Dracula could do nothing but stand, appalled at the blunt fact of it, as he felt the life ebbing out of him. Disbelieving, he looked down to see his blood running freely away into the dirt to join that of his ancestors and his people. Spasmodically he clutched at the wound, as if he could gather his blood back into himself and stop the escape. He knew from experience, from so many fields of battle, that he had little time left, and he raised his eyes to his assassin.
"I knew they would come for me, Gabriel, but to send you? These are low dealings even for Rome." His quiet voice dripped disappointment, hatred.
"I could hardly believe it when they first summoned me. I refused to believe it of you." His eyes flickered to the view beyond the half crumbled walls of the ruin in which they now stood. "But I come and find this…" his voice trailed off and he shook his head sadly.
Dracula found himself amused to see that his murderer's hand remained on his weapon still.
"You brought it all upon herself, you need to just open your eyes."
"The Church did nothing to deserve these horrors, she aims to protect these lands!" Van Helsing raised his voice.
"And who will protect them from her, ah?" Dracula spat back. "When she has squeezed the last drop of obedience and will from us all, then she drops us like we carry the plague! She damns us!"
"Erzsebet suicided, Vladislaus, the Church could not save her soul."
At the mention of the name, Dracula became enraged.
"You do not speak her name, you are unfit to bear her memory!" He spat on the ground at the other man's feet. "I will not honour an institution that will condemn such a perfect human being!"
"She became an abomination the moment she decided to take her own life! And you took another woman to your bed out of respect?" Gabriel scoffed.
"I curse you!" Dracula screamed, his rage fast outpacing his agony. "I curse Rome, I curse the whole of Christendom! I renounce it all! Hear me, I renounce God! From this moment forward the Church is dead to me!" He fell to his knees, the ferocity of the emotions coursing through him advancing his decline. His voice came quieter now: "In the name of the Devil," he watched Gabriel's face as he said the words. "In the name of the Devil I curse you. With his help I will not rest until the injustices Rome has visited upon my house are returned upon them." He grimaced as a wave of pain coursed through him, but seeing Gabriel's white, horrified face through his own haze, he laughed. He imagined the picture he must present to this upright man of God, now, on his knees leaching the soil red with his unclean blood, renouncing God and the Holy Church and laughing like a madman.
"Now you are truly dead to me, Vladislaus," Van Helsing muttered. He made the sign of the cross and began to back away.
"Spare me your blessing, Van Helsing," Dracula choked. Van Helsing merely stood back, waiting for the inevitable.
So this was to be his fate, Dracula thought bitterly. In all honesty he did not know if renouncing the Church meant anything at all, but in that quiet moment he knew that he would give up anything to be able to live to fight another day, and he renewed his dark vow silently. His rage dissipated as he knelt on the cold, hard ground, the chill permeating his bones. Not long now. His anger deflated, he was alone once more with his thoughts.
Something in the periphery of his vision caught his attention and he swung his head drunkenly towards the movement. A pale woman wrapped in a thick, rough cloak stepped through the tumbled walls and rushed to him.
"My Lord!" she whimpered, afraid to touch him but desperate to act.
"Verona," he started to protest her presence here when he had sent her to the city for safety, but it all seemed irrelevant anyway. His vision was shadowed now, but he could see Verona's beautiful face, contorted into a gruesome mask of pain and fear. Her gaze clung to his, hoping to hold him to this plane of existence by sheer will and want alone.
"We need to get you back to the Castle, my Lord," she said, her voice cracking on a sob.
"It's alright my dear," he collapsed back to lean against the wall. "I just want to rest here for a while."
"But you'll die…" she cried quietly in vain, knowing it was redundant. She cast a scared glance back at where Van Helsing stood with his back to them, out of earshot. "I should kill him for robbing me of you."
With his last remaining strength, Dracula reached for her, gripping her arm. Though still ashen from the previous pain and the loss of blood, his face was untwisted now, as if he had passed through his passion and emerged clear-headed and enlightened. Verona started in fear at the chilling effect.
"You will not be robbed, Verona. I shall not leave you."
She shook her head in disbelief and non-comprehension, but he slumped softly back and was still. Silent in her deep grief, Verona could only sit and watch as death came over her love. Her eyes widened as he seemed to regain some color, his face now lacking the drawn tension looked almost alive again, as if he were merely sleeping; but when she reached out to touch him, his skin was cold and no heart beat within the body of her lover. So dead inside was she, that she could not fight when Van Helsing returned for his body.