-/-
"So, what is it like, being a nun?"
"Hmmm." Lucy's sudden question caught Agatha by surprise, she had gotten so used to just hearing the younger woman talk at her whilst Lucy braided Agatha's hair, that Lucy had caught her dozing with an unexpected question.
"Long days, lots of praying, boring food." Agatha replied rather flippantly, when in truth she preferred to think about her days in the convent as little as possible. She preferred to think about her human life as little as possible, it was safer that way. "And I'm not a nun anymore, now I help track down new-born vampires, like you."
"So, does that mean you're allowed to, you know, fuck people now then, now you're no longer a nun?"
Blinking at the personal question and blunt way Lucy asked it, Agatha had to remind herself what century they were living in.
"I suppose so…"
"So, you mean you still haven't?" Lucy spluttered, sure Agatha wouldn't be to everyone's taste, all elbows and no tits, but some vampire must have wanted to shag her at some point.
"I guess I just haven't gotten around to it." Agatha shrugged. "I've been busy."
"You've been too busy for 123 years?" Lucy scoffed, an eyebrow raised in disbelief.
"You will find that time passes far more quickly than you realise, and well I guess there hasn't been anyone I have met since turning that I looked at that way." Which was true, well mostly.
Yet Agatha wasn't prepared to admit out loud, or even in the confines of her own thoughts, that the vampires she had met since her rebirth had been…lacking in some way. They weren't tall enough, or smart enough, or devilishly wicked enough…
"Well I am not waiting 123 years for my next shag." Lucy confided. "Is there anyone worth looking at, well other than D of course…but I'm not forgiving him, until he gets on his hands and knees and grovels…"
"Then you won't be forgiving him." Agatha interjected with certainty and a half smile. "Count Dracula does not grovel."
"Ouch sounds like someone has a crush." Lucy teased, before leaning forward, winking conspiratorially. "Not that I blame you, I mean for an older guy he really does have that tall, dark, handsome, brooding bastard thing going for him. Since I'm not getting married now, I might give him a roll or two; I'm sure he's got skills…But is there nobody else, closer to my age, someone I can hang out with? A new gay BFF would be perfect."
"I don't know about that but you will meet Tommy when you wake up. He's only just been reborn as well, another of Dracula's converts." Agatha added, choosing to ignore Lucy's ridiculous insinuation but unable to hide the tinge of bitterness in her voice. "You will be going through the same education programme, and as you're from the same clan, it would be good for you to be friends."
"You mean more school?" Lucy asked, her nose wrinkling. "I dropped out at sixteen, did a beauty course at college instead but by then I was already building up my Instagram following. I really don't think, you are going to turn me into a model student."
"It's less like school and more like, basic orientation and work placements; working out what skills you have. What skills you have, determines where you are placed for your conscripted service…"
"What conscription...like the army?" Lucy wrinkled her nose in disgust. "I am not throwing myself over assault courses…like my friend Lizzy got one of those cheap bootcamp vouchers and conned us all into going, because she said there would be fit army boys. Total waste of time. They were all old guys, who shouted at us all the time; I broke two nails on the rope swing, ruined my new juicy sweatpants in the mud…total disaster."
"There are other areas for you to excel in. Our clan is usually skilled in the mental arts, that's how I can be here talking to you now."
"Our clan?"
"Yes, the vampires created by Count Dracula. So I suppose we are Clan Dracula." Agatha added pompously whilst rolling her eyes. "They are still testing the clanless vampires on record. So for the moment we are a clan of 4 but considering how many people Dracula has fed on over the centuries; well I am expecting that number to grow."
Falling quiet Lucy fiddled with the strap of her high heels, and Agatha waited, knowing the younger vampire had questions still, and she wasn't exactly backwards about coming forward. When Lucy shifted to sit next to her, leaning against Agatha for support and human contact, Agatha sighed and embraced her gently. It was easy to forget under all that confidence that Lucy was still such a child.
"Will I be able to see them again…my family…my human family." Lucy finally asked, drawing the strength to ask from Agatha's embrace. "I mean I know my mum was a pain in my arse, riding me for years; first to get a proper job, and not to stay out late, stop dating all those boys. But she's my mum…"
"And she thinks you are dead." Agatha reminded her as gently as she could, brushing her hand over Lucy's hair. "No one will physically stop you seeing them, it's not against the rules but most vampires choose to keep their distance. It's about control the first few years, the blood lust is difficult to control, and so it's best to avoid the temptation. By then your family has moved on, accepted you've gone, and most vampires don't want to hurt them by bringing it all back up again and…"
"And?"
"And." Agatha sighed, leaning the both against the wall as it was suddenly getting harder and harder to keep her eyes open for some reason.
"It is easier not to see them. You don't age you see, five, ten years go by so quickly, then you return to see people you loved and they've gotten older. You don't notice it so much the first time. If you kept seeing your mortal friends, it would start out with jealous ribbing at how youthful you still look, but then as the years pass, and you have to watch them decay in front of your eyes. It is just easier to let them go now, whilst the memory of them can stay as they are. A vampire can't unsee what they have seen Lucy, sometimes it is a curse, our inability to forget." Agatha added with a bone deep yawn.
