Dinner With Dracula…..

I wasn't expecting to hear Vlad's name. But I guess I can't be surprised. The man had been around for a while. "How do you know Vlad?" I ask her. She laughs. "Who wouldn't know Vlad The Impaler. He's one of the fiercest men in the world. No man bows to him." She says looking me up and down. I sigh. "You're not going to believe me, but I guess I should tell you how I got here." I say sitting down and telling her the events that transpired and brought me here.

"So you don't work for or with Vlad, you were accidentally sent here. Hmmm, interesting. I may know of a way back to your time. But you will have to promise one thing, please take me with you." She says with a sad look on her face.

I agree and follow her to a small room in the back of the inn. She picks up a black crystal and hands it to me.

"What's with the crystal?" I ask. She shakes her head. "Just hold it, that's one of the tools we'll need to get back. It's an ability crystal. I just need you to focus on a destination and a portal will appear and we can go back." She says as she reads through a book.

I hold the crystal and imagine Dracula's castle. I feel her hand on-top of the crystal as a portal appears next to us.

I look at her and put a hand up. "Before we go through I have to do one thing." I say as I walk out of the room. She waits there patiently. I walk back into the diner and raise a hand and let the darkness flow from it, swallowing everyone inside good or bad. "It's hard to tell who exactly is bad and who is good. So this way, I can cover all bases." I say as I close my hand and walk back into the room.

"All done, let's go." I say walking through the portal. We appear on the other side in-front of everyone. They looked shocked. "How long was I gone?" I ask. Dracula chuckles before answering. "You were gone only 10 minutes." I put a hand to my chin. "So does that mean there's a time dilation when teleporting to different times?" I think to myself.

Everyone notices the woman and looks at me. I shrug my shoulders. "She's an Oni, I figured she'd be great with us. We're a band of misfits now." I say as I turn around and notice that she's laying on the ground unconscious. I lean down to her and feel a pulse. "What's happening?" I ask.

Dracula walks over and explains. "I had lowered my pressure for you guys but not for everyone. But for her, I'll do it." He lowers his pressure even more and picks her up off of the ground and walks into another room and places her on a bed. We all look at him weird. "The Dracula we know would never do this." We all think at once.

He returns into the room and says. "I cannot believe you have found her. It's been so long since I've seen her, it can't be real." He says as he paces back and forth. Everyone looks at him in confusion. "Do you know her?" I ask curious.

He looks back at me. "This is the old friend I was talking about. The one I had lost. I can't believe she's back." He says almost joyous. The woman looks at him and squints her eyes. Realization sits in. "Vlad? Is that you?" The woman asks. It looks like Dracula could tear up at any moment. "Yes, it is I Vlad The Impaler. How are you still alive Toriko?" He asks curious.

The woman brushes her kimono off and replies. "I went into hiding after I had lost that battle with Toshigui. Ever since then, I had gone town to town getting money from strangers that were weak willed enough to fall for my charm. That was until I met that one over there." She says pointing over at me. I raise my hands. "Hey, I wasn't going to fall for it. At-least I didn't hurt you." I say.

Toriko scoffs like she's offended. "You could never hurt me vampire, you're a hundred years too early for that." Elizabeth starts laughing. Toriko looks over at her. "Lady, the things that Kamen can do would blow your mind. He's in a different league than you." She says.

Toriko stares me up and down. "This little twerp is in a different league? I'd like to see that." She thinks to herself as she walks over to Dracula and gives him a hug. Everyone cringes. The Dracula they know letting someone hug him? That was a death sentence. But what was strange was that he returned the hug. It was odd seeing the human side of Dracula. It would seem that he wasn't so bad after all.

Dracula stares at us and coughs. "I'll ask that none of you speak of what you've witnessed tonight." Everyone nods their heads. We end up in the dining area sitting at Dracula's table. It's gigantic, it could easily sit thirty people. I look around and notice everyone is sitting next to me. Jenny is on my left, Elizabeth is on my right, Alice and Ruby are fighting to see who gets to sit next to Jenny, Alistair is sitting next to Elizabeth with Rose on his left. I sigh and shake my head. I wave my hand out and picture a can of soda. It appears in my hand and I open it and take a sip. "Ahhhhh, that's good. I've missed this." I say as I look over and see Jenny giggling.

"You've always loved soda haven't you Kamen? Even in school you always drank soda. It was so unhealthy." She says and it looks like she's remembering school. I offer her my soda. "I know it's no water, but it should be good enough right?" I say smirking. As soon as she takes a sip Dracula walks in with Toriko on his left. He coughs. "I must apologize, Toriko and I were talking about her life. I won't bother you with the boring details. I feel that I should thank you since you've brought us back together." He says clapping his hands and all around us butlers come out of nowhere with plates of food. We all look astonished.

Elizabeth stares at him and squints her eyes. "What game are you playing at? Are you trying to butter us up to join you?" Elizabeth says. Dracula looks at her and laughs. "If I wanted you to join me you would have done it already. I am the king after-all." He says. Ruby looks up at him. "Not all kings are listened to, I'm sure my master would have said no if you had asked him." She says making everyone uncomfortable except Dracula.

He starts laughing. "I like this one, what is your name and are you perhaps a servant to someone?" He asks. Ruby shakes her head. "I am Kamen's kin, my bloodline starts with him, he gave me a new life." She says looking over at me. Dracula squints his eyes. "So, you've already started making vampires of your own. I can't say I'm surprised. But no matter with me being the king. All vampires will do what I say with no fuss. Like this." Dracula says as he points to Jenny.

"I would like for you to slit your own throat and let me drink from it." Jenny stares at him unmoving. Dracula looks unnerved. "I said... Slit...Your....Throat.." He says slowly getting angry. Jenny looks at him and still does nothing. "I will not listen to you. You are no longer my king. Kamen is my king now." She says looking at me and smiling.

This makes Dracula look at me with angry eyes. "What have you done boy! Answer me now!" He shouts out. I shrug my shoulders. "I haven't done a single thing, I merely let her drink my blood, along with Elizabeth which I didn't really allow it but it happened, but anyways. Ruby, Rose and Alice cannot be controlled by you. Alice for one being a witch, she has no affiliation with you." I say looking at him dead in the eyes.

Dracula sighs. "So this is how it will be." He says and turns to walk away. He snaps his fingers and the statues around us come to life. Knights come off of their pedestals and pull their swords up to their face before slowly marching towards us.

As Dracula leaves the room, we all look at the statues and act. Elizabeth flashes to one of the knights and smashes its head into its torso. The knight falls down. Ruby is casting a spell of blood ice around one of the knights freezing it in place. She turns to look at me and gives a thumbs up. Jenny is in the center of the room fighting three knights. Seeing this I slash out with blood and cut two knights in half before meeting her in the middle.

"I never would have imagined fighting Knights in Draculas castle with you Jenny." I say smashing one of the Knights into the ground before turning around and seeing a sword go through Jenny's side. She stops and coughs up blood. I feel my anger rising and rush over to her. I pull the sword out of her side and put a stop to the knights. I summon the darkness to sweep the room and swallow the knights whole. Seeing that they're all gone, I look back to Jenny and see that she's healing. I sigh deeply and hug her. "I'm sorry Jenny, I should've watched you better." I say.

She giggles and winces. "It's okay Kamen, you've always been over protective of me." She says getting back

up to her feet. "We need to get out of here before he sends something else to us." She says trying to walk to the door.