Eternal Night

(II) Chapter 19: Enter the Devil

It was early evening, just after twilight. The sun's daily descent behind the surrounding mountains was feeling particularly slow today, but perhaps that was owed to the small well of anxiety nestling in the center of Vladislaus' chest. He had awoken a couple of hours before sunset, the usual hustle and bustle of the house having been suddenly amplified by the arrival of previously anticipated guests. Having tuned his ears to the distant sounds of conversation, he was able to ascertain the identities of at least two of the newcomers, although given the warnings he had received just the evening before regarding their impending arrival, the confirmation did little to soothe his nerves.

The de Chacier's infamous maker, Castilian Lord and reputed rake, Señor Eduardo de Meirás, was the first voice he had recognized. While Vlad had only been in the company of the man a handful of times in the whole of his existence, that Spanish baritone was not an easy thing to forget. Meirás spoke with a lilt in his tone, something both inherently soothing and inviting, but the undercurrent of suggestion was unmistakable and in an instant, Dracula found himself recalling all of the rumors and stories he had heard pertaining to the Spanish Devil.

His traveling companion, it was to be assumed, was none other than the one known as Benicio Alastair, an old friend of the de Chacier family and, by all accounts, a truly admirable man with a knack for diplomacy. Rémy, Vlad quickly remembered, had been most eager to meet with Alastair, no doubt ensuring his continued state of distraction. The Spaniard, however, would be an entirely different matter. If the whisperings around the house held any validity, the man was here for Francesca, which would make finding time alone with the woman difficult – a pity really. They had been making such progress these last few days.

The question yet to be answered, however, was whether or not the arrival of Satanas would undo that development.

While it was easy for Dracula to trust the genuine connection between himself and Frankie, there was no way to speculate how the presence of her maker – and ex-lover – would impact their relationship. And after his conversation with Rémy just the evening prior, Vlad was finding it especially difficult to conjure up some much needed optimism.

Rémy, who had been briefly liberated from his otherwise happy entanglement with the distracting Lucia Ghilardi, in casual conversation with Vlad had relayed some of the details of his sister's sordid past with the family's personal "devil." While a number of the particulars had already been made known to Vlad previously, there was a certain piece of newfound information that had affected him in a way he had not been prepared for.

The news that Miss Chase and her sire were biblically acquainted had hardly phased him – though if he was being honest with himself, there was some small part of him that envied the man that pleasure. Instead, it had been a reference to the rare bond the pair shared as master and protégé that left him uneasy and even – surprisingly enough – just a little insecure, a sensation he was not at all accustomed to.

Sire bonds, while not entirely unheard of between vampires and their progeny, could be very tricky things.

Thankfully they were not as severe in nature as a formal blood-bond, but still. From what he had gathered of Rémy's information, despite Satanas' affinity for each member of the de Chacier family as their sire, it was the connection between the man and Francesca that had proven uncharacteristically profound and unyielding over the centuries.

When pressed for further clarification, as was usual with Rémy, the man clammed up, insisting that he had no desire to discuss the intricacy of his sister's on-again, off-again affair with their maker. If he desired to know more, it would be best for him to go directly to the source – to Francesca herself. But Vlad, in a moment of impatience and not at all the sort of man to give up in the face of opposition, sought out Alayna instead for the intelligence and was more than gratified by her willingness to answer his more immediate concerns.