Evil nightmare

By Tima, Yami's wife

I don't own YuGiOh. Any new characters belong to my friends.

Chapter 1: Dracula's son

An hour after Ryou and Dartz recovered, Dartz was going through his office, trying to find something among all the papers. A disgruntled Ryou was holding the baby girl, who was innocently staring at him. The albino hybrid glared at the baby. "Stop staring at me."

Without looking up from the pile of papers, Dartz said, "Stop arguing with Janika."

Ryou raised his eyebrow. "Janika? What kind of name is that?"

His master looked up. "Who are you to complain…Ryou?"

The albino just scowled. "How long should it take to find one piece of paper? And how much longer do I have to carry this brat?"

Dartz ignored his pet/servant and continued to look around. Ryou kept glaring at Janika, who was starting to fall asleep. After a few more minutes, Dartz finally found what he was looking for. It was a rolled up piece of old parchment. Clearing his desk, he unrolled the parchment to reveal a map. In the center was a picture of a castle that looked like it belonged in a horror movie. Surrounding the castle and taking up the rest of the parchment was a picture of a forest of thorns and gray shapes that seemed to represent clouds. Ryou went to the desk and looked. "What is this?"

Dartz smirked. "This is a map of the greatest vampire of all."

Ryou scoffed. "That's impossible. Dracula was destroyed generations ago. Even if he was still around, finding his castle is an unattainable accomplish."

Dartz gently took Janika. "Impossible for a mortal. As for the two of us…and Janika…we can easily find it."

"How? I've heard that the castle is invisible."

Dartz chuckled. "That's just a rumor that the villagers spread because of the fog surrounding the castle. Only certain people can enter the castle."

"Who are these certain people?"

"Those who have ties to his father, Dracula."

"And is it safe to assume that you had ties with that creature?"

Dartz merely walked out with the map and Janika. He didn't want to be reminded of the first time he met Dracula, for it was also the day he killed his wife to prove his loyalty to Dracula. Ryou followed behind his master with a grouchy look on his face. "Does the brat have to come?"

Dartz's scarred wings came from his back as he glared at his pet. "Her name is Janika…and we can't leave a baby unattended for a long period of time."

Ryou's wings appeared as he scowled. His right wing was a normal vampire wing. His left wing, however, was the shape of a vampire wing but was hairy because of his werewolf side. "Fine…just lead the way."

Dartz nodded once and took off into the sky. Ryou followed his master, still glaring at the baby. Janika didn't seem that frightened by being in the air. She just nuzzled closer to Dartz and fell asleep. Ryou growled in disgust as Dartz opened the map with his free hand. "It will take a while to get to his castle."

Ryou shrugged and flipped over on his back. "I can fly for that long."

---

Hours later, Ryou and Dartz saw thorns and fog that was extremely thick. Dartz landed right outside the thorns and his wings went back into his back. Ryou landed next to him and crossed his arms as his wings went into his back. "Couldn't we just fly over the thorns and get to the castle the easy way?"

Dartz shook his head. "The thorns protect the castle."

Not listening, Ryou just flew off to get over the thorns. Dartz and Janika, who woke up, watched him. Ryou was able to fly over a few vines and thought he had proven his master wrong. However, he was wrong. Vines of thorns reached up and grabbed him. He tried to get free by clawing and ripping but it didn't help at all. They pulled him down into the patch.

Shaking his head in disgust, Dartz cut his hand on the closest torn, letting the blood absorb into the thorn. The vine quivered a little and slowly started to clear a path for him to walk. Putting the map away, he made his way down the path as the thorny vines closed behind him. Halfway through, he came across Ryou, still struggling. Dartz looked at his disobedient servant. "Having fun?"

Ryou growled. "Will you get me out of here?"

Dartz thought for a second. "Will you listen to me now?"

Ryou nodded. "Yes! Just get me out of here!"

Dartz touched the thorns and they tossed Ryou onto the free ground. He was covered with cuts and thorns and was grumbling. Dartz just stepped over him and kept walking. Ryou stood up and followed, picking the thorns off him as his cuts healed. "Why did those thorns attack me?"

"Anyone who doesn't give them the blood of someone they know, they attack and kill them."

"You know this how?"

"I've seen it happen."

Just then, they reached the end of the patch and the castle was in front of them. Ryou slightly shuddered. "Creepy looking place."

Dartz looked at his comrade. "What did you expect?"

With that, the two entered with Janika cooing along the way.

---

When the door opened, there was the sound of wild animal calls all around. Ryou looked around and wondered, "What are these noises?"

Dartz simply answered, "You will see," and started to walk down the corridor. Ryou followed, looking around the corridor. The corridor was extremely dark but there were places on the walls that seemed darker than the other areas. However, the smell indicated that those spots were blood. Bones were all over. Dartz finally stopped at a door. Giving Janika to Ryou, who didn't want to hold her but kept quiet, Dartz opened the door and lead the albino in.

