Apologies for the long gap between this update and the last. Christmas and New Year happened and it was very distracting. I'm not entirely back to normal yet, but I have finally got back on the computer so I thought it was best to get this up asap.
11. Naughty Puppy.
There is no one on the path up to the castle. The dead boy is gone. Maybe I dreamt the whole thing. I don't know. Things have twisted up. Chloe's blood is sticky on my hand, and someone needs to pay. Nothing else matters anymore. I have to get the story, and then break some deserving teeth.
The door is ajar and out of it comes a rustle of sound. I slip in and stick to the shadows, silent and observant. The vampires are circled around the long-haired man, penning him in. On the throne beyond sits Ingrid, languid and arrogant. Vlad is sprawled out at her feet, just this moment now stirring and re-entering the waking world. He groans and puts a hand to his head, sitting up and asking what's happened. "Where's Robin and Chloe?" All eyes set on him, giving the long-haired guy a chance to do a runner. I see him smile and then with a flourish of his cape he is gone. The vampires don't seem to care much, they are all too watchful on Vlad.
"Welcome back, brother," says Ingrid with a phoney sickly-sweet voice.
"Was that Dad? How did he get out of that UV cage?"
"What?" she asks, but seems to realise what Vlad meant almost right away. "Oh that. The batteries ran out, unfortunately." Vlad's attention is darting and erratic. His eyes rove the room and all those vampires staring up at him. Ingrid flicks her wrist, bored by the angle of their conversation. "What I really want to know is why you're suddenly mobile. Dad's been prodding you in the hope of some reaction for three years. Now all of a sudden you're re-animated. What was it; the sound of the Branagh's panicked, desperate, pathetic, Walian tongue pulled you from your slumber? You're obsessed. I'd say it's not healthy, but somewhat ironically it seems the opposite."
I'm feeling slightly freaked out right now. Vlad isn't listening to her at all; his attention is being absorbed by the crowd of vampires.
"Where did all these guys come from?"
"The half-fangs? Me, and then each other."
He swoops his gawk back to Ingrid. "You bit all these people?!"
"Like I said, some created others. Most of them were sired by me, yes. My little army," she says proudly. Vlad gets up onto his feet, fists in balls and arms tense. "How could you do such a thing!? I recognise some of these people! Mostly from the rugby team!"
"It's what we vampires do, dear brother."
He presses his lips together and shakes his head, exhaling angrily through his nose. "This is all wrong," I just about hear him mutter before he glares towards Ingrid once again. "How long was I out? Robin and Chloe look so different."
"A little less than three years. It's been a lot of fun. Back like the good old days before you were squeezed out into this world."
He mouths 'three years!', clearly finding it hard to come to terms with.
"Don't look so surprised. Though the task seems simple, sending away those vampires and then wiping the breathers' memory took a lot out of you. Imagine how many years you'll spend in a coma after you manage to do something really challenging," she scoffs, crossing her arms and raising her chin. "You'll be the first Grand High Vampire who needs to take a ten year nap after every minor political decision."
While my head wraps around these words, there is a ripple that spreads among the vampires. I'm just chugging through the idea that Vlad wiped my memory, so I don't notice a slow switch of attention until it's nearly too late. There's twenty pairs of gold eyes turned my way. Twenty pairs of salivating canines leading twenty New-Rave vampires one step after another in my direction. I press my back up against the wall, holding my breath like that might save me some way or how.
"Oi! Pawns! He's mine! Scarper!" yells Ingrid, clicking her fingers. After a wavering pause they all scatter, fading back into the shadows. I let a small sigh of relief slip from my mouth and relax a little.
"Now you're awake, Vladdy, you can tell me why you saw fit to protect all these pathetic stupid breathers, but failed to protect one of your own." Vlad flicks his attention from me, back to Ingrid, who seems to be totally indifferent to my presence. At least for now.
"What?"
"Will," she says simply but gets only a blank look in reply. "WILL! You don't even remember!"
"Of course I remember, yes. I tried, Ingrid. No one was listening to me. I hoped that we could sort out a pax amicably," Vlad explains roughly, tiredness very obvious in his features. Ingrid fumes quietly, gripping the arms of her throne and throwing Vlad a look of daggers.
"Not until after Will was killed. Before then you were ducking in the shadows, cowardly and pathetic. You always claimed that you were compassionate, brimming with human qualities. Well when it came to the crunch you were all vampire, Vladdy. Your human friend over there was game for stopping it all before anyone got too hurt. But you shrugged him off. And Will got shot. It wasn't until then that you made your lame attempts to call peace. Well too little too late, brother."
"I did what I did for you, Ingrid," he says with measured tones, very serious and straight. "That slayer was holding a stake up to you, and Van Helsing was ready with his crossbow. I did it all for you! To save you!"
Ingrid's eyes are no longer black. They are a light slate-blue colour, glistening wet.
"You were too late. You would have been better off staying out of it until they killed me. Without Will I couldn't keep a handle on myself. My reflection won over. I am as good as dead."
"Don't say that."
"I will say what I like!" she shouts, eyes flashing back to black and teeth extending into long points.
"You're not the alpha around here anymore, Ingrid," comes a silky voice from the darkness. The long haired guy, Vlad's dad, steps into the light, a crown made of bones in his hands. "You may well have won rank over me, but you did so deceitfully. Technically that makes Vladimir the alpha. And now he is back, you must bow down to his rank."
