Zatanna gets a call.

The cab ride back to her home wasn’t a long run for Zatanna. She kept a suite back in Vegas when she would occasionally do shows there when not in Gotham or Metropolis. Paying the cab driver, Zatanna walked up the steps of the hotel and through the lobby. Her appearance garnered quite a bit of attention, several people turned their heads to stare at her attire, or her chalk pale complexion. Thankfully they only knew her as Zatanna the magician and member of the Justice League. Her activities in Gotham were kept secret from the public. If they REALLY knew the truth about her, the entire hotel would have been screaming to get to the doors away from her as fast as possible. She didn’t just become a vampire five years ago; she became one of the worst! So many hundreds were dead because of her…

Instead she merely smiled at the bellhop who offered to hold her staff and suitcase, noticing the young man’s enthusiasm reacting to her beauty. Smiling warmly and shaking her head, she continued her way over to the elevators and made her way inside. Keeping to herself in the elevator until it reached the top floor, it stopped occasionally for others to enter the enclosed space, pressing herself against the wall to give them all space as they waited for their respective floors. A little girl looked up at her, tugging at her mother’s sleeve while doing so while Zatanna gripped her staff tightly. “Mommy, why does that lady not have a reflection?”

Looking up to the woman and back to her daughter, Zatanna looked behind her and realised what the girl was talking about. She forgot that the walls of the elevator were polished to a mirror finish, reflecting everyone inside… Except her. Looking into their confused eyes, the rest of the patrons in the elevator saw the same thing and didn’t know what to say.

“Uhm… I’m a magician sweetheart, see?” Bringing a gloved hand to her black lips, Zatanna blew on her fingers to gain everyone’s attention before she snapped her fingers and a spark of indigo flame plumed between her fingers and produced an indigo coloured rose, seeing the little girl’s eyes light up as she handed the flower to the child and decided to step out of the elevator. Giving the group on the elevator a low bow for her performance, she heard them applaud just when the doors closed.

She decided on the stairs after that.

Making her way back to her personal suite, Zatanna set her suitcase at the door and flung her staff out into the open living room where it stopped in mid air and hovered at the center of the suite. Taking her top hat off and letting it hang at a coat hanger along with the jacket she slipped off, Zatanna shook her long black hair loose and sighed. Making her way to the refrigerator in the kitchen stall she pulled out a container of fresh blood and poured herself a drink. She paid a local butcher for cow and pigs’ blood occasionally to restock her supplies, no questions asked. She was grateful for that. When she was done her ‘meal’ she turned her attention to her staff hovering in the middle of her living room and rub at the ring on her finger.

Stepping away from the kitchen, Zatanna aimed the ring at the staff’s pommel and closed her eyes, reciting the lantern’s oath. "Tor lorek san, bor nakka mur, Natromo faan tornek wot ur. Ter Lantern ker lo Abin Sur, Taan lek lek nok--Formorrow Sur!”

A soft glow of indigo light filled the living room before quickly going out, her ring ‘s glow intensifying before it too stopped, showing it was fully charged. Hal Jordan and John Stewart told her she only needed to recharge her ring every 24 hours, she did it every twelve. The idea she would miss a recharge and return to the soulless monster she was before she was stopped was fear enough for her to do so.

Distracted by her thoughts by a knock at the door, Zatanna turned and moved to see who it was, peaking through the eye hole to find a young housekeeper waiting with a tray and a cloth around his arm. “Housekeeping, I’m here for cleaning?”

Opening the door, Zatanna let the young man in. “Yeah… Forgot what time it was, just stay out of the fridge okay?”

Nodding back at the pale beautiful woman, the man made his rounds cleaning up the suite and refolding laundry to be replaced. Watching the man work, she felt the ring in her hand compel her, feeling the man’s emotions while he folded the bed’s blankets to be replaced with a fresh set. Wide eyed with surprise and stone stiff, the man didn’t know how to react when he felt Zatanna come up from behind and wrap her arms around his waist.

“She left you last night, didn’t she?” He didn’t know to react to that, how could she know? “I…”

“Shhhh…. It’s okay, its HER loss not yours.” She could already feel his breathing change as he dropped the mask and slowly accepted the hug, making Zatanna smile as she felt his pain ebb away. She hated being a vampire, hated her past actions, but this? This made up for it bit by bit. Hearing her cellphone go off in her side pocket, she let go of the hug to answer it, her warm smile fading when she heard the familiar voice of Cat Woman on the other end.

“Hmm? Yes… What?! How did he?... Yes, I understand, I’ll return.” Turning off the phone, she turned her attention to the man still standing by the bed, now feeling awkward in the moment. Smiling back at the man, Zatanna raised her arm and her lantern staff returned to her grasp. “Hang in there…”

With a mixture of words and waving her hand in front of her, Zatanna conjured a portal to Dracula’s castle and stepped through, quickly closing the aperture behind her.