Stronger Together chapter 203

Castle Drakul was surprisingly normal looking. I say that with the  context that no castle is really normal to someone from the US but it  was just a big stone building. I was expecting darkness and flashing  lightning and eerie howls but it was just a nice large stone structure  in the middle of a sunny day. There were even fields of wildflowers  around the perimeter give an idyllic look and the place had been kept up  pretty well. Very nicely maintained, with the stone well taken care of  and clearly washed fairly regularly with some kind of pressure washer.

It  was just gorgeous, I inhaled deeply, enjoying the smell of the flowers  and the forest on the air. I turned to glance at Mina. "So, this is your  home town, you know how to make our entrance. We kicking the door down  or are we just going to sulk in through the back?" I shot her a wink,  letting her know I was kidding but continued looking at her so she knew I  did actually want to know her opinion on how to play this. Mina was an  old hand at this place and it only made sense for her to decide how to  approach the castle.

She gave me a warm smile, chuckling  slightly as she responded in the same good humor I'd spoken to her in.  "Well I think knocking would work best, but we can kick down the door  next time if you want." She turned to smile up at the castle. "Jokes  aside this is your castle. We can just walk in, but knocking will give  them time prepare for our arrival properly. It's only polite to allow  time for proper hospitality." Her voice was happy and guileless and I  just shrugged, gesturing for her to go ahead and knock for us.

It  was frankly amazing seeing Mina like this. While her time with Drakul  obviously wasn't happy exactly, there was definitely some nostalgia  here. She looked at everything so fondly. I supposed removing the one  bad part of her formative years and then bringing her back would be a  good way to help her focus on the positive. She led us toward the  castle, not hurrying, just taking her time to drink in the flowers and  the sun dappled fields, and I didn't rush her. Everyone deserves to  enjoy happy memories sometimes.

The path from the air  strip was surprisingly quaint, not a road or walkway but a cute little  gravel path with well tended edges and very white clean looking stones,  all smooth and tiny. The flowers along the sides of the path were  uniform height and unlike the wildflowers around the tarmac they were  clearly planted and cultivated. Someone had gone through a great deal of  trouble to make this path beautiful, and the more I looked the easier  it was to see the love and attention poured into every speck of this  place. I'd noticed it with the cleaned castle walls but more than that  it was everywhere.

Someone truly  loved this place, and it showed. More than just the cleanliness and  idyllic scenery the clear attention to detail and constant hard work  poured into this place shone through. Someone's blood sweat and tears  had gone into making this castle beautiful and unlike what one might  expect from a castle owned by an ancient people eating monster that  blood sweat and tears was clearly shed happily and with care. Mina  nearly pranced up the gravel path to the huge wooden door and tapped  three times with the knocker.

The  door was the kind of huge iron banded monstrosity you see in movies  about the middle ages. With a crossbar keeping it shut from what I could  tell and a handle that was just an iron ring hanging from the wood. The  knocker in the center was a dragons head, of course, with a ring  hanging from its jaws waiting to be used. When the third knock hit the  door and resounded through the castle we all stepped back and waited.  After a few seconds we heard footsteps in the distance, slowly  approaching.

The  acoustics must have been insane because we sat there and listened to  the sound of feet on stone for about five minutes. It didn't seem to be  getting any closer. We just looked at each other awkwardly as the steps  continued. I started counting them and got up to a hundred and fifty  before they got to the door. We were all in shock as the thing finally  swung open, though I admit it didn't creak as expected, just swinging  silently inward. On the other side was a beautiful brunette woman with  her hair in a bun wearing a prim and proper maid dress. She smiled  politely when she saw us."Yes?"

I  let Mina do the talking, and as she stepped out from behind us the  maids eyes lit up and she hurled herself into my advisors arms. "Mina!  Oh I'm so glad you're back. When I heard the master had died I was  terrified something had happened to you too. Benjamin and I have been so  worried. We even called Samuel and Bernard home for protection in case  someone came for us here." Her eyes dropped to the floor in despair.  "Not that it matters. If they could kill the master we're just lambs for  the slaughter. But it's nice to be together as a family."

Mina  squeezed the girl back. "It's ok Louise. We're safe. The master passed  away in an Arbitration and our new Lord is very kind. I brought him to  introduce him to everyone so you all can see there is no reason to  fear." She stepped back, smiling at the fretting maid. "Now how is  Benjamin. I know you two always take care of each other. Has that fool  butler gotten off his lazy ass and begun courting you officially yet?  Some handsome mortal is going to scoop you up if he keeps dragging his  feet."

