Chapter Text
Renfield's recovery from his years of servitude to Dracula had started slow. He still had a bad habit of calling Dracula his master even though he was dead. There was another thought that constantly plagued his mind, what if Dracula came back? He shuddered at the thought and distracted himself by thinking about what he was going to cook for dinner. Cooking was a task that gave him an odd amount of satisfaction. The amount of choice of food he had was enough to drive him crazy.
Besides food, he had a few other monotonous tasks that excited him. For example he enjoyed washing the dishes, doing the laundry, watering his plants, and even cleaning seemed like a privilege to him. It was extra nice since he didn't need to constantly clean and wash blood off of everything. He shivered at the memory of his favorite sweater covered in the support group's blood.
Currently Renfield was eating his lunch, a sandwich Rebecca taught him to make, while staring off into space. Rebecca had tried to convince him to buy a TV but he couldn't find the need. He had survived this long without needing one, people nowadays seemed glued to these screens. He was pulled out of his thoughts by someone knocking at the door.
"One minute!" Renfield called out as he set his half-eaten sandwich down on the table and walked over to the door. He opened the door and saw Rebecca standing there.
"Hey, Robert." She greeted him casually.
"Good afternoon, Rebecca. Come on in, I'll make some tea." Renfield said as he moved out of the way and welcomed her in with a smile.
"Do you still got any cookies? I gotta admit, the cookies you made last time were pretty good." She said as she sat down on his couch. Renfield never quite understood how she was able to make herself at home in other people's houses so easily. He went to the kitchen and came back with a plate of cookies and two cups of tea. He sat down next to her and set the plate down on the table.
"Thanks." She said with a smile as she picked up a cookie and started to eat it. Renfield picked up his sandwich and resumed eating his lunch.
"Is there any particular reason for your visit today?" He asked between bites of his sandwich.
"Nah, not really. I guess I just wanted to check up on you. It's been a while." She said as she grabbed another cookie.
"Didn't you also visit me two days ago?" Renfield questioned as he picked up one of the cups of tea and drank it. He forgot how hot it was and the tea burned his tongue. Oddly enough, he didn't flinch, he'd gotten worriedly used to pain. He continued to drink the burning tea.
"A lot could go wrong in two days. And you hardly ever text me so how am I supposed to know how you're holding up?" She said as she caved in and picked up the other cup of tea. She went to take a sip but she quickly burned the tip of her tongue. She nearly broke the cup with how quickly she set it back down. Renfield didn't mean to, but he'd ended up staring at her.
"It's hot," She said, trying to justify practically dropping the cup, "how the hell are you able to drink this?"
"I, uh…" Renfield tailed off, not actually knowing how to explain his high tolerance to pain without sounding masochistic, “I guess I have a high pain tolerance.”
“No kidding,” She said as she picked her tea back up and started blowing on it, “Anyway, I completely forgot to ask the question which was the reason I came here.”
“What is it?” Renfield asked, hoping it wasn’t anything serious. Rebecca grabbed a cookie with her free hand and started to eat it.
“How are you doing?” She asked with a small smile. He smiled back when he realized the question wasn’t as serious as he had anticipated.
“I’m doing alright actually. I’ve been keeping the place clean and taking care of myself like you and Mark suggested,” Renfield said but Rebecca continued to watch him like she was waiting for him to continue, “I, uh, enjoy cooking?”
“How can you go through all of that trauma and fights but still be the most boring person I know?” She teased as she folded her arms and took a sip of her tea. It wasn’t burning like before but her face scrunched up when she drank it.
“Ugh, do you ever put sugar or anything sweet in your tea?” She asked as she set the cup back down. Renfield couldn’t help but chuckle at her behavior. He stood up and headed towards the kitchen.
“Alright, I’ll go get some sugar and honey.” He said as he opened a cabinet and searched for the honey.
“So you usually drink tea like this?” She asked as he continued to look. Politely she tried to drink it again, as if it would taste better, only to be disappointed again. “It tastes like shit.”
“There’s no need to be so rude, It’s not that bad. It’s one of my favorites actually.” Renfield said as he walked back towards the couch and set the sugar and honey down on the table. Rebecca poured way more sugar into the tea than he thought was necessary. He then saw the smug look on her face and realized she was doing it on purpose.
“I’ll try to find a sweeter tea for you next time.” Renfield said apologetically as he began drinking his tea again. Rebecca drank her tea once she was satisfied with the amount of sweetness.
“It’s alright, you don’t have to buy a whole new box of tea just for me. I’m not here that often.”
“You've been here four days a week,” He paused as he tried to think how long this had been going on, "for a month."
“What? You're lucky I’m not here everyday of the week. Unlike you, I have a job. You stay in here all day doing…” She looked around as she tried to come up with something he did all day, “cleaning! You need to get a job or at least get out of your apartment from time to time.”
“I just…” Renfield trailed off as he tried to come up with a justified reason for staying inside so often. She wasn’t wrong, he spent most of his days inside trying to polish the place to perfection. He didn’t feel like he was ready to go out into the modern world yet. Maybe, once he finally bought a TV and learned how to use his phone properly, he would. “...I don’t think I’m ready yet.”
“And what makes you think that?” She asked with a sudden serious tone to her voice. Renfield swallowed and looked away.
“Ah, it’s nothing…” Renfield said but he knew that would do little to deter her. He sighed and tried to put his thoughts into words. He hated troubling others with his problems like this but he knew he should, Mark told him bottling up his feelings was one of the worst ways to cope. He took a deep breath and spoke, "I… every time I look at a crowd of people I have a difficult time seeing them as individuals. I look at them and find myself trying to gauge if they'd be good for my mast- for Dracula. There were a few times where I even–this is going to sound horrible out loud–I think about the quickest way to subdue them." He went quiet and started fidgeting with his hands. After the silence went on for a while, he turned to look at her. She was staring at him with wide eyes. He immediately felt like he had messed up. She was at a loss for words. She wanted to yell how absurd that was, but she also knew that might crush him.
"That's why you need to go out! So you can remember how to not do that, "She said, which seemed to lighten him up a little bit, she continued, "I don't think staying in here is doing you any good. If anything, I'd say it's starting to drive you insane." She had meant the last sentence to be a joke but the way his eyes widened made her realize she'd somehow messed up. She didn't say anything out of the ordinary, did she?
"I'm not insane." Renfield said quietly, as if he was trying to convince himself. He felt his heartbeat faster as his fidgeting worsened. His mind immediately wandered back to a time when he was constantly called insane. A time when he was locked away for saying anything like this. Back when the doctor would question him as if he was a child. Back when the doctor treated him like his favorite science project. No one ever showed him an ounce of sympathy. The only thing he was given was the privilege of keeping his bug collection. Even then, the doctor only let him keep the bugs so he could understand what Renfield did with them. That was the most alone he'd ever felt in his life. The only thing that kept him going in that place was the thought that his Dracula would come to save him.
In a moment of weakness, he had tried to warn them about Dracula. He had tried to convince them to leave. Of course, no one listened. Who would believe him, a mad man, anyway? Then Dracula… he was furious with his betrayal. Renfield didn't even have a moment to beg for his life before he was bleeding out on the floor. That was the first time he had ever died. He died in a pool of his own blood while lying on the floor of the asylum. Dracula never did free him, at least not while he was alive. He guessed he should feel lucky that he got a second chance at life at all.
When he woke again, his mast-Dracula was healing him with his blood. He also noticed that his master was severely injured and weak. Renfield didn't once disobey him for at least 50 years after that. Surprisingly enough, his mas-Dracula never brought up the asylum after that. After the whole event was when their journey of endlessly moving from place to place began. Luckily, Renfield had been a real-estate lawyer before becoming a familiar so it wasn't too bad… Then again, he was still plagued with the horrid memories of the asylum. Sometimes he could almost hear the doctor's voice in his head. In those moments he could even feel the straight waistcoat keeping him restrained.
"Robert!" Rebecca yelled, finally pulling Renfield back into reality. She was standing in front of him and holding his shoulders. Exactly how long had he been spacing out to cause her to worry? He realized how blurry his vision was and rubbed his eyes. His hand was wet, he had been crying.
"Fuck! Don't scare me like that! I was worried about you!" Rebecca said as she moved her hands don't to his arms and squeezed comfortingly. In all honesty, she had always been terrible at comforting people.
"I… I'm sorry," Renfield apologized as he wiped the rest of his tears away, "I was just, uh… thinking back on some things."
"Yeah, apparently some real shitty things. What the hell were you-" Rebecca stopped talking when she saw Renfield's big blue eyes threatening to spill more tears. She sat down next to him and offered her hand. He looked at it for a moment before grabbing it and holding it tightly.
"What were you thinking about?" She asked carefully. Renfield looked away and tried to think of the easiest way to talk about it. He decided it would be best to leave out the details with Mina, Lucy, Van Helsing and the others. It was too complicated to explain Dracula's whole plan and it was so long ago that none of it mattered anymore. He would just tell her about the asylum and the doctor. He opened his mouth to speak and he felt his plan immediately get thrown out the window.
"It happened back in the, uh, 1890s… I became Dracula's familiar not too long before the whole thing. We went to England to find, uh, a girl–her name was Mina Murray if I remember correctly–and when we arrived, they thought I was insane. They dragged me to the asylum and-" Renfield was interrupted by himself as he realized he was crying.
"You were in an asylum?" She said more in surprise than in confusion. If she didn't know he committed numerous murders for Dracula then she would have no idea how he could possibly be like that. He wiped his eyes again and cleared his throat before he continued.
"Yes. I can't say I even remember how long I was there. It felt like an eternity. Dr. Seward treated me like an animal; They all did! I… I was alone. Every night, the master would visit and promise me that he’d save me. He promised that he’d never leave me alone again. I- oh… Mina, she didn’t deserve any of it! I-I tried to save her! But then master- I betrayed him so I paid the price. I let him in, I let him in so he could get to her and he killed me.” As he spoke he got more frantic. It was a side of him that Rebecca had never seen before. His eyes widened and he fidgeted with his hands in a manic manner. He looked her in the eyes and she backed away from him a bit. He had a mad look in his eyes as if he could leap forward and kill her at any moment.
“Holy shit, Renfield-” She said in a panic as she continued to back away from him. He saw the fear in her eyes and the crazed look in his eyes was replaced with fear. He backed away from her.
“I-I… I’m sorry.” Renfield said as he finally looked away. He stared down at the ground, ashamed. Once Rebecca was sure that it was safe, she moved closer to him again.
“Dracula isn’t here anymore; you don’t have to worry about him. And if someone tries to put you in an asylum then I’ll get you out of there.” Rebecca said as she looked over at him with a reassuring smile. Renfield looked over at her with surprise.
“You… you mean it?” He asked, his voice was shaky and he looked at her with glossy eyes. How could he go from being so deranged to being like an innocent victim? Rebecca almost considered that he might be bipolar for a moment.
“Of course I mean it.” Rebecca said as she attempted to smile at him again. It was hard to dismiss the crazed side of him but now didn’t seem like the time to question him, she’d worry about that later. Renfield smiled sweetly at her then wiped his eyes one last time.
“Could you tell me more about how to use my cellphone?” Renfield asked, changing the subject, “Every time I try to send you a message in my apartment it says network error. What does that mean?”
