Robin hated reading more than anything. Going to a library on the first stop on their tour of Transylvania was not what he had expected. Chloe collected dozens of books of historical sites, vampire legends and Romanian traditions. He flipped through the pages of a book on castles built from 1200 to 1800. Nothing really stood out to him, but he did write down some locations for them to look into.
Chloe was studying vampire lore just to be sure there was nothing she had missed before when it came to the minds of vampires. Unfortunately, everything she found depicted them as being nothing more than soulless monsters incapable of caring for anyone. In her short career and even before, she found that to be far from the truth. Yes, vampires were selfish much of the time, but not all their actions depended on their own self interest.
She had hoped since Transylvania had more experience with the creatures then they would have a better understanding of them, but this was just one morning of research. There was probably a lot more to find.
"How long do you want to be here for?" Robin complained. "It's not like we are going to get all our answers in a library."
"No, but study means we will be more prepared," Chloe said. "But if you're so bored maybe you can walk around some of the markets and see if anyone knows anything."
"Sounds good to me," Robin perked up at the idea of exploring a bit. "Met you at the restaurant for lunch?"
"See you in an hour," Chloe agreed.
Robin visited a few stands at a nearby market purchasing souvenirs as a way to open up a conversation. No one seemed to know anything about a Vampire High Council, but pretty much everyone looked at him like he was crazy. That didn't surprise him. After asking another man about the VHC and getting another disappointing response he decided to head off to meet his sister.
As he turned he nearly bumped into an old lady with a cane. She was a foot shorter than him and wore a green dress decorated with white flora lining the bottom.
"I'm sorry," he apologized. "I didn't see you there."
"Were you asking about vampires?" She asked in perfect English.
"I was," Robin said. "I heard a rumor of a vampire council and just wanted to know if the rumor also mentioned where the council met."
"I have heard of this rumor," she confirmed. "But it will take me a while to explain. Why don't you come around to my home for supper tonight and we'll talk?"
Robin smiled, "Thank you. That would be a big help." He got the address from her and they agreed to meet at 4 to try and accommodate Chloe's rule on returning to the hotel by sunset.
XXX
George stared at her new hairstyle in the mirror. Ingrid had straightened it for her and it was a lot less frizzy. She actually didn't normally like letting people do her hair, but she wanted the chance to talk to Ingrid.
They did not get along when they first met, mostly because Ingrid was a total nightmare, but she never had any siblings until meeting her brother for the first time. The downside is that they were much older than her and didn't exactly grow up in a normal family setting.
More than anything she always wanted a sister. Someone she could share her secrets with and give her advice. In a way her mother was always that person for her, but she was gone now. Even though she had Vlad, she still felt lonely. Everyone else treated her like she was a pest.
When Ingrid finally offered to hang out, George couldn't believe it and it made her think that Ingrid may have wanted the same thing. Just someone to talk to.
She did agree that she wouldn't bother Ingrid for a week and she didn't want to break that deal, but she had no one else to talk to now.
She wandered out of her room and walked into the den and she saw the Count reading the paper with a glass of blood in his hand. She walked up to him, but he didn't acknowledge she walked in.
"So… you met my mom at a festival?"
The Count finally looked up. "I did. What do you want?"
"I'm bored."
"We'll go bother Renfield or something," the Count straightened out his paper and continued reading.
"Why are you always so crabby?"
"Maybe because a child is asking me stupid questions during the few minutes I have time to work."
George crossed her arms. "This is all you do though."
The Count glared at her. "It's important I keep up with recent politics."
"Why?"
"Because that is what I am, a politician."
"What, your first name isn't actually Count?" George smirked.
"Out," the Count hissed.
George ignored him. "What is your first name?"
"It's Vladimir," the count leaned back in his chair.
"Woah! So Vlad's a junior ?"
"Actually he's Vladimir Dracula the III."
"So you're a junior then," George walked up to him and sat on the arm rest. "That's far less intimidating I think."
The Count gently moved her off the arm rest. "Does it take a lot of effort for you to be this annoying?"
George shook her head. "No, but sorry if I offended you. I think it's cool you passed down your name. I'm named after my grandmother. I never met her. She died before I was born."
"Shame," the Count said. It would have been better if she had another family member she could live with. "Names carry a lot of meaning and it is a noble act to live up to our names."
"Live up to our names? I've heard that before, but what does that mean exactly?"
"It means to not only make your family proud, but to be better than those who came before you," the Count folded up the paper, giving up on finishing the leisure section. "Any more questions?"
George always had plenty of questions, but she was stuck on what the Count just said. "Well I want to make my mom proud, but I don't think I could be better than her. She was perfect."
The Count nodded. "She was."
"So… did you actually love her or was it just a weekend fling?"
"Vampires can't afford to love, but she was more than just… a fling," the Count said the final world awkwardly.
