-/-

Dracula had tried saying no…he had tried…but it was very hard to see the hope in Agatha's eyes and to deliberately squash it. So, he had muttered some half-hearted argument about if she could get Isabella to agree, then he would consider it.

That was akin to giving his blessing, or at least it seemed to be in Agatha's eyes, as the next moment she was pressing a kiss to his lips, before pulling away, babbling about finding Isabella and getting her to agree.

"Sir I know you don't want to hear it…" Mycroft finally interjected, the silence that had descended after Agatha all but run off on her quest.

"Oh, I imagine I already know what you are going to say Mycroft." Dracula sighed, running his hand over his face, taking a moment to wipe away the smudge of stickiness from Agatha's lipstick.

"It would have been more sensible to refuse completely rather than let Agatha raise her hopes…Although I will admit the legalities are somewhat conflicting and her loophole might just work; what is certain is that adopting Isabella out from under Elder de Rais will be taken as an open declaration of war."

"A war we are already fighting." Dracula reminded him, albeit half-heartedly. "I know this is doomed to fail Mycroft, honestly I can't even see Isabella agreeing in the first place, that would require a spine of some kind."

"I shall continue to hope for the young lady's spinelessness then." Mycroft retorted, earning him a scoff of laughter from his Elder.

"Yet it would be sensible to prepare for the opposite as well. Agatha…" Mycroft trailed off somewhat unsure how to proceed and not irritate Dracula any more than he already had. "Agatha has a track record of accomplishing feats that other people would consider…unlikely."

"Yes, and it would just like my fucking luck too." Dracula nodded, his gaze narrowing on Mycroft. "But how can I know I can trust you Mycroft. Trusting you to put in contingency plans for our escape if Agatha does accomplish her task, how do I know you won't simply deliver us into de Rais's hands as a show of good faith?"

Part of Mycroft was offended, after everything he had already done in the hopes of joining Clan Dracula, still his commitment and trustworthiness was questioned. "Just because I question your decisions from time to time does not make me disloyal. Nor does the fact that I prefer a quiet life and careful planning to going from dealing from one crisis to another. Surely if I kept my opinions to myself and let you careen into danger without fair warning that would be more disloyal?"

Mycroft once again made a fine point, but Dracula was torn, this wasn't just his wellbeing, but it was Agatha's and Dracula was more than a little paranoid when it came to her safety. He could only imagine how much worse it would get when they did have children, would he start jumping at shadows then?

"Make plans for a quick escape, make several if possible, I just have a bad feeling that this is going to go south quickly."

"You know it would be easier to go after Agatha and stop her." Mycroft couldn't help but point out.

"You could not show more clearly that you are not married." Dracula retorted with a shake of his head. "No, we will have to roll the dice and deal with the consequences…just stay alert and stay close to Agatha. If we get separated, you are to prioritise getting her to safety over me. I have experience getting myself out of difficult situations."

Nodding Mycroft did as he was bid, his analytical mind already considering every angle, as he left the Count alone in the garden.

Things had been so close to perfect. Dracula had been certain Agatha was going to agree to marry him earlier, they could have announced their betrothal tonight like he had always wanted, then retreated to his castle to wait out the situation with de Rais. This cold war between them could go on for some time without the need to break into actual fighting. Yet it seemed fate hated him. Still it wasn't in his nature to get hung up on what might have been, and there would be another perfect moment to continue his proposal, he just had to make sure they survived long enough to reach it.

-/-

"I cannot think you have anything to say to me, much less anything I want to hear!"

If Isabella had been surprised when Agatha Van Helsing interrupted her piano practice session in the debutants retiring room, and all but dragged her into a dark corner away from the other debutants, well she had been raised too much of the perfectly lady to show it. Of course, even that training couldn't survive Agatha's bombshell.

"I know about the betrothal."

"How…how can you know…you're bluffing." Isabella all but spluttered, her grey eyes looking around fearfully.

"He told me himself." Agatha retorted, and they both know just who the unspoken 'he' was. "Isabella, I know you cannot want to go through with it."

"Oh, you know do you, because you know me so well?" Isabella tried her best to keep up a good front, but in Agatha's mind it was undermined by the wobble of her chin. "Besides its not like what I want matters, it is what is best for my clan…my intended is a powerful man, he will be able to step in and manage the clan…and it is what my father always wanted for me, to marry an Elder." She added with a little more bite and a pointed glare in Agatha's direction.

