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The Blood Queen 28
🕑 Added 2025-01-09 05:16:30 +0000 UTCChapter 28:
– Valerie –
"Welcome to the Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters," Ororo said as we stepped out of the van.
I couldn’t help but let out an appreciative whistle as I looked up at the massive estate. "Wow. This is a nice place," I said honestly. The mansion was impressive, it gave off old money vibes but with a more classic American theme than what i was used too.
"It’s okay, I guess," Seras said, standing close to me. She still hadn’t stopped shooting Ororo jealous glares. "It’s not as nice as Hellsing Manor, but I suppose we won’t be here more than a few days anyway."
"Now, now, Police Girl. That was rude," Alucard chastised her.
"Hmph!" Seras huffed and walked around to the back of the van to grab her things. Mostly all of her guns...
I glanced down at Charles and gave him an apologetic smile. "I’m sorry about Seras. She’s been acting... a bit strange lately. She’s normally a very nice girl."
"That’s because you haven’t fucked her yet, and her vampire instincts are driving her mad wanting to lay claim on you," Alucard said.
I froze, my face heating up in an instant. "What the fuck, Alucard?" I snapped, glaring at him.
Charles and Ororo both sputtered at the comment!
“Fine… I guess it falls to me to talk with her as her master and get her to…chill out a bit.” Alucard shrugged. He then reached into his pocket and handed me his and Seras’s tiny coffins. I once again unshrunk Seras’s and Alucard’s coffins for them. Their naps had been rudely interrupted by those suicidal gang members who decided it was a good idea to attack the motel for revenge or pride or whatever stupid reason they had to fuck around and find out.
They both took their coffins without a word, and Charles offered to show them to some empty rooms at the back of the mansion. He said those rooms didn’t get much natural light and were far enough from the students to avoid disturbances.
That left me outside alone with Ororo, who offered to give me a quick tour of the mansion and school while we walked.
"So... are you and Seras... together?" Ororo asked after a moment. Her words came out casually, but the look she gave me was definitely pointed. "I was kind of under the impression you were flirting with me earlier."
I scratched my cheek awkwardly, not sure how to respond right away. "...We’ve been out on a few dates," I admitted finally. "But I made it clear I wasn’t ready for any exclusive relationships yet. I had a very controlling and unpleasant childhood, and I just want to take some time to enjoy myself." I hesitated, then figured I might as well be honest. "Seras isn’t even the only woman in my life either. There’s also Narcissa and Rose…"
Ororo blinked at me, clearly surprised, and then let out a small laugh. It was soft, but damn, it was mesmerizing. "Going for your own personal harem?" she asked playfully, her lips curling slightly.
I raised an eyebrow at her. "You say that like it’s a bad thing."
Ororo chuckled and shook her head. "You know, back when I lived on the savannah, I always admired packs of lionesses and their prides. They always seemed to get along and work seamlessly together. I never wondered why more humans weren’t like that..." She trailed off, her gaze thoughtful.
I hadn’t been expecting that response. Deciding to test the waters a little, I glanced at her and smirked. "And have you ever wanted to be in a pride yourself?"
She looked down at me as we walked. After a pause, she gave me a small wink. "I may have thought about it once or twice. I’d have to make sure all the other girls were up to my tastes, though... in more ways than one."
Damn. Her words sent a shiver through me, and I fought the urge to stop walking just to compose myself.
Ororo gave me the rest of the tour outside before we headed into the mansion. There were a lot more mutant kids inside than I was expecting. I thought mutants were supposed to be rare or something, but judging by the fact that I could smell at least fifty different scents lingering in the mansion, there were clearly a lot more mutants than I’d assumed. Most of them turned out to be children, judging by the wide-eyed stares they kept giving me.
Ororo let out a soft laugh and introduced me to the curious kids, saying that I, along with two other people, were temporary guests at the mansion.
"Are you like us?" one of the kids asked, their hand tugging on Ororo’s sleeve as they looked up at me with innocent curiosity.
I shook my head and grinned before reaching up to my lips. I pulled them apart, making sure to show off my fangs. "I’m a vampire!" I declared dramatically.
A pause followed, and then a bunch of the kids gasped in excitement. A few of them even clapped their hands. A couple of the younger ones looked scared, though, so Ororo stepped in quickly to explain.
"The vampires staying in the mansion for the next couple of days are good vampires," she reassured them. "They’re here to get rid of all the bad vampires in New York."
"There are bad vampires in New York?" a little girl asked nervously, clutching her stuffed animal tightly.
"Not for long," I said with a confident grin, giving her a thumbs-up. That seemed to ease the tension in the room a little.
With introductions mostly out of the way, Ororo and I headed toward the kitchen. She grabbed an apple off the table and took a bite as we walked. "You’re pretty good with children," she pointed out.
I smirked. "Thanks. I used to be one."
