She ran for her life through the thick and over grown weeds and bushes of the Romanian forest. They found her again! They somehow always found her! The sound of whistling had her already wide eyes, widening further.

She jumped to the side quickly, her momentum making her stumble, as an arrow whizzed past her ear and found its mark in the tree truck to her right. She gave it only a passing glance as she righted herself, running again as if the devil was on her heels, her heart beat erratic, her breathing labored.

How long had she been running?

How far had she gone?

How close behind her were they?

They always found her, no matter how far she ran, how long, or what disguise she wore they always found her again. The minute she finally thought she was safe and she could stop running, she was met with a dagger or arrow almost finding its mark in her back. She was a fool to think that this time would be any different. Just as foolish as she had been the other hundreds of times.

"Get back here demon!" she heard one of the men shout from somewhere behind her.

She knew it may be a foolish move, but she chanced a look behind her, her instinctual drive needing to know how much space was between her and the hunters. They weren't far behind she noted, maybe thirty or so paces behind. She noticed there were more of them now than there used to be and dogs, vicious looking mongrels that made her eyes widen to their fullest before she felt a limb scrape against her arm, making her hiss at the momentary sting it caused when it bit into her flesh and embedded itself into the newly made wound as it broke off into her arm, unable to hold on to its branch with her momentum.

She quickly turned her head back to her front, gasping when she nearly collided with another tree. She acted fast and hopped to the side, back flipping over a low branch that would have knocked her out other wise, spinning in mid air and landing, not giving her feet enough time to obsorb the impact before he was off in a mad dash once again, her legs and lungs burning in protest which told her that she'd run farther and faster than any of the other times before. Her body would give up on her soon with how it was feeling now if she didn't do something to shake her persuers.

That thought in mind, she quickly changed direction, running into the thicker part of the forest, weaving her way as fast, but as carefully as she could through the forest, her feet now meeting rock as well as earth, wood, and vegetation, the run harder, steeper. She knew from those facts alone she was running up one of the many mountains of the region before her eyes even looked up, but a quick look behind her told her it was working. Her persuers were much further behind her now, but she couldn't stay along the same path and hope her luck stayed the same.

She quickly jumped from the ledge she was on, landing and jumping again, landing in a mad dash, this time having to roll to keep her aching ankles from shattering from the force, she had no time she could waste on nursing a broken limb until it could heal. She ran faster than ever, looking behind her every so often until she grinned, it looked as if she'd lost them, but she wasn't foolish enough to slow now, she had to be certain that they stayed lost behind her.

The change in light, had her looking around wildly, worried that perhaps she hadn't seen a trap before around that game hunters tended to leave out, she couldn't afford to be caught by one of them right now and try to get herself free, she'd lose precious time, time she didn't have right now. A scan of the area complete and showing no traps had her confused until she looked past the thicket of trees to the sunlight filtering through the foliage. The sun was lower now, sinking below the line of mountains around, night was falling.

The thought would have had her grinning another time, night would be excellent cover for her, but it would also hinder her sight, it would be much harder to manuever through the trees and over growth with no light.

It seemed however fortune smiled down upon her, for she could hear and see a body of water straight ahead. A river perhaps. She grinned, pushing her legs faster, panting harshly, her legs burning, wanting to give out, but she forced them on. The river would slow her persuers, and throw off her scent from their dogs. It of course, would slow her as well, but she was a fast swimmer and the water would also work to cool her over heated body and slightly wash away the blood from her arm.

Each running step and leap had her closer and closer to the river until she made a final leap, putting her arms together into a downward point and dove beneath the surface of the river, her goal the bank on the the other side, where she could climb a tree for a lookout to see how far off the hunters were.

She had to come up for air several times, breaking the surface and letting out her breath and gulping in another before going back down. The water itself wasn't the purest and so hindered her sight as she used her eyes to navigate her way through the murky waters, but the mud would further assist to hide her scent so she couldn't complain all that much.

It wasn't long before she had to come up before another breath, but this time just as she was going to swim up, something wrapped around her leg, making it impossible to break the surface. Startled, her sapphire blue eyes widened once again, her mouth opening in a cry that became gurlgled as she swallowed murky water.

Panicked, she looked below her, seeing seaweed and moss wrapped around her boot clad ankle and reached for it as quickly as she could, her lungs beginning to become strained for the lack of oxygen. She tried to pull it away and succeeded, only to have her other ankle get caught, her lungs now burning from lack of air as she hastily pulled out the stick still embedded in her arm, the small thing thankfully strong enough the break the wet plant life away before it too broke. She struggled to the surface, her body not wanting to move and starting to feel lethargic, her lungs about to give out as she pushed herself to go faster until at last she broke the surface and gulped in several panting breaths, coughing just as many times, her lungs starved for oxygen.

With her newest near death experience in mind, she looked behind her again, not seeing anyone yet, but her ears picked up the sound of barking dogs coming closer. She gasped, but stayed surfaced this time as she swam to the embankment and hastily got out, running into a thicket of trees where she stopped, panting and waited to hear what the hunters were doing, she didn't have to wait long before she finally heard them speak.

"No you fool, don't go after her, do you even realize what that is?!" One of them shouted at the another.

"Do you think she really went up there?!" Another said aghast.

"I for one am not willing to find out," a third replied. "We can continue the hunt tomorrow, its almost night fall.

What are they talking about?

