Hey, my name is Kat, and this is my innovation project story. Also, has lost all credit due to the fact that they only have a Dracula movie section and not a Dracula book section. The book came first.
So this is for the book.
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"Hey, I'll be back."
"Yeah, whatever just put me down. Your a freakin' ice cube and its cold already."
"I told you to bring another sweater," I rolled my eyes, Victor was always chastising me.
"You also told me to jump off a cliff."
"I would have caught you."
"Yeah because vampires fly." I rolled my eyes.
"They do." his voice so convincing.
I gave him one of my notorious looks.
"Right." I breathed.
"I showed you."
"Yet, I still think you pulled your vampire eye trick." I wiggled my fingers for the dramatic effect.
"Oh come ON!" He threw his hands up as if yelling at the gods and just as quickly, he dropped them.
"You know what? I'm going hunting! And I'm not coming back!"
"Oh I BET!!" I yelled after him as he sped away using his super-fast "vampire" speed.
I gave a definite noise of disproval and turned around. Locating the bag that Victor had dropped I grabbed it and began my regular walk through the cemetery.
My green bag's weight had an reassuring heaviness to it for inside were all my silver knives and bullets. I was an unpaid Night Hunter. I hunted and normally killed the normal vampire, master vampire, ghoul, un-dead zombie, witch; if it had gone bad, it was in my brown book. The store was out of black.
I don't have an interesting story to tell. My parents, relatives, and even my dog have never been attacked by anything. The Night Creatures have never harmed anyone I am attached to. I became a Hunter simply because I saw my ghoul of a neighbor snacking on a squirrel. I confronted him about it and he took me to Victor's mom. Then BAM! I became a Hunter. That's okay with me though, I was never meant to be on a normal payroll.
Well, the part about being unpaid is a lie. I'm paid by the Night-Time neighborhood watch. They're all the creepy crawlies that found their calling in the human (day) world.
But tonight, I was off, no killing or re-killing for me. Instead I was with my best friend, and pain in the ass, Victor. We met when I got into high school. Our meeting was similar to the that in the stupid book, Twilight. Except that I'm not some shallow bimbo that can't do anything for herself.
Yes, I read the book, and yes, I hate it. You know what, I take that whole statement back. The only similarity is that we met in high school.
Anyway, Victor and I became friends because his mom is my client and teacher. She, as stated earlier, told me all about the world of the Night. Fun Fact: in vampire society it is that the female that is the dominant sex in the species.
Another fun fact: Victor is two- hundred years old and still acts like a normal teenage guy.
Ending with that thought I buckled all my gear to my waist, back and legs and set off on a jog through the cemetery. Occasionally I would do the cool back flip over a headstone and land like a cat.
After about 15 minutes, my stomach churned and my head jerked towards the back corner of the cemetery. Without breaking the rhythm of my running I began to head towards the back corner, where my gut told me to go. Don't ask, if I told you, I would sound like Bram Stoker.
For the few moments it took me to get there I felt the slight rush of complete freedom of putting all burdens on hold.
"My lord and master! My blood is the life!"
Op! There they are again. Back with a friend.
I pulled out one of my silver knives and stalked silently towards the crazed man.
"Rise! Rise! Rise my master and in your lead I shall follow!"
My brow wrinkled in angry confusion. I glanced around, the man was talking to a gravestone and other than that, there was nothing else. Besides, "Vampires" don't sleep in the ground unless they're mentally unstable. Even then, masters never do.
Slowly, I crept behind one of the larger headstones and peeked around the base.
Standing in front of a freshly dug grave was a man no older than 30. He was very lanky and about 6 feet tall with shaggy brown hair. I couldn't see much of his face, though I could see his long skinny nose that protruded outwards.
Every muscle, vein, and blood cell told me to jump out and stop the man from completing his chant.
Everything but my brain.
No, that wanted (and forced) me to stay right where I was. I was normally a fighter, not a thinker, but something about the chant compelled me to sit and listen.
I tried to focus in on the language. Nothing. I didn't know the language. I had met a dead end.
Despite not knowing what he was saying, I continued to watch and I saw an unearthly mist begin to rise up from the grave.
I glanced at the grave. Who, or what was Darclau D. Ackart be?
As I crouched, stupidly, the now eerie white mist began to take shape.
