Trojan Horse and the Visit of a very old Friend. Someone needs a Plan B

As soon as Dracula had given his orders, Talia was on her way and left the castle to search for Cat-Woman. Vicky was also on her way to fulfill the orders of Dracula. Only Dracula and Zatanna remained in the castle. Zatanna had plenty to do with coordinating her spirits and keeping the Joker in check. Strangely enough, the infamous clown had been surprisingly docile since Dracula's demonstration of power. Whatever he had done to him had been effective. If she didn't know better, she would have said the Joker was afraid. However, she could hardly imagine what could scare this madman.

Dracula had left the room after the meeting and after he had nourished himself he was on his way to the room of his former beloved. Never before had his wife or an incarnation of her ever entered this room. Mina Harker almost saw it, but she had never arrived at his castle. All the memories he could collect over the millennia were stored in this room. Every single piece had a special place in this room and he hoped that all these artifacts might remind his wife of who she had been. With Nina Harker he had noticed the flashing of his former wife and he had got new hope. He had lost her so many times that he had almost lost his mind. When he thought of how many times he might have missed her and how she had lived a happy life without him it got even worse. Lost in thought he walked through the corridors of the castle and opened the door right in front of him. Without looking around he went in and was surprised by the crackling fire that he could hear. Confused he looked up and saw an imposing fire burning in the fireplace.

"Where the hell am I?" he asked confusedly and looked around. He was not in his wife's room, but in one of the many reading rooms of the castle. Everywhere stood book shelves and 2 comfortable armchairs before the fire.

"Tztztz. Thou shalt not swear" he heard someone say who was sitting in one of the armchairs. It was a voice he couldn't possibly forget.

"YOU" he growled while his eyes glowed red. His hands clenched to fists and his whole appearance seemed ready for battle. In front of him he could see a man standing up looking amusedly at him. He wore a tailor-made suit of the best quality. The black hair fell far over his shoulders and framed a face that was beautiful in an unusual way. It was downright flawless and perfect and yet it was terribly repulsive on the other side. Each part of his face was absolutely perfect on its own but in its entirety it was just ugly. It was as if an artist had put different people together into one figure to create the perfect work of art, merging these faces into a new face.

In the right hand, which was stuck in a black velvet glove, held a fine walking stick with a silver skull at the top. Elegantly he swung it around and then leaned on it. The smile he revealed towards Dracula was as wrong as it could have been.

"Is that how you greet an old friend?" the man laughed before Dracula jumped and grabbed him by the throat. But no matter how hard Dracula tried, he couldn't move his counterpart one inch. The veins on his neck almost burst with effort as he tried to lift the intruder or even move him away. The amused grin from his enemy only made Dracula angrier. But at some point his opponent didn't seem to like the game any longer and he slapped Dracula slightly. Even though the movement seemed light and harmless, the effect was monstrous. The echo of the blow was heard all over the castle as Dracula went down. Even the immortal being shook his head dazed as he tried to get off the ground. Dracula flashed flashes of light in front of his eyes as he tried to lift himself up. However, the slap in the face had clearly had an effect.

The stranger reached into his neck and lifted him back to his feet without any problems and straightened his suit in a good mood. Still staggering, Dracula had trouble keeping himself on his feet.

"My dear, good Cain... What have you done? You look a little wobbly on your legs" the stranger laughed and gave him a push that he landed on one of the armchairs. Thereupon he took a seat himself and smiled in a good mood. "Did we clarify the positions now? I thought we'd been through this before, didn't I?

simultaneously in Zatanna´s Study Room.

Zatanna was trying to increase her power over the spirits a little bit. If she would find Selina first then there would surely be some kind of reward in it. Perhaps a new insight into the power over death. She had seen how easy it was for him to intimidate the Joker. Something that she hadn't even managed to do in the first place. There had to be another secret. On top of that she was convinced that it had been Dracula who brought his wife's soul back into the world again and again. And if she also mastered this spell, she would apply it to herself. She would live forever like his wife and would be reborn again and again.

But so far she had no clue how to start or how to do it. She had managed to call thousands of souls to this city thanks to the writings of Dracula, but there was still some kind of veil she could not penetrate. All her spells failed to work at this barrier. But her master must have managed to overcome this barrier.

Deep in her studies she didn't even know that someone was approaching her from behind. Only at the last moment did she feel a great power approaching her. But it was different from that of her beloved master. With an elegant twist, she pulled her arm up and cast a simple, short battle spell. A single word full of power slipped from her lips. Even if it was one of the lackeys of Dracula, she would not tolerate it to be sneaked up on her like that. She was one of Dracula's brides and that made her one of the highest ranked people in the castle.

