Chapter 18: Christmas and other annoyances

It was around midday on the 23rd of December when Lace finally left town, with the promise to return on the next evening before the big Christmas Party in the tower's ballroom was taking place. So as soon as the night took a hold on the city, Vladislaus transformed into his hell-beast form and left the building. He had been given a communicator by the security staff beforehand. The Count circled around the building, but so high up that it was impossible to spot him without night vision.

He however could perfectly make out the shape of the tower and see how many people went in and out. It was nearly impossible to enter undetected from the ground-level yet alone leave that way, so the intruder must be able to enter the building from a higher level. Kara had briefed him about the approximate entry points, where Lace's protective shield had been damaged severely. So it would be easy for him to spot if anyone entered the building in a more unusual manner.

Around 2 a.m. Dracula began to worry whether the spy might actually be to smart or had some other reason for not showing up, as he noticed a heat signature outside the building. Intrigued he flew deeper to see that it was a woman who stared at him with big eyes, before she fell. She had crawled up the glass panels of the towers using no visible aids. Good to know that his hell-beast form could still create terror even under obvious magic users.

He warped under her and caught the light package just in time, before taking her up into the sky. The woman screamed in terror and kicked in panic, but there was no escaping his grasp. He swept around the building and then landed on the roof of Lace's skyscraper. where he handed her over to the security personal.

"Do you know her?" Vladislaus asked Parker once he had transformed back.

Slowly recovering from shock, the spy cursed a lot as she was lead away by security personnel, but neither the werewolf or Dracula were impressed, more amused.

"No, she might have an interesting magic ability, but she isn't very old or arrived only recently in the city," Parker answered him.

"I thought if someone was to enter the city, you would know about this?" the Count said surprised.

Parker shook his head: "Unfortunately they're are ways, if you are willing to crawl, or get dirty or are plain suicidal or got help from the inside."

"But why would Lace allow that?"

"I don't understand him that well either, but I've been around for a long time. Before that fat bitch, before he took on apprentices and before ...", the werewolf broke off. "He likes to invite trouble, I guess for diversion. He feels too save, because he never in a million years would believe someone could be stupid enough to take him out."

Dracula chuckled: "Yes, I why is that?"

"They think Lace is bluffing. Trust me he isn't the man that needs to bluff. Think about it. All cities were destroyed, nothing bigger than 50,000 people exists anymore - not even the ruins," Parker told the Count using his hands to visually support the claim about the vanishing cities. "Only this one! But he has me and I'm going to take care of every bastard dumb enough to try and go after him."

"Any particular reason for sharing that with me?" The Count tested him.

"To be truthful - I think you are one stupid bastard, I don't care what Lace thinks, but I know you are going to try and get him out of the way," Parker came awfully close and his eyes were pure glowing amber.

Dracula laughed, not out of delight, but in a sort of crazy frenzy. He couldn't believe that again he was having a werewolf that close breathing into his face. He saw the security chiefs face darken as he asked again if he had made his point clear.

"I heard you", Vladislaus said quietly.

Not entirely satisfied with the reply Parker grudgingly stepped back. The count's outburst did not sit too well with him, nonetheless he knew that at the moment there wasn't anything he could do. The vampire was out of reach for him, Lace wouldn't forgive him killing an honoured guest.

Still the conversation got the Count thinking and he realised he need to question Lace further about his city. At the moment he wasn't so sure if really wanted to dispose of the mage, but alone that idea that there really might be a closer connection between the existence of this place and his host, was scary and needed further investigation.

The vampire was everything but thrilled with the outlook of running out of livestock again. Granted there were supposedly smaller settlements, but as far as he heard the crusaders controlled all of them. Vladislaus doubted that he was having as much fun there as he had here in Los Angeles.

Back in the 19th century things had been so much easier, when nobody was there to rival his powers and he could do as he pleased. But when he considered that this lifestyle had gotten him nowhere where as Lace's cunning had gotten him much further in a more dangerous time, he felt more inclined not to return to the old ways.

Unfortunately when he saw Lace, the mage had little time. He thanked the Count for his intervention and even hinted that he had brought a new blood samples with him from his trip. Which made Vladislaus wonder once more if the mage was looking for a potential new enemy or maybe even a friend.

It was strange in a way Lace began to remind him of his earlier past with Gabriel. He had still been in his teens when his father had brought home the attractive young man who had lost all his memories. But it was not before long when he found that there were a great many things he could learn from the man who would later betray and murder him.

