Okie Dokie. This first bit turned out way more serious than I intended it to be. Don't worry it will have humor and drama and adventure and all that good stuff. Just give it time. Please see my profile for explanations if I do not update quickly. Please review and enjoy. It's a great little plot bunny that got turned into a dragon overnight.

It was cold and dark and the thunder clashed deafeningly over the small hut in the midst of a dilapidated farmyard where the cattle roamed as they pleased that night. The cows were smarter than they looked and stayed well away from the farmhouse and wandered away into the foothills. The gate to their pen was supposed to have been closed, but the fence had been forgotten.

A jagged strip of lighting ripped its way across the night sky illuminating a young boy in the corner of the main room gripping tight to his mother. He paid no heed to the storm for he had seen many even within his short years of living, what brought forth his tears was his father's drunken rage.

He hurriedly wiped away his tears as they came into view lest he get his mother and himself in more trouble. His father was a big man, strong and sure of himself, had a temper to match his size as well and the small black haired boy had a few scars to show for it. His mother couldn't protect him from everything and when she tried his father would nearly kill her in his fit of anger.

Tonight, she had forgotten to close the cow pen. His mother was already sick and his blue eyes shone with worry at the thought of her having to go outside in the bitter cold.

"But, mommy is sick." He chanced a beating to possibly calm father down and leave his mother alone.

"Shut up boy! You'll get your own lesson after I give one to your mother!"

"Matei, you leave him alone! I've had enough of this! Now put down that filthy bottle!"

He could feel his mother's trembling beneath his hands. This was by far the scariest experience he had yet to endure and he hoped that it would end soon. He had a feeling it would end very badly though. This was not a night that they could be arguing and screaming and drawing attention to themselves. He remembered what his mother had always told him about this night.

When dark creeps in and eats the light

Bury your fears on Sorry Night

For in the winter's blackest hours

Comes the feasting of the Vours

Tonight was Sorry Night. It was the only night of the year when mother would not go outside or light a fire. If mother was scared then he was scared. He was even more scared now, mother had never yelled at father.

As the lightning flashed again he saw a small face illuminated in the window. He was comforted by the small fact that his friend was outside. She had never been hurt on Sorry Night. She knew how to work around the dangers of this night. Most times she would've been secretly invited inside to play and explore his house that fascinated her so but tonight she would most likely sleep on the roof or sneak in through the window after father had fallen asleep.

Her name was Inmoon, it was a strange name to him but he liked it. It was a pretty name and it fit her. She was ragged looking on the surface with her matted brown hair, mud coated skin, and scant clothing of animal skins but her bright purple eyes always shone through. She had said that her parents had long since left her to die and a pack of wolves raised her. He didn't believe Inmoon at first until she introduced him to the wolf pack, her "family". It was frightening but he soon grew to like them.

Having Inmoon outside made him a little less scared but the calm didn't last as his mother was smacked to the floor, glass shards of the remains of his father's whiskey bottle flew everywhere. His mother refused to cry as her face bled from the abuse. His father gave her a swift kick to the ribs while continuing to scream.

"Who do think you are woman?! No one talks to me like that ANYONE, especially not some weak stupid disgusting WOMAN!" This was emphasized by another kick to the ribs.

His mother spit blood but still refused to cry.

"You're stupidity is going to ruin me. Do you know how long it's going to take to get those cows back in?" He grabbed her chin hard enough to bruise. "Sounds like you aren't pulling your weight around here Aurora. I think you need to spend some time outside doing your chores!"

He hauled her up by her black hair and dragged her toward to door in nothing but her white nightgown. The small boy made to grab his mother but one look from her blue eyes told him no, he needed to save himself. He saw Inmoon's tears reflecting in the brief flashes of lightning and made his decision. He had always followed his mother's orders but this time, this time she was wrong.

He ran forward, grabbed his father's wool coat and pulled as hard as he could screaming at him to let mother go and that she was sick. It did nothing and his mother's own screams were quickly deafened by the door between them. His father rounded on him and slapped him so hard his head smacked into the floor and he saw stars. He got up as quickly as he could and tried to run but his father grabbed him and slammed him into the wall, a cry of pain escaped the twelve year old boy's lips.

He could hear his mother pounding mercilessly on the door and screaming at father to let her in. Screaming at her husband and begging him to not hurt her child. He sat down at the kitchen table as if contemplating whether or not continue his onslaught on his family. The boy slid to the floor in a daze.

