Roll on chapter 20!
-YD-
"I'm going to assume you have a very good explanation."
"I think so?"
Vlad stepped to one side.
"Then you better come in. You won't believe what you missed."
Bertrand stepped in, wolf not quite on his heels. More a loping stride. Vlad watched it, noting the curls of hair just behind the ears and the bright blue eyes.
"Wolfie?"
The wolf huffed, then came up to Vlad and nuzzled his leg. Definitely his little brother.
"I... what? You went and found him and brought him here?"
Bertrand shook his head, reached down and Wolfie turned to let the vampire scratch behind his ears. Bertrand chuckled at the affectionate animal.
"We stayed in touch, exchanged letters a few times a year and, when he came of age I was the one to study the peculiarities of his breed."
"Ooooo-k. Not that I'm not happy to see you Wolfie, but why is he here?"
A small voice cut into their conversation, a little face peering around a hallway corner at the two vampires there.
"I asked Bertrand if he knew where my uncle Wolfie was."
Vlad beckoned Adam over; if he was certain of anything, it was that Wolfie was completely harmless. The boy was shorter than the full height of the wolf, held out a curious hand to the snout. Wolfie sniffed at him, then turned to Vlad.
In that instance, Vlad knew Wolfie knew. Knew who the boys parents were. He didn't know how he was so sure. He just was.
"What's he doing?"
"Checking that it's ok. Go on."
Wolfie somehow managed to smile, no small feat on a lycanthropic face before turning, licking Adam's hand and practically bowling the boy over. Adam squealed in shock, then dissolved into laughter as Wolfie rubbed his furry face and wet nose against Adam's own.
"What the blood and garlic is going- Wolfie?"
Ingrid came to investigate the commotion, wolf immediately making a beeline for her and plopping down in a seated position; he knew Ingrid wouldn't appreciate being leapt on or getting wolf hair on her dress. She did reach out and pat his furry head eventually.
"So you asked him to bring Wolfie here?"
Adam shook his head, brushing himself off as his new 'Toothless' t-shirt was now coated in wolf hair.
"No because you said Adze wouldn't like it, I only wanted to write to him and see if we could be friends."
He looked slightly concerned he might be in trouble. Vlad nodded, patting Adam's hair fondly before turning to Bertrand in expectation of an explanation.
"I had intended to ask you or Ingrid to bring Adam outside. I also thought the trip would take longer, but I had forgotten to account for the halflings ability to travel during daylight."
"Well, he's safe for now. Adam, take Wolfie to the living room would you? I need to talk to Bertrand about something else and I wouldn't want to bore you."
Slightly wary of being in trouble still, Adam nodded quietly and walked Wolfie away. Ingrid wavered, then followed them. She probably didn't want to be bored either. Either that or she wanted to be certain a full-grown wolf was a safe thing to have around her son. Vlad was sure he would find out later.
"So, what is it I missed?"
"Not here. Come on."
Bertrand followed, taking a goblet of blood at Vlad's insistence as the Grand High one sat with his bottle of warm soya.
"When I got to the Guild, they had two vamps in custody. The leaders of the group trying to bring down Peace."
"I see."
"You really don't. One was Malik."
"The street fang leader?"
Vlad nodded, taking a pull from his bottle and feeling it wet his dry mouth.
"The other was Adze."
Bertrand with visible surprise on his usually stoic face was still a novelty - he clearly hadn't been expecting to hear that from Vlad.
"I beg your pardon?"
"The Slayers Guild caught my darling wife feeding on a family of humans. Literally caught her. They only didn't slay her on sight because Jonno and Mina recognised her. And she's only still undead now because I had to ask them not to kill my baby."
He elaborated on the deal, how Adze was effectively incubating in a cell for six months until she was ready to deliver, at which point the Slayers got her. It was very much a deal with the devil, but his options were very limited.
"That sounds like an unpleasant venture."
"It is. I need to find her a hobby she can't weaponise so she doesn't go mad with boredom and try to dig free or something."
"I will see what I can come up with."
"Thanks."
They lapsed into silence filled only with quiet sips. Vlad could hear Adam several corridors over laughing joyfully, finally getting to meet his uncle. He'd missed his little brother dearly too, Wolfie was a sweet boy who idolised Ingrid the way a brother should, while Vlad had been having sex with her as a brother really shouldn't. He couldn't regret it, never had but Wolfie certainly provided a contrast, a reminder of what siblings were supposed to be like.
"I do apologise for skipping out on my protective detail, but have you tried saying no to your" Bertrand hesitated for just a second "nephew?"
That hesitation was nerve-inducing, made Vlad ever more certain that Bertrand knew Adam was his son. Adze almost certainly had an inkling Vlad and Ingrid were sleeping together, and Vlad would be amazed and yet somehow not terribly surprised if their father had no idea. He was intelligent but self-centered. It could go either way.