“Did you check your internet? That could be the problem, you might wanna restart it.” Rebecca suggested. Renfield still stared at her in confusion.
“So you want me to restart the phone?” Renfield asked and Rebecca nodded, “Uh, how do you do that?”
“Oh my god, you’re such an old man,” She said as he handed her his phone and the two of them tried to fix it.
Chapter Text
Two days later, true to Rebecca's pattern for the last month, Rebecca arrived at Renfield's apartment. Renfield greeted her and she came inside. The two of them started chatting about nothing in particular while they drank tea and ate cookies. Against Rebecca's wishes, Renfield bought a sweet tea for Rebecca which she instantly loved. Renfield couldn't believe that she still put in sugar anyway. After they had some tea, Rebecca invited Renfield out to a restaurant and he happily accepted.
“It’s good to finally see you getting out. Maybe you’ll even lose your freakishly pale skin.” Rebecca said as they sat down at their table. Renfield looked around and realized that it was the same outdoor restaurant they ate at before going to take down the Lobos.
“I’m not that pale, am I?” He replied as he looked down at the menu. Last time they were there, he didn’t get any food so he took this chance to really read over the menu. Nothing looked that interesting to him. As much as he enjoyed cooking, he never really enjoyed eating it. Tea was good and all but nothing ever gave him the same satisfying feeling as-
"So, what do you think you're going to get? And don't tell me you're just going to get water." Rebecca joked as she set down her menu. Renfield backed out of his train of thought and smiled at Rebecca.
“I guess I won’t get water then. Do you think they have tea?” Renfield asked politely.
“If they do, I doubt it’s as bitter as you like it.” She teased as she smiled warmly at Renfield. He tried to pull his best, ‘I’m not impressed’ look but Rebecca didn’t seem to be buying it. Before either of them could say anything else, the waiter approached the table.
“Good afternoon! What can I get you two today?” The waiter asked politely.
“I’ll just take a cheeseburger with fries and some coffee," Rebecca ordered casually. The waiter wrote it down then turned to Renfield.
"What about you, sir?" The waiter asked sweetly. Renfield looked down at the menu then glanced at Rebecca who was offering him a reassuring smile.
"I… I'll take some earl grey tea and…" He still found himself at a loss for what to eat. With a sigh, he decided what he wanted, "I'll just share her fries, thank you."
"Okay, your order will be out soon," The waiter said with a smile before picking up the menus and walking away. Rebecca waited until the waiter was gone to harass Renfield.
"Seriously? Come on, you could've gotten whatever you wanted! You're not even the one paying for all this," Rebecca protested. She knew he wasn't going to change his mind but she still couldn't believe him.
"I don't want to make you spend all of your money on me. Afterall, I'm not that hungry." Renfield lied.
"Ugh, stop being the nicest person I know!" Rebecca said as she folded her arms in protest. Renfield couldn't help but let out a small laugh. Her brief anger vanished when she saw the look of childish enjoyment on his face.
"I'm sorry, I can't help it. You deserve everything I can give you," He said sweetly. After a few minutes of idle chatter, the waiter came back with their drinks and Rebecca's food. She immediately started eating her food while Renfield sipped his tea and stared out at the river. He thought about starting a conversation but he didn't want to interrupt her while she ate. She didn't seem to mind because she was so occupied with her food. After a few minutes she pushed the basket of fries closer to him.
"Come on, eat a little something at least." She encouraged before going back to eating her own food. He stared at the fries for a moment before reaching out and grabbing one. He could taste it, sure, but it was bland. He was hungry so he continued to eat anyway. After the two of them ate all of the food, they started to chat again.
"Hey, it's nice to be at this restaurant without having to worry about anything, right?" Rebecca said. She wouldn't admit this to Renfield, but going to this restaurant did remind her of when she called her sister only to learn she had been kidnapped. She pushed the thought out of her mind and focused on Renfield in front of her.
"Yeah, this is a lovely restaurant," He said but his mind was elsewhere. He could hear a quiet buzzing sound but he couldn't place what or where it was. He looked around curiously.
"Are you okay? You seem a little, uh… Distant." Rebecca commented as she saw the way he looked around. He focused her attention back on her.
"Oh, sorry! I just have a lot of things on my mind, you know?" He said with an apologetic smile. She couldn't help but smile back at him. Curse this man and his ability to easily make her so vulnerable.
"You better not be thinking about the same things as the last time we hung out." She said. She was genuinely concerned about his mind wandering off to that same place. She never expected to see such a mad look in his eyes. She never wanted to see it again.
"Oh, no. I'm not thinking of anything like that, don't worry. I'm sorry that I caused you to worry about me so much." Renfield apologized again. Rebecca sighed and leaned closer to him over the table. She pointed a finger at his face.
"Stop that." She said coldly. He looked around nervously, not knowing what she was asking of him.
"Er–Stop what?" He asked quietly. She leaned back in her chair and Renfield released some tension he didn't know had built up.
"Stop apologizing like that! You're not doing anything wrong, it's okay to have people worry about you. Jeez, what kind of mindset were you in before we met?" She said with a frown. Renfield sheepishly started fiddling with the sleeves on his sweater. He could hear the buzzing again, this time it sounded closer.
"I'm sorry–" He stopped himself when he realized he was apologizing again, "I guess I really do need to work on that, don't I?" He said as he to her with a faint smile. He didn't understand how she could be so patient and gentle with him.
"Thank you Rebecca, I–"
"I think you've thanked me enough too, you're just gonna have to live with the fact that we're friends and I'm just going to keep helping you," Rebecca interrupted him with a smile. He was about to say something back when he saw the source of the buzzing, a fly. It was flying around the two of them as if it was circling its prey. Renfield watched as it landed on his tea cup. He could feel his mouth water at the sigh of it.
Without a second thought of the consequences, he grabbed the bug and shoved it into his mouth. He heard it crunch between his teeth as he bit down. He savored the taste, it was better than any fries he would ever eat. He blinked as he realized what he had done. Rebecca stared at him with wide eyes as he swallowed the bug.
“What the fuck?!” Rebecca said without thinking. Renfield wished he had spit out the bug instead of swallowing it, he could already feel the familiar power surge through him. He hadn't eaten a bug since they defeated Dracula. How could he still be gaining Dracula's powers if he was dead?
“I…” He wanted to defend himself, explain why he had eaten it, but he had no explanation. How could he have been so hasty? He didn’t even consider that he would still be tied to his master! The power it gave him was small but it was still there. Rebecca was talking but he couldn’t hear her, he was too consumed by the instant regret that flooded his mind.
Then he felt something more disturbing than the surge of power; he felt Dracula’s presence in the back of his mind. Renfield stood up and stared at Rebecca with wide yellow eyes.
“I-I need to go!” He announced before he ran away as fast as he could. Rebecca was yelling at him and he was definitely causing a scene. He could feel people staring at him but he could care less at the moment, he had to get home. He needed to get away from other people that he could potentially hurt. He waited for Dracula to say something but that moment never came.
~~
By the time Renfield got home, the power he had gained from eating the bug had faded. He locked the door behind him and let himself sink to the floor. Dracula’s presence in his mind had faded but that didn’t make him feel any better. Dracula had still been in his mind, that was what had scared him. He found himself glancing over at the fridge, where he had kept the pitcher of Dracula’s blood. The second he realized what he was doing, he looked away.
The last time he had been away from Dracula this long was when he was locked in the asylum. He hated how much that place had been brought up in the last few days. Why had he eaten that bug? Was he really reverting back to his mannerisms from the asylum? Back then he would almost only eat bugs for a source of food. He lost his cool when he was talking to Rebecca two days ago and he lost control today too.
The idea that he could be reverting back to his old self was eating him up inside. He knew isolating himself wouldn’t do any good but he also knew he would probably be a danger to others. He hesitantly stood up and walked to the couch, sitting on the floor wasn’t doing him any good either.
"Shit…" Renfield said quietly to himself as his mind wandered back to the events that happened after the asylum. After he had gotten Dracula somewhere safe, he had to bring him his food. It wasn’t the first time he had brought his mast-Dracula his food but it was the first time he had done it without being instructed. Before, Dracula prefered to hunt on his own, only having Renfield bring him food when he was feeling particularly lazy or just wanted to order him around. Renfield would sit by his master’s coffin’s side for comfort. His master’s voice in his head kept him company while he ate bugs for food. Slowly but surely, his master grew to full power once more and then the two of them moved. Little did he know then, but that was the start of many moves from place to place.
Renfield was brought out of his thoughts when heard a knock at the door. He instinctively went to open the door but he stopped when he realized who it would be, it was probably Rebecca. He stared at the door in front of him as if it would open any moment.
"Robert! I know you're home, please open the door." Rebecca yelled from the other side of the door. Renfield found himself subconsciously backing away. How would he explain himself? Would he admit to her that he was starting to lose his mind like he did all of those years ago? He couldn't, he wouldn't risk getting locked up in some asylum again. No more doctors, no more questions day in and day out. He suddenly realized he had backed up all the way into the wall.
"Alright, that's it. I'm coming in." Rebecca said with as little anger as she could while yelling. Renfield could already hear her fumbling with keys in the lock, why had he given her the keys to his apartment in the first place. He sunk to the floor again and placed his hands on his head. He pulled at his hair and tried to use the pain as a distraction from his thoughts. The panic consumed him until he felt a soft hand gently touch his arm. Rebecca was crouched down in front of him. He closed his eyes tightly and refused to look up at her. She shouldn't have to see him like this. He didn't want her to see him like this.
"Robert, it's okay. I'm on your side, okay?" She said in a fruitless attempt to comfort him. To her surprise, he opened his eyes and looked up at her. His eyes were shiny, threatening to spill tears at any moment, and he refused to move his hands from his head.
"I-I…" He tried to speak but no words seemed to form when he wanted to explain himself. Instead, he decided to apologize, "I-I'm sorry I ran out on you like that. I was… I-I was worried I'd hurt someone and-"
"Fuck! How the hell is apologizing still on your mind!? Come here," She said as she spread her arms out and motioned for him to come closer. He hesitated for a moment before moving closer and she wrapped her arms around him tightly.
He hugged her back gently and she felt his body start to tremble. Tears finally spilled from his eyes and her shoulder was almost instantly soaked with his tears. Renfield sunk further into her shoulder as she rubbed his back. He wasn't used to being treated like this. Dracula had only ever treated him like this once or twice, and that was only when he was being particularly delusional and desperate. He didn't know what to say or do as his thoughts started to pool into an unintelligible mess. He closed his eyes again and buried his face in her shoulder. As his conscience started to fade, he wished he could stay in this moment with Rebecca forever.
Notes:
Thanks for the suport on the first chapter, I really appreciate it! I hope this chapter lived up to the first one-
Chapter Text
Renfield had fallen asleep on Rebecca's shoulder. The overwhelming emotions and memories were too much for his brain and he had shut down. He slept through the whole rest of the day while Rebecca stayed with him. At some point, she had moved him to the couch instead of the hard floor. She had made herself food and was eating next to Renfield when he woke up. He looked at her for a moment before sighing and closing his eyes again. He pulled the blanket, which Rebecca must have put there, closer to his head.
