Howler and Kittie sat on opposite sides of a booth at the local diner discussing the events from their adventures in the 17th century. Howler revealed what he learned about Vampira's past to Kittie.
"No wonder she's been in such a bad mood lately!" Kittie exclaimed, giggling.
"You should have seen her face when we told her!" Howler chuckled, "It was hilarious!"
"Fortunately, she hasn't been that brutal since she hooked up with my great-great grandfather," Kittie said.
"Lady Catherine!" a voice familiar to Kittie said. Kittie and Howler looked and saw Big D and Aunt Beth coming towards them in the diner.
"Oh my gosh!" Kittie exclaimed, "Count! Countess!"
"Vhat's vith the formalities?" Aunt Beth asked, "You may call me Beth."
"Okay," Kittie said, "Beth!"
"You may call me Count," Big D said.
"Vlad!" Aunt Beth scolded.
"So few people call me that anymore!" Big D said.
"It's okay," Kittie said, "I'll call you Count."
"Thank you, Catherine," Big D said.
"Call me Kittie."
"Kittie?" Big D asked.
"Kittie it is, then!" Aunt Beth said.
"What are you doing here?" Howler asked, a little annoyed.
"Ve'll only be a minute," Big D said.
"Ve just vanted to see Kittie," Aunt Beth added.
"Might ve sit down?" Big D asked.
"Sure!" Kittie said.
Howler sighed. He got out of his seat, took his soda, and sat next to Kittie. Big D and Aunt Beth scootched into the booth facing them.
"I'we been vanting to ask you a qvestion for qvite some time," Big D said to Kittie.
"What?" Kittie asked.
"Vhat happened to your English accent?"
"I never had one," Kittie said, smiling.
"You had me fooled," Big D said.
"She has a lot of people fooled," Howler said.
"Yes, I know," Big D said. "Vhat is this about Wampira and your great-great grandfather?"
"She and my great-great grandfather, Percival Dred, had a run-in in the late 19th century," Kittie explained, "He liked how evil she seemed to be and made her the first official member of O.G.R.E."
"She didn't marry him, did she?" Aunt Beth asked.
"No," Kittie said, "She did cause his death, though."
"She killed him?" Howler asked.
"Not exactly," Kittie said, "Shortly after he got her to England he started finding victims in his backyard that she had murdered and drained for food. He started to bury them where he found them. He also found fruit cores with fang marks on them. He got suspicious and did a little research on dhampirs and found out that they didn't need blood to survive. He confronted her and she told him that she just liked the taste. He made her stop. She did, but the authorities had already been tracing the missing persons to his house and found the graveyard in his backyard. Vampira was nowhere to be found and the authorities didn't believe that there was a dhampir who caused it so they hanged him."
"That sounds like her," Big D said.
"And she didn't do anything after that?" Howler asked.
"Not that we know of," Kittie said, "She disappeared for a while until my great-grandfather, Cecil Dred, was old enough to take over as leader of O.G.R.E. He found her and held her to the pact that she had made with his father to be an O.G.R.E. member. He also ordered her not to pull any tricks like she pulled with his father or he wouldn't protect her."
"Did she conform?" Aunt Beth asked.
"To a point," Kittie said, "She stayed evil."
A waitress walked over to the table and asked if Big D and Aunt Beth would like anything.
"No th..." Big D started.
"Do you hawe tomato juice?" Aunt Beth interupted.
"Yes, we do," the waitress said.
"Ve'll hawe two of them," Aunt Beth said.
The waitress left to go get their order.
"Tomato juice?" Kittie asked.
"Betha got on a health kick in the 1960's," Big D said.
The waitress came back with the tomato juice, placed the glasses on the table, and went back to her waitressing duties.
"I didn't know that vampires could eat anything other than blood," Kittie said.
"Ve didn't either," Aunt Beth said, "The intense craving for human blood kept us from finding out that ve could."
"How did you beat the craving?" Kittie asked.
"It vasn't easy," Big D said, "But there vas a prophecy that ve had to change our ewil vays or be viped out. That meant ve couldn't prey on humans anymore. Ve tried the blood of small animals and found it vas exactly the same as human's and it to curbed our craving."
"Amazing!" Kittie exclaimed.
"Yes, it vas," Aunt Beth said. "Vlad became committed to conwincing other wampires of this fact. Ve threw a party for some wampire friends of ours and serwed the blood from a large deer."
