As Vlad lay, bat-tered and bruised, his mind seemed to rise out of his body, and perch up in the tree. He could hear a dream-like voice intoning..

"I am Count Vladimir the Inhaler, also known as Mudvig of Catnipia, the Third. I was born in a castle in Lower Catnipia, Transylvania, on Friday the 13th of December, 1763. My mother, Draconia the Seventh, is a wild and powerful woman, as famous in Catnipia for her dragon riding as for her collection of pet bats...

And through the window, a million tiny voices screamed into the night:

You Gothic scream queen Vladimir
You undead Transylvanian scumbag,
Die, damn you, die a thousand dingo deaths and dribble into the toxic sewer of your own venal gizzards..

Magenta watched the claggy rubber corpse is it twitched, and a part of her shicvered, as she remebered that night with the rubber codpiece, fluffy lavender bedsocks, and the massive, curved, Japanese samurai sword..

and from the bottom of the gum tree, a deep and wild voice sang into the night..