HOLMES-

I had never seen such a look of determination on someone's face. Evangeline's brown eyes were cold and hard. There was a fire behind them. I knew that at any moment she would release her vampiric nature.

"Welcome Lady Evangeline," Alasdair said. "I suppose I have you to thank for that hit on the head."

"You do. I must say, Alasdair that it was a pleasure."

"But it must be an even greater pleasure to be in my presence once more," he said circling Evangeline.

"To be honest, the fact I'm in your presence sickens me."

"Ahh…tsk, tsk." Alasdair moved his hands to the bun in Evangeline's hair. In the blink of an eye he whipped the hair sticks out. Her hair tumbled down her shoulders in one seamless movement. Alasdair turned the concealed weapons over in his hand. He pressed down on the mechanisms and the spikes shot out. "Impressive. It looks like da Vinci's work." He touched the tip and pricked his finger. "Sharp little things. So sharp I could use them to kill you, milady."

"Then why don't you? You clearly have the upper hand."

"I know I do, but killing you would be too easy. Not to mention messy."

He threw Evangeline's hair sticks to the floor as he faced her. He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulled her close and kissed her. Evangeline struggled and pushed him away, but he still held her close.

"Join me Evangeline. Together we could conquer the world and you be at my side as my queen."

"I would sooner be in Hell!"

She pushed out of his grip and raised her hand to strike him. He caught her by the wrist and twisted her around so that her back was to him. His arms held her tightly as she fought him. But it was useless. The harder she fought, the tighter his grip upon her became.

"Such fire," Alasdair hissed in her ear. "I think I need to persuade you another way."

"Nothing you say will persuade me to join you."

"Say? It's not what I'm going to say, it's what I'm going to do to persuade you," he said brushing her hair away from her neck. In a flash Alasdair whipped Evangeline's head back, exposing her neck and biting into it.

Her scream chilled the very blood in my veins. I watched in horror as Alasdair attacked. I tried to reach her, but the guards held me at bay. All I could do was watch her change again. Her eyes became blood red. Her canines sharpened to their vampiric state. Even her hair changed becoming curled into tight corkscrews. She soon became limp in Alasdair's arms. He let her fall to the ground.

"Arise," Alasdair commanded.

Evangeline slowly rose to her feet. Her eyes were no longer red, but they had no life in them. Her expression was a blank stare. Blood dribbled down her neck from the puncture marks left by Alasdair's teeth.

"What have you done?" I shouted at him.

Alasdair looked at me and raised his eyebrows. "I simply gave Evangeline a different point of view." He sat back down in his throne. "I suggest that you start running Mr. Holmes."

"Why?"

"Now that I have your lover in my power, what better way to dispense with my competition than by having her eliminate you. You have five minutes before I send her after you."

What could I do but run? I knew that Evangeline could easily kill me and would in her present state of mind. If I was going to help her, I had to run.

For the first time in my life, I knew what absolute terror was. I couldn't escape from Evangeline no matter how many times I turned a corner or laid a false trail. She knew the scent of my blood and would follow it. Instead of the hound, I was now the fox and I was being hunted.

I heard the clicking of heeled boots approaching. I knew it was Evangeline. I could not believe that the sounds of those familiar footsteps were the footsteps of my own death.

"Are you trying to hide from me Sherlock?" she called out to me. Her voice was different. It was hoarse and menacing. "Why should you try? I will find you."

As she said these final words an arm shot out and grabbed me from behind. It pulled me into a column. When I recovered, I saw that my savior was Samantha, one of the vampires from Weatherly Manor that had given us such a warm welcome.

"This way," she said.

"Why should I trust you? You tried to kill me the last time we met."

"I know and I am sorry for that. I didn't know what I was thinking."

"Why are you helping me?"

"Because Lady Evangeline was right about Beatrice. She was right about everything," Samantha said leading me down a dark passage. In her hand, Samantha held a candlestick, which provided illumination for us.

"What do you mean?"

