Chapter 104
Previously: The Rose of Whitby – Chapter 103
Arthur decides that John looks about ready to jump up and strangle Gregory, so he grabs him by the arm and drags him out of the room- he knows well enough how frustrating it is trying to concentrate with someone talking to you.
Once outside the room, he asks Gregory what he imagines Arthur can do here- they’re waiting for Mr Basarab to get back with information for a reason!
Gregory shuffles his feet and hangs his head and mumbles that he’s just so worried! About Darcy!
And, well, okay, so is Arthur, but he tells him they’ll just have to wait to see what options they have, and in the meantime… In the meantime, he’s going to go to bed so he’s rested when the time comes.
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It’s a bit of a short night, but when Katharina wakes him up for her breakfast and he stumbles into the kitchen with her in his arms, Mrs Harker is already there. She greets him with a subtle smile, a “Good morning, child,” and gestures to the food laid out on the table, tells him it appears she’s made too much for herself and that he’s welcome to join her.
It’s a bit odd. She seems… more relaxed than he’s seen her before? Not as stern and controlled. Maybe that’s to do with this contract business with Mr Harker? Surely, he wouldn’t want (wouldn’t have wanted, Arthur corrects himself) his wife to be anything other than perfectly appropriate. He doesn’t think Mr Basarab, as a vampire who travels around as an actor, cares as much as a lawyer…
He nods his thanks, and asks the house for Katharina’s bowl of food, leaves her to her own breakfast while he takes his seat.
Mrs Harker also seems a bit… paler than usual? Which, well… Since nobody woke him up with new information, he thought Mr Basarab hadn’t come back yet, and maybe he hasn’t, but he’s also a vampire, so… so maybe he was hungry? Maybe it’s far to the vampire court? Either way, Arthur decides to try something, to sneak a little bit of healing while he passes Mrs Harker the salt for her eggs.
It’s tricky, he doesn’t want to give himself away, so he has to concentrate but not look like he is, and the ‘trying not to look like something’ is really distracting, so he only manages a short moment, but yes, there’s a little bit to heal. He doesn’t get all of it, but he figures that’s less suspicious anyway.
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Quincy thinks he managed to sneak to the kitchen without Cobb noticing, at least there’s no bloody cat anywhere he can see. Okay, correction, not that specific bloody cat, but going by the food bowl on the floor, that one probably is a normal cat, and then he looks up and spots his mother… and stares.
He still isn’t sure how exactly he’s feeling about her part in all of this but… but… oh Divine have mercy on him, he can tell afterglow and bed hair when he spots it. And part of him is having an internal screaming fit because did he really just have a jealous, petty thought of ‘he knew that dream boat could deliver’?!
That’s his father, with his mother nonetheless, and this entire dhampir family thing is just weird but… She looks so bloody happy and he wants her to be, but… that’s his mother! He can’t just quip at her, and that’s what he’d normally do when he sees such an obvious case! Ah!
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Giving her son about ten seconds to run through the approximately fifteen knots she suspects him to bind himself in, Mina chuckles. “Oh please, son, you didn’t really think you go it from Jonathan, now did you?”
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Okay, that does it! Quincy allows himself to burst out laughing and pulls his chair next to her. Some things in this grey world are still alright, maybe more alright than they ever were, and his mother clearly is one of those.
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…What exactly Quincy didn’t get from Mr Harker, Arthur decides he doesn’t want to know. Katharina hops onto his lap under the table now that she’s done with her breakfast, and purrs softly while he eats his own, and that’s much nicer to think about.
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“Now, my husband worked more than just me last night.” At hearing Quincy snort at that, Mina gives him a short wink. “There is a pile of books and notes in the library for me and another scholarly type to work through, preferably before he returns after sundown with anything more he could find. In the meantime, I have been told that a varied diet is important for a dhampir. Your father really is very eager to prove that he does care for you, so unless you want your mother to hover over your shoulder to see to your health there, go find yourself some appropriate second breakfast in town. Take Gregory with you, we don’t know where Radu is. If not for apparent obsession issues Vlad would prefer us all staying behind the wards.”
