The Problem With Vampires

Part 3

xStarletx

The characters of Merlin do not belong to me, but Aria, Nina and Isaac do! Do not use them without my permission.

Vlad ran through the corridors. Aria had just been there, in this very castle. She was definitely back in Albion, the one place she said she'd never go back to. Apparently the very high and mighty Aria Fallon was a liar. The plan was to barricade himself in his room with his subservient vampire minions and then wait for the sun to set. As soon as the moon was up this castle was going to be his. Whether he was taking it by force or not.

He was only slightly distracted by a strange smell and was completely distracted by the sound of chains rustling and a demonic grunting. Vlad slid to a stop and stared at the door the sounds was coming form. He slunk into the room slowly, looking back and forth for any living thing. The smell was more familiar now, fresh blood and death. A newly turned vampire. Vlad strode through the abandoned work place, ignoring the herbs and intoxicating smell of potions used long ago. He found a small room in the back and when he swung the door open it was completely shrouded in dark comforting shadows. But even in the darkness he could make out the blonde chained to the wall. And he was elated to find that the idiots had brought Arthur to the castle.

There was a pentacle around him, no doubt Isaac's work. The vampire struggled against the chains that held him to the wall. He was hungry Vlad could tell. Vlad used his sword to free the new Vampire Prince from one of his chains. Arthur did the rest, ripping himself free of the other, and then running towards the door looking for a good snack.

"Halt!" Vlad cried, and the vampiric Arthur stumbled to a stop torn between chasing after his next meal and obeying his master. Luckily Vlad had a good hold on the young man's mind.

"You will eat, but first we must get to safety. You will help up do so." Vlad ordered. Arthur's glassy blue eyes didn't waver, he didn't nod. He merely walked out of the room, joining the other Lords and Princes waiting for them on the other side. Vlad smirked, how easy it would be now to bring the mighty King Uther to his knees.

Merlin had run all the way to where Gaius was conversing with Uther once he realized that Arthur was missing. He had all sorts of visions of Arthur tearing around the castle causing all sorts of Havoc. It also didn't help that Isaac had messed up his meeting with Uther and had left after being rescued by his slayer.

"I don't understand why they spared me. They killed everyone else. You know of her Gaius, tell me what you know!" Uther demanded as Gaius tended to his bruises. Merlin stood on the outside of the conversation dancing from foot to foot in his agitation. He needed to talk to Gaius.

"If your recounting is true, I don't understand it either." Gaius mused. Uther stared at him.

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"From what I've gathered from your story, I think you may have come up against Aria Fallon and both her companions and survived. Not many can boast to that feat, not with so many horror stories of Aria destroying villages on a mere whim or flight of fancy." Gaius explained, clapping a potion into the shaking king's hands.

"Aria Fallon, the Slayer of legend? The undead one?" Uther questioned. Merlin was impressed apparently even Uther had heard of Aria and her dangerous reputation.

"The one and the same." Gaius replied. Uther swallowed his potion in one quick gulp. He looked to Gaius again.

"What if Arthur did fall to the horde? What if he is a vampire? My precious boy an undead monster." Uther babbled.

"The stories did say of Aria knowing a way to change a vampire back." Gaius alluded, going off of what Merlin had told him. Uther thought this over.

"She would never help me." Uther quickly came to realize.

"You could ask her." Gaius offered.

"I will never ask an undead slayer for help." Uther growled. Gaius rolled his eyes. Then what did the Great Uther plan to do? The new head of the guard clattered into the room, he bowed quickly to Uther.

"We have located Vlad, but he had barricaded himself in his chamber. We have been told that he took some servants in with them we are trying to break down the door as we speak." The guard told him. Uther stood on uneasy legs.

"Good, this is good. And what of the throne room?" Uther questioned.

"It is clean everything's been removed." The guard told him. Uther nodded and waved him off. He sat back down in his chair and sighed.

"I must talk to the guards." Uther suddenly proclaimed and then launched out of his chair and ran into the hall. Gaius turned to Merlin who was more antsy then ever before.

"What is the matter Merlin?" Gaius asked.

"Arthur's gone." Merlin spat out. Gaius stared at him shocked.

"So he's loose in the castle? That can't be good." Gaius mused.

"It's worse then that, what happens when Isaac comes back with Aria? What happens if the guards kill Arthur thinking he's Isaac? Or if they kill him because he's a vampire?" Merlin cried pacing back and forth like a maniac.

"I don't think Isaac will come back." Gaius whispered to Merlin. Merlin stilled just long enough to stare at the elderly man.

"No, but he said -." Merlin started but Gaius cut him off.