They both knew just which Elder her father had originally had in mind, as being the first wife of an Elder came with a much higher status than simply being one of his brides…or concubines…as they were called in less polite society. For a natural born child, it was all but unheard of to accept such a position; Isabella should be out in the throngs of the ballroom right now, all the eligible young vampires of the clans fighting duels for her hand. Instead she had been bartered off to the vampire who all but owned their clan thanks to the nefarious scheming of de Rais and her father's scandalous sudden 'death'.

"Don't you think I know; I know this is partly my fault." Agatha confessed, her stomach twisting with guilt as her conscience reminded her that it was far more than partly her fault. "That's why I am here, to offer you a way out."

"You?!" Isabella practically barked, before realising they were drawing attention, and lowering her voice. "What can you do to help me? Haven't you done enough, unless you are going to give me back what you stole from me?"

"Dracula is his own person and not mine to barter away, and I'll be honest I wouldn't give him up even if I had that power…I love him…"

"How nice to have the luxury of love." Isabella scoffed, pulling away from Agatha and returning to the piano, taking her seat and running her fingers lightly over the keys, the faultless scales putting Agatha's own talents to shame.

"Don't you want the same opportunity?" Agatha hissed as she took the remaining space on the piano bench. "That is what I am offering, the chance to choose your own husband, or not take one entirely if that is your choice."

"Now I know you are delusional. No one can make an offer like that."

"I can…we can…Clan Dracula can." Agatha insisted. "We can bring you into our clan…"

"Oh, so you can marry me off to suit your interests instead, so you can take over my family? How would that be better than the offer I already have?"

"Because we wouldn't, Dracula wouldn't, we have a clan understanding…its not known by anyone outside of the clan because, well because no one would understand, and it would harm our position. But Count Dracula has signed an agreement guaranteeing all members the right to choose their own spouse. We could bring you in by adopting you. That way rather than your clan going to your husband it would go to the eldest remaining member of Clan Pazi instead, your Clan could rebuild itself and you would be safe from that monster…because he is a monster Isabella, he's not what he pretends to be, you have to know that…"

Her hands pausing above the keys trembled a little before Isabella clenched them together in her lap, her face downturned as she whispered... "I know…I heard him threatening my mother into the betrothal agreement, I wasn't supposed to be listening in, Mother had sent me from the room…Its not like I would choose to marry him…"

"Then don't, we can adopt you tonight whilst no one is looking, and we can be away from here before he even notices you are missing." Agatha pleaded, knowing this was the last chance she would have to reach Isabella and convince her.

For a long moment the offer hung between them, the sudden chatter of their fellow debutants as their coordinator returned to the room and began to issue instructions as to who was performing in what order. The window they had to slip away unnoticed was closing and they both knew it.

"Alright."

Isabella gave her consent in such a quiet voice that Agatha was almost convinced she had imagined it, that her hopes had gotten the better of her.

"Really, you mean it?"

"Yes…yes…but we need to go now…I am not sure I would be able to defy mother or Baron de Rais if they were to catch us…"

Beaming Agatha grasped her hand tightly, tugging Isabella from the piano seat, on the surface they took their place in the line of debutants, but when the ladies began to head back in the direction of the painted hall, the pair peeled off and headed out towards the gardens, the scent of night blooming jasmine growing stronger as they made it to the door.

"Now where could the two of you be heading in such a hurry?"

For a moment Agatha wanted to keep running, to take their chances of being out run Giles de Rais and his lackies that had appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Yet there was a knowing glint in his eye that almost begged Agatha to try it, to give him the excuse to hunt them down, after all accidents happened all the time.

"Just getting some air before the debutants began to exhibit…I was feeling a little sick from the nerves and Isabella was good enough to accompany me." Agatha grasped for the first lie she could think of, one that had not convinced her audience in the slightest, but it was a reasonable excuse.

"Well I am sure you could manage to find the gardens on your own, without my intended, Ms Van Helsing; rumour has it you have already found them once this evening." Giles taunted as he stepped closer, his hand closing around Isabella's arm with a steel like grip, not caring to ease it even as Isabella whimpered slightly.