Ororo scrunched up her nose in mock annoyance, making me laugh. The light mood didn’t last long, though. A somber feeling crept over me as a memory surfaced. "I used to have a younger brother," I said softly. "Well, we weren’t actually blood-related, I think, but he was kept in the cell opposite mine when we were kids. One day, some of the Tepes vampires who kept us prisoner came in and took him away. I never saw him again..."
"Prisoner?" Ororo asked, her expression tightening as she stopped walking.
I gave her a wry smile before launching into a brief explanation of my life up to this point. It was a lot more detailed than the summary I’d given her at the burger joint earlier.
"That’s... quite the amazing tale," she replied when I finished. "My life hasn’t exactly been easy either," she added after a pause. From the way she glanced at me, I could tell she meant it.
She explained that she’d had her powers from an early age, and her original village had cast her out because they thought she was a witch. She spent most of her childhood wandering the streets and eating scraps. Ironically, the powers that had caused her so much trouble were the same ones that kept her safe from predators and slavers who might have tried to take advantage of her. "That’s why I was so happy to be recruited by Charles," she continued. "Now, I work with the X-Men to make sure no other kids have to suffer like I did."
I reached over and placed a hand on her arm. "That’s really noble of you," I told her honestly. "Charles must be a great man to open his home to so many kids who are different."
She grinned, her shoulders relaxing a little. "He is," she said. Her voice softened as she added, "Definitely."
I tilted my head, curious. "Has he always been in a wheelchair?"
Ororo shook her head. "I don’t know much about how it happened," she admitted. "It had something to do with a falling-out with an old friend. But he’s never let it hold him back."
I thought about that for a moment. These people had been nothing but kind and welcoming to me, Seras, and Alucard. "...I might know someone who could potentially heal his legs," I said hesitantly, not hinting that the "someone" was me.
She looked shocked. "Really? He’s gone through numerous treatments already, but nothing’s ever worked. His spine is... pretty much mangled."
I nodded. "The treatment I’m talking about would definitely work," I said firmly. "If he’s interested, of course."
Ororo’s lips curved into a warm smile. "I’ll definitely bring it up with him," she said. She paused, then added, "Want to see the rest of the mansion?"
I nodded. "Definitely."
…
Night came a few hours later, and it was finally time for us vampires to head out and investigate the city. The air was cooler now, and the lights of the mansion cast long shadows across the lawn as we prepared to leave.
"We’ll probably be back sometime around sunup," I told Ororo. Alucard, Seras, and I were standing outside, checking our gear and making sure everything was ready. Seras was looking and acting a lot less moody after her nap, and I’m pretty sure Alucard must have also given her a small lecture about letting her emotions control her.
"Do you want any of us to come with you?" a voice called out from behind Ororo. Turning, I saw a red-haired woman step closer. "None of us have ever hunted vampires, but this is our city too," she added firmly. Her hair flickered unnaturally red for a moment. "I’m Jean, by the way. We haven’t been properly introduced yet."
"And I’m Scott," another voice said as a man in a visor—Cyclops, I remembered—stepped forward and held out his hand. I shook it briefly.
"It’s nice to meet both of you," I said. "But this is going to be pretty dangerous," I warned them. "We’re not just dealing with regular vampires out there."
"It can’t be that dangerous," Scott said with a skeptical frown. "You look about the same age as us."
I raised an eyebrow at him. "Can any of you regenerate after getting stabbed or getting shot?"
"I can," Wolverine said with a smirk.
Fair enough.
I pointed at him. "He can come, then, if he wants."
Jean pouted at me, and Scott looked annoyed.
Logan, however, just laughed and waved us off. "You look like you’ve got it handled anyway. If not... Well, you three can call us for help if you need it."
"Hehe… we won’t be needing any help dealing with a faker daring to call himself Dracula," Alucard chuckled darkly, his red eyes flickering behind his tinted glasses.
Yep, he was still not happy about that, and now that we were close, I could tell he wouldn’t be satisfied until he drained that other vampire dry for "his insolence."
"I’ll be going on ahead," Alucard announced suddenly. Before I could say anything, he sunk down into his own shadow and vanished, leaving the rest of us standing there.
Logan raised an eyebrow. "That sounded oddly personal."
Seras let out a small giggle. "Spell Alucard backwards," she said.
"A.l.u.c.a.r.d… D.r.a.c.u.l.a… oh shit!" Jean’s eyes widened in realization. "Woah! He’s real! And he’s staying in our guest room!?"
Ororo turned to me, her expression shifting rapidly between disbelief and irritation before she narrowed her eyes. She mouthed the words, "You have some explaining to do!"
Yeah… in my story to her earlier, I might have left that part out. I rubbed the back of my neck awkwardly, trying to figure out how to spin this without making it sound worse than it already did.
Nope…
I couldn't figure anything out so I immediately turned myself into a swarm of bats and started flying towards Manhattan. I heard Seras do the same as her swarm followed mine.