"Every tale speaks of Aria's distaste for Albion it's why she's never seen here anymore." Gaius continued.

"But she came here today!" Merlin proclaimed.

"Yes, to get Isaac. She has no interest in our predicament." Gaius tried to reason. Merlin shook his head.

"No, that's not what Isaac said." Merlin argued. He then turned towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Gaius called after the younger warlock.

"I'm going to look for Arthur." Merlin shot back and then disappeared. Gaius frowned as he picked up his things. When would this nightmare end?

The sun had set early that fall evening, leaving Uther to contemplate his rapidly deteriorating situation. His son was missing, whether he was a vampire or alive or dead was completely unknown. Vlad was still in his room clearly a plan about him and Uther was running out of ways to combat this. He heard a scrambling and looked up. In front of him were his band of guards that he had sent to guard Vlad's door.

"What is it?" Uther barked out. The leader came towards him.

"Vlad is out of his chamber. He and his minions are attacking and heading towards you. They mean to turn you into one of them and take control of the city." The guard told him. Uther was not the least bit surprised by this.

"Send someone to get the Lady Morgana in here. He will go after her first." Uther ordered.

"I've already done so Milord." The head guard replied. Uther walked out towards the balcony, he looked out at the people who were being gathered in the courtyard. The guards must have decided it would be best to evacuate everyone now that Vlad was on the way. The opened and closed again and Morgana swept in with her maid Gwen. She rushed to Uther immediately, he clasped her two frail hands in his larger gloved ones.

"What are we to do?" She asked him.

"We will be safe here." Uther replied. Gaius and his helper Merlin came in with the last of the guards, they then barricaded the door. Gaius came to the balcony to stare out at the spectacle.

"What is becoming of us Gaius?" Uther questioned his loyal friend. Gaius sighed melodramatically, the sun had set fully now, the gates had long been closed. The people that usually slept in the great hall were being relocated somewhere safer, well, the ones that had managed to get into the city on time. What did it matter now anyways? The scourge was in the city, he could probably turn them all by sun up, well most of them anyways. Was Camelot really in its last days? From the distance came a loud crackling boom and then smoke flew to the sky, the gate was completely covered up by this smoke. There were screams heard from the far away portal and he and Gaius could see people running towards the castle, being chased by hellish vampiric creatures.

Uther felt his mind go numb, how had they gotten in? Who had broken open the gate? Who would want to break open the only thing that kept them safe from the horrors that lay outside awaiting them in the deep shadows? The people in the square below began to panic, Uther should have claimed their attention but honestly he had no idea what to say to them. How could he tell them everything was going to be alright if none of them would be surviving the night?

Suddenly that familiar piercing whistle erupted into the night and then she was there. The Aria Fallon, standing on a discarded cart, her two friends beside her. The cat girl and Isaac who looked so like his son stood on the ground watching the crowd. Isaac raised a hand to the sky and then whistled himself, this one low and yet loud at the same time. There came a crash of a window breaking and a staff flew at him. Isaac caught it with ease and with that accomplished Aria addressed the crowd.

"A horde of Vampires is coming your way. The leader has made his nest in your great castle. None of you will survive the night!" Aria proclaimed, the crowd gasped and then the people began to panic. Aria let the panic set in fully before putting her fingers to her lips and whistling once more in that loud shrill otherworldly way. He wasn't the least bit surprised that it was her who could emit that terrifying sound, and nor was he surprised that it regained the crowd's attention immediately.

"Now! I can stop these creatures, with very little effort on my part. We can keep you safe, we can return your great City of Camelot back into the Magic Fearing, Magic Suppressing little Jewel of the Catholic Realm." Aria declared. Uther perked up, she was going to help them after all? "All your lovely King Uther has to do is agree to all of my terms. If he doesn't I'll leave you all to die. Simple as that."

Uther felt his smile fade. She would put him on the spot like that. All eyes turned to him and Uther wanted to shout NO to the girl. He didn't want to make a deal with an undead slayer, especially one who could save them all but wouldn't if she didn't get her way. Uther looked to his people, and then to Aria's smug face.

"Gaius what should I do?" Uther questioned his friend, Gaius stared at him with that knowing look on his face and then turned back to Aria. Behind her several vampires were lumbering forward, the people were beginning to panic. The vampires seemed skitterish around her. None would go near her or her friends.

"Do we have an accord?" Aria questioned, her purple eyes bright with her amusement. Uther gave her the nod of approval. Aria nodded to her two companions and then the battle started.

