Thank you so much for all the great reviews!!
Disclaimers apply as in chapter 1.
Additional disclaimers: There is a lot of stuff here on the origin of Alea, gypsies, magic and about vampires in general. Some vampire lore (which is in any case a little iffy) has also been changed. These are my ideas and I make no claim that it's real or true. It's needed for the plot and is in no way meant to offend those that know more than me about this stuff. Thanks.
Note: Rating is going way up.
Chapter 2:
Alexander had wanted a child for a long time, someone of his own blood who would have the same goals as him, but also free will. Someone who would stand by him, help him, love him, someone he could love in return, without having to look over his shoulder all the time. Humans are too fragile and shallow in their beliefs, his own creations have no will of their own and others would kill him for his power. Only a child would be bound enough and free enough for a companion. He set out on his quest.
Vampire blood is very powerful and the ancients were said to be able to pass on their knowledge in their blood. Over the millennia, the blood had become so diluted and weak that this became almost impossible. Alexander was made by one of the most powerful and oldest vampires of the time, but even he had almost no passed on memories. He did know a lot about the nature of vampire blood though. He knew that no woman would fall pregnant by him by human ways, but a vampire's essence was carried in his blood. It took him almost 200 years, endless reading and experimenting, but at last he knew what to do. He picked a gypsy woman, powerful in the magical arts and started to seduce her. It was difficult, he had to hide his nature to her and her people, but after months of slipping her potions and weaving spells on her, she was ready and her caravan accepted him as her husband. On their wedding night, as she started to fall asleep, he gave her the last potion. The potion's main purpose was to protect his blood inside her. The child would be conceived when his blood and hers mingled.
Everyone was so happy when the little girl was born. She had the blue eyes and blond hair of her father, but her mother's darker skin. Everyone was happy, except the wife of the leader of the caravan. She was old, and had seen many strange things. She did not trust him.
That night, Alexander took his daughter and left the tent, but as he was about to change and fly away, he sensed the old woman nearby. He knew of her mistrust in him and was weary of her. He was weak after so many months in the guise of a human and only wanted to get away to a safe place to feed.
"Where are you going with the little one, demon?"
She was walking on very thin ice, so thin it might as well not be there: such an accusation, if proven to be false, could cost her life. But she was sure, she had seen the demon in the eyes of the baby and it's father and felt its power. She had to stop it, somehow.
Alexander turned to the old woman. She took a step back, the change in him was startling. He was no longer the loving and kind young man that helped them hunt and repair the tents, that was not the smile of the man that laughed and danced around the fire with them.
"Leave us be and I promise to let your people live." His voice was cold and commanding, the voice of a prince. She was terrified, but she had her duty. This demon had to be stopped.
He watched her as she pulled something out of the folds of her skirts. So she had chosen death. He was tired enough to have kept his promise, but now the challenge was given and he had to accept. Alexander placed the bundle in the crook of a nearby tree and faced her.
She was terrified, never had she faced a demon so powerful before. She lifted the pendent into the air. He took a step back, the psychic light of its energy was nearly blinding. //Maybe this wasn't such a good idea, he mused//. As the old woman got closer, the light got brighter and his strength less. Suddenly the baby in the tree cried out and the pendent shattered. In an instant the old woman was dead in his hands, but now the others were awake. He took his child into his arms and with a wave of his hand the smouldering campfire moved with frightening speed onto everything that could burn. Almost immediately he could hear the screams. He turned and left the mortals to their fate.
As Alea grew up, she studied the power she had within herself. She had the ability to change the form of reality around her. All powerful vampires could do that to a certain degree. It's been called magic, but it was only a branch of science that most humans hadn't acknowledged yet.
A vampire is influenced by its master's personality, but she was a vampire with no master. She had a form of freedom unheard of. Every vampire is imprinted with an image of its master when it's brought across, but she had free will, like a human.
This exasperated Alexander many times. She would do whatever she liked and he could do little to control her. But then he looked into her eyes to see the unconditional love there, love he didn't imprint on her. She loved him for himself and not because he told her to. With the strength that realisation gave him, he set out to take over the world. Many times he wanted to give up, just go back to hunting and revelling in the blood like the others do, only to feel her hands in his and hear her comforting words. He became one of the most powerful people in the world, amongst humans and vampires alike.
Her control of magic was great, much greater than most of the powerful vampires in memory. One of the assets Alea had from having such powerful magic under her control was that the power of religious objects were not so incapacitating to her as to others of her kind. It became routine for her and Alexander to hunt together. She would protect them from any harmful objects and he would provide the speed and strength - he was, after all, centuries older than she was.