Lace was actually the first person whom Vladislaus had shared a meaningful discussion with since he had been murdered. The vampire was getting the feeling that he might miss them. There were many interesting person around, but some where only feeling safe around him because they were under Lace's protection and other like the lamias were just too different for his tastes.

Maybe the mage felt similar. Of all the things he had in this town, women, power, riches the only thing he lacked was someone he could actually talk to. Everyone here had his or her place, a function and the only person not scared of Lace was the Lady Rain and she was hardly desirable, whether physically or mentally.

The vampire hadn't much opportunity to observe his host during the Christmas festivities in order to see if his theory might be correct, since Lace was so busy receiving presents and giving speeches. At least the Lady Rain was still keeping to herself as well and so Vladislaus watched his host from distance. He was hoping to ask Lace when he was to get his cat-burglar back, he decided that it wasn't that important for now.

Dracula was anyway more wondering where Sonja was, but inquiring with Parker, he was informed that she had taken the week off. It bugged him immensely that Sanguina's words had become true indeed. But then again, Aleera hadn't been exactly shy with other men, before him and afterwards, so what did it matter to him. Eventually he would have her.

Thoughts like that usually got him wondering what he would actually do once he would come against his old friend once again. He could not take it slowly, but he also knew that mustn't rush things or else his revenge would just seem like a small wind and he wanted to cause great pain and devastation to his traitorous friend. Still this wasn't the time to contemplate possibilities, the whole festivities, made it rather hard to focus on anything dark and awful.

Cheerful laughter, brightness and colours were everywhere, even the other parts of the city sparkled brighter. Something that did not exactly improve the Count's mood. But then he did not need to move out, Lace first present to him was quite the tasteful selection of victim's to feed from. And while the vampire was enjoying himself in his rooms, safe from the sunlight, Lace was opening another school on Christmas morning.

Hearing it about in the evening intrigued Vladislaus, the mage was trying hard to press knowledge into his subjects. He wondered about what the mage might have talked with Lady Rain before he came. Had she always behaved like that or had she just been spoiled rotten? Dracula felt it was worth a try and have a conversation with Verbatina, who among the servants was obviously Sanguina's favourite victim.

The only problem was that he had problems finding her. It had been quite some time, since he had last seen her, but he felt like she had been around and Virginia confirmed that she was still performing her duties. Obviously nobody cared much for the girl and Dracula couldn't blame them, she was an awfully thin thing. Probably because she worked almost non stop, she was serving at the parties, the gym bar and she was always jumping when Lady Rain called her.

Lace had told him once, that answers will come to whom who can wait for them, and obviously that was true. After all the activities were over and all presents had been exchanged, including a few paintings Lace had handed over to him and some other things, he was finally handed over the cat-burglar. Lace apologised for her numb state, but apparently someone had implemented a spell that had blanked out the information he had needed from her.

It was kind of annoying to watch the lifeless vegetable sitting on his sofa, but the note also ensured him that the potency of her blood wasn't diminished by her state. Vladislaus did not really feel like spending much time with her anyhow and rather went on to enjoying the energy burst her blood offered. He already had savoured a great deal of her indeed very powerful blood as the door bell rang again.

He interrupted and licked the blood from his lips, as he asked his visitor to enter. Much to his surprise it was Verbatina, who bowed and said she had heard that he had wanted to see her. The vampire was quite shocked to see her up close. She had always been thin, but she looked awfully. Her dress was far too wide, but her bones stuck out and her face was beginning to fall in.

"Not exactly, I just haven't seen you that often lately and loosely wondered if the Lady Rain is giving you a hard time. After all I am kind of responsible for her bad mood," the Count carefully replied.

"Oh, well, I'm quite flattered, that you of all people show concern for my person, but forgive me if I can't bring myself to believe that this is the real reason for your inquiries."

"Not really, that is true, but not even I would let a beautiful woman work herself to death," said the Count.

"You don't work yourself to death in this place, you either get killed or if you are very lucky die of natural causes. That hasn't happened too often to be honest - so I rather do what I'm told to. It beats getting eaten by the ghouls at any rate," Verbatina said.

The Count looked at her: "You certainly ensured that there isn't much left for them to feast upon."

"Oh, please give me a break", she said slightly annoyed.