"Sounds like one of those coffee commercials!" Howler said.
"Yes, it does!" Kittie agreed.
"Vhat?" Big D asked.
"The situation," Howler said. He pretended to hold up a microphone and said, "We are here at Count Dracula's party. We have secretly switched their regular human's blood with the blood from a deer. Let's see if the partygoers notice."
Aunt Beth giggled.
Howler turned to Kittie and held out the invisible microphone. "Excuse me, miss." he said.
Kittie played along. "Yes, suspicious announcer type person." she said, faking a Romanian accent.
"What do you think of the blood being served at the party?" Howler asked.
"Let me see," Kittie said, taking a sip of her soda, "Vhy, it's delicious! Whose is it?"
"It's the blood from a deer!" Howler exclaimed, "What do you think?"
"I think I prefer it the old-fashioned vay!" Kittie exclaimed and lunged at Howler.
Kittie's lunge startled Howler, somewhat, and he nearly jumped out of his seat.
Aunt Beth giggled and looked at Big D. Big D didn't seem amused.
"Vlad!" Aunt Beth scolded, "Vhere's your sense of humor?"
"They should show more decorum in a restaurant!" Big D said.
"It's a greasy spoon diner and there's nobody else here!" Aunt Beth said, "Besides, that's exactly how the party vent."
"It is?" Kittie asked.
"Yes," Big D admitted, "They liked it at forst but vhen I told them vhat I had serwed them they got rather upset. I told them of the prophecy, but only the most loyal of my friends ewer beliewed me. Among them vas your old friend, Miranda."
"The maid?" Kittie asked.
"Not after vhat she did for us," Aunt Beth said.
"What did she do?" Kittie asked.
"Vell," Big D said, "Aside from her bringing you to varn us of the danger from your father, she did a lot of vhat you vould call spin control after the ewents that followed. She sawed us a lot of trouble."
"What did you do?" Kittie asked.
"I made her a lady of the court," Big D said.
"You could do that?" Howler asked.
"I could do anything I vanted," Big D said, "I vas the country's ruler. She hasn't had to vork a day since then."
"What do you mean 'since then'?" Kittie asked.
"Your description of the future intrigued her," Big D said, "She asked us to help her see it."
"You didn't!" Kittie exclaimed.
"No," Big D said, "Radu did. He fell in lowe vith her brawery and married her as vell."
"I encouraged someone to become a vampire?" Kittie asked.
"It vas her own choice," Big D said, "Ve varned her how dangerous it vould be to be transformed, but she insisted. Ve used her as an experiment. Vonce she vas transformed, ve newer let her feed on anything but animals. The result vas that she newer became ewil."
"Where is she now?" Kittie asked.
"Somevhere in Romania," Big D said, "She vent into hiding vith my brothers and the parents of the Drak Pack vhen a rewolt threatened us almost 20 years ago."
"She sent a present for you vhen ve left," Aunt Beth asked, reaching into her purse. She pulled out a small box and handed it to Kittie.
Kittie took the box and opened it. "Oh my gosh!" she exclaimed.
Howler looked. "Hey!" he said, "It's the brooch from the front of your ball gown!"
"You would notice!" Kittie said.
"Vhy vould he notice?" Big D asked.
"He kept looking at my cleavage out on the veranda at the ball," Kittie said.
"Oh really?" Big D asked, glaring at Howler.
Howler winced.
"He's growing up, Vlad," Aunt Beth said.
"Much too qvickly!" Big D exclaimed. He turned to Kittie and said, "If he ewer gets out of line, call me!"
"I can take care of myself," Kittie emphasised, glancing at Howler. She looked at the brooch again. "This is incredible! Tell her thank you."
"Vonce ve get in touch vith the families, you can tell her yourself," Big D said.
"That would be neat!" Kittie said.
"Vell, Vlad," Aunt Beth said, "Vhy don't ve go and leawe these two alone?"
"An excellent idea," Big D said, "It's been nice to see you again...Kittie."
"Likewise," Kittie said.
Big D and Aunt Beth got up to go. Big D paused and put his hand on Howler's shoulder. "Behawe yourself!" he said, sternly.
"I will, Big D," Howler said, blushing.
"Kids!" Big D said as he and Aunt Beth made their way to the register to pay for their drinks.