Work Text
Dracula moved with precision through the halls of Carfax Abbey.He was carrying a tray. The meal resting on top of the tray was unavoidably dense in dairy content. There was a fragrant leek soup in a heavy cream base. There were fresh rolls with an enormous side helping of sweet butter. The only item on the tray which was free of dairy was the tea but the porcelain container for the cream was overflowing with goat milk.Jonathan had bolted the door to his study and as per usual had demanded to be left alone.
By everyone.The count was completely undeterred. He balanced the tray with one hand and pounded on the door with the other.Jonathan was nothing if not predictable.
“Go away!”“You need to eat,” the count told the door sternly.“I'm not hungry!”The count looked at the door as though commiserating with it.
“Yes you are!”“I have two more contracts to finish and three to review. I don't have time to be hungry!”Dracula put his back to the door and leaned against it, shouting conversationally.
“You had breakfast at six o’clock. It is now two o’clock. I realize you all think that I'm quite stupid but by my arithmetic that makes it eight hours since you have eaten something and you are already far too thin.”He smiled faintly at Jonathan's frustrated groan on the other side of the door and shrugged when something was thrown against it. Most likely a paperweight.“Very well,” he continued to shout.
“I shall simply tell Mina that you are refusing to eat. I'll tell her I tried to bring you food and you were extremely rude to me and you prefer to starve.”Jonathan's voice was extremely wary now.
“You wouldn't.”The count could hear Jonathan's footsteps and moved away from the door to make space.
“I would and I would enjoy it.”Jonathan flung the door open. He looked at the count with the closest thing that he could muster to anger and the count adored him.
Jonathan was beautiful when he was trying to be angry.
Jonathan was always beautiful.He glided past him with the tray and swept the papers from his desk with no regard for their importance whatsoever.Jonathan glared at him before dropping to the floor to scoop the papers up and the count busied himself with assembling Jonathan's meal.“Do you have any idea what these are?” Jonathan blustered.“Well you said they were contracts so if I were to guess..”Jonathan rifled through the papers ensuring that each of them was intact and in its proper order.
“Every single one of these relate directly to the married women's property act and every single one of these needs to be updated before the end of the month.”The count pulled Jonathan's chair out meaningfully.
“Yes but you see the problem is..I don't care.”Jonathan sat heavily and put the papers safely away in a drawer.
“Well you should care. The property act was created to protect married women and give them more control over their own wealth.”Dracula made no effort to hide his distaste.
“Well that's all very well for Mina but some women don't need any more influence than they already have..”Jonathan sighed and buttered a roll.
“As long as your wives stay where they are they won't have any access to English law. Besides which I'm not at all certain..”
He shook his head. Dracula's wives were an overwhelming subject in and of themselves. Thinking of how British law might attempt to facilitate them made Jonathan's head hurt.“My wives are not conducive to your appetite," Dracula observed.“Your wives are not conducive to any part of my well-being,” Jonathan responded honestly.Dracula tutted soothingly.
“They're very far away and they can't hurt you.”There were moments when Jonathan genuinely wondered how true that was. He made a conscious effort to dismiss the subject from his mind.
If he failed to eat this meal, Mina would be angry with him.
Furthermore, the count would most likely tantrum.
This would involve a great deal of melodrama
and a possible invasion of goats.When Jonathan put his mind to the actual business of eating his stomach surprised him by growling.He was in fact very hungry.The count folded his arms smugly and Jonathan cast him a look before tucking into the food properly.
Jonathan was so invested in quieting his stomach that he failed to realize the count had stepped behind him and was out of his field of vision.Jonathan startled when something dangled in front of him and a cold thin chain closed at the back of his neck.
“What are you doing!?”
His voice was tinged with alarm.The count's tone was mildly acidic.
“I'm giving you a present.”Jonathan was immediately contrite. Despite everything that had ever gone on between them the count had indeed earned his trust. And he had done this through tenacity and a great deal of honest effort that Jonathan would never have thought him capable of.Perhaps Jonathan's reaction had been uncalled for.He reached for the chain around his neck and pulled it forward until he could see what hung on the end of it.
Both the chain and the locket were gold.
The locket itself was very beautiful.
It was a woman's locket. Or at least that was the gender it had been intended for.
It featured intricate chased patterning around the border with initials partially hidden in floral detail.
Jonathan recognized his own initials on one side and the count's initials on the other.It felt very strange to have a thing of such beauty and obvious expense around his neck.
It felt strange to hold it in his hand and wonder how much it cost.
The sum was most likely more than he had ever earned in a year.The locket was so small and delicate, and Jonathan realized immediately that he could wear it nearly all the time.
He could easily hide it beneath his clothing.
It could lay against his skin and no one would ever know it was there.It warmed him to feel so well understood.Jonathan looked up at the count regretfully.
His lips moved as though attempting to form some sort of apology for his churlish behavior.The count cut him off with uncharacteristic gentleness in his tone.
“Mina helped.
You should open it and look inside.”Jonathan wasn't certain if he should be intrigued or alarmed at the idea of his loves working together.
Both of them had him single-handedly outgunned. If they joined forces, Jonathan knew he would be completely helpless.His fingers shook only a little as he gently clicked the locket into its open state.The count was a remarkably skillful artist and his work was recognizable immediately.
There was a portrait of Mina on the right side.
It was tiny and lovingly crafted. The count had captured her likeness with a perfect eye and a sensitive interpretation. It was lovely and it captured everything about Mina that was lovely.
Jonathan marveled at the detail in such a tiny illustration.The left side had a similar portrait of Jonathan.
This made him blush. Equally intricate, equally detailed but far more romantic than the reality. The count had depicted Jonathan with far more beauty than he actually possessed.Despite this, Jonathan was touched at the emotion of it all.
“Darling,” he said softly.“Mina was kind enough to sit for me,” The count announced.
He gave Jonathan a supercilious look.
“You are always too busy but it doesn't matter because I have committed your face to memory.”Jonathan laughed softly. As always the count left him no choice.Beloved, ridiculous creature.“It's beautiful,” he said appreciatively, snapping the locket closed again.“I know,” the count replied in an extremely self-satisfied fashion.“I'm afraid to ask how much it cost.”The count raised his perfectly shaped brows.
“I have no intention of telling you.”He moved around the desk and smiled at Jonathan from the front of it.
“You can wear this all the time and no one will know. It will lay near your heart and you can carry us there with you at all times. I hope you will wear it everyday.”Jonathan spoke truthfully.
“I intend to.”The count was characteristically pleased with himself.
“Excellent.”Then he turned on his elegant heel.
“Finish eating, my beautiful Jonathan.
Both Mina and I long to see you flesh out.
I will look for you in perhaps two or three hours.”Jonathan felt irrationally bereft at the idea of the count leaving the room.
“Where are you going?”Were those beautiful eyes laughing at him? Most likely.
“I have goats to milk.”“Wait!”
Jonathan blurted this out before the count could glide out of the room.The count stood in the doorway, unfairly beautiful and regarding him with an imitation of patience.Jonathan dropped the locket behind his collar and let it slip down just below his collarbones.
“I love you.”The count's eyes closed and he looked for a moment like a cat basking in the sun.
“I know.”And then the ridiculous creature was gone.Presumably to milk his goats.