Chapter 12:
Vlad was shocked when he heard the news, it had been two days since the London street fangs had massacred the attendants of that nightclub, he had since discovered Malik was responsible. After pushing down his first instinct which was to hunt down and stake his brother, he had spent the time since reinforcing the defences around the blood mirror and nearly every waking moment inside the mirror room or inside the blood mirror itself making sure Elizabeta was still imprisoned. And Ingrid said he was paranoid HA!
Vlad was sitting looking deeply into the blood mirror absorbed in his lack of a reflection when Ingrid burst into the room "Paranoia is not a good look on you brother" her mocking tone grated Vlad's nerves, as he turned to respond he noticed what was in his sister's hand. "Is this what I think it is" she brandished the piece of paper. Vlad just stared. Ingrid continued after a moment of icy silence "A kill list for those Wizards, they are treating you like a personal attack dog"
"It is a necessary illusion"
"Lying to others is one thing, little brother, I do that all the time it's a lot of fun but the one thing I never do is lie to myself. There are families on this list, innocent people, only a monster could kill these, and you are many things brother but a monster isn't one of them" Ingrid said in a tone that could almost be called loving. At that, Vlad collapsed.
Ingrid looked down at her brother, despite the blood and death he had unleased he was still the same old Vlady, deep down, to kill innocents, and families, it would destroy him. She couldn't see her brother destroyed like that. She crouched down and held his head as he wept silently. Ingrid had meant what she said only a monster could beget the slaughter of whole families 'A monster is what I am'. "Rest now brother I will deal with it" Ingrid said softly. Before leaving and pleading for fate to intervene.
Fate intervened less than a week later.
"Vlad have you heard"
"Heard what Ingrid?"
"Voldemort is dead" Ingrid said
"What?" Vlad questioned dumfounded
"I know I didn't believe it either but it's been confirmed" Ingrid said
"How?"
"apparently he was destroyed, by a child"
"A child, a child defeated the Dark Lord, but he had an army, a very big army and he was powerful, he radiated so much power and darkness I could sense it. Who is this child to have stood against that? I don't even think I could have" Vlad said
"Apparently Harry Potter could" Ingrid said
"Harry Potter I'll remember the name" Vlad said
The Count, Vlad and Ingrid were still discussing the sudden fall of the Dark Lord as they ate their nightly meal "Well I consider it great news, now we need have nothing to do with these wizards for at least another couple of centuries" Count Dracula said.
"What's pulling your fangs Vlad?" Ingrid asked noticing her brother's thoughtful expression
"Oh, it's just this news was so unexpected; it means certain plans have to change" Vlad said. Ingrid did a pantomime shocked expression "Vlad has evil plans"
"Eat garlic," Vlad said
"Language brother," Ingrid said laughing.
"It's been hard on poor Remus though," Ingrid said softly to herself and to the amazement of everyone at the table. "Who is Remus?" the Count asked confused.
"Wolfie's tutor, but that's not the question I was wondering, how is it hard on him and since when do you care about anyone other than yourself?" Vlad said in bewilderment
"Apparently the parents of this Harry Potter were very close friends with him, went to school together and such" Ingrid said, Vlad nodded thoughtfully absorbing that information and feeling genuine sympathy towards the tutor. "And I don't care I was just making an observation" Ingrid said before flashing out of the room. Vlad sat in silence not believing a word his sister said about not caring before his father said "Anyway the tailor should be here soon for your new suit"
"What do I need a new suit for?"
"Your cousin's coming of rage is a great excuse for you to meet the heads of the vampire clans before you assume the throne, a night of them all bowing and scraping for your favour, it'll be glorious" the Count said
"Sounds like torture to me" Vlad said before flashing out of the room to the sounds of his father's laughter echoing through the house.
The vampires of London were all gathered in the old, abandoned theatre as Malik lounged on the throne that had been found in the basement, leftover from some previous stage production.