"Although considering who might be lurking about out there, perhaps it would be better if you came back inside with us; I wouldn't want anything untoward to happen to such a delicate flower. Why I imagine your Elder would be most cross to hear you were out and about without the proper escort? Jacques lend Ms Van Helsing your arm."

"I am quite capable..."

"Oh, but I do insist. Isabella wouldn't want you to miss the announcement of our betrothal after all, since you are both such close friends."

Agatha's escort was more akin to a minder, his hulking form leaving her in no doubt that he could break her arm with little effort on his part, and Agatha wasn't sure how he would react if she refused; rational thinking didn't appear to be his forte.

It felt more like a funeral procession re-entering the painted hall, so at odds with the triumphant way Agatha had entered on Vlad's arm only a few hours before. Doing her best to appear serene, Agatha reached out mentally for her lover, he had clearly already picked up on her agitation, as the moment she made contact she almost caught her breath at the way he sank his mental claws in. Dracula had no intention of letting her go anytime soon.

The question was hazy, hardly formed in words as such, but the intent was clear, Dracula wanted to know where she was. Concentrating on the visual of the main hall, Agatha did her best to push the image to him, feeling the sense of relief from Dracula wash over her, along with the sudden sense that he was on his way…in a hurry.

And he was close, if the muttered exclamations of ruffled vampires were anything to go by, Count Dracula pushing his way through the crush without any care for the niceties. When he caught sight of Agatha in another's grip, his face warped unpleasantly, and he cut straight across the dancefloor, causing the dancing couples to jump out of his way, all but growling as he prised Agatha from Jacques grip.

"Are you alright?" Even as he asked the question Dracula's gaze was checking her over from head to toe, relief flooding his features when Agatha still appeared as immaculately put together as she had been when she left.

"I'm fine but we have to do something Vlad; Isabella agreed… we were on our way out to find you when he found us, I don't know what or who tipped him off, but it was like he knew exactly what was going on…You don't think…no he couldn't…could he?"

"You mean Mycroft?" Dracula growled, casting his eyes around the ballroom and finding the slippery vampire conveniently missing.

It made too much sense, and yet Dracula couldn't help but feel surprised in some way, he had genuinely believed the younger vampire, would remain loyal. But Agatha was right someone had to have tipped Giles off, and Mycroft was the only one else who knew, and the only one who would have had the time to find Baron de Rais and tell him of their plans.

"We have to do something, we can't leave her to that monster, not after raising her hopes."

She meant he had to do something; Dracula could tell that from the way Agatha was gazing up at him like he could miraculously pull of a trick to save them all.

"Beloved…" Dracula sighed, reaching up to stroke her face. He hated having to disappoint her, but there were somethings even he couldn't fix and when it came down to making a choice between risking his neck for Isabella or protecting his family, well there was no choice. "I'm sorry but sometimes you cannot save everyone."

"I don't accept that…I won't!" Agatha argued hotly, disappointment curdling with anger in her stomach that Dracula wouldn't even try; had he even wanted to try and save Isabella at all, or had he just been going along with her plan to keep her from getting angry with him?

"There must be something I can do." The fear of failure gnawed at Agatha, as she watched Giles drag a silent and compliant Isabella into the middle of the floor and call for everyone attention.

Looking around the room, she could see them all, the great and the good of the so-called vampire race. Cruel and self-interested that was all their so-called superiority was, all them of them prepared to crawl over the vampire next to them if it meant advancement. It took a certain level of arrogant self interest to even survive as a vampire, yet they had ingrained it into a way of life, celebrating that selfishness. Well not her, she was not like them, she never had been.

Agatha felt her feet take her forwards, Giles's mocking gaze provoking her, mocking her with his certain victory.

"My friends I have glad tidings to announce…"

"Giles de Rais!" Agatha's voice cut through the quietened crowd, who turned as one to crane their necks at her, at this impudent fool who had the nerve to interrupt an Elder.

"Agatha what are you doing get back here." Dracula hissed, his hand closing about her elbow as if he could compel her back into the safety and anonymity of the crowd. Yet Agatha was an immoveable object, her chin raised in haughty contempt as she stared down Baron de Rais, knowing in her heart she had to do this, she wouldn't be able to live with herself otherwise.

"I Agatha Van Helsing challenge you to an honour duel for the withdrawal of any claim you have on Isabella de Pazi."

-/-