“Romanian is such an interesting sounding langue,” the bimbo next to the count commented.
A few of the people around the count dispersed and wondered off as some more of the other in to meet the exotic foreigner. One of the people a middle aged Hispanic woman went to find Bruce Wayne.
“Mister Wayne, there is a problem,” she blurted as she walked up to Bruce and the bimbo on his arm.
“What seems to be the problem… ah, Miss…” Bruce responded in his fop persona.
“Doctor Mendez,” she extended her hand, “I am here on behalf of the university.”
“Oh I was expecting one of those dusty old deans,” Bruce smiled.
“They are busy dealing with allegations of sexual misconduct on campus right now,” Mendez said, “A few retired early already.”
“Right the Rape Epidemic,” Bruce the Fop smirked, “I read something about that.”
“It was the Vanity Fair article,” Julie Madison interjected, “He was checking out the fashion spread of lady’s swim wear and kept going since the first few pictures were of college lady athletes.”
Both Julie and Doctor Mendez gave Bruce a disapproving look.
“Can we get back to the problem you felt you needed to tell me about?” Bruce asked.
“The Romanian is speaking with an Ottoman inflection,” Mendez said.
“I don’t follow,” Julie said.
“Young Romanians who grew up raised in Ottoman homes had a special inflection in their native Romanian. Now how old does that guy look?” Mendez asked.
“Thirty something,” Julie said.
“Five? No older than thirty eight,” Bruce the Fop said.
“Romania had been free of the Turks for over a hundred years and in order for him to have that accent, he would have to be at least a hundred and fifty years old,” Mendez informed her host.
“If he is a hundred and fifty I want to know his secret,” Bruce said, “Maybe his outfit is a hundred and fifty but I am not one to comment on Eastern European Nobility fashions.”
“Well if he is thirty something,” Mendez leaned in closer, “Then the other explanation is that he is one of the Bloodless Corpses.”
Bruce kept his demeanor in fop mode, but his mind shifted into Batman mode.
“Bloodless Corpses?” Julie asked.
“A criminal group that kidnaps Romanian and Bulgarian kids, takes them back to Turkey and raises them to be smugglers, drug dealers, and assassins. They have been on Interpol’s watch list since World War Two. The story is that the group was founded by Radu cel Frumos after his death to serve the Ottoman Sultans in the region.”
“How can someone form a group after they die?” Julie asked.
“Have you heard of Dracula?” Mendez asked, “Radu was his brother, they were raised by the Ottoman Sultan to keep their father in line. When Vlad Dracul died, Vlad Dracula broke out and went to war with the Turks. Story goes that Radu continued to serve the Sultan, both as a general and as a lover. He even became a Muslim, which meant that when he died he would be cursed to be a Mori or Vampire for betraying his born faith and having been excommunicated by the Orthodox church for his homosexuality and serving the enemies of Jesus.”
“Well a funny accent isn’t enough to toss him out right now,” Bruce said calmly, “But if you are sure of this…”
“I am a Linguistic professor who specializes in Linguistic Anthropology and forensic linguistics,” Doctor Mendez stated, “I have published fifteen books on eastern European underworld dialects.”
“Let’s go talk to Commissioner Gordon,” Bruce gestured for the ladies to go in that direction.
*
“I am king of the world!” the drunk blonde hooker called from the railing overlooking the river.
“Keep it down,” A voice came from the park bench next to her, “I’m trying to sleep.”
Neither would live much longer…