ULTRAMagic Interlude BC - Chapter 23
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“Vex is too nice…” Ekaterina remarked as she flipped through the pages of his grimoire.
Vlastimir nodded with a hint of contemplation. “Too nice? Not nice enough? Does it really matter how nice someone is as long as they’re nice?” he asked in response as he wrote something down. The two had retired to their quarters for the day, not really sure what to do. The room that once housed Blood-Wraith, Dragoslava, and Desislav had been set aside for them, as it was quite the living space. It had all of the typical bells and whistles found in The Singing Storm Tower, accompanied by a nice view of the city.
“Well yes, I’d imagine. It’s a good way to spoil someone…”
“Hum, I suppose you’re right. I’m not sure if I’d know given how crazy my childhood was.”
Ekaterina temporarily closed her book. “What are you working on?”
“Oh, just some notes, collecting my thoughts, and reflecting on my adventures in The Unlight.”
“So you are getting ready for your parents' arrival?”
He sighed. “Yeah, I guess so. What else have I got to do?” Vlastimir flipped through his notes and had a realization. “Looking back on it, I think my family is cursed…”
“What makes you say that?” Ekaterina wondered as she took a seat at the desk.
Vlastimir exhaled. “Well, we’ll have to start from what I consider to be the beginning, my grandfather… Vlad III Dracula. And that isn’t someone pretending to be him, that actually is Vlad the Impaler.”
It took Ekaterina a second to process that fact. “Wait, really? Then how did you…?”
“Grandpa Vlad met a, um… Well I don’t know if you’ll believe me if I told you.”
She raised an eyebrow. “It’s that ridiculous?”
“Yes… Are you willing to humor me?”
“Of course, go ahead.”
Vlastimir took a breath. “Grandpa met a fallen goddess from Atlantis…”
Ekaterina could not help but laugh. “Wait, really? You realize that’s a myth, right?”
He knew this would happen. “Well, it isn’t, but I’ll let this go for the sake of conversation. Just know that Grandma Fausta is a fallen goddess regardless of her origin…”
“Fair enough.”
“Ahem, Grandpa Vlad met grandma at the end of his first life. He struck a deal with her of some kind that granted him immortality. All he had to do was consume virgin blood every 100 years. Ideally he’s supposed to obtain this from multiple people, in good health preferably.”
“Hold up, does this mean you’re a vampire?”
“No… I can’t say the same about my father, but no. Grandpa doesn’t need blood to live, he just needs it for the ritual.”
“Oh, I see. Continue…”
“We’ll actually get to my dad in a minute, but getting back on track: Come the end of the 19th century, grandpa got himself into trouble, having been sealed away by a team led by Abraham Van Helsing…”
“Wait again! My apologies, but Van Helsing? Like, Bram Stoker’s Dracula Van Helsing?”
Vlastimir nodded. “They never told you that it was based on real events? Hehe, well, ‘based on’ being the key phrase here…”
Ekaterina nodded, albeit in slight disbelief. “Right… So how did your grandfather get out of all that?”
“World War II. The Germans destroyed the tree that created the barrier of his prison. Naturally Grandpa Vlad did not take kindly to the Germans of the era and started sabotaging their plans. Eventually he learned grandma was stuck in Belgium and in great danger. He went and rescued her, took her back to Romania, and drove out most of the axis powers to keep her safe.”
“How sweet of him… despite his past… Although I have to ask: how does he even live with his past? I’m sure there’s things I have not learned, but that doesn’t change the fact that he has quite the infamous reputation.”
Vlastimir thought about it for a second, shuddering a little. “I don’t think he does. I vaguely remember my parents warning me that Grandpa Vlad was prone to fits when I first met him. I still love him, but I wouldn’t want to be in his shoes. In hindsight, his obsession with starting and donating to charities makes a lot more sense now.”
“Wow. So what about your parents?”
