Mina's Children: The Legacy of Dracula (#OpenNovellaContest)

Chapter 14 - Half Truths

After their exchange, Dracula had returned to being the genteel host. It was bizarre and Reggie didn't know how to take it. All she could do was go along with it. Making small talk with the greatest vampire of them all was unsettling. They discussed politics, the wines of the region and, of all things, literature, but nothing that seemed relevant.

"Why did you come to me now?" were the words that finally ended the charade.

Reggie was sitting on one end of a small chaise with Magda on the other, and Dracula was standing by the fireplace. He had been watching the fire, but now his eyes were on her.

"Because I know what you're doing and I want to be on the right side of this war," she said.

He lifted one aristocratic eyebrow.

"And how do you know there is a war coming?"

"My great-great-grandmother is no fool," Reggie replied. "Mina has sources that report back to her of what happens in your lands. Your coach has drawn attention, so have the disappearances of vampires of your line. When she warned the family about what she believed was going on, I knew it was time. You are gathering an army, aren't you?"

Dracula smiled an indulgent smile as if he was dealing with a child.

"Something like that," he replied, "although I have learned sophistication since the days of my mortal life. I gather those I wish to use and those who flaunt themselves too close to humans. Our greatest advantage is that most of them do not believe we exist."

"And yet news of your coach has reached further than these mountains," Reggie pointed out.

Dracula's smile widened.

"But legends always come out of these mountains," he said. "No one is going to believe they are anything but the tales of superstitious locals."

"Hiding in plain sight?" Reggie asked.

"I am fully aware there are factions among the mortals that claim to know the supernatural, but they hide in their dark corners, afraid that the truth will send their precious civilians into a panic," Dracula said. "They play with their toys and destroy a few careless fledglings, but they will never understand what true power is."

"Your power," Reggie acknowledged.

It never hurt to pander to an over dramatic ego.

"Mine," Dracula replied with a nod.

Reggie sat back in her seat and took a sip of her drink as Dracula went back to looking at the fire.

"If you don't mind me asking," she said after a moment, "why the theatrics of the coach? The way it twists to something dead changes the narrative, might it not bring more attention than you wish?"

When he looked at her this time she thought she might have seen just a little respect in his eyes.

"That," he said after a moment, "is not my choice."

Reggie had not expected that. Of course she wanted to know more, but she waited, now was not the time to push.

"When I was young I fell into the path of a cursed thing, on a dark night, in a foreign land," Dracula said, gaze distant as he stared into the flames. "When I met my end, its legacy was truly revealed as I became a legend rather than a man."

Reggie could hardly believe it; confirmation of their theories from the vampire himself.

"I have died four times, Regina," he told her, "and each time it has changed me. The first was when I was betrayed and my mortal life cut short. The second was when these same enemies tried to destroy what they had made me in death. The third was at the hands of those under the command of the charlatan, Van Helsing, and the fourth was a ridiculous attempt by a band of even more pathetic mortals.

"The first time I was born anew to immortality; the second I woke with a hunger that took months to slake until I controlled it; the third, the beast inside took over, for decades I was little more than an animal in human shape; then the fourth, perversely, gave me back my mind. But, dear Regina, the beast is still free. It is a primitive and twisted thing and it must be allowed its will, or it rages. It wants blood and destruction, I want power and conquest. The army is for it, and I have plans of a much more political nature-we have come to a mutually acceptable agreement that satisfies us both."

He turned to look at her as he spoke the last sentence and his face changed. Gone was the handsome man as his features sunk, his teeth elongated into a maw of fangs, and his eyes turned that furious black. Regina could not help the way her heart raced and the breath caught in her throat. She could feel it, the chaotic, demonic thing barely held by the chains of Dracula's once mortal shell and his wildly powerful mind. It was hard to believe her great great grandparents had ever faced something so impossible and survived.

"Are you sure this is what you want, Regina?" Dracula growled, and now she knew what the hood had hidden.

She would not let herself look away, she refused to flinch, and slowly, as she watched, Dracula's features faded back into their human mask. Only once it was over did she put her glass on the nearby table and stood up. She walked towards him, never taking her eyes off his face.

"Such power," she whispered when they were no more than centimetres apart.

To her shock, Dracula put his head back and laughed.

"Oh, Regina," he said, cupping the side of her face, "you remind me more of Lucy than Mina. She understood the power at the end. She welcomed me. I look forward to the day I call Mina to my side and she can see what I shall make of you."