The Start of It All
Title: The Son Of The Dragon
Rating: Hard R [violence, implied rape of a minor, and language]
WARNING: This fic is based off historical events and a scene from Hellsing Volume 8. I do NOT condone of rape of any kind on a child or adult.
Plot: Accepting defeat at the hands of both his father and brother, Radu returns to the Turkish encampment to spend another night of debauchery alone...but instead makes a cruel discovery that will change not only his life, but the history of Wallachia and the Vampire race forever.
His head still felt light, the dizzyness her felt was hardly a drop in the bucket to the pain in his chest. His mother had certainly been of no aid to his distress; scolding him, cursing him, calling him a failure. she made killing people sound so easy...he often wondered if she'd ever killed a member of her own flesh and blood. Worse yet was that his father had turned his own half brother on him, the venomous truth of Radu's betrayal to the country, his family - but in Radu's mind all within good reason. He was certain that if Stefan had known of the terrible things his father had done - what THEIR father had done - while he may not be a saint in comparisson, at least Stefan would know the same habit of backstabbing and lying was more than skin deep; it was hereditary.
The encampment was in celebration that evening, Radu leaning against a tree and watching the revelry. They spoke in their native dialect, which he could understand perfectly, praising their god for their victory on the battlefield and the spoils of their fighting. He allowed himself a smirk; maybe there was some fresh young virgin they had caught waiting to have her throat torn apart. He needed the bloodshed after the night he had been through...on on her face he would envision not her expression, but every person - human and vampire alike - who had spurned him, cheated him, lied to him...but how much could one frail woman take before she'd simply be pulp?
And then came the scream. Not a woman. Not a man. A child.
Radu had bore witness to several crimes, often at his own hand, but children...even one as twisted as he would have slit his own wirsts before even raising a talon to a child. They were innocent; knew nothing of life's hardships, wars, death...such things were beyond them. He made his way to where the noises grew loudest and now could only hear the jeering and derrogatory shouting of Turkish soldiers.
His hand shook, already having the worst feeling in his stomach as he threw open the flap - and everything went still. Eight men, all of them surrounding a boy no older than 11 and likely starving given his shape, only made worse by the considerable bruising on his body. A few of them hurriedly tried to stuff themselves back into their pants, hoping to cover up what they had been guilty of, but Radu felt the rage...every ounce of anger...and on each of their faces, he only saw those he hated most.
An ungodly scream ripped through the night - Radu never realizing it was from his own chest. He tore through them like rags, blood splattering the inside of the tent and all over the grass. Blind rage was something Radu was not unfamiliar with, and whether it was the sight of the violated boy or his own frustration, it culminated into a slaughter unlike any he'd ever performed even on the worst of humanity. The last body fell in half, Radu finally starting to come to, blood staining his clothes, skin, and hair as he made his way over to the unconscious boy.
"Damned...jackals...have they no use of the harem anymore?" Radu hissed under his breath, slowly turning the boy on his back.
He was a Wallachian; his shaggy black hair falling past his shoulders, pale skin, and wearing a bronze chain around his neck, the cross snapped in half. There were bruises on his face and chest, the splatter of blood on his skin hopefully from the slaughter, though it was debatable, which only made the reality of the crime worse. But he still had a pulse...and it was hammering.
Before radu could even say a word, the boy shot up, slamming a fallen stilletto into Radu's eye, sending the vampire backwards. A ruse; a clever one! Radu stared at the roof of the tent, his face in a shocked expression before turning into a smile.
"Feigning unconsciousness...that's the tactic of an assassin..." Radu said, never moving from where he lay, "Is that your crime, boy?"
"I have no crimes other than being a Wallachian..." the boy spoke in a harsh tone, Radu hearing him pull a sword from one of the corpses before standing over him, bloody and naked like the barbarian he was, "Why do you still live?"
"Why should I tell you?" Radu reached up slowly, pulling the stilletto from his eye with a moan, "It is within my ability and power..."
The sword end touched Radu's snipe nose. "Then you are inhuman..."
"Proudly." Radu smirked, his one good eye focusing on the boy, "So...try and kill me."
The boy straightened his back and squared his shoulders before the smile spread on his own face. "Why should I?"
"Because I am a monster." Radu smiled, his fangs glinting, "Don't I disgust you?"
