Return from Exile

Chapter 4 Barbarois

New sights were noticed around the mutant strong hold. One by one, great towers were risen into place, held by giant scaffolding, hoses lead from all over, delivering fuel and other liquid components needed by the great engines. Every mutant in the place was bustling, running for food for themselves, moving captive humans in cages, every so often bowing to the immaculately dressed pale figures that wandered were they wished. Directing it all was Benjamin, leader of the Barbarois, his father\'s successor. \"Keep those people quiet! The masters are trying to concentrate!\"

\"Yes sir! Silence Scum!!\"

\"Everything is proceeding well,\" said a calm voice behind him.

Ben turned and bowed to the tall pale man with blond hair. \"Yes master. is is proceeding as you instructed.\"

\"Not everything. My ship has yet to be refueled. I will be the first to leave this place. I will lead my kind back to the city of the night. But I cannot do this without my ship. Explain.\"

\"Forgive us Master Turngold. But the refueling teams noticed your ship had some stress fractures around some of the fittings on the fuel tanks. They are currently reinforcing the tanks tha that there won\'t be any accidents upon take off.\"

\"You are forgiven, and extend my gratitude to the teams, I\'d hate to return in flames, and not in triumph.\"

\"You are most kind.\"

Suddenly, as though a great wind had blown, the main gates flew open and a lone horseman lead a team of six grand white cyber horses through the gates. A gold trimmed black carriage in tow. \"I need help!!\" called the light blond rider, leaping from his horse and handing the reins to a large blue mutant with huge chunks of rock like growths for his shoulders and head.

\"What is this!?\" hissed Turngold, practically floating down to challenge the man. \"You disgusting creature! Has no one rid us of you yet!!\"

\"Insult me later. I need some help.\"

\"You will find none here you Dhampire trash! We should have rid us of your bimothmother the moment we heard she was with child!! GET OUT!! GET OUT NOW!!!\"

\"NO!r car call drew me here, just like the hundreds of others. Do you know what you\'ve done! If other vampire hunters find out...!!!\"

The blond Vampire struck out with his power, more than his fist, and sent the boy flying back near the door to the carriage. \"I am five thousand years your senior, BASTARD! I can crush you in an instant!\"

\"But you won\" e\" echoed an accented voice.

Everyone inside the walls stopped what they were doing and gathered around the carriage. The door opened and a tall regal man in dark clothes and white shirt stepped out. Along the left sleeve everyone could clearly see the large scattered bloodstains. \"It cant\' be,\" muttered Turngold. At once everyone bowed. \"You\'re dead!\"

\"Perhaps to your eyes, Turngold. But I still exist.\"

\"Master Dracula, King of the night. Welcome to Barbarois. We are at your service.\"

\"Thank you. You are?\"

\"Benjamin, sire. Son to Kreeva.\"

\"Well Ben, I may call you that?\"

\"Of course lord.\"

\"Get two of your strongest men. My son is badly wounded.\"

\"Your son?\" the man turned to the blond man Turngold had struck. \"I do not understand.\"

\"My brother D is inside. He\'s been hurt,\" the blond man offered.

\"Of course. You and you! Quickly!\"

\"And for night\'s sake stop calling out!!!! If those in orbit can\'t find the hundreds of vampires already here, they deserve to fly to the day side!\" All at once, the mental call of the vampires ceased, and the two large mutants carefully carried D out of Dracula\'s carriage. \"What happened sire?\" Ben asked, guiding them to his own living quarters.

\"I\'m not sure. I was following the call to here to find out why so many of my children have returned, when I heard my son\'s call, just north of here. My son Adrian also heard him and found him before I arrived. He was brining him here when we met up on the road.\"

\"Benjamin, these are plasma bullet wounds,\" said one of the mutants, turning the Dhampire over to inspect his wounds.