“Good morning sleepy head. You better have slept well because you were asleep for almost a whole day!” Rebecca said as she set down her food and faced him. He sat up and rubbed his eyes sleepily. He looked over at her and she handed him a bottle of water. He opened the bottle and drank the entire thing before setting it down. Rebecca smiled sweetly at him.
“Did you… Did you stay here the whole time?” He asked when he realized she was wearing the same outfit from the other day.
"Well I wasn't going to leave you lying alone on the floor. Especially not when you're in that state of mind." She said casually as she stood up and walked to the kitchen. Renfield tried to stand up and follow her but the moment he stood his head throbbed and he sat back down. He could have easily pushed through the pain but he couldn't find the energy to do that. A few minutes later Rebecca came back to the couch and gave him a bowl of ramen.
"It's not much, I didn't know where you keep all of your things so I just made the first thing I found." Rebecca apologized as she resumed eating her own ramen. He took a bite of his own ramen, it tasted oddly good for something so easy to cook. He didn't even remember owning any ramen. He wished he had some bugs to go with it-
"Woah, are you okay?" Rebecca said when he realized Renfield had almost choked on his food. The thought of how good a bug would taste on his food had surprised him more than he thought.
"Y-yes, I'm alright." Renfied said before he went back to eating. When both of them had finished eating, Renfeild turned to her with an apologetic smile.
"I know you said I should stop apologizing–and you're right, I should–But I'm sorry that you felt obligated to stay with me all day. I-"
"Yeah, I'm going to stop you right there," Rebecca interrupted, "this isn't your fault. Fuck, I don't know why you think it is! Look, I didn't mean to yell at you at the restaurant. I didn't mean to make you think about your past, I'm sorry."
"I…" Renfield tried to counter her apology but he came up with nothing. He stood up, grabbed their dishes, and brought them to the kitchen. Rebecca followed him to the kitchen, not wanting to let him out of her sight. He turned the water on high in the sink and reached for the soap.
"Aren't you going to put on gloves?" Rebecca asked quietly as if she was wishing she didn't notice. Renfield glanced at his hands as he held them under the hot running water.
"Oh, I suppose I should. I-I don't really mind though." Renfield replied as he started washing the dishes. Rebecca watched him cautiously for a moment before she checked her phone. She saw the time and her eyes widened.
"Shit! I need to get to work!" She said as she ran to the living room and grabbed her things, "I'm going to check on you after work, don't do anything stupid!"
"Goodbye, Rebecca!" Renfield called as she ran out the door and closed it behind her, leaving Renfield alone. The more he thought about it, she was right. Why didn't he wear gloves when he did the dishes? How did he not mind the burns on his hands? He tried to push that thought out of his mind as he finished the dishes. As he dried off his hands, he stared at the fridge again. He glanced at the front door again as if he was afraid Rebecca would walk back in at any moment. When that moment never came, he turned back to the fridge. He hated what he was considering but he had to know if eating the bug was a fluke or not. He had to know if Dracula was still alive. He opened the fridge door and stared at the pitcher labeled Dracula Blood. He reached out to grab the container.
Renfield had only drank Dracula’s blood a few times in the past. It was a rare occasion and every time he drank it, it made their bond stronger. The first time he had drank it was after the asylum. His blood was thick and made him want to gag but he knew better than to spit it out in his master’s face. After he drank it he became stronger than he had been before, it was how he was able to carry his master and his coffin away to safety all on his own.
“Master…” Renfield mumbled to himself as he studied the pitcher. He tried to deny the part of his brain that longed for drinking the thick black liquid. When he was in the asylum he would’ve given anything to even have a drop of the blood that he held in his hands. Now he could drink the whole thing if he wanted and no one could stop him. He almost threw the pitcher down when the thought crossed his mind. How could he so easily be drawn back to even a piece of Dracula? After all the time he spent with Rebecca and the support group, had he learned nothing? He picked the pitcher back up from where he had set it on the counter. One tiny sip, he just had to know.
He opened his cabinets and searched for a small glass. When he found one he took it out and poured a small portion of the blood into it. He opened the fridge and put the blood away so he wouldn't be tempted to have any more. He stared at the glass, deciding if this is really what he wanted to do. He kept telling himself over and over that he was only making sure Dracula was dead or at least weak enough that he couldn't do anything for years. He finally picked up the glass and drank the whole thing. He tasted the familiar metallic liquid as it dripped down his throat. He set the glass back down and wiped his mouth on his sleeve to make sure there wasn't any blood on his face.
Nothing happened. His head remained quiet and there was no immediate rush of power. He smiled down at the glass and picked it up to bring it to the sink.
'Renfield,' his master's voice called in his head, 'I knew you would come crawling back to me. It's been… a month? Two? I'd say this has been your most drawn out betrayal in a long time,'
Renfield dropped the glass he was holding and it shattered on the floor. How could he already have enough power to reach out to him like this? They chomped him into little bits and threw him into the sewers for fucks sake!
"L-leave me alone. I won't help you, not this time," Renfield said sternly as he backed into the wall. He knew no amount hiding or blocking his ears would drown out the voice in his head. He reached for the phone in his pocket, if he could talk to Rebecca maybe she would be able to-
‘Do you really think Rebecca is going to help you? After how you acted around her the last time she visited?’ The voice in his head continued. A part of Renfield, a really small part, wondered if this was his own mind conjuring up his master- former master.
‘Renfield, do you remember the last time you lost your mind? Back at the asylum,’ Renfield’s eyes widened, his master had never brought that up before. Not even to taunt him or to torture him with, hearing the asylum mentioned in his voice was something new entirely. Renfeild was sitting on the floor now with his knees pulled to his chest. His master continued to speak, ‘I was the one who brought you back from the edge. No one else would’ve helped you. That doctor, Dr. Seward, would only have continued to prod at your mind. And Van Helsing would have killed you after he learned what we had.’
“I’m not insane!” Renfield yelled as he closed his eyes and covered his ears.
‘Yes you are! You may have convinced Rebecca and the others differently but they'll realize eventually what you are; a monster.' His master continued in his head, blocking his ears did nothing to drown out the sound.
"You did this to me! I-I never wanted this!" Renfield protested but he knew he was wrong. He knew he was the one who decided to join the vampire. He knew he was the one who was greedy and left his family for the promise of fortune and luxury. He was the one who nursed his master back to health on multiple occasions when he could have escaped.
'I don't even have to tell you how ridiculous that is, you already know. Then you must also realize that I'm the only one who understands you. If anyone else truly knew what you have done they would have you locked up somewhere or killed'
"...Rebecca cares, Mark cares, the support group cares-"
'They don't care about you! Your support group only pretends to care and I know you saw that look on Rebecca's face,' Renfield could feel his head start to ache and he wishes his body would just pass out. All of the work he had done to separate himself from his master and here he was, back to being tormented like nothing changed. He pulled at his hair and repressed the urge to scream out. Suddenly, he was back in the asylum; it felt like his arms were bound and he couldn't move. His breathing became rapid as he wrapped his arms around himself as if he was back in the straight waistcoat.
"Master, I-I'm sorry," Renfield said so quietly that he almost didn't realize he had said it, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Please don't leave me here! Slit my throat, cut open my stomach but don't leave me alone again!" He cried out as tears finally spilled out of his eyes. If Dracula’s body were still in one piece, he'd be smiling.
'You know where to find me' Was the last thing his master said before fading out of Renfield's mind. Renfield stood up and stared at the door, he knew exactly what he was going to do today.
Notes:
Sorry for the delay! My work load increased too much for my liking but I think it's gonna be back to normal for a while. Also Dracula is so hard to write, I'm apparently not good at writing gaslighting/manipulation
Chapter Text
Renfield didn't remember much of grabbing all of the pieces of concrete that stored his master. He remembered grabbing a box and a jacket then leaving his apartment to head to the sewers. His time in the sewers was a blur, but he assumed that was probably a good thing. When he collected all of the pieces he could find, he put them in the box then headed back to his apartment.
He locked the door behind him and set the box on the table. He frantically ran around his apartment closing all of the curtains and blinds before he opened the box again. He stared at the pieces of concrete. In the past, staring at his master's weakened body always gave him a sense of purpose and this time was no different. For the first time since he attempted to kill his master, he felt like he had a clear goal.
The next thing he had to worry about was how to get the pieces of the vampire out of the pieces of concrete. Any sense of accomplishment or progression died with that realization. He sat down at the table and stared at the pieces as if they would give him an answer.
'I still need blood to heal, Renfield,' His master spoke to him in his mind, 'Even yours would do, for now.'
"Yes, master." Renfield said as he stood up and walked to the kitchen. He looked around and his eyes landed on the first sharp thing he found, a knife. As he picked it up, he wondered for a brief moment if he should be doing this. He knew he had already committed and didn't have much of a choice anymore, but he wondered if Rebecca would walk in on him. He could already tell how disappointed and angry she would be after all the work they put in to fix him. He set the knife down and brought a chair to block the door so no one could get in.
'Good thinking, I'd expect nothing less from my familiar.' His master congratulated him in his mind. Renfield couldn't help but smile at the comment since they were so rare.
"T-Thank you, Master," Renfield said as he turned to the box and his smile widened.
'Now, hurry up and give me your blood.'
"Yes, Master." Renfield said as he picked the knife back up and walked over to the box of concrete, "Are you sure it will work with the, um, concrete in the way?-"
'Well, we're not going to find out with you just standing there, are we?' His master said with a growl. Renfield knew better than to be asked twice so he quickly got to work. He held the knife in one hand and had his wrist held over the box. He pulled up his sleeve and stared at the open skin for a moment. He had done things like this for his master in the past but he had to admit, it still hurt every time. Without another thought, Renfield sliced open the skin on his wrist and let the blood drip down onto the concrete. He watched with eager curiosity and waited to see what would happen.
At first, nothing happened, it was merely a box full of his own blood and concrete. But after a few seconds, he watched as the blood soaked up into the concrete like it was a sponge. When the blood on his wrist started to clot and it stopped dripping down he took a step back and turned towards the kitchen to grab some Dracula Blood. Before he could get even a few steps away, his master yelled in his mind.
'Do you think that is enough!? Renfield, is that all you think I am worthy of?' His master questioned. Renfield approached the box again and picked up the knife. He held up the same wrist but went at it at a different angle. His master deserved all of his blood and more but what use was he to his master if he was dead? Luckily, Renfield was no beginner when it came to determining how much blood a human could lose. This time, as he watched his blood flow, he found himself letting out a familiar low laugh that he hadn't used for a long time. Hnnnn-hnnnn-hnnnn!
When Dracula was satisfied with the amount of blood, Renfield finally went to the fridge and poured the Dracula Blood over his arm. In all his years or being a familiar, he never got used to the feeling of his wounds stitching themselves back together. He watched in amazement as the red lines disappeared entirely. He put the blood back into the fridge then ran back to his master's side. He wanted to cradle the box, hold it close to him as if it were something more precious than life. Because to him, it was.
He reached out to pick up the box when he heard a sound. It sounded like buzzing, but Renfield knew it wasn't a bug. He looked over at the coffee table and saw it was his phone ringing, someone was calling him. He didn't even have to look at it to know that it was Rebecca calling. He knew if he left it ringing then she would come over so he decided to answer it.
"...hello?" Renfield said after a few seconds of picking up the phone. He still wasn't sure how people answered calls.
