-- I forgot to add an author's note to the bottom of chapter three about some things so I'll add it here. I'm willing to bet that some of you grinned or rolled your eyes when I had Father Abbas mention Van Helsing's failures with Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Jabez Faustus. But the one character that I mentioned that might be a little cloudy was Erik de Chagny. The name Erik belonged to Lon Chaney's Phantom of the Opera and the 'de Chagny' part was the last name to one of the other characters in that classic. And besides the fact that I chose the historical Vlad Dracula the Impaler as the background of my Dracula, you can't tell me you never heard of the name Belmont! That one comes straight from the Castlevania video game series. --
CHAPTER FOUR – THE BATTLE UNDER THE MOON
Sonia Belmont and several strong Gypsies wait amongst the dark trees surrounding an open area with one towering tree in its midst where there sits a few other Gypsies in its branches as well resting a long, thick rope on their laps. The sky above is riddled with patches of bulky clouds that become darker in the east for in the west a red sun is setting behind the black mountains casting a dark crimson hue into the bulky clouds just above the sun. As the night ever so slowly moves in the chill winds of the twilight begin to pick up and whistle through the tops of the trees. Many of the Gypsies become unnerved about the hours waning into the time when the evil spirits rise from the shadows and descend upon them with all the fury of Hell, but Sonia stands in this backdrop of unspoken fear like a powerful, iron statue.
"The moon will come out soon." Sonia remarks to herself in a low voice, "Simon must hurry."
Deep in the woods to the east, Simon and three other Gypsies quietly walk across an area filled with roots, branches and leaves. Like Sonia, Simon is the only one impenetrable from the terror of the black, twilight shadows stretching from the top to the bottom of the trees surrounding him while the others breathe heavily with fear.
"Where is this blasted hut?" Simon grunts to himself impatiently. And a second after he grunted that last word he spotted the pitch-black silhouette of a large hut amid an inky patch of shadowy darkness with windows glowing sinisterly in an ember red color.
"There it is!" he whispered as loudly as he dared. After taking a look at it again, Simon whispered, "Alright, you come with me. You two search for what looks like a back door and sneak your way in. Alright, now, prepare your swords gentlemen."
After unsheathing their swords, they broke up into twos and made their way to the hut. Inside the hut, a large fire leaps and flares from a large hole in the floor from where it burns. Its light casts a red shade across the floor and bottom of the walls while the only glow of flickering flames that is cast on the ceiling above is directly above the fire. The rest of the hut is nearly pitch-black and standing before the flames is a very strongly built figure clad in a great, dark robe with a hood that completely obscures the face. The figure stands before the flames casting a few manners of ground herbs into the fire while chanting and every once and a while, with a wave of his arms, the flames spout up to a larger size and then subside.
Eventually, the hooded figure walks over to a crude shelf on the wall to his right, picks up a small pot with a lid using both hands and opens the lid. Just then, Simon and the Gypsy that paired up with him burst into the hut whipping their swords forward. The figure raises his head to look and they both see two wildly sinister eyes glint eerily at them.
"You now have a choice," Simon states with a sternly intimidating tone in his voice, "You can have us escort you out of these lands to put an end to your vengeance for these people or you can suffer the wrath of Hell after I bury this sword into your heart!"
The figure places the pot back on the shelf and then pulls the hood off his head revealing a sternly powerful and predatory face baring an evil grin, long, dark, wily hair and a scar along his right eye. The man gives Simon a sinister look and states, "You think you have the power to make me choose from only two fates you put forth that both end in the same way??"
"You are a minion of Satan!" Simon scowls coldly, "For that alone you deserve to die!"
The man chuckles as he walks back over before the flames, "Arrogance and ignorance!"
Simon suddenly lunges forward with a ferocious scream, but with a wave of the man's arm Simon's sword leaves his hands causing him to drop to the floor and it pierces into the Gypsy behind him. The Gypsy drops to his knees trembling in pain and shock and just before he falls dead Simon makes the sign of the cross towards him.
"You have no idea what you are facing crusader!" the man scowls as Simon turns back to face him, "I do not need your Christ! I do not need your salvation! I don't need your God!!" – The man waves his arm again causing Simon to fall backwards beside the dead Gypsy. – "For . . I am . . the Black Shaman!!"
The Black Shaman raises his hands in mad glory causing the flames to suddenly explode. The flames suddenly spread slowly turning the hut into a raging inferno and when Simon looks he notices that the Black Shaman has disappeared. Pulling his sword out of the dead Gypsy, Simon then leaps over the fires and takes off towards the back of the hut. He notices that a backdoor leading outside is open and when he stops within the door he sees the other two Gypsies killed by what would seem like a log that rammed itself fiercely into their chests. But then he takes off again into the darkening woods.
