I dedicate this fanfiction to my girlfriend and all my followers, reviewers and beta reader wallaceb.
After a little break finally the story continues with the chapter to which you asked me more, the battle between Drac and Helsing.
I warn you it will not be a conventional battle ...
Happy reading!
CHAPTER 23 - Old grudges
Dracula arrived at the cemetery in no time. It was day time, but the sky became cloudy; no sun but no darkness, the fight would take place a little later they would have been equal.
"Dracula! So you really exist. I was beginning to think you were only a legend." Simon broke the unnatural silence, his voice was calm, almost smug.
Dracula turned and looked up just above him; the hunter was sitting above a crypt. It was incredible how the vampire could not feel his heartbeat.
"I saw that beautiful castle over there, it's your home? I'd be curious to visit it, so you could present me to your friends and relatives. By the way, do you know I've caught one of your wives cheating on you with a fool? What, did you not satisfy her enough?" The man teased chuckling under his red beard uncut for a few days.
"I loved my wife, but those like you killed her! And now you dared to hurt my daughter and her boyfriend? Why are you humans so cruel?" Dracula replied hoarsely, and then from the cloak he took out a walking stick from which he drew a rapier pointing menacingly at the hunter.
"Your daughter... she is pretty for a monster, she seemed really upset when I hit that guy by mistake. Did you teach her to lie so well?" Simon continued without worrying about the blade that was pointed at him.
"How did you find us?"Ranted the vampire.
"Since the attack at the Lubov castle my family has been looking for you for generations, but you seemed to disappear into thin air. It is true that no one sees what he has under his nose. Transylvania is a poor region, the only wealth is the picturesque landscapes and ancient castles, and to increase tourism the population has fanned the flames of the legends about monsters. No hunter is in Transylvania because there are thousands of fake reports every year, but this time it was different... obviously I'm not so stupid to believe that a group of real monsters crossed the monster festival because it is clearly an advertisement, but an airliner hijacked by a smoldering bat intrigued me. But tell me, how's your daughter? You know I'm a bit worried about her."
"You bastard!"The vampire growled, then, too angry to sit still, he set out to attack unleashing a blow that was blocked by Simon with a katana which he drew from behind his back. While the swords screeched among them the hunter continued to talk heedless of danger:
"Do you already cut the cheese? I was hoping you were a preliminary dude. I like to chat, especially with new interesting people. I'm sorry to have to kill you... Hahaha, joke, I'm not sorry at all!"
The two blades hissed each other and then broke away, but they did not remain separate for a long time because both immediately returned to the charge with a series of hits.
"You are too old for this!" Simon continued to speak as if he considered himself too good to focus on the clash and this made Dracula nervous.
The swords were stalled leaving the two men face to face.
"You mean I have too much experience for someone like you!"
Then the vampire pushed hard making the man back away a few feet.
"Your daughter is much stronger and scarier than you! I've never been so scared to die like that time!"
Dracula growled in anger, and then raised a hand to Simon; he seemed to focus on, but nothing happened.
"What are you trying to do?" Asked the human puzzled,"Maybe you want to use your powers to kill me? Are you really so stupid?"Then he continued in a very angry tone, "On my skin I have more seals against black magic than scars, and trust me, because of you bastards I have a lot of them."
"You may be immune to my magic, but are you immune to this?"Dracula said defiantly, then motioned his forefinger and several tombstones in the cemetery raised from the ground and then rushed against the hunter.
"Oh, no..." He complained disconsolately just before the first stone blocks reached him, but he managed to avoid them throwing himself to the ground. Dracula wasted no time and continued to throw other tombstones against him that Simon destroyed by cutting with the katana.
"Are you going to stoning me?" Said the man, the joke make the vampire chuckle, who replied:
"No, I want to see your face imprinted on one of these! Say 'cheese' so I can take a snapshot!"
"I did not think you had such a keen sense of humor as well. You had to do cabaret, your jokes make... die laughing!" Said the human.
Dracula was about to burst out laughing, but chose to hold back, he did not want give this satisfaction to the enemy.
