Transylvania
Episode 1: Introduction to Darkness
Part 1 of 2
AN: Alright, the system for this story goes like this: When I first envisioned this story, it was in a very episodic, almost TV style format. So that's how the story will be presented. Each chapter will be like an episode of a TV show, with it's own mini-plot and focus. However, the underlying plot is always there, and there is a specific goal for the series. It will all come together in a finale, just like a TV series.
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"Welcome to my house! Enter freely and of your own will!"
Count Vlad Dracula, Dracula
Christopher Harper was putting away his guitar when it happened.
Sprocket had played a good show, and this time, not a single soul had to go to the hospital after intense moshing. It was something of a record, and something that Chris was hoping marked a distinct change in how people moshed at Sprocket shows.
Almost as if on cue, he tossed a glance over his shoulder, intending to catch a glimpse of Vladimir Drakul. He did a double take and then spun as he saw that Drakul was arguing with Professor Gabriel Van Helsing. The two were definitely not friends, that much were certain, and this just seemed to prove that they were enemies. The argument was heated, and voices were rising each time one of them spoke. Drakul's only friends, the three odd women, were fighting on his side…all except one. The quiet one was, as usual, silent on the matter. She seemed neutral towards the whole affair, though Chris thought he saw the slightest glint of satisfaction in her eyes. By this point, the rest of the band had heard the argument and gathered around, Jack sidling up next to Chris in the process. "What happened," the nervous boy whispered, flicking his eyes from Chris back to the intensifying argument.
"Dunno," Chris replied. "I was putting Lucifer away and caught it out of the corner of my eye."
"Should someone try to break them up," Jack asked.
"Yeah," Chris replied, smirking slightly. "Security should."
"What are they arguing about," Liam whispered, joining in the conversation.
"Like hell if I know," Chris responded. "Jack, any ideas?"
"Maybe Vlad got tired of being watched," Jack offered.
"Maybe," Chris replied. "Question is, though: Why now? Van Helsing's been casing him since before we were born, so I've heard, so why should he be bothered with it now?"
"It's getting kind of intense," Rose stated. "Maybe someone should go say something." There was no question what she meant by that: Maybe Chris should go say something.
"Yeah, yeah," Chris replied with a weary smile. He started to walk towards the arguing pair, but was suddenly stopped in his tracks as Vlad lashed out and punched Van Helsing. Gabriel stumbled back, but Vlad yanked his fist away like he'd been burned. He turned on his heel then, leaving almost immediately. He tossed one brief, unreadable glance at Rose as he pushed through the doors.
"What the hell was that about," Quincey mused. Gabriel, from the place where he'd stumbled back, laughed and exited the concert hall. The three women were right behind him, though the eldest and youngest of the pair had to prod the middle one into moving. Quincey smirked and nudged Jack with his elbow. "Looks like you've got yourself a fangirl, Little Drummer Boy."
"Quincey, give it a rest," Jack sighed, trying to hide his blush behind an angry look. It didn't work, and Quincey found himself laughing. Chris had moved to the window to see whether anything was happening outside. Drakul and the three women were heading one way, while Van Helsing was headed another. "Something wrong, Chris?"
"…Nah," Chris replied, sighing slightly as he turned away from the window. "Not like it's something we haven't talked about in the past." He moved over to finish zipping up his guitar case.
"Chris, c'mon," Jessica sighed, shaking her head. "Why are you so paranoid?"
"Look, guys, I'm telling you: That guy is weird," Chris stated.
"Which one," Rose asked, smiling and wrapping her arms around Chris's left arm.
"Very funny," Chris replied, giving her an obviously fake smile. "Seriously, though: Why is Drakul so mysterious? What's he got to hide?"
"I dunno, Lois Lane," Liam responded, smirking.
"Or should we call you Agent Mulder," added Quincey. Chris flipped the pair of them off, which only made them laugh harder.
"Don't worry about it, honey," Rose said, her tone soothing. She nibbled on Chris's earlobe and Chris smiled and kissed her, all thoughts of the mysterious Vladimir Drakul shoved to the back of his mind.
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The three women walked behind Drakul, not wanting to disturb him while he was in his current state of a slow seething. Instead, the eldest of the three turned her attention to the silent woman on her left. "You were awfully quiet, Delphi."
