"Squeeze harder."
"Yes, brother," Tibor grunted, squeezing Vlad's shoulders harder as requested.
"Ah," Vlad sighed happily. "That's so much better. I had a lot of tension because of you guys. This eases it a little. Ist, a good massage is important, don't you think?"
"Yes, brother," Ist said quietly.
"Everyone?"
The gathered fledglings were kneeling in front of him. As one, they grimaced but intoned as one; "Yes, brother."
"Good, good," Vlad said. Then waved for Tibor to join them.
Tibor clenched his jaw at his humiliation but knelt in his place while Vlad stretched his arm and grinned at them. His fangs glinted brightly.
"You're all weak," Vlad reminded them for about the hundredth time. "You know, my fist doesn't even hurt, and I put a lot of effort into bashing your skulls. It makes me wonder if your bones are made of fat. Some of you even look fat. Much too fat. Tibor, you said you do training. What training do you do?"
"We train with the mace in the evening."
"Forget that bullshit. And in the morning?"
"We study, brother."
"What do you study?"
"Anything from the library."
"And what did you study this week?"
"Umm…"
"Nothing."
"Well…"
"Nothing," Vlad repeated. "You've all been doing nothing when you should be studying. Well. It can't be helped. Your elders are clearly too simple and soft on you. So, it sounds to me like you have plenty of free time."
"We don't," Jenos said through clenched teeth. "Some of us work hard!"
"Some?" Vlad swirled the word thoughtfully. "Not good enough. And any work you've been doing has given you no benefit. From now on, your free time belongs to me. If you have a complaint, step forward and I'll beat the shit out of you again. I can do that all night if you want. Every night. Over and over I'll beat the shit out of you."
Jenos shuddered. "I have no complaint!"
"Good." Vlad put a finger to his lips, thinking hard. "How many of you have refined your hearts?"
A few hands went up.
"And did all of you choose the Crimson Wave technique to do so?"
"Yes, brother!"
"Tibor? Have you refined yours yet?"
"Not yet."
"But you could use Icy Touch technique?" Vlad felt a brief feeling of respect for the other vampire. While it wasn't unusual for some vampires to manifest an ability or two before refining their hearts, it was still a sign of good potential.
"Yes, brother," Tibor sighed. "But it wasn't good against you."
"No. Do you know why?"
"Because you're strong?"
Vlad hopped up and patted Tibor's head. "That's right. I'm strong. Do you know how I got strong?"
A light of hope shone in the vampire's eyes. "How?"
"You want me to teach you?"
"Umm…" Tibor gulped. "Y-y-yes? P-p-please?"
Vlad grinned at him, then turned to everyone else. "Do you all want to learn how to get strong?"
"Yes, brother!"
Vlad grinned wider as the sound vibrated through the common room.
He nodded, pleased. Not a single brother had flinched from the question.
"Good," he said. "Then I want you to remember this moment. Remember it well. Carve it into your brains and never forget it. Because everything I do to you from now on is for your benefit. And not only that… It's because you asked for it!"
"Oh, god," Jenos whimpered. "What have we done?"
"I will break you. I will smash you. I will tear you all to pieces!" Vlad cackled madly as he cracked his knuckles. "But you will be stronger. Yes. You will be so much stronger…"
Within a few hours, the fledglings were sprawled in the mud in the centre of the courtyard.
Each on their back or curled on their sides clutching their bellies.
Vlad stood over them, his lip curled in disappointment.
"Is that all you can do?" He waved his arms as he howled at them. "Is this the strength you will show the Black Dragon Sect? Why are you all here? Why don't you leave the mountain and become fluffy gentlemen vampires? Wear pretty lace? Carry a little snuffbox, and perfume your asses? Pathetic!"
He waded through the bodies, kicking a few of them to get them back onto their feet.
Grinned broadly as he found a specific one.
"What's your name?"
