1. Chapter 1 (1/2)

just a random, non-related fic i wrote on a whim. nothing belongs to me.

bertrand wished he'd just enrolled as a garside student.

it wouldn't have been hard to falsify paperwork, and he was sure he could pass for an old-looking 18 year old trying to retake his first year of sixth-form. then things would have been so much simpler. admittedly, he would have had to deal with

eathers all day – and worse, schoolwork – but there would have been far fewer obstacles between him and what he wanted more than anything in the world.

the curly-haired student was standing at his locker, trying to weed out the books he didn't need today from his

and new schoolbag, when he became aware of a presence behind him. he turned to find vladimir dracula watching his every move. "hi. i haven't seen you before, thought i'd say hello. i'm vlad, vlad count."bertrand closed his locker door and nodded formally, shaking the hand vlad offered and willing him to notice the coldness of his skin. "bertrand du fortunesa."

vlad seemed determined to take the new student under his wing; erin couldn't understand why until he pulled her aside at lunch. "the new guy, bertrand, he's like us. i'm going to ask him to stay at the school – he might be alright living in town now, but come summer term he'll find it really difficult to get in every day." by the time night fell, everything was arranged with the count and bertrand returned just after dark with his few possessions.

actually meeting the count was a revelation in itself; bertrand managed to slip away from vlad and erin as they sat doing homework and hunted the famous vampire down by himself. "you're the new kid at school? you must be centuries old. what are your intentions towards my vlad?" of course he was going to suspect a power play, but bertrand hastened to reassure him. "i have a book – the praedictum impaver. it's my job to see that the chosen one opens it. i was going to come as a tutor, but i've heard stories about the previous applicants, so this might be a better approach." the count seemed to accept this, but bertrand was sure he'd be watching him closely for a few weeks.

ingrid was impressed; vlad had never had any friends at this school, as far as she could tell, and now he was almost popular, spending time with erin and the girls she liked to hang out with, and bertrand, who was quickly picking up in popularity due to his complete indifference to everyone in the class. she knew the older vampire's opinion on

eathers, and figured that indifference was unlikely to change any time soon. vlad was suddenly surrounded by people on a regular basis, and maybe that would turn him against

eathers himself once they had chance to mess him about.

erin was interested in vlad, bertrand knew. they'd been flirting for a while now, and it could only be a matter of time before she made her move. bertrand didn't know why, but he didn't want that to happen. she could have any of the

eathers in the school, for all he cared, but not vlad. he and vlad were sitting in his coffin room after school one day, hiding from the count and his increasingly crazy demands, when bertrand realised there was only one way to make absolutely sure that erin didn't get her claws into the boy, and that was to make sure he was unavailable. bertrand was increasingly certain that this would be a case of killing two birds with one stone, because it wasn't normal to feel this way about your best friend, he was sure. even if you'd never had a best friend before.

vlad was staring at his history textbook. "bertrand, you're good at this stuff. can i have a look at your notes?" he nodded distractedly. "they're in my bag." of course, it was highly unlikely that vlad would be interested in him, but he thought it was worth trying. "vlad, listen, i-" he trailed off as the younger vampire pulled out a huge, heavy book from his bag. "what's this?" bertrand sighed. it seemed they were destined to have a different life-changing conversation today.

vlad's reaction to 'i'm 400 years old and i've spent all that time trying to find you and give you this book' was more or less what bertrand had expected; he'd been angry at being deceived and irked by the reminder that he was the chosen one and would eventually have to do something about it. he'd become so angry that the book had zapped him with some kind of power and bertrand had been thrown backwards across the small room. vlad had looked horrified and rushed from the room.