-/-

"Hmmmmmmmmm you taste…wonderful." Dracula punctuated his remark with a kiss to Agatha's shoulder blade, his hand stroking the length of her exposed spine. "Positively moreish." He added with a bite.

"Pig."

Snorting with amusement at the memory that insult provoked, Dracula ran his fingernails over her pale skin, the faint pink scratches left by his talons a pleasing contrast. "Does that make you my little truffle?"

"As pet names go that is not my favourite." Agatha's reply was muffled by her pillow, yet she arched into his touch.

"Agatha…"

"Hmmm."

Tilting his head as he studied her naked form, Dracula couldn't help but wet his lips in anticipation. "Tell me again exactly what you did…how exactly you did it."

Pausing for a moment as she considered her answer, Agatha felt a flicker of concern about just why Dracula was asking. When he had first arrived at the hotel, he had been both relieved to see her without a scratch on her and raging that Pazzi had dared to make such a move against them. Despite Agatha's reassurances that she was fine, that she had handled it, that she doubted anyone would try to harm her again, not once word got around, Dracula had been insistent that this was war. That they were going to destroy Clan Pazzi, root and stem, and he had been irritated when Agatha hadn't immediately agreed with him.

In an effort to both distract Dracula and avoid an argument over her preference for pacifism, Agatha had revealed an abbreviated version of just how she had defended herself. A tactic that worked, a little too well, as she had never seen the Count go from frustrated to horny quite so fast, and certainly not while they were both fully clothed. He had been positively feral, and Agatha wasn't certain she was recovered enough to go there again.

So, Agatha settled for teasing deflection. "I'm not sure if I should, considering how excited it got you last time I did."

"Can you blame me? I had just learnt my beloved was our Clan's secret weapon."

Sighing at his turn of phrase, Agatha forced herself to turn over, grasping Dracula's hand as it went to cup her breast. "I am a person, not a weapon Vlad."

Frowning at her reply and having his advances thwarted, Dracula stretched out beside her, rolling out the kinks in his shoulders. "You know what I mean my love, do not twist my words. I am not suggesting that we go on a murder spree of all the vampires who irritate us, but we would be fools not to use this unknown power to our advantage."

"How do you propose to do that, without putting me at risk? I don't relish the idea of being exiled for what I did, but at least I can argue I was defending myself. Also I can justify it to myself, that it was him or me, and he was a monster, he deserved the sentence I passed on him. In a full out war, innocents would be harmed, and I wouldn't…I couldn't live with that; I won't be turned into a mindless weapon by anyone or for anyone...not even you!"

"Don't you trust my judgement in the slightest?" Dracula huffed, more than a little put out by Agatha's lack of faith in him and his restraint. He was capable of restraint, he just chose not to exercise it often.

"Pazzi has to be dealt with Agatha, if we leave this situation alone then it is us that will look weak. We will encourage our enemies to take another shot at us, because they believe will not retaliate. Now is precisely the time for a targeted attack, something that will show Clan Pazzi just how outmatched they really are and send a message to any others who might challenge us."

"If you cut off the head of the hydra, another will just replace it."

"Not if you slice the all the Hydra's heads into little pieces they won't. It doesn't even need to be you that does it my darling, just tell me in detail what you did and let me take care of it." Dracula's voice was persuasion personified, yet still he could see Agatha wavering, the ties from her mortal life, her belief in the sanctity of all life hobbling her; so Dracula decided to try a different tactic.

"Next time we might not be so lucky Agatha, what if next time they wait to strike someone who cannot fight back? If they go for Lucy, Tommy or our other kin? Or worse…" Dracula paused his hand reaching out to rest lightly on her stomach, over the hope they very much wished for. "If you leave a venomous snake loose in your house, do not be surprised if it bites you. We might survive that but a child…"

"Fine you have a point…" Agatha began, cutting Dracula off when he dared to look delighted. "A small point. What exactly did you have in mind?"

Muting down his reaction to only pleased, Dracula pressed a kiss as a reward to Agatha's lips, ignoring her huff of annoyance. "Well I do have one idea but it will involve a little bit of intelligence gathering first, to ensure we only punish the guilty. If you are up for it?"

"Why do I think I am going to regret agreeing to this?"

"Because you are an intelligent woman." Dracula teased with a broad toothy grin. "Now we have to keep this just between us, we cannot even tell Mycroft; the more people who know…well I won't put you at risk for anything."

Nodding Agatha was willingly pulled into Dracula's embrace, as he whispered his plan lowly in her ear… a plan that might indeed work. There was only one flaw that was glaringly obvious to Agatha, and she couldn't believe Dracula himself hadn't spotted it. Clearly he was glossing over it in an attempt to protect her, and as much as she loved him for it, Agatha would never forgive herself if that led to Dracula's own demise.

"It will need both of us."

"No!" Dracula was horrified by the very idea. "That was the point of slipping in quietly. I could work alone…"

"And what if you are disturbed? What if you cannot do what I did? Then we will be worse off than we are now. If you are certain this is the only way, then I need to be there, and you will need to guard my back."

"And what if you cannot bring yourself to do it?" Dracula was worried about this part of the revised plan. He knew he could kill without provocation, he didn't need his blood to be hot for it, but Agatha had only killed in self-defence so far. What if it came to it, they pulled off everything this plan needed to work, and she couldn't go through with it at the last hurdle?

"I will have to, won't I? If I don't then it will be both of our lives forfeit, but we need to be sure before we go in, we need to be certain we have the ones who are a threat to our family."

