Chapter Text
"What do you want from us, Batman?” a woman asked coldly, her eyes still.
Batman stared at her.
Janet Drake had always been a beautiful woman, cold in her ways and with more ice than blood in her veins.
The transformation hadn't changed her much, but it had taken away the little color she had.
I'm sorry, Tim. I failed.
Tim Drake had knocked on Bruce's door a week ago for help.
He knew that Bruce was Batman. He had known this for years and had kept it a secret.
Bruce was the only one he could ask for help when his parents had not returned from their archaeological expedition to Romania in due time. The kid had said it wasn't the first time this had happened, but at least they usually left him enough money to buy food and get by until they got back.
(When he learned it wasn't the first time, Bruce promised to have a chat with the Drakes after the rescue.)
Bruce immediately set to work, but would not have imagined that his search for the Drakes would end in a warehouse in Gotham Harbor, where the two were hiding.
“ Tim asked me for help. He was worried about you.”
He saw her pursing her lips. She said, "Timothy is a smart boy, but foolish."
"He worried about nothing," Jack added impassively.
"He didn't know. He thought something had happened to you. "
“As you can see, we are fine."
He felt a pang of nausea at hearing those words. He hated them.
Tim asked to help his parents, but they were no longer there, replaced by something else. Something dangerous and wicked.
Vampires.
It would be more merciful to kill them, but even undead parents are better than nothing. Batman was the first to know.
Janet said coldly, “Everything is under control. We're sorry he bothered you. "
"Are you sorry? Your son was starving and you ... "
Batman waved his hand to silence Jason. The teen grudgingly obeyed, but the creeping anger was still there, waiting to explode. It was becoming more difficult to manage Robin's outbursts of anger, and Bruce felt on the edge of a cliff, one step away from catastrophe.
It was like a repeating script. It had happened before with Dick, and now with Jason.
He didn't want it to be like Dick, he didn't want another son to escape.
He was trying, but it was never enough.
“Tim can handle such trivial things on his own, ” Janet replied, showing not the slightest sign of concern for her kid.
Bruce wanted to believe it was the bite that made her this way. He wanted to believe that as a human, Janet had cared for Tim, as any parent would.
But he had known her before, and it was not the fault of the bite.
Janet had always been like that.
"He is ten years old!" Robin blurted out as if those two had forgotten it. Jack rolled his eyes, “He's a Drake. He has our money. He can dispose of it as he likes, as long as people believe we are on our way. He's smart enough to know how. "
Batman didn't doubt it. Tim had been able to follow Batman and Robin for years without him realizing it, discovering his identity when not even Lex Luthor could.
However, Tim was still a child. He needed his parents (like Bruce, like Dick, like Jason…).
Batman wondered: what advantage was there in becoming immortal if they could not then see the sunlight? What advantage when they couldn't go home or be seen in public without alerting the vampire hunters?
Janet had said that the warehouse was temporary and that they would soon be moving with their money to a safe place. Without Tim. He had never been in their plans.
“You can't believe it will work. - he said harshly, trying to show them the reason as far as possible. - People will start asking questions. Someone could call social services. "
"In that case, we'll make some short public appearances to let people know we're fine and alive, " Janet replied naturally, a twinkle in her eyes when she said alive.
"Gotham has other problems of eccentric billionaires, don't you think?"
Jack added, "No cameras or footage. Just quick interviews. You know, for vampire hunters. It should work."
"Mm," was all he said.
Janet made a vague gesture towards the door, “Now if you don't mind, leave. The sun is about to rise. "
"No chance to change your mind?" Batman asked, offering one last chance. It was far more mercy than those two deserved.
They both looked at him as if he was the madman, not them who had gone all the way to Romania to become immortal at the cost of their humanity.
"No, there isn't," Janet replied, squinting.
“We can no longer mix with mere mortals.”
" What should I tell your son?"
Jack replied, “Tell him the truth. And when he is ready, he will know where to find us. "
Ready to become like them. Ready for immortality, to become a creature of darkness. They took it for granted, believing that anyone would make the same choice as them. Either they were blind or too self-absorbed to understand.
Batman turned his back to them, and said, "Robin, let's go."
"But…"
"Now."
Robin didn't argue any further and followed him.
When they were outside, however, Robin blurted out, “I can't believe it! You just left them! "
"I can't make them come home," he said, heading for the car.
Robin stepped in front of him, “Then let's kill them! They're fucking vampires! They are monsters! "
"No."
"Damn you and your stupid no-killing rule …”
“No, because I know there are things worse than death for creatures like them," he said, passing and making his way to the Batmobile's door.
He entered, closely followed by the teenager.
The realization cross Robin's face, "You filled the place with holy water, didn't you?"
"Silver dust," Batman corrected him. When he tracked down the Drakes he didn't know who or what he was going to face.
The anti-vampire weapons had been a necessary precaution, especially after discovering who they had come into contact with in Romania.
“How?”
"I dispersed it the moment we entered. The place is full of silver dust now.”
He had hoped for a different ending, and now he will have to explain to the child at the manor that his parents had preferred immortality to him.
At least, Jack and Janet Drake won't even be able to leave their coffins without feeling pain. Maybe a hundred years or so will get them back to their priorities.
He doubted it.
An eternity of pain seemed appropriate. Death would have been too kind for them. And Jason seemed to understand that too.
The boy snorted, "I didn't know you had it in you, old man."
"Mhm."
"They deserve it," Jason said, his voice full of ferocity.
“They are bastards. Tim deserves better. "
"He does, " Batman agreed.
"Will you keep him?"
"He isn't an animal."
Robin grimaced, “This is not an answer. Will you kidnap him too? You won't let him go back to that empty house, right? "
No, he could never do that. Tim was alone. A living tragedy, one that hit too close to home.
"No," he said, starting the car.
"He won't be alone anymore."