Down the hill from the castle, the Brannagh family waits for the return of the black sheep of the family, Robin, and the patriarch of the family, Graham. Slowly, as the minutes pass, a growing sense of anxiety builds in the group, audible in each word as they make idle conversation to pass the time. After a small while, the conversation died out, and most everyone resolved to wait in silence.
"This is like a horror film!" Ian declares excitedly, clearly the exception to 'most everyone'. Being met by the confused looks of his family, he feels the need to clarify what exactly he means. "Y'know, one by one up the castle, never to return?"
"Though, he is gonna return, isn't he?" Paul pipes in, an edge of worry and uncertainty in his voice.
Elizabeth, taking notice of the current distress growing in her eldest sons, moves to reassure them about the wellbeing of their father. "He's probably talking to them about the plumbing, y'know what he's like." Then, taking a moment to consider the issue, she supplies, "Maybe someone should go up and get him."
Looking to the boys, she watches as they turn to eachother, passing an unspoken question between them, 'who would go?' After a second, having come to some sort of conclusion, they both turn to look at their younger sister. Feeling the gazes of her two eldest brothers, and not hearing a single word of volunteerance from either of them, she turns, meeting their eyes in a show of defiance before sighing and trudging reluctantly up the hill.
"She can't go by herself." Mrs. Brannagh states, unwilling to let her youngest child go up to the castle-which her husband and son have yet to return from- without anyone to keep her safe.
Ian, completely missing the, quite obvious, prompt for them to go with her, agrees. "Right!"
"""....""""
As realization dawn's on Ian Brannaghs face, he exclaims in, not quite surprise, but something quite close to it. "Oh, you mean us!" Turning from his mother, he grabs his brother by his partially zipped up hoodie and drags him along. "C'mon paul."
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With the Dracula family up at the castle, a tense silence has descended in the tower. Having gotten the stranger off of the windowsill, and onto the cold stone floor of the tower room, Vlad and Ingrid are left confused and greatly irritated respectively. Giving the boy a minute to catch his breath, both of the Dracula siblings occupy themselves thinking about why the stranger had climbed the castle tower.
Vlad frowns, his displeasure evident as his mind becomes wracked by anxiety and fear. 'Have we been discovered already? Do the slayers know where we are? Or is this some rogue expedition, a scout sent by the townspeople?'
Ingrid recognises her brother's thoughts, them being plastered on his face via the now deep scowl he is directing at the boy. Moving slightly to her left, she bumps forcefully into his side, diverting him, at least temporarily, from his thoughts. He turns to meet her eyes, and she sends him a look. Y'know the kind. One of those looks that conveys an entire sentence in an instant simply due to the emotions contained within.
This particular look, one of annoyance and exasperation, was intended to convey the message, 'Stop being such a BAT-BRAIN! There's no use panicking when we don't have any of the facts.'.
Vlad understands it well enough. visibly decompressing, he lets out a long, steady breath as his face relaxes and his grimace fades from his features. Nodding to his sister lightly, Vlad briefly casts his gaze back to the window boy in prompt, directing both their attention back to the stranger.
Eyeing the boy thoughtfully, both Ingrid and Vlad considered his strange attire and odd appearance, hoping to gleam some information as to his identity through his clothes and the things he had on him. He didn't LOOK like a slayer, though, they suppose they had no idea what an English slayer would look like, or whether they'd be able to distinguish one even if they did. He was wearing mostly black, with dark hair, pale skin, and a..... cloak?
"Shall I bite him master?" Zoltan asks, unwittingly breaking the ice for them and beginning the conversation (Read: interrogation).
Taking a moment to think on his hellhounds proposition, Vlad decides to wait before doing anything drasic. After all, the stranger had seemed amicable enough when they were talking previously. Though, the fact he was hanging above a massive drop and needed his help to not die might have played some part in that. "Hmmm...Not yet."
"Hey, wait! Don't I get a say in this?" Ingrid questions, insulted by the lack of any consideration for what she thinks. Maybe SHE wants Zoltan to bite the creep. Scratch that, she definitely wants that.
Smirking triumphantly, Vlad recons back to the car ride. His victorious grin turns impish as he answers her question with his own. "Well, that depends. What did you say Zoltan IS again?"
Ingrid, incensed by Vlad's provocation, argues back against her snotty little brother. "GRH! He snuck into MY room! So I get a say! Zoltan, bite him!"
"I don't take orders from you, mistress Ingrid." Zoltan states in a deadpan voice. You wouldn't be able to tell by his tone, but this is totally revenge for her consistent disrespect towards him. 'I'm a hellhound, not some mutt.'
