NIGHTMARES FROM THE PAST-CHAPTER 7
By Red Star
NOTE: I do not own Cardcaptor Sakura.
ILLUSTRATION CONTEST: The contest has so far had no contestants (Wussies!) However, anyone who wants to make a try at winning the Mega-Review and "Hero of Fanarts" digital medal have until December 22 to submit an illustration for the fic "Nightmares from the Past." Care to take a try?
Count Dracula's wish to attack Elizabeth the following night was overridden by the group. A time of preparation was needed…
Kero sat before Sakura's TV, clicking away furiously on his game controls. "Oh, yeah, you're mine, Darth Maul!! Hah! Hah!" He then felt a presence in the room. He pressed the pause switch and turned around to behold Count Vlad Dracula towering over him with an amused smirk on his face.
"What are you doing here?" Kero demanded as he floated off the floor and hovered in front of Dracula's face, putting on what he hoped was an intimidating glare. It quickly fell apart when Kero saw a bit of red flash into the Count's eyes. "I-despite what your attitude suggests-am not an enemy, Friend Kero. I do not wish for a breakup in our alliance." The Count turned to the door and was still for a moment. "Where is Sakura?"
Kero plopped down on the bed, lay back and said, "She went out to a movie with her family. It's at an Omni Theater at the Historical Museum." "Really," said Dracula, picking up and examining a photograph of the Avalon family, "which one?" " 'Legacies of the Pharaohs', her father was the narrator." The Vampire then strolled out the door. Kero moaned. I'll get you next time, Darth Maul! He then flew out the door after Dracula.
Dracula looked around the house, and sighed to himself. How easy children had it these days! His own father was dead before Dracula was released by his Turkish captors. He never forgave them for that. They had forbidden him from saying goodbye. He had sworn revenge at that point, and butchered his father's assassins upon his ascension to the throne of Wallachia. But Sakura had had her father all her life. How could he help being a little jealous? And her mother?
An experienced eye told him that Sakura was the only feminine influence in the household. He remembered the Brides who had lived with him in his faraway Castle. Their section of his decaying fortress was, he had to admit, decorated to a point to where he soon received an unexpected ability to recognize the presence of a woman in a house.
But the Avalon household was devoid of the touches of a wife. Dracula walked around the room, and soon realized that a silent tragedy had occurred here. His fingers brushed against the furniture and walls, betraying the inhabitant's psychic vibrations. Yes, three Breathers lived here. They were joined some time ago by another, albeit smaller, Breather. Two boys. One girl. Others came and went, but these Breathers had remained here beyond perhaps fifteen years. His eyes fell upon a small portrait of a beautiful young woman with Raven black hair. He picked it up and looked into the smiling young woman's eyes. This portrait was constantly picked up and placed down again. Tears, more often then not, flowed when this picture was held. Dracula could hear a young voice say, "Please come back…"
His hand felt it's way along the room again. More Breathers. Crying. Shouts of victory. Happiness. He then walked into another room…
This one called a tall young fellow it's master, that much he could tell. But it was when his hand brushed the mantle of the bed that he felt pain and great emotion. He drew his hand back for a moment, and then grasped the wooden head.
Sakura, Tory, I…I have to tell you something. It's about Mom…
Vlad Dracula stood emotionless as he beheld a young fellow, couldn't have been more than 28, put his arms around two little children. One had black hair with auburn eyes. The other had Chestnut colored hair, and in between sobs, the Count could see Emerald Green…
So she had gone then…
Dracula thought over it. Dear little Sakura had lost her mother before her fifth year.
He turned to look at Kero, who was watching the Count in confusion. Dracula clutched at his black cape and strode through the doorway. He would have left then, if he didn't feel someone asking him to stay.
He turned and looked at the door that led into the basement. "What's down there?" he inquired, gesturing to the door. "Sakura's Dad's library," the Guardian Beast replied. Dracula walked purposely over to the door, opened it, and marched down the stairs. Kero, startled by the Count's actions, sped right behind him. That, ironically, made Kero a little more nervous; Dracula seemed to fill the stairs with his undead presence. He continued walking down past the rows of books with Kero right behind. "What are we doing down here?" asked Kero. "I felt something…" Dracula murmured. He stopped at a row and turned left. They stopped at almost the end. "Great. What now? Do you feel a secret panel or something?" Kero asked sarcastically. Suddenly, a book fell out right in front of the Master Vampire and Guardian Beast. Dracula leaned down and picked it up. Since Kero couldn't read it because of the dark, the Count read it to him. " 'Studier vor der Nosferatu bei Doktor Abraham Van Helsing'." Dracula turned to see Kero's confused look. " 'Studies of the Vampire by Doctor Abraham Van Helsing'." "Ohhhh," said Kero.
"Fascinating. This book has been out of print since the Doctor's death in 1909. What is Professor Avalon doing with it?" Kero folded his arms and thought hard. "And why would you, the Lord of Vampires himself, need to be led to a book about your own kind?" "I'm not sure…" Dracula trailed off as he looked over Kero's shoulder. Kero spun around to look. No one was there.
That is, no one that he could see.
The Count walked silently out of the row, ever watching whatever it was that was interesting him so much. He stared at his invisible subject, his eyes moving as if observing someone walk up the stairs. "What did you see?" asked Kero, who was now perched on Dracula's shoulder. Dracula's eyes turned to the Guardian Beast.
"A loving mother,"
Kero let out a yell as Dracula's shoulder dissolved into smoke. The Count was gone.
With the book.