JeanieBeanie: Drac's my favourite too! He just has the cool dead and loving it vibe about him! Must be soo great to be so bad and sexy lol
Lucy Wanabe : lol thanx for that review you have sufficiently boasted my ego lol
Disclaimer: I own nothing just writing out my twisted fantasies
Chapter 4
Sarah screamed and bolted out of her bed, barely managing to grasp the metal bars in time to prevent herself from falling from the top bunk.
Her eyes darted around the dark room in panic, tears flowing freely down her cheeks to mingle with the cold sweat from her dream. Swallowing hard and taking a few deep breaths to calm down, she sat back on the mattress and leant her head back on to the cool wall behind her, drawing her knees up to her chest.
"Just a nightmare." she whispered to the darkness.
Closing her eyes she brushed some stray strands of hair out of her eyes. Her body tingled where her dream burns and cuts had been, reminding her how vivid it had been.
She waited for a few minutes, trying to stop herself from shaking and allow the dizziness in her head to pass. 'Nothing like sitting up too fast to give you a head rush.' Feeling slightly steadier, she climbed carefully down the metal ladder, stepping on to her sisters empty bunk and then headed for the bathroom.
The light dazzled her as she entered the room and she winced, growling slightly as her headache from earlier that day burst into life once again. Half blind with the sudden light and dull stabbing in her temples, she walked right past the dark figure sitting on the edge of the bathtub, and crossed to the medicine cabinet.
He watched her in amusement as she filled a glass of water and swallowed some painkillers, completely oblivious to his presence there. It was all he could do to control his mirth as she casually glanced at the mirror and spotted him.
Sarah did a double take, choking as she saw Dracula sitting oh-so-smugly in her bathroom! With a startled cry she spun to look at him, tripped over the toilet and found herself staring at the ceiling with another bruise to add to her collection.
A shout of laughter escaped the counts mouth as he stood and moved to kneel over her.
"Ahh how I've missed that reaction!" he said happily giving her a toothy grin.
She gaped at him her eyes wide in confusion and fear as she scrambled to get up.
Dracula smiled down at her stepping back to give an elaborate bow. "Vladislaus Dragulia…" he swept back up sweeping back the hair that had escaped his ponytail in one smooth gesture. "…at your service my love, and could I kindly request that you don't scream?"
Without a sound the girl leapt to her feet and bolted out of the door running into her bedroom.
Dracula watched her go with a fond sigh. "As obedient as always." he muttered. Clasping his hands neatly behind him he turned and stepped through the wall.
Seeing him step into the room Sarah lost what little self control she had left and screamed. Diving up the ladder to her bed ,she snatched her tiger katana from its stand and turned to find him crouched in front of her on the mattress. With a cry , she angled the tip of the blade at his throat her hands shaking.
"Get the hell away from me!" she yelled.
Dracula laughed aloud "Well isn't this familiar." he said with amusement. "If I recall correctly Sarah, the last time you held a sword to my throat it did little good, what makes you think it would have more affect on me when I'm dead?"
To demonstrate his point the threw himself forward impaling himself on the blade his smuile never faltering as he gave her a wry smile.
She shook her head drawing the sword out of his transparent body. "I'm dreaming still…" she muttered "I'm still having that nightmare your not really here."
Dracula sat back, crouching with his hands on his knees looking at her thoughtfully. "Actually this is not a dream…and in away neither was your…nightmare as you call it."
She gave him a questioning look but he was too busy staring at her Athame on her altar. "I hope you realize you still have a candle burning on your altar." he said matter of factly.
Sarah blinked in surprise suddenly noticing that a dim flickering light was indeed being cast from that part of the room. She made to go past Dracula but froze as he turned to watch her. "Er…would you mind moving?" It was surreal asking a dead guy to move out of her way…not that she believed this was really happening of course.
The Count smiled and then vanished, reappearing at the foot of her bed's ladder. She shivered and kept a firm hold on her sword as she slowly descended, taking care not to look at him or step to close as she made her way to the altar and snuffed out the offending candle.
The air grew icy at her back and she turned to find him standing close to her looking at the altar. "You know you are the most stubborn person to try and get into." he said.
Sarah blinked and then blushed "Er…can you rephrase that a little bit?" she asked avoiding his eyes.
He smiled "I meant of course that you have been resisting my attempts to link with you, if it was not for your little vision tonight I might never have managed it."