"I don't understand why we can't feed off of the local breathers," one of the vampires said, he supposed he would eventually have to learn their names. Malik took a composed moment and waited until he was sure everyone was listening "I have explained this a thousand times, unless we want to be constantly moving around or living out of sewers, we must show some restraint and not simply kill everyone that breaths"
"But that's fun and if they're not here to feed us what are the breathers for" Roars of approval followed that remark. Malik raised his hand to call for quiet "I never said that they wouldn't being feeding us, I just said not to kill them" Malik stood and in a dramatic voice said "I have a vision of the perfect vampire community, one where the blood never stops flowing and the party never ends" again the vampires shouted their approval "but for that dream to come to fruition we will all have much to do" Malik then produced a list of names from his pocket "now to build our community will require sacrifices" he saw the unsure looks on their faces and said " so I have a list here" he waved the list about, more worried looks "of breathers for you to sacrifice" obvious looks of relief greeted this as he passed around the list of humans within the local criminal organisations who needed to be removed for the next stage of his plan "so go forth and slaughter my friends but remember only the names on the list!" he proclaimed to his vampires.
"Hello sister" Malik called to the dark with a smirk on his face as he lounged on the throne in the theatre. Ingrid stepped out of the shadows "So this is where you have been hiding" she said with a tut "I'm not hiding" Malik said with a fierceness in his eyes.
"No, you are sowing chaos" his sister replied angrily "You were supposed to be laying low not massacring breathers in a nightclub, you're not following the plan"
"Your Plan," he said harshly. He saw the look of anger beginning to form on Ingrid's face "All I've done is improve upon the plan" he said in a placating manner
"Oh, do please explain," she said sarcastically
"We will require soldiers among other things"
"Soldiers are not difficult to come by, they are quite easy to make" she flashed her fangs "and after that stunt at the nightclub Vlad knows you're in London"
"Look we needed something to generate funds for our endeavours, because I think Vlad and Dad will notice you dipping into the family fortune," Malik said
"How exactly does this generate funds" Ingrid gestured around the rundown and abandoned theatre
"Oh, you'd be surprised, at this very moment my vampires are out removing the leaders of the breather's criminal gangs and once they are leaderless I will take control of them and their interests" Malik explained "And once that is accomplished my vampires will have a steady supply of blood and we will have a steady stream of money"
"Still try not to leave too many bodies in the street, we don't want to draw any more attention to us" Ingrid said
"You mean Vlad's attention"
"Leave Vlad to me, I'll ensure he is otherwise occupied and make sure no one on the High Council looks too carefully into your actions, after all, there is a cease-fire," Ingrid said
"Is that still in place? How?" Malik asked thinking of the recent biting and the slayer attack in Paris
"Well as a result of all their recent troubles the wizards have become quick and efficient at covering up, so the players know nothing about them and the Guild have officially disavowed any knowledge and responsibility for rogue slayers and the High Council is even now revelling in the moral high ground in their dealings with the Guild" Ingrid finished laughing which Malik joined in with.
Remus had devoted himself to his work tutoring young Barry or Wolfie as he preferred to be called ever since the incident as he mentally referred to the great tragedy and for once he was glad for the company of vampires for as the Wizarding world was celebrating the downfall of He Who Must Not Be Named all Remus could feel was grief. In the space of one night, he had lost his whole world, Lily, James and Peter all dead, and worst of all he had heard that the Traitor had laughed and gloated as he was dragged to Azkaban. There were victory parties everywhere, but all Remus could feel was alone. He suddenly noticed that there was another presence in the room, assuming it was Wolfie he grabbed his lesson plan and turned only for his words to die in his throat. For standing before him was Vladimir Dracula "Mr Dracula do you want to look at the lesson plans?" Remus asked the Vampire standing before him, unable to think of any other reason for the Dracula heir to seek him out. "No that's all right I have complete faith in you, I just came to say how well you're doing. Your lessons have become the highlight of Wolfie's day, there all he talks about but that's not what I wanted to talk to you about I just wanted to let you know if you need a night off for any reason that's all right" he said softly and Remus was shocked and surprised at this shocking bit of sympathy and kindness from the vampire "Ttth thank you but I think I just need to focus on my work at the moment" Remus said
"Oh, of course, but I would just like to say you don't need to face this alone," Vlad said. Remus mumbled a quiet thank you. "Anyway, I'll leave you to your lesson and I'll go find your wayward student" Vlad said before leaving to find his half-brother.