Vlad spent a few hours with the fledglings, correcting their stances and kicking them when they failed to listen.
When he was done, he headed to his cell and was shocked to find Lucy and Mina moving two small couches into place in front of the fireplace he'd never used.
"What is this?"
"We're rearranging everything," Mina said. "And don't you ever clean? Have you any idea how much dust was on everything?"
"Dust?" He scowled. "That is your concern?"
"It should be yours!" She snorted at him. "Too much dust will thicken your nose."
"Thicken?"
"It'll make it hard to breathe."
He stared at her, not sure if she was serious or not. But by Lucy's nod, she seemed to be.
Shaking his head, he waved a hand. "Whatever. This is my room. Go find another."
"No," she said firmly. "It is our room."
The note of challenge hung in the air.
"Fine," he sighed. "But keep quiet when I'm training."
"We always are!"
He dropped down on the small mat and crossed his legs. "I'm still training."
Mina's mouth opened.
Closed.
But her eyes glared at him with hard heat.
"Unbelievable," she muttered as he closed his own. "How does he not even thank us for our efforts?"
Lucy shrugged. "Leave him be. Slap him when he's finished."
"I might just do that!"
Vlad closed his mind to them and opened himself up to his heart.
The core rolled smoothly as it calmly absorbed blood energy.
He was pleased to see it had grown some more. His meridians formed an intricate webbed lattice structure around it. They were looking thicker.
This was also good.
He wouldn't expand his chambers any further at this time. It would be better to wait until his core had grown large enough accept greater flows of blood energy.
Otherwise it was just a waste.
What he was more interested in now was his body. His bone and muscle.
These things were strong by human and normal vampire standards, but fairly weak to what he knew he was capable of being. In his previous life, he could withstand immense pressures with his body. And could lift things beyond a mortal's ability.
He'd flung loaded wagons at enemies on more than one occasion.
At the moment, he doubted he could roll over an empty one.
What he needed to do was condense his bone and reinforce his muscular structure.
The muscle was fairly easy. But painful. To make it stronger, he needed to keep fracturing the muscle. Break it and break it over and over, forcing it to heal rapidly between each break.
This would make the muscle grow larger. And not only that, if he washed each new fibre with blood energy, it would reinforce it and cause it to be able to withstand greater stress.
Which meant lifting heavier objects.
However, muscle was connected to bone and other tissue. He needed to ensure every link in the chain was stronger.
The bone was key. That would need condensing.
It meant squeezing each part of the bone, grinding it in the same way a diamond is forged out of charcoal through heat and pressure.
Painful didn't begin to describe the process.
It's why many vampires stopped growing. They couldn't endure the pain.
Vlad, however, considered himself to be stupid.
He wasn't smart like Ferenc. So, he had to rely on his body more. That meant going beyond what the others had done.
Ferenc had called him a freak.
Well. Vlad wondered what his old Prince would think of him now.
Suppressing a grin, Vlad focussed on his right arm from shoulder to elbow. This was where he wanted to start.
Taking a long deep breath, he dragged blood energy through his veins and began to cycle it up and down his arm. He would need a lot of energy to complete the process.
He would need to split the flow.
One half would work to compress and heat the bone.
The other would heal the damage being done.
During the healing, he would compress the new material even more, making his bones denser and denser. They would form a strong platform for his muscle to cling to.
That way when he moved fast, his reinforced muscle wouldn't splinter his bones.
Lucy and Mina were still chatting away like he wasn't there.
He wanted to shout at them to shut up.
But he remembered his Brides from before. How simple they'd been. They, too, couldn't be quiet around him.
They were like birds.
Beautiful birds.
Deadly birds of prey.
Gritting his teeth, he channelled the blood energy into his bone.
The pain was helpful. It made him forget everything else.
His first scream made the women jump.
Lucy answered his scream with one of her own, panicking as his agonised roar blasted the air around them so powerfully that a large crack suddenly appeared in the wall.
Mina gawped at it. "What-?"
