---/---
Dracula could smell them before he could see them. His voice projecting across the room. "Finally...where have you been? What took you so long? I've been waiting here for hours!"
"You see what I was talking about Zoe. Alive or undead, it seems a universal constant that the male of the species never seems to develop beyond puberty; part of them remains that little boy, forever clinging to their nursemaids' skirts for attention."
Blinking in surprise, Dracula stood awkwardly from his perch on the chemical toilet, the only thing to survive his recent rampage. Watching as Zoe and Agatha entered his view. Zoe appeared much as she had a few hours ago, a little tired perhaps, but that happened to mortals. Agatha by contrast seemed full of pep; it was amazing what a century long nap, and a little blood could accomplish.
Frowning a little, as they both simply stared at him, like he was some sort of museum exhibit, Dracula almost felt a touch of nervousness. "Well you two seem rather chummy."
"Why wouldn't we be, we both share so much in common, starting with a deep-seated loathing for all thing named Dracula." Agatha replied with a toothy smile, waving Zoe off, she had this under control and the poor child needed some sleep.
Clutching his hands to his chest, Dracula feigned a swoon. "Dearest wife you wound me...right in the heart."
"Not yet but give me time." Agatha retorted, her smile growing as the door to the cage was opened, and she stepped inside, like the predator she was becoming.
"What a mess you have made...honestly you can tell you were raised with servants, tending to your every whim." Agatha mused, her trainer clad foot toeing the mangled remains, of what was once a steel chair.
Her gaze darting up when Dracula did not reply, with some witty bon mot, like he usually would. Instead he seemed momentarily speechless, his gaze locked downwards. A gaze which Agatha followed.
"Oh honestly, they are just legs. Everyone has them."
Shaking his head Dracula continued to stare, his gaze tracing the outline of her ankle and calf, even her thigh, from where it emerged from the edge of the white coat she was wearing. "Forgive me wife they are not just legs, they are your legs, and believe me I have seen enough to know, those are particularly exceptional examples...just how high up do they go...?" He added, fingers itching to get a hold of that coat, and uncover the secret for himself.
"Concentrate." Agatha snapped, throwing him the box she had been carrying, not surprised when he snatched it easily out of the air.
"What's this?...Chess!" Dracula exclaimed, his tone almost childlike in its excitement. "I never took you to be a sentimental woman Agatha."
"This is not sentiment Count! This is about settling a score. You only won last time, because you were addling my thoughts, and changing the board. This time I will beat you..." Agatha snapped, as she turned the table back up the right way, it was more or less functional, if no longer completely level; the chair however was completely destroyed.
"We can use the floor." Dracula suggested, happily squatting down and setting down the box, opening it and starting to set up the board. "Do you want white again?"
"No, you take it, you're going to need all the help you can get."
"Ooh fighting talk I like it, so what is the wager?"
"Wager?" Agatha frowned.
"Yes, what do I get when I win?" Dracula asked, looking up at her from beneath his dark fringe like an eager boy, it was almost endearing.
"You will get the satisfaction of knowing, I am the superior player when I win." Agatha lowered herself to sit on the floor. For a moment debating how she could sit in a ladylike manner, cross legged would be most comfortable, but considering Dracula's reaction to her legs before that seemed foolhardy...sitting on one side, legs tucked back to was probably best, even it left her a little unbalanced.
Tutting Dracula leant back against the wall of their cell, watching in unrestrained amusement, as Agatha tried to be both comfortable and modest. "Come on now Agatha, a game is only good, when there is a real incentive to win, or a consequence to losing."
"The consequence of you losing, is to know you were beaten by a nun; you a five-hundred-year-old warlord, who was taught strategy from the moment you could string a sentence together."
"You flatter me."
"How clumsy of me, I meant to goad you." Agatha smiled wider, flashing just a hint of her fangs, it was a most distracting tableau. "Now stop trying to delay the inevitable."
