winter | Public announcement

Injured!Dawn will definitely be post-Sarah and gah. Herbert and VK are breaking me entirely apart with the scene where VK sends Herbie out the room.

Don't blame you, really. Toss it my way once you've got a bit down?

Naturally :D

BTW, corollary is you're not in the mood for Van Helsing sillyness, right? :) *shoos hungover!Vlad back to the Word file*

Anything goes :D

There was someone at the gate again.

Normally Vlad Dracula would just ignore the knocking, or more likely not hear it at all from the master bedroom on top of the highest tower, but the day before had been the anniversary of his death. After suffering Gabriel’s brooding for six hours, he had managed to get them both drunk in an attempt to forget all about it. The night turned out to be a memorable one, but the corollary was that they were now spread out in front of the fireplace in the dining hall, and the pounding on the door was echoed by a more insistent rhythm in Vlad’s head.

Vlad grabbed blindly at a shirt as he stumbled towards the entrance hall. It turned out to be Gabriel’s, too big for him, so he just left it unbuttoned. Anyone stupid enough to knock on the door to a vampire’s castle at noon did not deserve decorum anyway.

The fact that the visitor was knocking on the gate from the inside, past the locks and deadbolts and portcullis, was Vlad’s first hint that this wasn’t a simple travelling salesman. The other was the fact that the boy – sixteen if he was a day, with blond curls and eyes like a blue-eyed cow – was glowing.

Dracula had spent time in Lucifer’s domain. It took more than a little glow to phase him. “What?”

“Uh – morning, sir!” the boy squeaked as he jumped. His wide eyes took in Vlad’s disheveled form and he blushed crimson. “I- I mean – m-“

“It’s afternoon,” Vlad interrupted irritably. His head was now pulsing with pain in tune with the stuttering. “And out with it, boy.”

“Um, I have-“ The boy gave up on verbal explanations and proferred a letter.

It was parchment, something Vlad hadn’t seen in a few centuries outside his own study. It was also clearly addressed to one Gabriel, Castle Dracula, Transylvania.

Not Gabriel Van Helsing, then? At least that ruled out the Vatican. He was hoping they wouldn’t want their toy back, since he was getting used to having Gabriel around.

“Thank you,” he muttered as he examined the letter. There was another line in the address, in a strange script that explained a lot. “Fare well on your way back.”

The change in lighting made him look up again. The boy’s glow – halo – was pulsing nervously.

“Uh,” the boy began again. “It’s RSVP?”

Vlad snarled. A sleepy growl announced the arrival of a dishevelled – and shirtless, since Vlad had appropriated that piece of clothing – Gabriel in the hall. Vlad threw the letter at him and stalked out of the hallway.

He could think of much better things to do than dealing with cherubim first thing in the morning.

Hee! Poor Dracula :D Angels are really not the best way to wake up in the morning ;D

It took Gabriel another hour to find him again, and by that time the hunter had managed to both find another shirt and get it dirty through – sword practice, Vlad decided after sniffing the air. All in all, if Gabriel was looking to put Vlad in a better mood, he hadn’t taken the best way to go about it.

Vlad tried to wrench the coffin lid back down, but Gabriel wouldn’t budge. Instead, the infuriating man handed him the letter.

”Dear Gabriel,” Dracula read silently.

“It is my brightest pleasure to invite you to a Festivity in the honour of Love, Peace and Goodwill among all of Our Kind. I am hoping that we can Get Along and treat this as an opportunity to expand our Horizons. The Event will take place in the establishment of Madame Racelle in Rue Houdon, in the Montmartre Quarter of the city of Paris. You are Most Cordially invited to attend, with whichever companion you choose.

Yours in God’s Eternal Grace and Glory,

Rafael

P.S. Gabe, please? You Owe me!

P.P.S. Mike says no weapons. I think that might be a Good Idea.

Vlad looked up. “No.”

Gabriel sighed and touched Vlad’s cheek gently.

Vlad wondered if that silver stake was still around.

BAHAHAH! Aren't angelic siblings fun? :D

Rafael is the one even Azirafale's slightly embarassed about :D

Wait till Raguel shows up. Two words: vengeance angel.

Von Krolock nodded in quiet agreement. “She is, but she is strong and she is ready to test the world. Do not bind her and hold her back. Let her choose and she will love you the more for it.”

Her indecision pulsed against his senses as strongly as her heartbeat.

With the utmost gentleness, he directed her back, to her Watcher’s protection. “I shall say nothing further to sway you,” he said, then lifted his eyes to the man, who was watching him with wary and intrigued bewilderment. “Take care of your Slayer, Watcher. I must see to my own child.”

“Of... of course,” the man said, laying his hands on the Slayer’s shoulders.

Without giving the Slayer another glance, von Krolock turned away and strode across the room, aware of the disorientated emotion he was leaving in his wake, a subtle smile catching the corner of his mouth.

Behind him, he heard the Slayer’s dazed voice mumble, “Giles, what is he?”

I really admire the way he's toeing the line, but ending up not pissing her off, and leaving her with warm feelings towards him instead. The touch of a true master :D

He's a manipulative git :D Playing Buffy at her own game ;)

But he's manipulative in STYLE :D

What's next? Jumping ahead to injured Dawn, or Faith vs Spike this time?

Injured Dawn, just cos GAH!

!

Doesn't help I'm a total sucker for emotional!VK interactions with Herbert...

Figured out how she got injured too - these vampire killers = the most moronic of the moronic.

Tried to stake her, then?

Yup. Missed and got her with a dirty great chunk of wood in the belly. Splinters yay!1

My Herbert could relate ;) But yeah, good narrative idea - slow, painful, situation bound to degenerate and/or negatively impact life quality forever afterwards without magical help even with state of the art medical technology...

Aren't belly wounds the most useful things ever? ;) VK's trying to stop himself freaking out by the amount of internal bleeding at the moment. Basically, a smaller piece of wood would have meant they could have got her to a hospital and had her patched, but this chunk was big and it went in deep and tore was more than it otherwise would have.

Yay for internal organ damage, then :>

(And oy, isn't it a pain in the, well, gut, to get someone to die a slow fight-induced death in this day and age? Damn these antibiotics...)

It's why he does what he swore he would never do and breaks into her head. He needed something big to happen and now, since he can't heal her, he needs to trigger her so she can do it herself. Spike is freaking out totally.

I'm overrun! BUNNIES!

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here's hoping it doesn't break your angsty writing...

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