the air. He cannot help but laugh as his arms and legs dangle freely in the air. When his mother tells his father that he as had enough excitement his father puts him down. No longer able to fly through the air himself Henry lies down on the bright green grass and stares up at the sky. He watches as a bird soars above them and ponders what it must be like to fly everyday of your life. He closes his eyes and takes in the fresh air.
"Henry darling!" His mother calls to him.
"Lunch is ready!" His father yells soon after.
Henry is remembering. He knows this day for it is a day that will
always ring loud in his
memory. This was his last day in England. This was the last day before
the cloud of darkness would come. Everyday after this day his father would
search for something that he lost many years ago. He lost his name.
"De Rais," a voice whispers in the wind. Henry sits up. His father and mother sit at a small table for three. A man is serving them drinks. An old man. He no longer wears the armor that he had before. He wears a brown suit much like the one his father is wearing. The old man looks from his father to his mother and then back again. He raises his pitcher and fills their glasses. Red pours from the pitcher. It looks like it could be wine but he knows it isn't. His parents raise their glasses and make as to toast to Henry.
"No!" Henry yells. "Don't drink!"
"Your name is De Rais"
"No it's not! Don't drink Papa! Don't drink Mama!"
"Your name IS De Rais"
Henry was dreaming. He knew it as he watched his parents drink. "My name is Henry De Rais," he said almost not believing his own voice. Henry opened his eyes slowly. He had the same sensation of flying as he did that day, but he was not laughing. Henry was now screaming. He looked downwards and found that there was nothing below him but clouds. The sight of what was above him made him scream even more.
Henry's shoulders pained slightly from the giant raven's feet that clutched him but seeing the face of a beautiful woman attached to a raven's body overcame his slight discomfort. As he continued to scream the beautiful brunette woman looked at him.
"sshhhh," the harpy whispered and Henry stopped his screaming. Henry looked to his left and saw a huge wall that seemed to span forever upwards and downwards. But the harpy screeched into the wind as it flew higher and higher until finally Henry saw a place where wall reached its summit. The harpy let Henry go atop of a square shaped tower. Henry looked around the rooftop and saw that each corner had a statue of a bat. On the sides of the tower, metal slabs moved in and out of the walls intermittently. Henry now looked at the harpy, which had landed several feet away from him. Henry felt around in his pockets searching for his knife but he must have lost it he thought. Then he noticed that the harpy had something shiny in its mouth. She threw it and it landed at Henry's feet. Henry picked up the knife Coller had given him from the floor. He knew what this meant. This harpy meant him no harm. He recognized what she was from his father's studies.
"Thank you, madam."
The harpy chuckled. It began to speak to Henry, at first in a
raven's cries but soon those cries
melted into English. "That was very proper of you," it said in the
most delicate voice Henry had heard in a while.
"I had a boy like you. He was younger though."
"You had a son? Like me? But…"
The harpy smiled once more. "You don't think I was always like this, do you?"
"Well, I don't know." Then Henry heard other screeches like the
one this harpy had made. But
the ones he heard were further away. "What was that?" Henry asked her.
"My fellow sisters."
"Sisters?"
"Oh, were not really related. At least not in the usual sense
you understand? We were all human
once, you know? But we all made mistakes. Big mistakes which we have
had to pay for."
"Mistakes? What kind of mistakes could you possibly make to end up like that?"
"Oh you don't think I look good? I think I make a wonderful harpy.
But I understand what you
mean. They are prostitutes, cheaters, and baby killers mostly. They
are women who are just angry at men or at the world."
"Where are we? What is this place?"
"Generally speaking you in the castle Dracula. Specifically you
are standing on top of the
execution tower."
Henry looked at her gravely when she said execution. In fact the
came a silence between them
that was broken by the muffled screams of people. Henry could only
imagine what horrors might be under his feet. "Where are my friends?" Henry
asked. Then he heard through the screams, gun fire.
"That will be them now. I'm afraid that not all my sister are as understanding
as I am."
Cornell fought the pain as the harpy glided closely to the surface
with him on the bottom. His
back was rubbing hard against the concrete surface of the tower they
were on. Cornell fought to break the harpy's grip on his shoulders. Finally
he just punched the pretty female face in the jaw. The harpy released him
but he continued to slide against the ground. With a sudden flash of light
Cornell was now in his wolf form and digging his claws into the roof of
the tower. He slowly skidded to a halt. He got up and looked across to
where he could see shots being fired. Coller was standing on the top of
yet another tower or building. He stood in the center and was firing at
a very large harpy that was circling him. Cornell did not even have to
measure the distance between him and the other building to know that it
was too far to jump. Luckily the side of the tower he was on sloped downwards.
He thought that hopefully the slope would take him closer. Cornell slid
down the side of the tower until he landed on a circular metal platform.
Upon hitting the floor of this platform it began to move. To Cornell's
amazement it floated above the skies. When Cornell was over the building
where Coller was he jumped. But he timed his jump
so that he would land on the large harpy that still circled Coller.