– Ororo –
It wasn’t much of a surprise that a team meeting was called almost immediately after Valerie and the two vampires left. Everyone crammed into Charles’s office, and it was obvious nobody knew how to feel about what they’d just learned.
"Well now... I wasn’t expecting Dracula himself to be staying in our guest room of all places," Charles said, leaning back slightly in his chair. He looked contemplative but calm despite the situation.
"Dude’s a lot more chill than I expected for some kind of legendary monster," Logan added. "You all know I can smell when someone’s hostile, undead or not. He wasn’t giving off any of those vibes."
"It’s definitely a good thing I chose not to read his mind," Charles continued, his voice tinged with caution. "I’m hesitant to read the mind of regular undead as it is. To read his mind... I probably wouldn’t have survived."
"Why is that?" Ororo asked, frowning. "You mentioned that earlier."
Charles tapped his fingers on the armrest of his wheelchair, looking as though he was deciding how much to say. "You are all my X-Men, and I trust you implicitly not to spread this information around," he began carefully. "There are... higher powers in this world. Powers that I’ve sensed on occasion as one of the world’s most powerful telepaths."
"How come I’ve never sensed any of them?" Jean asked, leaning forward slightly.
Charles hesitated. "You have," he said finally, meeting her gaze. "And that’s a personal topic I’d like to bring up with you a bit later. But for now, let’s move on."
Jean looked conflicted but nodded.
Charles continued, "Beings like vampires tend to belong to a certain higher power. She favors some of them very much and does not take kindly to anyone attempting to intrude on their minds, which are intrinsically connected to her own...if it could even be called that."
"Who are you talking about?" Ororo asked, her brows furrowed.
Everyone in the room waited for Charles’s answer. He shook his head, cutting the conversation short. "I’d rather not say any more about this for now."
The dismissal wasn’t what Ororo or the others wanted to hear, but they all knew better than to press when Charles deemed something too dangerous to explain.
Ororo shifted uncomfortably before finally speaking up. "I want to apologize to everyone," she said, glancing around at her teammates. "I put us all in danger by unknowingly getting in contact with Dracula’s daughter earlier today. I had no idea what she was..."
Logan snorted. "Oh please, if a girl that smoking hot walked into me and then offered to get some burgers together, I wouldn’t have hesitated! And don’t give me that look, Scott. Your eyes might be hidden, but I could still smell you checking that dhampir out!"
Scott sputtered indignantly while Ororo sighed. "Logan, I thought we agreed that you wouldn’t point out people’s pheromones... Jean doesn’t go around pointing out people’s thoughts all the time."
"And don’t think I don’t want to when almost every guy over the age of 14 in this mansion is constantly thinking about me naked!" Jean whined.
Both Scott and Logan chose not to comment on that declaration…
"Anyways..." Charles coughed lightly, trying to bring the room back on track. "No one is upset with you, Ororo," he told her gently. "We don’t hold anyone’s past against them here in our home. Dracula—or Alucard—has been perfectly well-behaved and just slept in his room for most of the day alongside the other vampire, Seras Victoria. I was also monitoring you with Valerie, and she seemed very well-behaved as well. I’m sure we have nothing to worry about."
Logan chuckled. "Yeah, WE have nothing to worry about, but I’m pretty sure a whole bunch of vampires in the city are going to die tonight."
Charles let out a small sigh at that comment. "Just as I believe it’s mutantkind's job to police ourselves, so too is it the undead’s job to do the same. Well, I believe they all mentioned that they actually worked for an officially sanctioned vampire-hunting organization in Britain, so it’s even more not our place to interfere or place our own morals on them."
Ororo knew that Charles didn’t like killing, and he tried to impose those restrictions on the X-Men as well unless the circumstances were dire. She exchanged glances with Logan, and they both shrugged indifferently. She herself had taken the lives of more than a few disgusting men with her powers back in Africa, and Logan had always been a pretty violent mutant, so she had no doubts he had a similar bloody past.
The other members were dismissed after that and Ororo was left alone with Charles.
“So,” he started asking her. “What do you think about Valerie’s offer to heal me?”
Ororo scrunched her brows. “She didn’t say it was her who could heal you. She said it was… Someone else?”
Charles chuckled and told her that after studying psychology for years he obviously knew there was not a “somebody else.” With Ororo’s permission he had once again read her mind to see Valerie's interactions with her, but he also wanted to know Ororo’s own opinion on the matter and her thoughts on Valerie after spending a few more hours with her.
XXX
Comments
LuciferDFallN1
Also does Charles knows about the supernatural world?
LuciferDFallN1
Are vampires connected to lady death? Because I can't think of any other explantation for how else the embodiment of death would allow "undeads" to exist
WhatAFungi
Thanks for the daily chapters. They’re always one of the highlights in my boring life.
