Chapter 12

Van Helsing glanced between a shocked Anna, a disgruntled Lucien, and an enraged Isabel.

"Kill the other one." He ordered.

Lucien moved to obey his mentor.

"No!" Anna moved in front of Isabel, shielding her.

Van Helsing sighed in aggravation. "Anna, you cannot protect this fiend."

"She is not a fiend! She is mine!" Anna bared her fangs at him, eyes glowing blue.

Van Helsing took note of the color with interest, and glanced over at Isabel's glowing eyes, which were green.

"So you're the head bride now? Where's his third? I'm surprised he settled down with only two this time."

Anna snarled at him. "I am NOT his bride!"
"Hmmm… but Isabel is?" Van Helsing tapped a stake against his palm thoughtfully.

"No! She is mine! And you will not touch her!"

"Very interesting..."

It happened too fast. Van Helsing had been distracting them with conversation, only so Lucien could sneak up behind them, both of them easily forgetting his speed was beyond human due to his werewolf venom. Lucien flung a metal net drenched in holy water over them, but dragged only Anna away, leaving Isabel to die.

-~~~~#####~~~-

Anna awoke in a haze, her skin burning like fire. She was chained down to a metal table. The chains burned into her flesh and held her fast. She was so weak and tired… they had bled her to the edge of true death. The odor of werewolf was very strong in the room.
"You put a lot of hunters out of business, Anna."

Anna's head turned to meet Van Helsing's gaze from where he sat in a chair, monitoring her.

"Between your refusal to sire any more vampires for Dracula and your meticulous consumption of bandits, there hasn't been many calls to slay Dracula and the last of his kin." he chuckled to himself.

"Of course, there are plenty of other creatures in the world for a monster slayer to make his wages on: kappa, succubus, banshees, yuki-onna, etc. But killing off Dracula's line was the greatest accomplishment of the age. There were more monsters created by Dracula and his brood than any other species on the planet. I was touched that you remained loyal to the Valerious mission in the only way you probably could as a vampire sired by Dracula."

"Then why treat me like this?"

"I knew you wouldn't come willingly. And your new family was unlikely to just step aside and let you go."

"They'll find me. No matter where you hide me away. And you will die this time for sure."

"Oh, I'm counting on it. How else do you draw out the king of vampires except by snatching away his most precious prize? His only way to sire more vampires."

Van Helsing stood up and approached her.

"Think Anna. He's biding his time. As long as you live, he has hope for the future. He knows you'll bend to his will eventually. He has all of eternity to work on you."
He patted her arm. "I admire your resistance so far, but it won't last forever. This needs to end now."

"So you're going to kill him, and then kill me?"
"Unfortunately yes." he sighed.
"I fear if I kill you first, he'll go mad and murder a lot of people before we manage to find a way to destroy him. He'll remain calmer as long as you're still alive."

Anna pushed at the fuzzy edges of her mind. They had somehow drugged her. She couldn't concentrate enough to try to reach out to Isabel or Dracula. Would they be able to find her at all?

As she struggled mentally to break through the stupor, darkness took her again.

-~~~~#####~~~-

Dracula had managed to rescue Isabel. He left the weak and injured child at home, and gone after Anna himself. His mind seethed with rage at Van Helsing. A guild of super-strength monster hunters, their blood spiked with werewolf venom? Just great. Bloody fantastic.

But Anna was his. They would not take what belonged to him.

-~~~~#####~~~-

He froze them all solid. Icy spears jutted out from every room as he revealed the extent of his powers. Sensing where Anna lay, he avoided her area, but turned the rest of the compound into an icy bloodbath. He found Anna chained down and unconscious, her blood pooled in buckets all around her. She was certainly on the verge of death.

With a hiss of pain, he removed the chains and picked her up. Van Helsing stabbed him from behind, causing him to drop Anna to the floor, his blood splashing across her. That blood revitalized Anna somewhat, and as Van Helsing forced his enchanted sword deeper into Dracula, Anna slammed the ground with her fist. Ice jutted from the floor and stabbed Van Helsing. Anna gasped in shock, unsure of what she had just done or how.
Dracula ripped the sword out, but slid down the wall to the ground. "Dracula..." Anna crawled over and shook him. "Vlad…!"

She didn't know anything about what kind of sorcery had been used on that sword to affect him like this. So she did the only thing she could think of. She dragged Van Helsing's body closer. He was still alive, but hanging by a thread. She bit him, filling her mouth with blood, and then put her mouth upon Dracula's to transfer the blood to him. She did this several more times to be sure he was swallowing it. But she was getting more desperate by the minute from his unresponsiveness. "Come on… wake up!" she kept shaking him periodically. "Vlad, don't do this to me…." she panicked and tried one more transfer of blood.

But then she finally noticed a very serious erection pressing against her thigh. She sputtered indignantly at the sudden realization, "You complete and utter ass!"
Dracula chuckled darkly, before forcefully pulling her into another kiss, and cupping her ass.

Anna wriggled away. "You can feed yourself from now on."

"I intend to." He bit into Van Helsing and began to drink.
She rolled her eyes and joined him, needing to replenish her own strength as well.