As Alexander's empire grew, he started to look outwards to the Americas. He realised that he had a problem. He couldn't leave Europe to stake out (ha, ha) the possibilities in America. It could take years. No empire can survive long without its ruler. At last it was decided that Alea would go.
It was not surprising that most of the spending in the USA was done by teenagers. Alea's physical age seemed to be 17 or 18, the perfect age to be accepted into the youth of the country. Rich, young and beautiful, the perfect spy had been gone for almost 20 years.
She was in her dorm, packing for home, when Alexander called. He had a brilliant idea to get her into the house and heart of a great enemy.
Warnings: Incest, murder, terrible accents (no offence to anyone from California and/or Hill Valley. No clue where that is anyway, just sounded good in a TV show).
Note1: Klaus is sane (maybe a little strange) and stays that way.
Note2: Names will fluctuate (eg. Helsing/Gustav) depending on the character POV.
Chapter 3:
When Alea woke up, she was still tired. That cross was powerful, even more so than when she was last here, many years ago. Back then Helsing was the only one that believed, his son had no interest in it. Klaus couldn't care less about the feud between his father and Alexander. Helsing had been recruiting the children into his quest and told them about the power of the cross. Their belief was making it even more powerful.
She yawned and stretched. It was still light outside and she could actually see the castle in the distance. Trust Helsing to have his enemy in sight. As she walked down the stairs, she heard them talking about her. Hiding around the corner, she listened.
"According to this, there really was an A. Knight enrolled one of the local high schools in LA. Here's a picture of the senior year, look there she is", said Max, tapping the screen of his laptop.
"Well, I think she's just a normal girl that got the bad luck to be noticed by Lucard. There's nothing dangerous about her." Sophy crossed her arms, "At least now we can save her."
"Yeah, now that she's all grown up, he could do stuff to her", said Max.
Chris choked on his soda as his brother said this. "Ahh, get these images out of my head!" he yelled, "I did so not need to have that mental picture of him."
"What?", said Max, totally oblivious.
"Maybe later, Max", said his uncle, dreading the day that he would have to have that talk.
Alea snickered, oh, yes, he's done all kinds of things. Vampires are sensual creatures and the hierarchy of a traditional family means little to them. A father can be a brother, a son and a lover. It doesn't really matter. Forever is a very long time to care about things like that.
"I'm still a little suspicious that she would come with us and not try the office again", said Gustav, scratching his beard.
"Maybe she just wants to be around people her own age and stuff in stead of stuck in a drafty castle all alone", said Chris.
"Yeah, she is practically American anyway. We'd be like a foster family to her."
Gustav smiled at Max. "Maybe you're right."
Alea took this as a sign to make her presence known. "Hello, everyone."
Everyone jumped and Max slammed shut the screen of the laptop.
"Hi, there", said Sophy, "Feeling better?"
"Much, thank you."
"Like a soda?", asked Chris, holding up his own, empty, can.
"Yes, please", she answered as she sat down next to him.
Chris blushed as he left to the kitchen.
"This is a very nice house."
"It's been in the family for generations." He gave her a calculating look, that she totally missed since she was watching Max reboot the laptop rather than letting her see what was on it.
"Do you like the view?"
She looked out the window, "Actually, yes. It's nice to see the castle again after so long."
"What do you remember about it?" asked Sophy.
"Not much, except that it was huge. I used to get lost a lot, but Alexander always found me."
"Why do you call him Alexander, and not dad or something?" asked Max.
"I sometimes call him father, but it doesn't always feel right. And he asked me to anyway, he said that we are equals and that no such formality is necessary."
Chris came back from the kitchen and gave Alea the soda.
"Thanks. Oh, look at the lights." She pointed to the castle where the outside lights were just turned on, bathing the ancient stone in an amber glow.
They were a bit squished on the couch and as Chris sat down, he almost sat on top of her. He blushed even more, but no one noticed. Alea smiled at him and he almost dropped his soda.
"Yes, very nice", said Gustav, not really wanting to be impressed. "So, who's for dinner?"
"Me! Me! Me!", the children yelled and scrambled to get the table set. Gustav had trained them well. No set table, no food. Alea was left to watch as he carried the hot oven dish to the table that had been set in record time. It was special stew night, everyone's favourite. Alea sat down at the empty space.