The room they entered was rather wide and tall for a room. Tall columns supported the ceiling. There was a fireplace at the opposite end of the door and it was lit. Above it was a painting of Dracula. But there was something different about this painting. Standing next to the vampire was a young boy. He looked about ten years old with green hair and deep blue eyes and was dressed in a similar outfit to Dracula's. Ryou stared at the child and made note of the 1895 date on the corner of the painting as Dartz walked to the center of the room.

In the center, there was one long panel on the ground. It looked around four and a half feet long. At each corner was a statue of a girl, each with blue hair. Ryou went forward and sniffed one of the statues. To his surprise, the girl smelled human and her hair was real. He backed away startled as Dartz dropped a few drops of blood into a small hole on the panel. Ryou and Janika watched what happened next in silence.

The panel started to rise up slowly. The panel slowly revealed itself to be a coffin and a slab of concrete underneath. As it rose, the stone on the girls' face started to crack and fall to pieces, revealing skin underneath. The more the coffin rose, the skin was revealed on the girls. Finally the coffin stopped a foot off the ground. The girls were no longer statues anymore but human girls. They quickly worked together to lift the coffin cover off.

Once it was off and three of the girls backed away, a small hand revealed itself. Soon after, a boy of ten raised himself out of the coffin and stood up on the ground by the remaining girl. Dartz bowed down in respect while Ryou stared in surprise. The boy was the same boy in the painting. That wasn't the only surprise; the boy looked exactly the same as he did in the painting. Hearing Dartz's "ahem" to get his attention, Ryou quickly got down on one knee and bowed his head. Janika kept staring at the boy, who stared back. Dartz was the first to break the silence. "Honorable Noah, son of the vampire lord Dracula, it is an honor to be in your presence."

The boy Noah looked down at Dartz and scoffed. "An honor, you say? The honor would only be there if you meant what you said…and that is not the case."

Ryou wanted to watch the exchange but decided to keep his head down. Nevertheless, he heard everything. Dartz spoke up. "My lord, I do mean what I say."

"I do not believe what you are saying. You are just here to ask for my help because you are too weak to do whatever it is you want yourself."

Dartz slowly stood up, towering over the child. "That is not true, my lord."

Noah laughed arrogantly and gestured to the girl. She quickly bowed out as Noah said, "You know you can't hide anything from me, Dartz. Thanks to that tasty blood you gave me to revive, I was able to see your memories."

Dartz was about to explain but Noah held up his hand. "No need to explain. At the very least, you are now here and I can help you."

Just then, the girl came back with a chalice of blood wine. Noah took it from her and gave it to Dartz. "Now…drink after your long travel."

Dartz was suspicious but knew better than to question the child. He took the chalice and took a drink. As he drank, Noah's face twisted into an evil look. Dartz caught the look a second too soon. He was immediately brought to his knees from sharp, intense pain through out his body. He coughed and his hand that covered his mouth has his own blood on it. Noah made Dartz look at him and said, "Don't despair. Be honored that you are dying at my hand."

Dartz reacted again to pain and said weakly, "But…I don't…understand…"

Noah smirked. "I said I would help you, did I not? Well, that's exactly what I'm doing…by disposing of you."

Dartz then lifted up off the ground by Noah's mind powers and was thrown out of sight. Noah then turned his attention to Ryou and Janika. Ryou didn't see what happened but heard everything and was terrified. What he didn't find out until later was that hearing what just happened broke him free of his insanity, even though a few things still remained. Janika, on the other hand, saw everything and was terrified and crying. Noah made a gesture with his hand to another girl and she quickly came forward. She took Janika and held her close, soothing the baby down. Noah then lifted Ryou's head and looked at his werewolf side. "Hm…I've never seen such work like this."

Ryou swallowed hard and said, "I'm the first of my kind."

Noah smiled. "Welcome, my friend, to my castle."

Ryou wanted to answer but first looked at Dartz's body. Noah followed the glance and shook his head amused. "I find it interesting, don't you? He is an immortal vampire…and yet he died just as easily as a human."

Ryou didn't answer and just nodded. "Um…sir…"

Noah stopped him. "None of that 'sir' stuff. You address me as either Master Noah or just Master…for you now belong to me."

Noah nodded, growing more frightened by the second. "Master…will you help me…get revenge on my brother?"

Noah thought this over. "I might…but not right away." Ryou opened his mouth to ask why when Noah continued, "First of all, you are not strong enough in battle. We must train you for battle. Second, it is always best to lull your enemy into a false sense of security. Third…we must prepare the baby. She is your brother's, no?" With Ryou's nod, Noah smirked. "We can use her to our advantage…with some adjustments."