Hello once more!!!
I'm back! Well, truthfully I had intended to post this chapter earlier but it led to nowhere, you really can't rush these things, but then I had a nice week long vacation in Slovenia, beautiful country, very atmospheric, I recommend going there, and voila! My writing is back on!
Thank you for those who reviewed: Tsuki no Rekuen, hellsingfan101, InstigateInsanity, Darkeyes, Irena and BigKwell. Many thanks, dear friends!
Disclaimers: the usual ones.
CHAPTER 20: CLOSEST TO A DAUGHTER
Vampires are not capable of having children. Since they are essentially dead, nothing living can be born out of a dead person. Dracula knew this, for if vampires were capable of making children, then Elizabeth and Asa would have certainly gotten pregnant by now.
But the idea of becoming the first vampire to have fathered a child was too intriguing to leave him be. Not only did it occupy his time but he marvelled the possibilities it could bring. To take his, with the lack of a better term, race to a completely new level.
Feeling extreme excitement he began a series of experiments and tests. First he told Asa and Elizabeth to find human men of their preference and mate with them. When they first showed reluctance he ordered them. He then also went to one of the villages surrounding his castle's hide place, and picked himself a young pretty human woman. Not wanting to go through of troubles of having to deal with test subjects being unwilling to co-operate, he didn't force her to come, but spent couple nights by her window to hypnotise and seduce her. In the end it happened pretty easily.
Not as easy, as he noticed, was to keep his bloodlust at bay when he took her in his bed chamber. It took all of his willpower to concentrate, and Dracula decided that he needed to practise this more in case of a future situations. He kept the woman in the castle, fed and cared for her, but after months of trying he gave up. Asa and Elizabeth hadn't succeeded getting pregnant either. A vampire couldn't create life even from a living human.
After accepting this bitter truth, Dracula started to look for another way. Combining occult knowledge from the libraries of former Scholomance School and the black magic Asa had mastered, he intended to create some sort of a spell or technique for vampires to multiply.
Between the years 1640 and 1690 Dracula abducted more Transylvanian village girls to his experiments than ever before for food. In a span of fifty years more than fifty girls disappeared. Dracula made them go through series of ordeals. He ravaged their bodies with dark spells, poisoned their blood with his and, in some cases, even performed amateur surgeries on them, to find out needed information of women inner anatomy. Asa helped him feeling that it was her duty. Elizabeth helped because she wanted to be close to the women during their most painful moments.
Then, to his surprise, some women started showing signs of pregnancy. Excited he waited and studied them, wondering what would become, but to his dismay, all the women died in a matter of few months. Dracula opened them up to see what had grew inside of them, and came to conclusion that the unborn creatures had literally sucked the life out of their mother's even before forming teeth.
We vampires truly are monsters, we can't wait even to be born before we want to kill.
Dracula made careful notes of all the failed 'experiments' and also preserved the unborn offspring in formal jars to examine them. Or maybe to satisfy his own morbid curiosity, he wasn't sure. All of these things he put in a secret room under the castle.
--
After 50 years of exhausting experiments and with nothing but failings to show, Asa was finally able to talk Dracula in taking a vacation. After all, what did it matter for him if he succeeded now or after couple hundred years?
Dracula decided to travel a little bit in Europe. After two hundred years of remote Transylvanian landscape he yearned to know how much rest of the world had changed. He took couple boxes filled with Transylvanian soil from his castle, and travelled with his loyal gypsy guards. He left Asa and Elizabeth to take care of the castle. He wondered if they'd kill each other's while his absence.
He found himself not caring.
He travelled a little bit. First to Germany, where he hadn't been in over two centuries, and was fascinated to find how much things had changed. It was a bit overwhelming but also an eye-opening experience. World was moving on, while he did not.
Next he visited Venice. To his delight the many canals provided the most excellent place to throw leftovers of his dinners and since a group of criminals were already terrorising the place, no one even suspected a vampire. Such luxury didn't exist in Transylvania. And more than that he was most surprised to discover, that with all the new scientific achievements been made – someone told him world is round – people no longer believed in vampires as much as in the 15'Th century.
Dracula figured that in couple hundred more years he could probably walk on a street somewhere surrounded by people who would not believe him to be nosferatu.
In 1698, after some years of travelling slowly in Europe, he arrived to Styria, in a remote little country village called Karnstein. The village itself wouldn't have held much intrigue for Dracula, but local lord had recently remarried to a woman over half younger of his own age. Most noble and important families around the area had been invited to Castle Karnstein to celebrate. And mingling amongst mortals was one of the pleasures Dracula had.
