#oh drac

[blackmeetsworld]

I don’t think I will ever emotionally recover from Castlevania: Nocturne, s1.

Ever

[mostlywritersblock]

Dracula 2019 fic

Part 5

****

Zoe watched the exchange with curiosity, thoughts racing a mile a minute. Agatha was still fuming somewhere deep inside her when a stranger thought occurred to her. Slowly Zoe’s eyes landed on the mug resting precariously on the desk edge.

Jonathan had drank from it.

He’d actually swallowed.

Agatha’s rage was becoming loud again.

“What are you drinking Mr. Harker?” Her voice had a strange foreign lit to it.

Both Dracula and Jonathan turned to her.

“Blood.” Jonathan answered easily enough. Zoe felt her stomach drop.

Well shit. Now she had two homicidal vampires on the loose.

“You know for someone who claims they’re better than another, killing people still seems to pass judgement.” And damn that was not her voice talking.

Jonathan actually looked guilty. But only momentarily.

“It’s not-I didn’t kill anyone for this blood. When, when the foundation first came up with the idea of volunteerism for the project I thought it was a stroke of genius. So, I enlisted my own volunteers. I have been for a very long time.”

Zoe stared. “You don’t kill people.”

“No Dr. Helsing.”

Zoe was shocked, shocked because that meant the idea to sustain vampires in the most pacifist manner was possible. It- it opened so many doors, so many new possibilities. A whole species that could coincide! And here she’d started to doubt, what with the way Dracula turned his nose up at the idea.

Dracula, who turned down most of her brilliant ideas simply because he didn’t want to.

Dracula who still drank live blood.

Dracula who kills people

Dracula who slaughters without so much as a second thought.

Zoe was pissed.

In one swift motion she was crossing the floor to them. She deftly picked up the mug, looked at its deep scarlet contents, and held it out to Dracula.

“Drink it.”

Dracula all but sneered. “What? Why would I-“

“I’m not asking, drink the fucking blood.” She hissed. Out of the corner of her eye she watched Jonathan’s eyebrows shoot up, looking between the two.

Dracula frowned, he wasn’t one for taking orders but something in the tone of Zoe’s voice had him reassessing his next move. Slowly and with all the attitude of a petulant (refined) teenager he took the mug. Sniffed it once and then maintaining eye contact tipped the mug back and drank the rest of the contents in one swallow.

Dracula set the mug back down, tasting the life in his mouth like one taste wine.

“Interesting, a little dull, the flavors gone much to cold, and there’s some deep rooted issues that need to be resolved.”

Dracula clicked his tongue, “All in all not the most horrible drink I’ve had, but certainly not to my palette I should think.”

“Oh for Christ sake Dracula!” Zoe threw her arms up. “This could be a wonderful alternative.”

“No, we’ve already been over this Zoe, nothing compares to live blood, this is hardly second rate at best.” Dracula folded his arms, a smirk playing on his lips.

“Screw your palette and screw you.” She glared. “You’re always going on about how much better you are than everyone else, how no one can understand because we’ve only lived the one life time. Well here’s something, Jonathan has and as far as I’m concerned he’s doing much better than you with only having one third the amount of time.”

Silence.

Zoe could tell she’d hit a nerve, albeit a nerve she didn’t know existed but it was there all the same and glaringly obvious now that she could see it. A vileness coursed through her, if she played her cards right she might actually get somewhere with this.

Throwing him her own sneer Zoe stepped in close. “That’s right, it’s true, Jonathan really is a better you. I mean look at this place.” She gestured to the large office. “Look at this building, look at all the money Jonathan’s been tossing our way for years, and we never suspected a thing. No paper trail to follow, sorry blood trail I suppose. No missing people or bodies. No scandals, no sinking ships. Clean as a bloody whistle. And he still manages to be everything you aren’t.” Zoe finished her rant calmly but she could see the tendrils of frustration coming off the Count in waves. An image of a black wolf scratching through a gate flashed across her mind.

Weird.

Dracula let out an unsettling chuckle.

“Really? That’s it? Come on you can do better than that, Zoe. You’re so close! Maybe try with a little more emotion, anger looks good on you.”

Zoe let out an exasperated sigh and took a step back.

“Look, believe it or not Dracula but I’m trying to help you. Before today there was no one else alive like you, you were one of a kind. And despite the fact that you’re a royal bastard and kill people, it’s my job as a scientist to understand why. Why you are the way you are, how come you and Mr. Harker are two of the only people who survived the initial turning point. Why is that? Maybe there’s something similar in your DNA, maybe it’s something as simple as where you came from or as small as what you ate. Whatever the answer, know that I intend to find out.”

She took in another deep breath. “That being said all of this could be in your best self interest so I don’t see how it couldn’t hurt you to compromise just a little and stick to the volunteer program?”

Dracula eyed her curiously for a moment.

