There was something warm next to him as he woke up, and for a moment, Dracula smiled. He opened his eyes and looked at the room - his bedroom in the castle, and he knew something was wrong, and what lay next to him wasn't who he wished it would have been.

"Lisa?" He whispered anyway, despite the fact that he knew better, knew that it wasn't Lisa and it would never be Lisa again. They had killed her, the humans, and humanity was going to pay a high price for that. Dracula frowned as he reached to his side and found a man's strong shoulder. The young man with white hair - somewhat odd for a normal human of that age - mumbled something sleepily and pressed his face against the vampire's hand, and the dark lord pulled away, disappointed.

He sat up and stared at the darkness of the room. He didn't actually know what time it was; the master bedroom was always dark. He absent-mindedly reached to his left side and then frowned again as his hand came across another human being. Dracula turned to look, his frown deepening, but he then just shrugged. It was naturally the only other human being he allowed close to him anymore.

Hector and Isaac, his Devil Forgemasters. They were valuable to him, and loyal; thus, the two would live and serve him. Dracula looked at both of them again then and wondered exactly when had serving him gone this far. What had happened before he had fallen asleep was quite obvious from the nakedness of the two men, and the sticky sheets.

Dracula sighed and pressed his head against the headboard of the bed. He did know, more or less. The two were worried about their master, and he barely rested at all anymore these days. He couldn't sleep or rest, as most of his time was spent working out the details. Details how he would kill humans, every one of them until they had paid for taking away everything from him. Death was too kind a fate for those wretched fools, but death would cleanse the world of them.

"They will... pay," Dracula said aloud as he stared at the wall. Humans would pay for taking Lisa away from him.

The younger man on his right side stirred a little, and the vampire's eyes turned to look at him for a moment. There were some scratches on Hector's arms, and Dracula concluded he had apparently not been too gentle with his lieutenants. He didn't have enough feelings left to really regret it, though, and it wasn't like the two were going to complain. It had been their idea to drag him here to rest, anyway, and what had happened afterwards... Dracula shook his head. He wanted to be angry with the two, but there was no room for such feelings. He was too angered already, and he wasn't going to take it on his servants any more than necessary.

Lisa. The name echoed in his mind and he clenched his fists shut, ignoring any pain caused by his sharp nails digging into his flesh. The pain of losing Lisa consumed him, and he gritted his teeth, then made a grab for the closest thing just to find some way to escape from the pain.

"Oww," that something mumbled. "...Too early... sleep some more..." The rest turned into incoherent murmur, and then the owner of the voice - Hector - turned to his side and curled up next to his master, falling asleep again a moment later.

Dracula let go of Hector's arm, figuring now where the scratches were from. He sighed in defeat and idly stroked the young man's hair for a bit. Doing so reminded him of something, and he closed his eyes for a moment and tried to forget, if just for a moment.

"Is everything all right, master?" A voice from his left side interrupted his thoughts, and Dracula scowled at the speaker. He then managed a slight smile and a nod.

"Everything is fine, Isaac. It..." He paused and stopped to think of his answer. He was lying already, and Isaac had probably noticed it, but he could at least make it sound believable. "Just thinking of something about the past. And Hector..." He turned too look at the sleeping man. "Young and beautiful, asleep like that, he reminds me of A-" Dracula caught himself then and shut up. It would have sounded quite wrong, had he finished the sentence.

Isaac merely nodded and didn't ask more. He reached to his lord's side and petted Hector's hair gently, then lay back down on the other side of the bed. He shifted uncomfortably, then mumbled something about his back hurting, although Dracula doubted he was supposed to hear that.

His gaze studied the bed for a moment. It was a mess; half of the blankets were on the floor, and it was generally just not like his bed. It bothered him somewhat, but he then fell into his thoughts again, of Lisa and his hatred for humankind.

"Master," Isaac whispered. "You shouldn't think about that all the time," he continued, like he known what the vampire was thinking. "I agree with your plans, but it will wear you out if you don't rest. At least Hector has the bliss of ignorance, but..."

"And you think your and Hector's bright ideas of keeping me busy and to get me to rest for one night will help? Do you have any idea what it is all about?" The dark lord snarled at his redheaded Devil Forgemaster. There was deep anger burning in his eyes as he looked at the younger man.

Isaac lowered his face, but there was a hint of a smile on his lips. "Perhaps not, master, but you needed to rest. And perhaps... You needed the moment of distraction, as well."

"And..." Said a sleepy voice from the vampire's other side. Hector sat up slowly, suppressing a yawn. "It did work, didn't it? We apologize, master, if it was too much, and will accept any punishment, but we really are worried about you."

Dracula mumbled an angry response, but he had to admit they were right; even if it was a moment's distraction. He looked at the two for a moment, then shook his head and moved to get out of the bed. "All right, you win," he said. "I have rested now. Get out of the bed and clean this mess."

He grabbed some clothes and left the room, leaving the two Devil Forgemasters to clean the room. He had been given a moment of rest, but rest was over now. It was time for war.

Author's notes:

A threesome. Well, one happened before they woke up, anyway. Just a random piece for another CV Fanfic LJ Community challenge, really.

- Lady Harken (January, 2006)