Holding his hands up in surrender, Dracula studied her closely for a moment, his eyes soft as they soaked her up; Agatha was quite attractive when she sparkled like that, all wit and spite. "Five questions."
Frowning Agatha lifted her gaze from the board. "What?"
"The wager." Dracula explained with a growing smile. "If you win, then you get to ask me any five questions you like, and I have to answer them."
"Anything?"
"Anything." Dracula confirmed, knowing that this little prize was just too tempting for Agatha to resist; she had always been a curious little thing, often even reckless in the face of satisfying that curiosity.
"And you won't lie, or refuse to answer?"
"On my word as a Prince." Dracula promised, placing his hand over his heart.
Hesitating, Agatha couldn't pretend his offer wasn't appealing, and yet there was something about the way, Dracula looked so pleased about it. It made her wary. "And if you win, something that I assure you will never happen."
"The same." Dracula replied, watching closely as Agatha's face tightened. "Come now, there can hardly be much in the life of a nun, you would wish to conceal?"
"I don't trust you, you are clearly up to something."
"And once again, you show me just what a smart woman you are." Dracula teased. "This is not a wager for the weak-minded, unless you really are certain you will win..."
"I am going to wipe that smug look off your face."
"Then what have you got to worry about?" Dracula added, his hands widening in a gesture of openness, much like a magician might, right before he pulled the wool over your eyes.
"Fine on one condition. We get one pass, if there is a question we really don't want to answer."
Smiling indulgently Dracula knew he had won, and that he could afford to be generous in victory. "Oh, alright then."
"Well then what are you waiting for, it's your first move."
---/---
The game had been going for hours. Their minders had long since lost interest in them. In fact, the mercenary guarding them, almost looked to be asleep standing up. Dracula made a mental note to mention it to Zoe, she really should be getting what she paid for.
"Check...once again I might add." Agatha's gleeful voice, drew Dracula back to the game proper.
His bride really wasn't a bad player, she had even challenged him on occasion, pulling moves he hadn't anticipated. Agatha had serious potential, and in a few centuries, she might even beat him. But Dracula had known from early in the game, he was going to win. Still he had allowed the game to progress, setting up traps, only to dismantle them himself, when he found himself enjoying just watching her. This was Agatha, with the veneer society had forced upon her stripped away. An educated woman, revelling in being able to showcase her knowledge, and ability. To step up, and go toe to toe with a man...well vampire as an equal. Plus, it was nice to see her smile.
Still this was all a game; a game within a game, and now with them being largely ignored, it was time to end it.
"You really should look to protecting your own king, rather than thirsting away after mine." Dracula instructed her, moving his rook and closing the net. "Checkmate in two moves."
"What...but..." It took Agatha a moment to see it, a few moments more to realise, that there was no move she could make that would prevent it. "How did you..."
"As you said it yourself my Agatha. I am a five-hundred-year-old warlord, I have led armies and been taught strategy by someone of the world's most brilliant minds. Do not feel badly about losing, it really was inevitable from the beginning."
Annoyed by his arrogance, and the fact that he was probably right, Agatha couldn't help but huff her annoyance. She had thought she was doing well, and all the time he had been playing with her. "There are words for men like you."
"Oh, believe me, there are no men like me." Dracula laughed as Agatha continued to scowl. "Come now don't be cross with me, I will even help you improve your game. I think its been far too long, since you played anyone who challenged you. But first my prize..."
Clenching her jaw, part of Agatha wanted to refuse to answer his damn questions, yet she had given her word, and she would have insisted Dracula kept his. "Fine ask away."
Smiling at her easy capitulation, Dracula lounged back against the glass, hands crossed over his stomach, as he stretched out like a predator. "Do you find me handsome?"
Barking with laughter, Agatha felt what ever tension that had coiled deep in her stomach abate, at Dracula's inane and self-centred question.
"Is that my answer?" Dracula queried, head tilting to the side, as he studied Agatha closely. "I mean it is a simple question Agatha, do you find me attractive or not?"