Dinner was fun. The brothers were thrilled to have someone who understood their jokes and Sophy was glad to have another girl to talk to. Gustav felt a little left out, but it gave him a chance to watch the girl. She looked so familiar, yet he just couldn't place her.
She was aware that the old man was watching her, but she didn't really care. Years of blending in had given her confidence in her abilities.
When it came time for desert, nothing was left in the oven dish. Sophy brought in a plate with a huge chocolate cake on it.
"I made it myself", she said proudly.
Alea was thrilled, she had a weakness for chocolate, something that Alexander always teased her about. She didn't care, 'any chocolate, my chocolate' was her motto. After they pigged out and hardly anything was left of the cake, and the washing up was done (don't be silly, you're the guest here, go sit down) they settled in the sitting room. It was full dark out and Alea longed to be outside.
"What are you going to do, now that you're finished with school?"
She shrugged, "I don't really know. Alexander said that we'll talk about it, but I shouldn't feel pressured to make a decision. I want to see the world first before I settle myself to do anything."
They were squished on the couch again in front of the TV.
Max said, "Shush guys, it's starting."
They were watching some sort of horrible comedy/sitcom thing and Alea amused herself by reading the names of the books the old man had on the shelf in the corner of the room. He had quite a collection and most of them contained useful spells. One of them caught her eye. It was old and quite rare. Without even realising it, she got up and took the book off the shelf. The others were watching her, but this was more important. This was one of the books that she only had a partial copy of, and by the looks of it, this one was complete - and original to boot. She sat down on the floor and started paging through it. After a while she started to become aware of the rest of the room. Oh, dear, how's she going to explain this. She had opened the book with an unlocking spell, one that he obviously knew, looking at all the other, open, books on his table. Oh, well, they say ignorance is bliss.
"What?" she said, looking around confused.
"How did you do that?" Max pointed to the book, "How did you open it?"
Gustav got up, "Where did you learn to do that?" He looked very angry and a little afraid.
Alea shrugged, "A friend of mine from school, she's into magic and stuff. She taught me the proper words and things."
She glanced down at the book, she was disgusted with it. There was nothing new in it, she already had it all as bits and pieces. Damn, they were just starting to trust her.
"Um, sorry, I hope you guys are ok with it."
"You really know magic?" asked Max excitedly. He loved magic.
"Very little, but it's not hard to do."
Gustav looked at her, he wasn't sure he should believe her, but this could also be a very good reason for Lucard to take an interest in her. He could practically feel the spell as she opened the book. It took him years to learn that. Someone with so much raw power, even if untrained, can be very dangerous if under Lucard's control.
"So, my friend found out and she helped me a lot, you know", Alea continued, her Californian accent becoming even more pronounced. "And, like, it was so cool, she had all these books and stuff, and when I saw these I couldn't help myself, and…" She looked around, sheepishly, "Sorry, rambling a bit there."
"Come on, show us something!" urged Max.
"You guys are ok with this?"
Gustav had sat down during the word flood and nodded. He believed that Lucard was after her because of her natural ability, and that she was not enthralled to him. The book had a large cross on it and anyone under Lucard's control would have been seriously burned.
"Come on!" said Max again.
Alea looked around and snapped her fingers. All the candles in the room flared into life.
Cooool!
"I can't really do much, I've only really been doing, like, real spells for a year or so. Before stuff just happened whenever and not always when I wanted them to."
It looked like they were buying it. Boy, that was close. Focus, Alea, focus. No matter how nice they are, they are still the enemy, or rather, the old man is. This was, of course, a great reason for Alexander to want to 'corrupt' her.
They talked about magic in general and Alea was careful not to be too obvious about how much she knew.
At last everyone went to bed, but because of jetlag, she was still awake. After a while, she went downstairs and got herself a glass of water. The castle was still lit and the view was beautiful. She settled down at the window. The only problem with the plan was that she would have to be away from Alexander and Klaus for even longer. She giggled, it was nice to have a brother too. Taking a sip of water, she thought about Klaus. Gorgeous, beautiful, talentful (giggle) and smart. He was so unlike his father, no wonder the old man was angry that the boy chose Alexander and her over him. Only when he had lost his son did Helsing try to be a father. It was, of course, impossible to undo years of inattentiveness and neglect. Why would he go back when the horrible, bloodsucking demons from hell were more of a family to him than his own father. In a way it was sad, actually. Oh, well, Helsing's loss is everyone else's gain. She missed Klaus.
She smiled as she remembered the first time they met. He was young, barely 15, but even then he was handsome.
