Vlad gave a quiet sigh as he trailed behind Jacob, a snobbish eighteen year old vampire who was happily giving Vlad a tour of his daddy's castle. Vlad didn't particularly want to be there, but as the male heir of 'the' Count Dracula, it was his job to befriend and keep in good with other high status vampires, to make sure that back'stabbing' and war out breaks were as unlikely as possible.

"And this...", Jacob grinned, "Is the pantry". Vlad knew what 'the pantry' meant but seeing yet another one never made it any easier...

Jacob unlocked and unbolted a metal door and lead Vlad into the dark and filthy room where several dozen humans were kept.

Vlad glanced around at the various humans, different races, genders, ages. Many shook and backed away as he entered the room, others continued to rock or lie motionless on the floor. Even as a vampire, he found it disturbing that there were people actually being forced to live like this.

Vlad's wide eyes scanned the utter bedlam the room possesed, eventually resting on a dark haired gothic lad who sat on the floor near a corner of the room. The lad held a younger blonde haired girl in his arms, her back was pulled against his chest, while his head rested on her shoulder, whispering to her as he gently rocked her in his arms. Vlad felt convinced he knew the girl, or had at least seen her at some point within his life. Curious, Vlad stepped closer, getting less than a meter away before being able to hear the rapid 'secrets' the lad repeatedly muttered into the girl's ear.

"It's gonna be okay, I love you so much, you're gonna be fine you know... We'll see mum and dad soon enough... You just need some sleep, yeah you just need some sleep... You'll be fine after you get some sleep and then we'll escape, we'll escape and go home yeah? ...So just get some sleep, I promise you I'll be here when you wake up. I love you so much, you're gonna be fine ok? You're gonna be fine. Yeah? You're gonna be fine". The lad gently tilted the girl's head back to gently kiss her pale, almost bluish/grey forehead, before resting his head back against her shoulder and continuing the useless litany of promises.

Vlad, shook his head repeatedy, looking back towards Jacob, "That girl, she's-".

"Dead?", Jacob finished, shrugging as he spoke, "Yeah, musta bin a week ago that happened- Drained too much blood I guess. We tried to move her out but he just went mad and started hurting himself, smacking his head against the walls and such. We figured just let him keep her, his blood's no good to us dead is it?".

Vlad smiled uncomfortably in answer to the barking laugh that Jacob suddenly let out, it would do no good to argue within another vampire's castle, where a staking would be all too likely.

Jacob turned to leave, "So, anyways, I'll show the rest of the place, shall we...". "Actually", Vlad choose his words carefully, "Would you mind if I spent a minute alone in here? You know just to, have a look around".

Jacob shrugged, "If you want, no biting mind, that's for family or paying customers only", Jacob barked out another laugh and Vlad was inclined to join in, only letting his facade drop as the door was closed and he was left alone with the humans.

Glancing around, Vlad looked at each of the sorrowful looking creatures, surely there was some vampire law that would stop this. Vlad shook his head, stepping through the timid humans and crouching down infront of the semi-catatonic goth boy he'd seen before. The goth boy didn't even look up, feeling bad for him, Vlad went to place a hand over the lad's shoulder, the lad reacted violently, bringing his head up towards Vlads hand, growling and snapping at him with useless (pointless) teeth.

Vlad fell backwards in shock, he knew that face... It was Robin.

...Oh godd! It was Robin! He'd always dreamt that Robin had got on with his life, got a job, maybe even started a family... Not this. Feeling even worse than before, Vlad watched as his best friend rocked and muttered noncense to his dead sister, it was his sister Chloe. Vlad counldn't even phathom how both of them could have been caught by the vampires, he wasn't sure he wanted to.

Vlad stared sadly at Chloe's pale, frozen face, it was hard to take in that the girl he'd known, his best friend's sister was just lying there dead... He couldn't leave Robin here, to recieve the same fate he just couldn't.

It had been easy bribing the apathetic vampire into letting him take Robin, the difficult bit had been forcing Robin to let Chloe go, it would have been impossible to take a slowly decaying corpse all the way back home from the Ireland castle without being noticed, and moving the corpse certainly wouldn't change the fact that Chloe was dead.

Robin had cryed alot when forced to part with his one and only sister, he'd screamed hysterically until an onlooking Jacob had finally lost his temper and shouted. Robin had gone silent after that (obviously terrified of Jacob) and had refused to speak since.

So there Vlad stood in the lounge, Robin at his side, trying to talk his father into letting Robin stay.

Count Dracula sat in his armchair glancing distastefully at the dirty goth boy who stood silently in his lounge, before turning back to glare at his son once more, "Vlady just tell, me, tell me again why you brought this ...Breather here".

"I told you before dad, he's my friend". The count's lips twitched, "Vampires, do not have friends!".

"Well I do okay? And I'd like it if you'd respect my wishes to let him stay here", so saying, Vlad walked out to quickly get a room sorted for Robin, leaving Robin behind in the room with his father.

The count sighed, looking distainfully at the boy, "So... You're back ...Hooray(!)". Robin didn't reply, his eyes looking far away and distant as he sunk to the floor and rested the side of his head against the wall, touching the wall with his fingertips and muttering slightly.

5 minutes later:

Room fixed, Vlad walked back in, to see his father grinning manically as if he'd just heard the world's most funniest joke. Vlad's brow furrowed confusedly, trying to figure out what had made his usually melodramatic dad so happy...

- BANG -

Vlad jumped at the noise, turning to see a dazed Robin who sat on the floor, repeatedly slamming the side of his head into the wall.

-BANG-

-BANG-

-BANG-

Vlad yelled and grabbed Robin, ignoring the hysterical noise of protest Robin gave out he was pulled away from the wall. Vlad pulled Robin up and glared at his dad who continued to laugh, "Oh, most amusing Vlady! Why didn't you tell me this before? A preforming breather! What fun !".

Not wanting to stand there and argue, Vlad left, pushing Robin by the shoulders to keep him moving.

The count sighed, watching his preformer walk away and jumping slightly when a hand tapped him on the shoulder. -Reinfield- "I could do that master", Reinfield said, trying to not show his jealousy as he took a pan from behind his back and grinned. "Oh shut up Reinfield!", The count sighed, snatching the pan and swiping Reinfield across the head with it. "Oh, thankyou master", Reinfield answered from his sudden place on the floor.

Vlad stood in the middle of the hallway, suddenly worried about giving Robin his own room, if that was how Robin acted while being watched, he didn't want to know how he would act when left on his own. Making up his mind, Vlad quickly grabbed the bed covers from what was going to be Robin's room and took them to his own room instead.

Robin stood motionless in the middle of Vlad's room, dull eyes watching as Vlad set up a hastily made floor bed in the corner of the room (it didn't look exactly comfortable but was essentially better than the stone floor he'd probably slept on for countless weeks).

Once done, Vlad stood up a gave a forced smile towards the dull eyed Robin, "Just like old times yeah? Sleepovers, stories, could talk about girls-".

"Chloe".

"What?", Vlad asked, suprised to hear Robin suddenly speak. "I want Chloe", Robin muttered, a small amount of emotion entering his voice. Vlad bit his lip, looking up at the troubled goth, "Robin, Chloe's dead".

There will be one more part to this, so please tell me what you thought... A.K.A: REVIEW! ...Please?