Chapter 3: Present tense again
Ingrid was sat on the throne, caught up in memories of what seemed like distant past. Her brother laid presumed dead on the floor, her father crying over his body from his light cage. She didn't care. After all the world had done for her, she didn't care about anything. Her weak little brother's death was a triviality.
"You can't do this Ingrid! You're a girl! Girls are supposed to cook in the kitchen or iron capes! Not this!" her father screamed. There was something else in his voice but she couldn't quite put her finger on it... was it- pleading?
"I cannot believe this," she paused to smirk, "after I've just shown you evil I can be, you are still as sexist as ever. Typical!" she snorted the last word. "But it really doesn't matter now. What are you going to do now? Face it, daddy, games over. I've won. Vlad will die, you will die, but not until you've seen me have my revenge!" Ingrid cackled evilly and threw open the castle doors in a flurry. She flitted off in to the night.
"Vladdy? Vladdy my boy? Can you hear me Vlad?" he whispered loudly to his son, dying on the floor.
Vlad didn't stir. He didn't move an inch. This one way conversation continued for a while until the count got a reply.
"Dad? Ingrid..."
"Yes I know, son, but I can't stop her! You must go," he said, his voice weak as he had spent all of his remaining energy on his failed attempts at escape.
"But, dad, I can't, I, oh!" Vlad sat up straight with an enormous grin on his face, exposing his newly formed fangs. They glistened in the light of the flaming torches, which, under a recent condition, had to be kept ten metres away from the count at all times.
He felt strong, fresh, more alive (not in the literal sense at all) than ever before. He jumped to his feet at lightning speed, the speed that could only be reached by a true, pure vampire.
"Yes, well done son! I knew you could do it!" His excited dad reached out to hug Vlad, forgetting the sunlight bars between them. For his forgetfulness he received a sharp burn from the sun. He winced in pain and pulled his arms back in to the cage.
Vlad flitted out the doors just as his sister had done 5 minutes before him. It didn't take long to find his sister- she had never been much good at hiding. It was probably because she had never had anyone to hide from, at least until now. She wouldn't know what had hit her-or at least that's what Vlad thought. He was just about to make the biggest mistake of his life-and the first of his death.