Roqueloire suspected, probably knew outright. Wolfie seemed to have worked out - possibly by scent, his hybrid genes could have superpowers - Adam was Vlad's son. Adam being Ingrid's son was clear in his face, his behaviour. A resemblance to Vlad was easily written off as familial, Dracula traits a noticeable pattern.
But Adam was definitely half Vlad; sensitive, with his reverence for human life and a distaste for vampirism. Loved typically 'geeky' things like reading, homework and dragons. Vlad had been into sports and school. Neither had typically 'vampiric' hobbies. Vlad still didn't, not really. He kind of enjoyed flying, and speed was pretty cool. Honestly, his vampirism mostly only came in useful for his job and in a coffin with Ingrid.
"He is pretty hard to say no to. The Dracula puppy eyes are a dangerous weapon."
Bertrand chuckled into his goblet, taking a careful sip and humming to himself at the taste. Bertrand always appreciated the drink, having learnt discipline and self-control since his days feasting on battlefields. Of course, Ingrid had tested that immensely.
"Bertrand?"
"Yes sire?"
He wasn't sure he should say anything, but Vlad suddenly needed to know and would never dream of asking Ingrid.
"I've no right to ask, but did you and Ingrid... never mind."
He lost his nerve, but Bertrand was easily smart enough to work it out.
"No. I think we were both playing roles in order to utilise each other. Everyone in that school had... an agenda of sorts. Even young Erin Noble."
Vlad frowned to himself; Erin felt like a lifetime ago. And he still never knew where she ended up. Vlad hoped she found happiness; she certainly hadn't gone back to the Slayers.
"Erin wanted to save her brother. Can't really fault a slayer for not wanting a bat for a brother. I did mind her intention to slay us all, I promise I wasn't blind to that. But you tried to kill Erin. And Ingrid. But if I held attempted murders against everyone, I would be quite alone. Dad has considered slaying me. Ingrid has actively tried, several times."
"You almost slayed me."
"And you tried to overthrow me."
Bertrand conceded his point, tipped his goblet in almost a toast of acceptance before taking a drink from it.
"Funny how priorities change, don't you think?"
Vlad shifted uncomfortably. Ingrid had pressed great dents into his. Probably with her teeth.
"Mine have always been the same. No eating people."
"Yes, but you had settled on cyclic monotony before a little boy brightened your days."
"What makes you say that?"
Bertrand placed his cup down, steepled his fingers and rested his chin upon them.
"It's clear you didn't notice me, but I saw you at the VHC every week. I worked there tutoring teens for their Blood Tests."
"That's why you were one of Adam's tutors."
He nodded, brushing an errant strand of curls from above his eye.
"Correct. I assumed that they decided if I was good enough to tutor the Chosen One, I was certainly good enough to tutor the average teen vampire. This meant that I observed you regularly. The change when they first brought Adam and Ingrid here was clear to me almost immediately. He has a similar effect on me, I confess. He's easily my favourite student ever... no offence, sir."
"None taken."
Before the conversation could continue a familiar squeak sounded, drawing Vlad's attention to the nearest bat hole. Wings pulled in and the body elongated, small flying mammal becoming Roqueloire in short order.
"That was quick."
"I pride myself on punctuality."
"Yes Roque, I know. Take a break, eat or drink something before you decide to hole up on guard again. While it's important the prisoner" he couldn't take the chance Adam was listening to hear him mention Adze "be guarded, it doesn't need to be at the expense of your health and sanity. This castle is more than mad enough."
Roqueloire nodded solemnly, taking the bottle held out by Bertrand with a quiet thanks. Vlad felt slightly stunned by the sudden shift in his life yet again; Adze was a contained but still very real threat. Skulking away in the cells, growing Vlad's child within her.
He didn't know if it was a boy or a girl.
That morning, after a brief exchange with humanoid-Wolfie before they retired - if he stayed out of moonlight, he wouldn't transform at night - for the day, Vlad burrowed in to Ingrid's embrace and clung to her a little tighter.
"What's with you today?"
Ingrid quizzed, even as she soothed a hand over his hair.
"I'm worried."
"About what?"
"That I won't be able to love the baby. That it... no, they, will remind me of Adze. Of what happened."
Ingrid sighed, continuing to slowly stroke his scalp with the very tips of her nails. It was a pleasant sensation despite his unpleasant thoughts.
"You won't think about that. All you'll know is how much you love that child. It's primal, it's unstoppable. And it's terrifying, but it is so easy to love them. Unless you're like dad that is, and won't care if its a girl."
Vlad shook his head, wracked by how open and personal Ingrid's words were. Baring her emotions so easily when it came to Adam.
"You know I don't think that way. I'm just afraid that a daughter would look like her."
"That kid is half Dracula. They'll be all cheekbones and jawline, as it should be."
She smirked lightly at Vlad when he looked up at her, tracing the very bone structures Ingrid referenced. That they shared, both in a mutual attraction and as inherited characteristics. That their son had inherited twice over, visible despite the rounding of youth.
"I hope so."
-YD-
Bad head day makes writing tough.
However, up next is Adam's birthday and that'll be a whole lotta fluff for all.