LiveAndLoveLife - I must confess I have a terrible habit of forgetting this story, thank you for the jolt! I started writing in a new fandom, and it's gotten a little absorbing. Hunt will be finished one day!
-YD-
"Vlad?"
Adam cringed, still not enjoying that name on anothers lips. It wasn't him.
"Call me Adam. At least until I come out of that Mirror?"
Ingrid looked at him strangely, but nodded.
"Alright. But you know it's too risky to call you that? The Guild will be looking for you, they don't know what you are and-"
"And as far as they know I'm still one of them. I know. I just want to be me for five more minutes."
His sister placed a hand on his arm, jolting Adam out of staring at the floor blankly.
"You can still be you. Just... paler and bitey-er."
"I spent four years learning about vampires being mindless, parasitic animals. I was never prepared to become one."
"Blame dad."
"I will. I need food."
"I... wouldn't if I were you. Transformation can be tough on the stomach."
"Vampirism steals even my breakfast joy. Damn this whole load of nonsense."
Ingrid snickered, watching Adam fiddle with his shoelace as though he could delay the inevitable.
"Come on. You should get this over with."
"I know. Did you feel this... unsettled?"
"The heart thing? Yeah, it's weird. Goes away the other side of transforming, it's just being halfway there."
"Joyful. Alright, I guess we should get this over with if I can't even have breakfast."
Ingrid nodded, practically skipping ahead of him as they walked through the attic quarters, finding a banner with "Happy Birthday Vlad" up in the throne room. It took him a minute to connect that with himself. Count Dracula was also there, alongside the servant-man Renfield.
"Happy birthday my dear son!"
"Yeah. Awesome. Can we get this over with so I can have my breakfast... vampires can eat toast right?"
Their father cringed lightly, but Ingrid answered him.
"Can. Almost definitely will not taste the same though."
Sighing, he swallowed some water to ease the nervous dry throat he had going on, wondering where they kept the accursed Blood Mirror. Eventually, he asked
"So, where to?"
"Basement. That way no visitors find it, because you have to know where the door is to find the basement stairs."
Following his strangely-accommodating vampire sister, and acutely missing his human family so much it tugged his near-dead heart painfully, Adam stepped down the stairs and found himself believing her quickly - he wouldn't have thought the wooden panel of the hallway would move to show a staircase.
"Blood Cellar to the left. That's... I think it's a garlic pit so avoid it. Then a whole lot of empty space, and here's your future. Blood Mirror room."
"You're not coming in?"
"Solo venture. Your reflection won't show if you're not alone" Ingrid hesitated, then shoved his shoulder in a semi-playful gesture "good luck little bro."
"Thanks. I guess I'll see you on the other side."
Taking a deep breath, feeling it settle oddly in his lungs, Adam stepped through and closed the door. Before he stepped in front of the huge, ornate mirror, Adam pulled out his phone. The SIM card had been taken out so it couldn't be contacted, and the GPS disabled so it couldn't be tracked by the Slayers Guild. Being trained by them was the best way to avoid them. Opening the picture gallery, Adam allowed himself the sweet torture of seeing the faces of his mum, of George and even of Jonno for one painful minute.
He wasn't naive - he knew the transformation could kill him, wanted to see their faces before he potentially went to his death. Switching the glorified picture-viewer off and tucking it in his pocket, Adam stepped up in front of the Blood Mirror. If he had any doubts about what was happening before, the fact only this reflection was solid, no flickers or haze about it, they dismissed any and all doubts.
He was about to become a vampire.
"Half slayer-"
"Half vampire."
The reflection spoke to finish his sentence, despite the fact Adam stopped speaking first. Freaky.
"So... how does this work?"
"Normally I would hop out and we would fight for control. The most powerful side of you would reign supreme. However... that's not what's happening today."
"Oh... what is happening today then?"
I'm talking to my own vampiric reflection. The Slayers Guild would never believe it.
"Step closer and you'll see."
His logic immediately said no, but curiosity and perhaps even some apathy about what he was going to end up becoming had him taking a step forward. The gargoyle-guardians that had not so much as twitched suddenly sprang to life, gripping his arms and flinging him through the glass.
Sounds of shattering filled his ears, bracing him for the onslaught of pain as his skin was probably cut to ribbons and he - rather ironically - bled to death before becoming a vampire. Instead, the sounds fell away and left him shaky but surprisingly unharmed in a weird stone room. It sort of looked like the underground tunnels the Guild did stealth-darkness training in, damp puddles and flickering lights that had forced them to use other senses - vampires weren't hindered by the dark the way humans were.
"Well... this is cosy."
He patted himself down, finding none of the expected slash injuries from broken glass. When he turned around, there was a pane of glass set into the otherwise featureless wall through which he could see the room he had entered.
Adam sighed, searching for any clue in there. Ingrid hadn't mentioned anything like this... but then his reflection had made it sound like this would be no ordinary transformation. Still... something should be happening, right?
"Helloooo? This is starting to get boring. Oh great, I'm talking to myself."
"Patience half-breed. Bad things come to those who wait."