"Oh fuck, I'm so glad you're okay!" Rebecca yelled into the phone causing Renfield to move the phone away from his ear, "You weren't answering my text messages and I was starting to get nervous."
"Well, I went for a walk and I must have left my phone here. I'm sorry, I haven't checked it since I got home," Renfield lied, although there was some truth in that. The only difference is that he didn't go out for a walk.
"You went for a walk?" Rebecca asked skeptically.
"...Yes?" Renfield replied nervously.
"I'm glad you're feeling good enough to go outside. From what you said a few days ago, I wasn't sure if you would ever leave your apartment again." Rebecca said with relief. Her relief spread to him too since that meant she didn't suspect anything.
"I hate to have to leave, but I should go water my plants and-"
"Really? You're going to hang up on me just because your plants need to be watered?" She cut him off before he could even get his excuse out, "One, you can do that while you're on the phone with me. Two, with how much time you spend at home cleaning, I doubt they need any more water." His mind was drawing a blank as he tried to think of a different excuse or retort. He could hear Rebecca sigh as his silence dragged on.
"Hey, if you really have to go then that's okay. I'll come visit you after work, alright?" Rebecca said sweetly. Renfield hesitated, he knew his master wouldn't want Rebecca over but he also had such a hard time saying no to her. He was about to give her his answer when she continued to talk.
"You know that was a trick question, right? There's no way in hell that I'm leaving you alone right now. I'll see you around eight," Rebecca said as she hung up the phone so he couldn't argue. Renfield looked around, there was blood on the floor and on his table and sitting on the table was the box containing his master.
"Shit!" Renfield cursed as he picked up the box. It was only five o'clock but he knew from experience how long it took to get blood stains out. He set the box carefully into his bathtub, where he knew it would be safe, then ran to his closet and pulled out a bottle of hydrogen peroxide. He grabbed a rag then looked at the mess he had made on his table and floor. Part of him, the reasonable part of him that he had regained through the support group, hated that he was going back to the one thing he loved not doing any more: cleaning blood. Looking at the scene only made him realize how careless he had been. There was blood on the table and even a trail of blood that went to the kitchen. When he walked into the kitchen, there was even more blood by the fridge from when he had used the Dracula Blood and still some left over fragments of glass scattered on the floor. He sighed, it was going to be an annoying three hours of work.
~~
When Renfield was done cleaning, he had fifteen minutes left to spare. Deciding it was safe, he walked into the bathroom and approached the bathtub. The curtain was closed and the reasonable part of his brain wondered if he had only imagined bringing his old master back into his home. He took a deep breath and pulled the curtains open in one swift motion. The familiar box sat in the middle of the tub, unharmed. He breathed a sigh of relief, both because it was still there and because that meant his mind wasn't far enough gone to start hallucinating. Just as he reached out to touch the box, he heard a knock at the door.
"I'll be back soon, master," He whispered to the box before he jumped to his feet and ran to the front door. He struggled with the lock for a moment until it clicked open. Rebecca stood there with a warm smile. She was still in her police uniform and he stared at her silently for a moment.
"Uh, are you going to say hi or?-" Rebecca asked quizzically when Renfield remained silent. He fixed his posture and opened the door wider. He cleaned all of the blood up, he had no reason to deny letting her in.
"Apologies, my brain is a little uh, scattered." Renfield explained as she walked inside.
“Do you usually have all your lights off at night? How do you get any of your cleaning done with this amount of light?” She asked as she sat down on the couch and took off her utility belt.
“I guess I’ve just gotten used to working in the dark,” Renfield admitted as he fliped the light switch. He internally cursed at himself for not remembering to turn on the lights and open the blinds. He stood next to Rebecca instead of sitting down next to her. For whatever reason, he didn’t feel like getting close. She remained quiet for a moment as she let the stress of work drift away.
"You know, that new tea you got wasn't the worst thing I've had. Do you have some more?" Rebecca asked as she looked around the room. Renfield tensed as he watched her eyes scan the room. His mind wandered but by some miracle he remembered her question.
"Yes," He paused as she stopped scanning the room and focused on him, "Yes, I'll go make you some peach tea."
He closed the door and walked to the kitchen. He found himself smiling the way someone does when they get away with murder. He glanced over at Rebecca again and the feeling quickly changed. He saw the oblivious smile on her face as she waited for her friend to make her tea. It was the first time he had really looked at her since she arrived at his apartment. For a split second, he turned on his heel and started to walk back to her.
'Renfield.' His master called to him in his mind, 'Remember, she’s only here because she feels obligated to be. If she knew what you had done today, she wouldn’t be here at all.’
Renfield kept himself quiet as he continued walking to the kitchen and started making the tea. Once he had finished boiling the hot water and poured the tea into cups, he walked back to the couch with a tray. He set it down on the coffee table then finally allowed himself to sit down next to her. He needed to remain as calm as possible and try to forget about the pieces of vampire in his bathtub. His mind wandered back to the asylum, he had tried a similar trick there once. God, he hated that place.
“So, uh,” Rebecca said, breaking the silence that Renfield didn’t realize had started, “I get if you don’t wanna talk about it but… when you ate that bug, you ran off. You were pretty fucking rattled after that. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone just pass out from stress like that. I just want to make sure you’re coping alright.”
“I’m actually feeling a lot better. I think the additional sleep did me a lot of good. While you were gone, I did some more cleaning.” Renfield lied. He was almost frightened by how easily the words spilled from his mouth. Maybe it was because, besides covering for his master, he genuinely didn’t want her to be spending her energy worrying about him. He reached out to grab his tea and she did the same. She hesitated when she remembered how hot it was the last time. SHe watched in mild horror as he once again drank the scorching liquid as if it were room temperature.
“How do you even find things that still need to be cleaned? I swear you spend 90% of your day making sure that not a single spec of dust touches anything.” She said as she picked up her tea and blew on it. He continued to sip his own tea until he noticed she was staring at him oddly.
“Is something the matter?” He asked cautiously.
“Why the hell is there blood on your sleeve?” She asked worriedly as she set down her cup and forcefully grabbed his arm. His mind instantly went racing. He had washed his arm clean of blood, how could he have forgotten to check his sweater? He instinctively wanted to struggle out of her grip but he reminded himself that that would only draw more suspicion. She pulled up his sleeve and he could instantly see her panic dissolve. The relaxation was only brief, for she quickly remembered that it was still blood on his sleeve. He pulled his arm away and pulled his sleeve back down.
"Robert, what the hell did you do?" Rebecca asked sternly. It took everything in him not to fess up right then and there. He wanted to tell her how his master was in his bathroom. He wanted to tell her how he had sliced his arm open and given him his blood. He remained silent and looked away but she continued to wait for an answer.
"I-I can't tell you." Renfield eventually admitted. She stood up and put her hands on her hips.
"And why the hell not!? Robert, I'm worried about you! I visit you a lot because I want to make sure you're not doing some stupid shit that you'll regret later! Please, let me help you." She said while looking him directly in the eyes. He felt his body start to shake under the harshness of her stare.
'You know that's not true, Renfield. She could never understand all that we've been through. She could never forgive the blood that you've spilled. She thinks you're insane for all of the things you have done, but I know that's not true. Only I can help you.' His master said into his mind. He flinched at the words, the decision of what to do becoming harder by the second. If he told her the truth then she would probably kill his master, if he convinced her that he was fine then it would continue to eat him up inside. He subconsciously started biting his lip. He glanced at the door and considered making a run for it.
"Look, I'm sorry for yelling. I shouldn't yell at you when you're in a state like this. I just…" She trailed off and stared into Renfield's blue eyes, "If something is wrong tell me... Okay?"
"...Okay." Renfield replied and Rebecca smiled, "I'll tell you If anything happens. I trust you, Rebecca." His heart ached with every word he spoke.
"You should get some sleep, I think I need some too." Rebecca said as she turned towards the door. Renfield stood up and followed her cautiously.
"Goodbye, Rebecca." He said as he hugged her lightly from behind.
"Good night, Robert."
Notes:
Here's the laugh im referencing: https://youtu.be/FHDnWnYtKNY
I'm sorry, I had no idea how else to represent it in words
Chapter Text
Renfield didn't sleep at all that night. Instead, he spent the time going to the old abandoned hospital and grabbing all of the blood bags he could carry. Blood bags were one of Dracula's least favorite kinds of food. He prefered warm, fresh blood straight from a kind and unsuspecting human. Renfield knew this, of course, but when his master was severely injured like this, he didn't seem to mind as much. At least if he did mind, he couldn't do anything about it.
When he arrived back at his apartment, he immediately ran into the bathroom. He pulled open the curtain and smiled as he saw the box sitting there. He looked around and debated how he would hang the blood bags. He eventually settled on hanging the bags from the shower rod and letting the tubs drip into the box.
'Soon, you will have to bring me fresh blood. I can only handle the blood from the plastic bags and yours for so long,' Dracula warned, but Renfield didn't need to be told. He had already formulated a sort of plan. He closed the shower curtain and left the bathroom.
Against his better judgment, he had decided on how he would go back to finding victims. He knew he couldn't go back to feeding his master the blood of the support group's monsters. He would start going to Mulates again, which he hadn't gone to since he met Rebecca, at night and watch for potential people that were up to his master's strict standards. Over the many years of his servitude, the amount of people that met those standards seemed to grow less and less. Part of him still couldn't believe that he was already going back to doing his master's bidding. He had disappointed everyone he had saved. As long as they didn't find out he'd be fine.
It was almost afternoon by the time Renfield finally left the bathroom. He knew his apartment wasn't safe anymore, since Rebecca knew where he lived and he had to protect his master. He would probably spend the whole day packing and getting ready to move back into the hospital. As much as he hated the idea, he knew the best course of action would be to move once again. He decided he'd hold it off as long as he could. If he was lucky, he might even be able to leave while still on good terms with everyone.
Renfield noticed a dull pain in his hands. He looked down and realized he had been digging his nails into his palms which caused them to bleed. He took a deep breath, walked over to his fridge, and opened it. The pitcher of Dracula Blood was running low and he knew his master was in no place to give him any more blood. He glanced down at his hands again then closed the fridge, he decided saving the blood was a better idea.
He walked back into the bathroom, avoiding looking at the bathtub, and opened the cabinet. He yawned as he grabbed a roll of bandages and wrapped his hands. Normally, no sleep hardly affected him at all, but for some reason it felt like he hadn't slept in months. Maybe it was because he had a normal sleep schedule for a month for the first time in decades as his body had gotten used to it. Or maybe it was the blood loss along with staying up the whole night. Either way, once he was done wrapping his hands, he decided he needed coffee.
~~
Renfield thought he had coffee at his apartment but he searched every cabinet and drawer to no avail. Not wanting to risk taking a nap, he reluctantly opted to buy some coffee at the store. He barely remembered to change out of his bloody clothes before leaving the apartment. For whatever reason, he found himself putting on a white collared shirt under his favorite checkered sweater. He hurried to the nearest store, not wanting to draw any attention to himself.
When Renfield reached the store, he raced through the isles until he found the one with coffee. Part of him really wanted to go to a Cafe and buy some fresh coffee but then he'd have to go out every time he needed some. He grabbed the cheapest coffee grounds he could find then rushed to the cash register. To his surprise, when he made it to the front there were no cashiers. There were only an assortment of machines labeled self-checkout. He had seen them before but he made a point of avoiding them. He watched quietly as a few people approached the machines and used them effortlessly to buy their things then walk away. He took a deep breath, he'd have to figure this out on his own.
