Spring Forward, Fall Back (Alucard x Chubby! Reader)

Chapter 71 - Stating The Facts

Lisa P.O.V.

While we conversed over our meal, I noticed that Allen would look over at Y/N with narrowed eyes. It wasn't done in an evil fashion that I could tell, but he was looking quite a bit at her mouth while she spoke. I knew it wouldn't be too much longer before we'd have to tell him what was going on, no matter how little I looked forward to the conversation. All I could hope is that the persecution of vampires didn't carry over into this century and that Y/N and Adrian would be accepted no matter what.

"So," Allen broke in, "how far along are you, do you think?" I mentally sighed in relief for a moment while waiting for the conversation to turn that way.

"Actually, I don't really know," Sypha admitted. "Trevor and I have been together for over a year now, and while I understand I couldn't possibly be pregnant for that amount of time, I have no idea when I could have conceived. A lot of things happened in a relatively short amount of time so my recollection of events are a little blurry."

"Well," Allen said with a smile, "its great news nonetheless."

"I don't believe I've ever had this before," Vlad said before putting another piece of the grilled pork steak in his mouth. "Not to be rude, but this is quite pleasant and rather tasty. I almost feel bad about not having it before."

"It's one of Y/N's favorites whenever she comes here," Allen said, still smiling. I have to admit that the smile was a bit disconcerting and I was becoming more and more uncomfortable as time passed. It was only a matter of time when this man, this very observant man, would finally say what was on his mind, and I wasn't sure how the conversation would go after he said it.

"Dad?" Y/N asked and received a hum in response, "What's bothering you?"

"Whatever could you mean, dear girl?"

"Dad, you can't play stupid now. You and I both know you aren't, so what is it?" Allen sighed heavily and placed his utensils on his plate. Folding his hands in a tower in front of his face, he looked at her.

"How long until you're fully a vampire?" he asked. No segue, no beating about the bush. Just blurted it out.

"I don't know, Dad. I honestly don't know."

"And you brought me Dracula and hi sbride to meet me?"

"Yes I did, Dad."

"And Adrian is their son?"

"Yes. He is."

"So, Stoker was a dumbass, wasn't he?"

"I told you he was."

"Yes, indeed you did."

"Are you upset?"

"No. I'm not." Allen lowered his finger tower back down to his plate and grabbed his utensils to begin eating again. "I'm actually not really surprised when it comes to you, glow worm. You could befriend anyone and anything when you were given enough room, and you're a beautiful young woman. There's no reason you couldn't attract the son of the greatest vampire in history." Ok, I'll admit that my mouth hung open after that. My eyes wide and my hands slowly lowering to my plate, I was in utter disbelief that the conversation I'd just heard actually happened. Even more amazed that a fight didn't break out.

"Thank you, daddy," Y/N jumped up and hugged the man who then wrapped his arms around her and chuckled happily.

"If I may ask," Vlad began, "what was it that gave you the idea to ask those questions?" Chuckling still, Allen responded.

"Sir, my daughter has been fascinated with you since I can remember. The moment she picked up Bram Stoker's Dracula, she was completely enthralled. I had her watch the first movie that followed the book and she actually cried at the end. She asked me, 'Why is everyone so mean to Mr. Dracula, Daddy? He made a mistake, said he was sorry and tried to go home, but those meanies followed him and killed him. Mr. Dracula didn't do anything after he said sorry, Daddy. He went home!' My compassionate little girl couldn't understand that it was a story, a fabrication of events that someone thought up."

"That so sweet, Y/N," Sypha said while the subject of her sentence sat with her hands in her lap and a giant blush on her face. Allen pat her shoulder and continued.

"As she grew up, she'd read anything and everything about Vlad Dracul Tepes: local histories, dialects, living conditions, wars, et cetera. She got all the facts that she could to prove that Bram Stoker was full of shit and then presented them to me. She had all these papers and maps and things that showed that you did indeed exist and that you were very well respected and even exalted in Wallachia, Transylvania and a few other places inside the Carpathian Mountains."

"She showed that stuff to us, too," Trevor admitted. "She was adamant that he wasn't the person we believed him to be."

"As expected," Allen chuckled. "She always looked for the good in anyone, no matter how small it was. Well, almost anyone. She never looked at a serial killer and said he shouldn't have been put to death because he loved kittens or some shit. She did research and learned as much as she could about someone before she stated her facts."

"An admirable trait to have," Adrian said as he hugged Y/N to his side with one arm before releasing her and smiling.

"That's why when that archaeological trip to Wallachia and Transylvania came up, I told her to pack her bags and go. I knew it was something that would interest her, and it was even more information she would have on Dracula's histories as well. Not often did books come out of Eastern Europe that had much on the life of their vampire lord, so the best place to get that information was to go there and ask around."

"I remember that expedition quite fondly, actually," Y/N said wistfully. "I had already learned three different dialects of Romanian and was asked to be the official translator for the group. And the locals were absolutely charming. I would ask about Vlad Tepes and, while some would shy away from the subject, there were many more who's eyes would light up and lead me to different spots where I could find more information. Libraries of records kept about the daily life, blueprints of the three castles, people who would tell me of how their family had lived during the time of Dracula and how fair a lord, a prince even, that he was and how well he took care of his lands and peoples. It was so fascinating!"

"She took so many pictures of the castles and sent me so many treasures that she'd found. Naturally some of them had to be taken in by the expedition records and such, but so many copies of everything were given to her because she swore that she would get the story straight and tell others. Wallachians everywhere praised her and told her anything she wanted to know." Allen beamed with pride as he recounted everything. Even threatened to get out the books of things that Y/N had sent only to have her tell him no and try to get him to sit back down. We laughed over some of the stories he told about her information gathering and how much had been sent to him.

"I was suddenly just as fascinated as she was! It was amazing how much she could get from others just by asking and smiling. It was because of her efforts that the expedition was allowed to dig out the basement of the main castle in Wallachia."

"So that's how you'd seen the plumbing before!" Sypha blurted. It was then that everyone at the table froze while Allen's eyes bulged out of their sockets. Uh oh.