"That is not the same question, which one do you want answering; if it's both, that is two of your questions used up on your vanity." Agatha pointed out.
"How kind of you to point that out, and not take advantage of me." Dracula's smile grew, as Agatha suddenly lost hers. "Answer the second one, do you find me attractive?"
"You are tall, dark and strong, I doubt there are many women who wouldn't find you attractive."
"Ah, and now you are deflecting." Dracula wagged his finger, tutting under his breath. "Answer the question as it is asked, dearest wife, or I will start imposing forfeits."
Clenching her jaw, Agatha felt some of that tension return. Clearly, she should have just answered the first question, when it was asked, rather than allowing him to goad her into making more of it. "You have some appeal yes, in a purely physical aspect, but attraction is based on more than just that, and the core of you repulses me."
"Hmmm so yes and no. Agatha if this is how you answer simple questions, I can only imagine how you will react to my others."
"If this is going to be the standard of your enquiries, I hardly need fear exposing my deepest secrets." Agatha countered testily, moving to pack away the chess set, so that her hands had something do, and she had an excuse not to meet Count Dracula's gaze.
Shrugging Dracula watched his wife flutter about. "Fine then you want exposing, tell me about your first sexual experience."
Actually startled, Agatha dropped the box she was holding. "I was a nun."
"You weren't born a nun." Dracula countered. "And I cannot imagine a curious little thing like you, never experimenting at all."
"Fine I was ten..."
"Ten!"
"And I kissed one of my father's stable hands."
"Agatha!"
"You said first experience, that was it, you didn't clarify the question properly, so ha." Agatha gloated, glaring at Dracula, and daring him with her gaze to contradict her.
"Fine...I hope your father dismissed him, taking liberties like that."
"Is that your third question?"
Resigned to having that remain a mystery, Dracula waved her off, eyes once more drifting to her legs, as Agatha stretched them out.
Twisting her head, Agatha studied the unusually quiet Count. "Have you suddenly taken a vow of silence?"
"I am thinking carefully about my next question, since clearly my Agatha, you are determined to wiggle out of answering them properly, if I let you."
"I only promised to answer them truthfully." Agatha replied with a smile, earning one from Dracula in return for her sneakiness.
"Touché Madam...So what did you and Zoe talk about, and get up to, when you went off for your little Van Helsing reunion? All the details now Agatha, don't skip over anything."
"That is personal."
"That is the point of these questions. Besides, you will make me think, you ladies are up to something behind my back."
"I cannot tell you Zoe's secrets, that is not part of the deal." Agatha insisted, even as Dracula pouted; not that even his disappointment seemed genuine. "I will use my pass for this, and don't go thinking you can just rephrase the question, or I will stop playing entirely."
"Fine...fine."
"Good, next question." Agatha demanded, wishing there was a way to tell the time in this enclosed room.
It had felt like they had played for hours, and Agatha was starting to feel a little cabin feverish, stuck in this cage with no way to escape. She was used to being busy, to having chores to complete, her time highly regimented. In some ways having Dracula here was a blessing, at least he kept her attention, but the mention of Zoe, made Agatha anxious to talk to her niece. They needed to come up with a proper plan. She felt useless sitting here doing nothing.
"Are we in a hurry? Do we have a pressing social engagement I wasn't informed about? Only you are looking a little agitated?"
"Is that a question?" Agatha snapped as she paced, unable to explain, where this sudden flash of temper had come from.
"No merely an observation." Dracula replied. "All games aside Agatha, are you feeling alright, you look like you might come out of your skin."
"I...I don't know." Agatha admitted. "I don't feel like myself...I...I'm angry...I just want out of here for a while."
"Well that is something we can agree on at least." Dracula added, getting up from his lounging pose and crossing over to her.
Ignoring Agatha's huff of annoyance, Dracula took her chin between his fingers; his dark gaze scrutinising her, no matter how much Agatha tried to bat him away.
