I don't know how this one kept escaping me on the 'need to update' list, but here we are!
Also, I'd like to do more Vlad/Ingrid one shots but I sometimes feel like I've done them all? So if anyone has some outlandish or fun ways for these two to hook up, my inbox is open!
-YD-
"You are the Chosen One."
"I'm the what now?"
Vlad was stunned, perplexed by this increasingly vivid yet ludicrous hallucinogenic dream he was repeatedly falling in to.
"The Chosen One. You must take your rightful place on the throne, and lead the vampires out of the darkness."
While Vlad logically understood that was likely to be a metaphorical statement, his brain was still very very confused, and what came out of his mouth wasn't really a good response. One was not supposed to be sarcastic to the Grand High Vampire.
"Wouldn't that kill them all?"
He felt stupid as soon as he said it, and the hissing of the vampires behind him did little to assuage Vlad's dream-concerns. The Grand High Vampire, however, did not seem at all concerned and continued on as though he hadn't even spoken.
"The vampires have waited for so long, millenia upon millenia to find the Chosen One."
"And... you think thats me?"
If Vlad wasn't certain he was dreaming, he'd probably faint.
"You have no choice."
"Uh, well if it's all the same, I'll pass anyway. I don't even want to be a vampire! Let alone a... special one."
Why was he arguing? It was a dream.
"You cannot escape your destiny. You are the Chosen One. You must take your place."
"Nope, I'm good thanks."
Vlad wanted to wake up. The dream had made him feel very unsetlled. He turned away, and the vampires behind him had gone. Relieved, Vlad took a step. His Grandness was in front of him before Vlad could even blink, hissing and forcing him to take several steps back.
"Keep your job, I don't want it!"
That turned out to be the wrong thing to say, when there was a stake being raised to Vlad. Normally, he wouldn't be too concerned... but in the dreams so far he'd been basically a transformed vampire. And that meant the stake was deadly for him.
The Grand High Vampire lunged, and Vlad jumped out of the way on instinct - he'd forgotten he could flit in his dreams, and found himself several feet away, the other side of the table and felt the rush of the fight begin to work its way through him. He hated that he felt it, but survival had kicked in.
He gave chase, and Vlad moved again. They jumped and a stake slashed through the air, missing Vlad by millimetres before it impaled itself in the wall. His Grandness had another in hand in seconds, and he came for Vlad again. After several back and forths like that, he stopped, fanged smirk incredibly unsettling as he leant back, suddenly at ease. Vlad was worried.
"If you won't fight for yourself..." he snapped his fingers, and Vlad's blood turned to ice "maybe you'll fight for her."
Vlad would be lying if he said he'd never dreamed about Ingrid. Even after finding out... but he couldn't control his dreams. What was he to do?
But he'd never dreamed of Ingrid, bound in fang-cuffs and facing down the end of a stake - he'd never dreamed her in danger. His dead heart kicked in his chest, urging him to protect her as Ingrid leant back, wary of the pointy wood as a vampire should be.
"Well? Do something!"
It was eerie how well his dream was imitating her. Vlad moved on pure instinct, flitting and landing hard between them, shoving at the Grand High Vampire until he flew backwards, hitting the far wall with a painful-sounding thud. Ingrid's cuffs burned his fingers to touch, but Vlad yanked them apart with little care or thought. If he was thinking, Vlad might have wondered how he was capable of breaking them to begin with. Hands smarting, he pushed her firmly toward the door.
"Get out of here!"
Even in his dreams, he wanted her safe. A wizened old hand gripped his shoulder, yanking Vlad around to face the stake again. Yelling at Ingrid to leave again, Vlad managed to grab hold of the Grand High Vampires wrist, twisting it in an attempt to dislodge the stake from his hand. They grappled, shoving, grunting and he felt wood scrape his cheek more than once. With what felt like the last of his strength, Vlad twisted the elder vampires arm and pushed, backing away in shock when he realised he'd buried the stake in his chest.
"You will... succeed me..."
The Grand High Vampire crumbled to dust there in front of him, and when Vlad closed his eyes to blink he opened them to the real world again. Disorientated, he blinked. The real world was bright. And smelled like disinfectant. Vlad turned, jumped when he saw his father looming over him.
"Ah!"
"Vladdy! You're awake!"
"W-where am I?"
"Oh, some breather hospital. Apparently you fainted at school and they got very overdramatic."
Tutting, the nearby nurse came to check on Vlad. His head was still spinning a little, but Vlad realised that for the first time that... day? was it still the same day? Whatever day it was, Vlad realised he didn't feel bone-deep exhaustion any more.
"Well, you seem fine. I'll just go get the doctor to see what he thinks."
As soon as the nurse left, Count Dracula was leering over Vlad again. He spotted the sunproof leather his father had on, realised he had somehow been contacted and lured from the castle to be at Vlad's hospital bedside.
"Well? Are you the Chosen One?"
Vlad blinked. How...
"What?"
"Well, you were in the Dream World, weren't you?"
"The what world?"
"Oh, never mind. I'll explain when we get home."
His father fell silent as a doctor came to examine Vlad, who felt very uncomfortable with the whole thing. He looked down, saw marks on his hands where the cuffs had burned him though they weren't as serious as the dream-hurts had been.
"Well? Am I alright?"
"I can't see anything wrong... but after you fainted so many times, I'd like to keep you in overnight for observation."
"I'd rather go home."
"I can take care of my son!"
After some grumbling and arguing, Vlad was signed out against medical advice, feeling better once he was dressed and hydrated. It was refreshing not to feel so damn tired. It was dark outside, safer for his dad, as they climbed into the hearse that awaited in the hospital car park. As the hearse trundled up the hill, his father rambled on about the Dream World and the Chosen One, and Vlad kept shtum about it all.
It did explain his fathers smugness when Vlad was dozing off before. He knew where Vlad was, what was happening to him to make him feel so awful.
"Oh! A carrier bat!"
Sure enough, there was a bat flapping around outside their castle door. It turned out to be an early delivery of the Transylvania Times, a popular vampire newspaper. Vlad had a very bad feeling about it. His dad took the rolled up paper, hit Renfield with it and told him to deal with the delivery bat.
Vlad followed his dad in, and saw exactly what his guts had been dreading splashed across the front page.
GRAND HIGH VAMPIRE SLAIN!
-YD-
Well now, whatever could have happened there...