"Vision…that dream was a…so all the stuff we saw about Van Helsing…Anna having the baby…it was real?" she asked swallowing hard at the thought that Anna might be dead or dying at that very moment.
She walked back to her bed suddenly craving the warmth of the covers, climbing up to discover that the count was all ready there.
"Everything you saw with your friends has happened." he said seriously.
Sarah swallowed hard, "so Anna…is she alright? Is the baby…"
Dracula smiled "They survived…Gabriel has a son, though he doesn't know it and probably will never see him."
The girl stared at him in disbelief. "No Van Helsing would never leave Anna, he'd never abandon his son."
Dracula smiled "Not intentionally no…but I'm afraid he has fallen in to some difficulty on his latest mission."
"Difficulty?"
The count nodded sending familiar wisps of black hair falling from his ponytail. "Rome called him into another holy battle and despite his lovely new wife's protests, he abandoned her in the last throes of pregnancy and departed on a fools errand."
"What's happened to him?"
"It is not him that need your help urgently…although he might need it before the end. In his absence the vacuum of power in Transylvania has been filled and the Valerius family is once again in peril."
Sarah felt as if the air had been sucked out of the room at these words. Her friends were in danger…again. She'd hopped it would never come to that…but as with every good movie she thought sooner or later there will have to be a sequel.
Dracula grinned sadistically at her stricken expression. "Ah I take it you were hoping they would live, happily ever after?"
Sarah swallowed hard, hugging her knees to her chest. He gave her a pitying look, "You did didn't you?" he asked slowly.
Sarah sighed, "Yeh…I guess I did."
Dracula shook his head, his eyes shinning with patient amusement at her childlike innocence, an unusual trait in young women of her age.
Seeing his obvious amusement at her expense, Sarah shrugged raising her head proudly. "I'm an idealist." She said matter-of-factly.
Dracula openly chuckled at her "Shall I also assume then, that you hoped to live out your days in peace…putting the past and the pain behind you?"
She glared at him. "Yeah, forgive me if I hoped, I'd never have you poking around in my head again!" she snapped.
Dracula frowned at that causing Sarah to wince, as vivid images of them together flashed from his mind to hers. They were not the horrifying memories of her captivity and torture, but the more gentle moments.
He was drawing her away from Velkan the werewolf in the dark dungeons of castle Frankenstein, shielding her from a thought that gave her so much pain.
Cold comfort was once again given, as he held her, trembling and terrified, in a vivid dream at Valerius manor. Those moments had been long forgotten to the girl, lost amid a turbulent onslaught of blood, violence and pain, relived through nightmares.
When the final memory came Sarah felt tears on her cheeks. She witnessed the last time he had spoken to her…guiding her through a fevered delusion that might have claimed her life…The first true kiss they had shared on the edge of her awakening, as he sent her back to her friends and turned to face his own fate.
The memories faded.
Sarah kept her eyes shut for a moment, furiously trying to stem the flow of salty tears before the ghostly count noticed them.
The air by her cheeks became a frigid cold and she shivered, opening her eyes to see his smoke like hand hovering above her tears, and the obvious frustration in the counts gaze, as he realized he could not wipe them away.
She turned away from him sniffing, rubbing her palm across the damp trails.
His expression cold once more, Dracula rocked back on his hunches. "You must admit that part of you wants me here. It is the part that made you lower your shields, the part that allows you to see and speak to me."
She ignored him staring instead at the Van Helsing poster on her bedroom wall. He followed her gaze and saw the silhouette of his demonic alter ego as it had been in life…or death. His physical state, to be more politically correct.
Whatever term he would use for what he once was, he was angered to think that she still saw him that way…or worse, was forcing herself to see him that way.
"I lowered my shields tonight…or this morning." She corrected glaring at the glowing red numbers on her radio alarm that cheerfully proclaimed "4:45am" 'So much for a lie in'
"Because I wasn't given much choice …and I wanted to know what's been haunting me for the last few days. I wanted answers…" she trailed off as a sudden recollection surrounded those words and a recent conversation entered her mind.
The count smiled again following her train of thoughts. " 'A question that you won't like the answer too'" he quoted smugly. "And you don't like the answer do you?" he prompted.
Sarah furiously shuffled past him with as much dignity as she could manage given her present state of dress and the height of the ceiling. She angrily stepped down from the bed, crossing to her altar and retrieving a single length of black ribbon twisting it around her fingers in preparation for the banishing spell she was about to perform.