Aria withdrew her two swords and jumped from her cart, attacking a group of advancing vampires. The cat girl threw her fire forward and jumped through, what came out the other side was a massive panther, three times the size of a horse. This panther was on blazing fire and as it ran it set fire to the straw on the ground and the things it ran into. Soon the whole courtyard was ablaze and many vampires had fallen to the flames, or were shrinking away from them. Isaac, had thrown his water forward and when he jumped through the swirling pools of water he came out the other side a massive white wolf just a tad bigger then the flaming cat. He reared on his hind legs and then came crashing down on them, spike of solid ice shot froth from the ground in a straight line bowling right through the horde of vampires impaling a few. Aria was content with slicing and hacking the hordes attempting to get to the people through the flames. Uther could only marvel at their technique. The perfect team.

The myths were all true. Aria Fallon and her little team really were the best in the business. Behind him someone or something was banging on the door. The wood creaked loudly like it was about to give way. The knights rushed to the door. Forming a wall in front of the door to bar whomever it was passage into the room. Uther left the balcony to join the others in the room. He waited, sword drawn, behind his wall of men as the door buckled and creaked under each booming pound. Of course the mere wood, no matter how sturdy it was, could only take so much of the constant pounding of the superhuman strength. It burst open, but instead of a swarm of hungry undead monsters Vlad and his men slowly walked in. The zombie like followers each drew a sword and watched. Vlad smirked at the opposition.

"You want to fight Uther?" Vlad taunted. He stepped aside and a limp ragdoll version of his son hung limply from the grasp of two zombie like followers. Uther's mouth ran dry with the familiar blue eyes turned up to him, they were shining with a crazed blood lust and Uther just knew that his son really had fallen to the hordes the night before. He mourned his son in that moment, mourned for what he had been, and for the potential he had. He mourned for all the things he should have said to him, the kind gestures he should have displayed and the things that he would never rise to be. He mourned for Camelot that truly would fall now that the one heir, the son and light of the great city was now a monster.

Vlad chuckled evilly watching Uther's sadden stare and drooping sword. He noticed the unsure guards, and he knew that this would be his chance.

"Let's see how you fair against your greatest joy and weakness! Arthur, satiate your hunger." Vlad ordered. The zombies holding onto Arthur dropped their holds and the now freed monster surged forward. Guards attacked.

"NO DON'T KILL HIM!" Uther screamed though he didn't know why. Guards fell back and became fodder for the hungry monster that used to be his son. Uther watched horrified as his son then turned on him. He heard Morgana crying, and Gwen's cries of horror. He heard Gaius' muffled cries of fear and the servant boy so close to his son begging Arthur to stop, to come to his senses, though he couldn't. Arthur did not stop. Arthur had lost the will to think on his own, and Uther could not destroy his one and only son, his joy, his light, his life. Arthur pinned him growling on top of him, eyeing Uther like he was the tastiest morsel yet. He would have bit him too if it were for the resounding kick from the mud and blood splattered black riding boot that sent him flying. Arthur crashed into the other wall and when he stood up, Aria, who had some how managed to get into the room, no doubt from the balcony, barred his way. She took her swords and threw them, they impaled his arms to the walls. The vampire struggled bleeding dark black oozing sludge as he tugged on his trapped arms.

"NO!" Uther cried, rushing to his son. Aria scowled and grabbed the back of his regal red cloak.

"I'm not stupid, I just need him to stay still." Aria growled. She pulled Uther back and as soon as she had let go Vlad tackled her to the ground. He held her down and punched her. Aria struggled fumbling with his hands and hitting him back. She got him off of her and then stood up, her bottom lip was bleeding. Her eyes changed from purple to black.

"You stupid little whore!" Vlad spat at her. Aria merely growled, the noise sounding just as animalistic as her two companions.

"I'm going to kill you, you lousy excuse for a Vampire and then I'm going to dance on your ashes." Aria vowed. She then surged forward just as Vlad did. Uther stood in front of Morgana protecting her from the fight as Vlad and Aria threw each other around. Aria smashed him into a table, Vlad smashed her to the ground, Aria threw him into a wall, Vlad attempted to throw her out the window. After one particularly long entanglement of their two immortal bodies Aria was thrown back. There was a sickening crunch and Aria fell to the ground holding her leg. She grimaced in pain and Uther gasped. Aria's bones could break?

Vlad laughed and charged her, he grabbed her by the neck, holding her up in the air.

"You are veak! Nothing iz special about you at all. You are nothing but a pathetic half breed." Vlad snarled. Uther took this in confused, half breed what did that mean? Aria smirked, though Uther could tell that the air was being strangled out of her. There was a sickening squelch and suddenly Vlad dropped Aria. Aria crumpled to the floor as Vlad staggered back. He had a large gaping hole in his chest and in Aria's hand was his blackened heart. She got up, favoring her right leg, she crushed the black heart in her hands. Vlad cried out in pain and collapsed to his knees. Aria limped up to him and then gripped his head in her slim fingers. He turned his hollow black eyes up to her.

