6. Alternative Alliances (1/2)
ok, so this is late again. sorry. all bets are off for next week, frankly. enjoy.
spoilers up to 5x05 (yes, we're behind again) and it won't make much sense if you've not seen that.
disclaimer: not mine. heavily borrowed from cbbc.
huddled inside the circle of candles, the draculas and their guests took the opportunity to get up to speed on the latest developments."who are the
eathers?" malik began, and vlad rushed to answer before anyone else could open their mouths."my tutor-" bertrand looked like he was trying to suppress a wounded look and vlad winced, but it couldn't be helped, "-and her daughter. sally and george. what's happening with these shadow warriors? why are you really here, malik?""i told you, i'm trying to get away from them. it's not just the defanging that made him angry, he's taking revenge on everyone who's ever slighted him, all over the world. vampires were flooding to the catacombs in paris, trying to hide, hoping for safety in numbers – that's where i met asan – but they found us there, too. we barely escaped." he closed his eyes for a moment, hanging his head, then looked up at vlad with a more sorrowful expression than vlad had ever seen from him. "erin wasn't so lucky. i'm sorry."
the news barely touched him; he couldn't take it in, and so he discarded the information, for the moment. it wasn't relevant just now; he could mourn when they were safe."and you, bertrand? where did you go after i
ought you back, straight to malik? were you working with him all along after all?" now bertrand didn't bother to conceal his hurt."i went to davos ikeous in the mountains, to find out if it was
inging me back that had made you ill. i meant to
ing back a cure as soon as possible, but asan and malik arrived in the middle of the night with news of the shadow warriors and the next thing we knew, they were there too. davos is fine – he has a light-room, as you know, constant moonlight – but everyone who went in there is locked down until the shadow warriors leave. we had to get back here, so asan offered to
ing us, and here we are.""if you went to davos, did you meet his assistant?""talitha? yes." vlad relaxed a fraction at bertrand's assertion but malik couldn't seem to resist butting in with a smirk."she's very... spirited." well, he supposed he had to give him that.
"right. let's go and find some torches, put the lights on, all that stuff. renfield, bertrand... malik, you'd better come too. come on."
"oh, yeah, of course. leave the women and children behind, all this saving people from monsters stuff is man's work." ingrid was fuming, prowling the edges of the circle, and her father was trying to placate her."i'm here too, it's not like everyone here is completely useless." for some reason, his apologetic grimace was directed at asan. ingrid snorted."that's debatable. alright, the women, children, and decrepit old men. happy?""not particularly."
at this juncture, sally seemed to decide it was a good idea to interrupt."do you take in anyone who comes here looking for help?" the count grimaced, obviously affronted by the implication that he was a pushover."no, of course not! just-""erin, ryan, bertrand, wolfie, malik, malik's entire gang of street-fangs..." ingrid finished with a smirk."i- that was-""perhaps i misjudged you," sally allowed, "you're not such a monster after all."
at that, her father had the nerve to look pleased. ingrid folded her arms and glared at them all.
"i don't see why you wanted me to come too, someone should probably stay and look after the kids and the girls-" malik was complaining, and vlad was getting sick of it."ingrid can take care of herself, and dad'll look after everyone else. i'm not leaving you with any of the kids or
eathers unguarded, i still don't trust you.""charming.""can you blame me, malik?""oh, yeah, 'cos you're so perfect. remind me, what did bertrand do to betray you-?""malik, stop." that was bertrand himself, laying a hand on the small of vlad's back as if to reassure him that he was forgiven."but he-""enough. if you two must fight, you can stick to your own grudges. don't drag me into it. but i rather thought we had more important matters at hand." vlad wasn't sure how he felt about being forgiven so easily, but bertrand was right; the shadow warriors were more important. renfield had reached the fuse box now, only to find a mess of tangled wires and blown fuses. the other draculas hadn't been much for electric light since the school had closed, it seemed."oh – but we do have... a torch, and a glowstick. from the school disco." he snapped it and held it up, grinning stupidly. vlad snatched the torch and switched it on."this is it?" he didn't have much time to complain, though, as bertrand grabbed his hand and twisted the torch to point straight at a shadow that had just appeared in the dim light of the hallway. it vapourised, but no doubt it would be back soon. "run!"
in their scramble to get up the stairs, renfield panicked and dropped his glowstick. there were three of the creatures now, but as one of them stepped forward onto the glowstick, smashing it, it began to sizzle and fled. its comrades seemed to be distracted, so bertrand grabbed renfield and they all bundled back into the room where the others waited."we've got a torch. but... renfield threw a glowstick at one and it hurt it." the count frowned."well, have we got more of these... glowsticks?""er... no, master. but if i can get to the kitchen, i can make the insidey bit."
with that, it was decided. renfield needed a diversion so he could do his science; they split into teams and, cautiously, left the circle of light.
"stay close, wolfie," ingrid told her little
other, "i'll look after you." malik was a little way ahead, but wolfie obediently stuck with ingrid."i don't like that boy that came," he told her quietly, "asan, he scares me a bit.""why does he scare you? more than bertrand who should be dead, or malik who went on a rampage?""that was my mother-" malik protested, before turning to sweep his torch over another stretch of wall."he knocked one of the candles over earlier, so it went out, and whenever i tried to tell anyone he interrupted me.""you can't just not like strangers because they talk, wol-" then malik yelped as a shadow warrior appeared from nowhere and sent him flying sideways, and ingrid abandoned the conversation to wave a candle at it before handing the light to wolfie. "keep hold of- wolfie, run!"