Chapter Text
Following the trial, Nandor, Laszlo, and Nadja were all escorted from the courtroom by the Guide and a few other vampires whose names nobody knew.
As they walked, approaching their ends, desperation grew. Laszlo quickly transformed into a bat and flew off into the dark, never-ending tunnel as Nadja and Nandor cried after him.
But it was obvious that he wasn’t coming back (and if he did, it might be too late for them), so Nadja did the only thing she could think to do, and that was run after him.
With barely a second thought, she sprinted away from the Guide and the other vampires, leaving Nandor behind. She gasped aloud when she realised there were three cloaked vampires chasing after her and gaining quickly.
It took only a few more seconds for one of them to meet her. His hand quickly took hold of her bicep and he slammed her into the wall on the right. Nadja grunted as pain blossomed in her back.
But she wasn't about to go down without a fight and, before the other two vampires could reach them, she clung onto the wall behind her, lifted her legs, and kicked the vampire as far away from her as she could with as much force as she could muster.
The vampire let out a startled yell as he hit the opposing wall, his tone deep and his fangs sharp.
As Nadja looked to her right, back the way she’d come from, she spotted the two other vampires quickly catching up. Behind them, in the distance, was Nandor attempting to pull an axe off of the wall.
“Fuck!” She cursed.
Panic set in as she looked away and climbed the wall. She began to crawl away as fast as she could, putting distance between herself and the others.
But her wall-crawling was nowhere near fast enough to escape the three vampires gaining on her. She had perhaps a ten second head start before she felt hands grabbing her, dragging her away from the cold walls.
She hit the ground hard as the hands tossed her down.
“Bloody hell!” She cried.
She immediately tried to lift herself or throw the vampires off of her, but she was face down on the hard concrete. Her hands were forced painfully behind her back and tied with something that felt like thick rope. It was tied so hard, her wrists immediately began to throb. Every movement caused the rope to dig in to her skin, burning and bruising.
“Get the fuck off of me!!” She screamed as the vampires pinned her down.
With her words, the hallway shook, rumbling deep beneath them.
In the next second, something was shoved in her mouth and tied around the back of her head, cutting off her cries.
Nadja’s eyes widened with surprise. She looked over at one of the hooded vampires on her right, but she couldn’t see his face nor his expression.
This couldn’t be happening, she thought. She wasn’t going to make it out of this. She was going to die. A horrible, painful death by sunlight.
This wasn’t how it was supposed to end, she thought. It wasn’t supposed to end. She was a fucking vampire, not some mortal moron.
Quickly she was dragged to her feet, stumbling a little as she attempted to gain her footing.
Without a word, the trio of vampires began to drag Nadja through the hallway, away from Nandor and the Guide. In the distance, she heard a bat-like squeak before Laszlo’s voice met her ears.
“Where the hell are you taking my wife?” She heard him demand.
Nadja turned her head to try and catch a glimpse of her husband, one final look before they were killed forever, but she couldn’t see him. She was then shoved forward a little further and stumbled on her feet.
“Keep walking, vampire killer,” one of the vampires by her side said.
I didn’t kill the Baron she wanted to snap, but she couldn’t so she simply glared at him and kept walking.
Laszlo, my love, we’ll be together again soon. Wait for me…
“Where the bloody hell have they taken her?” Laszlo snapped from the well.
He banged his hand against the thick, wooden door separating him from the death well and salvation.
“Where is my lovely wife?!” He shouted. “If we are to die, we shall do it together!”
“The sunlight is getting very close now,” Nandor grumbled.
Laszlo angrily pushed away from the door and turned to look at Nandor.
“It matters not,” he said. “Not if I’m not going to die with my wife. Where the blazes have they taken her?”
“I don’t know, but perhaps we can figure out away to survive the sunlight then go and find her after?” Nandor suggested.
When Laszlo looked, he realised the daylight was creeping upon them. Less then an inch in front of him, the golden sunlight caressed the floor of the well.
“Shit,” he cursed, backing up as far as he could until he was practically mounting the wall behind him.
As the daylight moved closer and closer by the second, Laszlo began to feel its stinging burn.
