Author's Note: After a long hiatus, here's the new chapter. Only one more to go: so review and show the love. Forgive mistakes and love goes to Aku Maru for her inspiration. For the record, I'm not bashing Christianity or Wiccan, I'm just proving that Vlad's not big on the whole organize religion anymore…go figure.
Chapter Eleven: In Death
The room was quiet. And cold. From his place huddled against the wall it was impossible to tell the time of day, the season or even if there were such things at all. Sometime during his incarceration, Vladislaus began to believe he had died. It made some twisted sense in his own mind at least. Death was something mysterious for him, and his people. It was thick, evil and distant. Romany cared nothing for death, as the Christians seemed to. Romany only cared for their families, their Gods and their culture. But the Christians, they were obsessed with Death. Everything revolved around it: from their God's claim to freedom (they said Jesus had conquered it) to their politics and those damnable wars that ravaged the country side and threw his people into chaos. Yes, for claiming to be such a faith of peace and life they were decidedly cruel and callous.
And they were macabre. They spoke of healing blood, washing in it to remain pure and even, in some thinly veiled ceremony drinking blood. Any Romany knew that Blood was impure, unholy and cursed. That is why the color red was taboo, and why women held the power of impurity beneath their skirts. Everyone knew this.
Why was he thinking about blood?
"You know why," Purred a voice.
Vladislaus made a pathetic sound as he turned his head away from the voice. "Go away." He moaned.
It laughed; a thick pretty laugh. The laughter of someone who was secure in their victory. There was a flutter of movement in the corner, as if a bird had returned to roost, and although Dracula would play this over and over in his minds in the decades to come, he swore the movements clustered together and become flesh. It looked as if the creature had emerged from the shadows itself, as easily as one might pass through a door.
And Dracula saw her.
She was beautiful in a non-descript fashion. She was naked one moment and clothed in the next; and Dracula realized her entire was changing, shifting in and out into one lovely form or another. She was at once Intessar, lush lips curved into a seductive smile as the creature moved closer to him, then Anne with her doleful looks and healing smile. She turned into Catherine with the dark red hair graying like a tarnished ring of gold. Then, other women, faces Vladislaus had seen and bodies he had admired over his life: Muslims with their faces covered, dark-skinned Indians with unnatural bright eyes that gleamed up like polished bones, white ladies of court with dancing smiles that belied debauchery. Women of coyness and courage, of purity and perversion, of faith and apathy; she embodied them all. She was everyman's dream and nightmare; her eyes caught a man and held him fixed in her stare while those lips dripped poisonous honey.
She was creator and murderer: life and death. In her womb, she held all life, and her arms carried her children. She urged men to war, and to peace and held all that was and all that could be. She was mother and lover, combined. Divinity, and celestial in her origin, she was also joined to the world and her children.
And despite himself, Vladislaus shivered.
The being made a sound, akin to pity as she kneeled beside him, cupping her hands around his rough cheek. She smelled of rain and battlefields.
"You, my son…" She purred, lips caressing his ear. "You, my lover…are leader of men. They gave you a sword and a cause and you shook the world with it. You remade the world in your image. You remade me in your image. The Christians can't see this but you know it, you always have. Man is not made in God's image, but God is in Man's. And you have become a God, have you not my child?" Her voice dropped lower, so much so that Vladislaus had to press even closer to her to hear. "You took the ancient lands. The lands of bloody God, of their conflicting faiths and etched out your name. That is why they hate you. You are not of them, not controlled by them. You are Romany, Goddess' ruled and they will not allow this." She pulled away from him "So they mean to take your life."
Vladislaus shut his eyes, wishing to linger in her arms longer, hungry for the comfort she gave. "Are you her?" He asked softly. "Are you the Mother?"
"I have been called many names. That is one. I am what my children need me to be." Came the reply. "I am the Great Mother, and the Destroyer. I am Spring's harvest and Winter's chill. I am death and disease, life and bounty." There was a long beat. "And I am what can give you what you need now."
"What's that?"
"Revenge." Vladislaus looked up, meeting her gaze for a moment. Her body seemed to have settled on one shape now, and on one garment. She was dark haired, brown eyed and dressed in a simple brown robe that covered her simple frame. "Revenge on the family that will take your life. Revenge on the Romany who have forsaken your Goddess. Revenge on all those who have turned away from the path, and made you suffer for their hypocrisy."
