After happily guiding his daughter in the flexible use of magic for a while, Dracula, under Serena's pouting gaze, walked toward Fenrir Greyback, who was still hanging upside down from a lamppost.
"Mr. Greyback, could you tell me who sent you these Inferi?" Dracula asked with a light laugh.
Perhaps because he was hanging upside down, or because he was still in his transformed state, Fenrir's eyes were bloodshot, and he stared blankly at the flickering flames burning below the castle walls.
"Impossible… How can a Vampire like you exist?" he murmured, "Even the Dark Lord wouldn't be stronger than this, would he?"
"The Dark Lord?" Dracula frowned, seizing on the key part of his statement. "So these Inferi were created by Voldemort?"
As he spoke, he shook his head again. "No, that's not right. I just extinguished his soul essence a few months ago. Logically, he should still be wandering around like a lost spirit right now…"
"What did you say? You defeated the Dark Lord?!" Fenrir's eyes suddenly widened.
"Is there anything strange about that?" Dracula looked at him in confusion. "Just a tasteless little fellow with no body; do you find him very difficult to deal with?"
Fenrir opened his mouth, then suddenly forced an extremely ugly smile on his hideous wolf face.
"Dracula, as long as you can lead our dark forces to rule the wizarding world, I am willing to pledge allegiance to you!" he said fawningly. "We Werewolves and Vampires both belong to the dark faction; we are naturally not adversaries. There's no need to fight and kill each other, don't you agree?"
"You certainly change your mind quickly." Looking at the Werewolf who had no principles whatsoever, Dracula pursed his lips and casually took out a blood-flavored lollipop from his pocket. "But why should I rule the wizarding world? I find ruling a castle troublesome enough; wouldn't ruling the wizarding world exhaust me to death?"
He was just about to put the lollipop in his mouth when Serena snatched it away, quickly putting it into her own mouth first.
"You find ruling a castle troublesome, you've exposed yourself!" she said indignantly, licking the lollipop. "You just want to be a hands-off boss!"
Dracula shrugged helplessly, then had no choice but to take out another one and put it in his mouth.
"Forget it, talking to you is a bit troublesome. I'll just see for myself." He opened his eyes, and light swirled in his pupils.
All sorts of chaotic memories of Fenrir appeared one by one before Dracula's eyes.
Dracula saw that in the cave where many Werewolves gathered, a Wizard with distorted features and blood-red eyes led a group of Inferi inside. That was Lord Voldemort. He seemed not only not to have become weaker but even possessed a complete body.
"Something's not right." Dracula frowned slightly.
He carefully examined Lord Voldemort's body again in Fenrir's memory.
Dracula found that although his flesh and blood looked very realistic, there was always a faint sense of detachment from the surrounding air, as if it was conjured by magic.
Using a skeleton as a framework to forcibly construct an entire body?
"Interesting." Dracula curled his lips.
He casually cast a Stupefy on Fenrir, knocking him out, then turned to Serena and said:
"Lock this dog in a cage. As Voldemort's subordinate, he might be useful for something else later."
"Did you have a conflict with that Dark Lord in Britain?" Serena chewed the lollipop, casually throwing the stick down from the castle wall. "He tried to recruit our dark forces here over a decade ago. Our Werewolf neighbors readily agreed back then. That's also one of the reasons they had conflicts with us before."
Dracula watched Serena's action of throwing the stick, feeling that this behavior was a bit familiar, so he instinctively reached out:
"Accio."
After taking the lollipop stick left by Serena, Dracula casually summoned a flame and burned it to ashes.
"Since when did you become an environmentalist?" Serena asked, looking at his action of burning the stick, very puzzled. "Besides, wasn't this something advocated in the Muggle world twenty years ago? Theoretically, you were still sound asleep back then…"
"Ahem… It's not quite to that extent." Dracula coughed twice. "I just suddenly felt a bit worried—I was thinking, what if a lively old lady would suddenly appear here, rush onto the castle wall, and give you a good lecture about employee quality?"
Serena looked at him with an expression like he was an idiot.
"Forget it, let's not talk about it. I guess it's some kind of conditioned reflex." Dracula felt a bit embarrassed and silently changed the subject. "Do we have a senior Vampire named Tesla here?"
"There is indeed a Tesla," Serena nodded lightly. "But he only became a Vampire about fifty years ago, arriving at Dracula's Castle in the latter half of the 20th century. You were still in slumber then, so the Tesla you're talking about is probably not the same person."
"It must be him," Dracula said. "Where is he now?"
"Over there, among that group of senior Vampires who are currently ganging up to hunt down the dogs, the one in the formal suit is him," Serena gestured towards the distance below the castle wall. "I don't understand, how do you know him?"