The boy looked around him, but held the sword at Radu's face as steady as he would at his enemies. "You killed your own men...you are a traitor in your own right...both to God and to the Turks...you don't even know who I am and you saved my life."
"You are well spoken for one so young...and know well the art of war and the etiquette of the battlefield." Radu responded easily, "So...who are you? To whom am I speaking? Assassin...or prince?"
"Vlad Dracul the Third...middle son of the slain Vlad Dracul the Second, Voivode of Wallachia." The boy said, "And you?"
"Radu Vladislas of Prejmar..." Radu said, "Elder son of Vladislas the Elder...the one currently sitting in your Father's place."
Vlad drew the sword back slowly. "It seems we're both orphans now. One thing we have in common."
"Oh, I think I can dig deeper and find more..." Radu sat up slowly, "You want vengeance, as I, though for different and...more noble reasons. Second...you want to win...victory is inevitable...if you can take the throne back."
"You know this?" Vlad knelt in front of him, listening, "You must practice some kind of black magic to be tempting me like this..."
"No blackness required to let you know what will be if you're ambitious enough to take it back for yourself." Radu grinned.
"And what's in it for you?" Vlad asked, "I have heard stories of such nature and if I proceed to dabble with a spirit of any kind, then there is always a reprocussion."
"I won't lie." Radu replied, shaking his head, "I want revenge on those who cast me out...those who spurned me...but you, however, are unlike the weak-minded individuals I have had the misfortune of dealing with day after day. Prove yourself great and let me teach you how to be greater than anyone before you and even after you. I promise...with my help, you will never be forgotten and this country, the throne...everythign you could ever ask for...it will be yours."
"And what possessions do you require for so great an offer?" Vlad asked.
Radu chuckled, "Oh, you are intelligent...I enjoy this greatly. I ask for a place to stay close at your side. No doubt there will be those who will seek to end your reign before your time. I will take care of them...all you need do is play your part in this war and become the next Voivode. You already have the makings of a soldier...now prove you have the makings of a king."
"You seem far too trusting of me." Vlad said, "Why?"
"Because you haven't killed me." Radu said, "You recognize me as a threat, but not one of the ones who threatened you. There is such a thing as respecting the enemy - to which I am most grateful. Had you been anything but generous to me, I would have eaten you whole. Bones and all."
Vlad grinned. "I like you. You've got a remarkable way with words, Radu. Very well...I'll become Voivode...but...I ask only one more service from you."
"Of course, Vlad." Radu purred.
Vlad leaned in with that childlike look of innocence. "Teach me how to be just like you...I want to make them scream like that."
*
1474; Wallachia.
*
"Vlad...this is it..." Radu stood against the wall, staring down at Vlad, "What will you do?"
He'd grown strong, lived his life the way a king should - only to be executed by his people in the end. Yet, even at a time such as this, Vlad didn't stop chuckling...the smile never left.
"I'm letting them take me..." Vlad turned to look up at Radu, his eyes sunken and red from the lack of sleep and illness he'd contracted over the years, "I'm going to go...and die...and who knows what else. Maybe I'll give them what they want..."
Radu sighed heavily and lifted the sleeve of his shirt. "You've come too far to die so simply...I'm giving you the choice, Vlad...the one we talked about. Remember?"
"How could I forget." Vlad stood, moving over to Radu and gripping Radu's wrist in his large hand, "Save your blood. I won't need it."
Radu stared at him. "Vlad!"
"If I am to become something beyond human...something more than what I am now...I will not desire someone to lord over me." Vlad grinned, "If nothing else, I have learned one very important lesson from you...and I thank you for it...that every action that is carried out should be at one's own expense."
The guards were coming and Radu panicked. "Vlad! I have loved you like a son! You are the cultivation of everything I have ever sought to create! Please don't throw everything away! you're too great to be dust, damn it!"
"I won't be." Vlad purred smoothly, "Just sit back...watch...and enjoy the performance."
And Radu did watch from the tower, unseen and unfelt. He watched as they dragged Vlad outside, the executioner waiting, the axe sharpened...he watched the crowd cheer as the axe came down...only to break. Their screams, the bloodshed that ensued, a veritable ocean of it, Wallachians and Turks alike.
At the very top of it all stood Vlad, laughing like the madman he was, his teeth now razor sharp amidst the thicket of black hair.
Radu purred and laughed and cried. "VLAD!! YOU WILL SURPASS THE OLD ONES!!!"
