Lucy Wanabe : glad you liked the action was a bugger to write!

Knnyphph: thanx for a great review glad im living up to the writing standards you seem to have set for me : ) I have plans for the drac thing

JeanieBeanie: Don't worry Van will be along in his own time : ) he's having a bit of a struggle else where for the moment

Disclaimer: I own nothing!

Chapter 7

Sarah lay in the warm grass for a moment, her chest heaving as she gulped greedily at the warm summer air, trying to dispel the cold winter chill that had invaded her body. Marston's concerned gaze interrupted her view of the sunlit tree tops and she blinked stupidly up at him, noticing the look of horror and concern on his face.

Groaning she rolled over and stood unsteadily, wincing as the muscles in her legs cracked in protest.

"Don't look at me like that." she said turning towards him and running a hand through her snow dampened hair.

Marston scowled at her "What, you just think your going to run back and face a zombie army on your own! That is probably the stupidest thing you have ever done!"

"It worked didn't it?" she took in her appearance wrinkling her nose in disgust when she noticed a large amount of foul smelling green slime on her arms and skirt. "Oh crap this was clean on!"

Marston made to pass her the now quiet baby, but she back away holding up her soiled arms. "Whoa don't give him to me! God knows what this stuff is!"

Carl glanced up from the princess's side to look the girl over, he winced as he recognised the green Goo. "Er…I take it my remote didn't survive your untimely rescue?" he enquired.

Jory turned to look at his friend and burst in to peels of nervous laughter. "What? Did the dead guys sneeze on you?"

Sarah ignored him and bent to retrieve the remote from the grass, turning it over she discovered the vial on the back was broken and empty with only small traces of the green fluid clinging to the glass.

"God Carl what is this stuff?" asked Marston give Sarah a cautious sniff.

"Hey could you not smell me? It's a lil bit disturbing."

Marston backed away laughing slightly "It's smells like something died, what is it?"

Carl cast his eyes back to Anna's unconscious form and muttered "Er…I'd rather not say."

Sarah shivered at the implications of that and ran to the nearest tree scrubbing furiously at her skin with some of the larger leaves.

Jory brushed Anna's hair off her face spotting something glinting at him in the sunlight, he frowned moving her hair further back from her neck to reveal a silver dart embedded in her flesh.

"Er Carl…I think I found what happened." he said hesitantly, worried about what might have been injected into her system.

Carl leant over and spotted the dart, pulling it none to gently from the princess's throat.

Jory winced in sympathy "Jeez she's unconscious not dead." he exclaimed as the wound began to bleed from where he'd unintentionally scratched it in his haste.

Carl ignored him, examining the dart in fascination. "It's almost identical to the ones manufactured in the Vatican!" he exclaimed in wonder.

"So what's it for?" asked Marston absently rocking the infant in his arms. "Is she gonna be alright?"

"Yes, yes it's a tranquilizer dart she should be awake in a few hours…but I don't understand how they could have gotten hold of this…"

Jory glanced at the beautiful woman beside him, her brow was creased with worry and her eyes had dark rings under them as though she hadn't slept in days.

"If they just tranqed her…does that mean they wanted her alive?" he asked thoughtfully.

Carl looked up at him startled, looking down at the princess with renewed concern. "Yes…I image that was what they planned…" he muttered.

Marston shook his head. "They were dead Carl, they were rotting and moaning full -on dawn -of -the -dead zombies! And your telling me that they can think and plan?"

Carl shook his head fearfully, "not them…their master or though some seem to possess their own weak spirits, the evil ones he brought back from hell to do his bidding."

Sarah wandered back over, clean now and smelling pleasantly of bracken leaves. Marston immediately passed her the baby grinning at her annoyance over the stereotype.

"He?" she asked hesitantly "So you know who the master is?"

Carl looked sheepish "Er…not exactly…I just assumed."

Sarah groaned "You just assumed it would be a guy? You know woman are perfectly capable of being twisted homicidal bad guys who raise the dead!"

Jory grinned at her "Speaking from experience?"

Sarah gave him a lopsided smile "Well I'd never raise the dead but twisted and homicidal I might grow into."

A breeze rustled the leaves around them and the distant squawk of a bird made them all jump, sudden dark clouds passed over the sun and a drizzle started.

Marston smiled turning his head towards the sky "ahh gotta love the British summer."