"It's not that I know him, it's that a Wizard knew him, or rather… used to know him." Dracula smiled ambiguously. "Let them come back first. If they keep chasing and force those Werewolves to go completely mad, we can't guarantee there won't be casualties on our side."
Serena nodded in agreement.
She conjured a bat in her palm, ignited it with her innate flame, and then controlled it to fly high into the sky.
A moment later, a brilliant white spark bloomed in the night sky, forming the shape of a pair of demonic wings.
"Oh, you learn fast!" Dracula exclaimed in surprise, watching Serena's actions.
After the short period of instruction just now, Serena seemed to have already understood the flexible application of magic and was putting it into practice.
"Of course." Serena proudly lifted her chin, her eyes seemingly sparkling. "I must learn that magic you used to ignite the Inferi, it was so beautiful!"
Dracula chuckled softly, leaning comfortably against the jagged castle wall.
He watched the stars in the night sky, and the flickering lights on the battlefield gradually extinguishing, waiting for the Vampire named Tesla to arrive.
Several pairs of wings streaked across the night sky, and nine senior Vampires appeared on the castle wall, all kneeling on one knee before Dracula and Serena.
"Greetings, Lord Dracula!"
"Greetings, Lord Alucard!"
Their voices trembled with a hint of excitement, for they had not seen Dracula for over a hundred years.
"You all did well tonight, go back and rest properly." Dracula casually offered a few comforting words while turning his gaze to the only unfamiliar face among them. "Are you new here?"
The Vampire in the formal suit froze for a moment, then looked up at Dracula.
His features did not possess the typical demonic charm of a Vampire; instead, he had a refined, scholarly appearance. His hair was impeccably combed into a neat five-part style, seemingly styled with hair gel, and he sported a neatly trimmed goatee above his mouth.
"Yes, Count," he said, looking at Dracula only once before lowering his head again, somewhat nervously. "I became a glorious Vampire forty-eight years ago, and learned of the existence of Dracula's Castle forty-five years ago, coming here to seek refuge with Alucard."
Dracula waved his hand at the other Vampires.
"You may leave first; I want to have a word with the new member," he said.
The other senior Vampires respectfully bowed and then left the outer castle walls, spreading their wings and disappearing into the night.
Now, only Dracula, Serena, and Tesla, the three Vampires, remained on the castle wall.
Dracula lowered his head, carefully observing the nervous Tesla.
His mind currently only contained Lockhart's own memories. As for the details about Robert's Vampire friend, it was all based on Lockhart's conversations with Robert in his memory, so he couldn't be certain that this image-conscious new Vampire was the person he was looking for.
"Get up, we're just chatting," Dracula said softly to him, "Have you made any friends since you became a Vampire?"
Tesla stood up, nervously clutching the lapels of his formal wear, looking down at his feet, still not daring to meet the gaze of the legendary Dracula.
"Every Vampire in the castle is my friend!" he said cautiously.
"Don't tell me those useless things," Dracula turned casually, resting his elbow on a crenel in the wall, and asked indifferently, "What I mean is, have you made friends from other races, besides Vampires?"
Tesla was visibly stunned.
A moment later, he denied, "Dracula, ever since I came to the castle, I've rarely gone out. How could I have had the chance to make other friends?"
Dracula frowned slightly.
Could it be that he really wasn't Robert's friend? If there was truly another Vampire named Tesla, that would be too much of a coincidence. So he looked at Tesla in front of him and asked again, relentlessly, "So... you don't actually know a former Auror named Robert?"
Tesla's pupils suddenly constricted, and then he abruptly knelt on the ground.
"Dracula, I have not violated the Dracula's Castle's regulations on Vampire-human contact, nor have I told Robert any secrets of Dracula's Castle," he knelt on one knee, head bowed, and said loudly. "If you want to punish, just punish me, don't implicate innocent people!"
"..."
Dracula fell into contemplation.
Now it could be confirmed that Tesla was Robert's Vampire friend he was looking for, but Tesla's over-the-top behavior made him a bit puzzled.
When did Dracula's Castle have any Vampire regulations?
He looked at Serena, a questioning expression on his face.
Seeing Dracula's puzzled expression, Serena proudly raised her head.
"You haven't come back to see the changes in Dracula's Castle for a hundred years, so now you don't understand the situation, do you?" she said to Dracula, chin held high.
Then she walked joyfully in front of Dracula, head held high, hands behind her back, skipping, seemingly very happy.
"Don't you think that when you managed Dracula's Castle before, the Vampires in the castle never knew what rules were, nor did they understand what the behavioral guidelines for high-quality Vampires were?" Serena said cheerfully.
