Part 3:
-/-
The last few weeks had really tested their patience. Sleeping over at one another's apartments, and spending their days apart was one thing, being trapped at headquarters together 24/7 was another entirely. Agatha had never had to deal with a bored Dracula before, and given a choice she never would again, he came far too close to deserving a staking sometimes. That neither of them had come up with a fool proof plan, to deal with Baron de Rais, did not help tempers either.
Yet in some ways it had been nice. Dracula had actually spent some time with their clan, even joining them once for movie night, even if he did loudly critique the slasher movie that was selected. The others were less scared of him now, even if there was still a healthy dose of intimidation.
The London situation was still uncertain. The police were still investigating their unsolved murder case, they had been round to search Dracula's penthouse, but had found nothing incriminating. There was nothing there to find, as Dracula had never returned there after the "incident", as Mycroft had taken to calling it. That all his clothes, a healthy staff of cash and his passport were all found at the apartment, and there was no CCTV footage of him leaving, the police were still considering him as a yet unknown victim of the crime, rather than the villain. So, at Mycroft's suggestion they had gotten out of the country. Agatha having the luxury of travelling openly via private plane out to Romania, Dracula having to take the less glamourous route of goods delivery, spending 2 days packed into a small crate.
Still it was all worth it when they were reunited in Bucharest, and Mr and Mrs Balaur picked up their new identification curtesy of Mycroft, and an open topped Land Rover 4x4 that had been pre-ordered for them by Renfield. It only took an hour or so of Dracula driving it, before Agatha was finally convinced, they weren't going to die in a fiery inferno after all.
Having been cooped up, first in London Headquarters and then in that damn packing crate, Dracula relished the feeling of the sun on his skin and the wind blowing in his hair as he pressed rather heavily on the accelerator. Although it was his first real time driving anywhere, Dracula loved the thrill of it. Although he knew he had travelled faster on board a plane, there was something real about the speed, when you could feel the air and see the landscape whooshing past.
"You know, you can take your death grip off the door Agatha, I know what I am doing."
"You know how to point it in a direction and go fast." Agatha corrected him. "When you've shown me, you know how to brake and park this bloody thing, then I might agree with you."
"Why are you scared dearest?" Dracula teased, egging her on by revving the engine more.
"When you respond like that can you blame me?"
Laughing at her wit Dracula conceded her point a little, easing off the accelerator until they were once more doing around the speed limit.
"We should have done this before now." Dracula declared, his eyes soaking in the sights that was so different than the homeland he remembered, and yet there was a certain familiarity there as well, that he had not found anywhere else. One thing he was certain of was that he was glad he had waited to come back with Agatha.
"There is so much I cannot wait to show you."
Watching as the years seemed to slip away from Dracula's brow, Agatha couldn't help but smile at his boyish enthusiasm.
"I am looking forward to being shown." Agatha replied softly, earning her a beaming smile in reply; Dracula reaching out to cover her free hand with his own, bringing it up to his lips to press a quick kiss to her fingers, before resting their joined hands on his thigh.
They stayed like that, happily taking in the increasingly dramatic scenery as they headed north into the Carpathian Mountains. The daylight dwindling rapidly as the hours passed, and Agatha had to persuade Dracula to abandon his new obsession, and actually stop somewhere to ask for directions. Google maps could find many things it seemed but not an all but abandoned castle, on a plateau next to a river, and Dracula finally conceded that the surroundings had changed too much for him to be certain they were taking the right road.
Agatha couldn't have recalled the name of the town if later asked, it was pretty, with the houses painted and nestled closely together. She happily waited by the car, which Dracula had managed to park reasonably well, whilst he went off to haggle directions out of one of the locals, the directions and maps Renfield had sent him in hand. Agatha was content to watch the mortals go about their evenings, the church on the square, began to toll for evening mass and people began to trickle towards it. Then she saw them, in pairs, their covered heads bobbing with each step as they appeared from a side street and began to file into the church. Agatha felt her mouth turn suddenly dry, as one by one they disappeared from her sight. The sudden visual reminder of a past she had all but banished from her memories…it was from her before and not her now.
"You were right we should have taken a left before we came down into the village."
Dracula's sudden intrusion caused Agatha to all but jump out of her skin, something she covered with a false smile, as he jumped back into their car. Fortunately, the dwindling light covered her well, and Agatha was able to hide from him, just how affected she really was from the sight of those nuns going to prayer. Not that Dracula had even noticed them probably, he was still so excited about showing her his home.