"What are you doing?" Dracula questioned suddenly standing directly in front of her.
"I want you gone! I want you out of my head, away from my thoughts and private discussions for good this time! No more freaky dreams! No more headaches! NO MORE!" she yelled angrily.
Dracula watched her fumble with the ribbon, unable to tie it into the binding knots that would begin the spell. "You know as well as I do that the need has to be real." He said patiently.
She glared at him defiantly "I need this, I need you gone!"
"We both know that's not true…we're bonded you and I. My blood still flows through your veins."
Sarah turned on him in obvious disgust, the creased ribbon falling from her trembling fingers. "You'd think you would have got the hint when I tried to kill myself to get free of you!" She spat at him.
He smiled slightly "Yes I will admit that, that was … unexpected." He said carefully.
Sarah rolled her eyes leaning with her arms folded against the wardrobe. "So you know about my conversation with Helly." She asked her voice somewhat calmer but with suppressed anger clear in the tone.
Dracula smiled at the more civil turn of the conversation. "I know about your reading, yes."
"What's the connection between that and what's happening now? I had my question and you were the answer that I wouldn't like." Dracula gave her a slight and very smug bow in confirmation, making her grit her teeth in annoyance…and if she would admit it to herself, a small amount of amusement.
"I'm guessing that also makes you my troublesome Loki." She continued.
Dracula shook his head, "I am here as a companion and guide." He said neutrally.
Sarah sighed running an impatient hand through her sleep tussled hair.
"So the point of this little visit?" she enquired finally.
"Things are happening in Van Helsing's world…he and his family are in need of friends and allies." Dracula informed her.
Sarah frowned. "What does that have to do with me and my friends? Van Helsing and Anna have Carl, the Vatican … the whole of the world's holy armies for god sake." She exclaimed, her worry for her hero's making her tone harsher and doing nothing for her mood.
Dracula looked at her levelly, "You and your friends are part of his world, you were the moment you stepped through that portal last year…"
"I think stepped is putting it mildly, I remember it more as a dull tug and a bad fall." Sarah cut in rudely.
Dracula glared at her, and she rolled her eyes "It's nearly 5am I can't handle lengthy explanations." She explained.
The count grinned at her. "Very well…My advice if you want answers or…how do you say it?" he struggled for a moment searching for the modern term.
"Closure…return to the place it all began, the place you entered my universe and I would caution you to hurry, unfortunately time is not a luxury you can afford."
Sarah sighed rubbing her eyes tiredly. "Will you go away if I consider it?" she asked dejectedly.
Dracula shook with suppressed irritation before nodding. "Yes I will leave you…for the time being, it is after all your choice…but if you do decide to go and find your answers, I'd suggest sooner rather than later…you are free for the next 12 hours correct?"
Sarah glared at him, "Like I said…I'll think about it." She said shortly.
Dracula narrowed his eyes at her impertinence, he had once been the most powerful creature in his world and now he was resorted to the task of guiding his head strong former bride.
Bowing to her he began to fade away. "Ado, little Sarah." He whispered disappearing.
The girl sighed wearily, a glance at the glowing clock reminding her that the new day was almost upon her. Even though Dracula had finally left her in peace there was no way she would be able to return to the blissful throws of an undisturbed sleep.
Her thoughts went back over what Dracula had said. If Anna and Van Helsing were in trouble she wanted to help, but what could she and her friends do?
That was another thing to consider…her friends.
A year ago they had all been through hell… literally, now they were happy. They had new lives, new friends, did she have the right to pull them into this?
Amie and Bob would be home for the summer the next day, Marston had already completed his semester and that morning marked his first day of the holidays. Chris, Jory, and Tony they would all be around for the next few weeks and she had happily anticipated the days she would spend with them, they were going to have the summer they missed out on the year before.
But if Dracula was right about everything and she hadn't finally lost her mind, then the dream was real…and they had all shared it.
Subconsciously they would all know by now that something was wrong and the past was coming back to haunt them, that Van Helsing needed them and they could repay him for saving their lives.
Sarah raised the blind, shocked to discover that the sun had risen and the sky was an early pink and gold, the few clouds framed in orange light. The clock read "5:55am"
She had to make a decision.
