Carmilla de Styria's Arc

Chapter 1 of 6

Carmilla de Styria came to Dracula's court with nothing. She wanted a clan of her own in Styria, one to eclipse every rival house. But a clan needs blood, gold, and loyal nobles. She had none of these here. She was a beautiful stranger among strangers, and Dracula did not yet know her name. So she went where the court kept its secrets. The great library rose against the night, a black stronghold of domes and spires, its windows glowing amber. Bat-winged gargoyles watched her climb the steps. Inside, the shelves stretched higher than a cathedral. She did not want a book. She wanted the man who kept them. She found him bent over a table of glass and copper. Ali Gamal, Dracula's inventor and historian. He had built every weapon and machine the court relied on. Dracula had turned him for his mind, not his blood. Now he worked alone, chasing a cure for sunlight, ignored by the nobles who used his tools. His almond-brown hands moved fast over a broken device. He did not look up. "You've soldered that joint three times," Carmilla said. "It keeps failing because the coil runs too hot." Ali's red eyes rose. He studied her the way he studied his machines. "You read Byzantine schematics?" "I read the man who drew them." She circled the table and let her fingers trail the cold copper. "They waste you here. You make miracles, and they treat you like a servant. I know how that feels." He set down his tool. For a long moment he said nothing. Then, quietly, "What do you want, Countess?" So he knew her name after all. Good. "I want what you want. To matter. Dracula listens to no one, but he cannot ignore the vampire who ends his fear of the sun." She leaned close. "You have the mind. You lack the ear of the court. I can win you that ear. Nobles, funding, an audience with Dracula himself. In exchange, you speak my name to him first." Ali laughed once, dry. "Everyone here trades. Few keep their word." "Then test me." She held his gaze. "Give me your failing prototype. I'll bring you a patron by the next moon." He hesitated. She saw the loneliness in him, the years of being overlooked. She had spent her whole long life reading that hunger in others. She waited, and she let him decide. Ali lifted the device and placed it in her hands. "One patron. Prove it." Carmilla smiled. The metal was cold and heavy, and it was hers now. She had her first ally in Dracula's court, and through him a door to its nobles and its gold. The foothold she needed had opened. But Ali's eyes lingered on her as she turned to go, softer than a partner's should. She had meant to use him. She had not meant for him to look at her like that.