Piggybacking off Ingrid's previous statement, Vlad corrects the inaccuracy in her words, tilting his head in a mocking fashion to accompany the snarky tone in which he's speaking. "And, it's not YOUR room, is it? It's definitely not going to be, either!"
Robin, having bore witness to this entire exchange between the two, feels the need to pipe in, in hopes he can avoid being bitten by the.... taxidermied wolf(?). "Uhh, do I get a vote?"
""NO!!!"" They both yell.
"Who are you anyway? And why were you climbing the castle tower?" Vlad asks, his voice searching as he hopes that there's no reason to run away again.
Robin, feeling kind of unprepared for being caught, smiles as he answers Vlad's first question in as friendly a manner as possible. "Oh. Uh, hi! I'm Robin, nice to meet you!" Turning from Vlad to Ingrid, his smile widens substantially as he addresses her. "You're very pretty."
Ingrid, completely unaffected by the compliment, remains sternly on point. "I know. Now answer the damn question! Why. Are. You. Here!?"
"Ah, well, I saw someone moved into the castle, and I needed a way out of my family's camping trip. You see, my dad's big on the whole 'big happy boring family' thing, so I was being forced to go camping." Robin rants, the way he says camping displaying hatred of the activity. "The whole family's exited to go, and for some reason that means I have to go with the-"
"GET TO THE BLOODY POINT BEFORE I THROW YOU BACK OUT THE WAY YOU CAME IN!" Ingrid interrupts, barging into his little monologue and cutting it short. She, in contrast to Vlad, has little patience for the stupidity of others.
"AH!! OK, ok! I was curious about the castle and I didn't want to go camping! I figured I could kill two birds with one stone." Summarizes Robin, just a tiny bit TERRIFIED of the girl infront of him.
Zoltan, having listened to Robin's entire explanation, determines that neither Vlad nor Ingrid need his protection, swiftly rolling his way over to the doggy bed set up near the window. Shaking from left to right, Zoltan continues to rock himself -And his stand- side to side, eventually toppling over and lying sideways on the pile of cushions on which he sleeps. He then promptly begins to nap.
"Kill two..... birds? I always thought it was bats." Vlad states confusedly, having taken very little notice of Zoltans actions.
Having said this, both Ingrid and Vlad quirk an eyebrow, turning to each other before sighing in unison. ""Dad.""
Turning back to the now named Robin, they notice he, in the small instance they weren't paying attention, has disappeared from his spot. Hearing an eerie *Creeeeeek*, the two turn to the tower room door. They watch for a moment as Robin leaves the room, before simultaneously bursting into motion. Moving through the open doorway, they catch up to him quickly, grabbing onto his arms and dragging him harshly back into the solitude and safety of the room.
After getting him through threshold that separates the tower room from the staircase, Ingrid let's go of her respective arm and moves to shut the door, slamming it with much more intensity than was necessary or intended. Absently, Vlad hopes the loud, abrupt noise won't attract the attention of his father. He continues to drag the idiot, before spinning both himself and the boy so he's better positioned to shove him away from the door.
Robin, taken off balance and off guard by the sudden spinning and pushing- As apposed to the previous pulling- topples backwards, stumbling over his own feet as he falls to the floor butt-first.
"Ow!!" Robin yelps, the initial pain in his backside dulling almost immediately.
Vlad, rightly pissed off by the attempted escape of the castle's current intruder, demands an explanation. "WHERE do you think you're going?"
"Uh...." Robin groans lamely from his place on the floor.
Having moved from the door to stand slightly ahead of Vlad, Ingrid bursts into the conversation, expectant, uncompromising, and outraged. "WELL!?"
"Well, I WAS going to explore. Not like getting to see a REAL LIFE vampires castle happens every day, y'know?" Robin explains, starting off upset, but quickly losing control of his features and displaying an expression of childlike excitement, his massive smile almost blinding in its exuberance.
At Robins offhand accusation of vampirism, Ingrid remains silent, thinking on how best to handle the current situation. "....."
Sadly for her, Vlad is much less composed when it comes to the potential exposure of the big family secret. "Vampires, why would you think we're vampires??"
"..... Well, for starters, the way you just said that question. Too Intense and too fast." Robin responds as he gets up from the floor, earning a sheepish, embarrassed look from Vlad. Clearly not his finest moment. "And for another, that look your sister's giving you isn't very..... helpful to your case."
