Unlike usually where the reason for a delay is my abysmal mental health, this time around it was actually that I lost my notes for this story, and my memory is so bad I struggled to rebuild the plan.
Luckily, I found my notes! Apologies for the delay, hope this makes up for it.
-YD-
When he saw Ingrid the next day, she confirmed all was well so far with the memory altering - her mother had already ordered some blackout blinds on the internet that morning, and when garlic bread was mentioned to George, he immediately began to lament that he couldn't have it, because of Ingrid's 'allergy'.
"All that's left now is your birthday, really."
"What... happens?"
"Come to the castle. Early, you won't be able to tolerate sunlight as soon as midnight passes. If you oversleep, cover yourself in that powerful sunblock I gave you, cover every bit of skin you can, use an umbrella and be quick."
Ingrid winced.
"Then what?"
"The castle bells will toll when the Mirror is ready for you. You won't miss it."
He'd heard it once when his dad made the bell angry... it was ear-splitting, and that was on the hearing of someone not-yet-transformed.
"Sounds like it would be easier to just be there before midnight."
Vlad took a minute to be sure he'd heard what he heard, tried not to visibly overreact.
"Uh. Sure, that's an option too. I've already had Renfield clear out one of the rooms lower down for you, since you won't want a room with a window if you do decide it's safer or whatever to come live in the castle. You don't have to decide now."
Ingrid nodded silently, and then seemed to melt away. More than used to that, he continued on with his day, dodging the Van Helsings and ignoring Robin fawning over Ingrid for the sake of his sanity.
Halfway through English, Robin nudged him.
"Even I'm paying more attention than you."
He whispered, dragging Vlad out of his thoughts so he could try and pretend he heard anything the teacher said, but his mind wandered again to worry, the impending transformation and coronation - some of the possible candidates for the new Grand High Vampire were... even worse than the previous, and the vampire world didn't need more bloodthirsty maniacs in charge.
The bell ringing was a welcome reprieve, from the droning and pressure of class at least. Vlad contemplated bunking the rest of the day off entirely, but their next class was Art and it was incredibly easy to get away with doing nothing in that class, especially with Robin distracting the teacher by drawing all sorts of 'horrible' things.
Vlad wasn't much of an artist, though he could draw passable shapes and diagrams, doodling absently on the pad in front of him rather than waste an entire canvas on his unfocused mind. Robin seemed to have every single colour of paint on the worktop next to him, which annoyed classmates and baffled Vlad - Robin scarcely used anything but black, red and maybe some grey.
All in all, Vlad was over the moon to get out of there at last bell, bidding a swift farewell to Robin before his friend could try to invite himself to the castle; he just didn't have the energy to entertain and deal with his father that afternoon. Grabbing a snack from the kitchen, Vlad changed in his room and flopped on his bed, ignoring his homework in favour of waiting for the sky to darken so the Transylvanian newspaper delivery would arrive. Most vampires couldn't make the trip from Transylvania to the UK in less than an hour, but a few particularly speedy carrier bats could do it in half of that, and it was a well-paying job for those who could.
The paper arrived, but the squabbles over where and when and who meant the Coronation still had no schedule. Well, that was another night Vlad could breathe a little easier.
About that, anyway.
Ingrid's transformation seemed to creep up out of nowhere, until her birthday was only three days away and their relationship was still strained and awkward. She already had to stop showing up at Stokely Grammar, because she couldn't control the random flaring up of her powers, and Vlad had caught her glowing eyes and hungry prowl twice before he told her she had to go. Luckily, that had been part of the memory altering he'd done to her mother and brother, and the Headmistress believed Ingrid was leaving the country to go and live with her 'father' - the fact Ingrid's dad was deceased was forgotten by her, and the fact her biological father was Count Dracula never came up.
"Shame about Ingrid leaving, eh?"
"If you say so Robin."
Vlad tuned him out, thankful for the weekend break upcoming - in more ways than one, as Robin's family were off camping, which meant no worries of Robin turning up at the castle while they were dealing with impending vampirism. Of course, Vlad still had to deal with his father, who was increasingly paranoid about the thought of having a Dimidius around the place and increasingly annoying to Vlad, since he was the one who made the Dimidius in the first place.
"Just flap off, would you? Once she transforms, nobody will be able to tell a thing. Now leave me alone!"
Scowling, the Count flitted off. Sighing heavily, Vlad went back to pretending to read a book, Zoltan snoring away at the end of the bed with his snout under the covers.