"Why not?" Vlad replied, even though he knew this had not been an actual request, he offered her a seat.

The skinny girl shrugged slightly and walked over to the seating arrangement with an unhappy look on her face. She was probably well aware of how she looked and him mentioning it hadn't made her feel any better about it. As she was about to sit on the smaller sofa, she caught sight of the cat burglar.

There was this indefinable look on her face, not unlike that of his meal, but she got a hold of herself quickly and asked with a surprisingly calm voice: "What did you do to her?"

"So far nothing more than taking a bit of her blood, the major credit goes to Lace."

"Figures, he is one cold bastard," she told him.

Dracula hadn't expected that Verbatina would talk in that fashion about the mage, but then again Lace probably did not care if others talked about him that way.

"Excuse me for a moment," the count said and went back to the door.

There he picked up the phone and called his servants to order some light food and a good amount of alcohol for his guest. Usually he refrained from offering alcohol, but since Verbatina wasn't exactly food, it wouldn't matter much when the alcohol spoiled her taste. It would however make it easier to get information from her, considering that she was one of those magic types that made it impossible for him to invade her mind.

Stepping back into the room, he was surprised to see her sitting next to the burglar. Verbatina was waving her hand before the trespasser's face, studying her quite intensely. Noticing Dracula she said: "I guess I don't want to find out how he did this. Especially when right now I got to worry about you?"

"Then - for the moment - you don't have to worry about anything. Just sit here and eat something. And while you are at it maybe tell me a bit more about Lady Rain," he suggested.

"Gathering some intelligence?" she smiled, but it was hard to say if she really was amused. Verbatina moved back to her place and leaned back. "I do have the feeling I rather disturbed you while having lunch."

"Doesn't seem to upset you much," the Count said.

"I've seen enough dead bodies, watched people of all ages getting murdered, killed quite a few myself - I don't get upset about something trivial like this," she admitted proudly.

"So that's what you been doing when not serving drinks." Vladislaus found the reply very intriguing, he had supposed that she had seen her share of violence, but not that she an active participant.

The Count stepped closer, bent over his dinner and bit her again, just to observe the reaction of his guest. She was indeed very cool about it, her heartbeat did not accelerate the least bit and as he turned his attention from the now dead body to her, she sat there with a luscious smile on her lips. The scene was interrupted by servants arriving with the food for his guest.

Verbatina looked quite surprised when the servants where placing three plates filled with cold but delicious looking snacks in front of her.

"So eat, you really need it," Vladislaus told her.

"I can't say no to such a nice offer", she said and picked up her first piece.

Vladislaus watched her a moment while she continued to eat a few of the snacks pieces before he showed her the wine bottle the servants had left with him.

"Oh, an excellent year and brand," Verbatina said.

"Please, let me," he said and opened it for her, filling her glass almost full.

Which caused Verbatina to explain that wine needed to breathe and that she supposed he wasn't drinking at all. He let her talk and eventually she emptied the wineglass. Hungrily she continued to eat, but slowly began to tell him a bit about her boring work life and how the Lady Rain influenced it. Not all of it was interesting, but it was worth the while.

With every sip of alcohol her tongue loosened a bit more. But it was worth the while, since the alcohol began to work his magic and loosened her tongue. Verbatina told him about how impatient and ill-mannered Sanguina had gotten lately. But also that it had been her who had brought Verbatina in on the Tower.

So she did not mind her temper tantrum that much, as her life in Misery would have been a lot worse. Not far after she began to complain about Lace and his disrespect towards magic users. But mostly about how he had her working extra shifts.

Listening to her Vladislaus wondered if it meant anything that she shared exactly Elaine's and the Masked Ones opinion. The question was also if Lace knew about this, she wasn't necessarily important enough for anyone to pay much attention to. Or maybe all those extra hours were his way of punishing her for being more loyal to the Lady Rain.

"You told me you killed, does Lace sent you out to those jobs?" The Count asked her.

"No, but occasionally I am scouting Misery for people that might suit Sanguina's taste and occasionally some dumb assholes cross my way. That is usually their last mistake," she smiled.

"How long do you think you can go on like this?"

"Probably not long, but maybe I don't have to."

The expression on her face turned rather nasty, it took Vladislaus a few seconds to realise that she was not looking at him but the clock behind him.

"Are you waiting for something?" he wondered.