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Rolling his eyes, Quincy huffs. “I know how to get me some meat. Apparently I have that from you, so thank you very much for the advice.” When that garners him a proud kiss to the forehead, he rather very much tries to play over how pleased he is with that, but finishes his tea before standing up and leaving. Sure, ostensibly for getting breakfast, but that’s just a ploy. He got a, let’s call it a late night snack, from Cobb and he thinks there’s somebody who needs breakfast more than him.
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He’s too fucking tired for any distraction! John’s eyes are burning and his body is telling him that he’s being a dolt. Yeah, he knows, but he can’t change it. So when he feels his body move because somebody slides on the bed, (fuck, didn’t even notice them getting in,) he’s ready to snarl again. Oh, it’s the molly. How is he going to annoy him now? No, he can’t take his hands off Darcy’s temples.
“Then this never happened, you manly man.”
There’s the smell of food under his nose, the sensation of something being held right up to his lips, and John kind of wants to punch the molly for that but also, he’s trying again to be so fucking agreeable, ugh. Okay, but it definitely didn’t happen if anybody ever asks!
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“I’ve been taking another look at that book about dhampirs, and Radu can do all kinds of things. So, do we want to try my mind control, or are we upping the level of things that never happened through the roof, because I’m sure you need a bathroom break?” Although Quincy tries to say it a bit flippantly, that tends to work better with guys like that brute, he actually means it. Blondie’s been sitting here all night, looking out for his girl, and yeah, maybe that guy has some issues but hell, nobody can fault him from being a total keeper for Cycy. So he’ll take care of the brute for her while she can’t.
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Nope! Nope nope nope! John draws the line, heavily draws the line there! And he doesn’t really trust the molly or his mind control but the truth is, Darcy trusts him and sadly, yes, he does need to piss somewhat fierce. They do a test run, it’s wobbly and it’s more Quincy extending the duration of John letting Darcy run on auto in his dreamscape, but it works. It works for less than a minute, but hey, that’s one of the things John loves about his proper body. He can manage in that time. And okay, Quincy can have a quick grunted thanks for that, for everything, but not more.
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Arthur knows innuendo when he hears it, and though he’s very decidedly not thinking about it at all, he decides he’s done with breakfast. Also, Katharina is climbing up his chest and bumping his chin with her head, so he takes that to mean he should let her outside, so he does that, and then he’s ready to join Mrs Harker in the library- and really, he does want to get his hands on that information.
The books are old-fashioned and so’s the English in it. He can read it, but not as fast as he usually would. Which is a bit aggravating- why isn’t English more like Latin, nice and consistent?
But anyway, over the course of the day he learns that vampires have a very low opinion of enthrallment, which he’s kind of glad for, but also they think anyone who gets enthralled deserves it for not being strong or clever enough to avoid it, which he finds a lot less appealing.
As to ways to get rid of one… Counter-enthralling apparently works, but it needs someone who’s vitae is stronger than the enthraller’s, either the person themselves or someone else can do it. Reading between the lines a bit, Arthur takes that that’s the recommended way for anyone who’s properly powerful but stupid enough to let someone inferior trick them into getting enthralled by them- turn it around.
The book is a lot more sceptical about counter-enthralling by someone else, since that’s just swapping one ‘master’ for another. If it’s voluntary, apparently that makes it stronger, so it can give that enthraller of choice a bit of a power-boost, but also it’ll make it harder to break then.
Apparently, whether you get consensually enthralled or not is an important distinction, so Arthur makes a note that they need to find that out.
Not that he gets why anyone would agree to being enthralled- letting someone make you like them? Or even feel in love with them? Why would you voluntarily do that? A blood bond, sure, that sounds really appealing from the things that are mentioned as the contrast to the enthrallment- that’s equal, and generally people do it when they’re already in love, no fake emotions created there. That’s vampire marriage, apparently.
It’s like the difference between being someone’s partner and being someone’s slave, and it makes Arthur shudder. Especially when this’ll make you think it’s all fine and you like it like that and you love the person enslaving you.
For all that vampires clearly aren’t very charitable towards people who aren’t powerful and have lots of that vitae, at least they set a lot of stock by love. Apparently, an enthrallment or a blood bond by someone who loves the enthralled person, or is loved by them, can also actually break it- and that’s not so vitae-dependant.
Arthur supposes the real emotions then maybe show up the fake emotions for being fake? Not that he’s sure he’d be able to trust any other enthrallment or blood bond even, if this happened to him.