"You're looking tired." Lucy said in that typical blunt manner of hers, looking up at the taller woman but not breaking their hug. In fact the hug seemed to tighten, as if Lucy were afraid, and squeezing the life out her in recompense.
"Thanks." Agatha snorted, her eyes drifting shut for a moment.
"You can have a nap if you want, the bed's just there…"
"No…I…Shouldn't…need to…" Agatha blinked, watching as two Lucy's swam in front of her eyes, Lucy's suddenly iron grip on her the only thing keeping her anchored.
It had only been a few hours, she shouldn't need to return and feed yet, and yet Agatha felt as drained, as if she had gone a week without feeding or resting.
"You really should take that nap." Lucy suggested, getting to her feet and coaxing a reluctant Agatha to lay down.
"No…I should go…I need to…check on…"
"You said you wouldn't leave me again." Lucy protested, slipping into the bunk beside her so she could spoon her. Picking up the blanket and tucking it around Agatha, who suddenly hadn't the energy to push her off. "Just a little nap and you'll be fine."
"Lucy…I…I…need to…"
"Shush, I'll sing you the lullaby my mother always sang me." Lucy added softly, holding onto her and stroking Agatha's hair, whilst humming a tune; until Agatha's eyes fell closed once more, and this time she didn't open them again.
-/-
"Something is wrong with Agatha."
Of all the things Mycroft had ever expected to hear from Count Dracula's lips, this was not even a consideration. Yet the Count had been quite a fixture in their labs over the last few days. At first Anderson and Mycroft, had been able to persuade him to go home, to leave Agatha and Lucy in the hands of the professionals. Still the Count had returned every evening, taking up a vigil beside the two female members of his clan. An act that made Sergeant Anderson suspicious, and yet merely confirmed a theory Mycroft had been constructing. That it was now daytime, and the Count had chosen to remain here, rather than return to his own, far more comfortable apartment before dawn…well that leant more weight to his concerns.
"In what way wrong?"
"She's not woken up to feed today, and her colour is all wrong." Dracula insisted. "I don't know how long, she has done this before, but I know her; I know something is not right…I just feel it."
Nodding Mycroft was willing to believe him. A Vampire's hunch was nothing to be dismissed, and Dracula was Agatha's Elder, he would be more finely tuned to her than any of them.
"What do you propose?"
"I am going to go in and wake her, and I want you to guard my back, less Sergeant Anderson decides to come along and stick a stake through it."
Frowning Mycroft nodded, of course he would agree, what was the worst that could happen? Agatha might be angry at Dracula for interfering, but she would be mad at Dracula not him, and if Dracula was right then he had helped his friend. As there was no risk to him Mycroft agreed. Fascinated he watched as Dracula pressed his hand to her forehead, like Agatha had hers pressed to Lucy's.
"I can't…" Dracula growled, his impatience showing. "This way doesn't work for me."
"Then do what does work for you." Mycroft suggested, not that the Count needed his permission.
Concentrating on the long slope of Agatha's neck, Dracula recalled the memory of her blood, of how intoxicating it had tasted. Within a moment his fangs elongated, and he ducked his head, piercing the skin of her neck, taking only the tiniest of sips…he was not here to feed from her, as hard as it was to restrain himself. Instead he focused on the existing link to him in her blood, following that connection. Reaching out for her mind, that spark of fire that was Agatha; his horror growing when it felt weak and flickering in his grasp.
Blinking his inner eye, Dracula awoke to a very familiar room and two very familiar women. Laying down in the bunk, as pale as the drained nun he once remembered feeding from, Dracula growled as he caught sight of just who was doing the feeding now. It was easy to see from another's perspective, the drain of energies from one to the other. It couldn't be more obvious if Lucy's fangs were sucking the lifeforce out of Agatha's corpse.
"Get away from her!" Dracula ordered, expecting to be obeyed and yet all Lucy did was hiss at him like a beast. "She is not yours Lucy, let her go now, or I will make you, and I will not be gentle." Dracula warned, moving to tower over the huddled pair, his hand raised to slap some sense into the selfish child he had created.
Leaping away like a scalded cat, Lucy let Agatha drop to the floor, Dracula bending to catching her before she could fall too far. Scooping her up into his arms, Dracula frowned at Agatha's complete unresponsiveness. Lucy's parasitic connection had been broken and yet Agatha still appeared completely dead.
"If she dies, no, if she is even remotely damaged by what you have done." Dracula growled, his eyes blood red and fangs on prominent display. "I will rip you, limb from limb, and I will make you scream apologies before I stake you, Lucy Westenra."
And with that promise, Dracula forced himself to return to the clinical laboratory, Agatha's unresponsive mind wrapped safely in his own mental embrace. And as he called out to Mycroft to bring him blood samples and quickly, Dracula found himself praying to Agatha's god, that he wouldn't forsake her this time...He had to save her, Dracula couldn't bare the thought of losing her for a second time.
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