Renfield approached one and eagerly watched the screen. He stared at it for a few moments before he realized he had to tap the screen. He knew the next step was to scan the items but nothing seemed to happen. He tried a few times to no avail. He glanced behind him and saw the people impatiently glaring at him.
"Hurry up already!"
"You don't even have much stuff!"
"Hey, I have places to be!"
Renfield turned back towards the machine and continued trying to scan the bag. He knew he needed the coffee but he almost thought about just leaving it and running away. The last thing he wanted to do today was draw attention to himself and here he was, being yelled at in public. What would his master think if he saw what a mess Renfield was on his own? In all honesty, his master was probably watching him right now. He couldn't even keep his hand from shaking as he continued trying to scan.
"Do you need some help, Robert?" Someone asked from beside him. At first Renfield panicked, why did this person know his name? But when he turned towards the voice, he saw it was Mark standing there.
"Yes! Y-Yes, please," Renfield said as he turned back towards the machine. Mark picked up the coffee and inspected the bag.
"Here's the problem, the barcode is all wrinkled," Mark explained as he showed the wrinkled barcode to Renfield. He grabbed the edges of the bag, fixed the barcode, and handed it back to Renfield. Renfield curiously scanned the coffee again and it worked.
"Thank you, Mark." Renfield said with a faint smile. Mark smiled back then looked back at the machine.
"Do you need help with checking out too?" Mark said as he motioned back to the machine. Renfield looked at the screen for a moment then sighed.
"Yes, I'd appreciate that. Thank you."
~~
After Mark finished helping Renfield, the two of them left the store together. Mark insisted he had time to spare and Renfield couldn't think of a good reason to deny him. Afterall, the company did sound enticing.
"How have you been, Robert? I haven't seen you at the meetings and I was starting to get a little worried." Mark asked politely.
"Oh, I've been good. I've been doing a lot of cleaning and sorting through things at my apartment." Renfield replied. For the most part, it was the truth. He had spent way too many of his days of 'freedom' cleaning the same things over and over again.
"You know, cleaning can reduce anxiety. I've even heard that cleaning can create a sense of control. If you think that's helping you, then I think it's a great thing." Mark explained. Renfield considered this for a moment. He did enjoy cleaning and that would explain a lot. Mark continued to speak before he had a chance to say anything.
"How's Rebecca been? I hope she hasn't been too pushy," Mark asked.
"Just the right amount of pushy. She's a bit nosey though, she comes over every few days. We have tea together." Renfield explained. If things were better, he might have even considered inviting Mark over sometime. Mark stared at his face for a moment.
"How have you been sleeping?" Mark asked with more worry in his voice than anything else.
"I've been sleeping fine. My bed is quite comfortable and the neighbors aren't too loud-"
"But did you sleep last night? Your eyebags look a little worse than usual and you bought yourself some coffee." Mark said as he motioned towards the bag of coffee he just helped Renfield buy.
"Ah…" Renfield internally cursed for being so careless, maybe he should've just taken a nap instead. His master would be never allowed such a mistake-
"I-I need to get home." Renfield said with a certain urgency in his voice.
"Robert, it's okay! I was just worried about you. I'm not mad or disappointed, I'm just concerned." Mark elaborated, not wanting to upset Renfield at all. Renfield shook his head and tried to make himself appear more calm.
"No, no. I know that. I just…" He tried to think of a good excuse to leave, anything was better than saying his plants needed to be watered, "I left the stove on!"
"Oh. Oh! Well then you better get home! Call me later if you want to talk!" Mark called as Renfield ran off to his apartment. Renfield had almost bought into his own lie as he ran back to his apartment. He slowed down and tried to catch his breath as he got closer to the building. He wished he had eaten a bug before he had started running then maybe it wouldn't have been so bad. He dragged himself up the stairs and entered his apartment.
He smiled to himself as he held the coffee to his chest. The power of the coffee with a few added bugs would give him just the amount of energy he needed. The only things he really needed were his clothes, some food, money, and of course, his master. He walked into the bathroom and leaned against the bathtub.his smile only widened from the feeling of being so close to his master. He couldn't understand how he had ever wanted to get rid of this feeling. He let out another laugh, hnnn-hnn-hnnnn!
"Master," Renfield said as he leaned closer to the box, "I will protect you."
~~
Mark couldn't help but feel worried about Renfield. He had thought talking to Renfield would make his worry fade but it had only made it increase. Renfield clearly wasn't sleeping, he wasn't coping well, he had bandages on both of his hands, and was even becoming forgetful. Hence why Mark was walking to Renfield's apartment right now. He knew Renfield enjoyed tea, so he brought some chamomile tea with him. As he approached the front door, he noticed someone.
"Hello Rebecca. Are you visiting Robert too?" He asked as joined her by the front door.
"Yeah, that was the plan but he's not answering the door." Rebecca explained. Mark attempted to knock on the door but, like Rebecca said, there was no response.
"Maybe he's not home?" Mark suggested but Rebecca shook her head.
"Yeah right. He almost never leaves his apartment. If anything, he's asleep." She said as she tried knocking again.
"I hope so, when I saw him earlier it looked like he hadn't slept at all." Mark said as he recalled what Renfield had looked like earlier.
"You saw him? Outside?" Rebecca asked, bewildered.
"Yes? He was at the store buying coffee and I helped him use the self-checkout." Mark explained.
"Fuck it," Rebecca reached into her pocket and pulled out a key. She put it into the lock and it opened with a click.
"Uh, I don't think we should barge into his home like this-"
"Well, I'm not going to sit out here on my ass when Robert could be doing who knows what to himself!" Rebecca said as she pushed open the door. Mark knew he should try to stop her but he didn't, he was worried about Renfield too.
Inside the apartment was almost the same as it had been last time Rebecca had visited. The curtains were all closed and the only light in the room came from the open door. She opened the door all the way and reached for the light switch while Mark opened the curtains.
The place seemed almost devoid of life. There was no food in the kitchen and almost all of Renfield's clothes were missing. Mark couldn't even find the coffee that the two of them had bought together. The most worrisome part of all was that there was no sign of Renfield.
"It's almost like he just… left." Mark commented when he had finished looking around. Rebecca was still searching. Unlike Mark, she didn't care if she searched every drawer and cabinet. Meanwhile, Mark wanted to at least try to respect Renfield's space.
"I found something." Rebecca said as she pulled an envelope out of a drawer, "It has my name on it." The two of them read the letter together.
Dear Rebecca,
I'm writing this to you because I know you're the only person who would find this. I don't think I know anyone else who would rummage through all of the drawers in my apartment. I'm going to try to make this short since I don't think I have much time to write. I hope you're doing well, I'm sorry if I worried you. Don't bother looking for me, I know what I'm doing. I'm sorry, I did-
"Can you read that?" Rebecca asked as she handed Mark the letter. The longer the letter went on, the worse the writing got. It went from a nice looking curly cursive to a frantic scribble at the end. At the bottom she could just barely make out his signature. Mark looked over the letter but he couldn't decipher it either.
"Do you hear something?" Mark asked.
"Yeah, it almost sounds like…" Rebecca went quiet as she tried to listen to the sound, "running water?" The two of them exchanged worried glances then ran to the bathroom. The door was open and Rebecca turned on the light without a second thought. The shower curtain looked like someone had tried to close it in a haste. The water was running in the bathtub and it was almost close to overflowing. Rebecca stopped the water and pulled the shower curtain open.
The scene in front of them was not what either of them were expecting. The water was tinted red and the sides of the shower had blood splattered on them. Mark's eyes widened and he left the room without another word.
"What the fuck..!?" Rebecca cursed as she took a step back and looked at the scene. Questions immediately filled her mind. Whose blood was this? Why did Renfield do this? Did Renfield do this? She left the bathroom and slammed the door behind her.
"I'm going to find Robert, wherever the fuck he is." Rebecca announced as she entered the living room where Mark was sitting on the couch.
"You can't do that alone," Mark protested as he stood up and approached her, "I'm going to help you."
Notes:
I wasn't sure what to do for this chapter and then I ended up writing the whole thing in almost one day
Also- if you want to ask me questions (about Renfield or anything else) check out my tumblr: https://rosie-the-demon.tumblr.com/?source=share
I post art there too, please ignore it ;-;
Chapter Text
About two weeks passed yet Mark and Rebecca had made little progress on their quest to find Renfield. Rebecca tried to watch and see if there had been any more disappearances in the town but none of them had any patterns. Mark asked everyone in the support group to keep a look out for him but none of them had seen or heard anything. The two of them started to wonder if he had left the town all together. Renfield knew exactly how to disappear in a town. He had made a plan of finding people through Mulates’ then following them home and dragging them to his master later. That way they would all be last seen in different places rather than all from Mulates’. Currently, Renfield had just caught his next victim, a young man he had overheard politely declining getting a free drink, and was bringing him to his master.
“Master!” Renfield called aloud as he entered the abandoned hospital dragging an unconscious victim behind him, “Master! I have a present for you!”
'I hope it is better than yesterday,' Dracula warned in Renfield's mind. Yesterday, Renfield had brought his master a cheerleader, who he had thought was pure, but it turned out she wasn't as lovely as she had seemed, and her blood was bitter.
"He will be, master," Renfield assured him as he brought today's victim to his master's coffin in the main lobby. The concrete around Dracula's remains had finally broken away but what was underneath was hardly any better. Renfield had moved the pieces of his master into the coffin once he noticed the change. Currently, the pieces had slowly merged together and greeted a clump that Renfield dared not to think too hard about.
He started to prepare by opening the coffin and pulling the unconscious victim closer. He set up the blood bags again, so he had to move various tubes out of the way to reach his master. He pulled out a pocketknife and grabbed the man's wrist. He wished his master had enough strength to at least get blood from the victims of his own, doing it like this was always a pain. The healing process would be faster if it wasn't for the holy water that he and Rebecca had also poured on him. The thought of Rebecca in his mind caused the knife to slip, cutting part of the man's wrist and part of the coffin.
'RENFIELD!' His master yelled into his head, causing him to drop the knife and cover his ears, 'Watch where you move that, you're going to have to fix my coffin, you know.'
"Yes master," Renfield said as he slowly went back down to reach for the knife and grab the man's wrist again, "Sorry, master-"
'Look, you've spilled the blood everywhere too,' Renfield looked at the wrist in his hand and, sure enough, he had started bleeding onto the floor.
"I'll get you another victim, don't worry master." Renfield said apologetically as he moved the wrist into the correct position and made the cut wider. After he was done, he stood up and put away his pocketknife. He was about to leave when his master spoke again,
'Bring me another one like this.' He paused and Renfield waited eagerly to see if he'd continued, 'You were right, it is better than yesterday's,'
"Thank you, master!" Renfield said excitedly with a wide smile. He had tried to speak calmly but the praise broke down any and all self-control he had. He practically skipped out of the building and into town.
~~
The one glaring flaw in Renfield's plan hit him immediately: It was almost 3 AM. The only people in the streets were drunkards or criminals. Any of the joy he had gained died with this realization. He knew he couldn't go back empty handed, so he continued to search anyway.
