VLAD
Alina wasn't at the ball. Vlad was well aware they have been fighting lately and that he wasn't sharing things with her. He didn't let her in, just like he never wanted to let anyone in. But her absence was gnawing at him.
He sat at the table that was full moments ago. But now, everyone got up and danced to the wonderful music. Vlad sighed and got up, deciding he would rest at the throne. No one bothered him when he sat on the throne, they simply assumed he was deep in thought. Vlad retrieved to the stony chair and put his drink down on the desk with a chess board on, next to the throne.
He sighed again, feeling like an old bat, cocooned in his dusty, old nest where no one was able to reach him.
His eyes noticed Giselle, in the middle of the great hall, surrounded by her friends and other disciples. Vlad could see everyone staring at her, frightened and intrigued. She was mesmerizing, like an uncut gem, her true colours finally showing. Just like Leona, Vlad thought, and he got lost in the memory similar to this moment. Hundred years ago, in Buda, when he danced the night away with Leona on his arm. He was so joyous that night, they left Bran castle for a few days and drank away the problems. After the celebration, they made love until morning. Back when Leona wasn't so full of darkness.
His thoughts jumped to that night, twenty years ago, when he made love to Leona one last time. She had a husband then, a human husband, because she decided to create a life for herself away from all the magic. She claimed she wanted her children to not have any part in this world. Yet, Giselle was here. And Vlad realised he had been used that night.
Leona wanted Giselle to be as strong as possible, and surely she would be strong if she was the daughter of a vampire.
Vlad heard scraping of a chair and turned his gaze towards the person intruding his moment of peace.
"I hate balls." Lerra De Noves said, placing the chair next to the desk with the chess board on and sitting.
"That is very sad considering you're so young." Vlad commented, not particularly thrilled to have her here.
"Oh, it has nothing to do with age, I'm just cynical like that. I'm sure we share that trait." She lifted the cup towards Vlad and looked into his eyes.
For the shortest of moments, his eyes trailed up and down the woman sitting next to him. Such fierceness and boldness in one person, one could not help but admire a bit.
"I thought you were sick of drinking wine mysteriously." Vlad reminded her while saluting.
"Ah, what one does for the show. I'm sure you have plenty of masks yourself, Voivode." Lerra played with the pawn on the chess board. Vlad looked at her shamelessly, her fiery red hair and her green, cunning eyes. He would be a liar if he said he didn't find her attractive.
"Sometimes the masks we wear are so alluring we tend to forget what we're really like. I prefer honesty." Vlad smiled, keeping the woman's eyes on him. Lerra smiled, too, like she got what she wanted.
"You prefer honesty? Is that so, Axara?" She asked and Vlad frowned momentarily. How could she possibly be this resourceful?
"So, you know my birth name, yes, everyone seems to be flashing that card lately. I'm two thousand years old, I'm a man with a past." Vlad smiled and drank the wine. He caught the sight of Giselle, still dancing in the middle of the hall, her golden hair flying around while she spun to the rhythm of music.
"I've been putting the pieces together, about Giselle." Lerra began. "And you know what I'm wondering?"
"Probably the same thing I am wondering." Vlad said and Lerra positioned her entire body in Vlad's direction.
"So it wasn't your blood that turned her into a vampire? That's very interesting." Lerra smiled like a child a riddle has been given to.
"Why are you here, Lerra? Why me?" Vlad asked.
"Because I know what you are behind the facade of a peace-loving owner of a vampire school. I know what you used to be, how cruel you really are. That is the man whose help I need, the man that would do whatever it takes." She said looking straight into his eyes.
"This conversation is over." Vlad proclaimed, suddenly angry. He could feel his blood boiling and he knew he had to leave the ball. Vlad got up and left Lerra alone by the throne.
He was reminded of who he used to be, before he learnt Leona Solberg was in love with him, before she saved him. The cruel, savage man whose thirst for violence drove him to do awful things.