"Galosh, brother," the other vampire whined as Vlad slapped his head. "Please stop…"
"Stop?" Vlad whacked his head again. "Why stop? You remember me, don't you? You said I was lazy. You hit me in the head with your stick. Where's your stick now? I want to hit you with it. What did you say to me then? Hmm? Get up! Get up, you lazy bastard!"
"Brother!" Galosh squealed, trying to shield his head as he scrambled up from the ground.
From within a little room above the Great Hall, Elder Janos and Elder Miklos watched as Vlad punched his way through the young fledglings. As one went down spitting blood, Elder Miklos winced.
"Should we stop him?"
"The Count asked me not to," Elder Janus sighed. "I feel for the fledglings, but the Count said it might do them some good."
"I can't see how…"
"I guess we will wait and see."
"Elder Laszlo might not like it if he sees this. He's not fond of bullying."
"No." Janus' lips twitched a little. "He won't like it at all. Look. How are they still able to do push-ups after all they've done? Even I would be sweating, I think."
"Then you would have a sore head," Elder Miklos said drily as they watched Vlad swat one of the fledglings going too slow for his liking.
"Tsk. Poor Galosh. I wonder what he did to deserve the kid's ire."
"Whatever it was, he won't do it again…"
The two elders chuckled lightly.
Then winced together as Vlad sank his fist into Tibor's belly.
"Keep your stomach tense!" Vlad shouted in Tibor's ear. "Don't you want to be strong?"
"Yes, brother!"
"What?"
"YES, BROTHER!" Tibor roared as loud as he could. "I WANT TO BE STRONG!"
"Hmph."
Vlad continued his rounds, handing out a few more slaps where needed.
I'm sorry, Ferenc, he thought. But they need to be stronger. I am not you, so I can only do things in my way.
When he was eventually satisfied, Vlad nodded at the semi-conscious forms groaning on the ground.
"We'll do this again tomorrow," he said softly. "Make sure you get some rest."
"Yes, brother…" Ist called weakly. There was a note of relief in his voice, but also dread as he realised they'd be doing it all again tomorrow.
The call was quickly echoed with similar tones.
"Scamps," Vlad muttered to himself, heading for the ruined wall.
He remembered a small clearing nearby where he used to go to think. He wondered if it was still there. If it was, it'd be a good place to train his own body.
And push his powers to their limits away from prying eyes.
Darting through the trees, he felt the weight of responsibility lift from his shoulders. He hadn't asked for this.
Didn't want it.
But who else could fix the mess?
Ferenc wasn't here.
"It's up to me," he sighed as he found the old clearing. It was still there.
He smiled as he noted that not much had changed. Some of the smaller trees had gotten bigger, but that was it.
Approaching one, he eyed it critically before finding a branch he liked the look of. Breaking it off, he pulled a small dagger from his belt and started stripping it down.
It wasn't much of a branch, but it would do for now.
"Turkish maces," he growled as he worked. "I can't believe it. Whose stupid idea was that? I'll beat the shit out of them until they die."
In the end, he held a long branch around 55 inches long. A few inches shorter than he liked, but it was the best he would find.
He gave it a test swing and felt an immediate resonance in his heart as the long stick whooshed through the air.
It brought a calm to his spirit that he couldn't put into words.
"Alright," he muttered. "Let's see what this stupid body can handle."
As he started going through the forms of the Black Dragon Great Sword Art, he quickly realised that the other fledglings weren't the only weak ones.
He was also weak.
Grunting with effort, he pushed himself further and further but was unable to complete the full thirty-six steps. In truth, he could barely handle the first three.
Nor could he manifest the Shadow of the Dragon in his swing.
He could only temper the humiliation with the understanding this wasn't his body. It was weak. But he would make it strong.
Sighing, he set the branch aside and lay on his belly.
Put his arms to his side.
And pushed up.
"One… Two… Three…"
As he kept going, a tall shadow watched from the trees with an unreadable expression. The shadow's eyes narrowed.
Then, like smoke, it disappeared.