Hey all!

I just want to tell that for some reason updating this chapter was a pain to me and though I'm not really happy with it, I would certainly go insane if I'd have to remake it one more time. So hopefully you'll like it.

Thanks for the wonderful people who reviewed: BlackTiger6593, KURRYdaJIGGAmonkey, Irena and Lord Makura. You guys warm my heart.

Someone pointed out some grammar mistakes I made in last chapter. Sorry about those, but as I warned in chapter 1, I am from Finland so English is something I had to learn to write.

Disclaimers: see previous chapters.

CHAPTER 9: SCHOLOMANCE

The years Vlad spend in the hidden school of Scholomance, from the beginning of 1453 till the end of 1455, had a remarkable effect for Vlad's later life. In this facility where the knights of Iscariot would train and educate themselves to stand against forces of darkness, Vlad had a unique chance to satisfy his long since awaken curiosity. Although he was not officially there to learn and therefore was not allowed to ask any questions from the staff or other pupils, he was allowed to have open doors. So if it so happened that he was in the back of the room when lecture was held, no one could blame him from hearing a thing or two. Also he was allowed the use of library that had copies of the many important documents Iscariot held of the midians.

Vampires, he learned, were creatures that had once lived as normal humans but come back from the dead as soulless monsters. Vampires need to drink blood of the humans in order to survive. They can't bear the daylight, usually sleeping in coffins or unhallowed ground between dawn and dusk. At night they spread their evil. Vampires are beings with no soul, guilt or shame. They have speed and strength far beyond that of a human. Strongest of them can even take the form of animals and mist. Lower vampires are called ghouls. They do not share the same speed as vampires but are quite strong. Ghouls do not have a will of their own. If they are not executing the orders of their host, a vampire who made them, then they will aimlessly search for blood. Unlike vampires, who use their teeth to suck blood out of humans, ghouls rip and bite humans to pieces to get to the blood. Vampires do not age or get ill, therefore being immortals, or since they once lived a life of a human, they are undead, nosferatu. However, they cannot bear the image of our lord and saviour and can not approach a crucifix. The most efficient way of killing a vampire is to cut of his head or drive a stake trough its heart. Once hose vampire is killed, all of his ghouls will die also.

There was one time during those years, spring in 1454, that Vlad actually witnessed such an event. There had been vampire sightings made in a small Transylvanian village nearby and one day knights investigating the case had identified the vampire as young girl who had mysteriously died month or two earlier. Not to past an educating moment as such, knights took some of their trainees with them. Istvan Bathory was there, as was Vlad, merely observing and of course keeping an eye of Isabel who had followed her father.

It was a grey sky when they entered the cemetery where the girl was buried. The people of the village stayed away, they didn't want to have anything to do with this. When the grave was opened and the body of the girl was pulled up it became obvious that there was something abnormal about her. For a couple months dead body she looked remarkably well. Some of the trainees approached the body with obvious hesitation. Heinrich Mortte spoke to them.

"It is alright to come closer, lads. It is daytime and she will not be jumping up. And here, as you can see, is the ultimate proof that this girl is indeed, Nosferatu" Mortte said and held a small mirror above the body. People around him approached to take a better look and saw how in the mirror they could see the blanket on which girl's body was placed, but they could not see the girl herself or the clothes she was wearing. "As I have told you many times, undead do not cast reflection on the surface of water or glass".

Vlad could hardly believe it either. No reflection whatsoever. Isabel was standing next to him and leaning over to see better.

"Master Dracula, would you be kind enough to keep my daughter in back?" Mortte said.

Vlad gently pushed the smaller woman back, while she pouted to him.

"Master Bathory, would you do the honours?" Mortte said, handing a stake and a hammer to Istvan Bathory.

Bathory kneeled down next to the body, found the place of the heart, put the stake over it and raised the hammer. For a moment Istvan hesitated, looking the body of the young girl.

