Don't worry about it. It's fine."
"Why are you so insistent on this?" The Count asked. "If you continue this pattern you won't eliminate slayers. There are too many of them."
"Can't you just trust that I know what I'm doing?"
"I would like to but no. I am the head of this family and I need to understand."
Vlad rolled his eyes, "Dracu asked that we spread out kills evenly across different countries. I've done my part in that."
"That is to keep the slayers from learning our location should they discover that any of us are behind any attacks," the Count said. "But you know that so why are you fighting us on this?"
"Us? So you and Dracu are working together now?"
"We aren't enemies," the Count said.
Vlad crossed his arms. "You can't trust what he says."
"Don't change the subject. We're talking about you."
"Don't worry about me. Not one slayer I've found has come close to slaying me."
"You're becoming arrogant," the Count said.
"Becoming?" They were interrupted by Ingrid who was leaning against a tree by them. "He's always been arrogant."
"What do you want?" The Count said.
"Piers confirmed the location of another slayer in Bran with the information we got," Ingrid said. "We still have a few hours before sunrise if you're interested."
"I have to get George home first," Vlad said.
"You both just handled a slayer here in Transylvania the other night," the Count argued. "You should let this one go before the wrong people start to take notice."
"Since when are you such a killjoy?" Ingrid said.
"He's been listening to Dracu," Vlad said. "They think we can't handle the slayers."
"Are you both forgetting what happened at Garside?" the Count said.
"It will be fine," Vlad said. "I…"
All three of them smelled the blood. Vlad rushed off and Ingrid and the Count followed. They found George sitting on the ground back at the rock wall holding her knee.
"I'm fine," George tried to smile.
Vlad helped her slowly to her feet, "You were climbing again."
"It's just a scratch," his little sister argued.
It was only a minor injury and the bleeding had already stopped. The smell did linger, but the three Draculas were used to it being around blood almost constantly.
"Need me to carry you?" Vlad offered.
George stepped away looking offended, "I'm not helpless. I can walk just fine."
Ignoring her, Vlad turned to Ingrid. "I need to take her back to the house to get her knee cleaned. I don't want it to get infected."
"I swear, you're worse than mom…" George was going to continue arguing, but all three vampires turned to face the same direction in the dark woods. "What is it?"
Vlad pulled her back to stand close to him and shushed her.
They waited until a vampire flitted right in front of them and dove for George. She screamed and closed her eyes but when she opened them again, she was no longer on the ground, but up in a tree with her brother.
"Ingrid, it's feral!" Vlad called.
George wasn't sure what that meant, but Ingrid responded grabbing on to one of it's arms, but the creature pulled away hissing at her.
Ingrid continued to fight it and attempted to restrain it. The Count snapped his fingers and a flame circle lit around them. The feral broke free of Ingrid's grasp once again and tried to fly away, but the flames from the circle reached for it, preventing it's escape.
The Count and Ingrid grabbed it again and each pushed it to its knees by pushing in on its shoulders.
Vlad held on to George as they jumped down to join the others on the ground. The flames disappeared as they did.
"Good thing you're quick, breather boy," Ingrid taunted. "A second later and George might have been this feral's dinner."
"Never going to happen," Vlad said.
George looked down at the restrained vampire. She was a woman with brown, tangled hair. Her torn clothes gave George the impression she had been lurking in these woods for some time.
She continued to hiss at them, but it was no use. She never once said a word.
"What's wrong with her?" George asked.
"She's feral," Vlad explained. "It happens to some half-fangs that are abandoned by their creators early on and they have no guidance. Their vampire side turns them into senseless animals."
"That's so sad," George looked back at the woman with a sympathetic expression. "So what are you going to do? Can you help her?"
"No, we have to destroy her," Ingrid said. "There is nothing we can do."
That horrified George, but she didn't know what to say. Seeing her expression Vlad said, "I'm going to take her home. She doesn't need to see this."
George didn't argue as Vlad lifted her up. She closed her eyes and held her breath. Vlad told her that doing that would make the feeling of flitting easier to handle.
In seconds they were back in the den.
She sat on the couch and Vlad brought her some water.
"Are you ok?" He asked as she took a sip.
George shrugged, "Does that happen often? Half-fangs losing their minds?"
Vlad nodded, "It's common for half-fangs to be abandoned."
"You're half human," George said. "Could that happen to you?"
Vlad smiled assuredly, "No, I have you, Ingrid and dad. I have plenty of support, so that will never happen."
"So vampires can still become feral even if they aren't half-fangs?"
"Yes, but it's extremely rare," Vlad said.
"What causes it then?"
"You ask a lot of questions," Vlad looked annoyed. "You really don't want to hear about this."
"Yes, I do," George pushed. "I live with you now. Shouldn't I have a better understanding of your world?"
Vlad sighed. He didn't have a good argument against that and he didn't see any harm in George knowing about feral vampires. "Fine. It typically happens when vampires are deprived of...substance for an extended period of time."
"You can say blood," George said. "I see your dad drink it all the time. It doesn't bother me anymore."
"Alright," Vlad said. "Blood gives us not just power but control over our instincts. Without it we lose that control and start to rely more and more on those instincts for survival."
"But you don't drink blood," George said.
"Soy blood provides the control that I need," Vlad said, not correcting George. That was a flat out lie. His turn all started when his body no longer accepted the synthetic blood.
"So you'll never become feral?" George asked.
Vlad nodded.
"But how long would it take for it to happen?" George kept on asking questions.