"Lady Evangeline told me that Beatrice would only cause me trouble if I remained with her. And well she has. Beatrice killed my lover."

"I'm sorry."

"You've spoken to a girl from the village. Mara?"

"Yes."

"She told you that girls have gone missing in the village?"

"Yes."

"My lover was one of those girls. Her name was Reveka." She paused for a few moments. "I saw everything that happened to her ladyship. I will make you a deal Mr. Holmes. If I help you get Lady Evangeline back, will you help me get back into her good graces?"

"I can but try."

"I'll settle for that. Follow me."

Samantha led me down a series of tunnels. They were old, damp, and dark. So dark that the candle Samantha held did not yield enough light and I could not see where I was going. I had to rely on Samantha to lead me by the hand. She suddenly stopped in front of a panel. She pushed in a brick and the panel slid aside.

"We must hurry," she said as we entered a spacious library. "Lady Evangeline will pick up your scent sooner or later."

"What are we doing here?"

"Looking for a way to help her. Dracula has an extensive library on the subject of vampires. There might be something in one of these books."

We searched through the books on Dracula's shelves for what seemed like hours and to no avail. Even in the face of such adversity, Samantha turned out to be quite a scholar.

"Ah Ha!" Samantha cried out. "I've got it. Why didn't I see it before?"

"What? What did you find?"

"When Alasdair bite her ladyship, the darkness, which is in all vampires, increased tenfold."

"What is the darkness?"

"The way Lady Evangeline described it, it was a kind of poison. She said that it harbors a vampire's need for blood. If the darkness is great enough, the blood lust begins to set in. To quench it, a vampire must have blood."

"I see, but how do we get Evangeline back to her right wits?"

"Since the darkness is a kind of poison, why not suck it out of the wound?"

"And how do you propose I get close enough to do that without her killing me?"

"I haven't gotten that far yet."

I looked around for something to inspire me. Looking over the hearth I saw Dracula's family crest. Two swords were thrust behind it forming on X.

"I know how," I said. "Can you get those swords?"

Samantha nodded and misted up to the crest. She took the swords down and brought them to me.

"What are you going to do?" she asked.

"Fight her with these swords. It's the only way I can get close to her."

"Are you crazy?! She could kill you. Her ladyship is a skilled fencer and in her present state of mind she won't hold back."

"I know, but it's a chance I have to take. You wait here. If I don't survive, you must try and free Dracula and the others. Do you understand?"

She nodded. "Good luck."

I left Samantha in the library with the swords in hand. Instead of running from Evangeline, I went looking for her. It didn't take me long to find her. I saw her at the end of a passage, just standing there.

She smiled. "I knew you'd find me."

"You weren't hard to find, my dear," I said smugly.

"You know that in looking for me, you've signed your life away."

"I do indeed, but…" I threw one of the swords at her. "I am not going without a fight."

She bent down and picked up the sword. "En garde," she said. She charged toward me and our duel began.

We parried, thrust, and countered, but in a matter of minutes, Evangeline had me pinned to the floor. She sat upon my chest pinning my arms with her knees. She bent down and bit my neck. I gasped as she sucked the blood from my veins. She stopped momentarily to look me in the eye. In that moment, I saw that the wounds on her neck were still open and blood oozed from them. A few drops fell into my mouth as I coughed.

"This is good-bye my love," she said in my ear as she started to go back to her feeding.

"I think not."

I kicked one of my legs up and hooked Evangeline's back. She rolled off of me and hissed. I got up and ran to her. I pushed her into a stonewall with our swords crossed. At that moment I seized my chance. I brought my mouth over the wounds on her neck and began to suck her blood from the wound.

As her blood passed through my lips, I felt my body heat increased. I moaned as I drank. All the times I had gone to bed with Evangeline, I had never known the kind of ecstasy or the passion that I know experienced.

"My God!" Evangeline shouted. She pushed me away from her with such force that I fell to the floor. "Sherlock Holmes what did you think you were doing?!"

"Bringing you back to you right wits?" I said sitting up.

