Chapter 12: Devil In the Skin of an Angel

Lana woke up in a room filled with red. Red loft chairs, red curtains, red rug, and a red lounge chair. She looked. She was lying on a red canopy bed. The walls remained cold brick, and the air icy. She remembered. Alex was about to die; get his throat ripped out by Cari…but then…the power! The holy power! She must have used it, because not only did she not blank out this time, but could actually remember visions of Cari disintegrating, and Alex alive, breathing before she passed out. The crystal! She felt her hand move in her shirt, and around her neck but the crystal was no where to be found.

"Looking for this?"

That voice, the strong accent, and the strong male dominance. This was it. She was finally meeting the famed Dracula.

...

Alex climbed to his feet, using the tree as a support. He better treat his wounds before going after Lana. His hand was blistered and sore, his wrists scraped with blood, and his head undoubtedly had a cut and bruise where Cari had been so rough, and his back aching slightly. Thank god Charles had put the Advil in the pack. Cari seemed so strong, and done him some good damage this time around. Lilith. She did something to heal Cari and hell it made her stronger. Lilith had also prepared a raging witches spell judging but the black flames.

His gun…he spotted both lying off to the side one by a tree, and the other just hidden in a bush. Shit. Why was he so stupid? He should have been boiling bullets in holy water and soaking knives in them…not kissing Lana…but then again…crap. Why did he have to have had feelings for this girl? His whole life he'd only had two other girlfriends, who never knew his real identity, and never meant much to him…and even back then he was young and rebellious, more than now even. They were easy to pick up and easy to let go, these teenage flings. He knew that with his line of work there wasn't much room for romance, and hell he'd adapted to lonely quiet well. But Lana, so desperate and strong at the same time…and so misunderstood…maybe that was why? Maybe it was because he understood her. And now she was gone, all because he couldn't man up to his guns and save her. Instead, she saved him. She had used all of her strength to make sure he lived.

It must be her emotions; the trigger to her power. Whether it was her desperation or maybe even love, he probably would never know, but her crying eyes told him it was one of the two or both. He felt his stomach knot. He went over to the backpack that both Lana and he had dropped early on in the battle. Luckily the vampires were so strung out on capturing her they didn't take these either. He went to bandaging himself, pulled a glove over his burnt hand, and started a fire to soak every last piece of weaponry in the holy water.

...

She looked at the necklace dangling from his pale fingers. The same necklace both Alex and Charles told her to make sure remained out of the hands of vampires; and there it was in Dracula's. Her eyes followed the pale hand to a loosely crimson red button up shirt draped over a well toned body. His hair to his shoulders in dark red-brown waving locks, and his eyes a golden color that were rained by red flecks, both colors unmistakably inhuman. However his chiseled face wasn't more than a man of 30, but would place him somewhere in-between 20 and the latter. If she didn't know he was Dracula, he'd be someone she'd consider extremely hot, handsome, and devilish. His skin wasn't pale like in the movies to a point of being white, nor did his hair have that widow's peak that Halloween decorations depicted him as. He wore a cape that pinned to his shoulders and black slacks that were neither too tight nor too loose. She could see that his beauty presented danger; those who don't look dangerous are most easy to give into, in the same way the saying goes that "looks can be deceiving."

He looked back at her. She appeared to be a lost puppy, but knew that if this girl was the same one who defeated Cari in one blow was nothing more than a tiger on the inside. The girls told him her eyes had turned golden; one of the many signs of immortality. His turned red with bloodlust and hers turned the pure golden of God's dreadful light. His golden eyes were simply a mask; like this body he had. Beautiful, while he aged over thousands of years old on the inside. She was stunning for a young one. Her long brown locks, dark and wavy tousled around her face. Her clothes…well nothing of modern clothes was appealing very often to him, and it seemed Helsing had equipped her with some pieces that weren't her own. Best of all of course, Helsing had fallen for the girl, and undoubtedly she had fallen for him. Bargaining chips none the less. Plus this crystal was in his power too.

"It is the crystal that you wore around your neck when you killed my vampiress?"

"She was going to kill Alex."

"Alex? Oh Helsing…yes, that would have been tragic. I don't need excuses, you have power and you used it.
Those who have power are tragic if they do not use it when they can."

She silently wished her power would emerge as it did just earlier today. She remained silent.

"This crystal, its power is not known to any user. Any human would see this as a mere piece of jewelry but it's not. Have you ever heard of a blood diamond? Well this is called a blood ruby. Passed on, rumored to have been cut, created and made with the blood of the savior himself…the same way wine is called as his blood. It will reveal any demon to its wearer, and for you child, seems to direct your power to the intended quite powerfully. Burns the skin of a human, but singes the skin of a demon twice fold."

"I am not a child."

"Of course not, my mistake." He bowed slightly with his head. "You are a powerful woman, and you deserve to be recognized for it."

"I don't want to be recognized for my power, but for who I am." She answered coldly. Alex knew how she felt; this Dracula was the same as any other man…wanted her for her powers and possessions.

"Oh but you will, you'll be known for the girl who helped bring the vampire nation back to life."

"Never. I intend to do the opposite." She squinted her eyes, voice harsh. If Alex could be brave, than she could too. Her blood tasted gross to them, her powers probably prevented her immunity from vampirism and she was the key to their undoing. Even against Dracula she held some sort of power.

"Do you? Because I don't believe so…your father and your step mother? Do you know how your mother really died? I guess you killed Cari, so that evens the score since she killed your mother. Plus it seems Helsing means more to you now doesn't he?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Play naïve. But I saw what you did to save him. Lilith and Mel can dispose of him the same way Cari almost did. Your family is another just the same. Helsing's little old hench man can't protect them from that."

"You wouldn't!" She sneered at him.

"I would if I have to. But you do put on such a brave face for me, I do like it." He started walking closer to her. Her eyes widened in fear.

"Ah, there's the fear I was looking for." He placed his hand under her chin and lifted it up to his face. "You really are too beautiful for that Helsing boy. You should choose your lovers more wisely."

"I should say the same for you, hookers with wings I'm sure don't have the best rep' either." She gave him attitude, while he remained only inches from her face.

"They may not, but they provide."

"…You your new host?" She asked as if continuing his sentence. He let go of the grip on her, her hands behind her grasping hard on the red sheet behind her.

"Ah so you know my secrets do you?" He smiled at her. "Then I must get to know yours. I will return. Take this room as your own, prepare yourself, clean, and I will have Mel give you something more suitable to wear."

She looked at her clothes. Her stitches in her jacket were probably torn, her black pants stained with mud, and her purple shirt was nothing short of casual. However she wouldn't let herself submit to her captor.

"Only if I think it is suitable."

"Fair enough." He said before closing the doors to her chambers. She ran after but they were locked, proving her suspicion to be right. The window was too far above the ground, she'd fall and no sheet made escape rope would even compare to the height she'd have to go down, and a mote mimicked the medieval era with dark murky water. She sighed and fell onto the bed. Now it was all up to Helsing. She'd resist Dracula for as long as she could, but with everyone she cared about as bargaining chips she didn't know how long she could last.