Looking to his right, Vlad now notices the glare Ingrid is sending his way, quite clearly unhappy with his subpar lying skills. 'Oh, come on! It's not my fault I'm a bad liar! It's not like I get much practice, now is it?'
"So? That doesn't prove anything except that little Vladdy here is socially awkward." Ingrid states, speaking in a patronising manner as she moves closer to Vlad. Having made her way next to her brother, she ruffles his hair as though he was a toddler ,taking great pleasure in demeaning and belittling him. "Besides, vampires aren't real! Everybody knows that. Did your mum drop you on your head that often as a baby? There's no way you're this much of a weirdo naturally." By the end of her counter arguement, it had become more a personal attack than anything else, the way she pronounced each syllable conveying ridicule and derision.
Whether it was her intent or a happy accident, Ingrid had provoked Robin enough to have an effect. Insulted, his pride injured, Robin bites back against Ingrid, informing her of what he'd heard in order to get a reaction. What exactly that reaction would be, he hadn't really considered. "Maybe it doesn't, but I'm sure a bunch of the other stuff I heard does! 'He'll bite their head off!'?, 'BURN THE VAMPIRES!!!'?, 'fang-face!'?, I think those are pretty conclusive, eh?"
During his enpassioned rebuke, Robin broke out into a proud, beaming smile, as if a child bragging to his parents about accomplishing a particularly impressive feat or achievement. While what he'd said had been done in anger, his expression contained no malice, hatred, or disgust while talking. Truth be told, most all negative feelings vanished as he spoke, washed away by even greater feelings of vindication and exitement. The mere ability to say what he was saying, knowing it was the TRUTH, more than enough to extinguish any hurt he'd been feeling moments prior.
""..."" Both Ingrid and Vlad were left silent at his Rhetorical question, though for different reasons. Vlad remained silent due fear and worry, Ingrid in an attempt to stifle the smirk threatening to emerge on her face.
'Gotcha!' She thought, feelings of pride and superiority welling up in her chest as she, metaphorically, gives herself a pat on the back, satisfied with her manipulation of Robin.
Vlad, in a panic and endeavouring to do some damage control, begins in his attempt to reason with Robin. "Oh bats! I knew this would happen. Please, don't get an angry mob and drive us out of town. I don't want to have to move AGAIN!"
Ingrid, shocked by Vlad giving away all their cards, outbursts in reprimand. "Vlad!!"
Turning to his sister, Vlad questions her, anxiety lurching out from his stomach and saturating his every word."What?! He already knows everything, and it's not like we can let anything happen to him! If he 'goes missing' as soon as WE arrive, the creepy neighbours in the creepy castle, people are going to be suspicious!"
"Goes missing?" Robin asks incredulously, a worried lilt to his tone.
Vlad, taking notice of the fear in Robins voice, latches onto it as though a drowning man does a lifeline. "Yeah! If our dad knew you were here, he'd have his fangs in your neck before you could say bon appetit. Not to mention what he'd do if he knew you'd found out about us!" As Vlad spoke, he made sure not to filter or sugar-coat his words even slightly, hoping that Robin wouldn't say anything out of fear.
He doesn't feel good about it, but it's his family's lives at stake, and it isn't like he's lying. He isn't even exagerating! Just.... choosing his words carefully in hopes of a specific outcome. Totally different from manipulation! 'Totally...'
Ingrid, while unaware of her brother's intended (not)manipulation, affirms the validity of his statement in hopes of the same thing. "SADLY, the prince of dorkness is right. If dad knew, you wouldn't survive the night."
"Well, that's not great. But run you out of town? I think you're both underestimating suburban apathy." Robin states dully, before continuing on with much more enthusiasm. "Besides, vampires are awesome!"
""Awesome!?"'
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Chapter 6: 2437 words (not including this bit)
So, yes, this chapter is a small bit larger than usual, but this isn't a normal thing. Normally, I'll aim to make each chapter between 1500-2000 words long, and this one went over that a fair bit, being almost 1000 words longer than my first chapter, but hey! Don't look a gift bourse in the mouth, eh? I couldn't really find a good place to end it and I felt like I needed to finish out the scene with something. So I had to keep going until I found a decent opportunity to work something in, and then I had to edit, change some stuff, yadda yadda yadda. Point is, Sheesh! This one took a while.
If you have any positive feedback or constructive criticism, please comment. If you are enjoying the novel, I'd appreciate some stones so other people can see. And if you are having a bad day, I hope it gets better! Goodbye, toodaloo, enjoy the double chapters. Yes, TWO!
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