"We've been here before, Philandra," Delphi sighed, turning and walking backwards to keep from having to look at her "sisters" or at Drakul.
"You need to loosen up, Delphi," the youngest of the three piped up, poking Delphi in the arm playfully.
"Beatrice is right," Philandra stated, "you do. I swear, all this brooding isn't good for you. Beatrice is a poser goth, Delphi…not a real one."
"Hey," Beatrice returned, sounding hurt. "I am not a poser!"
"She meant that you're not a barbarian that invaded after the fall of Rome, Beatrice," Delphi sighed, sounding both bored and disgusted.
"Oh," Beatrice responded, not finding anything else suitable to say.
"You didn't realize that," Philandra asked, amused.
"She also doesn't realize not everyone knows their ancient history," Delphi continued, bored.
"She should at least tell me what century she meant," Beatrice half grumbled, half pouted.
"You're an idiot, Beatrice," Delphi groaned. "She called you a poser, she meant you were a fucking poser."
"You're one to talk, Ms. Depression," Beatrice returned.
"Like I said: You're an idiot, Beatrice."
"All of you," Drakul snapped, "be quiet. I have to think of how to take care of that Van Helsing. He is becoming a thorn that I cannot abide." Philandra actually looked pleased, Beatrice looked exasperated, and Delphi looked disgusted.
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"You did it again," Chris sighed, as he drove Rose home in his car.
"What," Rose asked; though she thought she knew the answer.
"Brushed me off," he stated. "I swear it's like none of you even care that I'm concerned about Drakul."
"Well, to be honest, Chris…we don't," Rose sighed, knowing what would happen now.
"Nice to know my friends and girlfriend care about my opinions," Chris mumbled.
"Chris, we do care…but you're just being paranoid about this."
"I'm not being paranoid about this," Chris moaned. "He only comes out at night!"
"So what? He's a vampire?"
"Don't be ridiculous," Chris grumbled. "Vampires don't exist."
"Then what are you saying?"
"I'm saying that psycho killers do exist."
"You think Vladimir Drakul, richest guy in Transylvania, is a psycho killer?"
"He's got the money to cover up whatever he wants."
"That doesn't automatically mean he has," Rose stated, her voice firm. "Chris, you need to lighten up. Vladimir Drakul is an eccentric guy, but he's not a killer."
"I'm going over to his castle," Chris blurted.
"What," Rose exclaimed. "Wait, hold on, do you have any Q-Tips? I need to clean my ears, because I couldn't have heard you right. You think he's a psycho killer, yet you're going to voluntarily enter his turf?"
"According to you guys, I have nothing to worry about."
"Chris, you don't need to do this…."
"Sure I do. If he is a killer, I can catch him. If he isn't, I can prove it to myself, and you guys won't ever have to deal with my ranting about it anymore."
"Chris…look, I don't want to feed your psychosis any, but if he is – by some chance – a psycho killer, I don't want you to die."
"Now," Chris said, smiling, "you don't need to worry about that." He leaned over and kissed her. Suddenly, she pointed and screamed, and his head snapped up to see a woman standing in the middle of the road. Chris knew he didn't have enough time to swerve, so instead he just hit the brakes. He barely came to a halt before hitting the tall, pale skinned blonde woman. She turned and stared at him with hollow eyes for a moment before leaping up, grabbing the overpass, swinging herself onto it, and then leaping into the trees. All was silent in Chris's car for a few moments, until finally, Chris broke the silence. "What the fuck was that?!"
Given Christopher's reaction, it was doubtful that either of the pair noticed Gabriel Van Helsing standing in a pool of shadow on the overpass, sliding a crossbow into his jacket.
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Instead of going home, Christopher stayed at Rose's house that night. No one was home besides the two of them, and after cuddling and watching a movie to try and take their minds off of the rather superhuman feat they'd seen earlier, they both realized how drained they were from the show and headed to bed.
It would have been a good night of dreamless sleep for Chris had he been able to get any. Instead, he was lying awake; Rose curled up in a ball, her head resting on his bare chest, sleeping peacefully. He'd gotten a bad feeling earlier in the week, and it had just gotten progressively worse over the course of three days. "Look at me," he whispered to himself, laughing wryly. "Losing sleep because of some feeling." He closed his eyes, intending to force himself to sleep. "Maybe I really am paranoid." Sleep claimed him after several hours.