Wait, she'd just run through forest, climbed a mountain, swam through a river, and entered another forested area in Romania, the hunters that chased her everywhere she went weren't willing to follow her this time...that could only mean one thing..With her heart racing more than ever, her eyes wide, she slowly turned, just in time to see the last of sun's light slither like snakes from the walls of a great black castle.

Now you've done it, Seras!

She yelled at herself mentally, frozen in fear. The castle of count Dracula, though these days she heard from the small Romanian village that he called himself Alucard now as a means of hiding who he really was from the world. A lot of good it did him.

So afraid was she, she barely heard the men agree to let one of the dogs go after her, or hear the mutt swim across the river to do just that as she stood staring in unbridled fear at the black castle that now blended completely with the night. She had to get out of there, now! Before the count woke up and sensed her, smelled her, or heard her pounding heart, if he hadn't already.

The sound of growling off to her side had her spinning around to face the dog that had come after her, the moon gleaming off its sharp eyes and its eyes, she was about to get into a fighting stance to defend herself against the animal, but then a shadow, darker than the rest of the night passed overhead just before the animal cried out in fear, a sound that was off by a gurgling sound and red, glowing eyes looked right at her.

You fool, RUN!

The thought had barely gone through her head before she was doing just as it had told her, running faster than she ever had before, her instinct having kicked into high gear, fear driving her on. The hunters before had nothing on the thing she just saw, the creature, the devil, the vampire. She'd be lucky to even shake him momentarily, much less outrun him, but she had to try.

"You know its hopeless, but yet you defy even common sense," a mocking voice said in her ear before she was abruptly stopped, a strong, vice like arm around her waist.

Was this it?

Would she die here, now, after all this time?

No!

She wouldn't let it end this way!

With a quick flick of her wrist, she had loosed a small silver dagger from her sleeve and pushed it with all her might, turning as well as she could simultaneously and pushed it into the stomach of the count. The vampire seemed to be taken by surprise as he grunted and his grip on her loosened, giving her leverage to get free. She knew she wouldn't make it running this time, so she pulled her blade from his stomach and went in for another attack, the vampire seeming to have a weakness she noted to silver. Her blade was stopped from finding its mark in his heart however when her wrist was grabbed and taken in a grip as hard as adament, the small dagger falling from her grasp when he squeezed, breaking several bones and making her hiss in pain, biting her lip to keep from doing anything other than that. She'd learned early on that one thing tormentors loved was getting sounds of pain out of their victims and she refused to give this creature the pleasure of knowing how much pain she was in, of hearing her cries.

The vampire arched one dark brow at her, the moonlight revealing his face and she knew he had probably heard her thoughts, a fact that made her glare icily at him. The creature, grinned at that, making her glare intensify which in turn made him laugh, making Seras want nothing more than to punch that stupid smile off his face.

"You're fun, I like you."

Charmed.

The thought was sarcastic, but only served to make him laugh again. The sound un-nerved her, making her remember those after her. Even if by some miracle the vampire decided to let her go free, there was still those men, and count or no count, they would be after her again if she lived. She didn't even notice that the vampire had stopped its guffawing until she turned her eyes back to him and seen him staring at her intensely, annoying and simultaneously flustering her. Hey, vamp or not, he's still a man.

"What?!" she demanded, irritated by his continuous staring.

"Will you come with me to the castle?" he asked unexpectedly.

"Are you daft?!" she shot back.

He blinked before grinning at her, showing off his long fangs which made her eyes widen and made her remember in just what position she was in. This ceature could snap her like a twig if he chose to and here she was insulting him.

Just another thing to add to my list of stupidity for the day.

"Do I have a choice?" she sighed.

The vampire cocked his head, appearing sadistic where it would make anyone else look innocent or cute.

"Of course my dear, but know this. You can come peacefully with me where you have a chance, or you can keep running and hope you don't fall to the hands of those who hunt you, if I don't decide to sink my fangs into your suculent neck first that is."

"I have a hard time believing you'll keep your fangs to yourself should I accept your offer," she replied. Her eyes then caught light through the trees, torch light by the looks of things, and voices, several she recognized as her hunters before she fearfully turned her eyes back to the now grinning vampire. "But I think I'll take my chances, I accept your offer."

As soon as the words left her mouth, she found herself suddenly standing inside the foyer of what had to be the creature's castle, and heard the sound of suckling from behind her. She turned quickly, her stomach turning when seeing the creature sucking from a bag filled with thick red liquid. She was about to avert her eyes in disgust before he pulled another bag from the long red coat she hadn't noticed before and held it out to her which nearly made her call him several different kinds of insane until he said something strange.

"End simulation."

TBC..

ED: -Grins.- New story, new surprises waiting in each chapter. Get ready.

Seras: Wait, this is something you've written before.

Alucard: Now that mention it Seras, I believe we have had to play a part in this before.

ED: -Winks.- That's right, but I never uploaded it and this version is edited and more detailed.

Seras: If I remember right the next thing that happens is..mmf.

ED: -Covers her mouth.-

Alucard: -Grins.- Yes, I believe that you..mmf!

ED: -Covers his mouth.- Hush you two!

Alucard: -Push ED off them.- ED doesn't own us, the only thing she owns is the plot and she makes no money from this fanfiction.

Seras: -Smiles sweetly.- She also doesn't own Dracula, he is the character created by Mr. Bram Stoker. Please review!

ED: -On the floor, looks at readers.- What they said.