He realised on the Sunday afternoon that Ingrid hadn't actually said whether or not she was going to come over the night before or not, and it felt weird to go and ask. So Vlad waited, shooing Renfield away from sprinkling more dust and dirt on things - Ingrid liked goth, not filth. She'd been to the castle before, knew what Renfield was like, but that didn't mean she liked it.
Vlad headed down to the one open shop for chocolate, something Ingrid liked regardless of the fluctuations in her taste, thinking she'd not be all that agreeable no matter what time she turned up. As the sky was turning a purplish-blue when he climbed the hill back up to the castle, he saw an unmistakeable figure outside the door.
"Ingrid?"
She turned, confused to see him behind her.
"Where were you?"
"Went to the shop. Coming in?"
Ingrid followed him in, looking around the castle interior with an unreadable expression. Vlad wondered if she was considering the potential of living there, but he wasn't going to ask.
"Dad's not up yet. Want a drink?"
"Where am I sleeping?"
Vlad blinked.
"Uh. My room, I guess. I have a spare sleeping set-up from when Robin stays over. Unless you want a coffin? There's spares in the crypt."
Retrieving drinks from the kitchen anyway, just in case, Vlad led her up the stairs, the view of dusk outside clear through his tower bedroom window. Ingrid dropped her bag on his bed and sat down in the chair nearby, watching him silently as Vlad climbed up onto his bed to sit down. He put his TV on for background noise, because sometimes there were awkward silences with Ingrid.
"Soooo... nervous?"
"Not really..." Ingrid trailed off, then sighed "maybe a little. This is still all new to me, I don't know what to expect. Yeah, I've done the reading and you've explained, but its still not something I can really compare to anything else."
Vlad nodded.
"Understandable. But a little over twelve hours from now, it'll all be over and I have no doubt you'll make a fine vampire."
Humming, Ingrid gave him her "well, of course" smile. Her smile stayed when Vlad produced chocolate from his bag, and with that ice broken things weren't quite so tense, though they were mostly quiet while watching TV and snacking.
Things got a bit more awkward when it came time to go to bed - an early night for an early morning - and Vlad felt a little childish in his bright blue pyjamas when he came out after changing in the bathroom. He dragged Robin's usual sleep stuff out of the cupboard while Ingrid went to change, shaking off the dust and a couple of spiders, which Zoltan wheeled himself off after despite having no chance of catching it.
The mattress was a little worn, but it was far better than stone floor and the duvet thick enough that Vlad even thought he might be a bit too warm until the temperature dropped through the night. Either way, it was miles better than a coffin, and Ingrid would never have let him get away with suggesting she take the spare.
"What did you tell your mom?"
He asked when Ingrid returned, trying to ignore the black silk pyjamas she had on. Silk, really?
"That I was going to bed, locked my door from the inside and climbed out when I heard her go to her room, cus she wouldn't be looking out the right way to see me. Easier than coming up with an excuse. George was already in bed, he's not well."
"He gonna be alright?"
Ingrid nodded.
"Yeah, just a bad cold."
He'd known they were related for long enough now that Vlad thought he shouldn't be thinking of all the times she'd been in his room before that discovery. That she'd been in his bed for different reasons. Burying his face in the pillow harder, Vlad bit back a sigh, about to try and settle down when he heard an all too familiar sound.
"What was that?"
"Dad. Stay here, I won't be long."
Sat up, hair soft around her shoulders, Ingrid frowned as Vlad got up, stepped into his slippers and yawned as he walked down the stairs.
"What's going on?"
His father was, rather bizarrely, practically skipping around the throne room, waving a big heft of parchment.
"We've been chosen Vladdy!"
"For... dance classes?"
"No, silly boy! To host the Coronation! Such an honour! Oh, that crown will be mine!"
Yanking the letter from his dad, Vlad read through it, groaning.
"Oh. Greeeeat."
At least it would be after Ingrid transformed, where there would be no risk for discovery. He'd worry about the rest when he had slept. Throwing the parchment down, Vlad headed back to the tower, calling back to his dad that he was going to sleep and to stay out of his room.
Ingrid was still sat up, seemingly waiting for him to come back. Vlad assumed she wanted to know what was the cause of the commotion, but before he could ask, she was moving a little on the bed, looking at him strangely.
"What?"
"Get in."
Vlad blinked. Did he just hear that? Or was he hallucinating?
And yet, he found his body obeying her anyway. He'd never been very good at saying no to Ingrid.
-YD-
Might be the longest chapter yet... hopefully that will set a precedent. We'll see.