The unspoken fact that Agatha couldn't harm innocents hung between them like an ominous warning, this would have to be perfectly executed, or it would the two of them facing the chop.

"And that is why we start with Pazzi." Dracula reassured her, pressing a kiss to her brow, as Agatha snuggled deeper into his embrace. "From him we can learn exactly who was involved, and our blades will strike fast and true."

-/-

"One…two…one...two…three…four."

Clenching her jaw Agatha tried her best to keep her temper. They had been at this forever and it looked like they weren't going to be finishing anytime soon. Agatha had thought Monsieur had been a demanding perfectionist, but he had nothing on the master of ceremonies for the presentation ball. He had insisted on them going over and over their entrances and still he wasn't happy. Agatha had thought when they moved on to showcasing their dancing skills that things would improve…she had been wrong.

"No…no…no…We are not clomping elephants Madam."

Narrowing her eyes as the irritating little man who was currently her dance partner, had no compunction about humiliating her publicly. Agatha knew she wasn't the best dancer, but in her defence, she was used to a partner who could at least match her stride and did not force her to adapt to his gait.

Over his shoulder Agatha could make out the sniggers of her fellow debutants. She even caught sight of Isabella smiling rather smugly. It dented her pride a little, but Agatha couldn't hold it completely against her. After all Agatha had taken home the real prize, she had Dracula's heart, so she could generously allow Isabella to feel superior in this one arena, one that mattered very little to Agatha. Still she did think Isabella was being a little petty by not even acknowledging Agatha even existed until now.

"I would hardly call my beloved an elephant sir." A familiar voice loomed out of the balcony area. "And any vampire who does will answer to me."

Rolling her eyes Agatha shouldn't have been surprised. Dracula had promised to make himself scarce, to not interfere, even if he insisted on accompanying her to rehearsal. He was meant to be catching up with Mycroft, pacifying their kin whilst keeping him in the dark about their real plans, not an easy feat with regards to Mycroft Holmes. Praying that Dracula left it there, Agatha should have known better when a moment later a dark blur dropped down to the main floor.

"Elder Dracula I…"

"And since she will be opening the evening with me, surely it is how we dance together that is important."

Dismissing the irritating little worm, Dracula approached the pair, offering his hand to Agatha, even whilst she glared up at him.

"Shall we show them my darling?"

Agatha hesitated deliberately, making him sweat a little, waiting until Dracula pouted before accepting his hand. It was much easier to fall into the correct position with him.

"You promised you wouldn't interfere."

Hurt at being chastised for merely defending her, Dracula huffed a little, plastering on the polite façade of an aristocrat as the music started once more and he started to lead her around the floor.

"If you think I will stand by while you are maligned by anyone Agatha, then you do not know me at all."

A few steps in Agatha fell into their familiar rhythm, allowing the feel of his strong arms and the reassurance of being held in them to sooth her ruffled feathers. Risking a glance up at Dracula's face, Agatha sighed as his expression remained closed off. "Vlad…"

"I am waiting for an apology."

Sighing Agatha allowed herself the indulgence of moving her hand from his broad shoulder, to thread into the hair at the back of his head. "I am sorry beloved."

His mouth twitching Dracula was amused at how difficult that appeared for her. "You are forgiven…this time."

Snorting Agatha could only shake her head at his antics, smiling up at him, the pair of them oblivious to the audience they had garnered, not only the other females on the floor, who were now staring at Agatha with open jealously, but in the balcony above.

"So sweet…It almost makes you believe in true love."

Startled by the sudden interruption, Mycroft was surprised to find his solitary perch had an unexpected interloper.

"Baron." Mycroft greeted the Elder with a polite smile, covering up his surprise with a grovelling bow of the head.

"Mycroft, Mycroft, there is no need for that, how long have we known each other?"

"Over a century Elder."

"And yet when it came time to choose a clan to align to, I was surprised at your choice." Giles de Rais added, risking a glance down at the oblivious dancing pair. "Not that I cannot understand the appeal, but you never seemed the type to let a pretty face sway you."

Choosing to remain silent rather than confirm or deny whatever theory Baron de Rais was seeking proof for, Mycroft couldn't contain the feeling that there was another shoe to drop.

"Of course, since you are on such intimate terms with the Count and his lady, perhaps you would be able to shed some light on the most interesting rumour I heard?"

Pretending to look surprised Mycroft could feel the shiver of fear run down his spine, there were many rumours the Baron could be referring to, none of which reflected well on Clan Dracula.

"About an altercation at your hotel this morning, there have been some bizarre and contradicting reports? Some very powerful people would be most grateful to you…they might even be in a position to provide you with opportunities that were previously out of your reach…" Giles dangled that carrot provocatively. "Especially if those rumours were to be confirmed, and certain details provided as to how, well I imagine the vampire that helped provide those answers could write their own ticket."

"I'm afraid I don't know what you are referring to Baron." Mycroft plastered on his most innocent and perplexed expression. "The only altercation I was aware of was an unfortunate exchange between my Elder and Elder Pazzi, not really surprising considering my Elder's choice of bride, but that is hardly worthy of your attention."

"Loyalty Mycroft is a precious and valuable thing." Baron de Rais sighed, as though disappointed but resigned. "The offer remains good until after the presentation ball. Please think about it carefully my friend, your loyalty is admirable but is it being recognised or rewarded properly? As I understand it you haven't even been inducted properly. Perhaps you would happier elsewhere, somewhere a vampire of your talents would be truly appreciated…"

-/-