This was the end for him, he realised. He’d had centuries of pleasure, fun, and ridiculousness.
He only wished that he could share his final moments with his wife, Nadja. What was the point in them dying - truly dying - if he couldn’t share it with her?
Finally, the sunlight made contact with their skin as the vampires attempted to move even further away. They were backed up against the wall, but they tried.
The sizzling of burning skin and their screams permeated the air as the clawed at the wall and clung to each other.
“Fucking hell!” Laszlo cried.
“This is the end!” Nandor shouted.
Their deaths felt like it lasted an eternity. Laszlo was sure that he’d blacked out briefly from the pain, but when he looked up, he realised that the shadow that had been cast upon the well wasn’t his body’s own doing.
No, up above his head at the top of the well, were none other than Colin Robinson and Gizmo holding a large umbrella to block out the sunlight.
Suddenly, Laszlo’s skin stopped burning. The smell of burning flesh slowly began to dissipate as he cautiously stepped away from the wall.
He wasn’t dead… Colin Robinson and Nandor’s familiar had damn well saved them!
But what about Nadja? Had they saved her too?
“It was my idea,” Gizmo said.
But Laszlo quickly interrupted whatever drivel he and Colin Robinson were yapping.
“Where the hell is my wife?” He demanded.
“Uh, we thought you guys would know,” Gizmo said. “Did you see where she went?”
“If I bloody knew that, I wouldn’t asking you now would I?” Laszlo replied. “We’re going to find her before we leave this place.”
“But what if they try to kill us again?” Nandor asked.
“Then so be it,” Laszlo said. “I’m not leaving here without Nadja, and neither are any of you bastards.”
Nandor nodded.
“Bring us back inside,” Laszlo instructed Gizmo and Colin Robinson. “Bat!”
In an instant, Laszlo transformed into a bat and fluttered to the opening of the well. He passed through the grate and into the box that Gizmo was holding which was covered by a blanket, blocking out any and all sunlight.
A moment later, Nandor joined him.
“I really don’t think we should be back here,” Gizmo whispered.
Laszlo crept through the dark hallways of the Vampiric Council with Nandor, Colin Robinson, and Gizmo in tow. He called out quietly for Nadja, keeping an ear out for his wife’s voice as they went.
He cast a withering glare at Gizmo before returning to his search.
“I agree,” Nandor added. “These guys just tried to fucking kill us via sunlight. Nadja’s probably already escaped anyway. We should just get out of here before they find us and really kill us this time.”
“I’m not leaving without my wife. If you lot want to run away, tails between your legs, then just fuck off. I’ll meet you back at the house with Nadja. Otherwise, shut the fuck up and help me find her.”
After that, they stopped talking and simply followed Laszlo, keeping quiet and peering into every room they came across in the hopes of finding Nadja in one of them.
Laszlo couldn’t explain it, but he had this sinking feeling in his stomach. Something that said Nadja hadn’t escaped by herself like the others suggested. One that said something was amiss.
And Laszlo was a man of science more than superstition, but, for once, he trusted his gut.
After what was about ten minutes, Laszlo crept up to a wooden door similar to the one that had locked him and Nandor in the well.
At the top of the door were three silver bars that allowed him to look into the room.
He stepped up to it and put his face close to the bars, staring into the room beyond. And as he looked inside, his wide eyes took in none other than his lady wife, Nadja.
There she stood, in all her dark beauty, in the middle of the room. Her raven tresses cascading down her back, her beautiful midnight dress, her pale hands… tied behind her back.
What the fuck? Laszlo’s mind instantly screeched to a halt.
Her hands tied behind her back, her aforementioned raven tresses interrupted by a piece of cloth tied around her head, presumably in her mouth.
And most importantly, golden sunlight creeping closer to her. But for some reason, she didn’t cower like Laszlo and Nandor had. She only stood mere centimetres from the burning rays and didn’t budge an inch.
Panic struck Laszlo.
“Nadja!” He cried, unbothered by anyone who may hear him. “My darling, that daylight is getting awfully close to you! You might want to think about stepping away, dear.”
Strangely, Nadja didn’t respond to his warnings. She didn’t react to the sound of his voice at all. Laszlo frowned.