He walked for a while before he ran into anyone, he deemed suitable for his master. As he passed by a 24-hour convenience store he noticed a, seemingly happy, couple walk out of the store. He turned around and listened into their conversation as he followed them from a few feet behind.
"So now that we bought some energy drinks," The woman said as she clung to the man's arm, "Do you want to keep playing more video games?"
"I'm sorry Hun, I need to do some more studying for my psychology finals next week." The man protested and the woman let out a dramatic humph as she crossed her arms. These two would probably be the best victims Renfield would be able to find tonight. Three meals in one day, his master would be back to full power before he knew it. Renfield found himself smiling at the thought.
There were few enough people around that he didn't feel like he had to lure them somewhere secret to incapacitated them. He reached into his pockets, pulled out a bottle of chloroform and his old rag. He had owned the rag for a long time, but not quite as long as he had owned his suit. He and his wife had bought the suit together before he had gone to visit Dracula for the first time. It was one of the last times he had seen her. Over the years, he had kept the suit and hand stitched it every time it got damaged. In his earlier years of being a familiar, when things were better between the two of them, his master had offered to pay for him to get a tailor to fix it. Renfield had politely declined and said he'd rather do it himself. Dracula never understood his decision, but he accepted it all the same. He had started wearing his suit again since he didn't want to get any more blood on his favorite sweater, since the blood never seemed to completely clean out. And a small part of him did miss wearing his old suit.
Renfield shook himself out of his own thoughts and focused back on the task at hand. He poured the chloroform onto the rag and walked closer to the couple in front of him. He would go for the woman first since she looked stronger than the man. Just as he was about to grab her, another woman walked past him from the other direction. He didn't pay her any mind at first and continued on his task but then he realized something. That woman was Rebecca.
"Sh… s-shit." Renfield mumbled to himself as he almost dropped the things in his hands. What was Rebecca doing up this late? Why was she wandering around the same part of town as him? Had she seen him? He didn't want her to see him like this. If she had seen him then she would ask questions or worse. What if the two of them talked things out, part of his mind suggested. But that part of his mind was quickly silenced by the overwhelming panic in the rest of his mind. He immediately knew he couldn't risk her talking to him. He put the rag and chloroform away and started to run. He didn't even care as he pushed past the couple that would have been his victims. He didn't care as he ran across the street and towards the abandoned hospital. His body screamed at him to stop. He ran down an alley and grabbed a spider out its web and threw it into his mouth. He bit down with a satisfying crunch and swallowed the spider. With the fresh energy coursing through his veins, he picked up his pace and ignored the pain in his legs.
In truth, he didn't even know if Rebecca had even noticed him. It was dark out and he doubted she was looking out for anyone. The hospital was quite far from the part of town he had ended up in, but he managed to make it after less than an hour of constant running. Even when he made it inside, he didn't stop running until he made it to the main lobby. He wanted to run to his master and lean against the cool wood but then another thought crossed his mind: what if Rebecca did follow him here. He didn't even have time to feel his legs weaken as the adrenaline and power from the bug wore off. He fell to his knees in front of the coffin and helplessly tried to calm down his swirling thoughts.
'Renfield, what are you doing?' His master tried to ask but Renfield couldn't distinguish one voice from the other in his head. He closed his eyes and waited for whatever cruel punishment the world had decided for him. He knew he had made a mistake; he just didn't remember when things started falling apart again.
"Robert...?" Rebecca's voice called from a distance behind him. He felt his body shake as he heard Rebecca's footsteps frown closer.
"Robert, what the fuck!? What the hell are you doing in this fucking abandoned hospital? Don’t tell me this where you’ve been hiding this whole time,” Rebecca yelled at him as she stood behind him, “What the fuck have you been doing in here!?”
“...Y-you shouldn’t be here,” Renfield mumbled quietly as he started to subconsciously reopen the wounds on his hands with his fingernails. Rebecca threw her hands in the air in frustration. A part of her knew she shouldn’t yell at him, it was probably one of the worst things she could do at the moment, but she had to get her pent-up frustration out.
“You can’t just leave a literal bloodbath in your bathroom, disappear for two whole weeks, and leave what looked like a shitty suicide note behind and expect me to not look for you! I thought you’d…” Rebecca trailed off as she got a better look at Renfield and the situation. He was kneeling in front of a coffin and his entire body was trembling.
'See? She doesn't understand you at all. If she had known how insane you are then she wouldn't have come here for you at all,'
Rebecca reached out to touch Renfield, but she pulled her hand back when he started laughing. It wasn't a normal laugh, and Rebecca could only describe it as psychotic or almost forced. He attempted to stand but his legs refused to cooperate which only seemed to make him laugh more.
" Hnnn-hnnnnn-hnnn! " Renfield slowly turned his body towards her and looked up at her, "Oh, I can't believe it…!"
"Uh, Robert?" Rebecca said as she slowly started backing away. He had bags under his eyes that looked almost the same size as when she had first met him. The suit he was wearing was a big contrast from his usual assortment of colorful sweaters and somehow made him look more dead than usual. He had a wide smile on his face that looked anything but happy.
"I can't believe that this is the punishment that's been chosen for me!" He said as he moved to his hands and knees and started crawling towards her. As he lifted his hands, she could see the blood dripping from his palms. She repressed the urge to yell at him since that was what got her here in the first place. He suddenly stopped and barely kept himself from collapsing to the floor in the process. He reached out a hand and grabbed a spider off of the ground which he effortlessly shoved into his mouth.
"Woah, what the fuck!?" Rebecca couldn't stop herself from yelling as his eyes turned an inhuman yellow. Sure, she had seen him eat bugs before and she knew exactly what they did but seeing him do it after he had a panic attack the last time, shocked her more than she'd like to admit. Using his newfound power, he was able to stand. She watched as the wide manic grin across his face faltered into a frown. For a split second she saw a twinge of human fear in his eyes, but it vanished as quickly as it came.
"Go home, Rebecca." Renfield said as he fiddled with the wounds on his hands, “I don’t want to hurt you. I’m not… s-shit.” He repressed the urge to look back at the coffin, he had almost forgotten about the malicious vampire listening into their conversation. Luckily for the both of them, he was in no state to do anything about it. Suddenly this whole situation started to remind him of something from a long time ago. He was reminding himself a lot of the time he tried to save Mina. The only difference was that Rebecca was no damsel in distress, which somehow made this a whole lot more complicated.
“I’m not going to leave you, not again. Not when last time you did some shit that got you here!” Rebecca yelled as she motioned to the building around them. As she motioned around, she finally got a good look at the surroundings. She took in the sight of the hundreds of blood bags and the dried blood on the floor. She had been so focused on Renfield that she didn’t even comprehend the scene in front of her. She backed away and looked back at Renfield.
“Did you?!-”
“I’m not as good as you think I am.” Renfield said coldly as he backed towards the coffin. His eyes faded back to blue, and his legs gave out underneath him. He put a hand on top of the coffin and smiled.
“Robert, you-” Rebecca stumbled through her words, she wanted nothing more than to yell at him and tell him how wrong he was, but she managed to keep her voice even, "You don't have to be the bad guy. It's never too late to regain control of your life-"
"No!” He yelled as he turned his attention back towards her, his voice seemed to even startle himself, “No, I… I don’t…”
“You don’t what?”
“Goodbye Rebecca,” Renfield said and before Rebecca could react, a rag was being held over her face. She tried to struggle free, but no amount of kicking seemed to do anything. As she kept her conscious slipping, he spoke again, “Please… Please don’t come back.”
And then everything went black.
Notes:
(I'm probably going to start adding this to the notes at the end of all my chapters but-)
I love questions and if you have any about this story (or anything else) send them to my Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/rosie-the-demon
Chapter 7
Notes:
I can't apologize enough for how long this chapter took me (esspecially since it's kind of short too)
Like always, I love questions and if you have any about this story (or anything else) send them to my Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/rosie-the-demon
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
"Please… Please don’t come back."
"Shit!" Rebecca yelled as she sat up from wherever she was laying and jumped to her feet. As she frantically searched her surroundings and immediately realized where she was; she was in Renfield's apartment. Her head started to spin from standing up too fast so she sat back down on the couch. She looked at the coffee table in front of her and saw a platter full of his usual sprinkle and frosting covered snickerdoodle. She noted the note addressed to Rebecca sitting next to the cookies. She grabbed a cookie in one hand and the letter in the other.
Dear Rebecca,
Your things are on the table next to you and the cookies are fresh, I promise. Your car is in the parking lot, I'm sorry for using it without your permission. I'm sorry for bringing him bac- I'm sorry for knocking you out. I'm sorry for forgetting to clean the blood in the bath- I'm sorry for making you worry so much about me. I'm sorry for dragging you into my mess in the first place. I meant what I said earlier, please don't come back. Please, don't tell Mark about this, I don’t want to
-R.M. Renfield
Rebecca looked to her left and, sure enough, all of her things were sitting on the table next to her. She almost couldn't help but feel slightly put off by Renfield's signature. She had never once seen him write or heard him say his full name like that. She shook her head, there were other things much more wrong with the letter in her hand. She tried her hardest to read the crossed out lines but she could only make out a few words. The words she made out were enough to get a good idea of what he was trying to say.
She immediately grabbed her phone off of the table and called Mark. The phone rang for a moment before he answered. She spoke before he even got a word out.
"Mark, meet me at Café Du Monde. I have some news about Robert."
~~
Rebecca got a table at the cafe and waited impatiently for Mark. As he sat at the table she couldn’t help but think about the last time she was here with Renfield. She stared at the empty seat across from her hesitantly.
“Rebecca, I want you to understand often when people get out of a toxic relationship, they want to go back. Even when it’s an abusive relationship. I’ve seen people go back time and time again.” Mark explained as soon as he sat down. Rebecca stared at him blankly, dumbfounded by his random explanation.
“Uh, what? No, you don’t understand. He was-” Rebecca protested, she took a breath then continued, “just let me tell you what happened.”
“Okay, what happened?” Mark asked politely as he let her talk. Rebecca stayed quiet for a moment as she gathered her thoughts.
“Okay so, I was walking outside and I passed by a couple with a man following them close behind. I didn’t think much of it at the time–because why the hell would I?–but then I realized that that man was Robert! When I turned to him and tried to ask why the fuck he went missing, he was sprinting away from me!” Rebecca paused to take a breath while Mark listened intently, “I knew I couldn’t catch him so I ran and grabbed my car. I followed him and he ran to the old abandoned charity hospital. I don’t know what the hell I was expecting when I followed him in, and I don’t know what I was expecting but, seeing him on his knees in front of a coffin with blood bags around it was not what I was expecting to see! He was acting insane! He wasn’t acting like himself at all. He was eating bugs again and I think he was… trying to…”
Rebecca trailed off as she grasped the severity of the events that happened last night. Mark was right, Renfield had turned back to Dracula, hadn’t he? Worried was quickly replaced by anger in her mind.
“After all that we went through and he turned back to that monster!? We killed Dracula together! I thought he-” Rebecca yelled as people started giving her weird looks. Mark gently grabbed her hand and interrupted her.