"Do not hesitate, Bathory. This is not a murder or sacrilege you are committing. This is not the girl it once was anymore. This is a shell possessed by an unspeakable evil. When you destroy it, you destroy only the shell" Mortte said.

Istvan raised the hammer again and with a force beat it down. The stake went into the girl's chest and pierced her heart. The body that had been cold and unmoving just a moment ago then, suddenly jumped to live. The head stood up, the red eyes opened and the mouth revealed sharp teeth as a soundless scream was released. A moment later the head fell back down and the body moved no longer. The girl's face, which had been monstrous just a moment ago, looked innocent once again.

A priest started to pray for girl's soul, while Mortte instructed another pupil to cut the girl's head off.

--

Of course, vampires were not the only thing during those years that would greatly impact on Vlad's life. Isabel Mortte was the other. From very early on the girl showed that a word lady did not describe her well. She slept incredibly late, acted on whims and had no problem of sharing her opinions to others. During the first week Vlad had been absolutely terrified that the girl's desire to stay in her bed and then go wherever she pleased would deny him his chances to sneak to listen what was taught to future knights of Iscariot. Therefore Isabel proposed a deal to Vlad.

"My father has allowed me open doors here, meaning that I can go wherever I please whenever I please. I shall go to whatever classes you like so you can follow me, but in return, you will follow me wherever I go whenever I choose" she said, while smiling.

Against all reason and better judgement Vlad accepted the offer.

The first thing he needed to make sure during everyday was to get the girl up from her bed. Since he himself couldn't enter to her bedchamber, Vlad made it a habit to terrorise Isabel's maid Monica to the point of death every morning. Ultimately Monica understood that it was better to try and get Isabel up and dressed before Vlad would arrive.

When Isabel realised that Vlad had Monica around his finger, she started to come up with other ways to infuriate Vlad. She would want to go somewhere in the castle on a whim or in a nearby village. She would ran away and force him to play hide and seek. If that was not enough she would use that damnable insight to his life to irritate living daylights out of him. Or she would start to give him advices.

"You are constantly wearing black, Lord Dracula. Why is that?" she had asked one time, the question coming totally out of blue.

"I happen to like my clothes black. I do not want to look like some exotic bird like some other people" Vlad has simply stated.

"Well, I would still advice you to consider colour red sometimes, Lord Dracula".

Vlad couldn't help but ask. "And why is that, Lady Isabel?"

She smiled to him. "No special reason. I just think you would look good in red, milord" she said.

That was another thing he could not stand about her. Her way of making every little thing she said about him sound like something special. Sometimes he would caught himself thinking how he liked the way she said his name. Or how nice her smile looked. It made him feel awkward. He who had come back from the Trace alive. He who had met a vampire and lived to tell about it. He was made awkward by this girl who was at least a head shorter than him.

Then one night things between them changed. The damnable girl had disappeared once again, leaving Vlad searching for her all around the castle. Of course he would find her, after all that was part of her games, he needed to find her in the end. However, this time finding her just few minutes later than he did could have proven to be fatal.

Vlad found Isabel in one of the empty hallways of the school, only that she wasn't alone. With her were two young men, both obviously slightly drunk. One of them was pining Isabel against the wall while the other one was, rather clumsily, trying to release her from her clothes. Isabel was struggling to get out of the grip, but the young man was obviously stronger. For a moment, just for a short moment, Vlad actually contemplated of turning to other direction. Isabel certainly should have been more careful. She had been flirting with many men of this school, knowing she was one of the few ladies around. She did not really mean it as anything than harmless teasing but she should have known better.

The moment passed and Vlad remembered his first night in the former Sultan's palace in Thrace. In a blink of an eye he had cross the distance between him and the men and Isabel was suddenly free of their grasp. She looked up to see Vlad mercilessly beating the two men. Rage had consumed him as he imagined that he was beating the late Sultan. He didn't stop until he suddenly felt Isabel taking his hand.

"Enough, Vlad, enough!" she pleaded, her voice for once shaking, and she was not addressing him as Lord Dracula.