"Please, you are my kind! How can you be of my kind and do what you do?" Vlad questioned. Aria's red lips curled into a sinister smile.

"I have no allegiances." She snarled, and then she ripped his head right off his shoulders. Black sludge like ooze shot from the neck and dripped from the head. The Zombies collapsed to the ground, Arthur fell limp against the swords keeping him captive. Aria snapped her fingers and the swords flew out of the wall and to her. Aria had to drop the severed head of her adversary to the stones to catch her swords. She stood on shaky legs catching her breath and Uther couldn't care less. He ran to his son, wondering what had happened. He heard his son's quivering breaths and exhaled a low sigh of relief. His son was still alive. He shot a glance to Aria who was staring at the balcony, she seemed lost in her thoughts. She then turned to Uther, a blank look on her face.

"We have a lot to discuss, you and I." She whispered, pointing one of her swords to him. From the balcony entered her two friends. They came to stand beside her, Isaac let her leant on him.

"We have plenty of time to discuss the terms of our agreement." Uther replied, still bending over his son. "Right now I think we should all be tended too."

"I say we rest for a bit. You know, sleep?" Isaac offered. Aria turned to him her eyes dull and her face blank.

"All I need is mud. Nina ash the body." Aria ordered. The cat girl, Nina, immediately skipped over to the remnants of the Prince Vlad of Wallachia and set them on fire, the blaze flying from her hands. She cackled wickedly and soon all that was left was a pile of ash. Uther gulped, she had wanted to do that to him no doubt.

"You can rest, you can have our best room for you and your companions to sleep in." Uther offered. Nina came back besides her and nudged her expectantly. Aria was more concerned with the jar of mud she was dipping her fingers into. She rubbed the mud onto her lip and over her scratches. Uther wondered why.

"Alright, fine. We'll rest, but once I wake up we have much to discuss." Aria snarled. Uther watched as Aria and her companions walked off, stepping on or over the bodies lying haphazardly around the room. He allowed Gaius to take his son from him, looking him over and determining how to make him feel better.

Uther walked over to the balcony and looked out at the destruction of his city. Half of it was on fire, and most of his subjects were just lying on the ground. Was that the horde of Vampires that Aria had been fighting?

"Good news sire! He's no longer a vampire!" Gaius called. Uther was cheered up by this, even if Camelot was all but burnt to the ground.

Aria slept for fifteen days. Camelot had begun to rebuild, the zombie like followers of Vlad were nursed back to health and in a week Arthur was back to full health. He had little recollection of what had happened to him, and that's just how Uther would have it. He didn't want him boy to be upset by the fact that he had killed many innocents in his monster like state. The lordlings that Aria had come to rescue had all started the long weary journey back to their homelands. They were assured that Aria was catch up to them, and most missed their mama's and their papa's. That and waking up in a strange land had freaked all of them out.

Aria's room had been spell enchanted to not open. No one had been able to get into the room since she had shut herself in it. Uther was unsure if she was alive or dead. But on the noon strike of the fifteenth day of her slumber Aria appeared in the court room with her two friends in two each wide eyed and bushy tailed. They were all healed and looking as if they hadn't just been in a massive battle between man and undead monster just a little over a fortnight ago. She smiled brightly at him.

"You owe me quite a debt Uther Pendragon." Aria told him. Uther gulped as she and her friends drew closer to his throne. Arthur stood a little ways off with his manservant, Aria nudged Isaac and Nina towards them.

"We have drawn up a contract we wish you to sign." Aria told him handing him the parchment. Uther looked over the words scrawled upon the paper, he sat down and smile up to her then turned his eyes back to the words.

Isaac had walked up to his look a like. The two of them eyed each other. Arthur was amazed by the likeness.

"It's like looking in a mirror." Arthur murmured. Isaac smiled and Arthur mimicked him.

"The people say your true form is that of a great white wolf." Arthur offered him, each mirroring each others movements.

"I have several forms. I can be a massive wolf, a small wolf or a human. It all depends on my mood or the task I've been given to complete." Isaac explained.

"You were that white wolf that attacked Vlad, the one I chased. Weren't you?" Arthur guessed. Isaac smiled bright but didn't answer. He didn't need to Arthur already knew the answer.

"This is preposterous!" Uther suddenly raged. Aria laughed loudly.

"You know I save your boy's life, I can easily take it back from him." Aria threatened. Uther glared at her and then went back to reading.