\"That\'s not all,\" said Adrian, gathering towels off the side bar. \"When I found him he had these tuck deep in his chest. Oh Ben. May I?\"

\"Of course.\" Ben looked over the darts handed him. \"Tranquilizer darts? Four of these would kill a human or mutant, but a Dhampire of your son\'s seniority.\"

\"You choose your words wisely, Ben. I commend you.\"

\"Thank you sire, but why would anyone incapacitate a Dhampire and then leave him? Or was he left where you found him?\"

\"We\'ll know the answers soon enough. Father. I must see to Edward and Castle.\"

\"Go. Give them my apologies.\"

\"I will.\"

\"As for you, Turngold!\" The deeper blond man turned to the creator of all his line. \"My son, Adrian, is right. You may be a vampire over 5,000 years old, but you act like you were just made!!\"

\"Dracula...\"

\"I\'m not finished!! This world is rich with Vampire hunters, with little prey to bathe their weapons with. If they learned of what has happened here, they could easily wipe us out in one single battle! They move in the day and the night! WE DO NOT!! Or have your centuries in The City of The Night made you weak in the brain!\" you will go out there and tell every earth bound Vampire to return to their realms, those that came with you are to secure their guards and find a safe place to sleep for the day. GO!! Or do I throw you out!\" The blond man clenched his jaw and slinked away, a bow of false respect to Dracula as he left.

\"Sire, forgive me, but they will not listen to him now. His power was based solely on his seniority of years over them all. Now that you are here, they will not do as he commands.\"

\"They must. I\'ve more important matters to attend to. My daughter, D\'s wife, is missing. He\'s the only one who knows what had happened to her.\"

\"Forgive me master. I didn\'t know.\"

\"Master. His wounds are cleaned, but they will not heal.\" Dracula sat next to his oldest son, and inspected the numerous holes in his back, then he checked D\'s pulse, practically non-existent, lastly he uncurled the fingers of D\'s left hand, concealing the demon that lived there from the other\'s view. Even the sym. wasn\'t looking good. Its hollow black eyes were closed, and its lips were still and drooping. The one time D would have enjoyed it dying, he needed it alive to save him, and Dracula prayed it would live.

\"I noticed you have a number of humans in cages,\" he said, curling D\'s hand back to a fist.

\"Yes. We were ordered to gather as many as we could.\"

\"I must see them. All of them. Keep him warm until I return. But no one is to go near his fangs. In his current state he could kill someone.\"

Ben escorted the ancient king through the detention area, several rows of twelve cages, some with people in them, some not. \"This is outrageous!\" he hissed as he wrapped his own scarf around a young woman\'s still bleeding neck. \"Ben, what is going on? Why are they here?\"

\"I don\'t know lord. We only followed Turngold\'s commands. What he has planned he\'s not told us.\"

Dracula waved aside a bowing Vampire and the mutants who were with her. \"Find him, and see to it this woman has attention. She looks more like someone tried to cut her throat with an axe, than to be given a vampire\'s kiss.\" Just then he sensed what he was looking for, and strode briskly to a middle cage. A family of five was inside. The father unconscious from being struck, bloody bandages about his head. The older son, about 19 years, tending to him. The mother held her two smaller children, a boy of about 3 and a girl about 13, near the middle wall of the cage facing another cage. \"Little girl, may I speak with you?\" he asked gently.

\"STAY AWAY FROM HER!\" shouted the older boy, putting himself between Dracula and his family.

\"I understand your concern for you family\'s safety, and believe it or not, I share it. But I must speak with your sister please. No harm will be done. No tricks.\"

\"No!!\"

\"I\'m listening,\" said the little girl from beside her older brother.

\"Elsie, stay away!\" ordered her mother, clutching her baby closer and trying to reach the girl\'s hand.

\"Elsie? That is a very pretty name,\" Dracula knelt down so that he was at eye level with the little child. \"Do you know, that in the old language, your name means happiness? It does, I know things are not happy now, but I\'m going to fix that. Elsie, I need your help.\"

\"My help?\"

\"Yes. My son, D, is badly hurt, and his wife, whom he loves dearly, is missing. He may die, and Kale, his wife, will suffer harshly if we can\'t find her.\"

\"A fitting end to both monsters!\" spat the mother.

