AN: Thanks to Aradia-Hornbeam, and Fortune Zyne
Aradia-Hornbeam: Yea, Language barriers suck, huh? Hmm … Dracula lurking in his own castle? Maybe … You'll just have to read and see, ha, ha! Thanks for the review!
Fortune Zyne: yeah, that's how I wanted it to be, hee, hee. Darey is always getting ditched in real life, so I wanted some people to show some sympathy for her
Through the Veil
CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
JUSTINE AND DOMMY
Justine winced as the door squeaked open. Dommy just whistled happily. "Everything in this castle is so BIG!" He exclaimed. Then he looked up at Justine. "You think he's compensating for something?"
"Aren't they always?" Justine grumbled under her breath. Then she groaned. "Oh Dom! Thanks a lot for the disturbing mental picture!"
"Welcome!" Dommy said joyously.
"Small children should not be talking like that," Justine said, shaking her pointer finger at the eleven year old. He just shrugged.
"You should hear some of the stuff Josh says," He said with a grin. "And then the stuff under his bed …"
"I'm never looking at your brother in the same way ever again," Justine told him with a shudder. She peered out from behind the door and glanced into the room, holding the torch up to get a better sight of what was inside. The room had been abandoned for some time.
"No one here," She said, pulling away. Dommy latched a hold of her wrist.
"Get back here," He said. "I think I've seen this place before." He started walking into the room. Justine withheld a groan as she was dragged inside.
"How could you have seen this place before?" She demanded.
"It was in the movie," Dommy replied.
"You didn't watch the movie," Justine reminded him.
"I watched the ending," Dommy said defensively. He studied the room with awe. "I think this was the room VH killed Dracula and Anna in."
"But Anna isn't dead," Justine said.
"Have you been paying any attention at all?" Dommy demanded.
"Right, he killed her, now she's back from the dead somehow. Got it," Justine muttered. Dommy started running about the room. "Hey, hey! Bring that light over here! I think this is the spot where Dracula died. Oh, yea, it is! See, there's a dried puddle of black blood. Eww. Hey, what's that?"
"Don't cause trouble!" Justine warned as she slowly walked around the room, a slight shiver passing through her body.
Dommy leaned over the pass where Dracula and Van Helsing had fought five years ago. "Hey Justine, there's some torches lying around. Light them up, okay?"
Justine turned around and looked up at him. "We're supposed to be looking for Anna and Van Helsing," She reminded him.
"Come on," Dommy whined. "It'll be fun. Hey, I think that's the couch Anna died on!"
"Out of all the rooms," Justine grumbled under her breath before approaching some of the torches hanging on the wall. She lit one, and then another. Even if she didn't like the room, she didn't like it even more without any light. She stopped after the second light, however, and looked up to where Dommy was racing around, pretending to fight an imaginary foe. Fear was written across her face.
"Did you hear that?" She whispered.
Dommy stopped and looked over at her. "Hear what?" He asked.
Before Justine could reply a warm wind brushed through the room, and all lights came alive. This also happened elsewhere in the castle, leaving its occupants to stare in wonder. Justine dropped the torch in her hand, which had miraculously blown out, and darted towards Dommy.
"We have to get out of here now," She said quickly, coming to the boy's side. She looped his arm in hers, and started moving, when Dommy jerked back. He narrowed his eyes and then looked around the room.
"Someone's following us," He said carefully. Justine drew in a nervous breath, remembering what Darey and Amanda had told her of earlier that day. She quickly grabbed the boy's arm again and tried to pry him from the spot. She froze, though, when something penetrated her hearing.
"How very right you are," A female voice said happily as a shadow stepped out from behind some machines. Justine's eyes widened in horror and Dommy studied the figure with confusion.
CARL AND IAN
"Did you see where they went?" Ian asked.
"They mentioned something about splitting up, remember?" Carl whispered, his fingers fiddling with his robes.
"Come on," Ian said, marching up the staircase.
"No, thank you," Carl said quickly. Ian raised an eyebrow at the friar in the dark.
"You'd rather stay here alone?" He inquired.
"Well, I -." Carl froze as a wind brushed through the room, caressing the faces of its occupants, and the torches lit up. Carl shrunk back before quickly waddling up the stairs. "If you insist."
Ian smirked after the holy man before quickly following after him. "The children should not be here," He said darkly. "This is a dangerous place. The beast may have returned."
"Well you don't seem to have anything to fear from that," Carl said haughtily.
"Why don't you beleive me?" Ian snapped.
"I told you before, the children don't trust you. And you're suspicious looking."
Ian turned on the step and looked down at the friar. Taking in a deep breath, he snapped, "What should my appearance have to do with traitorous motives?" He asked.
"Well," Carl began. "Anything that looks evil surely is."
Ian blinked. "What sort of logic is that?" Ian demanded.
"Carl? Ian?" A voice from above them inquired.