Rating: Hard R [violence, implied rape of a minor, and language]
WARNING: This fic is based off historical events and a scene from Hellsing Volume 8. I do NOT condone of rape of any kind on a child or adult.
Plot: Accepting defeat at the hands of both his father and brother, Radu returns to the Turkish encampment to spend another night of debauchery alone...but instead makes a cruel discovery that will change not only his life, but the history of Wallachia and the Vampire race forever.
His head still felt light, the dizzyness her felt was hardly a drop in the bucket to the pain in his chest. His mother had certainly been of no aid to his distress; scolding him, cursing him, calling him a failure. she made killing people sound so easy...he often wondered if she'd ever killed a member of her own flesh and blood. Worse yet was that his father had turned his own half brother on him, the venomous truth of Radu's betrayal to the country, his family - but in Radu's mind all within good reason. He was certain that if Stefan had known of the terrible things his father had done - what THEIR father had done - while he may not be a saint in comparisson, at least Stefan would know the same habit of backstabbing and lying was more than skin deep; it was hereditary.
The encampment was in celebration that evening, Radu leaning against a tree and watching the revelry. They spoke in their native dialect, which he could understand perfectly, praising their god for their victory on the battlefield and the spoils of their fighting. He allowed himself a smirk; maybe there was some fresh young virgin they had caught waiting to have her throat torn apart. He needed the bloodshed after the night he had been through...on on her face he would envision not her expression, but every person - human and vampire alike - who had spurned him, cheated him, lied to him...but how much could one frail woman take before she'd simply be pulp?
And then came the scream. Not a woman. Not a man. A child.
Radu had bore witness to several crimes, often at his own hand, but children...even one as twisted as he would have slit his own wirsts before even raising a talon to a child. They were innocent; knew nothing of life's hardships, wars, death...such things were beyond them. He made his way to where the noises grew loudest and now could only hear the jeering and derrogatory shouting of Turkish soldiers.
His hand shook, already having the worst feeling in his stomach as he threw open the flap - and everything went still. Eight men, all of them surrounding a boy no older than 11 and likely starving given his shape, only made worse by the considerable bruising on his body. A few of them hurriedly tried to stuff themselves back into their pants, hoping to cover up what they had been guilty of, but Radu felt the rage...every ounce of anger...and on each of their faces, he only saw those he hated most.
An ungodly scream ripped through the night - Radu never realizing it was from his own chest. He tore through them like rags, blood splattering the inside of the tent and all over the grass. Blind rage was something Radu was not unfamiliar with, and whether it was the sight of the violated boy or his own frustration, it culminated into a slaughter unlike any he'd ever performed even on the worst of humanity. The last body fell in half, Radu finally starting to come to, blood staining his clothes, skin, and hair as he made his way over to the unconscious boy.
"Damned...jackals...have they no use of the harem anymore?" Radu hissed under his breath, slowly turning the boy on his back.
He was a Wallachian; his shaggy black hair falling past his shoulders, pale skin, and wearing a bronze chain around his neck, the cross snapped in half. There were bruises on his face and chest, the splatter of blood on his skin hopefully from the slaughter, though it was debatable, which only made the reality of the crime worse. But he still had a pulse...and it was hammering.
Before radu could even say a word, the boy shot up, slamming a fallen stilletto into Radu's eye, sending the vampire backwards. A ruse; a clever one! Radu stared at the roof of the tent, his face in a shocked expression before turning into a smile.
"Feigning unconsciousness...that's the tactic of an assassin..." Radu said, never moving from where he lay, "Is that your crime, boy?"
"I have no crimes other than being a Wallachian..." the boy spoke in a harsh tone, Radu hearing him pull a sword from one of the corpses before standing over him, bloody and naked like the barbarian he was, "Why do you still live?"
"Why should I tell you?" Radu reached up slowly, pulling the stilletto from his eye with a moan, "It is within my ability and power..."
The sword end touched Radu's snipe nose. "Then you are inhuman..."
"Proudly." Radu smirked, his one good eye focusing on the boy, "So...try and kill me."
The boy straightened his back and squared his shoulders before the smile spread on his own face. "Why should I?"
"Because I am a monster." Radu smiled, his fangs glinting, "Don't I disgust you?"
