![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
redfiona99Title: Twenty Years Later
Fandom: Blade: Trinity
Disclaimer: The characters aren’t mine, they belong to Marvel and Warner Brothers. No money is being made from this.
Characters: Zoe and Dracula
Rating: PG-13
Notes/Warnings: Set after Blade: Trinity, spoilers for that. Contains mentions of canonical character death.
Summary: Zoe didn't expect to see Dracula again
Daystar wasn't the ultimate answer. Oh, it worked, worked damn well, for a long time, but that's the thing about bloodsuckers, they're sneaky and adaptable, and damn tough, like cockroaches with worse personalities. So they adapted.
The Nightstalkers still win more than they lose, and if they can expose the vamps to Daystar, they're dust, but their enemy are blood-sucking leeches, and every loss is one loss too many.
Given they're as close as you can get to Special Ops against vampires, the grapevine is very good at giving them information about unusual threats.
And this one is really unusual.
Cows dying of exsanguination. Normally, you'd think bored locals.
Vampires dying horribly, with body parts strewn. You'd be tempted to think Nightstalkers, only she knew for a fact they'd been in LA at the time. So local anti-vampire crew, bigger on vengeance than discretion. Zoe can understand that. Except, there isn't one. None they've ever heard of, none that anyone's heard of, none that they've found any evidence of now that they're here.
So something really weird is going on.
It was the middle of the day, and she and Narinder are on watch duty. With vampires having familiars, you can't let your guard down, not even when the sun is shining bright overhead.
Despite that, she wasn't expecting to see anything as she scanned the horizon with binoculars. It was wide open farmland, scrub grass, no major hills except far off in the distance, prairies sectioned off with fences.
She isn't expecting the figure standing at the fence staring at them. The speed of her movement to focus and double check she has seen what she thought she saw attracted Narinder's attention.
"What is it?"
"It's the Gnome King." It's the man who killed my mother, she doesn't say.
She preps her crossbow, not that it will do much good, but it makes her feel better.
She gets into distance, and fires. He snatches the crossbow bolt out of the air like it's moving in slow motion. He's every bit as strong as she doesn't quite remember. He turns to look at her and she strides towards him, Narinder following hesitantly.
"What do you want?" There's no point trying to shoot him again, it'd only be a waste of arrows.
"Zoe, why are you talking to … who is he? What is he?"
"It's Dracula." Narinder goggled.
"And you're the little girl, all grown up." Dracula looked surprised, like he hadn't planned it to be Zoe he met.
"Wait, Dracula is the vampire who killed your mother?"
Being an orphan didn't make you stand out in the Night Stalkers, and bloodsuckers were the major cause. She's never said who, but she'd told parts of the story, being trapped, being threatened, the vampire offering her eternity. "Not the point." Which it wasn't. There's no reason her mother's death should be any different to her father's just because the vampire that killed her mother is famous.
"Where is the Daywalker?"
"I don't know."
"Don't lie to me."
"I am not lying to you. I have a way of contacting him, but I don't know where he is. Anyway, why do you want to see him again? He beat you last time."
"Maybe don't sass Dracula," which was good advice from Narinder.
Except, Zoe knew Dracula wouldn't be offended. Dracula was a warrior first, and not the kind of man who'd hide from the truth, and maybe she needs to add herself to the list of people who need to stop glorifying Dracula.
"I wish to be left alone, and tire of the pathetic attempts by my kind to seek me out." Which explained the dismembered vampires.
"I'm sure we can work on a one-way ticket to Antarctica."
Dracula smiled, or something in that family, "and how long will that last? Humans get everywhere and the vampires follow them."
"If you're desperate for eternal peace, stand there and I'll stake you."
"Don't antagonise the first vampire."
Zoe realised she was going to have to set Narinder straight. "If he'd wanted to kill us, we'd be dead already. He let us find him. Nothing I can say is going to change that. Right now, we're worth more to him alive than dead."
Dracula smiled, more like a tiger that had just received a treat of red raw steak. "For now you are." Dracula paused before he carried on, cricked his neck to emphasise the threat. "And while I thank you for your offer," it was the kind of thank you that normally came with a knife, "there is a difference in losing a fight and its consequences and being trapped like a dumb animal. I don't need to explain that difference to vampire hunters." And yeah, Zoe understood that difference, it's why she couldn't understand people who knew about vampires and then didn't do anything about it. "The Daywalker would give me a glorious death."
"He'd certainly try." Of course she's going to tell Blade that Dracula is alive, and not loving it, up here in rural cow country, but she's not going to give Dracula the advantage of knowing that. She's reasonably convinced he can guess that that's what she's going to do but she wants to give Blade every advantage she can. In an ideal world, Blade'll stake Dracula while he's asleep, because Blade has the same reason for not giving a damn about the "honourable fight" bullshit Dracula spews as Zoe has.
"That is all I ask." They're at an impasse, Dracula has said all he wants to say, but he's too old to turn his back on an opponent and Zoe's been taught better than to do that too.
They nod at each other as both parties start to walk backwards away from the gate, while Zoe fights the urge to let fly with a stake. Because she knows it's pointless, and will get her killed, and won't kill him, so really, really pointless, but oh how she wants to. But that's another thing she's been taught, human life is too precious to waste. You hit a problem too big for you, call in the Nightstalkers, if it's too big for them, they'll call in Blade. Everyone just hopes they don't hit a problem too big for him.
Narinder, because he is actually sensible, underneath the occasional klutz moment, takes her by her shaking arm. He knows how to calm her down, stop her doing the stupid thing he must know she wants to do. "What's the next step?"
"We pack up and get out of here."
"And then?"
"Then we give him exactly what he asked for, and hope he chokes on it."