“Ah, them. My father, Zoltan Tenebrae Raphael Dracul, had a fairly normal childhood. My mom? Oh boy, where do I even begin? She started life as a girl who was forcibly drafted into a coven of warlocks. They wanted to use her as a vessel for a dragon that they would turn over to the Germans for some dark, top secret knowledge.”
“Goodness! How’d she get out of that?”
Vlastimir took a quick sip of some water, as his throat was a little dry. “At the height of World War II, a secret operation was initiated by a group I think was called G.A.I.G., also known as the German Anomaly Investigation Group… I think. Anyways, a special operations team was sent in looking for this coven consisting of Americans and witches from The Devil’s Brew Coven. The ensuing chaos allowed mom to escape, with her becoming a wanderer for a bit. Eventually she made her way to Romania and tried to mug grandma. She was out for a walk with a very young dad…”
An inconsistency then occurred to Ekaterina. “Slow down, are you saying your mother is way older than your father?”
“Yes.”
“When were they born?”
“Mom was born in 1929 and dad was born in 1950…” Vlastimir noticed that Ekaterina was giving him the strangest look. “Oh no, don’t worry, it’s not what you think. I’m about to get that, but just know that mom and dad didn’t have true feelings for each other until he was well into adulthood.”
“Okay. So what happened next?”
“Grandma knocked the knife out of her hand with her powers. And then young-dad went up to mom and apparently started bopping her on the leg…”
“Aw, that’s adorable.”
Vlastimir chuckled. “Yeah. Mom still remembers that to this day. So grandma then took pity on mom and got her off the streets. After learning some magic from her, mom set out on her own. Dad told me that this disappointed him as he had become good friends with mom by that point. Once dad was an adult, he sought out Uncle Abraham and went on all sorts of adventures with him…”
“I take it Van Helsing is a friend of the family?”
“Oops, yeah, sorry. He’s not actually my uncle, he’s just really good friends with my dad. Anyways, dad eventually tracked down mom and proposed to her. The two married for a couple of reasons. One, dad was in love. Two, he wanted to keep her safe. And three, dad wanted to make sure mom didn’t get herself into trouble anymore…” Vlastimir paused, then burst out laughing. “Of course one shenanigan led to another and here I am!”
Ekaterina stroked her chin and chuckled. “Incredible. Well, at least you have a family that legitimately cares for one another. Old Jedidiah Moore and Magdalena couldn’t give two shakes of rattlesnake’s tail about anything other than their stocks, profits, and black gold… jeez, no wonder The Lich picked me…”
“Hey, don’t beat yourself up over them. Just because your parents weren’t great doesn’t mean you can’t be great.”
Ekaterina extended a metal ribbon from her arm and began wobbling it. “I was supposed to be a villain and a weapon. That’s what this power is for, is it not?”
“Yes, but look at where you are now. It’s your power, so make it the symbol of a hero…” Vlastimir stopped, then facepalmed. “Is that the best I could come up with? I sound so ridiculous…”
She laughed. “No, it’s alright. I just feel bad for what I did. You have to concede that wrapping Drago up like a mummy wasn’t exactly the most heroic behavior. And what after that? Vex was going to betray The Lich, so that begs the question of what he was going to do with me…”
“It sounds like he would’ve tried to recruit you, given his original plans for Blood-Wraith.”
That rang a bell in Ekaterina’s head. She then looked at the grimoire. “Huh, I suppose you’re right…”
“Just because you had an unfavorable childhood doesn’t make you a bad person. All you need to do is put one foot in front of the other and walk right out the door… and I’ll be right there, waiting for you!”
Ekaterina laughed, feeling warm on the inside this time. “Jeez, I fully expect you to burst out into song next…”
“Well hey, reach out and just take it…”
“Okay, stop it, you goofball!” Ekaterina said with another laugh. “Anyways, How did you come up with all of this?”
“I’ve had a long time to think about things, but part of it is because of my mentor, Gostislav. He imparted a lot of wisdom to me.”
