1. Chapter 1 (1/2)
another prompt from redrachxo - this one has so far taken up 2 days of my life and i'm still going. love that kind of prompt. i hope you enjoy reading it as much as i'm enjoying writing it! here's part one.
disclaimer: i own neither young dracula, nor the fairytale this is based on.
count dracula landed with a soft bump and looked around, annoyed. he was sure he should have taken a left somewhere in norway, but it seemed this was the wrong direction after all. he began to make mental calculations of where he might be; he had to get back to the school as soon as possible, before ingrid got her claws into her
other.
a twig snapped behind him and he turned, wondering if he had time for a bite of peasant before going on his way. but it wasn't a peasant who met his gaze."count dracula."
the vampire who stood before him was young and built like a seasoned fighter. the crest on the clasp of his cape struck fear into dracula's unbeating heart; this, then, was du fortunesa, the most terrifying vampire in the world. he was the legend mothers told their children when they were getting too big for their boots – don't act like you're the chosen one, or du fortunesa will come and turn you to dust – and he seemed no less impressive in reality. now he was speaking again."the council has been looking for you." the count winced; he'd known they couldn't hide forever but really, they'd been so close to vlad's 18th when he could deal with all this business himself… no, it seemed that he hadn't managed to hide for his entire regency after all.
"what do they want from me?" at least he knew where he was now; he must be somewhere near the council's headquarters. du fortunesa was known to dwell in a small castle in the woods in the middle of nowhere, but this was clearly not it. he must have been in the area on business."the chosen one requires training. you will send him to me and entrust him to my care until he is ready to take his rightful place." the count raised an eye
ow; why should he give up his son and heir to this… monster?"and if i refuse?" du fortunesa smirked, as if he'd been hoping he'd ask."then i take you. a hostage, as it were. we'll see how much the chosen one values his obsolete old father." the count
istled."fine! fine. where should i send him?" he should have known better than to expect it to be that easy."oh, that's quite unnecessary. i'll return with you now and pick him up."
vlad had listened quietly as his father explained the situation, the strange vampire standing just out of earshot by the door."you told him i'd go with him? who is he?""i didn't have a lot of choice. that's du fortunesa, vladimir." vlad swallowed nervously; he'd been told the stories as a child, of course, before they moved to stokely."…fine. then i'm safe, right? i am the chosen one. the visions, remember? and if i don't go, he'll call me a fraud and slay us all." the count nodded worriedly. "then say goodbye to ingrid and wolfie for me. i'll see you when i'm grand high vampire." he closed his eyes for a moment, then gave a decisive nod and began walking towards the menacing vampire in the shadows. "mr du fortunesa? i'm just going to get my stuff." the legendary monster followed him out and vlad realised there really had been no chance at all of getting out of this arrangement.
they landed at du fortunesa's castle not long before dawn; it wasn't what vlad had expected. for one thing, it was substantially larger than rumour had led him to believe, albeit falling down a little around the edges. it was heavily fortified, but there was a strange kind of imposing beauty to it. du fortunesa didn't speak until they'd almost reached the front door."come in." then he grabbed vlad by the arm and pulled him along, down into the depths of the castle. there was a small, bare room down there, and vlad found himself deposited matter-of-factly in it. "get some sleep. training begins at sunset." a key turned in the lock, and his host was gone. vlad pulled his backpack from under his cape and dumped it on the floor, looking around miserably. the room was completely empty, but at least it didn't seem to have any chance of letting sunlight in. he spread his cape on the dusty floor before stretching out on top of it. he was doing what he had to, that was all, for his family. it wouldn't be for so very long, he was sure. after all, it was only just over a year until he turned eighteen. he could survive this long, he was sure.
it didn't seem like it was going to be fun.
the monster paced in his coffin room; he should have been sleeping, but sleep wouldn't come. he had spent years waiting for a lead on the chosen one's whereabouts, but he'd hardly expected him to just fall into his clutches like that. now he had a matter of hours before he had to start training the boy, which meant working out where to start in the first place. he'd had to train pretenders to the title before, of course, but never in his own castle, and he was dreading the moment he'd have to sweep up the dust of this… vladimir dracula. but for now, he would settle for working out a training regime.
he glanced at the hourglass on top of the bookcase – the ash that had once filled the top half of it was now almost all in the bottom, more trickling down to join it as he watched. it had taken four centuries, but it seemed his time was nearly up. still, he could deal with one more chosen one imposter before the end.
