Chapter Fourteen
"S...sometimes," Bob said.
"This far in?"
This time, Bob didn't reply. Tony thought back to the dream he'd had at the start of this whole mess, but something about this felt much worse. The heavy feeling in his stomach was accompanied by a stillness in the air. Von pulled away from the window and turned to face the group. Tony could see the fog drift in the direction of the Thompson home. Von looked to the boy and at once seemed to understand immediately. He looked at Bob and Dottie, who looked at each other and then back at Von. "If you think you can beat this freaky fog thing, then go for it," Bob said with a shrug.
Von gestured for Tony to follow him, and they slipped out the back door. Von pulled Tony onto his back and took off. The fog was blanketing the village and definitely rolling toward Tony's house. "Think we can make it?" Tony asked.
"We have to try," Von replied. "Just hold on and you'll be just fine." Von dove to pick up speed, and then he banked toward the castle. The vanguard tendrils of the fog were creeping along the countryside below, at least, so it seemed to Tony, but considering that Von was struggling to keep up, he figured his impression might be incorrect.
"I read that some vampires can turn into fog."
"You've read correctly, lad. It's a challenging skill, but it can be done."
Tony pointed to the fog. "What vampire's that?"
"The Count."
"The Count?"
"Count Dracula himself."
"But he's not real."
"The Dracula found in the book is incredibly loosely based on a real vampire. Popular culture downplays how dangerous and powerhungry he really is."
Tony looked down at the fog and then at the castle that was his home. "Think we'll make it?"
"I hope so." Von dove again to pick up a little speed. "Another few minutes and we'll find out."
They kept pace with the tendrils of fog until they reached the castle. Von flew around it to the back and landed on the balcony in front of Tony's bedroom window. They slipped inside, but there Von stopped in his tracks and gestured for Tony to do the same. In the room was a bare-chested, pale man with a feral face smeared with blood. His fingers were wrapped around the Stone of Attamon.
Then, just as suddenly as he had arrested their attention, he disappeared in a puff of smoke. "Now we're screwed," Von whispered.
"Now what?" Tony asked.
"The stone isn't enough. That man, the Count, wants to draw the demons out of the gates of hell."
"What?"
"We need to go to the cliffs, and we all need to be there." Tony blinked in confusion, but figured that Von had used his mind-reading powers to come to such a conclusion. They flew out of the window.
TLV
Von landed easily near the rocks while the Thompsons and the Sackville-Bagg family pulled up in the Sackville-Bagg van. Fog swirled around a clear circle roughly fifteen feet in diameter around the cliff's edge. Almost directly above the circle hung a full moon, tinted the color of blood. Tony crept closer to Von.
Bob and Frederick were the first to climb out of the car and move through the swirling fog to the edge of the circle. They were followed by Gregory, Rudolph, Anna, and finally Freda and Dottie. Rudolph rushed over to Tony, and Gregory, in spite of, or perhaps because of, the circumstances, was plainly trying to keep his distance from Frederick.
Von chewed his lip and took a couple steps into the circle enclosed by the fog. "What's he doing?" Tony whispered to Rudolph.
"I don't know," Rudolph replied, unbridled worry in his voice. Tony swallowed. "What happened exactly at the house?"
"Some weird guy without a shirt on showed up and took the amulet."
"What weird guy?"
Tony shrugged. "Somebody called Count Dracula, I guess, but I always expected him to have a shirt on."
"He's lost his mind. He's completely lost his mind. Tony, whatever you do, we have to stay close. Do you understand?" Tony nodded vigorously. "Good."
Rudolph scanned the circle, unsure which move to make next.
Two shapes emerged from the fog, the caretaker and Lord McAshton, and approached Von, who in turn backed up so that he was close to the two boys. "I was wondering where those two went," Von said as the fledglings approached, mad snarl-smiles on their faces. Tony looked over at his parents and the Sackville-Baggs, who clustered together and had moved a foot or so along the circumference of the circle.
Then Rudolph and Tony looked up at the moon, closer to a point directly above the center of the circle. The fledglings approached a couple more paces before stopping and turning toward the center. Along the circumference of the circle, tendrils of fog swirled in toward the center and then up in a thick, twisting column of smoke.
Forming at the top of the column, arms outstretched and face turned up toward the moon, was the vampire identified as Count Dracula.