"My right wits? What in Heaven's name…" she stopped and crouched down in front of me. Reaching out, Evangeline touched my mouth. She examined the blood on her fingers as she withdrew her hand. She licked her fingers free of the blood. "My blood," she whispered. Evangeline looked over at me- or rather my neck. Her eyes widened with horror when she saw the wounds her teeth had made. "Oh my God! What have I done?" She collapsed to the floor. I crawled over to her and put my arms around her shoulders. She leaned into my chest, her whole body quivering in terror. "I've infected you," she said in a breaking voice. "You'll crave blood. You're on the road to becoming a vampire."

I tilted her chin upward. Red droplets were forming in her eyes. "Then there's nothing we can do to stop it. But that is not our concern at the moment. Our concern is defeating Alasdair. Come. Samantha is waiting for us in the library."

"Samantha?"

"I'll explain on the way."

In the library, I presented Samantha's case to Evangeline. Upon hearing how Samantha helped, Evangeline agreed to allow Samantha to return to Weatherly Manor provided there was no more mischief from her. Samantha agreed. We held a council of war and came up with this plan:

Evangeline and I would go back to the Great Hall. Evangeline would pretend she was still under Alasdair's influence and present me to him. At a precise moment, Evangeline would engage Alasdair in battle. In the mean time, Samantha would come and help me free the other captives.

Outside the Great Hall, Evangeline took me into her arms and picked me up in a bridal carry. I went limp and tried to relax. I heard her kick the door open.

"Did you succeed?" Alasdair asked.

"Not quite. He's still alive, but barely. I wanted to finish him in your presence, my lord. My master."

"Then finish him."

Evangeline set me on the floor. I heard Watson cry out and struggle against his captors. I felt Evangeline kiss my neck were the puncture marks from her teeth rested. "Now?" she whispered.

"Now!" I shouted.

I sat up with a start and flashed the crucifix that Evangeline had given me as Evangeline sprang forward. All the vampires cringed when they saw the cross, which gave Watson and Van Helsing a chance to subdue their guards. One of the beams near them was splintering. They grabbed some pieces of wood and thrust them in the vampire guards. I put the crucifix away and went to Dracula to see why he was so weak. I found a garland of wild roses around his neck. I remember that in one of our talks, Evangeline had said that all vampires are weakened if they wore a garland of wild roses. I ripped the garland from his neck and tossed it aside. Dracula immediately began to recover. With in seconds he was standing and joining in the fray.

I looked around for Evangeline. She and Alasdair were in the rafters. She chased him from beam to beam like squirrels in a tree. He suddenly crashed through a stain glass window taking their battle onto the roof.

Dracula picked up Mara, while Watson and Van Helsing helped Mr. Weatherly. We all hurried towards the doors of the Great Hall. As we reached the threshold, Beatrice blocked our path.

"You can't escape," she hissed.

We stood at bay. Dracula put Mara down and stood before us all. Beatrice seemed unafraid of Dracula during this second encounter. Beatrice pulled back in order to get momentum to spring forward, but in mid-motion she stopped and gasped. The point of a wooden stake emerged from her chest and blood oozed out of the wound. She fell forward with a fixed expression of pain on her face. As she fell, she revealed Samantha who was breathing heavily.

"For Reveka?" I asked.

She gave a little smile. "For Reveka. But now we must hurry."

With Samantha and Dracula in the lead, we made our escape to the courtyard. As we came to the gate, our vampire guides stopped.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Evangeline," Dracula replied. Looking up on the roof, I saw two figures engaged in deadly combat. "All of you go the village with Mara," Dracula commanded. "Samantha and I will remain here. One of us will come for you when the battle is over."

We all ran through the gate towards the road, which lead to the village. Before running down the road, I took one last look at Evangeline as she fought for our lives far above the earth. Someone tugged my arm. Looking, I found Mara pulling my arm indicating for me to follow her. I relented and followed her down the road to the village that lay in the shadow of Castle Dracula.