-/-

"Hmmm it is so much nicer travelling with you."

Reclining on the couch Agatha arched as Dracula's mouth trailed down her torso, squirming a little as he blew a raspberry whilst nuzzling his face into her stomach.

"Well it's only the second time I've flown, but I will admit the inflight entertainment was better this time."

"Hmm I'm delighted to hear it, please do leave a positive review when you leave." Dracula chuckled, as he parted her thighs and dragged his tongue up along her slit, tasting her along with his own spend.

"No…no more…" Agatha sighed pushing his mouth away from her. They had had so much sex in the last week that Agatha was overly sensitive all the damn time. Once was currently more than enough, and knowing how attentive Dracula was being, Agatha knew that the moment they got to their hotel room, he would insist on breaking in that bed as well.

Pouting Dracula did as he was bid, but not before leaving a bite to her inner thigh. Stretching out he moved to the opposite chair, dropping down into the leather seat blissfully naked and loving it. There was a half-filled glass of blood on the table and Dracula took a swig from it, it wasn't the best vintage, but Renfield had done his best. For the last week his lawyer was on his best behaviour. Renfield knew he was on his last life, and not in a good way. Dracula had been only too happy to reinforce that message to his minion, only time would tell if it had sunk in. In the meantime, Dracula would look into finding a replacement.

Dracula was content to lounge about naked, not caring if the poor stewardess dared to interrupt them, despite having banished her to the cockpit not long after take-off. Agatha gathered her clothing from where Dracula had thrown them, in his haste to get her naked. Redressing in the fitted navy-blue backless sundress Dracula had insisted she wear, Agatha also gathered Dracula's navy slacks and white button-down shirt from the floor, pushing them into his arms with a pointed hint.

"Not even married and you are already nagging like a wife." Dracula tutted, yet he did as Agatha bid, dressing with a sense of casual ease that Agatha envied, knowing that whatever he put on that he would look gorgeous.

Fussing with her hair, knowing it must look like she had been fucked recently, not to mention she had probably worn off all her make-up, Agatha could only hope she didn't have streaks down her face. Watching as Agatha began to fuss with her hair, Dracula paused in his re-dressing padding across to stand behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist, pressing a kiss to the slope of her neck.

"You look beautiful."

"You have to say that, I might be pregnant with your child."

"Hmmm we can only hope." Dracula grinned, nipping playfully at her skin, before pulling away and pulling on his shirt. It probably was time to come down to earth, they would be landing in Rome within the hour, and once there the holiday was over.

-/-

"Mycroft, we do have to stop meeting like this. Did you miss me that much?"

It was a measure of how familiar the two of them had gotten, that Mycroft didn't feel the need to feign a smile at the Count's attempt at humour. He did however give the Count a nod of welcome, before turning an approving gaze to Agatha and her elegant outfit. Lucy's efforts and Dracula's sense of style were clearly paying off, as Agatha looked every inch the European aristocrat. Still the look was missing one thing, luckily Mycroft had come prepared. He offered Agatha the pair of oversized Gucci sunglasses he had in his suit pocket, enjoying her look of polite exasperation, and Dracula's amused chuckle, as she put them on.

"Gorgeous." Dracula praised, as he waved his lady love into the sleek black convertible that was waiting.

"Please tell me I get to drive that." Dracula was practically salivating at the chance to get behind the wheel.

"Perhaps later Count, there are a few things I need to brief you on, and it would be easier if you weren't navigating Rome traffic whilst I did it."

Containing his disappointment with all the finesse of a five-year-old, who had just been told Christmas was cancelled, Dracula sulked until Agatha settled herself in the backseat, and patted the seat beside her. Then he was practically bounding into the car, sliding his arm along the seat and tugging Agatha in to lean against him.

Still as pleased as he was that their relationship was clearly gong from strength to strength, Mycroft needed Dracula's full attention, and having their Elder more interested in nuzzling into Agatha's neck than listening to him wouldn't cut it. As if sensing his annoyance Agatha batted his kisses away, turning her attention to Mycroft, who seemed relieved that one of his clan was capable of acting like an adult.

"Fine, what do you want Mycroft?" Dracula huffed at being denied the chance to kiss his girl through one of the most romantic cities in the world.

"I wanted to brief you before the elder meeting."

"And that couldn't have waited until tomorrow…" Dracula drawled, dragging his fingertips along the fine leather interior, feeling the power of the vibrations as the powerful car got underway.

"No, it couldn't because the meeting was moved to today, in fact it will be starting in less than an hour."

Scowling Dracula could only imagine the reasons for this sudden change, someone was up to something, and if it wasn't for Mycroft already being on the ground here, then Clan Dracula would have been on the back foot once again. Before the presentation ball, Dracula really had to find time to formally induct Mycroft into the clan.

"Someone is playing games." Honestly it was almost predictably annoying. There were times Dracula wished he could just snatch Agatha up and fly back to Romania and forget that vampire society even existed, things were easier when he thought he was the only person he had to answer to. "So, what is so pressing that couldn't wait until tomorrow?"