He was shaking now, at the utter terror behind the woman's words. There was something in him, deep in his soul, that screaming warnings to him but how could he have known, being as he was, what this creature was. And had he known, would they have made any difference? "…And how would you do this?"
"By making you a weapon of my vengeance. Death will have no rule over you, Vlad, pain no sting. Time will be of no meaning to you…as long as you serve me."
"No." He murmured. "No, I can't…these are my people…you cannot ask me this…"
"I ask you because you are what the others cannot be!" She leaned in again, her lips caressing his. She purred again, and traced one of the paths his tears had made over his face. "Oh my beloved Gypsy." She whispered. "Your deeds have given me so much pleasure…will you not let me help you now? Don't you know the world itself is in my reach? I can give it all to you…everything you desire."
She leaned in and kissed him, deeply and passionately and hungry for comfort; Vladislaus took it. He pressed against her, longingly for her gifts while at the same time repulsed by them. He heard her voice in his head as they kissed: promising and pleading with him and then he felt it turn, into something familiar…
When he pulled away, he saw Gabriel's eyes peering back at him.
"Everything you want." Gabriel told him, but there was a malicious that danced behind the voice. A darkness that was alien to this form and caused Vladislaus to pull away in disgust.
"No." Vladislaus hissed, anger growing in his voice as he repeated the word over and over until it became a mantra. "No, no, no, no!" He shouted. He looked up, hatefully. "I will not bow to you…he will save me. He will come."
At first the creature frowned and tilted her head, as if she could not understand of whom Vladislaus spoke of and then it understood. It morphed back into the non-descript woman from before and smiled at him. "Let's see if he came to help you." She cooed, and disappeared just as the door opened.
Dracula was blinded from the light as it came flooding into the room. He felt as if he was staring into the sun itself for a moment but gradually, as he blinked away the pain and tears left from his earlier encounter, he could make of images in the shadows and faces.
He found Gabriel's face first, naturally. Then, his tired eyes saw Stelien, who kept playing with the hilt of his sword as if Dracula was about to spout wings and attack him. He saw Father Kolos and the priest thick robes before actually setting on Kolos' tight face. And lastly, he saw Catherine. Anger and strength renewed, Vladislaus made a motion towards her only to be pulled back by the irons around his wrist. He hissed quietly, and bowed his head. Waiting.
"Your father is still weak." Kolos was saying. "And has refused to past judgment on your blasphemy."
"There's a right father." Vlad muttered.
"However, the Vatican will not take such sin within her Church. To that end, you have been excommunicated."
He looked up, meeting Kolos' eyes. "Where's Intessar?" He asked.
"You have also been sentenced to hang." The Father finished as if he had not spoken at all. He stopped now only to see Vlad's reaction.
And Dracula would give him none. Without flinching, or pausing he asked again. "Where's Intessar?" Vladislaus turned as Gabriel stumbled slightly, and looked away. A low, welling pain began in his stomach and made him tremble again. He swallowed. "Gabriel…where is Tessa? Anne?"
Gabriel was refusing to meet him gaze, and the tremors that took Gabriel's body were familiar, as if he were stuck in one of his nightmares.
"Gabriel." Vladislaus whispered. "look at me."
No one else in the room mattered. They had faded away with the false Goddess. They were nothing but shadows, rats that were hidden away that no one bothered with. After along time, an eternity it seemed, Gabriel looked up and met his eyes. The man tried to speak twice but something broke his voice each time and he turned to Stelien for a moment for comfort. Vladislaus waited. He had time to wait for Gabriel. If need be, he could wait for centuries.
"They told her to renounce her God and seek redemption." Gabriel murmured. There was a wry respect there, a bitterness too. "She refused…" He turned away to study his hands. "She's dead, Vlad."
Vladislaus felt everything abandon him there, in that moment. Looking back, remembering, dreaming or screaming about it: he would remember that moment as the one that killed him. The follow-up was nothing. That had been the end. That was the moment Gods died and the world darkened. His heart did not break. He would remembered that. It simply stopped, as something that had wound its course and now had no use would. It was a quiet, painless and serene but it shook the world in its speed.
He remembered shutting his eyes in that second. Then looking up, and meeting Catherine's eyes first. She was the reason behind it all. As he stared at her, tears began to sting his eyes, and twisted his stomach. In his mind's eye, he could sense what Intessar had gone through. He knew it. Christians would not be merciful to a Moor, and they could be very cruel when they wanted to be. He could see her, alone and afraid…
This would be the last time he cried and it would be for Intessar.