"So, during my time managing the castle, I specially put a lot of effort into establishing a tailor-made set of regulations for all Vampires in the castle, as well as special behavioral guidelines! Any Vampire who violates these regulations and guidelines will receive the most severe punishment!"
"This way, the castle is much easier to manage, and the reputation of our Vampires in the outside world is no longer reviled as it used to be!"
Serena held her head high, a proud, "praise me" expression on her face, with a smile at the corners of her mouth.
"Excellent, just as expected of you!" Dracula gave her a thumbs-up.
Serena became even happier.
"But is the castle that difficult to manage? Do you even need to personally write regulations and behavioral guidelines?" Dracula asked, still somewhat puzzled, as he withdrew his thumb, "I remember when I was here, I didn't need such troublesome things at all. Any Vampire who dared not do as I wished, I'd just beat them up and it would be over."
"You know what I mean, Serena, my rules are the rules!"
He curled the corners of his mouth, giving Serena a sinister smile.
Serena's cheerful expression instantly vanished.
"I'm not like you, able to beat all Vampires into submission by myself..." she pouted, muttering indignantly.
Tesla stood by, expressionless, watching this father and daughter bicker.
His heart was far from calm. The imagined impression of Dracula as powerful, majestic, and just had completely disappeared, leaving only this seemingly unreliable image in front of him.
"So did he violate the regulations and behavioral guidelines you set?"
Dracula's next question caught Tesla's attention, and he turned his gaze to Alucard.
"What did you do, Tesla?" Serena looked at him and asked, puzzled, "To make that hands-off boss know about your affairs, it seems your ability is quite something!"
Tesla was startled, and quickly explained to Serena, "Three years ago, when the Werewolf pack and our relationship gradually improved, I received a mission from you to investigate the Werewolf forces in Serbia."
"Hmm, I remember that," Serena nodded. "I remember you came back with injuries, but the mission was completed quite well. So, did anything else happen in between?"
"Yes," Tesla said with difficulty, "Actually, I was severely injured and completely lost the ability to fly. The reason I was able to return was because I met a kind Wizard. He sent me up the Danube River in a wooden boat, and we drifted all the way from Serbia to Romania."
"We spent over a week together on the same boat... and I even let him know my identity as a Vampire. He could even deduce that my kin were located in Romania through the destination of our voyage..."
Tesla knelt on one knee, saying with a heavy expression, "Allowing a stranger Wizard to know so much information, I have already violated too many regulations."
"So why didn't you erase that Wizard's memory when you left?" Serena asked, "Also, if you had chosen to drink some of his blood, you would have quickly recovered enough strength to fly back to the Vampire stronghold in Romania yourself. That way, you wouldn't have violated so many regulations."
"Alucard, the Vampire Code clearly states that no Vampire member shall arbitrarily drink the blood of innocent humans... That is something only the lowest-level Vampires, who cannot control their appetite, would do," Tesla said. "I am unwilling to do something that violates my status!"
Hearing his words of principle and bottom line, Dracula showed an approving look, then looked at Serena with a half-smile.
Serena's expression was a little awkward, and she silently looked away.
"Then why didn't you erase that Wizard's memory?" she asked, somewhat unconvinced.
"I'm very sorry, Alucard. But Robert has fought his whole life, and now as a lonely old man, I am his only remaining friend," Tesla said despondently. "I don't want him to not even have a friend to see him off!"
"But..." Serena wanted to say more, but Dracula interrupted her.
"Alright, I can testify that the Wizard named Robert poses no threat to us," Dracula sighed, saying with emotion, "And Robert has now lost all memories related to Tesla."
"What?!" Tesla suddenly looked up, incredulously at Dracula. "Dracula, Robert is innocent, he's just an old man who farms!"
"Don't worry," Dracula raised his hand, temporarily calming Tesla's agitated emotions. "Robert's memory wasn't erased by me."
"If you still want to see his current situation, then come with me."
Tesla nodded quietly.
The next moment, a dark moon enveloped their figures, instantly carrying them away from the dark castle wall.
Watching them leave, Serena stomped her foot indignantly.
Then, as if she remembered something, she secretly pulled out a small notebook from her pocket. On the notebook, the words "High-Quality Vampire Behavioral Guidelines" were written crookedly.
She extended a slender index finger, and a drop of fresh blood slowly appeared on its tip.
Serena opened the last page of the notebook and wrote a line of words crookedly with her index finger—
"Behavioral Guideline for Emergency Evasion: When a Vampire encounters an emergency situation that may pose a threat to their life, they may drink an appropriate amount of blood from nearby humans to ensure their own safety!"
(End of Chapter)
***
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