I hold no claim to the characters from this kick-ass movie and Velkara, Mikeal, and Nessa are my only characters.
Thank you to everyone coming back and reading this story, whether or not you make a review. I appreciate it and I hope you like what I have planned! :)
Chapter Eight
Dracula's Castle
Everyone had changed back to their normal clothes and gone off the Frankenstein's castle again just to have to turn right back around to the Valerious manor after finding out that Dracula had had everything moved to his own castle.
Helsing was furious but Carl calmed him down, telling him that he would find the way to the Vampire's castle. So, there they were in the tower, listening to Carl as he went through everything.
"Count Dracula was actually the son of Valerious the elder- the son of your ancestor." Carl pointed at Anna and Velkara as Mikeal set the painting of the old man down.
"Everybody knows that," Anna sighed. "What else?"
"Oh. All right," Carl ran to painted glass and pulled a sheet of across it. It was a picture of a man getting stabbed. "Well, according to this rubbing, it all started when Dracula was murdered."
"Do you know who murdered him?" Helsing and Velkara asked together. They gave the other a look before Velkara glanced away first.
"No, no, no," Carl shook his head and passed his hand over the top images of an elder man reaching down. "This has some vague reference to the 'left hand of God'."
Velkara felt like she got hit with something hard. "Gabriel."
"What?" Helsing asked her as they all looked at her.
"Gabriel is known as the left hand of God," She looked at him and he seemed to get it as well.
~If that means…what I think it means~ Velkara told herself. ~Then Van is Gabriel. That also means that…~ she gulped, feeling a blush break across her face. ~It can't be, can it?~
Carl hurried around to Nessa and she handed him a small page with a picture of the devil and Dracula touching fingers when it folded over. "And in 1462. When Dracula died, he made a covenant with the devil."
"And was given a new life." Helsing grabbed the paper and he and Anna looked at it.
"But the only way he could sustain that life was by drinking the blood of others." Anna commented.
"Uh, excuse me. Are you going to let me tell the story?" Carl asked.
"Sorry." The two of them apologized, turning back to the friar.
"Your ancestor, having sired this evil creature," He reached down and picked up a painting of a man praying. "Went to Rome to seek forgiveness." He moved around the table. "That's when the bargain was made. He was to kill Dracula in return for eternal salvation…" Nessa had moved and now held up a scroll. It was the Valerious family line. "Of his entire family right down the line all the way to you." He pointed to Anna.
"But he couldn't do it. As evil as Dracula was, my ancestor couldn't kill his own son." Anna said, taking the scroll.
"So he banished him to an icy fortress," Carl told them, running over to another book. "Sending him through a door from which there was no return."
"And then the Devil gave him wings," Mikeal commented.
"Yes." Carl nodded.
"All right, so where is this door?" Helsing asked.
"I don't know," They all turned at looked at Carl and Nessa.
"But," The woman told them. "When your ancestor couldn't kill his son, he left clues."
Carl turned behind him and hit the wall. That section rotated and out was the picture of two knights like he had been telling them about the other day. "So that future generations might do it for him."
"That must be what our Father was looking for here," Velkara said as she turned and looked around the room. "Why didn't I see this before? I used to spend days in here when I was younger." She frowned. "How could I have not found the door?"
Helsing pulled a face and turned slightly. "The door," He mumbled. "The door. Of course." He took off running out of the room. They all followed him to the armory and the large painting of the map. "You said your father spent hours staring at this painting trying to find Dracula's lair. "I think you were right quite literally. I think this is the door. He just didn't know how to open it."
"What are you talking about?" Velkara demanded.
"Look, a Latin inscription. Maybe it works like that painting in the tower." Carl suggested and he began to read it.
"If this were a door, our father would've opened it long ago." Anna told them.
"I can't finish the inscription. There's a piece missing." Carl called.
It took a moment but then a grin broke out across Helsing's face as he pulled something out of his pocket.
"Your father didn't have this." Helsing showed it to Anna before handing it to Carl to place it on the corner of the map and finish it.
"Where did you get that?" Anna demanded.
"It's obvious," Mikeal crossed his arms.
"Our ancestor must have left it in Rome all those years ago," Velkara told her sister.
"In the name of God, Open this door." Helsing spoke. They all watched as the map turned to smoke, revealing an icy doorway.
"A mirror." Carl suggested.
"Dracula has no reflection in the mirror." Anna commented.
"But why?" Helsing wondered as they all walked forward.
"Maybe-Maybe to Dracula, it's not a mirror at all." Nessa said aloud.
Mikeal sighed and stood up from the chair that he had been sitting in. "It's not a mirror. It's ice. It's a doorway to the vampire's castle."
Helsing took his word for it and slowly pushed his way out into the ice. "It's cold," Helsing chuckled. "And it's snowing." He pulled it back in, his hand full of snowflakes. As Helsing turned to grab a torch, Velkara and Mikeal both moved forward. Mikeal to have the bragging rights of being the first into Dracula's castle and Velkara…she didn't really know why she moved. She just did.
"Oh sweet mother!" Velkara began to dance around, running her arms. "It's freakin' cold!"
"That's what you get for not wearing a jacket!" Mikeal laughed at her.
She went to reply when her eyes took in the large, black castle that loomed over them with skeletons decorating the dead trees around it.
Helsing and Anna followed after them and they shared a look before walking forward with the snow whipping around them. Nessa was next and waited for Carl. When he popped out and saw the skeletons on the trees he turned back around and went to run right back through but it wouldn't let him and it knocked him to the ground. Nessa tried to hide her laughter.