Passing over the documents he had prepared that summarised the two proposals, Mycroft turned his attention momentarily to Agatha, she looked different and it wasn't just the clothes. She looked more relaxed, lighter in some way, and it was a good look on her.

"What?" Agatha had caught him staring.

"You look well…" Mycroft began, knowing that he was fishing and being unable to resist doing so.

"I am well and yourself?" Agatha batted back Mycroft's leading question with one of her own.

"I would be happier if I had more time to prepare before today's council meeting." That wasn't technically a lie, Mycroft couldn't shake off the feeling they were being set up somehow, but other than moving the time of the meeting, he hadn't been able to sniff out more of a plot, and that made him nervous. There was nothing in the proposals being tabled that stank of anything other than the usual power bloc posturing. Something else had to be going on, and he hated not knowing what it was.

"I have booked you both a suite at the St Regis, I will have the driver take you there after he drops us off; the room is booked for Mr and Mrs Balaur, so I hope you still have your Romanian ID?"

Nodding Agatha was relieved that she wasn't going to be expected to hang around waiting for the meeting to finish, having heard Vlad moan about them, she knew they could be lengthy affairs, as each Elder felt the need to have their voice heard.

"Ah here we are." Mycroft elucidated, not that there was any real need, as the car came to a stop behind a black limousine that had also just pulled up in front of a gorgeous Palazzo.

"I will try and be as a quick as I can." Dracula sighed, following Mycroft far less enthusiastically out of the car. "You relax and I will be there to help you settle in soon, tomorrow will be just us I promise."

"Hmmm." Agatha doubted that but she could hardly hold it against Dracula that he had to work.

"Love you." Dracula insisted, leaning back over to press a kiss to her lips, a kiss that lingered and reminded him how much more fun he would have going to the hotel instead.

Stepping back Dracula smirked as he caught sight of just who had emerged from the limousine and was watching the show.

"Elder Pazzi such a pleasure to see you again." The Count called out, unable to resist needling the other Elder, savouring the man's irritation and the sheer loathing that was directed in the older man's dark gaze.

"Dracula." Pazzi spat the name like the curse it was, his lip curling when he saw Mycroft hovering, before his foreboding stare looked past them both and settled on Agatha and then he smirked.

Never in her life or death had anyone looked at her like that, and it caused Agatha to shiver despite the warmth of the sunlight.

"Watch out for him." Agatha insisted, worried when Dracula merely waved it off like it was nothing, perhaps he was so used to being hated that it no longer bothered him, but Agatha couldn't.

There was something so menacing about that man's gaze, suddenly the presentation ball and all its associated risk, no longer felt like the only thing that could ruin this trip; Elder Pazzi was out for blood and Agatha only wished Dracula would take that seriously.

-/-

The feeling that hadn't really gone away since dropping off Dracula and Mycroft, returned in force the moment Agatha set foot in the ornate marble lobby. Only now it was accompanied by the feeling of being watched, which only grew stronger, and it wasn't the polite professional interest of the bellboy as he took her luggage out of the car. Instead of following him straight up to the check in desk, Agatha tried to work out what was causing her skin to crawl. Casting her gaze around the room, she could make out wealthy business men and women having a post or pre meeting coffee, wealthy travellers on their way or way back from sightseeing, and there near the corner, with a large buffer empty of mortals was a fellow vampire…and he was watching her…and not in good way…and he wasn't alone…there were at least another one…no two more…

Making her way up to the check in desk, Agatha went through checking in on auto pilot, producing her ID and credit card and signing everything that was placed in front of her, only remembering at the last minute not to write Van Helsing but Balaur instead. As the mortal behind the check in desk rattled on, Agatha centred herself, blocking out all the steady thrums of the mortal's heartbeats, and concentrated on the only presences in the room that lacked that vivacity.

One was moving closer now, Agatha could almost see him in her mind as a black misty figure winding his way through the thumping red mortals, the other two stayed in place, one near the main entrance clearly there to block off that exit and the other hovering near the lifts. He was almost right behind her, close enough that Agatha could almost sense his glee and anticipation, when Agatha forced herself to turn.

Clearly, he hadn't been expecting her to sense him, if it wasn't for the distinct aura of menace coming from him Agatha might have found his surprise amusing. As it was, she only had one move to play and that was to keep surprising them.

"Paolo." Agatha gushed, astonishing the dark-haired vampire who actually took a step back as Agatha smiled and rushed towards him, channelling the most ditsy version of a socialite she could imagine. Monsieur's lessons were good for something.

"What a wonderful surprise to see you here, are you here to see Vlad? Why don't we sit and catch up whilst we wait for him to turn up?" Agatha paused turning back to the receptionist, swiping her key and placing it firmly in her purse, before grasping her stalker firmly by the wrist and pushing him over to the nearest cluster of chairs.

"What the fuck are you doing lady?"

"Not what you wanted." Agatha hissed back, her grip on his wrist tightening as she took a seat and waited politely for him to take his. "I suggest you sit before the mortals start taking an interest."

Persuaded by that at least 'Paolo' took his seat, his confidence returning, after all what could one little waif of a woman do against the three of them?

"What do you want with me? What are you doing here?" Agatha hissed, her eyes narrowing as the other vampire had the nerve to smirk at her.