“Rebecca,” Mark said calmly, “I know you’re not going to like it but It’s a common thing that happens and-”
“No, you don’t get it! You don’t understand the amount of shit that Dracula did to him,” Rebecca lowered her voice before continuing, “Dracula killed him. I bet he’s killed him multiple times even. What could possibly make Robert want to go back to that!?”
“Sometimes people go back to their toxic relationships because they’re lonely, and believe that no one else would be able to understand them. Sometimes it’s because they only think of the good times, and ignore the toxic aspects of the relationship. Sometimes… at their core, the person believes they deserve it." Mark elaborated. He could tell he wasn't getting through to her, she was stubborn. She stared at him with an eyebrow raised and her arms crossed. Mark calmly reached into his bag and pulled out one of his self-help books.
"I know you may not believe me but," Mark handed the book to Rebecca, "Maybe you’ll believe it if you see it in here."
Rebecca stared at the book for a moment before accepting it. She flipped through the pages for a moment until she landed on one that Mark had bookmarked. She quickly read the title then closed the book.
"Why did you even bring this with you?" She asked as she looked back at Mark. She never quite understood why Renfield owned so many of these books. She thought she understood him but maybe if she read this she'd learn more. She quietly sighed, she'd read it when she got home.
"When you called, my mind immediately went to this book. Especially with how long Robert has been with… him , I knew he might do something like this, but I thought he would have talked to us about it first…" Mark said worriedly.
"I just don't get it," Rebecca said as she leaned back in her chair, "What part of his, apparently really fucked up, mind would want to go back to that!? He told me how happy he was to be free, I… I really thought he was getting better." The two of them remained silent as they quietly agreed. Suddenly an idea hit Mark.
"What if Dracula had talked to Robert? I remember he told me that was something Dracula could do, so what if he had talked to Robert in his mind and convinced him-"
"No," Rebecca interrupted sternly, "He's dead. The two of us made sure of that. Not even some all-powerful-vampire could survive that. Whatever Robert thinks he's doing has got to be a result of some…. Some- Well some screw loose in his head!"
"But what if he wasn't dead?" Mark said, which finally caused Rebecca to go quiet, "If he really is such an all-powerful-vampire then… maybe he survived. Robert did say he’s seen him come back from some pretty horrible things.”
Rebecca remained silent as she looked back down at the book in her hands. She thought back to the letter Renfield had left for her at his apartment that morning. One of the lines he had scribbled out meanted ‘him’ who could have only been Dracula. Rebecca pulled the note out of her pocket and handed it to Mark. He took the paper and read it with a frown.
“If that bitch really did survive then I’m not going to leave Robert with him for another day.” Rebecca said as calmly as she could given the circumstances, “We know where he is and Dracula isn’t strong enough to do anything.”
“If we’re going to get through to Robert then you’re going to need to understand how he’s feeling. And if Dracula really is back then we need to be cautious, no matter how weak he is,” Mark said calmly, but the worry was clear on his face, “You should read the book. Get the most out of it that you can and tomorrow we’ll go help him, okay?”
Rebecca wanted to protest, wanted to go and rush back to the hospital now, but she knew he was right. She clenched her fist and stood up, with the book in one hand.
“Fine,” Rebecca said as Mark also stood up, “I’m going to go home and read this book. You better be ready for tomorrow because I won’t delay this another day.”
“Of course,” Mark said with a nod before walking closer to Rebecca, “We’re going to get him back, I promise. I know you care about him, I do too.”
Rebecca gave Mark a weak smile before heading off and getting into her car. She set the book down on the passenger's seat beside her and gave it one final look before starting the car. She was going to get Renfield back, even if it was the last thing she did. She wouldn’t let anyone she cares about loose themselves like this.
Notes:
Mark is so hard to write but my mom has been helping me since she has waaaay too much experience with toxic relationships (I love my mom and she isn't in one right now)
I have a good idea of the next chapter and I think I'll be able to finish this story in two chapters! We will see, thank you all for sticking with me here
Chapter 8
Notes:
Hey, at least this is my longest chapter so far-
Like always, I love questions and if you have any about this story (or anything else) send them to my Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/rosie-the-demon
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
"I feel like…" Renfield spoke to himself as he carefully held a knife in one hand and his current unconscious victim's wrist in the other, "...I should be getting you more victims, master."
Renfield said, but in truth, this was the last thing on his mind at the moment. The most pressing issue in his head was what had happened with Rebecca two nights ago. After he had knocked her out, which he instantly regretted, he had taken her car keys and driven her back to his own apartment. He would have brought her to her own home, but he didn't know where she lived, and he thought it would be creepier if he did. He ended up feeling unsatisfied leaving her there, so he made her some of his cookies and a badly written apology letter. He had tried to make her some tea too but then he realized it would be cold by the time she woke up.
Part of him wished things could've gone back to how they were. With Dracula being dead, Mark and Rebecca liking him, and his studio apartment. He also wished he hadn't run into Rebecca, then he wouldn't have had to knock her out and, probably, scar her for life. A small frown formed on his face as he stared at the wrist in his hand.
'Yes, you should. The victims you've been bringing have been satisfying, you’re doing a very good job, Renfield.' Dracula said into his mind, interrupting Renfield’s stream of thoughts. He smiled to himself at the praise. He never usually got any, let alone from Dracula, so when he did it made his heart skip a beat and his doubts dissolve; and Dracula knew this. Renfield carefully cut the latest victim's wrist wide open and watched the blood drip below onto the pile of flesh that was his master. He put the knife into his pocket and held the victim's wrist firmly above the coffin. A wide grin formed on his face as he stared down at his master in the coffin.
‘When you’re done could you clean up the old pile of bodies? They are really starting to kill the atmosphere,’ Dracula said, half-jokingly, but Renfield took his every word seriously.
“Right away, Master.”
~~
“We’re almost there,” Rebecca said to Mark as she drove the two of them to the hospital, “Are you ready?”
“Yes, well actually…” Mark paused as he looked down ashamedly, “If Dracula really is back then…”
“Then what?” Rebecca asked more bluntly than she had intended.
“Then I don’t want to go inside.” Mark said darkly. The car came to a sudden halt as Rebecca stopped in front of the hospital. She looked over at Mark with wide eyes.
“What?! Then why did you come with me?” Rebecca snapped at him. As she looked over at him, she instantly regretted her aggression, his face had a look of fear she hadn’t seen from him before. Her own expression softened as he spoke.
“Rebecca, I came here to help Robert, and that’s what I’m going to do. But Dracula… I watched him kill a group of people, my friends, right in front of me. He…”
“It’s okay,” Rebecca interrupted him softly, “I’m sorry, we’re both stressed. I’ll go in alone.” She took off her seatbelt and opened the car door. Before she got up, she handed her car keys to Mark.
“If for some stupid reason things get fucked up, I want you to get out of here, okay?” Rebecca said firmly. Mark stared at the keys for a moment before accepting them and looking at Rebecca with a pained smile.
“Okay.” He replied quietly. As she left the car she gave Mark one final goodbye before heading through the ominous front entrance of the hospital. Rebecca had to pull a flashlight out of her pocket to see, the inside was as dark and dreary as she remembered it being. If anything, it was scarier not being able to hear where Renfield was. She grimaced at the thought that Renfield could be gone and that was alone here with Dracula. She shook the thought out of her mind and pressed on through the darkness, even if he wasn’t here, she would wait for him. Mark may be convinced that Dracula was back but Rebecca wasn’t as sure as him. Mark wasn’t there when she and Renfield had killed him together. Mark didn’t know all of the shit the two of them did to Dracula to make sure he stayed dead. A small part of Rebecca wished she had brought Mark with her.
“...So what if I thought I had moved on with my life? I should know better than that,” Rebecca heard a distant voice say. There was no mistaking who it was, it was Renfield. Rebecca quietly followed the direction of the sound. She wanted to run to him, but she knew better than to rush into things, her sister’s advice finally seemed to be getting through her thick skull.
“–Master needs me! He’s the only one that can understand me after all. Without him, I would be long dead for… well for a few reasons. I deserve this fate,” Renfield continued, his voice growing louder as she came closer, “Still, I need to arrange a way out of here as soon as I can before Rebecca comes back. I don’t want her to have to put up with my madness any longer, I should’ve left the moment I got involved with a police officer. If Master agrees then maybe, we can move back to England and I can still message her…” He began mumbling the longer he talked, but Rebecca could hear him clearly due to the echoey hospital walls. But due to the echo as well, she couldn't tell how close or far away he was. As she rounded the next corner, she finally saw him.
He was moving slowly and Rebecca could see that he was dragging a few bodies on a tarp behind him. She pulled her attention away from the bodies and focused on Renfield. He looked like he hadn’t slept in weeks, his eyebags darker and bigger than usual and his eyes were a frightening yellow. His hair was messy and she could see that his white shirt, his blazer and vest seemingly abandoned, was splattered with blood. He wore suspenders and his old dress pants that he had worn when she first met him, it gave him the look of some old mad man from a black and white movie.
“But first things first, I need to get rid of these bodies like Master tasked me to–” Renfield suddenly stopped talking as he noticed Rebecca standing by the corner. The two stared at each other in shock for what felt like hours, neither of them saying a word. At that moment, both of them realized that they were wrong. Rebecca, finally face to face with Renfield again and hearing him speak of his master, made her realize that Mark had been completely and utterly right. She couldn't tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Finally, Renfield unfroze and dropped the body he was carrying. He glanced down at the blood splattered on his shirt and the bodies behind him then glanced around like he was going to make a run for it.
"Shit…" Rebecca said as she realized what was unfolding in front of her. As she stared at him it felt like the world confirming all of the things she didn't want to believe were possible. Renfield had missed being with Dracula, the same man who had abused and manipulated him for years! Anger bubbled up inside of her but she managed to bury inside of her as she remembered Mark's words. Renfield began to back away, "Robert, Wait!"
To Rebecca's surprise, and maybe even Renfield's surprise, he stopped backing up and waited for her to speak. She took a moment to collect her thoughts, to avoid suddenly yelling at him, before she spoke.
“Why?” Rebecca asked softly, “Why did you go back to him?”
“I…” The question seemed to take Renfield off-guard and he had to think about it for a moment. His eagerness to run seemed to disappear and Rebecca couldn’t tell if she should be worried or not. “It's… where I belong."
"At the side of a sadistic vampire who treats you like crap?" Rebecca said more aggressively than she had intended. She took a deep breath. This conversation had to go well for both of their sakes. She could yell at him for this later.
"You don't know anything about how my master treats me." Renfield replied as he took a step closer to her. Rebecca couldn't help but flinch at the way he called Dracula his master. Rebecca took a step closer to him.
“What about when you were in the asylum?" Rebecca could see his eyes widen a bit at the mention of the asylum, "Didn’t he promise you everything you ever wanted just so that you would do whatever he said? Did he ever actually give you any of those things?”
“He made me immortal; he saved me–”
“He didn’t save you, he killed you!" Rebecca interrupted as she took another step forward, "He only came back for you because he needed you; he needed to use you to save himself!”
'You know that's not true, Renfield. I was always going to save you, you know that.' Dracula tried to coax Renfield through his mind. Renfield's aggression died down a bit and, for a moment, he almost looked sad.
“If he doesn’t care for me, then who does?" Renfield said as he looked down at the floor, "I’ve kidnapped and murdered countless innocent people for him. No one else would ever care for someone insane like me.”