The Castle Karnstein itself wasn't all that impressive in Dracula's eyes. It seemed like a little lord' ancestors had tried to impress their friends, but ran out of money in the middle of process. Still, it was suitable enough for a ball to be held, and none of the guests complained.
As Dracula walked in, under false name Dr. Culadra, as you never know if those damnable Iscariot agents are present, he instantly drew attention to himself. Not because he'd wanted to, it was just something that happened automatically. And when socialising with the many people attending, more than once he heard whispers of how 'the disgusting old man had married a girl who could be his granddaughter'.
Count Ludwig Karnstein, as Dracula soon discovered, was indeed already in his late sixties, and looked very much like eating was only thing he was good at. He stood at the end of the table, filling his mouth with food. Dracula could read from his eyes that this man lived from the others. Kind of like him, Dracula assumed, though he hoped he didn't appear that disgusting.
Then Dracula turned his attention to Count's young bride. Mircalla, the new Countess of Karnstein, was hardly sixteen. Her face was still very much like that of a child, and with big warm eyes and golden hair she looked like a beautiful doll. She was indeed beautiful, Dracula admitted. Probably the most beautiful girl of the area, so it was no wonder Count had made her his bride.
Dracula almost felt sorry for her... almost.
The evening would have probably been uneventful and quickly forgotten by Dracula, had he not decided to step outside to the garden, to enjoy night air. His supernatural senses immediately revealed that he was no alone. Hidden in the shadows he spotted the two figures. One was Countess Mircalla, the other one was, he assumed, her lady-in-waiting.
Mircalla was sitting on a bunch, a wary expression on her face. "I cannot even entertain the thought of returning there" she muttered quietly.
"But, Countess, it is to celebrate your marriage" the lady-in-waiting said.
"You mean my imprisonment, don't you, Ingrid?" Mircalla said, her voice betraying no emotions.
"Imprisonment? No, Countess, you have become one of the most important and powerful figures now" the woman Ingrid counterattacked.
"Important? Only by name. Powerful? Hardly. I am a doll now, to be shown by my husband when he needs to make formal appearances or... impress his friends" she spat this time. Apparently carefully made mask was not as concealing in private.
Ingrid gasped. "Surely you cannot say that, Countess!"
"Why not? It's the truth, is it not? Surely you're not deluding yourself into thinking he loves me".
Dracula was impressed. Apparently little countess knew some facts of life despite her outward appearance.
"Well, I don't love him either. And I never will be free now to love... those I want to love..." Suddenly Mircalla's voice became softer as she gazed her lady-in-waiting. There was a look of pain and sadness in her eyes, as well as... longing.
Ingrid was not unaware of this and became soon obviously awkward under her gaze. She blushed and had to turn her face away.
Dracula was not so much surprised; in two centuries he had seen much and learned to recognise the signs when seeing them. He did however feel something when he watched them in secrecy. Something he couldn't quite recognise although it felt vaguely familiar.
Suddenly there was a gasp.
"What is it?" Mircalla asked.
"Oh, it's nothing, milady. I was just clumsy and put my hand too close to the rosebush" Ingrid said.
There was a small cut in her finger, obviously from a thorn, and a small drop of blood escaped. Dracula could smell it all the way from where he was standing.
"Oh no, it might infect!" Mircalla cried. "Let me".
Before Ingrid had time to protest, Mircalla had took her finger and placed it to her lips, gently sucking it. While Ingrid's face became completely coloured in red and her discomfort was obvious even to a blind person, Mircalla's face only showed concern, bliss and... love perhaps.
Dracula found the sight in front of him oddly exciting and adorable. He knew what was to become of Mircalla. She would be put to a cage, subdued and tamed, made a slave. Like the Turks had tried to do to him. And tonight the disgusting Ludwig Karnstein would take her...like the Sultan had taken him...
Dracula suddenly recognised the feeling he felt. And he was very surprised for he had not felt this particular emotion in many, many years.
It was protectiveness.
--
Although Dr. Culadra was suppose to leave village Karnstein the following day, he decided to stay and perform magic tricks at evenings, to the newlywed couple. The visitors were always amazed by the startlingly realistic tricks he could do, like turn into a bat. Yet, as amazing as his tricks were, everyone could notice that as the days passed by, Count Karnstein's good mood was disappearing more and more.
Dracula knew of course the reason. Mircalla had quite suddenly on their wedding night 'fallen ill'. The physicists were unable to tell what was wrong with her, except that she was becoming weaker and weaker with each passing day. Fearing that it might be contagious, she did not sleep in the same chambers as the Count.