And then he met Leona and now she was dead. And the entirety of the vampire world realised Vlad probably died with her, because he was never the same. Not after the dreadful sight of her body, ruined on the stones beneath the Bran Castle.
So he married her sister. Because Leona was gone and they were both alone now. Perhaps he was never really in love with Alina, perhaps she was never really in love with him either. He decided to find her anyway. After all, they shared something and he would fix it.
Vlad marched through the halls, towards Alina's chambers, hoping he would find her there. He would go hunt something down later on. Hell, he would find the world's biggest scum and tear their throats out, he hasn't done it in ages.
Alina's chamber's door flung open and Vlad caught her mid-packing, she kneeled on the floor and shoved her dresses in a trunk hastily. Her long, black hair was uncombed and rustled, her eyes watery. She stared at Vlad wide eyed as he caught her in the act.
"You're leaving." He stated the obvious. Alina got off the floor and removed loose strands of her hair that fell over her eyes.
"Yes, Vlad, I'm leaving. The Solberg Coven sent a letter, I can come live with them for a while, they'll forgive the fact that I'm a vampire, considering I simply wanted to escape the black magic in my veins." She said and sat on the ottoman in front of the huge, oak bed covered in dark red sheets. Vlad tried to approach, but she stopped him by lifting her hand.
"I'm sorry, Alina." He murmured.
"No, you're not. And I understand, Leona's daughter came and you can't let it go. You need to be the hero that saves the world, for Leona's sake. But I can't have any part in it, I don't want to. I despised everything Leona became and I won't help you turn Giselle into the same monster." She said.
Vlad sighed and kneeled in front of Alina. He tried to take her hands in his and she reluctantly let him.
"We believe Leona was right, about everything." He tried, but Alina shook her head.
"Leona was mad, and by the end, she was evil."
"No." Vlad was surprised by the strength in his own voice. Perhaps because those words have been itching to come out and he never dared to say them. "She may have been mad and sure, it was hard to tell how mad exactly. But she was never evil."
"No, Vlad!" Alina's voice broke. "Don't you remember? Or were you so madly in love with her that you forgot all she had done?"
Almost like someone blew out the candle, Vlad's mind darkened. There it was, hiding in his deepest memories, the idea that the woman he spent three hundred years loving, was actually a monster. The idea that she may have created Giselle only to sacrifice her, to let her die like a dog on the street.
"She wanted to save us all." Vlad tried.
Pictures began swirling through his mind, scenes of various battlefields he had fought on. A wave of dizziness made him grab the backrest of a chair nearby. Believing that Leona was right, that she wasn't mad, was what kept him going for years.
"Did she? Or did she try to ruin us?" Alina closed the trunk and got up.
"She was your sister." Vlad whispered. He began feeling overwhelmed, all the deepest troubles bothering him surfacing at once, all the unanswered questions, all the unprocessed feelings. He quickly became desperate for serenity.
"My sister died long before Leona Solberg." Alina said and proceeded towards the door. Vlad did nothing to stop her. She turned around one more time before she left.
"It saddens me that even in the moment when I'm leaving you, all you talk about is my sister." She said and left.
Vlad knew he had to calm down fast because he was getting quite close to the edge. He had spent most of his life trying to control the beast within him, the one that existed since the day he was born. There was absolutely no reason to give in now.
He gripped the chair in front of him and tried not to scream, he tried not to give in to the darkest parts of him, those that craved blood, revenge and pain.
"Oh, nothing like the smell of heartbreak and resentment in the air." Vlad turned to the door, surprised by the voice, and saw Lerra De Noves leaned onto the door frame.
Vlad laughed bitterly.
"Has anyone ever told you that you're a snake?" Vlad asked, his voice hoarse.
Lerra spun the flagon of ale in her hand and shrugged her shoulders.
"I think snakes are magnificent creatures." She shifted her weight and for a slight moment, Vlad could see her leg through the cut of her dress.