An  annoyed huff came from behind Louise and she stepped aside to show a  tall brown haired man with a thin face and a well tailored suit. The  thing had actual tails and he was wearing white gloves. He literally  couldn't have been shouting butler any harder if he had a skywriter  paint it across the sky above him as he walked down the street. Mine  smirked at him and he gave a very proper sneer. "Ah. Miss Mina, how  charming to see you. I had so hoped you would take this opportunity to  vacate our lives forever. Miss Louise could do with a bit less of your  nonsense."

Despite  the sneering rebuke he stepped back to usher us in. We all headed into  the receiving room where there were plenty of chairs for us to sit in.  They were all huge overstuffed things, but rather than being soft and  luxurious the stuffing was packed in so tight I felt like I was sitting  on cloth covered rocks. Louise took our coats and hung them in a small  closet off the room we were in before coming back. She turned to Mina.  "Now what is this about a new Lord. You said he so I assume one of these  two gentlemen is our benefactor." The pretty brunette cast a shy glance  at Harry, blushing a bit as she looked away.

I  was beginning to suspect my boss had some kind of vampire pheromones  wafting off him because pretty much all the vamp ladies we had met were  at least passingly interested. Harry, bless his dense heart, didn't seem  to notice her gaze, though the butler certainly did and seemed highly  displeased by it. Hah, suck it Benny. I had nothing against the guy  really but he struck me as kind of a dick. It was kind of nice to know  he returned pretty Louise's crush though. She seemed sweet I hope she  got him.

Mina  giggled a bit at the obvious mooning. "Yes, as a matter of fact one of  them is. But not that one." She gestured to me, clearing her throat to  snap Louise's attention off Harry. Seemed like the maid liked tall guys.  Benny and Harry were both well over six feet. "This on the other hand,  is our new lord. Lord Cameron Beddows, newly inducted freeholding member  of the accorded nations, slayer of Fenrir, of Remus and Romulus, of the  Beast of Gevaudan, and of Lord Drakul himself. Pay your respects to our  new master Louise."

Louise  for her part was getting paler and her eyes were getting wider as Mina  talking and when she said that last part the maid swept into a curtsy so  low her knees brushed the ground. "My lord. Please forgive this one for  her disrespect. It is an honor to be in your service." At the list of  accomplishments she got very flustered and nervous looking, and even  sneering Benny looked properly awed, bowing and repeating her comments  formally. These people took their reputations very seriously. I was  going to have to get used to caring what people thought in that context.

I  was used to stuff like this by now and just waved it off. "It's fine  guys stand up. Tell me about yourselves. If you're going to be part of  my family now, and that's what my faction is, then I need to know who  you guys are and how you work." I was responsible for these Darklings  now, and from the way they acted I doubted they would try to get out of  it. Drakul seemed to have basically raised them in captivity. Not  especially nicely given their lack of a single fuck given about his  death but still, he brainwashed them good.

Louise  straightened up and gave me a warm smile. "Of course master. I am  Louise, I am the maid of this castle and I was Lord Drakul's eleventh  child. My duties are cleaning and serving guests and my hobbies are  groundskeeping and gardening. It is wonderful to be at the service of  such a powerful Lord." She curtsied again. "Samuel and Bernard, Lord  Drakul's sixth and seventh children, are also visiting and would love to  meet you I'm sure." I didn't detect a bit id resentment or anger in her  voice, she was just happy to be around her friends.

I  decided I liked her. I turned to look at Benjamin who bowed. "I am  Benjamin, the butler of this estate. I was Lord Drakul's eighth child. I  attend the household necessities and deliver the food as well as doing  the shopping.  My hobby is carpentry and I take care of the furniture  around the house as well." He stood and stepped back. Then they made  their goodbyes and left to go get our rooms ready.

Mina  smiled and stepped forward. "Well if we're doing intros I suppose I  should give me whole position too. I'm Mina Harker as you know, I was  Lord Drakul's majordomo. I'm his twelfth child and am responsible for  handling his business affairs and establishing ties with other powers.  My hobbies are pottery and tea services." She gave a tiny informal  curtsy and a wink and then followed her friends out of the room, leaving  me back with just the girls and Harry, who had been forced to come by  Susan because he never took vacations.

I  turned to everyone else and looked from face to face. I shrugged at the  hesitant expressions. "Well they're in now whether I like it or not.  Now we just have to meet the other two before we go anywhere. I'm not  stupid enough to go wandering around with two powerful supernaturals  nearby that don't know me yet. We just have to wait for them to show up  and then we can go explore." I grinned at everyone. "I don't know about  you but I kind of want to check out my castle." I was proud to see  excitement on all their faces. I had good taste in friends.