They all hurried to the large castle, Carl, Anna, and Helsing holding torches as they reached the large doors.
"Do we have a plan?" Carl asked. "It doesn't have to be Wellington's at Waterloo, but some sort of plan would be nice."
"We are to go in there and stop Dracula." Helsing told him.
"And kill anything that gets in our way." Anna agreed.
"Well, you let me know how that goes." Carl turned to leave again but Helsing grabbed his cloak before grabbing Velkara's arm before jumping up with a roar. Mikeal smirked and mimicked him with Anna and Nessa and the two groups landed on the opposite side of the gates. They were all then let go and Helsing moved forward, grunting as he leaned down on his knees.
"Well, as grateful as I am to be out of the cold," Carl was commenting to Nessa. "That doesn't seem like a good thing."
Helsing gave a growl and they all looked at him.
"Not easy becoming a monster, is it?" Mikeal asked, walking past Helsing.
The man looked up at him before turning to Velkara as she placed a hand on his back. He stood. "We'd better get moving."
They followed the large man as he made his way down the large path of the room that held thousands and thousands of Dracula's eggs and fire bowls.
"So, are all of those-"
"Yes." Anna and Anna cut Carl off.
"And inside them are-"
"Yes." Helsing and Mikeal cut Nessa off.
"'Igor, do this. Igor, do that.'" They all froze as the Assistant walked around the corner with cords on his shoulder. He paused when he spotted them and went to run off when Mikeal jumped forward (and far) and landed on his back, knocking him to the ground.
"Please=please don't kill me!" Igor pleaded with the man sitting on top of him.
"Why not?" Helsing demanded over Mikeal's shoulder with a growl.
Igor began to think. "Well, I, um-"
There was then a yell that everyone recognized and Mikeal still sat on Igor as they all hurried over to the gate next to them to see the creature in a block of ice and chains being pulled up. It was then that a large screech passed through the castle.
"My master has awakened." Igor chuckled before Mikeal punched him in the face.
Helsing took a deep breath and began to try and pull the Gate apart but it only budged a few inches.
"There is a cure," Frankenstein called to Helsing.
"What?"
"Dracula. He has the cure to remove the curse of the werewolf. Go." He called out sadly. "Find the cure. Safe yourself!" He then was too high for them to talk to him.
"A cure," Helsing turned and looked at Velkara. "You were right."
"I know," She closed her eyes and turned to move back to Mikeal. ~He told me, after all~ She sighed.
"Come on. Let's find it!" Anna said.
"So, the painting was true," Nessa and Carl shared a look as they all turned to the two of them.
"The only thing that can kill Dracula is a werewolf," Carl nodded. "The painting-that's what it meant."
"Bur Dracula has been using werewolves to do his bidding for centuries." Anna claimed.
"Not real werewolves." Mikeal stood up now, a foot still pressed against Igor's chest. "He's been creating them through my blood. I am the last real one. Well, at least until Helsing showed up.
Helsing grabbed Igor and Mikeal removed his foot so he could be pulled up. "You're going to take them and lead them to the antidote." Helsing growled.
"No, I'm not." Helsing gave a growl and shoved the man against the stairs. "Yes, I am."
"Here's the plan. When the bell begins to toll midnight, you'll be able to kill Dracula." Carl told Helsing. "We just need to find the cure and get it into you before the final stroke."
"Are you insane?" Anna demanded. "What kind of plan is that?"
Dracula…the talk of his death made pain strike Velkara's chest. What was she supposed to do now? How was she supposed to deal with it? Dracula was the enemy. There would be peace in her family with his death and she wanted that for her family more than anything but…this feeling…
"Mikeal. Go with them and keep them safe." The werewolf looked at the other man and gave a nod. "Now," Helsing's voice brought her back to see that he was holding out a silver stake to Carl. "If I'm not cured by the 12th stroke of midnight…"
Carl shook his head. "I don't think I could."
"You must."
Carl looked at the stake for a moment before giving a nod and taking it.
"Come on, you." Mikeal grabbed Igor and the others all began to move as Helsing grabbed Velkara's arm.
"I don't like this," Velkara told him as he held her shoulders. "I don't want you to do this by yourself."
"We don't have a choice. Just don't get killed." He told her.
She shook her head. "I'm not the one that would be killed by facing Dracula, Van."
He stared down at her for a moment before the feelings that he had on the balcony the other night broke forth and he leaned down, capturing her lips. Velkara closed her eyes and kissed back on impact. The feeling that she had gotten from Dracula that night on the dance floor was back again, this time it felt hotter for some reason. Could it have been because the castle was cold? Or was it for some other reason?
At that moment, a flash popped into her mind. It held the same feel as that of the dream she had between Reona and Vlad the other night. This time, it was a man, looking much like Helsing, in silver armor. He was holding that woman, Reona, in his arms as her blood spilled all over him. Fear spread through her. What had happened? Who was that holding her? Where was Dracula?
Then, the image left her. "Now, go." Helsing whispered to her, pulling back slightly. "Go. Go." She nodded and took off after the others. He watched after her for a moment before he turned and ran towards the other tower.
Velkara felt the tears burning her eyes and she paused. She couldn't leave Helsing to go against Dracula alone. But at the same time…she didn't want to go face Dracula and watch one of the die. She didn't want any of them to do. Why was this always what happened? Why!
Whose side was she on!
With a fight in her head, Velkara finally chose a side before she turned and hurried after Helsing. She wasn't going to let him fight alone.
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