Vlad stormed up the mountain behind them, waving the long stick in his hands.
He chased his fellow fledglings with a crazed grin on his face, whirling the stick like a sword. A sword he used to batter the backs of those he deemed too slow.
"Faster!" He screamed at them. "Anyone who doesn't get up the mountain before me, I will beat them to death!"
"I think he means it," Jenos babbled, terror making him scramble up the path faster than he thought possible.
"I know he does," Tibor hissed. "Keep moving!"
The path was narrow.
So narrow they had to go single file.
One slip, and they'd fall to their doom. Maybe they wouldn't die. In fact, most knew they'd survive the fall. But would they survive Vlad's temper if they fell?
They doubted it.
"Shit!" Ist let out a rare curse. "He's getting closer. Move it, Hans!"
"I'm trying," the other shouted over his shoulder. "Blame Bally!"
"Move your ass, Bally!"
"I am!"
"Move it faster, damn you!"
Behind Ist, someone let out a shriek of agony as the loud crack of wood on flesh echoed across the mountains.
Wincing, Ist didn't glance back.
He kept his eyes on the stones in front of him. The perilous path which they trod was far too easy to twist your ankle on if you weren't paying attention.
And, by the sound of things behind him, Vlad wasn't accepting a twisted ankle as a good excuse for slowing down.
There was a small part of Ist's mind which wondered why he was still running.
Vlad was going to beat them all anyway.
Why not get beaten now and just let the pain drive him into unconsciousness now?
It was hopeless to think of escaping the beatings. Vlad was a demon.
He was sure if he looked back, he'd see the other vampire frothing at the mouth.
His eyes caught the Black Dragon stitched to the back of the fledgling in front of him. The Court had meant a lot to Ist when he was a mortal kid.
As an orphan, he'd heard a lot of stories about the old ones. The vampires who'd fought wars to protect Transylvania from the Turks. And from the Pope.
Their stories sounded grand.
And nobility was something Ist had searched for and never found.
The Court had been a bit of a disappointment. The ruined castle had certainly made him want to change his mind about joining the Court.
But the stories still held their allure.
And many nights he'd drifted along the ruined ramparts and imagined this was where the legendary Prince himself had once walked. The thought had always made him shiver inside.
Why was he running, then?
Because more than anything he wanted to walk the ramparts as the Prince had done. Not the ruins. But the real thing.
So, the Court needed to rebuild. Ist knew he wasn't smart. But he was smart enough to know you can't build an empire with kindness.
It has to be built with strength.
And the demon chasing them up the mountain?
Well.
He had a lot of strength.
Maybe too much?
Ist felt a breeze against his back. No, not a breeze. Vlad was swinging the stick! He heard the whoosh of it.
How was he this close already?
Ist felt the thunderous blow as it walloped him across the shoulders.
Stumbling under the force of the blow, he almost toppled off the edge.
But a hand yanked him back by his collar and pressed him against the wall. He found himself looking into the fiercest face he'd ever seen. It made him want to cower.
"I said run!" Vlad howled into his face. "Not jump off the damned cliff! Why are you this stupid? Now, run!"
"Yes, brother!"
Ist scampered off and the stragglers who'd fallen behind quickly rushed past Vlad. He aimed a few laconic blows at their backs, but his heart wasn't in it.
He was mostly happy with how hard they were trying.
Still, he shouldn't let them get complacent.
He sucked a deep breath, then bellowed; "Stop slacking off, you lazy bastards!"
And gave chase again.
The peak of the mountain was a place Vlad remembered well.
It used to be that every fledgling would race up the mountain every day.
The view was magnificent, and he never tired of it.
He smiled to see most of the fledglings were similarly affected and were standing at the edge looking out across Transylvania. The smoky mist crawling through the valleys hid most of the villages from sight, but the soft glow of their homes promised warmth.
And blood.
Vlad smacked his lips as he remembered feasting on villagers now and then.
A long time ago.
How long since the Black Dragon Court had feasted?
Could they even remember what a Blood Feast was?
He doubted it.
Stomping up behind them, he pretended not to notice how they cowered from him. Instead, he aimed a sword. "Transylvania," he proclaimed happily. "Our glorious home. All of it belongs to the Court."
"Not anymore," Jenos sighed.
"What?"
"Well, it doesn't," Jenos said, shifting on his feet. He looked to the others for help, but everyone was just taking a few steps away from him. "Oh, come on… It's the truth! They don't even call it Transylvania really. It's just another part of Romania now."
"Romania?" Vlad felt a puzzled sense of disgust well inside his heart. "Who rules Romania?"
"The True Dragon Court."
"True Dragon?" Vlad blinked, resting his stick across his shoulders. "What the Hell kind of shit is that? True? There's only one Dragon Court!"
"Huh?"
Vlad sighed, reminding himself it had been two hundred years.
The fledglings had mentioned a library. Maybe he should go there and read about recent history.
"Alright," he said, holding his temper. "How did they come to be?"
"Umm…"
"Come on, come on," Vlad growled, snapping his fingers. "Spit it out."
"After the war, when the Prince and his Counts sacrificed themselves to kill the Pope-"
"Sacrificed?" Vlad couldn't help but snort at that. The word sounded too noble for the chaos of battle. Then waved a hand. "Continue."
"Well, the True Vampire Court was formed after that."
"Of course it was," Vlad sneered. "Because what dumb shit would try such bullshit when Ferenc was around? None!"
"Right…" Jenos said, clearly a bit confused.
"Well. It doesn't matter. Who was the dumb bastard who thinks he's good enough to be a True Dragon Prince?"
"Umm, well. It was… Radu-"
"Radu?" Vlad almost spat blood. "Radu? That traitorous dog? He calls himself the True Dragon Court? What crazy nonsense!"
He reeled as he took this new information in.
It was so ridiculous!
But as his brain absorbed it, it became less so.
Of course with the Black Dragon Court in disarray and its most powerful leaders dead, someone would fill the void. And Radu hadn't been completely unskilled. He wasn't as strong as his fellow fledglings and had barely managed to scrape by as a Knight.
But he might have been stronger than most simple vampires in the region after the war.
And he'd always had the mouth of a weasel. Perhaps he'd convinced them all to follow him.
It made sense.
It just wasn't very appetising.
Vlad sighed. "This world has become so much shit," he told the fledglings wistfully. "There's so much I need to fix. You know what that means?"
"Oh, God, help me," Bally croaked, still on his back. "Please, brother. Give us one more minute… To catch our breath?"
"Get up," Vlad hissed through his teeth. "The lot of you! Last one down gets no blood tonight!"
"What?" Jenos cried. "You can't-"
"Out of the way," Hans growled, shoving Jenos aside as he scrambled with the others towards the path leading down.
"Wait!" Jenos hesitated only for half a second, then darted behind them.
Leaving Vlad to stand alone on the peak of the old mountain.
Staring out at a land which was apparently in the palm of his old rival.
"So, Radu," he murmured. "You're still alive? Well. We'll have to change that, won't we? Wait for me, you bastard. I don't want anyone else to kill you."
Then he turned and sprinted after his brothers, lifting the stick high and letting out a loud roar which filled their hearts with terror.
And, far away, in a distant castle, a handsome-looking blonde vampire lifted his head and frowned. In his hand, a jewel-encrusted golden goblet was full of dark fresh blood.
Splayed on a massive bed behind him, two nubile brides lay exhausted.
"My Lord?" The servant had paused for a moment as the vampire froze in the act of drinking. "Is everything to your liking?"
"Yes, Hampton," Prince Radu of Romania said gently. "Everything is fine. It's just, for a moment… It felt like someone had walked across my grave…"