\"Elsie. My son is a Dhampire, half human half vampire. His wife is human. They both desperately need your help. Please?\"

\"Will you let us go?\"

\"Regardless if you help or not, you and everyone here will be returned safely to your homes.\"

\"You promise?\"

\"He doesn\'t know the meaning of that Elsie. You\'re wasting your breath.\"

\"Upon my blood, I swear it.\"

The little girl looked into Dracula\'s eyes. She\'d seen cold hatred in the eyes of the other vampires, but here, in his, she didn\'t see that. She saw years of wisdom, and a sadness that touched her, but still he was a vampire, and that she was leery of. \"What do I have to do?\"

\"You understand, you can say no to what I ask if you wish, and you and everyone here will still go home.\" The little girl nodded. Dracula picked up their water cup. \"My son will need only this much of your blood.\"

\"NO!\"

\"You\'re crazy!\"

\"You alone, Elsie, in this whole place, can save my son. Please. I ask you, I beg you, as a father.\"

She carefully considered this for a moment, looking between the pale man and the cup in his hand. \"You want to bite me?\"

\"Good grief, no, not anything like that.\"

\"You\'ll cut me?\"

\"No. Not exactly. Have you ever been sick, where the healer has had to come and give you a needle of medicine in order help you get better?\" She nodded. \"Well it will be much like that. I will put a clean needle in the vein in your arm, and draw off only this much of your blood. There won\'t even be a scar.\"

\"Will it hurt?\"

\"A bit of a pinch that\'s all.\"

\"Will I be alright?\"

\"You may feel a little tired, but you\'ll recover fully. You can still say no if you don\'t want to.\"

\"You ask as a father. What about him? Your son. Tell me why I should help him?\"

\"Well. D is a hunter, and like myself and my other two sons, he was trying to come here to prevent this. He is a good and kind man, and though he may not show it, he loves people, and hates to see harm come to them.\"

\"Father?\"

\"Yes Adrian.\"

\"D is getting worse.\"

\"I want to see him!\" chimed the child.

\"If you wish. Ben, open this contraption.\"

\"I cannot. Turngold is the only one with the keys.\"

\"Damn! Oh, please excuse me. Adrian, your sword please.\"

They young Dhampire drew his blade and handed it hilt first to his father. \"Everyone stand back,\" he announced. \"Father hasn\'t swung a blade in some time.\"

\"You calling me old?\" the man chided.

\"Not at all father, just out of practice.\"

\"Humph,\" He quickly lowered the blade, sending sparks off the edge of the cage, but nothing seemed to have been damaged. \"Out of practice?\"

\"Well...father...I hate to tell you but....\" Dracula nudged the door and the lock fell off. \"...well...\"

\"Never assume lack of posturing before witnesses, for lack of practice at all.\"

\"Sorry.\"

\"Never mind. See to Elsie\'s father and family. Then make sure carriages are available to take these people home. If you have to, cut the locks off all the cages.\"

\"Yes sir.\"

\"Elsie, this way please.\"

\"NOT ALONE!!\" her mother screamed. \"Ryan go with her!\"

\"But what about you?\"

\"Oh believe me, I won\'t go down without a fight.\"

\"People please. You may all come. Adrian, proceed.\" With the little girl holding his hand, Dracula lead the family into the main building, leaving Ben to assist Adrian.

\"Do you bite people?\" Elsie asked.

\"What? Oh, not often. Normally humans whom I befriend provide me with what I need. I sometimes eat too.\"

\"Eat what?\"

\"The people who think they\'re his friends.\"

Dracula looked over his shoulder to see Ryan\'s cold stare. \"No. my favorite is Castle\'s roast. It is very tasty. You should try it.\"

\"What about when you do bite people. Who do you, and why? Do you kill them or turn them?\"

\"You are full of questions aren\'t you?\"

\"I\'ve never met a Vampire before. At least not one that someone hasn\'t tried to kill.\"

\"Well, there are those of us that deserve to be killed.\"

\"What about you?\"

He looked down to her hazel eyes, and saw millions of questions there, but no answer was going to satisfy her. \"Well, I admit that inyounyounger years, I was not as friendly or approachable as I am now. It took the loss of many of those I loved to make me see that. I\'ve tried to live differently since then.\"

\"You love? Is that possible for a Vampire?\"

\"Oh yes,\" he sighed, stopping at a door. \"It\'s very possible. Now, enough questions for now. My son is very weak, and his darker instincts may take control, but I want you to know. I won\'t let him hurt you.\"

\"Ok.\"

\"Are you ready?\"

\"Wait. Elsie, here,\" Ryan took off his cross and gave it to his sister, who\'d lost hers when they were captured. \"Just in case.\" And he eyed the old vampire angrily.