"Just to talk…why don't we use that key you just got and go talk…in private."

"Such a tempting offer but forgive me if I choose to stay right here." Agatha batted back, both knowing they were at stalemate, Agatha couldn't leave without them following, and they wouldn't leave without having accomplished, whatever it was the three of them had been sent here to do.

"Who sent you to talk to me?"

Paolo didn't even answer that, his smirk only growing, and Agatha could almost feel the net about her tightening, the other two were closing in and she needed to do something…something fast…something clever…she couldn't win in a physical fight…but who said all fights had to be physical?

She already had skin to skin contact, so in some ways it was easier than expected to half push away the physical world, to find that thread of connection and follow it. At first Paolo didn't even realise she was in, too busy congratulating himself that this would be an even easier mark than promised…and a prettier one too.

Agatha had to resist the urge to recoil and reveal her presence lingering in his mind as Paolo imagined all the things, he was going to do to her, before he carried out his instructions to dismember and stake her, leaving her pretty little head on the pillow for her lover to find. Something he and his little band of hired killers were quite famous for, and Agatha felt her rage grow as she found flickers of other lives extinguished in this manner. The screams of countless mortal girls over the last two hundred years who had been ripped apart by this monster.

Well no longer. It was time Paolo experienced what it was to feel fear, to have no control and to suffer. Reaching back into her own experiences Agatha selected the most physically painful, a cold-blooded killer wouldn't respond to emotional pain, but having to relive the memory of drowning to death. Agatha opened up that box and before Paolo could react, she was forcing his consciousness into it.

On the outside world, Agatha watched as the vampire before her suddenly gasped, his throat working and yet there was no air to be had, she watched as he began to shudder as he felt the icy salt water fill up his mouth and throat, trying to stop himself from taking a breath for as long as he could, only to eventually fail. She watched as he began to fit, flailing around as if trying to claw himself back to the surface only to be weighed down, the darkness closing over him.

"Is there a doctor in the house?" Agatha called out to the now panicking mortals. Playing her part of concerned bystander.

Retaining her grip on his hand, as they rushed around the fitting vampire like worried little bees around a hive. Leaving the mortals to try and frantically provide first aid to a dead man, Agatha returned to her justice. She relished the sense of righteousness from watching Paolo feel his lungs burn as the sea water fill them, feel his imaginary heart pounding with adrenaline that simply pushed the toxic carbon dioxide further around his body.

Who sent you? Tell me and I will make it stop, Agatha promised, accepting the rather garbled image of a familiar older looking Italian gentleman and finally the gasped name…Pazzi. So that was what the old man was smirking about, he had set this all up, probably even had the Elder meeting moved so that Agatha would be alone and vulnerable in a new place without Dracula's protection, or at least so he thought. Elder Pazzi's experience of women was clearly limited to his own family, and Agatha doubted Isabella would present much of a challenge for hired killers.

Still she was as good as her word, Agatha did drag the other vampire out of her memory, but she wasn't finished with him yet. No, those victims deserved justice and she was going to give it to them, Agatha needed to put him somewhere he couldn't ever hurt anyone ever again. Folding his consciousness up into an approximation of a broken doll, Agatha summoned up the memory of the cabin on the Demeter, an eight-foot square cell with only one candle to light the darkness. Stepping out of the cabin, she locked the door behind her.

Then she imagined the wine cellar in the castle where Dracula and she had once played chess, the Demeter shrinking around her until all that was left was a simply tiny ship in the bottle. This she placed alongside one of the many hundreds of other bottles in the racks, before wandering back up the spiral staircase and out of the main door of the castle, which she also locked behind her. Slowly coming back to herself, Agatha took great satisfaction in lastly setting ablaze those tiny tendrils that connected Paolo's physical form to his consciousness. He was now trapped, beyond even her ability to rescue him.

Back in the real-world Agatha watched as the mortal doctors did their best, telling everyone to move clear as they zapped the vampire's chest with a defibrillator, not once but twice and got no response. Eventually even the mortals gave up, the paramedics calling the time of death and covered the corpse with a sheet to prevent the other guests from gawking.

For once Agatha didn't need to feign shock, accepting the concerned gesture of the hotel staff as they helped her back up to her feet and into the nearest chair. The reality of what she had just done finally crashing down on her, but it wasn't the cruelty, or the efficiency of what she had done, that really affected her, it was the rush of power that came with it.

Lifting her head, she sought out the other two lingering vampire presences in the room, they had frozen during this whole scene, and they were still frozen, only this time in fear and not disbelief. Agatha could almost taste their fear in the air, and she considered what it must have looked like for an outsider. For all intents and purposes, she had just killed a vampire, turned an undead killer into a corpse, right in front of their eyes and she had done it all with nothing more than a simple touch. Even if she knew the truth, they didn't, and they were terrified.

What did that make her now?

Agatha watched as they slunk out of the hotel lobby, not sure where they were going or what they were going to say when they got there. Agatha felt an urgent longing for home. Yet for her home was no longer a specific place, it was a person. She wanted Dracula here, she wanted his arms around her, reassuring her that she had done the right thing and that they would figure this out between them.

-/-