Fandom: Blade: Trinity
Disclaimer: The characters aren’t mine, they belong to Marvel and Warner Brothers. No money is being made from this.
Characters: Zoe and Dracula
Rating: PG-13
Notes/Warnings: Set after Blade: Trinity, spoilers for that. Contains mentions of canonical character death.
Summary: Zoe didn't expect to see Dracula again
Daystar wasn't the ultimate answer. Oh, it worked, worked damn well, for a long time, but that's the thing about bloodsuckers, they're sneaky and adaptable, and damn tough, like cockroaches with worse personalities. So they adapted.
The Nightstalkers still win more than they lose, and if they can expose the vamps to Daystar, they're dust, but their enemy are blood-sucking leeches, and every loss is one loss too many.
Given they're as close as you can get to Special Ops against vampires, the grapevine is very good at giving them information about unusual threats.
And this one is really unusual.
Cows dying of exsanguination. Normally, you'd think bored locals.
Vampires dying horribly, with body parts strewn. You'd be tempted to think Nightstalkers, only she knew for a fact they'd been in LA at the time. So local anti-vampire crew, bigger on vengeance than discretion. Zoe can understand that. Except, there isn't one. None they've ever heard of, none that anyone's heard of, none that they've found any evidence of now that they're here.
So something really weird is going on.
It was the middle of the day, and she and Narinder are on watch duty. With vampires having familiars, you can't let your guard down, not even when the sun is shining bright overhead.
Despite that, she wasn't expecting to see anything as she scanned the horizon with binoculars. It was wide open farmland, scrub grass, no major hills except far off in the distance, prairies sectioned off with fences.
She isn't expecting the figure standing at the fence staring at them. The speed of her movement to focus and double check she has seen what she thought she saw attracted Narinder's attention.
"What is it?"
"It's the Gnome King." It's the man who killed my mother, she doesn't say.
She preps her crossbow, not that it will do much good, but it makes her feel better.
She gets into distance, and fires. He snatches the crossbow bolt out of the air like it's moving in slow motion. He's every bit as strong as she doesn't quite remember. He turns to look at her and she strides towards him, Narinder following hesitantly.
"What do you want?" There's no point trying to shoot him again, it'd only be a waste of arrows.
"Zoe, why are you talking to … who is he? What is he?"
"It's Dracula." Narinder goggled.
"And you're the little girl, all grown up." Dracula looked surprised, like he hadn't planned it to be Zoe he met.
"Wait, Dracula is the vampire who killed your mother?"
Being an orphan didn't make you stand out in the Night Stalkers, and bloodsuckers were the major cause. She's never said who, but she'd told parts of the story, being trapped, being threatened, the vampire offering her eternity. "Not the point." Which it wasn't. There's no reason her mother's death should be any different to her father's just because the vampire that killed her mother is famous.
"Where is the Daywalker?"
"I don't know."
"Don't lie to me."
"I am not lying to you. I have a way of contacting him, but I don't know where he is. Anyway, why do you want to see him again? He beat you last time."
"Maybe don't sass Dracula," which was good advice from Narinder.
Except, Zoe knew Dracula wouldn't be offended. Dracula was a warrior first, and not the kind of man who'd hide from the truth, and maybe she needs to add herself to the list of people who need to stop glorifying Dracula.
"I wish to be left alone, and tire of the pathetic attempts by my kind to seek me out." Which explained the dismembered vampires.
"I'm sure we can work on a one-way ticket to Antarctica."
Dracula smiled, or something in that family, "and how long will that last? Humans get everywhere and the vampires follow them."
"If you're desperate for eternal peace, stand there and I'll stake you."
"Don't antagonise the first vampire."
Zoe realised she was going to have to set Narinder straight. "If he'd wanted to kill us, we'd be dead already. He let us find him. Nothing I can say is going to change that. Right now, we're worth more to him alive than dead."
Dracula smiled, more like a tiger that had just received a treat of red raw steak. "For now you are." Dracula paused before he carried on, cricked his neck to emphasise the threat. "And while I thank you for your offer," it was the kind of thank you that normally came with a knife, "there is a difference in losing a fight and its consequences and being trapped like a dumb animal. I don't need to explain that difference to vampire hunters." And yeah, Zoe understood that difference, it's why she couldn't understand people who knew about vampires and then didn't do anything about it. "The Daywalker would give me a glorious death."
"He'd certainly try." Of course she's going to tell Blade that Dracula is alive, and not loving it, up here in rural cow country, but she's not going to give Dracula the advantage of knowing that. She's reasonably convinced he can guess that that's what she's going to do but she wants to give Blade every advantage she can. In an ideal world, Blade'll stake Dracula while he's asleep, because Blade has the same reason for not giving a damn about the "honourable fight" bullshit Dracula spews as Zoe has.
"That is all I ask." They're at an impasse, Dracula has said all he wants to say, but he's too old to turn his back on an opponent and Zoe's been taught better than to do that too.
They nod at each other as both parties start to walk backwards away from the gate, while Zoe fights the urge to let fly with a stake. Because she knows it's pointless, and will get her killed, and won't kill him, so really, really pointless, but oh how she wants to. But that's another thing she's been taught, human life is too precious to waste. You hit a problem too big for you, call in the Nightstalkers, if it's too big for them, they'll call in Blade. Everyone just hopes they don't hit a problem too big for him.
Narinder, because he is actually sensible, underneath the occasional klutz moment, takes her by her shaking arm. He knows how to calm her down, stop her doing the stupid thing he must know she wants to do. "What's the next step?"
"We pack up and get out of here."
"And then?"
"Then we give him exactly what he asked for, and hope he chokes on it."
