Oooft. 20 chapters in! Might be the longest M-story with no full on sex yet I have ever written.

-YD-

The second the doors slammed shut behind him, Vlad was concerned. But the castle was a little bit alive and he knew that, so Vlad tried to push concern aside and do what he came in for. The Blood Mirror towered over him, just waiting to impose a lifetime of fanged misery upon the teenage boy. Vlad eyed his reflection - his normal reflection - in the glass, unsure what he was actually expecting to see happen but somehow unable to convince himself to leave.

For a minute, nothing more happened.

Then it was subtle at first, the glass seeming to shift to a slightly more liquid state, as though flowing without truly moving. Curiousity got the better of Vlad and he almost reached to touch it, but movement in the corner of his eye stilled him; the guardians were never supposed to move. Only if the Mirror was under threat, or perhaps if somebody were trying to get out of transforming, though even that was rare - they were guards, not judges.

I can help you...

The whisper seemed to come from all around him, settling against his prickling skin like icy fingers down the nape of his neck. Vlad shivered, looking around just in case but he was quite alone in there. His heart quickened, blood pounding in his ears a stark reminder he wasn't dead yet, didn't need to be in front of the Mirror for a long time yet.

But Ingrid would be there soon.

And if the Mirror wasn't safe... he couldn't just leave it and hope she'd be alright. Swallowing thickly, Vlad shook off the strange prickles and moved, circling the frame to see if something was noticeably different. Nothing was. Except that he was there alone, and the air felt heavier than he remembered. Colder, too.

Come closer...

Vlad knew he wasn't imagining it. There was a voice. It didn't seem to be coming from anywhere, and if he wasn't sure it was madness, Vlad would have said the whisper sounded like himself.

Unless his reflection was talking to him?

There were rare cases of vampires transforming before they turned sixteen, but Vlad would have had more symptoms and definitely more fangs if that were happening. His tolerance for sun and garlic and pointy wood were fine. Human-like. His heart still beat.

Marshalling his nerve, Vlad reached out and touched the glass. His mirrored self copied, but when Vlad withdrew his hand from the rippling glass, his reflection did not. As though reaching out, trying to beckon Vlad closer, to touch the centre of the shimmering disturbance. He almost refused, but then remembered he was making sure Ingrid was safe.

As her brother now, Vlad guessed that was sort of his job, even if he was the younger.

He felt something grab him from the inside, very real fingers gripping around his hand. There was a squeeze, a tug, and then Vlad was shoved back forcefully by the guardian statues until he stumbled and hit the ground hard. When he looked up, blinking tears from his eyes at the shock of hitting stone so heavily, Vlad saw the MIrror was blank again save for the identical image of himself slumped on the ground.

Not ready...

The voice trailed off, air warming, doors opening. Vlad scrambled out of there as quick as his sore legs would carry him, stopping only when he was a few corridors away to lean against the wall, panting harshly.

What the hell had just happened?

He'd been studying the Blood Mirror more than half the scholars he'd ever heard of these last few months, and there was never a single word about what Vlad just experienced, and almost nothing even remotely close. Just a few fragments here and there about moving reflections, a few more of the Mirror guardians holding somebody in place if they tried to run. There were even a few instances where the reflection itself had climbed out of the Mirror, but that didn't seem to have happened to Vlad and all those things had only happened to about-to-transform vampires.

Which Vlad was not. And moving reflections only happened in normal mirrors as a rare occurrence.

Dragging a hand through his hair as his breathing finally began to even out, Vlad straightened up with a deep sigh. His life grew more confusing by the day, and showed no signs of slowing down in that department either. The library was glanced at, but Vlad knew he'd combed tome after tome searching for anything on Blood Mirrors and transforming and reflections, and so he knew he'd not find anything useful there.

He could write to the VHC again... but that might raise suspicion so soon after his last request. Vlad sighed again. There didn't seem to be an obvious answer. Overcome with a wave of tiredness, Vlad checked the time and was relieved to remember the late hour, detouring to the kitchen for portable food to eat before he dropped for the night and hoped for clarity come morning.

The dreams that haunted his sleep showed no signs of clarity though, only confusing whispers, flickering lights and a laugh that sat icily in his stomach still when Vlad woke. He yawned, rubbing at his face and shaking his head as though it would clear the weird dreams. Dragging himself out of bed, he felt worse than last night, exhausted despite rest - though he acknowledged the rest had been fitful and disturbed - and the trip simply to the bathroom left Vlad feeling all but completely wiped out.

Chloe had been coming down with a cold, but Vlad wasn't supposed to be able to get sick like that. Putting it down to the bad nights sleep, he yawned his way through getting dressed, clutching the bannister on the stairs for stability as he descended from the tower lest his lead-like legs betray him to gravity. Renfield was already creating disgusting things in the kitchen, but Vlad reached for his cornflakes, tilting the box over the bowl and pouring, pouring, pouring...

He jolted awake, picking cereal off his cheek and looking around to see if anybody had noticed. Unfortunately, they had - both his dad and Zoltan were in the room, eyeing him closely.

"Morning Vladdy! At last, some proper vampire behaviour!"

"W-what?"

"You are sleeping during the day Master Vlad, it is a very vampiric thing to do."

Shaking his head at Zoltan, Vlad stifled a yawn in his hand before cramming it full of dry cornflakes. They'd be a tough swallow, but better than risking his dad trying to check him for fangs or more yawning.

"I didn't sleep well last night, that's all. I'm going to school."

As he ambled, still feeling a bit hazy, toward the door - knowing full well he was early but Mrs Branagh would probably give him tea and toast if he had time - Vlad jumped as his father appeared next to him.

"Sweet dreams."

-YD-

Poor Vlad, nothing is going well for him right now!