"Unless you wanted to stop and stretch your legs?"
Clearly, she hadn't hidden it as well as she thought. Either that or Dracula was more perceptive to her mood than even Agatha realised.
"No, I'm fine, just tired and anxious to finally get there." Agatha mustered up some genuine enthusiasm and added a spice of complaint for authenticity.
Yet still Dracula examined her closely for a moment, almost weighing up the worth of challenging something, that was probably nothing, when Agatha probably was just tired. She had been in a strange mood since they had left London, one moment bursting with excitement, the next strangely withdrawn. Still Dracula had lived enough of his life around women to know, that commenting on their mood swings was a sure-fire way to end up sleeping on the couch, and he had been dreaming of sharing his own bed with Agatha for long enough that nothing could jeopardise that.
"I think half an hour or so more and we should be there." Dracula added, before reaching into the back seat for his coat, and tucking it around her, ignoring Agatha's half-hearted protest.
The sun was all but down now, and the temperature would drop soon. Although vampires felt the cold far less than mortals, Agatha's comfort was always his primary concern; the veneer of a gentleman might be thin on occasions, but it was still there.
-/-
It was disappointing.
His home was not as he remembered it. Even in the dark Dracula could tell that much. The bombing and subsequent landslides had taken out part of the plateau where some of the newer and more ornate buildings had been created, including the family chapel which was a terrible shame as Dracula he had not ventured into since his death. Fortunately, the higher standing original fortress looked to be undamaged, but Dracula could only wonder just how the men had been gaining access.
The lower gatehouse was still mainly intact, the strong gates propped open, or more to the point resting against the stone for support as they were clearly in the middle of being repaired. The car fit through the space as it had been made wide enough to pass a carriage through, and Dracula was able to park in the courtyard, remembering to press the button to put up the roof, the last thing he needed was his newest toy to get rained in overnight.
Hefting their bags out of the boot, Dracula ushered Agatha towards the lights that were flickering from what had once been the groom's quarters, and now served as the defacto site office for the builders.
"At least someone is still here." Agatha tried her best to be encouraging, it didn't take an empath to mark the deterioration in Dracula's mood since they first caught sight of the Castle and very obvious damage that had been wrought on it.
At first Agatha had wanted to reach out to him, knowing how confronting this truth must be painful for him, knowing something intellectually and seeing it were two very different things. Yet she hesitated, not knowing if her comfort would be welcomed, deciding instead to wait until there was a more private moment to offer it.
Knocking on the door, Dracula was almost bowled over when an excited Renfield all but pulled the door off its hinges in his excitement.
"Master you are here at last, I really was starting to worry, it was dark and getting late and…"
"Frank we are here safe and sound." Dracula cut off his thrall's excited babbling, not in the mood to indulge some of Renfield's more irritating qualities right now.
Standing back, he allowed Agatha to enter first, glaring at Renfield until the lawyer remembered himself and stepped out of her way.
"Madam Balaur." Renfield greeted her with slightly too much obsequiousness for her tastes, but Agatha still managed a polite smile for the lawyer.
"Mr Renfield, I do hope we have not kept you up too late."
"No no I find I have so much to do I am happy to stay awake for hours yet." Renfield babbled on, waving them both into the almost cosy room, a large fire burning in the massive fireplace.
"I took the liberty of procuring you a late supper…." Renfield paused waving towards the decanter that looked oddly ornate and out of place amongst the more rural furnishings of the groomsman's quarters. "I didn't know if you would 'eat out' instead." He added, shooting a side glance at Agatha that Dracula caught, but for once his lawyer's attentiveness was actually useful.
Pouring them both a glass, Dracula sniffed it first, checking it for quality before handing over a glass to Agatha. His recent experiences had made him all the more cautious, and although Dracula did not suspect Renfield of anything untoward, the man was hardly a connoisseur in these matters…though he was getting better at sniffing out a good vintage.
"Hmmm unusual, difficult to place, ahhh a whiff of bibles, a good age and breeding, was she particularly devout?" Dracula asked taking a small sip, amused by the sudden familiar flavour that could only be found in the local population.
"She was a nun." Agatha muttered, all but gagging as she pushed her own glass away. Suddenly regretting being anything close to polite to Renfield. She knew how devoted he was to Count Dracula, clearly this was his way of punishing her, for what he saw was her earlier betrayals of his master.
"Darling I can fetch you something else, something that Mycroft sent over perhaps?" Dracula began soothingly, shooting Renfield a look that told him they would certainly be having words later.