“Then he did a good job…” Ekaterina reached over the desk and kissed Vlastimir. “Let’s go get something to eat. I’m hungry…”
“You know? My dad pulled that ‘hey hungry, I’m dad’ stuff when I was young…”
She giggled. “Well to be fair, we always walk right into those ones. Also did your parents tell you everything about their history? Because all of that seems pretty heavy to tell a child or teen out of the blue…”
“They told me parts of it, but the rest of it was courtesy of The Screaming God back when I was trying to learn void magic.”
“Ah, I see. You know you’ll have to tell your parents about that, right?”
Vlastimir sighed. “Yeah… Add that to the list of things to do.”
The dining hall was fairly busy, with people eating and some moving about. Englehart was there, slow to eat his food. He was a bit bummed out given that Dunja was away. Seeing Vlastimir and Ekaterina show up looking fairly happy caused him to perk up a bit, however. He invited them to his table, which also had Drazhan, Octavius, and Caius seated there. Naturally the four were curious about the grimoire and how the couple were doing. Feeling up to it, Vlastimir offered to tell them about his family, of which they listened with due attention. This ended up making them even more eager to meet his parents, much to Vlastimir’s chagrin.
Despite the things that had been discussed over the course of that day, Vlastimir and Ekaterina fell asleep pretty quickly that night. Talking had eased their nerves a great deal. Both of them felt better the next morning and woke up with a spring in their step. They were even more eager to hang out with Kresimira and her friends. After washing up and eating their breakfast, the pair went straight to the Raynot mansion. Kresimira had decided that a gathering in her family’s gardens would be perfect for all of them.
Rose heard the doorbell ring and went to answer it. “Vlastimir, Ekaterina! Welcome, come on in.”
“Thank you, your grace,” Ekaterina replied. “We’re not too early, are we?”
“Kresimira is still out fetching the others, but it’s no bother. Now if you two had arrived before Radovan left to go see Blood-Wraith, well, I would’ve still been in my nightgown.”
Rose led both of them to the main garden. Several tables and sets of chairs were surrounded by rows of gorgeous flowers. There were roses, peonies, marigolds, zinnia’s, daisies, pansies, asters, geraniums, and many others that were not immediately recognizable. Happy bumblebees and butterflies went to the various flowers as birds chirped with vigor around the three. Ekaterina was awestruck by all of this. Vlastimir had also noticed some rare plants from the Deep Unlight and complimented her grace on acquiring them.
The Duchess stuck with her guests until Kresimira showed up. She walked over to the three, looking like she had been rushing all over the place. “Oh my, the two of you are here already. Excellent.”
“Well given yesterday, we figured we should get things started as soon as possible,” Vlastimir replied.
“Don’t worry about this time, I got everything settled. Everyone else should be here as soon as they get things squared away on their end.”
“Curiously, is Corentin going to be accompanying you today?” Rose inquired.
“Oh no, he’s all abuzz with the samples he was provided with yesterday. Can’t say I blame him. And mother, thank you for staying here with these two.”
“No problem, dear. If you need me, I’ll be inside, assuming I’m not called upon.”
Kresimira took a seat as Rose returned to the mansion. She could finally rest her feet, or so she thought. “So, how are you two doing?”
“Fine, fine,” Ekaterina answered. “Kresimira, you’re not mad about what I did to Drago, are you? You know, back in the…”
She held her hand up. “Eka, it’s in the past. No need to worry about it now.”
Vlastimir nodded in agreement. “Water under the bridge, as it were.”
“Precisely. Besides, Drago is a grown woman; she can take a hit or two. I trust that mother showed you around the garden?”
“Oh yes,” Ekaterina said as she looked around, continuing to marvel at the flowers. “Was this all done by her?”
“No, me and Drago have helped out over the years. Even Papa has lent his hand here and there, but it’s been mostly mother and I. You can tell which gardens were planted by who.” Kresimira indicated a garden in the distance that was primarily roses.