\"May I have that please?\" The little girl slapped the cross into his hand and ran behind her brother. But nothing happened. Dracula turned and held it out to the astonished family. \"It is a beautiful piece, remarkable workmanship, but my son is only half vampire, such things will not affect him.\"

\"How?\"

\"I have lived a long time, even longer than you can possibly imagine. And with my years, I have honed my powers so acutely I can actually make it look as though I am holding this cross, when in reality it is but a breath from my skin.\" He floated the cross over to the girl and allowed the chain to fall over her head. \"My powers protect me, Ryan. And if I truly wanted you or any member of your family dead, I merely have to think it.\"

\"Why her?! Why my sister?!\"

\"You wouldn\'t understand. You aren\'t a vampire, pray you never become one. Are you ready? Oh don\'t worry. I\'m not angry about what you did. It is quite understandable.\"

\"You\'re very forgiving.\"

\"I try. I wasn\'t always like this, but I try.\"

\"Then I\'ll try. Let me see him.\"

Dracula held the door as the family entered, Elsie striding confidently to just three feet from the bed. A woman with brown hair moved aside at Dracula\'s directions, allowing the child an unobstructed view of the man on the bed.

\"I tried to give him some of my blood,\" she whispered.

\"Its alright. Later please.\"

Elsie carefully looked him over, considering what to do. \"I know him,\" claimed her brother.

\"What do you mean?\"

\"Mom. Do you remember when Charlotte Elbourne was kidnapped by Meier Link.\"

\"That was years ago.\"

\"Yeah, I think I was four, maybe five. I remember this guy riding back into town some time after that. He rode up to the Elbourne Manor, we lived just across and down a bit from it.\"

\"I remember. You said look at the white man in the funny clothes. Are you sure this is him?\"

\"Oh yeah. No one has skin that pale.\"

\"Is he a good man Ryan?\" asked Elsie.

\"I don\'t know. No one ever talked about him. But Miss Elbourne was dead, so I can\'t say he fulfilled the contract he was hired for.\"

\"But he came back. Why?\"

\"To tell Mr. Elbourne that his daughter was gone, and to get his money.\"

Elsie turned back to the man on the bed. His skin was white, almost sheet white, and his hair a dark chestnut mess over the pillows. He was handsome, perhaps more so to her than she wanted to admit. \"I\'ll do it.\"

Thirty minutes later, Elsie was standing with her family, a small bandage around her elbow where the needle had been stuck. Dracula sat on the bed and held the cup of blood to his son\'s lips. \"You may not like what you see,\" he said to the family. \"But you have a right to.\"

Suddenly D\'s body went rigid and he grabbed at his father\'s hand, preventing him from taking the cup away, and quickly drained it. Upon realizing the youthful nectar was no more, he threw the cup across the room, crying out like a starved crazed animal. His eyes glowing bright blue, his fangs fully extended, their tips still coated in the blood he\'d taken. Elsie cowered closer to her mother, Ryan putting himself between his family and the potential danger. Then all was quiet, and D sagged nearly lifeless to the bed. Save for his haggard breathing, one would have thought he\'d just given up. \"Fa...father?\"

\"Yes D. I\'m here. Rest.\"

\"They took her...\"

\"Who D? Who took her?\"

\"Purists...in...Airomat...They took her...\"

\"Sleep D. I will take care of the rest. Now sleep.\" Dracula waved his hand over his son\'s face, sending him to a restful slumber. The rescue would be his to plan. But things here had to be put right first.