It didn't take long after those hours, though, for Chris to awaken. A cold breeze was blowing in the room, and when he was able to rouse himself enough to think clearly, he realized that he'd closed that window before going to bed. With a sigh, he gently slid out from under Rose, got up, slid a pair of fuzzy pink bunny slippers on, and moved over to close the window. "Don't close that window, boy," said a rich voice from behind him, and he spun to see Vladimir standing there, cradling Rose in his arms. "After all, I'll need some way to get out of here."
"What the hell are you – put her down!"
"I think not," Drakul stated, sighing. "Now get out of the way."
"I'm not playing," Chris growled. "Put her down. Now."
"You could not possibly fathom what it is you are trying to command, child."
"You don't put her down, I'll be commanding a freaky psycho killer rich guy with a boot up his ass."
"I would very much like you to try," Drakul stated. "On any normal occasion, I would be willing to hear a proposal as to why I should put her down, perhaps even consider it…but tonight has not been a good night. I will consider nothing. Move."
"No," Chris fumed, fists clenching. "I guess you're going to have to try and go through me."
"As before, on a normal occasion, I would not hesitate to take you up on your challenge. However," Drakul stated, pausing a moment to snap his fingers, "at the moment, I have other things I need to take care of."
"Your servants might move when you snap, but I don't," Chris stated.
"It isn't my snapping that I expect you to heed." Chris looked confused for a moment, and then he heard the distinct sound of screeching and flapping…like bats. He spun and stared, wide eyed, out the window, as flocks of bats began to descend on the window as if from nowhere. Drakul was laughing behind him, and Chris spun around, staggering towards him in shock.
"What the fuck…?"
"That is understandable," Drakul replied. "You will not get an explanation tonight." Drakul balanced Rose on one arm and used the other to backhand Chris in the chest, which sent him flying backwards and smacking into the wall on his left. Drakul smirked and strode toward the window. Chris made one last, desperate attempt to stop him by staggering forward and grabbing Drakul's neck, intending to haul him backwards.
Instead, he yanked his hand back as if it had grabbed an active oven burner. "No pulse…!" Drakul merely laughed harder and stepped out the window, merging with the flock of bats. The flock then flew away, carrying Rose on their backs, almost like a raft.
Chris ran out after the flock, looking for them in the dark for a good, long while. He had no idea where they'd disappeared to, and there was no way he could tell anyone about this. He was screwed…he'd lost her…he'd failed her. Chris loved Rose, and now some…some…he didn't know what had taken her from him. He dropped to his knees and let out a wail much like that of a banshee before hugging the only familiar artifact he had, his guitar, to his body, the thorny structures on the base cutting into his skin. He propped himself against a nearby tree to cry, to let it all out.
It was a few hours before his despair turned to rage. Gradually he lost the desire to cry and gained the desire to hit something…and the tree was the only available target. He turned himself over as best he could, slowly and shakily, and began to pound his right fist against the tree. He hugged his guitar tighter to his body with his left arm, sending the thorny structures further into his skin. His fist beat against the tree, splinters being the first of his problems. His punches got more and more furious with each strike, and gradually his knuckles were bruised and bloody. He didn't stop then, just kept going, and kept punching, imagining that he was utterly obliterating Drakul's face instead of a tree, or rather his own fist.
"Breaking your knuckles isn't going to do any good, kid," a gruff voice stated from behind him. Chris turned sharply, the thorns on his guitar scratching up his torso, to see Van Helsing standing there in front of him, sunglasses stuffed into a pocket in his coat. Deep, soulful brown eyes gazed down at Chris, and then he said "Get up."
"Leave me alone," Chris growled, wiping tears from his eyes with bloody knuckles.
"Would you want her to see you like this?"
"Rose is gone, what the hell do you know about it," Chris shrieked, and it almost looked like he was going to leap up and start punching Van Helsing.
"More than you," Gabriel stated. "Now either get up and help, or you might as well just strangle yourself with one of those strings." Without waiting for further word, Van Helsing strode off, coat billowing behind him. Chris sat there for a moment, staring dumbly at his battered knuckles, before stumbling up and following Van Helsing. "So much of 'Enter freely and of your own will'," Gabriel muttered under his breath as he walked.