Vlastimir chuckled. “I’m noticing an obsession with that flower…” This also made Ekaterina chuckle.
Kresimira tripped over her words. “Well of course roses would be an interest of mine. They are the flower of a true lady.”
He laughed. “Roses are certainly a beautiful flower. It’s why I picked it for one of my techniques… well actually multiple given the nature of thorns, but you get the idea.”
“Hey, Mira!” a voice called out.
“Oh, over here, Rowena! Welcome!”
Walking up was a woman with messy red hair, freckles, and green eyes. She wore a beat up jacket and had what looked like a tool belt around her worn out pants. “So, we’re finally doing this little get together?” She asked as she sat down.
Kresimira nodded. “Absolutely. Are Olga and Mariya still coming?”
“Definitely,” Rowena replied. “They’re just taking care of some last minute stuff. Mariya has the most work to do given that Ironfire Station is pretty active since a certain someone's parents are visiting soon…” She looked at Vlastimir.
He chuckled in response. “Yeah. I hope she’s not too swamped with work…”
“Honestly this is nothing compared to when Shadowland opens back up. I do not envy any of them at the station. Ekaterina, how are you doing?”
“Pretty good. Vex’s grimoire is fairly interesting. I’m also eager to meet Vlastimir’s parents, obviously.”
Rowena nodded with a chuckle. “Awesome. I have to say I’m glad you arrived when you did. Drago and Mira told me the city is utterly haunting as a ghost town…” A butterfly landed on her hand. She then held it up to her face. “Also this place being overgrown is mind blowing.”
“I would’ve tended to the gardens myself, but I don’t have the same fortitude as my mother,” Kresimira pointed out. She then glanced towards the mansion and noticed two women approaching them. “Oh good. Olga, Mariya! Over here” she called out.
Next: Chapter 24
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
Dracula © 1897 Bram Stoker
“Vex is too nice…” Ekaterina remarked as she flipped through the pages of his grimoire.
Vlastimir nodded with a hint of contemplation. “Too nice? Not nice enough? Does it really matter how nice someone is as long as they’re nice?” he asked in response as he wrote something down. The two had retired to their quarters for the day, not really sure what to do. The room that once housed Blood-Wraith, Dragoslava, and Desislav had been set aside for them, as it was quite the living space. It had all of the typical bells and whistles found in The Singing Storm Tower, accompanied by a nice view of the city.
“Well yes, I’d imagine. It’s a good way to spoil someone…”
“Hum, I suppose you’re right. I’m not sure if I’d know given how crazy my childhood was.”
Ekaterina temporarily closed her book. “What are you working on?”
“Oh, just some notes, collecting my thoughts, and reflecting on my adventures in The Unlight.”
“So you are getting ready for your parents' arrival?”
He sighed. “Yeah, I guess so. What else have I got to do?” Vlastimir flipped through his notes and had a realization. “Looking back on it, I think my family is cursed…”
“What makes you say that?” Ekaterina wondered as she took a seat at the desk.
Vlastimir exhaled. “Well, we’ll have to start from what I consider to be the beginning, my grandfather… Vlad III Dracula. And that isn’t someone pretending to be him, that actually is Vlad the Impaler.”
It took Ekaterina a second to process that fact. “Wait, really? Then how did you…?”
“Grandpa Vlad met a, um… Well I don’t know if you’ll believe me if I told you.”
She raised an eyebrow. “It’s that ridiculous?”
“Yes… Are you willing to humor me?”
“Of course, go ahead.”
Vlastimir took a breath. “Grandpa met a fallen goddess from Atlantis…”
Ekaterina could not help but laugh. “Wait, really? You realize that’s a myth, right?”
He knew this would happen. “Well, it isn’t, but I’ll let this go for the sake of conversation. Just know that Grandma Fausta is a fallen goddess regardless of her origin…”
“Fair enough.”
