Chapter 55: Location News
Alicia's Point of View
It has been about fifteen minutes since I had come and sat on the edge of the pool.
After the first five minutes, Zak's phone had rang, and he had been talking on it since, so I kept myself occupied by watching the others playing their volleyball game.
Billy and Diana had also arrived back from their beer run, and we're opening the cases and putting the bottles in a large cooler Zak had in the backyard.
As I was watching the other four playing their game, laughing occasionally at insults they were throwing at each other, I suddenly heard Zak's voice.
"We're going to Transylvania!" He exclaimed excitedly, as he ran toward the pool and leaped into the air, pulling his knees up to his chest and doing a cannonball into the pool near where I was sitting.
I yelped and held my arms up to block some of the water that splashed up, and then started laughing with the others.
Zak surfaced and slicked his hair back.
"Let me guess, this has something to do with Dracula?" Cheryl joked.
We all laughed, Zak included.
Little did she know, it wasn't a joke at all.
"Yep! We'll be visiting the reported birthplace of Vlad Dracula, and investigating Targoviste Castle, Hoia-Baciu Forest and Hunedoara Castle for a Halloween special! They're going to start airing Season 10 on Halloween instead," Zak explained excitedly.
I smiled to myself.
He was so adorable when he let his excitement about investigations come out.
"That's awesome bro!" Aaron said excitedly.
Billy and Jay made similar excited exclamations.
"Hang on," Cheryl said, catching the volleyball and interrupting their game. "Vlad Dracula? Are you telling me Dracula was real?!" Cheryl added.
Zak laughed.
"Not like you think. Bram Stoker's 'Dracula' is fictional, but he did name him after a real man. Vlad Dracula, or better known as Vlad the Impaler," Zak answered.
Cheryl stared at him.
"I'm going to regret asking this..but 'the Impaler'?" She asked.
Zak laughed again.
"Vlad was a prince of Wallachia in Romania during the 1400's – the Ottoman Empire – and apparently his favourite method of execution was impaling his enemies," Zak explained.
Cheryl made a disgusted face, causing us all to laugh.
"Okay, and how did this whole 'Dracula is a vampire' thing come about?" Cheryl asked.
Zak grinned, looking pleased to be able to talk about one of his favourite things.
"Vlad's father was inducted into 'The Order of the Dragon', a-" Zak started, but Cheryl spoke up.
"Hey! I know of that! They had people that were a part of that in the 'Dracula' TV show with Jonathan Rhys Meyers – really sucks that show was cancelled, he's so hot," Cheryl said.
Ashley, Diana and I all laughed, while the guys all jokingly groaned or rolled their eyes.
Zak chuckled.
"Yes…well, it was formed to protect Christianity in Eastern Europe. When his father became a member, he earned a new surname, Dracul. The name comes from the old Romanian word for dragon, 'drac', hence 'The Order of the Dragon'. Vlad came to be known as 'the son of Dracul', or, in old Romanian, Drăculea, hence Dracula," Zak explained.
He's so fascinating…
Cheryl looked stunned.
"Wow, I never knew that. So, Stoker got the name from him?" Cheryl asked.
Zak nodded.
"Yes. Because Vlad was known for impaling his victims, it was said he had a 'taste for blood'. So Stoker's fictional character of Count Dracula was inspired by Vlad's surname and his reputation. Those are really the only links between the two," Zak explained.
"Wow," Cheryl said, then looked at me. "Did you know this?" Cheryl added.
I laughed quietly.
"We've had a similar conversation before, yes," I replied.
I had known before I even met Zak that he loved Dracula, and during one of our many moments together, I had asked him about it.
I was still as fascinated by his knowledge of it now, as I had been when I had originally asked him.
"Wow, talk about weird conversation," Cheryl joked.
Zak and I laughed.
"Oh, like Aaron hasn't talked to you about 'Ghostbusters'?" Zak joked.
Aaron grinned proudły.
Cheryl hesitated before answering.
"No comment," she joked, then yelped when Aaron splashed her.
We all laughed.
"This also means," Zak started, looking at me and started to swim over. "That you and I get to play vampire," Zak grinned.
I blinked.
"Excuse me?" I asked.
Zak laughed and stopped in front of me, folding his arms across my knees and looked up at me.
"Since the investigations will make up a Halloween special, and will be the first episode aired with you in it, the network wants some promotional material for it," Zak said.
"Okay…and what does that have to do with us 'playing vampire'?" I asked.
Zak smiled.
"Since most fans know of my love for Dracula, the network decided to do a vampire themed photoshoot and video. And since I have my own custom fangs-" Zak started.
"You have your own custom fangs?!" Cheryl exclaimed.
Everyone laughed.
Zak was still laughing as he turned his head to look at her.
"Yes, I'm a member of the 'Sabretooth Vampire Clan'," Zak answered.
"What in bloody hell is that?" Cheryl asked, causing everyone to laugh again.
