No playlist this time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The landing in DC was much easier this time around than the one in the swamps of Louisiana. Dracula had been quick to leave his coffin as soon as he was able and once that was done, he had found dinner skulking around in an ally near the airport. After that he was back in the coffin on a plane to Nevada. It was going to be very late by the time they got there, and he would not be able to search for her and so he decided to use the flight to connect to her again.

As the pilot prepped for takeoff, he fell into a meditative trance and reached out for her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

He found her, his violet rose, his chosen one, awake and not paying attention as she braided the hair of a girl child. The little girl was dark haired with a Hispanic or Mediterranean tan to her skin. Ultimately, she was lovely, and Dracula had to marvel at the similarity. It took him a moment to realize that this was the little girl from one of the photos on Iola's dresser. Keeping himself concealed he settled in to listen to their talk.

"So, Ro, is dad going to be ok?" The girl asked.

Iola thought for a moment, pausing in the Dutch braid she was doing into the girl's long hair. "He is trying to be Baby Violet. He is I promise, it is simply hard for him to… be fully with the rest of us."

The little girl swallowed hard and titled her head backwards to look at Iola. "Is it because of the shadows that follow him?"

Iola froze and let the braid slip out of her fingers. "Shadows?" She put her hands on the little girl's shoulders and spun her so that they faced each other. "What kind of shadows, Violet? Violet?! What kind of shadows!?" How interesting, that shadows would make her fear.

The little girl looked terrified. "They're big and like… misshapen people! They, they always try to touch him and then he spirals again and, and they scare me Iola!"

Iola pressed her lips into a tight frown and pulled the shaking girl into her arms. "They scare me too." She took a deep breath. "Has anyone talked to you about the gifts?" She asked shakily.

The little girl shook her head against Iola's chest and the older woman sighed heavily before she pulled the girl into her lap and wrapped her arms and legs around her, as if to cage her or protect her, Dracula couldn't say. "I'll tell you, everything, all of it. You seem to have gotten it even if your brother did not," Iola said as she settled in to tell the girl about everything that their family was capable of.

The talk took maybe two hours and Iola had pulled out a small bottle of vodka, sipping on it slowly as she talked. At the end Violet, her cousin, had asked if she could learn how to make everything stop, how could she go about closing off her gift. "I don't want to see any of it," she had said.

Iola had given her a sad look. "You really can't. You could do what your dad does, or your Aunt Seren, but it only hurts you when you do that." She ran her fingers through the loose waves of the child's hair. "The gifts are not something that you can turn on and off at will, it is a permanent part of you, like…" She struggled for words. "it's like, like a lamp, I guess. You plug in a lamp and it connects to the electrical system in the house which taps into the hook ups from the electric company that takes it from what ever source they have right?" Violet shrugged not understanding how this had anything to do with being able to see the dead and other things. "Ok, so you, me, your dad, almost everyone in the family, are lamps that got plugged into an outlet to the metaphysical plane. Only thing is, we can't turn off and we can't unplug. We can dim and flicker, some of us burn out, like Aunt Marie, or Aunt Elaine, but we never really turn off."

Violet made a face, "But aren't great Aunt Marie and Great Aunt Elaine like insane?" She asked. Dracula paid close attention, having never heard anyone describe the metaphysical powers humans could tap into like this.

Iola nodded, "Yeah, and so is Aunt Sue. They went as bonkers as they did because they abused their gifts and when you abuse it, you are punished for it. Think of it like the did more than just plug in, they doused themselves in water and stuck their finger in the electrical socket."

Violet thought about it and then shrugged. "Yeah, I guess I can see it." She heaved a long-suffering sigh. "So, there is no way to make it turn off or anything?"

"Well, you can do a few things to limit what you have to deal with and help keep your family safer from everything," Iola said as she finished her small bottle. She set it on the table and leaned back against the couch. "There are ways to ward a property against things and keep them out. Or drive them out if you need to."

"Can you teach me?" The girl asked.

"Yeah," Iola said as she got up and stretched. "Come on, we can start now."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dracula pulled back into himself, not willing to intrude further though he still had many hours left to this flight. He had a feeling that, if he had stayed longer, he would have been discovered and turned returned to his body rather uncomfortably. With a deep breath he pulled himself further into himself, wondering what these Shadow People that had his Violet Rose so terrified, could really do? She was truly afraid for her cousin and knowing that these things were hanging around him had her teaching his daughter how to defend against them and other things.

How powerful was his little rose? Her little cousin? Would they truly be effective against the things that terrified them all so completely? He was not sure, but he was going to do his best to help them with it if there was anything at all that he could do about it. He hoped that he would not have to reach out to his master for aid in that though, and that he would be enough to aid Iola and her family.

Coming away from those thoughts he wondered how she would react when she and he finally met face to face? He smirked, nearly a grin really, at the thought of her screaming at him fir actually being alive and very much physically in his space. Or would she perhaps try to make him leave her home in much the same way that she had been, forcefully telling him to go until she realized that he was not a simple projection anymore? It was hard to tell, he had, ultimately, not sept enough time around her to properly understand her character and he tended to try and hide when he was around her so that he could observe her uninterrupted. Should he try to observe her more before he approached her? He made a face of disgust at the idea, not wanting to be with his little puppet anymore that he needed to be and preferring to lean her at as close a range as he could.

He was sure that it would be an explosive meeting, she was much too much of a fire cracker and he could picture spending days, moths, riling her up just to watch her spark to life and fight back. With a contented sigh, he adjusted his position and breathed deeply, choosing to simply meditate instead of trying to connect to anything. He was not expecting anything to change or to be pulled into his own mind by Peter.

He gave his former friend an annoyed look. "What could you possibly want?" He asked darkly.

The gate keeper of heaven smiled at him. "Nothing much, just wanting to let you know that your choice has been approved," he said.

Dracula crossed his arms, "And I needed the approval?"

Peter nodded, "Most certainly my friend. On the off chance that you chose wrong we would have made sure you never reached Miss Roman."

That had been about what Dracula had expected. "And?" because this could not be the only reason that Peter pulled him… here, wherever here was.

The other man smirked at him. "Good luck, Judas, we all feel that you will need it, especially with Miss Roman and her family."

The construct world around him blurred and he found himself disoriented as he was rather suddenly thrust back into his coffin. Briefly he wondered if this was payback for all that he had done when he was alive, including the few pranks he had pulled on his fellows.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ok, it has been a really long time since I have traveled internationally and I tend to sleep though the flights or get lost in books so, sorry if this is a bit of a mess and not making sense. London to Reno is something like a 31-hour trip and I really didn't know what to do with this time slot with Dracula without adding some Iola. Thanks for reading.