“Ahem, Grandpa Vlad met grandma at the end of his first life. He struck a deal with her of some kind that granted him immortality. All he had to do was consume virgin blood every 100 years. Ideally he’s supposed to obtain this from multiple people, in good health preferably.”
“Hold up, does this mean you’re a vampire?”
“No… I can’t say the same about my father, but no. Grandpa doesn’t need blood to live, he just needs it for the ritual.”
“Oh, I see. Continue…”
“We’ll actually get to my dad in a minute, but getting back on track: Come the end of the 19th century, grandpa got himself into trouble, having been sealed away by a team led by Abraham Van Helsing…”
“Wait again! My apologies, but Van Helsing? Like, Bram Stoker’s Dracula Van Helsing?”
Vlastimir nodded. “They never told you that it was based on real events? Hehe, well, ‘based on’ being the key phrase here…”
Ekaterina nodded, albeit in slight disbelief. “Right… So how did your grandfather get out of all that?”
“World War II. The Germans destroyed the tree that created the barrier of his prison. Naturally Grandpa Vlad did not take kindly to the Germans of the era and started sabotaging their plans. Eventually he learned grandma was stuck in Belgium and in great danger. He went and rescued her, took her back to Romania, and drove out most of the axis powers to keep her safe.”
“How sweet of him… despite his past… Although I have to ask: how does he even live with his past? I’m sure there’s things I have not learned, but that doesn’t change the fact that he has quite the infamous reputation.”
Vlastimir thought about it for a second, shuddering a little. “I don’t think he does. I vaguely remember my parents warning me that Grandpa Vlad was prone to fits when I first met him. I still love him, but I wouldn’t want to be in his shoes. In hindsight, his obsession with starting and donating to charities makes a lot more sense now.”
“Wow. So what about your parents?”
“Ah, them. My father, Zoltan Tenebrae Raphael Dracul, had a fairly normal childhood. My mom? Oh boy, where do I even begin? She started life as a girl who was forcibly drafted into a coven of warlocks. They wanted to use her as a vessel for a dragon that they would turn over to the Germans for some dark, top secret knowledge.”
“Goodness! How’d she get out of that?”
Vlastimir took a quick sip of some water, as his throat was a little dry. “At the height of World War II, a secret operation was initiated by a group I think was called G.A.I.G., also known as the German Anomaly Investigation Group… I think. Anyways, a special operations team was sent in looking for this coven consisting of Americans and witches from The Devil’s Brew Coven. The ensuing chaos allowed mom to escape, with her becoming a wanderer for a bit. Eventually she made her way to Romania and tried to mug grandma. She was out for a walk with a very young dad…”
An inconsistency then occurred to Ekaterina. “Slow down, are you saying your mother is way older than your father?”
“Yes.”
“When were they born?”
“Mom was born in 1929 and dad was born in 1950…” Vlastimir noticed that Ekaterina was giving him the strangest look. “Oh no, don’t worry, it’s not what you think. I’m about to get that, but just know that mom and dad didn’t have true feelings for each other until he was well into adulthood.”
“Okay. So what happened next?”
“Grandma knocked the knife out of her hand with her powers. And then young-dad went up to mom and apparently started bopping her on the leg…”
“Aw, that’s adorable.”
Vlastimir chuckled. “Yeah. Mom still remembers that to this day. So grandma then took pity on mom and got her off the streets. After learning some magic from her, mom set out on her own. Dad told me that this disappointed him as he had become good friends with mom by that point. Once dad was an adult, he sought out Uncle Abraham and went on all sorts of adventures with him…”
“I take it Van Helsing is a friend of the family?”
“Oops, yeah, sorry. He’s not actually my uncle, he’s just really good friends with my dad. Anyways, dad eventually tracked down mom and proposed to her. The two married for a couple of reasons. One, dad was in love. Two, he wanted to keep her safe. And three, dad wanted to make sure mom didn’t get herself into trouble anymore…” Vlastimir paused, then burst out laughing. “Of course one shenanigan led to another and here I am!”