"It's a group, which has several thousand members, that each get fangs made by the leader, Father Sebastian. Essentially, it's a family that believe in Vampyrisim, spelt with a 'Y'. When spelled with a "Y", Vampyrism is a lifestyle and philosophy. As part of the lifestyle, we embrace and use the more positive aspects of the vampire mythology, and reject the negative aspects," Zak explained.
"…you're not about to tell me you drink blood, are you?" Cheryl questioned.
Zak laughed.
"No. The path is based on words of power, such as: mystery, love, loyalty, family, honour, romance, seduction, passion, immortality. There's others too," Zak said.
"So…vampires try to follow these 'words of power'?" Cheryl asked.
"Well...think of it like different sects of religion. There are different kinds of vampires. It's not like it's portrayed in Hollywood," Zak started.
He paused briefly before continuing.
"To me, vampires train their souls for the afterlife, train to live as immortals after their first death. It's kind of like preparing your soul for the afterlife," Zak explained.
Cheryl looked dumbfounded.
I understood why, Zak had told me all of this before as well.
I had also read about it in his second book, "I Am Haunted".
Zak chuckled at her expression.
"It's kind of hard to explain, and somewhat secretive. Just know that I don't drink blood, I can be out in the sun, and I can't turn into a bat," Zak teased.
"Which is a shame, you'd save on airfare," Aaron commented.
"Oh haha," Zak said, laughing.
Everyone else laughed as well.
"Okay, so…you get to wear fangs and I'm what? You're victim?" I asked, turning back on topic.
Zak laughed.
"Possibly, depends on the photographers ideas I suppose," Zak said.
"How come we don't get to play vampire?" Billy asked, jokingly sounding disappointed.
Everyone laughed.
"Because I'm the one that loves vampires, and Ali's the new, sexy, female investigator," Zak explained.
I felt my face flush.
Billy laughed.
"It's fine, I'm just kidding," Billy replied.
Zak looked up at me.
"So, is that okay with you?" Zak asked.
What the hell, why not? I thought.
"Sure, sounds like fun," I replied.
Zak grinned.
"If you turn my best friend into a vampire I'm going to kick your ass," Cheryl said, causing everyone to laugh.
"Duly noted," Zak joked.
"So when does this vampire play act happen?" I asked.
"Two weeks, October 10th," Zak replied.
Oh no…
"That's her birthday!" Cheryl asked.
Damn it.
Zak looked at her, stunned, before looking up at me.
"Your birthday is in two weeks and you didn't tell me?!" Zak asked, pretending to be mad.
"You didn't ask…?" I responded jokingly.
I hated my birthday.
It just added another year to my age, which was also another year of living as a "human anomaly".
Zak's eyes narrowed as he unfolded his arms and grabbed onto both my hips and lifted me up from the edge of the pool, tossing me up into the air slightly so that he could wrap his arms firmly around my thighs and under my butt.
I yelped in surprise and grabbed onto his shoulders for support.
"Zak-" I started.
As he held me up, he turned so he was facing the open area of the pool, a grin slowly appearing on his face.
I gave him a look.
"Don't even-" I started, but I was too late.
Zak lifted me higher and tossed me out into the air, away from him.
I shrieked before crashing into the water, briefly becoming fully submerged.
I slicked back some loose strands of hair from my messy bun as I surfaced, and wiped the water from my eyes.
"Damn you Bagans!" I jokingly shouted, not expecting the sudden sensation of the cool water after sitting in the sun.
Zak laughed.
"Well, now that I know, that means I get to buy you a present," Zak grinned.
"Ugh, no. My birthday is not a big deal," I said.
"Yes it is! And we're going to celebrate it!" Zak retorted.
"Parrrrty time!" Aaron yelled.
"Alright!" Ashley chimed in.
Ugh.
"No party," I grumbled.
"We're at least taking you out somewhere, so deal with it!" Cheryl said.
"What she said!" Zak smiled.
I groaned again, and then jokingly splashed water in Zak's face.
"Hey!" Zak said and I laughed. "If it was my birthday, you wouldn't ignore it, would you?" Zak added.
Damn it…
"Fine…but please don't go crazy," I said.
"Crazy is my middle name," Zak replied with a smirk on his face.
I laughed and shook my head, and then leaned back so I was floating on my back, and started kicking my feet to swim backwards, away from him.
Zak laughed as my kicking feet caused more water to splash into his face.
"Now you're in for it!" Zak exclaimed, swimming after me.
Authors Note: I hope the description I wrote about the Sabretooth Vampire Clan makes sense. I did about an hour of searching and it was hard to find a real description of what they're about, as they don't have an official website open yet.
Credit goes out to clans leader, a Father Sebastian, for a quote of his describing the group. Credit also goes out to Zak, for his talk about the Clan and his beliefs on vampires in his book.
I hope you all enjoyed this short update! Hopefully I'll be able to write more soon.