Chapter 3
Father and Son
"I guess we both forgot about that little booby trap, didn't we?" He reasoned as he pulled down the shade on the window. "Sorry, it's been a long time since anyone's tried to attack this castle like that."
D looked around and observed the situation. His weapons, armor, money, clothes, everything was gone. He was lying in a queen sized bed in a guest room with a blanket covering his body.
Dracula sat down in the chair the nurse was in earlier and picked up the same rag from the tray of water and rang it out, then began to dab it on D's feverish forehead. The dhampire wanted to push him away, but he flinched, he was stopped as the pain intensified when he tried to move.
"Don't push yourself, D. You need to rest."
D blinked. "Why are you doing this? Why didn't you kill me?"
"Kill you?" Dracula's face changed sadly. "Why?"
"I attacked you... tried to destroy you. Any other vampire would have seen me dead."
The vampire king shook his head. "D... I paid that girl and her family fifty million dollars to hire you so you would come here. I didn't mean for this to happen. I didn't want you to get "...You tricked me into coming here?"
Dracula moved his hand and started dabbing the feverish dhampire's neck with the cloth. "Yes. I know it was deceptive, but don't you think it's kind of sad when a man has to lure his son with money just to see him once in a while?"
D tried to move again, only to be greeted by more pain.
The vampire put the rag away then pulled the edge of the blanket from D's chest up to his neck. "You rest yourself now. You should recover in a few days." Dracula stood up and began to leave, looking back to take one last peek at the dhampire before exiting the room. "And if you need anything, one of my servants will be right outside this door."
D watched as the door closed behind the ancient vampire.
"Phew..." D's left hand spoke up. "I knew this would happen. Why don't you ever listen to me, huh? You NEVER EVER LISTEN!"
"Could have been worse." D argued.
"I'm always telling you, let's turn back, D! It's too dangerous, D! You're gonna get yourself killed, D!! But do you ever listen? NO!!!" The symbiot went on. "And then I'm the one that always has to get you out of the mess when YOU get yourself in over your--" D squeezed his left hand as hard as his weakened strength would let him, cutting the symbiot off.
He took a deep breath and tried to relax his tense muscles. Being here brought comfort and discomfort at the same time. He let his eyes explore the room he was in. This room, like all the rooms in the castle, was extraordinary in beauty. Marble walls with gold, hand carved designs gracing their surface. The ceiling was domed, paintings on the surface and jade trim. The architecture of this building was marvelous. It was like a giant, living work of art. He was looking around the room for a while, a long while, before he started feeling his eye lids getting heavy. He shook his head, struggling to stay awake. He did want to go to sleep, but he couldn't, he just couldn't. How could he sleep in one of his enemy's beds? The aching all over his body made him want to sleep even more. Being half vampire, never in his life has he felt pain like this, but never in his life had he been attacked by one of his father's guardians either. The creatures Dracula made were powerful. Extremely powerful compared to the common Barbaroi.
A sudden jolt of pain shot up his spine, causing him to flinch and knocking him out of his ponderings. He trembled and let out a shaky breath. He turned his head to the side and his eyes closed shut, slipping him into sleep before he could resist it any longer.
-----------------------------
Hours had passed and the symbiot on D's left hand was getting impatient. Though the dhampire slept, the hand was restless. It could feel the pain just as well as D could. And it couldn't see anything either, for it was faced palm down on the bed under the covers. It was anxious, and even fearful, to find where this situation might lead. It all made the symbiot extremely frustrated.
"D! D, wake up!" It barked.
"Let him sleep." A gentle voice said from across the room.
The symbiot froze. It had no idea Dracula was in the room. It hadn't even heard him come in. But, that wasn't overly surprising. The symbiot depended on D's senses, since it didn't really have any of its own like this, and having the dhampire out like a rock it was a little hard to hear.
It heard faint footsteps as Dracula walked over to the bed and pulled back the blanked just enough to see D's left hand. He turned it over to find the small, puzzled face with two little black eyes staring back at him, and smiled.
"Well, hello there, my little friend. I'm glad you're still around." Dracula said. "I see you've been helping my boy quite a bit out there. Tell me, was he very difficult?
If the symbiot had eyebrows it would have risen one just then. "...Are you kidding?"
The vampire let out a little laugh then extended an arm with his palm open. "Since he's home and safe he doesn't really need you anymore, does he?"
A strange green smoke began to rise from the center of D's hand and the face of the symbiot disappeared as the smoke began to form a little creature perching there on his palm. The ghostly creature had the face of the symbiot, long goblin ears, a fat little tummy and skinny limbs. It stretched its little arms and legs then shook like a wet dog. "My, it's good to get out of there for once." The ghostly symbiot said.
"Come..." Dracula said and the creature jumped off of D's hand onto the vampire kings. Dracula turned and headed towards the door. "You shall be rewarded for your efforts, and then you can tell me all about your little adventures." The door closed behind him as he exited the room.
There was a warmth on his face and a cool repetitive dab on his neck as he came to. D moaned with a shaky breath, his entire body aching from the ghosts attack. The dabbing ceased with his movement. His eyes blinked open and focused on the face of a vampire nurse looming over him with a damp cloth in her hand. His sight was slightly obstructed by the light of the sun shining on his face. She stood up suddenly and walked swiftly out of the room. The dhampire heard some faint talking outside the bedroom door until Dracula stepped in with an embarrassed smile on his pale face.