"No," Verbatina said innocently as suddenly an enormously loud explosion came from the outer part of the harbour. For a moment it seemed that the whole city was shaking and then everything stood still, but the vampire had felt the enormous energy and he knew it was the magic Lace had woven into the very fabric of this city that had caused the trembles to stop.

Dracula rushed to his window and stared at the huge fire that lit the evening sky and reflected upon the water. He assumed it was one of the factories that burned, but he never had seen such a large explosion. The heat from the fire made it even for his special sight impossible to see anything. The servant girl came to his site and said, very much amused: "OH, looks like the sea food factory is burning, Lace won't like that."

Vlad turned around. He could sense her amusement, she tried not to show it, but was too intoxicated to control herself. There was absolutely no sign of surprise or shock. Vladislaus knew she was somehow involved in all of this.

"Stay here!" he told her firmly.

Not wasting a moment to look back and see whether she intended to follow his orders he strode from his apartment towards the elevator. Vladislaus was curious about what exactly was going on. For a moment he had considered going directly to the harbour, but knew that only Lace could share all the relevant information with him.

So he pressed the up button to call the elevator sure that he would find Lace on the 86th floor where all the security for this city and the tower ran together. He had never been there and wasn't even sure if he had access. Then when the doors opened several security guards occupied the cabin already. The five men and two women were probably on their way up there.

The grim expression could not hide the uncertainty and worry he knew from his own soldiers when they knew a conflict was coming but had yet to know what their mission was. The elevator stopped two times but the guards signalled the other inhabitants that they weren't allowed in. Vladislaus enjoyed the display of respect.

Finally they cabin stopped at the 86th floor.

"Ah, Count, you are already here", he was instantly greeted by Parker.

The werewolf stood in the rectangular corridor outside the elevator, Vladislaus and the guards approached Parker, while the doors already closed and went down again. Now he could see two other smaller corridors leading on the left and right side from this spacious one. There were also lots of steel doors all secured with electronic looks, at least judging by the lack of keyholes and the keypads beside them.

Especially impressive where the huge double door behind Parker, two extra security guards with heavy weaponry where stationed there.

"So you expected me", Vladislaus said after having his first glance over the room.

"Barely a minute ago Lace passed me and mentioned that he would like to talk to you", Parker said. "I hadn't even the time to sent someone for you. Anyway - you will find him behind those doors."

With that comment he turned around and signalled to the guards to let the Count through. Before Dracula could pose any further questions to Parker, he had already turned his attention to the guards. "Look we have issued a curfew, you will control sector M-3. Make sure all the citizens are in their homes, act wisely - we don't want any unnecessary incidents …"

Vlad did not hear him beyond that. After the guards had opened the big doors for him, he had stepped into the short steel corridor behind them. Once the doors had closed it turned out to be completely sound-proof. But the silence only lasted for a few seconds before the door at the other and slid open and wall of noise reached his ears.

While the room was overstuffed with monitors, electronic panels and hardware the Count hadn't yet encountered, nearly twenty people with headsets worked here. They where giving instructions that seemed to be addressing firemen, security on the ground and medical personnel. Dracula watched for a few seconds - he was familiar with this voice transmitting technology, but this scenery still seemed so alien to him.

As none of them re-acted to the question where Lace might be, he assumed that those headset shielded them from any outside interference. There were two more doors, again on the left and the right. Vladislaus choose to continue to the left. The next room was filled with storage units, that recorded the input from all the security cameras over the city. For the vampire it was nothing more than a collection of identical bulky blinking metal towers.

Wondering if he had taken the right direction he suddenly heard Virginia's voice.

"We should have gotten rid of him a long time ago", he heard her say angrier than ever before.

"It's no good to argue what could have been - we got to deal with the situation at hand", Alicia intervened.

Lace and the two women were standing in the outer corner of the office behind them the big panoramic glass facade. The fire was still burning bright, but neither of them really looked at it any more. The two women faced each other, while Lace instantly noticed him as he was facing the door.

"Ah, Count - I was hoping that the incident might attract your attention."

The lamia pouted. She was not happy about being dismissed so easily. For Vladislaus however it felt natural to be at the centre of attention. In his view this was how things ought to be.

"It was hard to overhear - I assume this is a rather bad turn of events", Vladislaus replied.

"It's a catastrophe", Virginia said.