Now, I had seen a lot of crazy stuff in my days as a Hunter, but never, and I say NEVER, have I seen any creepy Night Dweller EVER take shape from mist.
Out of fear and lack of knowledge, I raised my arm into a throwing position and I launched the silver dagger with lethal precision.
The man gave out an unearthly cry and turned around. A large snarl with giant fangs and gleaming red eyes glowered back at me. The mist behind him solidified and there stood a man with white hair and enormous eyebrows. His wardrobe was odd for it consisted of an old red robe with intricate black stitching.
My mind clicked as the final pieces to the jigsaw were added. Oh my god.
I fell back into a fighting stance when I saw the brown haired man about to lunge.
"Hold, Robert." The guy paused, though he never lost the murderous glow in his eyes.
"Now tell me, who are you?" The man I thought to be Dracula asked.
I wasn't an idiot, I know power waves when I feel them, and boy did this guy have power. Dracula or no, he was by far the oldest vampire I've ever met.
"No," he hissed, "I know you!" He raised a bony hand and pointed a longer and impossibly thin finger at me, "You are the wretch that brought my end!"
"Excuse me?" I raised one brown eyebrow. This was becoming ridiculous.
"Wilhelmina Harker." The venom laced on those words was enough to kill an elephant.
"Look, you got the wrong gal. My name's Remi, not, uh, willow, uh, will-hill, uh, well-hell, whatever you said."
Holy Mother of God, this guy was Dracula.
Mina, Helsing, and gods above.
"Dracula?" I asked. I hoped to elicit some kind of reaction that would give me the upper hand.
"How do you now my name girl?" Alright, this officially became to much to handle on my night off. To bad I can't hire a substitute.
I had to come up with something quick, something to keep his interest. "You're famous here." I tired out
He gave a hum and said, "Is that so?" Bingo.
"Well, Bram Stoker wrote a novel about you, and others."
"Others?"
"You know, like Mina, Jonathan, John, Quincy, Van Helsing, Arthur. Ring a bell?"
"I see, so you know of them. Where did you acquire this, book?" Something about the way he said it made chills run down my spine. I had to think quickly, how do you kill a real vampire. Hell, what did I even know about real vampires?
I knew that they:
Needs human blood
Can grow younger
Have no shadow, no reflection
Can turn into a wolf or bat
TELEPORT
Can change size
Must be invited into a household, but then they could come and go as they please.
See in the dark (that was a given)
Nocturnal (another given)
Can't cross running water, ( I think)
Religious objects such as crosses burn and repell them
So does garlic
Are killed by driving a wooden stake through their heart, chopping off their head, and then filling their mouth with garlic.
Fan-frickin-tastic, the kind of vampires I hunt are killed by silver, not wood.
"What is wrong with you? Are you to afraid to answer? Too daft?"
"Well Count, you see, the problem is that I am a Hunter. And, well, you are the biggest and baddest as Night Creatures come, so I need to kill you."
"You, wish to, fight, me?" It was like the concept of me fighting him was just beyond his grasp.
"No," I felt his hell fire red eyes gaze straight into my gold, "I wish to kill you."
My feet moved on their own as I ran towards the ancient vampire. I was grateful he had just woken up from a long slumber. I don't think I could have taken him on if he had had a few necks to munch on, nor will I have to worry about him teleporting or anything else weird. ]
I jumped up and threw a powerful roundhouse kick to his head. His eyes widened slightly at the hand on hand approach. None the less, he raised his arm up and blocked my kick effortlessly.
Using the momentum of my kick, I used his arm as a pole to get myself behind him and to the dead tree. The Count had already whipped around to face me, but by then I had yanked a pointy branch off of the lifeless tree.
He snarled at the new development.
I wasted no time in charging up to the vampire. In a matter of moments the most famous vampire in history and I were battling it out; fist to block, block to kick, glare to glare. No matter what I threw at him he seemed to deflect it with ease. Minutes went by with me continuing a merciless rain of fists, kicks, knees, and elbows. I could tell, by the way he stayed exclusively on defense that he was not comfortable in the area of hand to hand combat. This tidbit of knowledge gave me a slightly large sliver of hope that I would make it out alive.
BAM!!
My eyes grew wider at the shock of having my marbles rattled. I tried to glance behind me but Dracula threw his first fist my way. Didn't matter if he wasn't good at it, he was still strong as a ox. I allowed my forearm to take the hit.