"Oh dear lord," Carl gasped, stumbling down the stairs.
"Van Helsing," Ian said, narrowing his eyes darkly. At this the friar sheepishly returned to his spot to meet Van Helsing's tall form.
"What a pleasant surprise," Carl said, trying to look positive.
Van Helsing, however, didn't look amused.
"Where, eh, where's Anna?" Carl squeaked out.
"We were separated," Van Helsing said, his shoulders falling. "A family of bats filled the halls and when I finally got the chance to look around Anna was gone."
"Oh," Carl said. Van Helsing met Ian's suspicious gaze.
"Why are the two of you here?" He snapped. "I thought you were watching the children."
"Well, that's the thing, Van Helsing. The children are here," Carl said, before wincing as he waited for Van Helsing's anger.
"What?" The monster hunter exclaimed.
"They were following you," Ian informed him. "You and my cousin, to be more precise. They split up not too long ago."
Van Helsing looked at him curiously. "And yet you are not with them?"
"We were behind them by sometime. We only managed to overhear a plan to split up before we came inside," Ian retorted. "By then they had already gone."
"He's telling the truth," Carl said.
"For once," Van Helsing grumbled.
"You as well?" Ian demanded. "Surely someone must trust me here!"
"Listen to me. Anna may trust you, but she hasn't seen as much of you as we have. There's something off about you. You're keeping something a secret."
"For good reason!" Ian squealed.
"I intend to find out what it is. If you plan to harm anyone – especially Anna -."
"She's my cousin! I would never wish harm to my cousin. Or anyone else for that matter. How dare you try and accuse me of doing so," Ian growled.
The hunter and the young man leaned in, noses almost touching and faces filled with disgruntlement. "Why is it that you are always missing when something attacks? Because you are behind it?" Van Helsing asked.
"You are impossible," Ian snorted. "Fine. I shall leave you to your search. I bid you adieu." He quickly disappeared down the stairs before either Carl or Van Helsing got the chance to say anything. Van Helsing frowned before looking to Carl.
"We need to find the others," He said sharply.
DAREY
The torches had lit up moments before and now the whole hallway was bright. Darey wasn't bothered by this at all, of course. In fact, she felt relaxed and allowed her feet to strut down the red carpeted hallway with a smug expression on her face. She wasn't even really thinking about Anna or Van Helsing. Or the others, for that matter. At that time, her thoughts were buried away with the beach. The last time she had been to the beach was when she was twelve. As much as she didn't like bathing suits, she loved the beach. In fact, some of the others had mentioned heading to the beach this summer. Perhaps seeing one of the psychics whose stall was situated on the boardwalk. Justine was talking about a fun-filled day at the beach once school had let out. They still had five months to go before school ended; three until the beach was opened to tourists again. Still, at this moment Darey just wanted to be at the beach. She could almost see it before her, the sandy shore, the glaring sun, the beach hippies darting around in the sand. Ah, the beach.
Darey was so wrapped up in her hopeful thoughts, she didn't notice someone stumbling out of one of the doors until they had almost crashed into her. She gasped, stumbling out of the way before looking up and meeting Anna's face. She let out a sigh of relief. "Thank god," She breathed.
"What are you doing here?" Anna demanded.
"Oops," Darey said. "It was Dommy's idea!"
"Who?" Anna asked in confusion.
"The twerp. You know, the one who knows a lot more than he should? The brunette? Amanda's brother?" At Anna's puzzled look, Darey sighed. "The little boy that was fighting Dracula?"
"Oh, yes," Anna said, nodding her head with realization. "The daring one."
"You mean the one who just doesn't think," Darey replied, her hands on her hips.
"You still haven't explained why you're here," Anna said.
"We were eavesdropping outside the door and heard you and Van Helsing mention going to Castle Dracula," Darey said, sounding guilty. "So we decided to follow you guys here. Speaking of VH, where is he?"
"A group of bats attacked us," Anna said. "We were separated. I think I fell through a trapped door."
"Really? Cool!" Darey exclaimed. At the disapproving look, she quickly replied, "I mean that's bad. Oh hey! You guys were attacked by the bats too?"
"Did they get you?" Anna asked, looking Darey over quickly as if trying to find bite marks or something. Darey rolled her eyes.
"Kaelin scared them off with the lantern thing," She replied.
"So you were the ones who turned the lights on?" Anna asked.
"Eh … no," Darey said, glancing nervously down the well-lit corridor. "No, that was just something … weird."
"Where are the others?"
"Well, it's a funny story, really. W decided to separate. We're doomed, aren't we?"
Anna shook her head, trying to find some tolerance for the teenager. "I suppose we should find the others, then."
"Fine by me," Darey said, quickly turning in the other direction and starting quickly away.
An: So that's chapter 28. Short, I know, but it's here! Was it just me, or was everyone a little out of character?
