And the Rest is History

39

What

"Drake Mallard."

Darkwing snapped awake with an accompanying pain. The call had come from downstairs. Adult, male, unknown. "Ow, why?" He looked at the clock. "9:50 am? Who does this?" He dragged himself out of bed, glancing at Morgana fast asleep under the covers. He dressed himself and then tried to pull himself together as he went downstairs.

The man was elderly, but spry. Justin had left him to wait in the lounge room. He was dressed for weather in a trench coat and hat. The flash camera hung from his neck told of the man's age. Darkwing couldn't guess his occupation, though he could be a journalist if it were the 1930s.

"I'm very sorry for waking you." The man said on seeing Darkwing.
Darkwing straightened himself, accepting that he looked pretty poorly at this moment. "It's okay. I just don't usually get visitors until after three."
The man nodded, "You seem an educated sort. What's your preference when it comes to the four disciplines?"
"There's a lot of disciplines." Darkwing stated, "Which ones are you referring to?"
"The four vampire disciplines. Which one do you prefer?"
"There are five-." Darkwing stopped, realising he was talking to a duck, "You're grilling me for information when I'm half asleep!" He laughed. "You don't live around here. What's your name?"

"Larkis Doveswoth."

Darkwing motioned for Larkis to join him in the kitchen. He got himself his regular juice and... he considered Larkis' state, a glass of water.

He handed the glass over. "You've done a lot of walking to find me, Dovesworth."

"I must confess I was already in the suburb." Larkis took the water, eyeing the juice, "Thank you."
"Round trip, huh?" Darkwing took a gulp of his drink.
"It's nice for a change."

Darkwing took another gulp. Well, this line of inquiry was six feet under. It was possibly the fact he was drinking in front of the guy, he looked down at his juice in his hand. Yeah, he should probably stop doing that. Hello, morning! Awkward.

"So, you know... a bit about vampires, huh?" He asked in an embarrassed tone.

"I'm certain you know more."
Darkwing spun around to the sink and finished his juice. "Yeah, I'll win that contest." He joked weakly, rinsing his glass. "Where do I sign to enter?" He put the glass in the dishwasher.

"I haven't read of a fifth discipline."
Darkwing straightened and turned, "What do you know of the other disciplines?"
"The hot head, the lurker, the loner and the busy signal. They each have a different attack and behaviour pattern. They're well documented."

He hadn't heard an insult this early in the day for a while.

"Yeah?" Darkwing retorted, "Where would that be?" He jibed, "a 'criminal database'?"
Larkis blinked, "Yes, actually."
"Oh." Darkwing uttered. This guy was telling the truth. "Then yes." Darkwing said soberly. "Keep doing what you're doing."

"The fifth discipline though?"
"It's heart." Darkwing shrugged.
Larkis puzzled, "It seems an odd one out."
"Judging by your list of incorrigibles, I should think so." Darkwing stepped through the kitchen door to head back.

"You have a library?"
Darkwing turned at the door to the lounge and followed Larkis into the back room instead.
"Oh, I beg your pardon." Larkis said to Justin sitting, reading in the sunbathed window seat.

"Magic?"
The sudden curiosity in Larkis' tone made Darkwing stop. Larkis didn't come here after magic and definitely not to wake 'him' up about it. This was a personal thing.
"It interests me." Justin replied. "What level are you?"

"Not high enough to know what the levels are." Larkis answered in good humour. "When I was young, I did a magic show."
"Then you're probably a level two conjurer." Justin nodded, "Have you met many people with higher magic skills than you?"

Larkis paused, thinking, "They're not as 'personable' as you are, though that's possibly more to do with me looking down the end of my wand at them than anything else."
Justin's eyes lit up. "Wow, at level two! That's real talent." He smiled, impressed.

Darkwing struggled back a yawn.

From an inside pocket of his trench coat, Larkis pulled out a folded slip of paper. "I was looking to try and unravel this."

Darkwing rubbed his head. He had a great urge to go back to bed at this moment. Justin unfolded the page and his heart rate shifted. Darkwing snapped awake.

Justin looked up at Larkis, "Where did you get this? This is new ink! Where did you get this?" He asked in quiet excitement.
"What?" Darkwing asked in new interest.

Justin held up the page to him. "Everyone who's alive with this curse is a vampire. To get these results, you need to do a full analysis. That takes hours. Even Mallard blood doesn't hold out that long."

"Yet here it is, huh?" Darkwing folded his arms and slumped against the door frame, looking at Larkis. "That's some magic trick."

Justin took the page to the study desk and began writing notes in his notepad there. A new spell was always Justin's favourite toy.

Larkis frowned at Darkwing. "I'd be very happy to be free of the ability. I've spent the last forty years living in two universes. The only job I'm good for is being a paranormal investigator. That said, I've spent forty years on first name basis with the police in charge of breaking and entering disputes."