“That’s not true.” Rebecca said, causing Renfield to look at her again.
“What isn’t?” Renfield said as he looked into her eyes as if searching for an answer.
“You aren’t insane.” Rebecca said as calmly as she could as she took another small step forward. The aggression all at once returned to Renfield as he took a big step forward.
“Then how else would you describe Dr. Seward’s favorite zoophagous patient?!" Renfield yelled at Rebecca as if it were some kind of challenge, "His favorite play toy he poked at and questioned just for his own entertainment!?” Renfield spoke bitterly as if he had been repressing this anger his whole life.
"I would say you're kind, polite, caring, and hard-working." Rebecca said as calmly as she could manage given the situation, Renfield's face seemed to soften a bit, "Dracula wants you to think you’re insane. He wants you to think that you’re alone in all of this. But you're not alone. Me, Mark, and everyone in the support group, we all want to help you. But we can't help you if you don't let us."
Renfield remained silent for a moment as he looked back down at the floor, his aggression once again gone as he silently contemplated something. Rebecca took this moment to take the self-help book Mark had given her out of her jacket. She stared at the front cover for a moment before looking back at Renfield. Renfield stared at the book as if he was a child looking at a long-forgotten toy. His eyes slowly changed back into their normal blue as the power from the bugs faded. He looked like he was going to cry any moment but he was holding it back.
"You're not insane for going back into your toxic relationship," Rebecca said, not wanting to mention Dracula, "it happens. It happens to the best of people too sometimes."
'You don't believe what she's saying, do you Renfield?' Dracula spoke softly to Renfield, 'Remember all of the good times we had? Back in the 1930s and the 1880s, we had some good times didn't we? We haven't seen a movie together in a long time, have we?'
"It's been exactly 26 years since we saw a movie together, master." Renfield said quietly as if not wanting Rebecca to hear. Sadly for Renfield, Rebecca could hear him perfectly fine.
"Robert," Rebecca said, causing Renfield to glance up at her, "He's going to promise you everything you've ever wanted. He's going to tell you everything you want to hear, just like back at the asylum, to get you to help him."
'And didn't you mention wanting to move back to England?' Renfield's eyes widened for a moment as he continued to watch Rebecca, 'I'm sure you'd be able to find a nice place for us to live there. We could even stay there forever if we're careful. Isn't that what you wanted, to have a life again?'
"Master…" Rebecca could tell that Renfield was having a harder time stopping himself from crying, "You're… y-you're lying."
'Renfield, I wouldn't lie to you.' Renfield took a deep breath as if collecting his thoughts then turned to face the wall instead of Rebecca.
"What about when I was in the asylum? You… y-you killed me! D-do you know how desperately I waited for you? You never came! You- what's your excuse for that?" Renfield yelled at the wall as if it were Dracula. Luckily, Rebecca knew what was going on or else she'd be even more concerned about Renfield's current sanity.
'Renfield, I had to kill you so that Van Helsing and those other hunters wouldn't learn anything. I was always going to bring you back. No other human would ever made as good of a familiar as you–'
"Then why did you help the lobos? You made them all your familiars! That… that ritual meant everything to me…" Renfield paused as anger began to seep into his voice, "Yet you had no problem doing that same ritual, giving your same power, to any drug dealer or criminal that would work for you!"
'Renfield-'
"No, you shut up! I-I am sick of this!" Renfield interrupted Dracula as he pointed a finger at the wall, "I won't tolerate any more of your abuse! Y-you use me–all of the time! You never planned on bringing me back, did you? If Van Helsing never tried to kill you then you would've left me dead! You!- Y-you…"
Renfield faltered as he let his hands fall to his sides. Rebecca couldn't understand why he suddenly went quiet but as she looked closer, she realized he was crying. Sensing she wasn't in any danger, she walked closer to him and gave him a hug. His soft cries turned into sobs as he hugged her back tightly and cried into her shoulder. She could tell that Dracula was still talking to him but Renfield wasn't listening anymore. Rebecca somehow found herself stroking Renfield's hair softly.
"...I don't think you're such a bad guy, Robert." Rebecca said quietly as the two of them stood there. Neither of them spoke for what felt like hours as they both contemplated what to do.
"...sunlight." Renfield said suddenly as he removed himself from the hug. He looked into Rebecca's eyes with a surprisingly serious look on his face.
"What?-"
"It's the only thing we haven't tried," Renfield explained as he began to pace back and forth, "vampires burn in the sunlight–everyone probably knows that–but I've never seen him stand in the sun for more than a few seconds. M-maybe…" He stopped pacing and began to fidget with his hands. Rebecca could see that he was subconsciously picking at scabs on his hands, threatening to reopen them. Rebecca grabbed his hands and made him look at her.
"Let's do it," Rebecca said confidently, "If he turns to ashes then we'll throw them into the nearest fucking volcano."
Renfield stared at her for a moment as if trying to decide if she was kidding or not. He didn't have to watch for long to realize that she was dead serious. He couldn't help but smile weakly at her.
~~
It took a lot of strength and will-power, but eventually Rebecca and Renfield managed to drag Dracula's coffin to the nearest not boarded up window. Renfield stared at the coffin lid for a moment as if asking himself one last time if he was sure that this was what he wanted to do.
The last time the two of them had tried to kill Dracula, he hadn't been given much of a choice. If he had let Dracula go then, Dracula would've killed both of them then and there. But this time was different, Dracula was nowhere near fully healed and wasn't in a condition where he would be able to hurt either of them.
He would've tried to go through his memories and make an educated decision on what to do but after figuring out that Dracula had lied to him the whole time he was in the asylum, he didn't think his memories would help. If he didn't do it now, would he get another chance? He looked up from the coffin and over at Rebecca.
"Let's get this over with…" Renfield said quietly. He kneeled down in front of the coffin and grabbed the lid with both hands. He found himself hesitating once more as he felt the warm sun on his back. As Renfield's hands remained on the coffin's lid, Dracula finally stopped talking. He went quiet for a few seconds before speaking.
'And to think that you , we're the one that killed me. Not Van Helsing, not a brave hunter, but a weak and pathetic servant who was so bad at his job that he killed his own master.' Dracula spoke bitterly but Renfield heard something that he had never heard in Dracula's voice before; fear.
"Goodbye, master," Renfield spoke quietly, as if trying to prevent a child from waking. He hesitated for another moment as he refrained from saying anything else. There was another thing he had always thought but never once had he allowed himself to say it. He wondered how badly he'd regret not saying it…
"I loved you, Dracula." Renfield's words surprised even himself as he opened the coffin. He could smell the smoke as Dracula's skin instantly burst into flames as the sunlight touched him. Renfield watched as the flames grew around the pile of flesh that was his master. Renfield was glad that Dracula wasn’t healed enough to look human, that would make this moment a lot worse for everyone. As Renfield watched the fire he couldn’t help but reflect on his life. Lillian and his wife… Mina and Johnathan… Dr. Seward and Van Helsing… he was finally avenging everyone who had ever fallen victim to Dracula over the years. This should make him feel happy, proud even, yet as he knelt next to the coffin he noticed as his tears began to fall onto the ground. He felt a hand on his shoulder, it was Rebecca’s.
When the fire died down, which took longer than one would've thought, not even ashes or dust was left.
Dracula was dead.
Notes:
ta-da! For some reason I got stumped on the conversation between Rebecca and Renfield for daaaaaaays. Also there will be one more chapter- a fluff-filled epilogue!
Pages Navigation
Maplebacon2023 on Chapter 1 Thu 18 May 2023 04:50PM UTC
Comment Actions
RosieDemon on Chapter 1 Thu 18 May 2023 04:53PM UTC
Comment Actions
FalconEye on Chapter 1 Sat 20 May 2023 04:40AM UTC
Comment Actions
RosieDemon on Chapter 1 Sat 20 May 2023 05:15AM UTC
Comment Actions
Shadowtiger999 on Chapter 1 Sat 20 May 2023 10:02AM UTC
Comment Actions
RosieDemon on Chapter 1 Sat 20 May 2023 02:59PM UTC
Last Edited Sat 20 May 2023 02:59PM UTC
Comment Actions
Official_Sam on Chapter 1 Sun 02 Jul 2023 01:06AM UTC
Comment Actions
RosieDemon on Chapter 1 Sun 02 Jul 2023 01:41AM UTC
Comment Actions
Official_Sam on Chapter 1 Mon 03 Jul 2023 08:07AM UTC
Comment Actions
Maplebacon2023 on Chapter 2 Tue 23 May 2023 06:23PM UTC
Comment Actions
NightValian17 on Chapter 2 Tue 23 May 2023 08:42PM UTC
Comment Actions
Official_Sam on Chapter 2 Sun 02 Jul 2023 01:32AM UTC
Comment Actions
RosieDemon on Chapter 2 Sun 02 Jul 2023 01:44AM UTC
Comment Actions
Official_Sam on Chapter 2 Mon 03 Jul 2023 08:09AM UTC
Comment Actions
Maplebacon2023 on Chapter 3 Sat 27 May 2023 02:13PM UTC
Comment Actions
RosieDemon on Chapter 3 Sat 27 May 2023 02:27PM UTC
Comment Actions
shadowsteed15 on Chapter 3 Sun 28 May 2023 05:40AM UTC
Comment Actions
NightValian17 on Chapter 3 Tue 30 May 2023 01:54AM UTC
Comment Actions
Official_Sam on Chapter 3 Sun 02 Jul 2023 04:18PM UTC
Comment Actions
RosieDemon on Chapter 3 Sun 02 Jul 2023 04:25PM UTC
Comment Actions
NightValian17 on Chapter 4 Wed 31 May 2023 07:55PM UTC
Comment Actions
50s_housewife_with_a_dark_secret on Chapter 4 Wed 31 May 2023 08:02PM UTC
Comment Actions
Maplebacon2023 on Chapter 4 Thu 01 Jun 2023 03:29AM UTC
Comment Actions
Official_Sam on Chapter 4 Sun 02 Jul 2023 04:51PM UTC
Comment Actions
RosieDemon on Chapter 4 Sun 02 Jul 2023 04:54PM UTC
Comment Actions
Official_Sam on Chapter 4 Mon 03 Jul 2023 08:14AM UTC
Comment Actions
kartersink on Chapter 5 Sun 04 Jun 2023 11:17PM UTC
Comment Actions
RosieDemon on Chapter 5 Mon 05 Jun 2023 12:16AM UTC
Comment Actions
kartersink on Chapter 5 Mon 05 Jun 2023 01:40AM UTC
Comment Actions
RosieDemon on Chapter 5 Mon 05 Jun 2023 03:42AM UTC
Comment Actions
shadowsteed15 on Chapter 5 Mon 05 Jun 2023 03:39AM UTC
Comment Actions
Maplebacon2023 on Chapter 5 Mon 05 Jun 2023 02:34PM UTC
Comment Actions
NightValian17 on Chapter 5 Sun 11 Jun 2023 01:49AM UTC
Comment Actions
Official_Sam on Chapter 5 Mon 03 Jul 2023 08:39AM UTC
Comment Actions
Maplebacon2023 on Chapter 6 Mon 12 Jun 2023 12:57AM UTC
Comment Actions
Pages Navigation