1. Alternative Medicine (1/2)
so this is a bit of a challenge to myself - writing an alternative plot to series 5 as it happens. this means i have no idea where the series, or this story, will go, but i'm going to try to keep as much in as i can. some characters may be completely different, though! here's episode one.
it does rely a bit on you having seen the episode (i didn't want to repeat myself) and it's got less dialogue in it than an actual episode would require, but whatever.
totally full of spoilers for 5x01
renfield was counting quietly to himself, trying to reach two million before his young playmate got bored and wandered off, when he heard a noise that seemed out of place. a voice, perhaps, along the corridor. prowling out to see what was happening, he noticed that a window had been forced open and closed it firmly, and the realisation sent shivers shooting down his spine. he rushed to the stash of weapons and potions, grabbed some pigweed and a net, then picked up a chain for good measure and raced along the corridor.
he didn't remember, later, what he cried as he single-handedly subdued the hooded figure – no doubt a slayer threat - and he didn't have much memory of telling the count, though he was sure his master had been incredibly proud and grateful. what he did remember, however, was the sickening lurch in his stomach as he realised that the net and chain lay empty on the floor.
at last, everything became clear. master vlad was back.
with hindsight, vlad was glad he'd decided to run through his newly-learned process once more for practice before attempting anything that would truly require the protective charm he'd scrawled on the blackboard. renfield had doused him in pigweed, of all things, and he had no idea what effect that would have had on his plans.
then, of course, he'd been reunited with his family and all hope of getting things done quietly before they could distract him had been lost. they'd been mildly unimpressed by his demonstration of his meditation technique and reacted predictably enough to his vegetarianism, which he suspected had mortally offended renfield, so soon enough he'd deemed it wisest to retreat to his room.
he knew what they thought of his new lifestyle, his journey across the world to become 'a dirty unwashed hippy' as his father had told him when he set out, but they could never understand. this pilgrimage, of sorts, and the new diet, they were only the tip of a vast iceberg. it would take so much more than this to cleanse himself of what he'd done, to detoxify his spirit. perhaps, he had been warned, it could never be done. but he had to try to make amends.
now that he was home, he wasn't sure that coming back just yet had been a good idea after all. what if he wasn't ready? what if he strayed down that dark path again, or simply failed to stay on the right course? perhaps he should return to the masters, or to talitha. there had to be more he could learn, there had to be a surer way...
well, there was no way he'd be able to get back before dawn, so he supposed he'd just have to bunk down in his old room for the day before heading off once more.
ingrid had been an official member of the vampire high council for a few months now, and she was sick and tired of being at the bottom of the pecking order. tonight, however, all that was going to change. the head of education had been caught fiddling his expenses, and now his job was open. she would have to be sure to have her office thoroughly swept and dusted, just in case there were any lingering remnants of its previous occupant there.
"when do i start?" she smirked victoriously at the vampire behind the desk, but her face fell as he led her into the new head of education's office and introduced her as the head of catering. suited to her natural abilities, indeed. she was fuming as she took his drinks order, forced pleasant conversation about his ridiculous technology, and continued on her rounds. by the time she'd suffered the indignity of introducing herself as the head of catering – a fancy name for what was clearly a tea lady's job – to everyone on the council, she'd realised a few very important things.
the first was that she was in no way cut out to be a tea lady; the second was that she'd taken so long in swallowing her pride as she made her rounds that it was almost dawn. with those two things in mind, she took off for home without so much as bothering to find the blood cellar.
when she landed back at garside, however, she allowed herself a tiny smile of grim determination. the third thing she'd realised in her travels was that people would do and say all sorts of things when there was only a lowly tea lady to hear them. that meant information, and information she could use. ingrid dracula wouldn't be a tea lady for long.
his father was trying to convince him to stay, even as vlad started packing his bags. somewhere in the distance, he could hear renfield hunting around for something; wolfie, no doubt. at last, his father asked him if he'd show him how to meditate."is that why you've been hanging around?" the count nodded reluctantly, and vlad set his bag aside. "well, why didn't you say that was what you wanted? of course i'll teach you." putting off his departure for one night to spend some quality time with his dad couldn't hurt, after all.
as he should have predicted, the count quickly grew bored of meditating and started quizzing him about his travels instead."where on earth did you get those chopsticks?" vlad sighed."they're not chopsticks. they're tibetan meditation sticks. they're black and white to represent yin and yang. negative and positive. darkness and light. death... and life." he sighed. "every vampire holds both within himself, and is truly neither. the balance is important." he glanced up from the sticks he was holding to see that his father had actually fallen asleep, still sitting cross-legged on the floor. well, there was nothing like an appreciative audience... and this was nothing like an appreciative audience.
he gazed absently at the black stick for a while, thoughts wandering to talitha. she would tell him to stay a little longer, he was sure. stay until you've finished your business. he supposed she would say that, but all the same it might well be sound advice. if there was one solid thing about talitha, it was her common sense.
well, then. he'd leave tomorrow night, and perhaps by then he'd have plucked up the nerve to try it for real.
ingrid spent the day watching a
eather set up her new state-of-the-art computer. she pressed a random button, when he was done, and watched as an error code flashed up. it never hurt to be underestimated, after all. but then, as he offered to help her with her task, he managed to turn it into a bargain; his assistance for a date.