Darkwing frowned, "You have no control over it?"
"None." Larkis answered hollowly. "Although I get a bonus trip anytime I get startled."

So a synaptic trigger. "What caused it?"

Larkis flinched and shuddered, tried to answer, then looked away instead.

Darkwing felt a wave of dread coming from Larkis.

"Paranormal investigating," Darkwing lightly changed the topic, "Sounds like a tough job to me."

"Not usually." Larkis was momentarily grateful, "It's mostly just ghosts. Occasionally I get a curse investigation." He turned to Justin, "It doesn't have all the indicators needed to make it a HEA curse."

Justin looked over his shoulder to Larkis, pen still in hand. "It's not a curse, it's an enchantment; that's why you're having trouble deciphering it." He said in contained excitement.

Darkwing smiled. So long as his son was enjoying the puzzle.

"The person who designed this was a genius!" Justin enthused.
"Is there a way to break it?" Larkis asked.
"Why?!" Justin answered incredulously. "You can't undo something if you don't know the reason it was done. It could be bad." Justin picked up his notebook and stood up, handing it to Darkwing. "Look familiar?"

Air, Earth

Heart

Water, Fire

"That's impossible." Darkwing frowned. "I wasn't born a vampire."

"No, but I was." Justin answered. "You know how much trouble I have fitting into that category and I'm only one generation down. We could have had an ancestor just like me."
Darkwing looked at his son. "They didn't write that in the family tree book."
"No." Justin added. "Nothing."

"He was smoking."

Darkwing looked at Larkis, "Smoking?"
"The other you." Larkis stated, "The other Drake Mallard. He made a very good show."
Darkwing chuckled. "Thanks." He took the inter-versal compliment and handed the notepad back to Justin.

Back to the actual reason Larkis had come here, Darkwing resolved; "Dovesworth, you're an experienced hypnotist, right?"
"Of course."
"I can do that with you." Darkwing explained, "and we can get to the bottom of-."

Larkis vanished.

Heartbeats, vitals; everything gone. Not a death echo. Just a deep black hole of non-existence before him. All that was left to say he hadn't imagined Larkis Dovesworth was the tiny residual trace of carbon dioxide he'd left in the air.

"What?!" He turned his horrified gaze to Justin.

Justin was just as wide-eyed.

There was silence between them.

Darkwing resisted the impulse to jump immediately after Larkis. "I follow him..." he gestured to the empty space, thinking ahead, "And whose house am I walking directly into?"

"Here, use this instead." Justin turned to the desk and picked up the alchemical note. "You need it more than I do."
Darkwing gazed at the markings on the page. "What do you think the motive is behind this?"
"Dad..."
"I'm going over there." He stated plainly, "I need a peace offering."

Justin took the paper back, going over the markings, considering. He put it on the table and pulled a book from his collection. "There's nothing on vampires in this book." He said opening it up. "But it looks like one of these. That enchantress must've worked on it for months."

Darkwing looked over his son's shoulder to the index page. "Christening gifts."

" 'I... bestow the gift of heart to this vampire child. May it always be his, and his son's, son's guide.' The incantation would've gone something like that."
Darkwing's beak twitched. "Happily ever after?"
Justin shook his head, "Happy beginning." He flicked through the book. "Yep, I'm pretty sure." He pulled Larkis' page out from under and on top of the book. "Heh." He chuckled, "That was fun." He handed it to Darkwing and then put the book back into the cupboard.

Darkwing felt that status quo was closing in fast. He looked over at the book Justin had been reading, recognising the cover instantly. "You know, I'm going out for a while; want me to pick you up a mallet for your head on the way back?"
"No." Justin picked up the book and sat back down on the chair, "I'm fine."
"Still not getting this engagement stuff?" He swallowed.
"No." Justin said in an equal tone, "I'm fine."
"Are you here right now?" He asked in slight annoyance.
"No." Justin answered, opening the book. "I'm fine."
"There's eight letters in that answer, you're only allowed seven." Darkwing gritted.
Justin paused for a split second, "All good."

Darkwing sighed in defeat and looked down at the note. "Heart." Somewhere on the page.
"Shield."
Darkwing blinked, looked to Justin with his eyes fixed on the book. "Shield?"
"Heart shield. Her favourite spell." Justin uttered, not looking up.

"Oh." Darkwing rolled his eyes, now there was an anti-climax he should've seen coming. "See you next year, son!" He signed out of the non-conversation and stepped out of the library room. "He's about as distant as this alternate universe is." Darkwing muttered to himself and returned to thinking about the case.

"How do I plan when I can't see? I need to see. That's my plan." He reflected, "I haven't used the 'two round' strategy in ages."