"I would have to go days without any blood and I have you and my family to keep me sane," Vlad smiled. "Nothing is going to happen to me."
George smiled back, "Good. So… want to play some video games?"
"Weren't we going to do a Romanian lesson when we got home?" He reminded her.
George gently smacked her own forehead playfully, "oh yeah. I forgot. I'll go get my book." She hurried off to her room.
Once she was out of ear shot, Vlad said, "It's rude to listen in on others' conversations."
Dracu walked over, snapped his fingers to start the fireplace, and rested on the other side of the couch with Vlad. He held a glass of red liquid and swirled it around. "I think you handled that well. Keeping your secret from her while making her feel assured."
"Don't think I ever asked for your opinion," Vlad stared at the glass. Even after all the self-control he developed over time, he still struggled to hide his desire for it. Even if that was less of a problem now he knew George would be back in a moment and he couldn't have her catching him with it.
"No, but still, you seem to be doing just fine as a guardian," Dracu said. "But I worry she's too much of a distraction."
"She had nowhere else to go," Vlad said. "You know that."
Dracu nodded. "But you have more responsibilities than just looking after your little sister."
"So you keep telling me," Vlad said. "But she's the priority."
George's footsteps ran quickly down the stairs. She walked in carrying a Romanian language book. "Ready." Her smile faded when she saw Dracu. She never talked to him as he creeped her out.
Vlad stood up and started leading her out of the den. "Let's go up to your room to study." He said as Ingrid and the Count returned home.
"All taken care of," Ingrid announced.
"I wonder how much time she would want to spend with you if she knew," Dracu said as Vlad and George reached the doorway.
Ingrid stepped back realizing she just walked in on a tense conversation.
"Don't," Vlad warned.
"Knew what?" George's eyes shifted between Dracu and her brother.
"As Ingrid said before, she is going to know eventually," Dracu kept on.
The Count stepped over to Dracu and pointed into his face, "That is not your place."
"We are not getting anywhere with you people going along with what Vladimir wants," Dracu said.
The Count lowered his finger, but didn't step back. "You will regret it."
Dracu smirked, "George, your brother has been lying to you. All the nights he is not here, he has been hunting and killing just like the rest of us."
Vlad just stood there paralyzed. He should have gotten George out of the room before Dracu had the chance to say it, but he didn't expect his distant relative would really go that far.
"What?" George whispered. Her eyes were wide.
"He didn't think you could handle knowing he was a killer," Dracu kept on.
George dropped her book and ran off back toward her room. Vlad was about to follow but Ingrid rushed over to stop him. "Let me talk to her. She might be too shocked to see you right now."
Vlad nodded agreeing with her and looked back at Dracu. "I can't believe you just did that."
"I needed your attention," Dracu smirked. He lifted his glass up to Vlad. "You won't have to hide drinking blood anymore."
Vlad swatted Dracu's hand away causing the glass to hit the wall, shattering.
Dracu didn't appear to be fazed. "No more games," he continued. "No more hiding. I want to know who you really are and if I have to force you to remove that mask then so be it."
He started pacing the room.
"That goes for everyone in this house. You have all been pretending to like each other, so you can make sure to stand together against me, but I see through all that. I am not your enemy."
"An ally would not do what you just did," Vlad said.
"Well let me be clear, I am not your friend either. I am here to get the best out of you. To find that leader in you and guide you to your purpose. That is my goal."
"Well good luck with that," Vlad challenged.
"What are you so afraid of?" Dracu said. "You keep saying you are only concerned with protecting your family, but I'm not convinced. I think it's just another excuse to hide."
"I'm not scared of anything," Vlad said.
"Really?" Dracu walked over. "Everyone is afraid of something. You know what I think your fear is?"
When Vlad didn't answer Dracu grabbed at his arm and pulled Vlad's left sleeve up revealing the scars left behind from his attack on the guild. "It's this. The power you were given. The power you refuse to learn to control because of what it has already done to you."
Vlad jerked away and pulled his sleeve back down. "It's not a gift. It's a burden."
"Well, we'll see how you feel in a few weeks when we return," Dracu sat back down on the couch.
"Return?" Vlad frowned.
"I already discussed it with your father," Dracu explained. "You need some time away from distractions and see a different perspective. We will be leaving Romania tomorrow night."
"By we you mean…?"
"Just you and I," Dracu confirmed. "Everyone else stays here. Don't worry. Your father will look after George."
"I'm not going anywhere with you," Vlad said.
"Yes you will," the Count interrupted. "It's what you need. Besides, you like to travel."
"I'm not leaving George," Vlad said.
"Don't argue," the Count snapped. "If you don't go then I'll send George off to an adoption agency and you will never see her again."
"You wouldn't dare," Vlad tried to call out the bluff.
"Try me," the Count said. "You would hate me for it but at this point I'm used to being an unpopular father around here."
"So that's settled," Dracu smirked. "You can say your goodbyes before we leave, so you might as well rest the remainder of the evening." He flitted out of the room.
"I can't believe you listened to him again," Vlad rolled his eyes.
"Sending you away was not Dracu's idea," the Count said as he sat down on his throne. "It was mine."
"What if something happens while I was gone?" Vlad tried to find a reason to change the Count's mind.
"That is not your concern," the Count said. "You need this."
Ingrid walked into the den. "George wants to talk to you."
Vlad turned to her, "I'll be there in a minute."
"Don't fight this, Vladimir," the Count pleaded. "It's only for a little while."