rules / mun / blog

@kiraly​

“You must be Mr. Vlad Țepeș. Your wife mentioned you.” Graham spoke with a quiet voice, after he’d been given his introduction by his wife. There was a smile toying at his lips after he’d watched the two of them interact, sparing almost no attention to the poor old woman who’d just had the scare of her life. The poor thing was cowering, unable to understand how Lisa could have been alive. It didn’t matter. 

“My name is Graham Jones. It’s good to make your acquaintance. I’m glad that I was able to stop that barbaric ritual in time.” Thankfully, he’d managed to reach her before the fire had risen high enough to singe either of them.

He’ll stop forward to raise his hand for a friendly handshake, almost on autopilot. It was what you were supposed to do when giving a polite greeting, after all. 

it was all so much white noise. the world, that is. vlad’s had consisted of nothing but his wife from the instant he’d heard her call his name. oh, how he’d changed from one heartbeat to the next. no longer were flames licking at his clothing, brought to life by his breaking heart and seething rage. now he stood all but wrapped around the blond woman, all long arms and broad shoulders and dark cloth engulfing her, shielding her from view, from the world. then a voice filtered through the din of his slowly calming fury. red eyes open to meet an unfamiliar face.

Adrian did indeed think of the town as his. It was where his friends were and their families were. What if the murderer hurt one of them? The dhampir would feel it was his fault for knowing something was wrong but did nothing to stop it. He couldn’t just let whoever was doing this just continue.

Being told no he glared at his father and stomped his feet in a huff, though he was far too cute to be anything even resembling threatening. “They can’t sort it out if they don’t know, father!” Adrian retorted and his shoulders slumped in defeat. “I can’t even warn them because the adults don’t listen to kids…” His brows scrunched as his mind tried to come up with ideas to try and tell the town without getting directly involved. Maybe leave clues to lead them to the tree of corpses, that would be a good way of helping.

He turned his golden gaze back to his father and offered a weak smile. “Tomorrow night lets find a new spot to train, away from the forest.”

vlad doesn’t miss that glint of thought in his sons eyes. the boy is far too smart for his own good most of the time, and this will most likely be one of them. adrian was his mothers son. “ of course, son, ” oh, they will find somewhere else to train, for sure, because he’s going to move the castle. he doesn’t tell his son this. it wasn’t going to be something the younger wants to hear, he knows, and he feels remorse for it, about essentially going behind his back, but it would be untold numbers worse should something happen to adrian for trying to do the right thing- which, of course, it will, because it always does. when it comes to humans, no good deed goes unpunished.

     she  can  only  imagine  how  sensitive  his  heart  and  soul  are.  seeing  someone  you  love  burn  to  death  and  only  being  to  save  her  with  his  blood.  she  couldn’t  ever  imagine  losing  vlad  or  her  precious  little  adrian,  but  she  knew  she  would  never  get  revenge  like  that.  it  would  hurt  more  than  anything,  but  lisa  couldn’t  bear  the  thought  of  harming  another  living  soul  either.  does  that  make  her  a  bad  wife  or  mother  if  she  didn’t?  maybe.  no  one  really  knew  what  was  justified  as  right  or  wrong  in  a  situation  such  as  theirs.  ❛  vlad..  ❜  her  features  dim  as  he  steps  from  her  in  shock  of  her  response.

     ❛  vlad..  ❜  she  speaks  again,  soft  and  concerning  as  her  hands  reach  for  his.  ❛  you  have  to  understand.  not  everyone  is  open  minded  like  i  am.  i’m  still  with  you.  i’m  still  here..  isn’t  that  enough?  ❜  she  doesn’t  expect  him  to  say  yes,  but  she  hopes  that  for  as  long  as  they’re  together  that  she’ll  be  able  to  teach  him  the  patience  and  kindness  towards  humans  as  she’s  shown  towards  him.

was it? was it enough? standing back from her, vlads red eyes wandered her form, they watch her hand, so small, gentle, soft, and loving, reaching out for his own. he allows the touch, his hand shaking -with rage, with sadness and stress- and his heart trips over itself painfully. she’s cool to the touch- not cold, not dead, but neither is she warm. not like she used to be. it takes a heart beat, but his fingers, long and clawed, return the gesture. it should be enough.

it should be enough that she’s back. that she’s here with him again, her hand in his, undead as they both are now. eyes twitch in anger as he stares at their interlocked fingers. yes, she was back, but she shouldn’t have been killed in the first place. she shouldn’t have lost her warmth.

Adrian was silent on the way to the castle, by the time they were inside it’s walls the boy had stopped shaking and crying. For any other child the gloomy castle would be scarry, but Adrian had been here since he was born. This was home and he felt safe. He pulled away from his father to look around and listen. “Mama…” He murmured softly, wanting to be with Lisa.

“Mother is is sleeping.” The boy said once his senses picked up on his other parent and pouted. He wanted to see her but didn’t want to wake her, Adrian could wait until later. The dhampir rested his head against his father’s chest and waited to be taken to his own room, pale fingers poking at the buttons on his father’s vest to occupy himself until they arrived. Once in his bedroom he wiggled free from his father’s grip and hopped down to hurry over to his bed and grab his stuffed teddy bear to cling to.

“On the bad tree, I recognized one of the dead people.” Adrian said looking up to his father. “He was the baker in town, Frederik. He was a nice man, I helped him last week carrying some crates into his shop and he gave me a bread roll in the shape of a butterfly. Frederik wouldn’t hurt anyone…” Adrian shook his head not liking this at all. “I want to find the bad person and fight him, father.”

vlad frowned. had lisa heard her son just now, he knew she’d be greatly unhappy. carefully, the vampire moves to adrians side, falling to one knee and raising a hand to cup the others small cheek. “ adrian, ” he starts, tucking a strand of hair behind the youngers ear. he strugles to find his next words. the hurt and the anger was clear in his sons eyes when he looked into them. normally so bright and full of life and joy, now seemed darkened, overcast and dim with grife and anger, bloodshot and tired from his tears. adrians face made for love and life, bright sunny days and comfort, not sadness and anger. the family had been near this town for some time now, vlad understood, like most vampires when they settled into a regrion, adrian likely though of it has his, the people there, his.