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Throughout the day, Mina thought she would have to interrupt her studies to see to Lucy Jr, but she doesn’t even make it to fully rising at the girl’s breakfast time when Quincy is walking right past them, sets down two new tea cups and assures her that he can look after his little sister.
He’s no use with books, so much better if he lets the ones who are do their part.
For a moment, she’s surprised by that domestic volunteering. Then she realises that no, he doesn’t like playing nanny, but he has always loved being useful and getting rewarded for it. With emotions if with nothing else. So she makes sure to show her appreciation and dole out motherly forehead kisses when she doesn’t have to see to lunch, or tea time, either.
She does wonder where he walks to when he goes the other direction, until she realises something. That is the direction of the old master bedroom. A certain son of hers is taking care of everybody in the house.
When shortly after nightfall the doorbell chimes again, Mina stretches and chuckles. “He can be so formal.”
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It strikes Arthur how weird his life has become that now they’re getting house calls from doorbell-ringing vampires. And he doesn’t even find it that terrifying.
He’s still happy to leave it to Mrs Harker to open the door, though.
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Mina fully intends to open that door, after she takes a quick pause to get some lipstick on. She has her husband back and she refuses not to have her fun with it. The man is too easy to get to react, to get all those alluring emotions of his bubbling, and if she can aim some of them right at herself, yes. Oh God, yes, please.
With that experience back in her life, yes, maybe she can see where her son got it from indeed.
Once she opens the door, she gets what she wanted. He’s all manly valour, and absolutely not getting stuck on her lips, of course. “Much as I would like to go right to the repeat of the reason why our son had a small crisis over the obvious afterglow on his mother, I am afraid you will have to find your other talents first. The entire house has been doting on your grandchild in various ways and now it’s your turn.”
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He cannot say that he forgot how it is to have his wife challenge him as much as she shields him, but it still gives Vlad a familiar and long-missed fight to not blush at her. He has gotten better at keeping his stoic exterior up through the centuries, but he knows that she can still feel it through their contract anyway. Bowing to her he escorts her back to the library before he, (slipping back into the mindset of a voivode,) asks his scholars for their findings.
Arthur sums up his notes on the topic, which does not take him long. “Um, sorry, the books were kind of difficult to read, otherwise I would’ve gotten through them quicker,” he apologizes.
“My apologies, the Court has few books in English. Thank you for all this work.” Having listened intently, Vlad strolls a few steps back and forth while thinking the new information over.
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“…I can read Latin, if that’d help?” Arthur dares to offer. A vampire Court sounds like it would be old, and old books are written in Latin… right?
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Raising an eyebrow at Arthur appreciatively for a moment, Vlad nods as he comes to a standstill again. “That is indeed going to be helpful, young scholar. With the information we have right now, I feel it would be important to ascertain if the young lady consented to the enthrallment or not. We must hope she did not, as it would make our task easier. Albeit, do we dare wake her, or am I taking some of her blood to be analysed at the Court?”
Internally, Vlad already tenses because he neither wants to obtain that blood without consent, that has long been one of his ironclad principles, nor can he be sure that her blood might not give away that she is a dhampir.
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Arthur tilts his head as he thinks that over. “…Maybe John could ask her- without waking her, I mean? I’m not sure how long he can keep going, he’ll probably need a break soon anyway, though. Uh, and also… would she tell the truth, or remember it? If she didn’t consent, is the enthrallment going to make her think that she did, what with giving her these fake emotions?”
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“As I never had the joy of knowing her, I cannot answer the question I’m afraid.” For a moment, Vlad hesitates, because he realised that he is missing her lover’s proper name and it would be incredibly rude to assume he is welcome to his first name. The short glance for help at Mina has her smile and give him the full list of people in the household, so he continues: “Mr Silver would likely have a clearer assessment of her personality and the likelihood of her being able to give a truthful statement about her action even should they contradict her current emotions.”
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“Or we could ask our son for some blood extraction. It appears that the two related dhampirs did what related dhampirs have a strong inclination to do, if I read those notes about dhampirs you left me correctly,” Mina interjects and rather enjoys seeing, and more so feeling, Vlad fight hard not to show that she just flustered him terribly.