The boy looked around him, but held the sword at Radu's face as steady as he would at his enemies. "You killed your own men...you are a traitor in your own right...both to God and to the Turks...you don't even know who I am and you saved my life."
"You are well spoken for one so young...and know well the art of war and the etiquette of the battlefield." Radu responded easily, "So...who are you? To whom am I speaking? Assassin...or prince?"
"Vlad Dracul the Third...middle son of the slain Vlad Dracul the Second, Voivode of Wallachia." The boy said, "And you?"
"Radu Vladislas of Prejmar..." Radu said, "Elder son of Vladislas the Elder...the one currently sitting in your Father's place."
Vlad drew the sword back slowly. "It seems we're both orphans now. One thing we have in common."
"Oh, I think I can dig deeper and find more..." Radu sat up slowly, "You want vengeance, as I, though for different and...more noble reasons. Second...you want to win...victory is inevitable...if you can take the throne back."
"You know this?" Vlad knelt in front of him, listening, "You must practice some kind of black magic to be tempting me like this..."
"No blackness required to let you know what will be if you're ambitious enough to take it back for yourself." Radu grinned.
"And what's in it for you?" Vlad asked, "I have heard stories of such nature and if I proceed to dabble with a spirit of any kind, then there is always a reprocussion."
"I won't lie." Radu replied, shaking his head, "I want revenge on those who cast me out...those who spurned me...but you, however, are unlike the weak-minded individuals I have had the misfortune of dealing with day after day. Prove yourself great and let me teach you how to be greater than anyone before you and even after you. I promise...with my help, you will never be forgotten and this country, the throne...everythign you could ever ask for...it will be yours."
"And what possessions do you require for so great an offer?" Vlad asked.
Radu chuckled, "Oh, you are intelligent...I enjoy this greatly. I ask for a place to stay close at your side. No doubt there will be those who will seek to end your reign before your time. I will take care of them...all you need do is play your part in this war and become the next Voivode. You already have the makings of a soldier...now prove you have the makings of a king."
"You seem far too trusting of me." Vlad said, "Why?"
"Because you haven't killed me." Radu said, "You recognize me as a threat, but not one of the ones who threatened you. There is such a thing as respecting the enemy - to which I am most grateful. Had you been anything but generous to me, I would have eaten you whole. Bones and all."
Vlad grinned. "I like you. You've got a remarkable way with words, Radu. Very well...I'll become Voivode...but...I ask only one more service from you."
"Of course, Vlad." Radu purred.
Vlad leaned in with that childlike look of innocence. "Teach me how to be just like you...I want to make them scream like that."
*
1474; Wallachia.
*
"Vlad...this is it..." Radu stood against the wall, staring down at Vlad, "What will you do?"
He'd grown strong, lived his life the way a king should - only to be executed by his people in the end. Yet, even at a time such as this, Vlad didn't stop chuckling...the smile never left.
"I'm letting them take me..." Vlad turned to look up at Radu, his eyes sunken and red from the lack of sleep and illness he'd contracted over the years, "I'm going to go...and die...and who knows what else. Maybe I'll give them what they want..."
Radu sighed heavily and lifted the sleeve of his shirt. "You've come too far to die so simply...I'm giving you the choice, Vlad...the one we talked about. Remember?"
"How could I forget." Vlad stood, moving over to Radu and gripping Radu's wrist in his large hand, "Save your blood. I won't need it."
Radu stared at him. "Vlad!"
"If I am to become something beyond human...something more than what I am now...I will not desire someone to lord over me." Vlad grinned, "If nothing else, I have learned one very important lesson from you...and I thank you for it...that every action that is carried out should be at one's own expense."
The guards were coming and Radu panicked. "Vlad! I have loved you like a son! You are the cultivation of everything I have ever sought to create! Please don't throw everything away! you're too great to be dust, damn it!"
"I won't be." Vlad purred smoothly, "Just sit back...watch...and enjoy the performance."
And Radu did watch from the tower, unseen and unfelt. He watched as they dragged Vlad outside, the executioner waiting, the axe sharpened...he watched the crowd cheer as the axe came down...only to break. Their screams, the bloodshed that ensued, a veritable ocean of it, Wallachians and Turks alike.
At the very top of it all stood Vlad, laughing like the madman he was, his teeth now razor sharp amidst the thicket of black hair.
Radu purred and laughed and cried. "VLAD!! YOU WILL SURPASS THE OLD ONES!!!"