Simon took advantage of the vampire's distraction to throw three shuriken at him, but Dracula managed to take them.
"Did you think to take me aback? I don't fool so easil- Aaaaaargh" the vampire screamed, dropping the ninja stars and blowing his burned hands.
"Who's that who cannot be fooled so easily?"
"Damn you and your silver weapons!"
"Do you prefer that?" Said the man pulling out the bow and opening it. As soon as the vampire saw it, he felt his blood boil. At that moment he relived what his daughter had suffered. He was about to start attacking, but he stayed on the defensive, because more shuriken were coming towards him that he deviated with his sword. An arrow followed them going at a speed that even the vampire had expected. He managed to block that, too, but his rapier flew out of his hand and stuck in the ground.
"Powerful, is not? You are still used to the old wooden bows? These compounds made of carbon fiber and pulleys are small, but much, much more powerful than you can imagine! It cost me a kidney, but it was worth it."
"What traitor monster could sell weapons like that for a bit of your guts?"
Simon stared at the vampire with disappointment, and then answered:
"Look, it's just an idiom for something I paid a lot for, I have not been disemboweled by anyone... except by your daughter!" Then he continued with a very mocking tone, "Tsh, I thought you were smarter, you know?"
"In addition to speaking can you do something else?" The vampire was increasingly irritated by the disrespectful human.
"Not even you are that great, the king of darkness, I was expecting great things!" Simon answered loading another arrow and shot without hesitation.
The trajectory of the arrow was so predictable that for Dracula it was enough to move slightly to avoid it, but he realized too late that at the bottom of the dart a ball of paper was tied to it which with a small bang released a dense white cloud.
"Cough, cough, cough!" The vampire coughed loudly, his eyes reddened and he was struggling to breathe.
"Garlic bombs? What a coward you are!" Dracula said breathlessly.
"Cowardice or wit? After all, all is fair in war to win!"
The air was still imbued with the smell of garlic and for this Dracula was at a disadvantage, so he decided to try to get as far away as he could from that place.
The vampire began to run, took the rapier from the ground and went to a river that flowed near the cemetery.
"You say I'm a coward and then you flee from the battlefield? Rabbit and also stupid! How do you think you can escape so easily?" Simon exclaimed before loading an arrow with a big red tip and shot.
The flight was accurate, but slow due to excessive weight it reached the vampire while he was running along a trunk that connected the two banks of the river. It struck his mantle piercing it and then dug into the wood.
BOOM!
The explosion, which Dracula did not expect, threw him into the water, but he managed to land on a piece of driftwood.
Even Simon followed him jumping on another piece of wood.
"So it's true you vampires cannot overcome running water?"
"I do not know what you're talking about, I can swim very well! It's just that I don't want to ruffle my hair."
Meanwhile, the slope of the land increased turning the stream into rapids.
"My human friend told me that we must to carry on to 'roll'... Now let's see where we roll!"
The two improvised surfers began to take more and more speed, while the rocks protruding from the water made the game more and more dangerous.
"Hey, Helsing, are you enjoying yourself in Transylvanialand?" Said Dracula amused to see the hunter struggle to maintain a stable trajectory.
"Let's see if you're having fun after this!" Simon answered defiantly.
The man stood up on the trunk, loaded his bow and shot an arrow that Dracula dodged with a simple hop.
"Hop! Missed!" Said the vampire to hunter to make fun of him, but it was only when he returned on his trunk that he knew what Simon was aiming for a low shot. The silver arrow stuck in the wood making it immune to Dracula's powers, who clumsily tried to stay balanced on it but fell into the water.
Helsing smiled, but soon he realized that the little personal victory would cost him dear. Air is not essential for vampires, if they cannot breathe, they are able to obtain the energy that the body needs through magic.
The human reloaded his bow and aimed at the water beneath him, but due to the current he could not see anything.
"You cannot hide yourself forever! Come on out if you dare, wussy!"
"It's not you who said that all is fair in war?" The voice of the vampire was much closer than Simon imagined. He lifted his gaze immediately, but Dracula was already bearing down on him with an unsheathed rapier.
In the next chapter there will be Mavis too.
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See you soon!