"Please." He spoke when his small trembling voice found him again. "Let Mommy inside."

This seemed to anger the drunken man even more as he stood up, eyes aflame with rage and all pointed toward the thin black haired boy slumped against the wall. He said nothing as he approached but the boy knew that his dad was angrier tonight than he had ever been. His raised his fist and with great crash and explosion of glass he was knocked off his feet. Inmoon scrambled back and crouched in front of the boy, letting out a snarl as Matei sat up to look at her.

She let out a furious howl of rage as she leaped on Matei's weakened form in a flurry of flashing teeth and well placed blows. Aurora's furious pounding at the door weakened and her screams changed.

"Stay inside Vlad! No matter what stay inside and keep quiet! DO AS I SAY! Stay inside! They're here, they're here! Be quiet!"

He felt a sudden chill seep into his body and freeze his very bones. He had been cold before, he did not have a plush life but this chill was different. Inmoon felt it too and she froze in her attack of his father whose face was now a clawed bloody mess. His father took this opportunity and threw her into the wall but she recovered quickly. Outside Aurora's screams had turned to terrified babble.

Suddenly there was fire and Inmoon was holding a small torch made of a broken chair leg and his father's whiskey.

"Foolish male," Her voice was surprising to someone who didn't know her, developing to be rich and smooth. "tonight the evil feasts, but not upon your female."

Vlad quickly looked around as the inhuman screeches grew louder, so loud in his head but the sound was not in his ears. His mother sounded more panicked now. He saw an abandoned bottle of liquor on the floor nearby, he scrambled to it opened the lid and threw it near his father. Inmoon threw the torch then grabbed Vlad by the back of his shirt and leaped out the window. The two ran around to the front of the house where his mother was now weakly hitting the door and she lay against it in the bitterly cold snowless night.

The wind blew straight through the pair as they ran to her, she was pale, her lips an icy blue. Inmoon stood straight upon seeing her and Vlad knew that they didn't have long. Inside the house Matei's screams became the stuff of nightmares as the howls grew louder and rose to shrieks in the night. The shadows moved inside the house with a mind of their own, reaching, clawing, fighting, but it was not the shadows that scared Vlad. It was the things making the noises and he dared not look inside. He tore his gaze away from the glass just as the worst of his father's screams tore through the night air and a spray of crimson coated the window.

His mother's deep sapphire eyes stared into his with a pleading look.

"Listen to me Vlad. You have to leave, run." She seemed to be choking and it broke his young heart to see his dear mother in such a state and it hurt even more to know that this would be the last time he would talk to his mother. "There will be more. The hunger of the Vours' is insatiable." She choked again and Vlad's tears froze on his face. He held tight to his mother, never wanting to let her go ever again. He couldn't, this was his fault. He had disobeyed her.

"We must leave soon." Inmoon stated and Vlad turned on her.

"How could you be so thoughtless Inmoon!? She's my mother! We can't leave her, we have to save her, we have to!"

"The evil will be done feasting soon and they will come for us if we do not run Vladislav!" It was the first time she had ever snarled at him. Now he understood why it was scary.

"Vlad." His mother wheezed. "Your friend is right." She continued to choke. "You must go."

"No…..I….I can't do it mother." His eyes started to freeze shut he was crying so much and he furiously struggled to keep his eyes open so as not to lose one second of memory of his dear mother.

"Vlad." Inmoon's voice was gentler than he had ever heard it. "We can show her one last kindness. It is one she so rightly deserves.

The boy looked at her expectantly but there was no hope as he cradled his mother's head in his lap. Suddenly there was a bone knife thrust into his vision, wielded by Inmoon.

"The fate of the Vours will be far worse than the fate of the knife. We must grant her this mercy. A swift death."

The poor boy shook his head at the absolute horror of the situation even more so as he felt a cold hand wrap his own around the blade. She pressed it to her throat and looked into her son's eyes with not even the barest hint of fear. His grip tightened on the blade as she began to softly sing.

When the light begins to fade,
And shadows fall across the sea,
One bright star in the evening sky,
Your love's light leads me on my way.

There's a dream that will not sleep,
A burning hope that will not die.
So I must go now with the wind,
And leave you waiting on the tide.

Time to fly, time to touch the sky.
One voice alone - a haunting cry.
One song, one star burning bright,
Let it carry me through darkest night.

Rain comes over the grey hills,
And on the air, a soft goodbye.
Hear the song that I sing to you,
When the time has come to fly.