The minion!!
Robert was it? I mentally groaned, how could I have forgotten about him?
I ducked as Dracula threw a roundhouse punch at me.
I knew that to get to Robert I had to first put distance between me and Dracula, so gathering all the strength I could muster, I flung out my foot in a strong thrust kick.
Some god must have had a vendetta against Dracula because the Count stumbled backwards a few feet, just enough to allow me to sprawl when Robert swung downwards. Fortunately for me, momentum pulled Robert off balance and opened a window large enough for me to shove the stick into his heart. Without a pause, I took out a dagger in my belt and sliced his head off.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Dracula rush towards me, a wild look in his eye. Using my position on the ground I swept my feet out, successfully taking out his legs. But the blow to my head must have effected my brain because as I saw Dracula come crashing down, I forgot to move out of the way.
I let out a pained grunt when he threw his elbow into my stomach. My body coughing up crimson blood from the impact. Dracula saw his chance. He bent his head down and bit my leg, and I cried out in pain. His already sharp canines had extended and began to drag down my leg, with his teeth still inside.
My vision flashed white from the pain and I barely remember kicking him in the head with my other foot. Despite my continuing to kick at his head he moved up to my stomach and tore at the flesh there.
My body was on full survival mode. I didn't even know what I was doing. I just knew I was doing something.
Through the haze of pain I saw his muscles tense as he prepared to launch at my throat. I knew this was my last chance, and as he leaped I grabbed his hair to extended his neck while my other hand found the knife that I had dropped. Using my last bit of strength I swung my knife towards his neck, completely taking off his head.
Brown blood spewed everywhere, in my eyes, mouth, and wounds. Through the torment of his poisonous blood in my wounds I managed to drag myself to the dead tree, grab a branch, and run the thing through the convulsing body.
I think, intense pain makes you crazy, cause all I could think about was how much I wished I had an obsession with garlic, not that it mattered long because the pain and poison consumed me and threw me into an abyss.
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"So today I went to the cemetery. I was trying to gather clues as to exactly what happened." Victor? Why did he sound so distant? I glanced around, nothing but darkness.
"I know you've been out for four days, three hours, and eleven minutes, but I still think that if I talk to you enough, you'll wake up…" His voice trailed off.
Wake? Up? I'm not asleep. I'm awake.
"Mom's working on getting Dracula's venom out of your system. It's almost all gone. She's getting the last of it out in a moment. Hopefully, you'll be able to wake up."
Like a slideshow, my battle with Dracula flashed in images through my head. Though the memory of my pain was forgotten. "Yeah, so I guess you were right. I'm not a real vampire."
And suddenly, my mind didn't care that I fought the greatest bad guy in history. Oh com ON!! I was mentally screaming. I've been barking up that tree since we met, and I'm not even functional enough to rub it in his face? What kind of world is this?
"Victor, I'm starting the operation." His mother, also a doctor, told him. A cool thing about her being a doctor was that whenever I became gravely injured, Marylissa could always fix me up and never have to tell anyone about it.
However, the sudden feeling of an unnaturally cold mouth at my neck brought me out of my musings. Was she really going to bite me?
I knew I should have been worried, but I wasn't. I trusted Marylissa. "Wait." Victor said, his mother's mouth lifted away from my neck.
"I should be the one to take the last of the poison." There was a pause, "Besides, you have consumed to much of the poison, already you show signs of true vampirism."
Marylissa must have agreed because shortly after there was the faintest sound of shuffling and a new, stronger, mouth was pressed to my neck.
Before I could even try to brace myself, Victor had sunk his teeth into my jugular. The sensation of having teeth inside me was like nothing I've ever felt before. The time with Dracula didn't count. I could feel him sorting through my blood system looking for the toxins left by Dracula. Vaguely, I remembered something about Victor's kind being able to manipulate blood flow. I ceased to care though, for the feeling of transitioning water consumed the inside of my body.
If my eyes were open, I would have shut them in pure relaxation. All at once, my worries, troubles, and wounds all ceased to exist and I was left there, floating on a cloud.
My cloud suddenly disappeared and I fell back into reality. The venom was gone, I knew that, but now Victor had blood welling up near his teeth. He was going to drink my blood. Without my permission. I knew throwing mental daggers was useless because my body was to weak to put up any form of mental defense, or offense. As the moments went by my stomach boiled in anger, with every second growing hotter, and just as it reached the breaking point his mouth left my neck with no blood drawn.