as darkness fell, the lock clicked and vlad scrambled to his feet, dusting himself off. du fortunesa pulled the door open and stood aside, waiting impatiently for vlad to follow him upstairs."well, we may as well start on your flying. you were very wobbly last night." vlad grimaced."nerves." his new tutor's raised eye
ow told him that wasn't a wise thing to admit to. "i mean, it… gets on my nerves, flying. feels weird. not natural, you know, flying rodents.""you're a vampire. what could be more natural?" then he launched into a series of commands vlad didn't feel able to disobey, putting him through his paces. by the time sunrise approached, vlad ached in muscles he hadn't realised he had, especially when in human form, but he had to admit that he was flying more confidently. du fortunesa nodded his approval, then escorted him firmly back to his cell and locked him in with a couple of bottles of blood. vlad ignored them and went to sleep.
the next night, his gaoler decided to assess his telepathy, which meant leaving him in the sparse little room with only a walkie-talkie and a set of picture cards. he was to concentrate on describing the cards to the near stranger holding him prisoner here, and du fortunesa would tell him what he was getting, if anything. vlad's hopes weren't high; his father had tried to teach him telepathy once. it hadn't gone particularly well – the count had, in fact, declared that his son clearly had no thoughts in that empty little head of his. the chosen one grimaced at the memory and started trying to think about snakes in grass, only about snakes in grass… yellow snakes in lush, green fields…
the monster chuckled grimly to himself. so far all that the chosen one had managed to communicate was a vivid image of his father telling him there were no thoughts in his head to transmit. this, while amusing, was hardly a promising start. if this chosen one turned out to be the real deal – he scoffed at himself for even entertaining the notion – they would have to practice a lot more. he sighed and waited for something else to come through.
"i'm not getting anything," the walkie-talkie snapped, "try building up a vivid mental image in your mind. you need to picture a scene you could almost stand in. over."vlad pulled a face, then winced – knowing his luck, that would have transmitted perfectly – before turning back to the cards. alright, the snakes weren't doing anything for him. he was sure ingrid would have had something to say about that."stop thinking about girls and concentrate. over." oh, for fog's- well, it seemed he was capable of transmitting some thoughts, at least. he turned over a new card and tried to remember his gaoler's advice. a tower, with lightning hitting it. how hard could that be? he closed his eyes and tried to picture himself standing at the base of the tower, looking up.
driving rain lashed at his face and whipped at his cloak, sending him lurching towards the nearest shelter as thunder roared overhead. lightning flashed and he began to count as he ran, one transylvania, two transylvania, three- and the thunder drowned out his thoughts again. he rushed inside and slammed the door behind him, only to find himself in his cell at du fortunesa's castle.
"that's more like it. try not to get lost in the next one. over." vlad blinked hard, returning to reality. he picked up the walkie-talkie and pressed down the transmit button."that worked?" there was no response. he turned the next card over and frowned at it. a golden chalice. the holy grail? he considered trying to project the image of king arthur and his faithful coconut-clopping servant galloping over a hill, but he suspected his keeper wouldn't appreciate it. he didn't want to anger the most fearsome and ruthless vampire who'd ever walked the earth.
the chalice sat on the table before him, close enough for him to reach out and pick it up. he did, tilting it towards him slightly to observe its contents. blood. thick, rich red blood; his eyes blackened. he was so close, he could almost taste it – but no. he didn't drink real blood, he would have to resist. oh, but he was hungry. he would do almost anything for soy blood, in that moment, but… no! he slammed the chalice down onto the table and pushed himself away from it, but the blood had spilt, was still spilling, he could smell it everywhere and the tablecloth ran with it, a steady stream of warm, delicious blood…
"i gave you blood; why didn't you tell me you didn't drink it?" he recoiled; when had du fortunesa come in? the older vampire was shouting – vlad curled himself up in a corner of his cell, trying to present as small a target as possible while he fought to get his bearings and shake off the bloodlust. his gaoler glanced upwards, then stormed out, taking the blood he'd left with him and locking the door.
the monster didn't understand; what kind of vampire didn't drink blood? still, it was clear from the boy's thoughts during his vision that there was some form of synthetic substitute available; he would find some before dawn. it would make teaching him far less of a struggle. on his way out he glanced at the hourglass. judging by the amount of ash, he had less than a year left.
just before dawn, the door slammed open again. du fortunesa stormed in, thrust a bottle into vlad's hands, and watched him stare at it for a few seconds."well? is that the right thing, or what? that's what you wanted, isn't it?" vlad nodded, a little confused by the shouting. "then drink. sleep. we'll continue tomorrow." he hesitated at the door, about to lock it as usual. then he shook his head, tucked the key into the keyhole, and walked out. vlad, distracted by the soy blood, failed to notice this rather strange behaviour. once he'd quenched his thirst, he lay down on his cape and went to sleep.