Vlad stopped and looked down upon the two men, both moaning in pain on the stone floor. He took Isabel's hand and walked away without saying a word. It wasn't until they reached the door of Isabel's personal chambers that they stopped.

"You would have killed them if I had not sopped you, Lord Dracula" she stated, not asked.

"Most probably" he said.

"Why?"

"I am suppose to look after you and you are not making it easy for me, milady" he hissed sharply.

Isabel bowed her head. It was rather startling since Vlad had never seen her bow, unless it was for custody or to mock. "This is not about me, milord. I have never seen such rage in your eyes. Almost as if something like this had happened-"

"SILENCE!" Vlad screamed to her face and instantly regret it. He had revealed his biggest shame to her. He tried to come up with something, intimidating her to keep her mouth shut of what she had learned.

"My lips are sealed" she said, and for once her eyes held no mischief or humour. For once they were serious and…there was something in there also. Pity? No, compassion maybe? He was not able to tell. But suddenly he knew. Somehow he just knew, that he could trust her to be quiet.

--

Things between them changed a lot after that night. Gradually Vlad ceased to be the shadow always on her heels but became her companion more or less. They started to talk to each others more often and Vlad found her to be his confidant, someone he could tell nearly everything. In return she also confined to him, telling much about her home village in the valley of Alps and how bored she had been there. In time her mischievous nature actually appeared appealing to Vlad. He had in her gained a friend and confidant. Sure Stefan was like that to him too, but Isabel was a woman. And quite attractive, he had to admit also.

Istvan Bathory had admitted it also, but due to his busy schedule in school and that Isabel usually gave him cold shoulder, there was very little he could do. However, as the year 1455 came closer to its end, so did Bathory's time as a student. He would end his studies soon and return back to Hungary. Vlad would have to return with him. They also knew that Bathory would without a doubt ask Isabel's hand for marriage before leaving. Vlad was going to make sure such thing would never happen.

"You do not like Bathory?" Vlad asked one time.

Isabel laughed. "He would probably chain me in his bedchamber to make him an heir. There are plenty of spiritless women in the world for that purpose. I do not want to be tamed" she declared.

Vlad had to agree that taming Isabel would be a greater crime than making a pact with the devil. "Then would you consider marrying me?" Vlad asked, very seriously.

For a moment Isabel was actually silent, and then the most beautiful smile Vlad had seen formed to her lips. "But milord, Duke of Wallachia could not possibly wed with a professor's daughter as myself" she said, her voice only half humorous.

Vlad didn't waver. "I am not Duke yet".

--

After the fall Vlad II Dracul, now 40 year old Father Sandor had returned to his little monastery in Transylvania. It had been a safer option than staying in Targoviste and hoping that Danesti family would just ignore his existence. Here he could do no harm to them and they left him be. It was a peaceful, quiet night, when his monastery received surprising visitors.

He was tall and had long black hair, but Father Sandor could have recognised the young man he had baptised and tutored anywhere.

"Vlad!" Sandor shouted with joy as he embraced the young man. "Oh God bless me, you do not know how happy I am to see you alive!"

"I am also happy to see you, Father. I honestly had not expected to meet you here" Vlad answered with sincerity.

Father Sandor was so overwhelmed with happiness that he completely ignored two young women who had entered the monastery.

"How did you survive, Vlad? And where have you been? What about Radu? What…"

"Father, please" Vlad interrupted. "I will answer all of your questions as best as I can, but first, could you do me a small favour?"

"If it is in my power, I'd be delighted to" Sandor answered.

That night, in the beginning of the winter in 1455, in all secrecy except for Father Sandor, Monica and God, Vlad Dracula and Isabel Mortte became husband and wife.

To be continued…

Historical changes: Vlad Dracula was married twice during his life. The identity of second wife is known, but the first one is a mystery. Not even her name is known. Therefore, as a fanfic author, I was allowed to create Isabel Mortte for this job.

Hope you liked it, and keep reviewing!