Cornell felt air rush by him as he fell. The harpy proved to fast but Cornell
managed scrape its wing with his claw. The harpy screeched in pain. Cornell
finally hit the hard surface of the rooftop. "Where have you been?" Coller
said as he rushed to his side and helped Cornell up.
"Around, how about you? Have you seen Henry?"
"No," Coller said through clenched teeth. Cornell knew how Coller felt. He soon began to fire bolts of energy at the harpy but it just continued to fly around menacingly flying only somewhat lower because of Cornell's attack. Eventually more harpies joined the fight and soon Coller found himself out of bullets.
Cornell tried to give him cover while he reloaded but one of them flew behind Coller and grabbed him up by the shoulders. Cornell watched as Coller and the harpy fly away.
"Coller," he yelled. It was no good. Coller and the harpy were too far
away. The large harpy then began to focus on Cornell. It made a dive for
him and grabbed him. It then soared higher and higher. For moment Cornell
began to feel it hard to breathe but the harpy continued up. Cornell was
beginning to lose consciousness when he fired a bolt at the harpy. The
harpy erupted into flames and Cornell felt himself beginning to fall.
Coller fought with the harpy's legs to try and reach at least
one bullet from his pouch. But Coller
had to be careful. One false move and all his bullets would fly out
of his pouch. He had only managed to hold onto one of his guns. The other
was still lying on the rooftop with Cornell. Coller clenched his teeth
in pain as the harpy tightened it's grip. He could feel as its toes began
to dig into his shoulder. Coller finally stretched his arm out roughly
forcing the harpy's pointy toes in further into his shoulder. Nevertheless
he managed to grab hold of a bullet. Sweating from the intense pain from
his shoulder Coller slowly put the single bullet into the chamber. The
harpy subtlety changed its direction and began to fly towards a window
of one of the large towers. Coller quickly realized what it's plan was.
It was going to throw him through the window. Coller turned his head up
towards the harpy and pressed his gun against the chin of the enchanting
female face.
"You don't get rid of me that easy, bitch with wings," he said pulling
the trigger. The astonished look on the harpy's face almost made Coller
smile. But then Coller's face soon became just as terrified when he felt
the pull of gravity tugging at both of their bodies. Coller tried to release
himself from the deathly grip of the harpy but its sharp toe was still
dug deep into his shoulder. Coller looked down, as the momentum of the
harpy's flight was still enough to get him to the window. Coller closed
his eyes and braced himself for what he hoped would be sharp pieces of
glass.
Cornell was feeling cold as he fell back towards the earth. He
was so light headed. He fought to
keep his eyes open but he was still recovering from the lack of air.
Clouds flew past him as he descended. Soon he saw what looked like his
final resting-place, the rooftop of one of the castle's towers. Cornell
refused to believe that would be his fate. But the freezing air was getting
to him. No matter how hard he fought his eyes were closing.
"Must…think…save…Ada…"
Then Cornell felt the impact. He felt a sudden pain in his chest and he grabbed at it. He was still cold but no longer did he feel the icy breeze that he did before. Cornell opened his eyes and saw a human figure. Then his head struck the soft back of the harpy he was lying on. When next he opened his eyes, it was too the concerned face of Henry.
"Henry," Cornell muttered. Henry helped Cornell to lift his head up. Cornell looked around slowly to see where he was. Once again he was on a tower. If it was the same one he could not tell from his position. He turned back to Henry and to the figure stand hunchback behind him. A beautiful brunette with cropped down looking back and forth from Henry to Cornell. Cornell was so tired that he didn't even have the strength to look surprised.
"Who is your new found friend?"
"Melinda," the harpy said with a smiling face. "I saved your life."
"Coller…"
"We can't find him. Where do you think he is?" Henry asked.
"Harpy took him away."
"I noticed a broken window on the outside the ruined tower," Melinda said. "Could be your friend or it could just be natural."
"What ruined tower?" Cornell asked.
"It is an infected part of the castle. I'm afraid if your friend is in there he won't survive."
"Why? What do you mean infected?" Cornell demanded as he stood himself up.
Melinda made an annoyed expression with her face and prepared to explain. "The tower is a section left over from the last time the castle was here on earth. The section is infected or, how shall I put it, not under the castle's control. You see this castle is a living being. It is a creature born out of chaos. It takes on many shapes and acts as an obstacle course for any whom would try to attack Dracula. It also acts as a nexus to another dimension. A portal to the Netherworld where Dracula rest every hundred years or so. Sometimes other beings that do not serve Dracula come through and take over parts of the castle. They infect it with their presence. The ruined tower is such a section. It was taken over by Galamoth, a very powerful being who has a feud with Dracula. So now that the castle has returned it is doing away with the entrance he used last time to enter this world. Even as we speak the tower is falling in on itself."
"There has to be something we can do. We have to see if we can save Coller."
Melinda shook her head. "Cannot be done. I tell you honestly, your friend
is dead."
Chapter 14: Endgame