His father had dragged him along on one of his hunts. As Helsing went off somewhere, he had become lost inside the huge castle. Klaus knew his father wouldn't notice that he was gone until after the whole act was over: the standoff, the calling of names, the threats, and the bluffs until Alexander got bored and left. That usually took a while, so he was stuck here. He wandered around until he got to a part of the castle that looked inhabited. He opened a door at random to discover a huge room. The only light was from a fire on the far side. It looked to Klaus like a picture in one of the books his father had on the Middle East. Silk was everywhere and it took him a while to find the bed. With a start he realised that there was someone in it and even as he noticed this, the figure started to move. He was frozen on the spot. Terrified, he watched as the person, a girl, sat up. She had long blond hair. For a moment she watched the fire and then turned to him. He could barely breath: she was gorgeous.
"Are you lost?" she smiled kindly.
That was precisely the very last thing he would have expected her to say. Vampires were supposed to be horrible, bloodsucking demons from hell, not nice girls being helpful to strangers in their rooms. The girl got up with a grace that wasn't possibly human, and with her silk dress swishing on the ground, she walked towards him.
"Come", she said, holding out her hand, "let's go find your father." Her hand felt like silk, soft and surprisingly warm. They walked for a while, hand in hand, each of them watching the other out of the corner of their eyes. At last they came to the front hall and Klaus turned to her.
"Thank you and I'm sorry."
"Why?"
"For my father. I will try and stop him from coming here."
"Don't bother", said Alexander as he appeared from a dark doorway, "your father is so lost in the war in his mind that nothing can change him."
Klaus was entranced with the beautiful, powerful beings he saw before him.
"We must go now, your father is looking for you." The girl kissed him softly, the touch of her lips sending a shiver down his spine. "Come back whenever you want," and before his eyes they disappeared into what looked like fairy dust.
Just then his father ran into the hall. "There you are!" he yelled. "Come on, we have to go."
He turned and walked out the door, without even sparing a thought to see if his son was alright. That day Klaus stopped trusting his father.
As they watched the two mortals leave the castle from a balcony, Alexander turned to his daughter, "You like him, don't you?"
"He is beautiful, kind and polite", She glanced at him, "and you like him too," she challenged.
"I've been watching him for a while. He has great potential."
"How was the 'hunt'?" Alea asked, twirling her fingers through his hair. "Does he really think these 'hunts' of his are of any use?"
Alexander smiled at that, "Yes, he is quite entertaining, isn't he?" They laughed as they went inside hand in hand.
(AN: Listening to Alice Cooper: Poison - great love song. Go get it!)
Even before Klaus was brought across, he was brilliant with numbers. He could really make money talk and walk. Usually it walked towards him. He made making money a game. He would throw millions around like marbles and he always won.
A movement in the woods dragged her out of her thoughts. Two figures were standing there, watching her. She held out her hand, but one of them shook his head. Looking up, she saw why they couldn't come to her. Helsing was looking out his window, obviously looking for something, or someone. With a smile and a wave they disappeared. It was nice to know they were out there, close by. With a big yawn, she slumped off to bed.
Warnings: More terrible accents and over acting.
Chapter 4:
Alea woke up the next morning to the nauseating smell of burning grease. Human food didn't usually taste like anything, but the smell was almost always horrible (except chocolate, of course). With a groan, she dragged herself out of bed and into the bathroom. Half an hour and most of the hot water later, Alea felt strong enough to handle the day. She stumbled down the stairs, giving the cross a glare as she passed, into the sitting room where she flopped down on the couch with the others.
"Good morning!"
She glared at Max, "It's way too early for anyone sane to be so perky", she said, sipping the coffee Chris gave her.
"Not a morning person, eh?" he said with a grin, too high on sugar for anything to bother him.
"How did you sleep?" asked Gustav.
"Alright, considering that my body thinks it's sleep time now (big yawn) and I was awake most of the night."
"What did you do?" asked Sophy.
"Watched the castle", Alea said.
Chris choked on his corn flakes. "Why?"
"Wasn't in the mood for reading. What's on TV?"
"German cartoons", Max said, "Snore."
"Why don't we go for a walk, it's a great day outside", said Gustav.
Alea looked out the window. It looked awfully bright outside.
"Maybe I should call the office again and see if there's any news."
"Do you have to?" asked Sophy.
"Can I use your phone?" she asked, getting up and making Chris blush again.
As Alea picked up the phone, she heard someone else picking up the extension. She called the office, knowing that Alexander was waiting for the prearranged signal. After a few dozen rings, she hung up.
