Chapter 1: Pleasant Landscapes And Shadowed Nightmares
"Demetria, My dearest slayer... You have no where to run!" Echoed the voice of the caped shadow that formed against the stone buildings of an obscure village in the dark ages.
She ran down the dirt road and took out the chained hook from her sleeve. When Dracula formed in front of her. She wrapped the chain around his neck and dragged him to the ground.
"Dracula, It's almost a jest that you don't send your harem for me to kill. I am worthy of your sovereign presence?" She instinctively reached for her stake under her dress but it was uselessness. He couldn't be killed by stakes.
"It is the King's obligation to dance with the slayers and send them back into reincarnation. My brides understand that." He explained breaking the chain with his superior strength and pinned the surprised slayer against a wooden column. Holding her up by her neck, "You destroy my kind. How would it feel to become what you loathe most in this world?"
"You loathe yourself? Don't you? Blood drinker?" Demetria closed her eyes defiantly.
He began to chuckle menacingly. Making her blood run cold, "Insight, That is a quality I admire most in the slayers... You all surprise me."
"Every single time... You are the same. Against you we all have perished."
"Don't falter, Demetria. Don't make this easy for me." Dracula's eyes began to glow cyran.
The brunette slayer laughed at her own death and said, "Giving death is simple but giving life is not... Right? Dracula?"
Valdislaus could feel her heart beat in her neck as he held her still. She did not fear death; he found that amusing. He inappropriately caressed her breast before Killing Demetria; "The faithful do not fear death... Yet the angel of death doesn't discriminate... I shall usher you unto the angels, Demetria."
She began to scream as the vampire lord gave her the kiss of death. Demetria felt her life and blood draining slowly from her body and the beating of her heart diminishing in death's embrace.
Bianca woke up in a cold sweat. She had yet another nightmare of a past life. That dream almost seemed real to her. The death of the slayer seemed as if Bianca too was dying. She saw the vampire through the eyes of the hunter turned hunted.
"Oh, Dios. These nightmares again."
She sat up in bed and cupped her chin with her hand. These dreams were constant and sometimes came at times of convenience. Such as when she first started her training. She had a dream about being another woman training with an older man who must've been her father or family member.
In physical form Bianca was strong and athletic thanks to fifty sit ups a day and a run through the Pamplona country side in the cold nights hunting all the undead who raised from the grave. Her hair a huge mound of black curles that reached down to her shoulders [almost an afro] and eyes were an unusual hazel green.
She thought with the defeat of Dracula. The European vampires were all gone. But that deemed untrue. By the teachings of Maria Rosa Del Carte she learnt that even the king of vampires didn't know about the existence of dhampir. It was better off that he didn't know. These creatures were excellent vampire hunters, Sadly they had the blood thirst of their vampire parent and would accidentally make other vampires in the process of these feedings. Also the human part of them kept them tied to this world even after the death of the king. A slayer's job is never finished.
Maria Rosa Del Carte also told her of other vampire clans of ancient history who came into existence long before Dracula's lineage. The most known clan was the Lilith clan of the Middle East. These vampires made their homes and sleeping places in caves and sand of the deserts. They were extremely hard to detect for an average hunter to spot so the holy knights used recruited dhampirs to eliminate the ones who made a nuisance of their undeadselves.
The abilities of these creatures were like miracles. They were all different from each other but had the same needs and blood line that linked directly to the queen of hell. In other parts of the world there were the chiang shi of china and the unidentified vampires of south america. But they too hid well and contrastingly were less ambitious. After Dracula's defeat: Akahallia the recent queen of Lilith's house decided they would try to take his territory for their own but the natural terrain stopped their advance.
From the kitchen came the smell of cooking food in the brick stove. Bianca stepped out of bed in her white gown and she brushed her 'hard to manage' hair and dressed up in a white dress with lace on the rims of the sleeves and dress. Bianca walked down stairs staircase and into the kitchen. Her mother and her aunt were preparing a meal.
"Madre, What are you making?"
"Bread and soup. Come help, You lazy niña." Her mother Esperanza demanded playfully.
A smile formed on Bianca's lips and she complied, "Si, Mama."
Her auntie Marisol pounded the bread dough with her bare fists and hummed softly to herself.
"Madre, Do you know when Padre will be back?"
The sisters stopped their pounding and looked at each other, "Your father breeds ox for the bull fighting and the festival in May. He's a very busy man."
Her father Eduardo was never around. Whenever he would come home he would act differently than when he left the house the last time. Bianca wondered what was her dad's problem? She didn't think he was cheating on her mother. Dad was too loyal to her mom for such betrayal.
Another woman stepped into the kitchen and turned to Bianca. This was Maria Rosa Del Carte. Her teacher and veteran holy knight. She was born in Seville and abandoned by her mother when she was ten years old. A holy knight by the name of Gracia De Hestia took Maria Rosa under her wing and taught her everything she knew. She also taught her about the 'chosen ones' female and male children of prophecy. They were fated to fight the darkness. Due to the early deaths of these boys and girls. The knights sought another way to fight the demons; Science, technology, and magic.
While they were leaving the chosen ones in the dark of their true destiny. Evil still flourished and the knights struggled against them. Maria noticed this and began her journey in finding the children of prophecy. She found one in Bianca. Who took quickly to vanquishing monsters and to her rigorous training. This girl was extremely good at detecting vampires and Maria didn't know why... She wasn't dhampir? Was she? If she was, the dhampir part of her must be restrained by some type of magic. Maria knew a few witches and a small part of their practices. But she must return to the task at hand.
"The witches of the Ravenscraft have asked us to to assist them with their journey to Roma, Bianca." Maria said to her student taking out a leather whip, "And I got you a present, Here."
"This is laced with holy water. I can smell it." Bianca took the leather whip and slashed it against the floor.
"Bianca! Not in the house!" Her mother said abrasively.
"Who are these witches and what do they want with us?" She asked Maria as they entered the Fourier.
"They are the last of the Ravenscraft. These wicca practice undead and metaphysical magic. They have claimed that Dracula now has been raised again by the powers of the king of hell. They have a plan to stop Dracula before he regains the prestige he once had."
"A plan?"
"They are going to give his heart and soul back to him." Maria Rosa exposed and added, "We will meet them at the pass of the Italian alps and into Italy where we will have business in Roma."
"His heart and soul? That will be like a curse for the king of vampires." Bianca imagined.
"Yes, and a blessing for the living. After he has those... Dracula will not be the same vampire anymore."
"He will be vulnerable to a stake in his beating heart." Bianca smirked picturing staking the vampire that reoccured in her dreams several times.
"What I mean is that his soul will manifest and suffering will insue from the inside."
"These witches must really have a good reason for hating the king of leeches to such a degree."
"He's the one who almost caused the extinction of their coven two hundred years ago."
"On that account; Such an act deserves the worse vengeance." The black haired slayer commented still grinning.
"Gather your the things you need. We will be leaving tomorrow."