When I leave and take the wing,
And find the land that fate will bring,
The brightest star in the evening sky,
Is your love waiting far for me

He could tell that Inmoon thought they were taking too long as she shifted uneasily from foot to foot whilst the Vours continued to shriek and his father continued to scream. Aurora took a deep breath and Vlad swiftly slit her throat as visions of his father swirled in his head. This was his fault! ALL HIS FAULT! Suddenly the child felt glee instead of horror at his father's screams. Her blood splattered over his hands and chest and face. She was dead in a matter of seconds, her throat slit so deep her spin was half severed.

Inmoon quickly grabbed him and dragged him into the woods. He didn't remember most of the journey through the stinging cold and could only focus on the brightness of his mother's blood on his hands.

The next thing he was aware of was a stinging slap to his face and a worried expression held by Inmoon.

"We must run!" She sounded scared.

So he ran. He ran and ran and ran swallowing his fear like his mother told him. They found a small cave and hid in the back.

"I am sorry." She said after hours of sitting in silence.

Vlad just looked her in the eye and gave a small grateful smile. She didn't talk much and had used most of the extent of her vocabulary tonight and it was nearing dawn now. He was all she had now. Twelve years old and he didn't know what to do.

There was a sudden chill and Vlad spun around to entrance of the cave to see only glowing red symbols etched into inky blackness and fierce teeth. He heard the scream of Inmoon and everything grew dark.

INTERMISSION INTERMISSION! GO GET A COKE OR GO TAKE A PEE INTERMISSION INTERMISSION!

The aftershocks of a deafening roar of thunder still rocked the room as his face met painfully with the hard stone floor. He leaped to his feet and gasped for breath the remnants of the dream still rattling through his brain and every shadow became an enemy in his mind. It was night, he should have been up hours ago, why did no one wake him?

"Why do you insist on sleeping upside-down when you know you're going to have one of these moments? As fun as it is to see you face plant it's kinda stupid that you aren't learning." It was a familiar voice but wholly unexpected and it made him jump.

He spun around to the window to see her crouched like some kind of gargoyle and sharpening a small dagger. She was soaked to the bone.

"What are you doing out in the rain? Come inside and warm up." He waved his hand to light a fire in the fireplace and swing the balcony windows closed forcing her off the windowsill.

She gave out a small bark of laughter.

"Alright, but hey I'm no invalid. Just because I've been out in the rain doesn't mean I'm gonna drop dead." They sat down next to each other. "And I came because I knew it was getting close to that time of the year. I knew you'd be having those dreams again."

"Why didn't anyone wake me up?"

"Eh I snuck in through the window, gagged the shrunken head and threw the chatty Kathy in the laundry bin."

Dracula couldn't help but laugh at that. Those shrunken heads annoyed him too.

They sat in companionable silence for a while simply warming themselves. She combed her clawed fingers through her drying fur and sorted through the collection of wood beads and stones braided into her hair as Dracula started up the next line of conversation.

"Do you see it too?" He turned to look at her.

"In the flames?" He nodded and her ears set flat against her head. "Yes but…I don't know what it means. It could mean a lot of things. Don't lose your head over it Drac." She wrapped her cloak back around herself. And handed him a blue rose.

Dracula gave her an odd look and noticed that her purple eyes shone with unshed tears.

"For her shrine. I thought it would look nice. Thought you'd appreciate it."

"You really thought about this visit didn't you? Thank you."

The room grew silent as he pressed a stone beside his and Martha's picture and the wall slid back to reveal a hidden room. He waved his hand to light the candles and it reveal a simple jagged bone knife on a stand. There were already several roses placed around the knife and both stood there for a moment before Vlad simply placed the rose in front of the bone knife bowed his head and left.

"She was nice, from what I saw."

He gave another short bark of laughter but this time it was empty.

"You were too scared to get close to her."

"I know."

"Have to get to my hotel, so many things planned. You're always welcome you know."

"I know, and you know I don't do well around people. They confuse me. I'll see you later." Without another word she swiftly ran to the window and leaped out.

"Goodbye Inmoon."

Just like that she was gone in flash of gleaming silver fur.

Confused yet? I'm making up my own origin for Dracula and the other monster species, I mean they had to come from somewhere, the old tales of curses and evil don't really fit the characters, and monsters DO NOT spring out of holes in the ground. I have put a lot of thought into this, tell me if you like. GO HOTEL T!