Beside Arthur and Isaac, Nina stood staring at Merlin. She reached up and grabbed his ears and then began to rub them between her fingers. Merlin winced but allowed her to do so.

"You have such big ears." She murmured. Merlin eyed her own cat ears perched up on top of her head. His hands timidly went to reach up for them. Nina growled. "Don't you touch my ears."

"If you can play with my ears I can play with yours." Merlin told her, Nina raised an eyebrow sarcastically.

"No, you can't." Nina growled. Merlin raised his own eyebrow at her.

"How are you going to stop me?" He questioned. Nina smiled deviously, and Merlin gulped, maybe he shouldn't have asked her that.

Aria watched Uther as he took in her terms, terms he probably never would have accepted if he knew them before hand. He looked up to her again, he was not amused but Aria couldn't care less.

"You destroyed half of my city. Were you aware of that?" Uther asked her. Aria smiled.

"Fire stops them, would you rather I let them run rampant as I dealt with your little problem?" Aria questioned. Uther sighed.

"I don't have much choice here do I?" Uther asked picking up a quill. Aria stopped him, pulling out a quill from her cloak. She offered it to him, just as he took it there was the sound of a scuffle and a few yelps. When Aria looked over, the servant, the wizard Isaac had swore her on oath too, was on the floor, flat on his stomach and Nina lay on his back playing with his ears.

"That's what I'm going to do about it." Nina told him. Aria palmed her forehead. She didn't even want to know what was going on. Uther chuckled but signed the document, yelping slightly when he did so.

"Yeah the pen does that." Aria told him as he looked to his finger. He scowled at Aria and handed her back the parchment that was now signed in his blood. She thanked him and then the two walked over to where her companions were.

"You know I don't know how no one's figured it out, he's got such a strong –…" Nina started only to be cut of by Aria's wind attack, a mere flick of her hand, which sent her flying. Aria grimaced as Nina hit the wall and then turned to Isaac who popped up from off the ground and ran to Arthur's side for protection.

"Thanks for helping me." He growled to Arthur who merely smirked. Nina stalked up to Aria.

"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?" She cried.

"YOU WERE GOING TO SAY SOMETHING STUPID!" Aria screamed back.

"YOU'RE STUPID!" Nina bellowed. Isaac reached forward, grabbed both of them by the back of their heads and then knocked their heads together. Aria, Nina and Isaac all yelped and held their foreheads. The two girls turned to Isaac with dry glares.

"That was stupid!" Aria snarled.

"I agree with the twit here." Nina growled.

"Ok, not my brightest idea, but it shut the two of you up." Isaac explained.

"We better leave before we take the castle down." Aria sighed. She turned back to Arthur.

"Don't you get bitten again. And you!" She cried whirling on Merlin. "You're just lucky you swore him to oath, next time you wait till I get her before you get him to promise him anything!"

"Isaac didn't promise me anything." Merlin suddenly spat out. Aria straightened, she exchanged glances with Nina and then the two of them turned on Isaac who was grinning sheepishly and backing up slightly.

"Ok, so I lied, but I wanted to help the kid out!" Isaac tried to soothe. Aria's mouth dropped open.

"You mean I stormed through Camelot, saved a bunch of people who are all ungrateful about it and I DIDN'T HAVE TO?" Aria thundered.

"Just think, we can go back to Keiv Rus and collect a heap load of bounty now! And we didn't have to wait till everyone in Camelot was dead!" Isaac cried. Aria and Nina both growled loudly.

"YOU'RE SO DEAD!" Nina cried, and with that the three of them disappeared, Isaac running for his life, with Nina and Aria running after him shouting all sorts of obscenities. Uther watched his son laugh and then it dawned on him. Aria would have left them all to die if she could have. Uther thought over the terms Aria had made him agree to. She had the right to come into Albion and use however much magic she wanted, she also had the right to come and take a practitioner of magic away from him if she felt that this person was useful to her or if she just plain felt like it. There were many things that Uther had agreed to though normally he wouldn't have. He only did because Aria had saved his son, she had changed him back, and anyone else who had been a vampire at the time, to normal when she killed Vlad.

Aria was a character alright, silent and dangerous and yet loud and playful. She wasn't what you expected when you heard the name "Aria Fallon, the Greatest Slayer Alive", and yet she was entirely what the name proclaimed. Uther would no doubt call her the next time there was an impossible task that needed to get done. For at the end of the day, magic wielder or not, Aria Fallon was the best. And he had better not forget it.

THE END! Awesome right? If you liked it tell me, If you want to know more about Aria check out my DA page :) She's my favourite character write and my baby :)

Hope at least someone enjoyed this :P