Chapter 21: Blood, Sweat and Tears

She grabbed him, and as quietly as she could tried to help lift him to the bed. She ripped off a piece of her dress and used it as a clean rag to help wipe away some of the blood.

"Wha-what happened?" She whispered as she looked sadly at him as she watched him wince at her touch.

"The shad...The shadows are bewitched." He said with a hoarse voice. "Lilith...they are alive...or sliced me...hands...like knives-"

"You lost blood...shh-"

"-get rid of it, throw it out the window...they'll smell it." Alex said as she continued to wipe his wounds clean. "Don't worry about me."

"Really? You're torn to shreds and you tell me not to worry? I won't worry about you when I'm being pinned down by Dracula...or confined in a room by an old classmate whose now a psycho vampire but ...but..." She started to feel the tears well up again and couldn't hold them back.

Alex looked at her. Her neck was still stained with the color of blood, her eyes running with tears...desperate...alone. He reached up and cradled the back of her head in his hand, and looked up at her. "I'll fix this."

"Brandon...I mean how...why won't he recognize me?"

"New vampires...ouch...loose their memories of their human life...it becomes foggy the more they fall under the spell of lust for blood...with a High Mistress like Lilith as their owner or master...its likely she's told them something about you to make them hate you or be on her side..."

"But...I can't kill him...I-"

"Its not Brandon anymore...its a monster in his body...look dont think about it right now." He looked up at her with empathetic eyes. The first amount of empathy she'd seen, the first human face she'd looked at for days. She went to the table and wrinced the cloth in the water and when it turned red she walked to the window and let the blood water hit the mote. She whiped him off once more until most of the blood was gone and threw the rag out the window as well.

"Maybe they'll think I drowned..."

"Don't even say that." Lana said, her eyes still wet with tears.

"Shh...you're alone in here...we can't have them know...the two meat heads are probably out there watching guard...actually can they be meat heads if their dead? Jerky heads?"

Lana rolled her eyes, and felt a small smile creep to her face. "Shut up you idiot."

"Speaking of idiots whose the one who agreed to be Dracula's little girl-friend?"

"Excuse me?! I'm his Queen and no it wasn't my choice...as soon as you get to killing Lilith and those others...I'll work on the power problem..." She tried to keep her voice to a yelling whisper.

"Fair enough." Helsing shrugged. "Nice place though...better then the dungeon I was sitting in."

"Its still a prison." She said as she laid down on the bed too. She needed sleep...but sleep just gave her nightmares. "Where have you been?" She asked almost accusingly.

"Oh I don't know I killed Mel...had a little tango with some dark enchanted evil ass shadows and am trying to find a way to get you out of here...but you know not much..." Alex grunted as he rearranged his back, tenderly resting it on a pillow.

"...you don't get it do you!?" She rolled over so she didn't have to look at him.

"Don't get what? How much of a creep that Dracula is or-"

"You don't feel his cold hands run up your shoulders...his mouth on your lips...his teeth on your neck! I did this to save you...to try to help you so we could kill him...and for my parents...I have no choice...but if it was up to me-"

"I'm sorry." Helsing looked at her. Her blood trail on her neck, now dry was still visible where her hair fell even when she was turned away. He'd forgotten that she'd been putting up with the brunt of it...he'd really been selfishly thinking when Dracula had had his hands on her. "...If it was up to me, I'd have you out of here by now...but I barely made it outside that window by myself...until the shadows are un-hexed I can't go much of anywhere...and..."

"I wish I could go back to how it was before...why does it have to be me?!" She flipped around suddenly on the bed and felt all of her emotional strength leave her. She couldn't stop the tears anymore...she couldn't pretend to be alright or strong...she felt her arms cross, holding herself in a hug...her nails digging into her arms as if she wanted to pinch herself into reality from the nightmare.

Alex was surprised, as he looked at her with wide eyes. He hadn't seen her break yet since they'd been trying to figure this all out...it was really his fault for putting her right on Dracula's track...he thought things would have been a lot simpler with her power. I guess he'd been so distanced from the outside world he'd forgotten this feeling of vulnerableness and distress...he'd even forgot about the feeling of wanting to care for someone else...that feeling he'd tried to block out of his life since his father...

Lana felt stupid. She hated herself for crying in front of him like some weak pathetic damsel...some girl who couldn't handle her own power...but she couldn't stop the tears. She was just about to turn away from him when -

She felt arms wrap around her.

She held her breath for a minute. Helsing had placed his chin over her head and pulled her close to his chest. He smelled of blood and sweat, but underneath was the kind of musk she'd smelled on his jacket the first time he'd up and swooped her from the bathroom with Mel, Cari and Lilith. She didn't care...she felt the warmth of his shirt, his skin, his heart. She'd really never put herself out there...vulnerability wasn't anything she'd come to show; no real boyfriends...and she always felt like she had to be the strong one after her mother's death. She'd felt something before in the woods with him, but she didn't know...maybe it was just a passing attraction; after his absence she'd even questioned it in her own mind but now...but now...

He heard her start to cry again, and held her closer. A part of him thought maybe it would muffle the sound of her cries, the other part - a part that rarely came out - wanted to hold her until she felt like she wasn't alone in this and she didn't have to cry. He'd been flirting before with her...he never expected that she'd ever do that to him...but even then he wondered whether it would pass as harmless fling...now...now he wasn't so sure. He didn't know if he'd ever want to see her with another...Dracula...even Brandon's face made him angry to think he'd pushed himself on her as well. He felt her; she was cold...not ice cold, but her skin, bare outside the satin red dress...her heartbeat and breaths heavy beneath her small sobs. He kissed her on the forehead.

"I won't let you go through the rest of this alone."

She felt her crying slow...her cries to sobs...her sobs to heavy breaths. His words, his touch...all calming her somehow. She'd never expected him to be so personal and -

- she heard a noise... Voices outside her door. Someone was coming...and if that was true... if they came in here...Alex Van Helsing would be killed on the spot.