Back at the clearing, only one ray of the sun is left glowing from over the mountains in the west and soon it disappears leaving the area in pitch darkness for a while with the moaning winds in the trees. And then, a cloud moves out of the way of a full moon and while the Gypsies look up at it trembling in the height of their fear Sonia just stares up at it knowing that anything could happen at any minute. Suddenly, a bloodcurdling howl pierces out of the east causing one of the Gypsies to shriek with a jolt of horror and fall out of the tree in the middle of the clearing. A second after Sonia hears the howl, she marches out of the woods and stands in front of the tree at the middle of the clearing as the Gypsy has a terrible time climbing back up. Sonia stares into the eastern woods where eventually the trees begin shaking because of something enormous coming right at the clearing and soon it shows itself: A huge, lean werewolf in torn, Romani pants and wearing a dark, pre-ripped shirt with vicious eagle- beaks and deadly talons hanging off of it. Sonia knew who it was right away when she was able to spot right before being leaped at the scar on the werewolf's right eye.
And when the werewolf leaps right at her, she flips backwards just as two barred walls rise out of the leaves and branches covering the ground surrounding the werewolf. A barred top hinged to the top of one of the walls then instantly swings shut and locks caging in the fierce horror within. The werewolf begins however to start ramming into the walls and gnawing at the bars as it growls and barks as if it were a wolf straight from the pit. But the Gypsies begin to hoist the cage up into the air with all the strength they can muster as Sonia hollers at them to keep going. But at one point, a Gypsy opens his eyes to see the werewolf look right into his eyes and down into his trembling soul. The Gypsy screams in horrified madness letting go of the rope. The cage then falls causing the other Gypsies to be hurled into the air.
Just as the cage lands on the ground with a deafening crash, Simon comes flying out of the eastern woods calling for Sonia. Sonia then runs towards Simon just before the werewolf CAN slash its claws at her through a hole in the cage from behind. Simon then leaps on to the cage and starts striking at all the holes the werewolf tries to squeeze out of. Soon enough, the werewolf gets its chance and begins squirming out of one of the holes, but during its effort Simon pierces his sword into its shoulder causing it to howl so loudly that it instantly drives all the Gypsies away. But then the howl turns into an enraged roar and the werewolf whacks Simon away baring its talons. Simon flies off the cage screaming in horrible pain as Sonia screams, "SIMON!!"
Just as a supernatural steam begins sizzling out of the werewolf's shoulder the werewolf instantly pulls it out throwing it far away yelping and then leaps away from the cage and into the woods still yelping with pain. During that time, Sonia drops to Simon's side and gags when she sees that the right side of his body has almost no flesh at all. Simon begins trembling as he makes an attempt to speak. He wheezes, "Sonia. The sword. Where's the sword."
Sonia looks around trembling probably just as bad as Simon and then sees steam rising off of a blood-covered sword. She runs over to it nearly tripping, grasps it by the hilt and runs back to Simon's side saying, "I've got it. I've got it."
"You have to kill me." Simon wheezed out stiffening Sonia's heart with those very words. She begins shaking her head and exclaiming with a shaky voice, "No! No! We could find a way to stop it! No!!"
"There's no time for that!!" Simon grunts strenuously as horrible pain sudden pulses through his body. Recovering a little he adds, "Just always keep that sword. Remember its legacy. Remember what its for. Now you must kill me!"
As another pulse of excruciating pain convulses through his body, Sonia raises the sword right above Simon's heart, but then she begins to sob, "I can't do it! Not my bother!! I love you, Simon! I love you! Dear God, I can't do it!"
"Sonia please!!" Simon wheezes painfully as another greater pulse fills his entire body. Before Sonia knows it Simon's body begins bulging all over as he screams at the top of his lungs. He begins to bury his fingers into his head and rip them through the flesh along his face revealing in the scars matted fur. At that horrid sight Sonia suddenly pierces the sword right through Simon's heart screaming and then a small yet explosive gust of black steam emanates straight from Simon's body.
After having her eyes closed for a while, Sonia looks and sees Simon's ghastly corpse right in the middle of the transformation into a werewolf. That sight being the most terrible insult to Sonia, she immediately begins bawling beside Simon completely unable to stop for several dark minutes.
-- I have decided to add another story to the list of stories I plan to submit to FanFiction.net. It's a parody crossover involving me, the Matrix, Back to the Future and Terminator called Odd Xross. --