“You’re serious aren’t you? What, now we work together Zoe? I don’t think Agatha will be pleased.”

“We were already working together, we just hadn’t acknowledged it.”

“Oh, and now we are?”

Zoe closed her eyes in frustration. “I’m willing to put aside our differences in the name of science if you are.”

Dracula was looking at her curiously again.

“Let’s say I agree, you and your team continue to run test while I’m stuck in a cage being injected with blood every few hours until you make some kind of break through? Not really my cup of tea darling.”

“How about you agree to come in for testing once a day but maintain your freedom elsewhere, you also keep to a strict diet of volunteer blood.”

Dracula actually seemed to be considering her deal.

Holy shit.

There was a small sigh to the side of them and Zoe was almost embarrassed to admit she’d almost forgotten Jonathan.

Dracula didn’t. His eyes lit up viscously and his grin showed too much teeth. Jonathan for for his part looked like he regretted gaining back their attention.

“Alright Zoe, I’ll agree to this deal of yours on one condition.”

Zoe couldn’t believe it, was he really going to agree to stop drinking live blood?

No more killing.

“Johnny has to attend the test as well, with me.”

It was too good to be true, Zoe felt the floor being pulled out right from under her. How could she have been so naive.

Jonathan floundered in as much an Englishman can.

“What? No-no, no I won’t, I want no part of this deal. Please, just go, I’m warning you.” Jonathan let out a slight growl, eyes pinning Dracula with a glare.

“Alright fine, you don’t have to Johnny that’s your choice...just know all the lives of the people I’m going to kill from here on out will be on your hands.”

Well.

Fuck.

Watching Dracula work his magic was saying something for sure, but to watch him pin Jonathan so easily between two evils was horrifying and terrible. Zoe wanted to say something, wanted to voice her opinion on the matter, that Jonathan shouldn’t be involved not if he truly didn’t want to. Not after the amount of pain she saw flash in his eyes.

She said nothing.

She said nothing because she knew that Dracula had already made up his mind and there was no going back. It was either agree to his terms or nothing at all. And Zoe was not about to give up the potential opportunity to save as many lives as possible.

She’d awoken this sleeping dragon. Now he was her responsibility.

Both Zoe and he watched as Jonathan seemed to come to terms with himself. With the decision before him, and if Dracula still knew his Johnny like he thought he did then there was no way the man was going to condemn anyone.

“Al-alright. I agree.”

Zoe stared in awe for a moment before holding her hand out to the Count.

Dracula gently took her hand in his.

“I agree as well.” He said smoothly.

Zoe nodded once before retracting her arm. “Good.” She turned to Jonathan, “thank you for agreeing as well Mr. Harker.”

Jonathan didn’t reply, he just sat heavily in his chair as if he was carrying some unquestionable amount of weight on his shoulders.

Maybe he was.

Maybe they both were.

******

Leaving the building was a lot harder than Zoe has expected, mostly because Dracula wasn’t taking any excuses. He wanted to make sure rules where in place but mostly he wanted conformation from Jonathan about attending the test as well. Eventually though Zoe had to step in, at some point it seemed Jonathan had ran out of words to say to Dracula and simply sat numbly in his chair. Zoe could see the defeat easily enough, which is why she quickly wrote down her number and placed it in front of him. She told him to give her people a call and they’d arrange everything. She then pointed to the number on the desk.

“This is my personal mobile, in case you need to reach me.” There was a note of pity in her voice and she hoped he hadn’t picked up on it. Jonathan didn’t acknowledge her, but she had a feeling he heard her.

Next she grabbed Dracula’s elbow and started pulling him out of the office, Dracula looked like he wanted to protest but Zoe threw him a look before he could open his mouth. Instead he glanced back at Jonathan.

“Bye bye Johnny, see you soon.” He grinned brightly and waved as they stepped through the glass doors.

Inside the elevator Zoe rounded on him.

“Just so we’re clear what you did back there to him was not alright.”

Dracula rolled his eyes. “Of course it wasn’t but how else am I going to get him to spend time with me.”

Zoe was floored. “You can’t be serious, he hates you.”

“So did you as I recall, and here we are.”

Zoe scoffed but didn’t deny it. “Forcing him to come to these test with you isn’t going to do anything but cause more harm.”

“And here I thought you’d be happy to have another test subject, what with all that talk about having a base to go off of? Now you can scientifically compare us.”

“Don’t be an arse, that was before..”

“Before, what, Zoe?” Dracula prompted.

“Before I saw his eyes.”

There was a long pause, and Zoe was about to drop the discussion altogether for the time being until Dracula spoke up in a hushed voice.

“They are beautiful though, aren’t they...I was so worried they wouldn’t keep. And yet, even a century later...”

Zoe looked over as the Count trailed off, seemingly lost in his thoughts.

Neither said anything further as they were about to step off the lift and into the lobby.

****

TBC