Sarah began to pace her room restlessly, every now and again glancing at her mobile, lying discarded beside the computer. Making her decision, she snatched it up searching down the list of names and speed-dialling Marston's number before she could change her mind.
A few moments of dead air sounded over the receiver before the first dull ring announced a connection.
She didn't expect him to answer straight away, like any normal teenager at 6am, he would still be sleeping, first day of his holiday or not.
It came as a surprise then, when he answered on the second tone:
"Hey, hey Miss Harper!" came the cheerful greeting followed by the faint sound of a tune being strummed on a guitar.
"What's up?"
Sarah smiled imagining him balancing the phone on his shoulder while he continued to practice the cords on his guitar.
"Hey Marston, did I wake you?" she asked apologetically.
"Nope been awake for a few hours already." He answered cheerfully, the steady strumming of the guitar providing a pleasant rhythm to his voice.
"Insomnia again?"
"Nope, slept fine till this crazy dream woke me up at about half four. Couldn't sleep again after that."
Sarah tensed at his words. "Dream? It wasn't about Van Helsing was it?" she asked tentatively.
Marston chuckled. "Yeh, kinda appropriate isn't it on the anniversary of our little adventure."
"Er..yeh." Sarah mumbled uncertainly, if Marston had had the dream there was a good chance the others had too and that Dracula was right.
Marston chuckled, "So, to what do I owe this very early and unexpected phone call?" he asked.
Sarah sighed, beginning to pace her bedroom again, her hand running absently over the hilt of the tiger katana, seeking strength from the ancient blade that already seemed to quiver in anticipation of some distant but inevitable battle.
Swallowing hard Sarah took the plunge. "You're on holiday from now right?" she asked tentatively.
"Yep, free as a mutha fuck'n bird, for the next coupl'a months." He exclaimed happily.
"Got any plans for today?" she asked trying to sound casual.
On the other end of the line she heard him miss a chord and the muffled curse that accompanied the mistake.
"Shit…sorry, nope nothing special, was gonna start one of my assignments, but it doesn't have to be in till next semester. Why?" the strumming resumed, increasing in speed as he regained his rhythm.
Sarah pressed on. "Well, are you up for a road trip? Get away from Burton for the day while the weathers good."
"Where'd you have in mind?" he asked plainly distracted by the guitar.
Sarah hesitated, her eyes flicking to her Van Helsing poster. "Alton woods."
She cringed at the loud crash of the guitar, as it clattered to her friend's bedroom floor.
A pregnant silence settled on the other end of the line. Sarah waited patiently for a response, sitting on the last rung of the ladder that lead up to her bed.
The silence was strange after the music of the guitar, and she shifted uncomfortably.
"That was a joke right?" came the shocked voice.
Though he couldn't possibly see it, Sarah shook her head and sighed. "Nope 'fraid not. I need to go there…"
"Why?"
She hesitated squeezing her eyes shut and internally groaning as she used Dracula's little analogy.
"Closure…there's a lot of stuff I still can't put behind me, I think going back to the scene of the crime might help."
Even as she said it she knew part of it was true. She did need to go back, not just because her friends in that world might be in danger, but because part of her needed to know that everything had really happened. Scars and swords were all well and good but she needed to stand in the spot again.
Marston sighed "I understand that, we all have things we would rather forget but do you think going there is the best thing?"
"Yes, I do it's been a year, what better time to go than on the anniversary? I'd drive there myself but I don't know the roads." She said feeling guilty for dragging him into it.
"I wouldn't let you go there alone anyway!" he exclaimed seriously. "We'll take my car; see if you can't get in touch with Tony or Jory. May as well get the none Uni peoples in on it." He said to her relief.
"Thanx Marston, I'll chip in for petrol."
"Ok what time do you want to say?"
"er…pick me up from my house at 9ish? Give me time to get a few things sorted and get in touch with Tony and Jo." She said surprised at how excited she felt.
Marston bustled about on the other end of the line. "Yeh ok, I'll see you then, you know Amie and Bob are gonna kill you for going."
Sarah sighed, "Yeh well their not home till tomorrow I'll worry about the wrath of Amie then. See you in a few hours."
"Bye."
She hung up and looked up at the vampire silhouette on her poster. "Happy now?"
-
Note: wow another long chapter hope im not boring you guys, seems once I get started I can't stop! Like I said before have a week off so will hopefully get at least one chapter a day up.
Read and Review as always!