"You need to feed."
"But it's only been a few hours."
"Did you feed before coming back in here, after your talk with Zoe?"
"No, there wasn't time; someone was throwing a tantrum, remember..."
"Well you should have, its been far too long, and you are too young to handle starving yourself." Dracula insisted, before calling out to the only mortal he could see, the gun toting mercenary. "You there, send for one of the lackies, she needs to feed..."
Yet the guard merely stared back, not even acknowledging Dracula had spoken.
"Are you listening to me, jump to it, pronto!"
When he was ignored again, Dracula found the leash on his own temper starting to slip, and the damn mortal had the nerve to smirk at him.
"Is anybody listening?" He raised his voice to a shout. "Do I have to tell Dr Helsing, about how far standards slip when she isn't here? My bride is hungry!"
"Drac..." Agatha tried to calm him, but Dracula seemed to be only getting started; squaring up to the door to their cell, and the mortal guard, who seemed to enjoy goading him right back.
"Look at him Agatha, pathetic excuse for a mortal, clinging to that thing like its his cock. What's the matter, aren't you man enough to take me on without it?"
"Dracula..."
"WELL COME ON THEN." Dracula bellowed, as the mortal guard put down his weapon, and made for the door. "I haven't had a good fight in over a century." He added, slamming his fist against the glass, his fangs on full display.
Yet instead of opening the door, the smirking guard pulled a lever nearby, and the sudden whirl of machinery could be heard. There was barely any notice, and if Dracula hadn't seen this in action once before, it would have been too late. As it was, he barely had time to grab hold of Agatha, and drag her across the cage. Keeping her safely behind him, Dracula pressed them as far into the corner as he could. Clambering over the damn toilet, until they were pressed as far down into the corner as they could go, and still the sunlight kept coming, their refuge growing steadily smaller, and smaller.
Screaming as he saw the sunlight catch the tips of his feet, Dracula writhed in agony...they were burning.
"Stop...please stop...you don't have to do this." Agatha's voice pleaded from behind him. Dracula sounded in terrible pain and she couldn't bear it. As vile a monster as he was, these scientists were supposed to be better, and this sort of torture had no place in anywhere, let alone a place of learning.
Then just as quickly as the sunlight had come, it receded, and Dracula sagged in relief. Only Agatha's arms around his chest kept him from keeling over. Panting Dracula didn't resist, when Agatha eased him down on to his side, nor when she fumbled with the laces of his shoes, and pulled off them off along with his socks.
"You know there are easily ways, to get me to take my clothes off, and far more interesting parts of me to play with." He muttered from his place on the floor. Yet he didn't object, when his wife took his sore feet into her delicate hands. It was nice, it felt nice, the touch of her skin on his.
"They don't look burnt. Do you always regenerate that quickly?"
"It must have been the leather, gave me extra protection; I can normally manage a few seconds of exposure, but boy does it sting."
"Well we will just have to keep an eye on them." Agatha replied, her eyes darting to the door, where their guard had resumed his position, like nothing had happened. "What just happened, I can't believe Zoe would hire someone like..."
"You are far too trusting. Your niece is mixed up with some very unpleasant people." Dracula added, before looking up at the shielded observation lab. He had been certain, he had seen something move up there. "And I don't think all of them are restricted to the muscle heads with guns...No he wouldn't have dared do that, if someone hadn't given him permission to."
"Zoe wouldn't."
Tilting his head Dracula studied Agatha, she seemed so certain, and he had to concur, this seemed a little too sadistic for a Van Helsing. "We will just have to be more careful."
"You're the one that picked a fight..."
"I said we." Dracula chided her, gentling his tone as he reached for her hand, pleased when Agatha allowed him to take it and didn't immediately pull it away. "I'll play the good little lab rat for now, but I want you to be on your guard. Something about all this, just doesn't feel right to me."
---/---