Each night Dracula visited her. That first night he had approached her in the garden, hypnotizing her to invite him to her chambers later. Now he could come and leave by his own. Every night he floated to her bed and whispered the same things in her ear.
"You feel your life leaving and yet you're not ready to die. Let it go and I can give you a new life. A life without limitations, a life where you are free from those you despise. A life where you are free to love and take whomever you want. Where nothing stands in the way of your deepest desires. Where you can love again and again and again... Mircalla, do you want this life?"
And always she would answer the same thing: "Yes".
In few days time, to the shock of many, young Mircalla passed away.
In the middle of the night Dracula waited by her grave, not helping her but making her dig her own way up, which she eventually managed. He then took her to an old mill where he had been sleeping during the days. He nursed her, took care of her, until she was strong enough to face the night.
It didn't come as a surprise that the first person Mircalla visited was Ingrid. Dracula didn't interfere. Instead he observed how Mircalla was using her newfound abilities and the knowledge he had given to her. He watched her to float to the window, which led to Ingrid's modest room. She tapped softly the glass, and once Ingrid had awakened she complained of being cold and asked to be let in.
Bewildered woman agreed.
Mircalla entered and Ingrid was quickly under her hypnotizing power. She took her former lady-in-waiting's hands to her and kissed them. She then covered Ingrid's face with kisses, elated of being free to do so.
"Nothing will ever stand in our way. Eternity is ours" Mircalla whispered fondly, before giving Ingrid her first vampire kiss.
She kept repeating this for the following nights. Except she no longer required invitation. Sometimes she would simply slip through the window as mist, other times she made her entrance secretly in the form of a demonic cat. Dracula was very surprised to see her take this form. He was capable of taking forms of wolf or bats, and so were Asa and Elizabeth, but never had he seen a Nosferatu who would turn into a cat.
As days past by Ingrid grew weaker and Mircalla more excited starting her unlife with her. Dracula had watched this from aside, and felt tremendously proud of Mircalla, being such a clever vampire in such a young age. However, like a scientist who needs to take his experiments to the next stage, Dracula also felt he needed to see more. See if Mircalla was worthy of his gift to her. He needed to see her fury.
Under the alias of Dr. Culadra, he suggested to Count Karnstein that Ingrid's symptoms were much like late Mircalla's had been, and therefore it could break into an epidemic. Count wasted no time in ordering Ingrid to be killed in secrecy for the greater good and having her body and belongings burned.
When Dracula told Mircalla what had happened, her reaction exceeded all of his expectations. She let out a scream of torment and sadness that would make banshee jealous. Her eyes for a moment were filled with sadness, and then they turned red with rage and fury. She went to the Castle Karnstein, entered through the window to Ingrid's now empty room and then went in search for the Count.
Servants who fled the castle would later tell stories how Ludwig Karnstein's screams were unlike anything they had ever heard. Dracula observed how Mircalla in fury slashed Count with her claws, leaving vicious marks on him. Although every instinct in her was demanding for her to drink his blood, she refused. Instead she cried and screamed and slashed out again and again. Finally when Ludwig was sobbing on the floor, covered in his own blood, Mircalla took a flaming torch and set him on fire... alive.
And as new screams erupted from the burning Count Karnstein, Mircalla laughed.
Dracula felt like achieving his first real success in centuries. He had a daughter, closest thing to a child he could have.
To be continued...
Okay, few explanations to those who don't know or wonder:
The whole series of experiments Dracula did to achieve fatherhood was inspired by Hideyuki Kikuchi's world of "Vampire Hunter D", I'm sure many Hellsing fans are familiar with that in some form. In that storyline Dracula went through number of experiments before having dhampire child. This also is a slight spoiler what I may or may not plan for the future, depending how far I want to take this story.
Mircalla Karnstein is a vampire character from Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's 1872 short story "Carmilla". Even if you've never read this story, I'm sure you've heard of it, since it is one of the most famous vampire stories ever written.
Those who have read it may say "but Mircalla had dark hair, not blonde" and let me tell you I'm fully aware of that. However, since the start I wanted to imagine the brides like Bram Stoker wrote them: two with dark hair and one with blonde. Since Elizabeth Bathory in life had dark/brown hair and I can't imagine Asa with anything but dark (Barbara Steele), Mircalla had the honours of being the blonde one. And personally I see her as the most childlike of them all so it suits her the best.
Naming her first love as Ingrid, is a tribute to actress Ingrid Pitt, who played Mircalla in 1970 Hammer horror film "The Vampire Lovers".
Okay, till next time. And don't worry. I'm not planning of wasting too much time on the 18'Th century so we'll pretty soon enter to "Bram Stoker story line" part of the fic!