“Is that Nadja in there?” Nandor asked, and he approached the door to get a look through the bars. “Oh dear. Nadja, that sunlight is very close now… You’re going to burn up into a ball of flames. Why don’t you just come closer to the door, yes? Nadja?”
“Stand back,” Laszlo ordered Nandor, perturbed by his wife’s unusual behaviour.
It wasn’t very often that she let Nandor tell her what to do. Usually she would threaten to kill him. But not only had she ignored Laszlo’s words, she had now let Nandor get away with telling her what to do.
Something was wrong.
Nandor did as he was asked and stood back from the door as Laszlo put his hand on the thick, metal handle.
“What’s going on?” Colin Robinson asked, his tone concerned and bemused. “Is she okay?”
Laszlo didn’t reply as he placed his other hand on a silver bar. Immediately it began to burn, but with as strength as he possessed in his body, he clung on to the door and then wrenched it off its hinges.
Its removal was louder than he would’ve liked as it landed on the door behind him, but he didn’t spare it (nor his burned palm) a second glance as he quickly moved into the room using his vampire speed, took hold of Nadja, and brought her out of the well.
As he set her down in the safety of the dim hallway, she looked up from the floor with teary eyes. Laszlo frowned and gently removed the cloth from around her head.
It fell away from her mouth, revealing dry lips and smudged lipstick. Her tears fell down her cheeks in dark droplets, and as Laszlo did a quick once over of his wife, his eyes noticed dark patterns around her throat.
Laszlo’s eyes darkened as he looked up and met Nadja’s once more. In his peripheral, he saw Guillermo reaching behind Nadja’s back to undo the ropes around her wrist, but he didn’t stop the familiar.
“Nadja, who did that to you?” Laszlo asked, pointing to her throat.
He knew that she knew he also meant everything else. The bound hands, the gag, the tears in her eyes.
Nadja’s lips parted but she shook her head.
“I don’t…” she began, voice quieter than Laszlo had ever heard it. Her lips trembled a little and her hands fell to her sides as Guillermo moved away. “Laszlo, they…”
Suddenly, she burst out into tears, covering her face with her hands as if she was still embarrassed to be seen crying despite everything.
Laszlo didn’t hesitate to wrap his arms around Nadja, understanding dawning on him quicker than he liked. When Nadja tensed, he almost considered pulling away, but after a moment, she uncovered her face and returned his hug.
A burning rage settled deep in the pit of Laszlo’s stomach, a rage like he’d never felt before.
He rubbed his hands up and down Nadja’s back in an effort to comfort her as she trembled against him.
He didn’t bother trying to tell her it was going to be alright. After what she had just endured, he seriously doubted it would be of any comfort to her.
“Oh, shit…” Nandor whispered.
Laszlo peered over at the man. In his dark eyes, he saw the reflection of three vampires creeping up on them.
Slowly, Laszlo pulled away from Nadja. The fire in his stomach constricted and deepened as he turned to the three vampires approaching them.
“Nandor, take my wife home and keep her safe,” he instructed.
“What are you going to do?” Nandor asked, and his voice wasn’t worried. It was low and dark.
He wanted to know how Laszlo was going to kill those vampires for harming Nadja.
“Laszlo, no,” Nadja protested, placing a hand on his arm which she retracted when he turned to meet her eyes. “They’ll kill you. Please, my love, I just want to go home.”
It was the first time in a long time that Laszlo had heard Nadja say “please”.
“My darling, what they’ve done to you is unforgivable. They must pay. I have to kill them,” Laszlo retorted.
“I don’t need you to avenge me right now,” Nadja shook her head. “I just need you to take me home, Laszlo. Please.”
Despite the overwhelming urge he had to kill the three vampires who stalked ever closer, Laszlo knew he had to take Nadja home. She was pleading with him, worried for him, and his desire to comfort her was bigger than his bloodlust for the moment.
So he nodded minutely at her, put a hand on her bicep, and then they transformed into bats together. With a flutter of their wings, they landed in the box Gizmo was carrying, and listened to him scream as he ran through the hallways of the Council.
In the darkness of the box, Laszlo stayed close to Nadja, unable to leave her side.