Her witch fire hit the man in the chest and completely wrapped his body for a moment. However, as the flames dissipated, no effect could be observed. On the contrary. The man just smiled and patted his shoulder off.

"Quite a hot reception" he grinned broadly and Zatanna stared at the man in disbelief. It wasn't the fact that her combat spell had so little effect that made her stare so fascinated. It was the appearance of the man in front of her. He was even more beautiful than Dracula in a certain way. But something about this man also repelled her. It was a kind of disgust that grew the longer she stared at him and yet it was impossible for her to look away.

It took a while until she caught herself again and cleared her throat. "Who are you and what do you want from me?

"I wanted to have a look at the mighty bride of Dracula. I already heard that you would be extraordinarily impressive but I had no idea what a wonderful pearl Dracula got this time from a sea full of rubbish." The Stranger Man said to her and his voice was almost more impressive than his appearance. She hung spellbound on every word that flowed out of his mouth like the sweetest honey flowed. These words enmeshed her pride and vanity and accordingly her mood improved. She crossed her arms in front of her chest and smiled proudly at him.

"And? satisfied with what you see?"

"Extremely satisfied! I've already visited the other two brides as well but I've kept you until the end. And I was not disappointed. You are truly the most powerful of the three brides." Lucifer smiled at the naive sorceress. She was completely flooded with Dracula's power and corrupted to the core by that power.

Zatanna´s Breast swelled with pride with these words and she nodded contentedly. "I see you have a good eye. Yet I still don't know who you are!"

"They call me Lucifer Morningstar." Smiled Lucifer and smiled broadly.

"Lucifer? Honestly? Were your parents Satanists? laughed Zatanna and Lucifer shrugged their shoulders casually. Zatanna was perhaps a powerful magician but she was still very young and above all she was no Constantine. Lucifer was sure that her knowledge of hell was rudimentary at best. It was rather unlikely that she would realize who he really was.

"So Mr. Morningstar. I'm assuming you're a friend of my husband's?" Asked Zatanna and began to eye this man. There was something incredibly animal about him.

"You could call it that, yes. We did some important business together once. You know... Knowledge. Power. He learned a lot from me."

Zatanna laughs amused when she heard that and wrinkled her nose. "Does that mean that you taught my beloved something? That you are more powerful than him?

Famous for his silver tongue, Lucifer only smiled and replied calmly and credibly. "That is a matter of opinion. I think it would be more correct to say that I have more knowledge in some things than he does. And he offered me some very interesting things for this knowledge. So there was a trade between us."

"Knowledge? What kind" Zatanna asked skeptically, but also curiously.

"Mostly magical knowledge. Where do you think he got the knowledge about the seventh seal from, mh?" Lucifer said as he walked past her and looked at the books she had read. "Oh. Heavy stuff. Kustumian's Lessons on Meta-Magic Dimensions. So you're studying necromancy? Let me guess."

Lucifer turned around and leaned against the pedestal on which the book was lying, scrutinizing it more than forcefully from top to bottom. His looks literally tore her clothes off and Zatanna felt the heat of his eyes deep in her soul.

"You don't want to be healed. For you enjoy the power that flows through your veins much too much. And the Army of Spirits shows me that you have already understood the basics of necromancy." With these words Zatanna raised her eyebrows but said nothing. "I guess you want to extend your life beyond death. Just as his wife returns again and again to the cycle of life. Am I right?"

"And if that were so," Zatanna asked, amazed as well as fascinated.

"Then I could help you. He said and approached her. Despite all her power and knowledge, Zatanna began to retreat. It wasn't directly fear she felt, but something else she couldn't really explain. But when she felt the wall behind her she moaned almost startled but Lucifer came closer and closer. Finally he stood just a finger's width in front of her and smiled. His eyes were all that Zatanna could concentrate on.

Without another word being necessary she fell to her knees in front of him. A passion of hitherto unknown power had taken possession of her and the feeling of temptation was simply irresistible. The thought of sex crossed all boundaries and she pulled lecherously at his pants.

"What the hell are you?" she moaned as she finally put on his pants and stared at his cock. But instead of answering her he grabbed her and pulled her onto his cock.

"A snake" Lucifer laughed diabolically. From now on Zatanna would be his Trojan horse and make sure that Dracula would never free himself from his pact.