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Arthur wonders whether he should apologize about none of them knowing the dhampirs were related and there being family attraction at play in that entire “Darcy draining Quincy” incident- but, well, it isn’t really their fault that they didn’t know. And that part… worked out okay? Maybe? Except now Quincy is caught up in all of this… But also, now he knows what dangers to be on the look-out for.
Anyways, he decides to not say anything on this topic, and instead to focus on the pertinent one: “Yes, John would probably know, should I go ask him?”
“As I am sure we’ll find Quincy where we’ll find John, it is likely prudent for me to administer a parental poke.” Standing up, Mrs Harker takes Mr Basarab’s hand, tightly, and gives him a stern look. “And a wifely one, too. You are both running from talking to each other and I will not stand for it. Arthur, you see if John is in any shape to answer. Husband, you will ask your son for some blood of your granddaughter’s and lay your emotions on as thick as you do with me. He is our son and it shows. Your stubborn pride runs through his veins just as much as my apparently fey tendencies. Use that tactical mind of yours, not just your fatherly heart.”
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Feeling thoroughly chewed out now, Vlad bows his head and agrees to the terms his wife just set him. Not that it helps any with how nervous he is about talking to his son again. He doesn’t want to make it even worse.
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Arthur nods and stands, glad to have something to do, waits to see if Mrs Harker is taking the lead to go upstairs.
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Maybe Mina shouldn’t smirk at apparently having gotten both men to defer to her, but she sure will tell Lucy about it as soon as she can. For now, yes, she does take the lead going upstairs, opens the door quietly and has to make her lips very tight not to snicker at the image she finds.
John makes for a valiant gargoyle, fierce if tired expression carved in deeply as he sits watch over apparently at this point two sleeping dhampirs. Her son looks rather peaceful where he still has one of his hands wrapped tightly around Darcy’s, but is otherwise contorted not to touch John.
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Arthur didn’t expect Quincy to also be asleep, but maybe he’s helping John in the dreamscape? It does leave him with the question of where to put himself, and he decides to take a chair and put it next to the bed.
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The sound of the moving chair makes Quincy stretch and crack an eye open. Hell, did he nap off? He’s been running all over the place all day long, to be fair, and maybe it’s idiotic but holding Darcy’s hand and talking to John, jumping in and out of his dreamscape to help out with scene setting, grabbing paintings and books from the house so he can describe them to John in an attempt to not destroy the illusion for Darcy, should maybe be stressful, but he feels useful instead.
John is still a grumpy brute, but he just might be coming slowly around to being their grumpy brute. He got another few thankful grunts out of him when they ran their ‘bathroom break’-routine and even one punch to the shoulder. He’ll wear that one as a badge of accomplishment. He’s getting along with a manly man. He could giggle at that.
He kind of needs it. John’s not letting him in too close to Darcy, he’s starting to not trust his mental concentration not to let the illusion blur too much, but he can tell that it’s a struggle by now.
So when he sees Arthur in front of him he just puts a finger over his lips and is about to get both of them out, he has to make sure that John can concentrate. Then he notices that it’s not just Arthur, and he has to suppress a hiss at how trapped he suddenly feels. His bloody father is between him and the door and how is he supposed to bolt like that?! Oh great, that must have been his mother’s entire plan. He’s giving her a pout for it before composing himself and making a show of still shooing everybody silently out of the room.
“Need to talk to John,” Arthur says, quietly, to Quincy, at his shooing motions. “Can he pull me in?”
“He can, but I won’t let you. It’s hard enough without questions. Shoo, leave our big manly man to his hard task.” That’s quite enough backtalk, Quincy puts his hands on Arthur’s shoulders and first pulls him out of the chair then starts shoving while glaring at his parents (and that thought doesn’t sit right with him whatsoever.)
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Mina doesn’t miss the formulation and hides the deepening smirk behind her husband’s shoulder as she pulls him out of the room with her. Their son is definitely taking a good bit of renewed comfort from controlling that room, and she prefers him being confident. But she shouldn’t be surprised that, with what she just learned of dhampirs, he makes a beeline for the man who’s most like his father. But she won’t point that out. Nor that she can feel Vlad being terribly proud of his son at grabbing for that control so wilfully.
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Arthur opens his mouth to protest, takes a look at John’s haggard face, and decides to let Quincy shove him back out of the room instead. This is not something they can keep up much longer, they need to decide what to do about it or find a different solution, because John clearly needs a break and at least a nap or something.