"I will take the revenge you offer." He whispered quietly and he heard a woman's laughter dance behind his ears. Catherine flinched as if she heard it too. He smiled at her. A small, secret smile. He was overcome with a new feeling, a sensation he had never felt before. Serenity, matched with the complete overwhelming sense of hatred. Hatred towards life and beauty, hate of Gods and Goddesses, of friends and foes. He began to laugh, a rich redeeming laugh that made him whole and hungry. They had killed him. Now, they could not touch him. They could not hurt them.
But he could hurt them.
"You would have done better to kill me in the Armory, mother." He told Catherine. "But you faltered, and you will pay for it. Enjoy the fruits of your labor, because you shall be the only one to see them. I will come in some black night to your home. I will take your son, as I took Feodor…and I will feed on his blood."
Catherine was afraid. He could smell it on her. Kolos was shouting at him. Catherine was shouting at Kolos. Stelian was trembling from fear. And he was laughing. He could see now what they were: these people who had ruled his life, these who had commanded him and made him think and rethink his life. He saw them in their fragility, in their hypocrisy and weakness. They were nothing but food for stronger forces. Food for him. He turned to Stelian, smiling.
"The women will make charms against men, and the men will try and hunt me…but I will you pay for the wrongs you have done me. The Romany people will no longer live in peace, and as Valerious falls, so shall they. I shall make your women my brides…and one by one, I will destroy you all. I will remake this land of hypocrites and damned Gods into my world!" He shouted. "No longer will your children live in peace! What I cannot take in life, I will take in death! The night will be mine and I will take my vengeance on those who would destroy me!"
There was sharp pain that cut his words short. So deep into his rant, Vladislaus had not seen Gabriel draw his long sword nor had seen the swift, deft movement the man had made, cutting through flesh and bone. Vladislaus body twisted on instinct in a vain attempt to wrench away from the pain but found it could not. He opened his mouth to speak, but only a ragged choke escaped, as all his gall and bravado left him. His body stiffened against its will as Gabriel withdrew the blade.
"Release him!" Gabriel shouted in horror. He squatted down and took Vlad into his arms.
Dracula turned slightly, meeting his eyes. "Is this how you save me, Gadjo?" He asked quietly.
Gabriel was crying openly now. He was shaking his head and stumbling over his words as he clung tighter to his friend's weak frame. Gabriel could sense death approaching, could feel his friend's spirit leaving. "I…never wished this. Vladislaus, you can't… we can't end like this."
"End, Gabriel?" He whispered, laughing. Vlad reached up and traced the path one of Gabriel's tears had made down his face. "We do not end like this, brother." He felt darkness coming and with it, something darker. Something that made him shiver. "Love like ours surpass death…our story has just begun." His eyes began to darken as they looked into Gabriel's and Van Helsing knew that as long as he had breath in his lungs, as long as memory lasted, he would remember that look in his friend's gaze. It had been cold, but wise and almost sad in scope. Vladislaus seemed to glimpse everything that was real and terrible in those last moments.
And they were all in Gabriel's eyes.
Gabriel was only dimly aware as Kolos pulled him away from the body. He felt the hands push him further to the door, out into the fresh air and a life without Dracula. He was feeling a wealth of emotions he couldn't name or understand. There was fear, and pain, and love, and anger and others mixing and merging and burning his blood. He began to run, wrenching free of their grips and rushing towards the sunlight. He didn't stop till he was out of the dungeons and in the cool, refreshing morning air. He sank to his knees in front of the Valerious Manor and dug his hands into the deep, dark soil to grab at something that would end the spiral his mind was going through. Gabriel was so deep into his own world that when Stelian touched his shoulder, he yelped and jerked away.
Stelian looked at him and laughed. "No worries, Gabriel." The youth told him. "The long night is over. It is a new day."
Gabriel tried to look into Stelian's eyes but the sun was behind the youth and it burned Gabriel's eyes, causing him to recoil. He wanted to say something but didn't trust his voice. So instead he bowed his head and nodded slowly.
"Here." Stelian offered, reaching out his hand and depositing something into Van Helsing's palm. Gabriel waited till the boy was out of sight before looking down to see his boon.
There resting in his hand, bloodied and serene, was Vladislaus' ring.