"No thank you…suddenly I've lost my appetite." Agatha insisted, her stomach churning at the thought of more blood right now, even if it would help push away the resonating memories of the other nun. "I would be much happier if we could just unpack and get some sleep."
"Yes Renfield, I assume my room has been prepared."
"Yes Master…not that it has been easy. That part of the castle is difficult to access, what with the original walkway being destroyed. The workmen have been focusing their work on restoring the lower levels. They have been able to construct a temporary scaffolding walkway up to the old fortress. I know that doesn't concern you, but the men would wonder how you were accessing it. I have had a few cleaning crews up there, but it is difficult to keep them longer than a few hours…something about it unsettles them."
"Yes yes, the pathetic qualms of few frightened mortals do not concern me, is it ready for us?" Dracula dismissed Renfield's babbles.
"The main hall has been cleaned and a few items of furniture repaired, enough to be comfortable, I had a fire set in there this afternoon that will need attention. Your master bedroom has been aired and the mattress and linens replaced, again a fire was set but will need tending to. I'm afraid we have not been able to fit many more modern conveniences just yet. A large tub has been placed in the bathing chamber, and a rain barrel filtration system with solar powered heating will supply you with warm water for bathing."
"A bath and bed sound just about perfect right now." Agatha insisted when Dracula seemed to sink back into his melancholic mood. "Shall we?" She prompted drawing Dracula back to the present moment.
"Yes. We will see you in the morning Frank." The and not a moment before remained unspoken between them.
Not needing a candle or other form of light to guide the way, Dracula led them back out of the groom's quarters and along the courtyard to disappear through another archway and stairs, that led up to a large set of double doors that guarded the lower bailey. Pushing on those doors, Dracula led his way through this newer part of the castle, one that was once bustling with members of his court who were fortunate to have lodgings in the castle. His guardsmen and squires had been quartered in a tower off to the left, the doorway to the right had once led to another courtyard, off which the family chapel and small enclosed kitchen gardens had once stood. Now those doorways were marked with warning tape, the landslide having taken the chapel and gardens, and over half of the courtyard away, and leaving only an unstable rocky slope behind.
Taking more stairs up they left the lower bailey behind, Dracula sighing as what once was a beautifully decorated stone walkway was now a haphazard collection of stone and scaffolding. The two vampires managed the climb with ease, even carrying their luggage, Dracula could have climbed the sheer rock face. Until finally they reached the imposing doors of the old fortress. Pushing those doors open it was like Dracula had been transported back in time.
The large banqueting hall was just as he remembered, as was the spiralling staircase.
"Wow." Agatha was impressed. The fortress was stark, stone walls with little remaining decoration, but the wooden buttressed ceiling was highly decorated, full of carvings and ornate decoration.
There was still a fire burning in the grate and plenty of logs set aside beside it, so Dracula piled several more on, poking at the embers with a poker until the dry wood caught and there was once again a sudden surge in light.
"I'm afraid it is a long way from what it once was." He sighed falling into a familiar fireside chair.
"It's incredible regardless." Agatha insisted, taking the opposite chair and warming her chilled hands by the fire. "And we have plenty of time." She reminded him. This castle had been the work of generations to build, and they had eternity to bring it back to glory.
"So, you don't mind the idea of being stuck here as my lonely bride?"
"As long as Renfield is back in London." Agatha deadpanned. "And besides who said anything about being lonely, like you would leave my side without anything short of a…"
"Nothing could prise me from your side." Dracula corrected her, but he conceded her point about Renfield, the man's loyalty and ability were invaluable, but Dracula couldn't ignore his slights and digs at his chosen bride. A servant was only good if they were both competent and cognisant of their place, the moment they grew uppity it was time to get a new one.
"You will have to find a way to bring some life back it. The two of us will rattle around here. It's such beautiful countryside, perhaps you could retain this part for the clan's exclusive use and let out the lower sections, perhaps an artist commune or some sort of retreat."
"Before you go about turning my home into a business." Dracula tutted, standing and offering her his hand. "You should at least see the rest of it."
Placing her hand in his and allowing Dracula to pull her to her feet, Agatha's smile turned soft. "Would you be very cross if I asked you to show me to that bath and bed?"
"That depends would you be naked in either of those circumstances?" Dracula teased, threading her arm about his elbow as he led her towards the staircase.
"Definitely one, and the other is open for negotiation." Agatha retorted earning her a belly laugh from an amused Dracula.
"Then lady love I couldn't be more delighted."
-/-