"No more mysterious wine drinking?" Vlad gestured towards the flagon of ale in her hand.
"I left all my masks at the ball." Lerra entered the room.
"What are you doing here?" He asked, turning to her fully.
"Seizing the moment." She walked towards the huge, oak bed and sat on it, crossing her legs, making them completely visible. Vlad laughed out loud.
"I don't know what you're trying to pull, but I'm leaving." He put his hands in the air, determined to leave.
"I know who you are, Axara." She said and Vlad stopped involuntarily, but he reminded himself hastily that he would not fall for the game.
"You made that perfectly clear earlier today. And I already told you, I'm a man with a past." He said.
"I know what they used to call you." Lerra said, her voice taking on a more powerful note that made Vlad eventually turn around. He thought he had gotten used to the ghosts of his past following him, but cold sweat washed over him nevertheless.
"You have no idea what you're talking about." Vlad said.
"Axara, the Persian army general, so strong, so clever." She got off the bed and began walking towards Vlad. "So ruthless."
"I'm not that man anymore, I haven't been in ages." Vlad tried smiling nonchalantly, but he failed utterly.
"You were human back then, weren't you? And even vampires heard of you, which means you were exceptionally cruel." Lerra leaned onto the backrest of a chair and smiled seductively.
"I was just." Vlad said almost on impulse; against his will.
A satisfied smile spread across Lerra's face and Vlad could feel his teeth hurting, his fangs ready to come out and bite through anything in their way.
"Your enemies trembled before you and you were a mere human. And when you became a vampire, oh, how glorious that must have been. Word spread fast and soon enough, the entirety of the vampire world knew your name. But now... you are just a myth." Lerra took a sip of ale and handed the flagon over to Vlad.
"I congratulate your spies, they're good." Vlad said, not knowing how to respond exactly. Only other person that knew he was, in fact, Axara was Codrin.
"People whispered, spread rumours, about an evil Persian general who impaled his enemies on spikes while they were still alive." She let go of the chair and in a moment she stood in front of Vlad and trailed the outlines of his face with her finger.
He put all his efforts into staying calm and keeping his heart steady. Truthfully, he could feel this dark man, this cruel, uncaring being calling to him, taunting him.
"What do you want?" Vlad growled.
"The Impaler." Lerra emphasized the word while she leaned towards Vlad. She was so close now, Vlad could feel her breath on his skin. He stared into this insane woman's eyes and wondered how little self control he really had.
Lerra snapped her fingers not breaking eye contact with Vlad. His smile was brittle, he didn't really know what to think. He spent all his life running away from the man he used to be and the man finally caught up with him – in the form of a cunning woman.
Lerra moved away from Vlad right when a man, no less than forty years of age, entered the room. Vlad watched, his brows furrowed. Lerra grabbed the man and looked into his eyes.
"What is your name?" She asked.
"Mihai." The man stuttered. Vlad watched closely never tearing his eyes from Lerra's sly smile.
"Tell me, Mihai, what makes you hard?" She asked.
Mihai shook his head, drops of sweat forming on his forehead. Vlad could hear the man's heart fluttering in his chest, ready to burst out under the weight of fear. Lerra simply cocked her head.
"Pain... blood, children... little children. Nothing I enjoy more." He blurted out and Vlad couldn't believe his ears.
"This is going to hurt, Mihai, and you will feel every moment of this excruciating pain." She told him and Vlad watched her fangs rip into the skin of the man's neck. Mihai screamed in pain, blood dripping from his neck. Tearing herself off his skin, Lerra looked at Vlad.
"If I wasn't clear enough: I want the Impaler back." She said and bit down again.
Vlad watched the blood disappearing from the man's body and listened to the beast within himself roaring. He tried averting his gaze but he couldn't help himself, he enjoyed it too much. So he bit down the man's other side of the neck and joined Lerra in her meal.
Perhaps he could let the beast out just this once.