"What did you like about her? There aren't very many people who knew her."
"She could see through anything. When we met she knew I wasn't being honest with her about who I was, but she never pushed me for any sort of explanation. At the same time she was always herself. She was honest."
"You know, I think you're a lot nicer than people say you are," George said.
"Consider this a one time deal as a favor to your mother and to Vlad. Bother me while I'm working again and I'll prepare you a chore list to assist Renfield. Make yourself useful around here."
"Deal," George turned to leave, but then quickly turned back around. "Oh! Nearly forgot." She exaggerated a bow and giggled. "Vlad said you like to be shown respect."
"Shame he doesn't have your sense of courtesy. Now leave me."
George hurried out but smiled. Maybe she could find her place among this strange family. It seemed they could be friendly when they wanted to be.
XXX
Chloe paid the cab driver when they arrived at the old lady's address, which turned out to be another hotel, but a much older looking one. It was a large cottage with cracked windows and torches outside for lighting.
"Well this isn't sketchy at all," Chloe said, adjusting the stake hidden in her sleeve.
"I'm sure it's fine," Robin said. "The lady was outside in the daylight."
"Still can't believe you didn't get her name," Chloe continued to complain.
"Sorry, I was a little excited when I found someone who knows something about the VHC."
"Might know something," Chloe corrected.
"Can you not be a pessimist for once?" Robin said.
They walked in and approached the front desk where a young blonde girl wearing an old fashioned red farm dress waited for them. She smiled and spoke something in Romanian.
"I'm sorry," Robin said. "Do you speak English? We are looking for an older lady who walks with a cane."
He wasn't sure if she understood him, but she yelled out for someone in the back room.
It took a couple minutes, but the lady from before emerged. "Oh you made it," she smiled. "Follow me."
She guided them into a small, empty dining room with only six tables. The young lady from before served them each a plate of what appeared to be pork and a bowl of soup on the side.
The old lady said something in Romanian to the younger girl. "My granddaughter," she explained. "Sweet girl but never could grasp the English language very well."
"I'm sorry, but my brother forgot to ask for your name before," Chloe said.
"Oh yes, it's Anca. This is my inn. I apologize for the sudden invite but I was so delighted to have guests I didn't know. I very rarely get the chance to speak with strangers anymore. All our guests these days are regulars."
"Well thank you for your hospitality," Chloe said.
"So polite," Anca pointed out. "You parents raised you well. Now let's eat and I'll answer any questions I can after. First you tell me about where you both are from."
Robin was an open book. He told her about Stokely and his current career as an artist and his sister's job as a psychologist. They left out the Slayer's Guild bit though. Anca seemed very interested in everything they told her and smiled. Once she finished eating she called her granddaughter back who brought out dessert. Pie.
"Now, you were asking about the Vampire High Council," Anca said.
"Yes," Chloe nodded. "Do you know much about it?"
"As much as a human can know, dear," she said. "I used to work there."
Robin nearly choked on his slice of pie. "Seriously?"
"What was your job?" Chloe kept her composure.
"I was a housekeeper. Kept the place tidy, served them drinks, anything they needed."
"And they never bit you?" Robin asked, eyes wide.
"Well no, you see they need to keep all the residents in the area from growing suspicious so they have a number of humans working for them so no one will think they are vampires. They are just called the High Council of Transylvania to all of us humans."
"So this is still going on?" Chloe asked.
"Of course," Anca said. "They've been in the same castle for centuries."
"They let you know about them though?" Robin asked.
"Well not every human that works for them knows of course except those that work more closely with them. I was one of them they told up front."
"You weren't scared?" Chloe asked.
"Well of course I was," Anca corrected. "But it paid better than any job I could get anywhere else so I really wasn't in a position to turn it down."
"So where are they then?" Chloe asked.
Anca held up a finger and reached into her pocket. She set a folded piece of paper on the table. "This is a map to the castle, but before I hand it over, I must ask why you want to go there?"
"We are looking for someone and we think we might find clues to where he could be there," Robin said.
"Well if you think you'll find clues there he must be an interesting friend," Anca said.
Robin wasn't sure how to respond to that.
"The castle also holds tours there during the day to help keep up the normal façade," Anca continued. "That would be the safest time to visit." She slid the folded map to Robin.
"Thank you," Chloe said. "For the information and the meal."
"You are most welcome, dear," Anca smiled. "You both must promise me that you won't do anything dangerous and that you'll come visit me again before you leave to go home."
"If you have more of that pie, then I can guarantee we will be back," Robin smiled.
Anca laughed, "of course. I'll bake as many pies as you like."
Robin followed Chloe out. "See, that couldn't have gone any better."
"Let's just get back to the hotel and make a plan," Chloe looked up at the setting sun.
Robin was so excited with how well everything was going that it hadn't yet dawned on him that they would soon be walking into a castle crawling with vampires.