I felt his icy mouth lift away, right as a glass was held up to my mouth. I drank rabidly. The drink itself was cold and thick, and my mouth was so dry I was unable to taste the drink. "Remi, stop." I paused. The voice, I knew, was Victor's, but it was so different, so mature and commanding. I obeyed.
"Now Remi, open your eyes." This time it was Marylissa's kindly stern voice.
Obeying the doctor's orders, I forced open my heavy lids.
First came the blinding light, then the head splitting pain, and finally the achingly long wait for normal vision.
"Oh thank god your okay!" Marylissa exclaimed and hugged my battered, bruised, and shredded body. "Ow." I attempted to put a little emphasis in my cracking and dry voice.
"Um, what exactly happened?" I asked. I tried to ignore the sand rubbing against my throat.
"you fought Dracula. THE Dracula. Your fight pretty much ruined the cemetary and your body. But hey, at least you, a human, killed the most powerful vampire known in history."
"What can I say? I'm amazing." I flashed him a cheeky grin.
I frowned, "Hey Victor…."
"Yeah?"
"You did behead both corpses and stuff their mouths with garlic, right?" I studied his face. Besides, it would be just my luck to practically kill myself to re-kill Dracula, and end up having him come back all because of a stupid mistake.
His face remained entirely blank except for a mischievous gleam in his eye, but that was soon replaced by a comical look of horror. He shook his head.
Mentally I grinned and put on a fake mask of rage. I never pass up a chance to beat up on Victor.
"YOU….. IDIOT!!!" I lunged at his throat. I ignored the pain of the needles ripping out of my arms as I rolled on the ground punching Victor.
"I…" he blocked a punch, "was just…" he took a punch, "kidding!!" he grabbed my fist and threw me across the room.
I slammed into the wall, bounced up and smiled, "I know!"
Man, for getting almost annihilated I feel marvelous! My mind flashed back to the cold drink they gave me.
"Hey guys," I glanced at Marylissa, who was laughing, and then at Victor, who was sulking. "What was the drink you gave me right before I woke up."
They both froze and shared worried glances.
"Remi, you have to understand, you were just a strand away from death. We were lucky that you landed in a coma…" Marylissa started to explain. She didn't walk towards me, or away. She was afraid, but not enough to run.
"The only way we were ever going to bring you out of that coma was to give you our blood," Victor said, straight as an arrow. I think it was his rash honesty that made me feel the desire to become friends with him. I loved how he never hid anything, he said everything exactly how it was.
"Oh, okay," I shrugged. It kept me alive didn't it?
"That's it?"
"Hey, I'm completely healed, I have no reason to be angry."
"Well, you ought to know that your body will stop changing once it's done growing and stay like that for at least twenty years before you begin to age again. Also, you will have more "vampiric" abilities." he sounded like one of those warnings on those info-mercials.
"Is that a warning, cause that seems like a pretty sweet deal to me."
"Okay, awesome. What do we do now?"
"Dairy Queen and a scary movie, say, 'Dracula'?" I suggested.
"Really?" His eyebrows raised impossibly high and his mouth went up in a snooty sneer.
"Yeah, come on it'll be great!" I grinned.
"Fine, whatever." He walked over to the door and held it open.
"Cool, and by the way, your paying." I turned around and gave Marylissa a hug, "Thank you so much."
"Oh anytime, and Remi, I'll have money transfered to your account soon." She smiled and tapped my nose.
"Aw, you know you don't have to." I said this more out of courtousy than anything else. I just fought Dracula, D R A C U L A, and almost died. I'll be damned if I wasn't getting paid to do that.
She gave me a knowing smile and shooed me out the dor that Victor was still holding open.
We waved at her as we walked down the hospital's hallway.
"Hey Victor, is my grin pointier?" I bared my teeth.
"What?"
"You heard me."
"I'm not going to look at your teeth Remi."
"Oh come on!"
"No, I refuse to stoop to that level."
"Oh please! It'd be a step up if anything, and besides, it's not even that difficult!"
"No."
"Please?"
"No, check it when we get to the car."
"But I wanna know now!"
"Too bad."
Silence.
"Please?"
He just sped up.