"I prefer it to a Transylvanian winter." Sarah muttered. "I think maybe we should head back to my house we can sort all this out there."

Marston and Sarah led the way back through the trees and too the car, while Carl and Jory carried Anna between them.

Marston glanced over to see her smiling and cooing to the baby who was laughing at her.

"Babies like me." she explained grinning at him.

He laughed "You know you can't keep him."

She shrugged "No but I'm gonna get a lot of cuddles in while he's here."

Marston helped her over the fallen log, glancing back to make sure the friar and Jory could manage with Anna before carrying on.

"There is something seriously wrong with that picture." he muttered worriedly.

Sarah glanced back and nodded. "No Van Helsing."

They shared a glance. "Er…Marston, when I called you, you said you'd had a dream…about Van Helsing." she said carefully.

He gave her an odd look. "Yeh…but it was only a dream."

She nodded "Yeh it was…"

They walked on in silence for a moment before Marston turned to her again. "Did you…er…by any chance have a dream about him too?" he asked tentatively feeling a little bit stupid for even suggesting it.

To his surprise she nodded. "Not just about Van Helsing…we were all there."

"Watching Van Helsing ride away…" Marston added.

"And Anna nearly dying in child birth…"

"Remembering…" Marston stopped, his hand rubbing at the jagged scar on his wrist.

He turned and yelled up the path "Hey Jory did you happen to have a really random and freaky Van Helsing dream last night?"

Jory glanced up sharply, giving him a weird look. "Yeh, how'd you know?"

Marston didn't answer, he turned back to Sarah. "That's why you wanted to come here…you knew this was gonna happen."

"I didn't know this was going to happen he just told me too…" she froze as Marston looked at her sharply, she picked up her pace spotting the car in the distance.

Marston caught up with her. "He? What the fuck Sarah! Who told you too come here?"

"No one told me!…I came because I felt like I had too."

"But you said he."

"I didn't mean too…but I didn't know the portal would open, all I knew was that the dream left me with issues that I needed to sort out."

Marston eyed her suspiciously, but didn't ask anymore questions as they finally left the wood and approached his car.

Carl glanced up in shock at the car park, nearly dropping Anna when confronted with Marston's blue Yaris. "What in god's name is that!"

"That would be my car, and I thought you weren't allowed to use the lord's name in vain." Marston said with amusement.

Carl let Anna go to get a better look at the vehicle. "Yes, well I'm sure God will forgive me."

Jory staggered as he took most of Anna's weight, grunting his thanks, as Marston darted round to take her other side and they began to slide her carefully on to the back seat. Sarah climbed in the other side settling herself with Anna's head on her shoulder and the baby lying in her lap.

They all watched in amusement as Carl circled the car warily.

Marston flashed Jory an evil grin before he activated the alarm. Poor Carl gave a yelp of alarm and all but cowered on the concrete of the car park.

"It's alive!" he screeched hysterically, scrambling in his robes he retrieved a large wooden crucifix. "Back demon!"

Sarah giggled from her place in the car. "Carl it's not a demon…well ok I suppose that depends on who's driving it…" she finished thoughtfully.

"It's a machine Carl." Jory explained tapping the hood lovingly. "Like a carriage."

"A carriage?" Carl muttered edging closer, intrigued by this new mechanical wonder.

"Yep there's 68 horsepower on this baby!" Marston exclaimed proudly.

Carls eye grew wide with amazement and he looked at the car in awe. "Horses! There are horses in there!"

Jory grinned "Yep tiny, tiny horses, we discovered them in deepest Africa like fifty years ago."

Sarah rolled her eyes looking down at the sleeping baby in her lap. "I hope you never grow into a teenage boy." she whispered.

Carl climbed unsteadily into the car beside Anna, crossing himself fearfully.

Jory and Marston stifled their laughter as they shut the door on him.

Jory looked at Marston over the roof. "Hey, is there really 68 horsepower in this car?" he asked intrigued.

Marston grinned sadistically. "No idea…I just wanted to mess with his head!"

Dracula watched as the car reversed and headed for the open road, Carl's shouts of amazement echoing out of the open windows.

"So it begins." he whispered fading away.

Note: argh suffering serious writers block had to get Marston's help on this one. Thanx for the horsepower thing! Marston never would have got this chapter done if it wasn't for that. Lol I even watched van helsing over again just for ideas!

Newho loved it hated it think I can do better? Let me know!