The rush of feet outside was followed by a crash as Tibor smashed the door open. The fledgling was carrying his stick like a sword, his crimson eyes glowing with rage. "Who dares to attack-?"
He broke off in confusion as Vlad screamed again.
Then looked at Mina, who shrugged. "He just started screaming."
"Hmm." Tibor squatted in front of Vlad's trembling body.
He watched as red light started to twinkle under the skin of his Vlad's arm.
"This…" He shook his head in shock. "This crazy bastard is trying to strengthen his bones!"
Lucy looked to Mina, who shrugged again. Then back to Tibor. "Is that… bad?"
The fledgling grunted. "Hard to say. If I did it, I would die."
"You're saying he could die?" Mina gasped. If Vlad died, how would she become a Bride?
"This one?" Tibor stood, resting the stick across his shoulder in a stance Mina recognised as an imitation of Vlad's. "If he walked into the sun in the morning, I would not be shocked to see him shaking me awake in the evening."
Vlad screamed, a piercing yell of pain. But he didn't double over.
If anything, his body remained rigid and straight.
Like he was made of steel.
It was weird to watch, Lucy thought.
"How long will it take?"
Tibor scratched his chin.
Thinking about it.
"I don't know," he admitted. "I don't know anyone who has done it before."
"I would assume two hours," a sibilant voice rasped from the doorway.
"Elder Amir," Tibor greeted with a bow.
"Fledgling Tibor," Elder Amir greeted in return. "I have seen your swordsmanship. It is improving well."
"Thanks to him," Tibor said, jerking his head at Vlad's quivering body.
Elder Amir nodded and crouched in front of Vlad. He looked like he wanted to reach out but didn't. He knew any break in Vlad's concentration could be bad for the process.
Instead, he looked up at the two women. "You will need to leave. All of you. The boy needs to be focused entirely on this. One wrong thought and he will permanently damage his arm. Even I could not repair it for him."
"Oh!" Mina blinked. "Okay…"
"There is a room you can wait in. Tibor. Show them to the Common Room. I won't warn you to treat them well," he added drily. "I'm sure you're all well aware of what he'd do to you if you didn't."
"More than enough," Tibor said. Then beckoned to the women. "Please. Follow me."
As they left, Elder Amir spent a few more moments studying Vlad's screaming body.
"Remarkable," he breathed, then stood and left the room. Closing the door, he glanced at one of the shadows and smiled. "Ah, Elder Miklos. I will leave the guarding of his room to you."
The shadow flickered but said nothing.
There was no need for words.
Count Bela was waiting for Elder Amir in his office. As soon as the elder entered, Count Bela looked up. "His bones?"
"Yes."
"Already," Count Bela breathed excitedly. "Truly incredible. I thought he would wait longer."
Elder Amir gave him a wry smile. "I don't think that one understands the meaning of waiting."
"You might be right."
"Is someone guarding his door?"
"Elder Miklos is there."
"Good." Count Bela rose from his chair and went to the window overlooking the courtyard. "Did we do the right thing, Amir?"
The elder stepped up beside his old friend and winced. "I am unsure."
"The risk was worth it, though."
"On that, we agreed."
"There have been more Full Moon scouts around the mountain. I have sent Elder Laszlo to attempt to make contact with them."
"That will be pointless in the end," Elder Amir said with a sigh. "Those dogs have long memories. They will come."
"I know. But it will buy time. Right now, we need time." He shot his friend another smile. "Besides. If we can blame some other group for now, it will do better."
"Who did you have in mind?"
Count Bela's expression was one of impish delight. "Who else?"
"You didn't!"
"Vlad killed a few in Bistritz, and Elder Miklos was kind enough to bring their bodies back with him. Katarin is working with Elder Laszlo to arrange the corpses carefully."
"If those dogs blame the League…" Elder Amir began to chortle. "Oh, that would be delicious."
Count Bela smiled happily. "Once again, the boy brings treasures to the Court…"