The voice was still his own, but colder, darker. Like ice had settled inside him and could be heard on every syllable. Turning to the source, the reflection it belonged to had the same effect - still Adam, but not quite right.
"Ok. What's so special we had to be in here? Only... the sooner this is over the sooner I can go eat my toast."
Not-him rolled his eyes, which now he looked were blackened at the edges and filling in to the middle. When he spoke, Adam saw his future fangs in not-him's mouth.
"I'm not the only one. It was far easier if we got you in here."
"We?"
"You're special. You don't have just one evil reflection Adam."
Dying heart fluttering anxiously, Adam heard another not-his voice back in the dark room.
"You have a thousand."
"Whoa whoa whoa. I know I'm different, half human/slayer and all but... I get the feeling this is still more than I signed on for."
The second not-him came out, joining the first in circling Adam. He forced himself to stay calm-ish, wanting answers and to just be done with this whole thing.
"You're right. I think you know... deep down."
"You definitely know the legends. The stories."
"Perhaps you even know you're the vamp behind the myths."
They bounced their speech back and forth, like each individual not-him shared a thought pattern. More of his reflections began to appear, crowding in the shadows and beginning to close in on him. They were all even wearing the same clothes as him, which made the whole thing look like freaky CGI.
"Nope. Not getting it. Plain English, if you would?"
That earned him more eyerolling, but hopefully would also win him some answers.
"Sweet Lucifer, we're the powers of an idiot."
"Hey!"
"It's true. Ok. Pin your ears back new bat."
"You - that is to say, we - are the Chosen One."
"Powers unrivalled by any vampire before him."
"With a destiny to lead vampires out of the shadows."
They weren't wrong - he did know the stories.
"I see a flaw in that plan."
More reflections came into view, making him feel like he was in a circus of mirrors where each one was sentient. And could have a conversation completely independent of the real, original Adam.
"Don't play coy. Can we get this over with and have this argument in your - our - head?"
"I'm eager to get out of this place, it's been a tedious couple of millenia waiting for you."
"I didn't think we would be so... weedy."
"Must be the human side."
"So... hang on tight."
"Brace yourself. Ourself."
"Myself? Hard to quantify."
"One."
"Two."
They never counted to three, flashes of light and energy tearing into him, through him over and over. The pain in his teeth became excruciating, that 'pop' preceeding sharp points against his lower lip that Adam would have felt more purposefully if he could think through the pain. Again and again, never stopping for a second as more and more poured forth, a never ending stream of Adam-copies.
Slowly, the agony diminished, leaving a thrumming looseness to his whole body. Adam reached up, touched his fangs and felt the razor sharp point tear the skin of his finger. He licked it out of instinct, cringing at the off-taste of vampire blood but watching in amazement as the cut healed together.
As soon as he thought about his reflections, he became aware of the chattering inside his head. There were so many voices he couldn't seem to fit them all in, creeping under his skin and settling in his bones. Muscles felt wrong, but as surely as he knew his heart had stopped, Adam knew he had power flowing into every cell.
The glass in the wall permitted his exit, a disoriented half-ling falling out of the Mirror to land back in reality. It felt like a debate between brain and body to convince his arm to reach out and grab the handle, pulling the door open and stepping out.
"Not even here."
"They don't care about you."
"You should kill them."
The thoughts were not his own - Adam wasn't that clingy or petty - but they were in his voice still, were unsettling to hear inside his own head. The world was suddenly full of scents and sounds even his heightened senses hadn't detected before, and Adam could follow distinctive male and female scents on the air to find the trail toward his vampire family.
"Ad- Vlad? We started to think you had died in there. You were gone like ten hours?"
Ingrid's voice was low, measured - her transformation had been recent, she obviously knew his senses would be on edge.
"Well I did die in there. Just didn't quite stay dead."
"Tell them. Make them bow to your power."
"Or test out your new strength and eliminate them."
"So... how was it?"
"Painful. Weird. At least it's over now right?"
Ingrid shrugged, but there was something in the Count's eyes as he answered exuberantly.
"Yes yes! My sons all biter now!"
"He's lying."
"I'm always going to be half Adam, half Vlad though. The vampire who was raised a slayer."
"Yeah... but we don't talk about that where anyone can hear."
Ingrid had a valid point - he was an illegality, a biological accident.
"You're the leader of the vampire world fool!"
"Nobody can kill you."
"Unless you let them."
"Which he will. We're inside an idiot boys."
"Good point."
"Shut up!"
The words left his mouth before he could stop them, earning confused looks from the vampires in the room. Ingrid looked momentarily... not quite hurt, but Adam felt bad for seemingly lashing out. Ingrid had been nothing but good to him. Especially for a vampire.
"Sorry. World's a little loud. I think I'm going to lie down."
"A real vampire never apologises."
Shaking his head, Adam hastened to his coffin, closing the lid and squeezing his eyes closed as though it could silence the voices of his reflections.
If he was to believe he was the Chosen One... why hadn't he told his family?
-YD-
this update laid around half-finished for about a month... I am terrible! I'm sorry. And italics represented reflection-thoughts mostly, if that wasn't obvious.