"Screw the traditions. I'm top dog and I say heel!" the room quivers and shakes. I press my lips together and hope they've forgotten me. "You! Mortal, approach me!" No such luck. I shake my head, fighting my own limbs. My legs take a step towards her against my will, following her command rather than mine. "Vlad protected you because he wanted to protect his little dream. His delusion that he is human, that he might be able to convince his people to revoke their heritage in order to conform to his insular way of seeing things." My head swims. I give in to her, letting myself be taken up towards the throne. So much for breaking deserving teeth. I've got no chance and I was a gull to ever think otherwise.
"Ingrid. Quit this," I hear Vlad's voice cut through the spell, but my limbs are not snapped out of their enchantment.
"Still trying to protect that dream are you, little brother? Time to let go. It took Will dying for me to be fully free. It will take Robin dying for you to get your freedom." I swallow down, chin raised, trying once more to fight this thing. Get her out of my head. It feels like every cell in my body is pushing hard against a soft wall, pushing it and bending it, but unable to break through. No use. I puff out through my nose, giving up. I become very vaguely aware of something going on, at the sidelines. Vlad and his dad are pow-wowing together, arguing something out with hushed voices while Ingrid has her complete attention on me. This is all very far away and vague, since I am being forced to give my undivided attention to Ingrid. The fact that I have noticed this little distraction means that Ingrid has too. She snaps her head towards her family and I am momentarily freed.
"If you've got something to say, why don't you say it to the whole class?" she snipes through clenched teeth. They dart their eyes between one another and Ingrid.
"Just put it on, sort this out," the man growls at his son, thrusting the crown of bones towards him. Ingrid raises a brow and a lip.
"Yes, do. I could do with three more years me-time."
"I'm not strong enough to handle it. I'm not a proper vampire. I haven't merged with my reflection or anything!" Vlad insists, pushing the crown away. He says something quieter, to himself. "I've got to the place I always wanted to be. But it's all wrong. It's a misshapen version."
I am edging away, one small step at a time towards the door. I'm not doing Chloe any good by sticking around here. It was dumb of me to come back. I'm too thick, too set on ideas when they flash into my head. I can't drop things that I want a hold of, even if it's hurting me. I was home free and then I went and walked right back into trouble.
"Well then let's go on down to the mirror and get you two merged then!"
"No, Dad. This how I want it to be."
"You do realise that almost the entire vampire population is in Romania right now fighting with the Slayers Guild because they think the Slayers have you captured."
"What?"
"Yes. And the Slayers think you are being protected by the very vampires who are at war with them. Your sister's pulled the wool over everyone's eyes."
A ruffle of confusion ripples across Vlad's forehead. I am maybe half way to the door now, keeping each step slow and slight. So far, so good. It's working. Ingrid's pouring all of her attention into her family.
"What's happened in that department? Why are you her bitch? How come you're going grey already? I don't get it," Vlad sighs, crossing his arms and throwing a look across to his Dad, who tuts and shakes his head.
"Your charming sister stole power from the blood mirror while I was trapped in the UV cage. It left me weaker. When the cage batteries finally ran out she challenged me to a hierarchal duel, which I had to accept or automatically loose my position. Of course she won, she stole a lot of my own power. To steal it back would break the oaths I took at my 21st birthday inauguration. Oaths she must take a few years from now."
"You mean, she did what Boris did?" Vlad asks. "You don't look quite so ancient and haggard as then." He gets a heavy frown in return.
"That is because she took less than Boris. And I'm devilishly attractive, no matter my age," boasts Vlad's dad, checking out his nails and polishing them on the lapel of his shirt. "With no Grand High Vampire I've been unable to take any action against that fiend for a daughter. It is your duty, Vladimir, to ascend to the throne and sort out this mess."
Vlad considers this for a moment, eyes dropping to the floor. "I'm not merging with my reflection," he says firmly.
"Well then, innocent lives will continue to be lost in Romania. And the breather child will be your sister's dinner. The girl is actually talking sense. It might do you some good to see your only remaining connection to the human world perish." Three pairs of eyes flash towards me just as I get to a reasonable distance of the door. With one sharp short breath I push my legs into a run and scarper as fast as I can. An ear-splitting creak is followed by a crashing bang as the doors thud themselves shut. I slam into the wood and fall. With searching, scrambling hands I pull myself up to my feet, feeling for the latch.
"Naughty puppy," her voice licks in my ear, sending a jolt through me. I turn to see Ingrid standing right behind me. An iron grip grabs my collar and drags me across the room, up to the platform housing her throne. "Sit." She puts a hand to the crown of my head and pushes me down to my arse. After this she takes her throne and slouches there, resting one hand on my head, playfully tousling locks of my hair. "His head is so warm! Like a radiator. I'll be changing that shortly. But for now I like it." A small pause floats into the air. "Vladimir, this boy was once your best friend. You wiped his memory of the year you spent together. Why? To protect yourself from the truth of what you are."
"I did it for Robin and his family, and all the others who were there that evening. Stuff was getting too wild. They weren't safe here. I had to do something. What I did was not for me, but for them."
"Don't make me yak."
Since I've been slack on updating I'll put the next chapter up now.