Ekaterina stroked her chin and chuckled. “Incredible. Well, at least you have a family that legitimately cares for one another. Old Jedidiah Moore and Magdalena couldn’t give two shakes of rattlesnake’s tail about anything other than their stocks, profits, and black gold… jeez, no wonder The Lich picked me…”
“Hey, don’t beat yourself up over them. Just because your parents weren’t great doesn’t mean you can’t be great.”
Ekaterina extended a metal ribbon from her arm and began wobbling it. “I was supposed to be a villain and a weapon. That’s what this power is for, is it not?”
“Yes, but look at where you are now. It’s your power, so make it the symbol of a hero…” Vlastimir stopped, then facepalmed. “Is that the best I could come up with? I sound so ridiculous…”
She laughed. “No, it’s alright. I just feel bad for what I did. You have to concede that wrapping Drago up like a mummy wasn’t exactly the most heroic behavior. And what after that? Vex was going to betray The Lich, so that begs the question of what he was going to do with me…”
“It sounds like he would’ve tried to recruit you, given his original plans for Blood-Wraith.”
That rang a bell in Ekaterina’s head. She then looked at the grimoire. “Huh, I suppose you’re right…”
“Just because you had an unfavorable childhood doesn’t make you a bad person. All you need to do is put one foot in front of the other and walk right out the door… and I’ll be right there, waiting for you!”
Ekaterina laughed, feeling warm on the inside this time. “Jeez, I fully expect you to burst out into song next…”
“Well hey, reach out and just take it…”
“Okay, stop it, you goofball!” Ekaterina said with another laugh. “Anyways, How did you come up with all of this?”
“I’ve had a long time to think about things, but part of it is because of my mentor, Gostislav. He imparted a lot of wisdom to me.”
“Then he did a good job…” Ekaterina reached over the desk and kissed Vlastimir. “Let’s go get something to eat. I’m hungry…”
“You know? My dad pulled that ‘hey hungry, I’m dad’ stuff when I was young…”
She giggled. “Well to be fair, we always walk right into those ones. Also did your parents tell you everything about their history? Because all of that seems pretty heavy to tell a child or teen out of the blue…”
“They told me parts of it, but the rest of it was courtesy of The Screaming God back when I was trying to learn void magic.”
“Ah, I see. You know you’ll have to tell your parents about that, right?”
Vlastimir sighed. “Yeah… Add that to the list of things to do.”
The dining hall was fairly busy, with people eating and some moving about. Englehart was there, slow to eat his food. He was a bit bummed out given that Dunja was away. Seeing Vlastimir and Ekaterina show up looking fairly happy caused him to perk up a bit, however. He invited them to his table, which also had Drazhan, Octavius, and Caius seated there. Naturally the four were curious about the grimoire and how the couple were doing. Feeling up to it, Vlastimir offered to tell them about his family, of which they listened with due attention. This ended up making them even more eager to meet his parents, much to Vlastimir’s chagrin.
Despite the things that had been discussed over the course of that day, Vlastimir and Ekaterina fell asleep pretty quickly that night. Talking had eased their nerves a great deal. Both of them felt better the next morning and woke up with a spring in their step. They were even more eager to hang out with Kresimira and her friends. After washing up and eating their breakfast, the pair went straight to the Raynot mansion. Kresimira had decided that a gathering in her family’s gardens would be perfect for all of them.
Rose heard the doorbell ring and went to answer it. “Vlastimir, Ekaterina! Welcome, come on in.”
“Thank you, your grace,” Ekaterina replied. “We’re not too early, are we?”
“Kresimira is still out fetching the others, but it’s no bother. Now if you two had arrived before Radovan left to go see Blood-Wraith, well, I would’ve still been in my nightgown.”