"Doesn't look like there's anyone there."
"Well, it is the weekend."
The rest of the day everyone just loafed around, watching TV and eating chocolate. By mid afternoon Alea was sure that the children considered her a best friend. After afternoon tea, a black BMW pulled up on the curb across the street. Gustav looked at it with suspicion. Just then two men got out and the suspicion became anger and hate.
"What's wrong, Uncle Gustav", asked Chris from the couch.
Max was closest to the window.
"Hey, look, it's Lucard!"
Alea jumped up and ran to the window.
"It's them!" she yelled and ran to the front door. Before anyone could stop her, she was outside and hugging Lucard. He looked up at the people in the house and gave them a cold smile.
"Klaus!", she hugged him too. "I've missed you so!"
He put her down, cupped her face in his hands and gave her a soul-searing kiss. Alexander stood by and glancing over at the fuming Helsing, gave him a mocking grin.
At long last the kiss was over and he had to steady her, which wasn't just for show. Alea turned to the house, only to find everyone still inside - they were too afraid to go outside.
"Hey, guys, this is my father and a friend of mine, Klaus. Come on, come and say hi."
"Yes, do come", Alexander drawled. Klaus snickered and Alea pretended not to hear.
At last Max braved the great unknown and stepped across the threshold. Nothing happened. He was still alive and they were still just standing there. He walked down the path and stood in front of Alexander.
"Hello, Maximillian."
He gulped, "Um, hi", he said.
"Hey, great, you know each other, isn't that just wonderful! Now we can, like, visit and stuff all the time."
She ran up the path and grabbed Sophy's hand. "Come on, come say hi."
At last Gustav realised that the vampires wouldn't harm them in front of their magical protégé and motioned the children to go outside. They were standing on one side of the path and the vampires on the other side, glaring at each other, Alea apparently totally oblivious.
"Where were you guys yesterday, I was waiting for ages for you to come."
Alexander smiled at her fondly. "There seemed to have been a miscommunication, but everything has been taken care of. I am sorry."
"At least I made great friends", Alea said, giving Helsing a hug.
//There! Got to love me now!//
"I'm glad", Alexander deadpanned. "Come, we should be getting back home now."
"Perhaps she can stay for another night"? asked Helsing.
//Yes! Got him.//
The two vampires looked at each other.
"Oh, please, please, they are, like, so much fun to be around and we were going to go shopping and junk." She was literally jumping up and down with excitement.
"Oh, very well", said Alexander, "go, do your shopping…"
"Yay! Thank you!" She gave him another big hug.
"We'll be back tomorrow", he said, walking back to the car.
She waved until they were around the corner and couldn't see them anymore.
"Where did she get that accent? Terrible!"
"It seems to be working, though, would you seriously consider anyone that sounds like that a threat?"
"Thank you, Uncle Gustav, for letting me stay another night, it's going to be so much fun!"
She ran into the house, leaving the shell shocked family behind.
"Well, that was weird", said Max.
Understatement of the century.
The family found the Hill Valley girl on the couch and flipping through the channels on the TV.
Gustav gathered the children together in one corner.
"We have to tell her", said Max.
"I thought I was going to die when Klaus kissed her, she's so close to death without even knowing it", said Sophy.
"Yeah, we got to help her, she's too nice to become a vampire", whispered Chris.
"She's got to be trained in magic first, so at least we have some time", said Gustav, "Talk to her, but don't be too judgmental, remember, Lucard cared for her most of her life. I don't think it'll be easy to convince her that they are dangerous."
"Especially not after that kiss", mumbled Chris. He was a little jealous, he couldn't help it. Here was this pretty girl in mortal danger and in stead of wanting to be comforted and protected, she goes off and kisses the enemy. Granted, she doesn't know he's the enemy, but still…
Gustav said that he had a headache and went upstairs to have a lie-down. He always got headaches whenever he saw Klaus.
Everyone squished onto the couch again.
"So, how do you know Klaus?" asked Sophy.
"He came around every now and then, he usually brought things from home…"
Suddenly she jumped up and ran upstairs.
"Now what?"
Just as suddenly, she was back with a cookie jar.
"He always brought me cookies."
Inside were chocolate chip cookies.
"Got to love a man that brings you chocolate."
"Do you love him?" asked Sophy a little worriedly.
"Oh, no, he's just a great guy, wonderful friend, … great kisser."
She snuggled into the couch some more (and a little into Chris as well) with a satisfied smile.