"Enough", Lace raised his hand and the lamia bit her lip. He tried to remain calm. Dracula with his extraordinary senses saw that the mage was boiling with anger. He suspected that Virginia might also be able to see this.

"You know what needs to be done. I suggest you get started."

The lamia knew she had gone too far. Of course in a way she was right. Lace however wasn't the person who possesses the tolerance to be reminded of it again and again. The pale beauty left, her head proudly risen and yet she avoided any eye contact. No matter how high up in the hierarchy she was, she still was a servant.

Thinking about it, the Count realised that there wasn't really anyone who was treated by Lace like an equal. Although he came close, it was more like he had an apprentice status like Alicia. A few hundreds years ago he would not have tolerated this from anyone, now it did not even bother him that much.

"It's more an annoyance", Alicia said after the lamia had left.

"And the Masked One is behind this?" Vladislaus wondered.

"Yes - indeed", Lace sounded quite disappointed. "I guess I overestimated my quarries intelligence." He turned and stared out of the windows towards the flames in the distance. "Alicia, would you be so kind and leave us?"

The apprentice nodded gracefully and walked towards the door. Picking up some papers from the desk she passed the vampire could see her face. He was getting the odd impression that she already knew what Lace would tell him. It made him twice as anxious. After Alicia had closed the door, the mage still facing the city and not his guest put down his glasses.

"I haven't been completely honest with you: For some weeks I already had a suspicion as to whom's blood you might need."

Vladislaus stared angry at Lace's back. He had expected a lot but certainly not this. Knowing that he should not be surprised that his host had played with him all along, he began to wonder if this was just a new phase of being toyed with.

"And now you are going to tell me that I need to find the troublemaker for you and all my problems will be solved."

Lace turned around smiling slightly. Vladislaus drew a sharp breath, it wasn't the rare smile on the mage's face that got to him. It was the fact that for the first time ever he saw his eyes. The vampire could understand why most people were terrified of him. It wasn't just their pure blackness they were like the door to an endless void.

Very few could actually bear to look at them without losing their minds. Even a few seconds gave people unfortunate enough nightmares for the rest of their lives. Dracula only found them fascinating.

"I don't need to tell you fancy lies to get rid off my problems. What ever information I gave or withheld was in your best interest. All these centuries you wasted your potential. What exactly was it that your tremendous powers ever did for you besides some short lived amusement?"

The Count felt his anger subsiding. Lace's questions were not new to him. Often enough he had begun asking them of himself.

"You planned your little deal …" the Count began.

"Whatever makes you think that?" Lace said putting back his glasses. "No, the deal was a desperate measure. The difference is that I already possessed tremendous power before for which I worked very hard for."

Not sure whether he had understood what the mage meant, he asked: "So all of this was just so I would appreciate my power more?"

"Not just appreciate - to use it with surgical precision like a scalpel instead of swinging it around like a sledgehammer. HE does not give us power for our benefit, but he can't stop us from using it in our interest and not his if we are only bold enough", Lace revealed in an almost passionate manner.

"You are talking about going against the devil?"

"Why not? You are even harder to destroy than I am, what you got to worry about. Or do you feel some kind of new found loyalty towards him that would make you sacrifice your best interest for his sick game?"

"I never figured my best interests and his were all that separate", the Count said.

"His plan is obvious to destroy God's creation - I don't know why and I don't really care. But this is my playground, I really like this place and a lot better before some power drunk demons showed up left and right and sucked all the major cities into hell."

"That was kind of my plan, too - maybe that was why I ended up having all this power in the first place. Many people sold their souls. You yourself said once, that you were amazed how much power I was granted", the vampire paused a moment. "But I have given up on that plan long before I arrived here. What was it you were waiting for, before you would tell me?"

Lace shrugged. "Actually - never. I figure when you were ready and had sharpened your mind and will enough, you would discover that for yourself."

The revelation kind of stung the Count. He already felt a bit ashamed about having wield such power and with so little gain compared to what he had achieved, but this was kind of hard to take in.

"So I already know who the Masked One is?" he replied puzzled.

The mage nodded and Vladislaus' mind raced. But none of the males he had meet so far seemed to be that powerful. It crossed his mind that the Lady Rain had something to do with him; definitely Verbatina. "I know that Lady Rain's favourite servant is working for him, probably her, too."

"You are on the right track. Maybe you were further ahead than I figured."

"Then I won't waste another second, I find will find this guy and will kill him."

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