Rose led both of them to the main garden. Several tables and sets of chairs were surrounded by rows of gorgeous flowers. There were roses, peonies, marigolds, zinnia’s, daisies, pansies, asters, geraniums, and many others that were not immediately recognizable. Happy bumblebees and butterflies went to the various flowers as birds chirped with vigor around the three. Ekaterina was awestruck by all of this. Vlastimir had also noticed some rare plants from the Deep Unlight and complimented her grace on acquiring them.
The Duchess stuck with her guests until Kresimira showed up. She walked over to the three, looking like she had been rushing all over the place. “Oh my, the two of you are here already. Excellent.”
“Well given yesterday, we figured we should get things started as soon as possible,” Vlastimir replied.
“Don’t worry about this time, I got everything settled. Everyone else should be here as soon as they get things squared away on their end.”
“Curiously, is Corentin going to be accompanying you today?” Rose inquired.
“Oh no, he’s all abuzz with the samples he was provided with yesterday. Can’t say I blame him. And mother, thank you for staying here with these two.”
“No problem, dear. If you need me, I’ll be inside, assuming I’m not called upon.”
Kresimira took a seat as Rose returned to the mansion. She could finally rest her feet, or so she thought. “So, how are you two doing?”
“Fine, fine,” Ekaterina answered. “Kresimira, you’re not mad about what I did to Drago, are you? You know, back in the…”
She held her hand up. “Eka, it’s in the past. No need to worry about it now.”
Vlastimir nodded in agreement. “Water under the bridge, as it were.”
“Precisely. Besides, Drago is a grown woman; she can take a hit or two. I trust that mother showed you around the garden?”
“Oh yes,” Ekaterina said as she looked around, continuing to marvel at the flowers. “Was this all done by her?”
“No, me and Drago have helped out over the years. Even Papa has lent his hand here and there, but it’s been mostly mother and I. You can tell which gardens were planted by who.” Kresimira indicated a garden in the distance that was primarily roses.
Vlastimir chuckled. “I’m noticing an obsession with that flower…” This also made Ekaterina chuckle.
Kresimira tripped over her words. “Well of course roses would be an interest of mine. They are the flower of a true lady.”
He laughed. “Roses are certainly a beautiful flower. It’s why I picked it for one of my techniques… well actually multiple given the nature of thorns, but you get the idea.”
“Hey, Mira!” a voice called out.
“Oh, over here, Rowena! Welcome!”
Walking up was a woman with messy red hair, freckles, and green eyes. She wore a beat up jacket and had what looked like a tool belt around her worn out pants. “So, we’re finally doing this little get together?” She asked as she sat down.
Kresimira nodded. “Absolutely. Are Olga and Mariya still coming?”
“Definitely,” Rowena replied. “They’re just taking care of some last minute stuff. Mariya has the most work to do given that Ironfire Station is pretty active since a certain someone's parents are visiting soon…” She looked at Vlastimir.
He chuckled in response. “Yeah. I hope she’s not too swamped with work…”
“Honestly this is nothing compared to when Shadowland opens back up. I do not envy any of them at the station. Ekaterina, how are you doing?”
“Pretty good. Vex’s grimoire is fairly interesting. I’m also eager to meet Vlastimir’s parents, obviously.”
Rowena nodded with a chuckle. “Awesome. I have to say I’m glad you arrived when you did. Drago and Mira told me the city is utterly haunting as a ghost town…” A butterfly landed on her hand. She then held it up to her face. “Also this place being overgrown is mind blowing.”
“I would’ve tended to the gardens myself, but I don’t have the same fortitude as my mother,” Kresimira pointed out. She then glanced towards the mansion and noticed two women approaching them. “Oh good. Olga, Mariya! Over here” she called out.
Next: Chapter 24
ULTRAMagic Alternate © 2022 William Ford II (ChaoticTempleKnight)
Dracula © 1897 Bram Stoker
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