Evil from the Past
Author's Note: You should be proud of me. This is a sixteen-page long chapter. Time for applause and confetti.
Mourn for my poor Manveri. Some donghead deactivated her account, and she had to go get a new one. For all readers of Crystal Love by manveri[reachforthesky]estel, know that your beloved author was removed. Now, Crystal Love fans can look for Manveri at manveri[daughterofmirkwood] and give her twice the amount of reviews my poor darling lost. There you go.
Applaud Kismet, O beloved one, who gave me 11 reviews in one go! It's a record! And such nice reviews too. Me loves dear Kismet. Also, I shall thank mad sam, Fairy Tale and Dinosaur K, icycoolhermione, Sean Malloy-1 (you have my solemn promise that I shall make myself kill Van Helsing before I touch a hair on Anna's head. Hey, maybe a dead Van Helsing is a good idea...), cocoaducks, I AM EOWYN and Zeggy. Love you all too.
And lastly, the dreadful rumour circulated by Zeggy about this being the last chapter is – not true! I have decided that 16 pages in one chapter is long enough, so I will siphon some off into a 13th chapter. Now, be happy and read my best and favourite chapter so far.
The Twelve Strokes of MidnightCastle Dracula, Transylvania, 19th century
"This is where I leave you," said Van Helsing.
They were on the half of the broken bridge connected to the Devil's Tower. Aragorn gazed up through the slats in the spiral staircase. "I have an evil feeling about those stairs," he said finally. "You must be very careful."
Van Helsing grinned at him – a daredevil grin. "I never said I'd be going that way."
With a surge of inhuman strength, he leaped up in a rush of werewolf power, to land crouched on the vertical stone outer wall of the Devil's Tower. He turned to look back down at his companions, who were staring open-mouthed at this extraordinary feat.
"Here," he called. "You might need these."
Éowyn neatly caught the bundle of three silver stakes he tossed to her. "We thank you," she called back. "And farewell."
Van Helsing did not reply. He was already scaling the sheer tower wall in a series of powerful bounds. Very soon, the bridge was but a faraway slab of stones, the faces of his companions mere white pinpoints in the darkness below. The tower top was growing closer – and so was Dracula.
A flick of his wrists was enough to send him somersaulting over the stone battlements. Senses enhanced by the werewolf venom, he crouched, surveying the situation. The count was standing before him with his back turned to Van Helsing. He was about to attack when Dracula spoke.
"Well, well. I can't say I'm surprised, Gabriel."
Dracula turned. A pleasant smile, barely masking the undercurrent of malevolence, was upon his face. Van Helsing checked himself.
"I'm here to stop you, Count."
Dracula tutted. "Too late, Gabriel. Any moment now the prisoners will be ready for electrocution, and then my children shall live." He began to laugh, an evil shuddering laugh that shivered Van Helsing's eardrums.
"Not if I have anything to do with it."
"You tire me, with your obstinacy." Abruptly the Count dropped the lever he had been working with and rose into the air. A maelstrom of wind currents filled the laboratory as he began to transform into the bat creature. Van Helsing backed up against the wall.
The creature Dracula had become was monstrous. This was evil in its pure, undiluted, bloodlusty form, thought Van Helsing even as the demon before glared at him through its blood-red slitted eyes. Huge fangs protruded from the angular mouth and black vicious talons from the vast wings. Dracula the demon roared, his muscles rippling and bulging. Then he was on Van Helsing.
In a rush of air, Van Helsing was hurled backwards out of the laboratory window. The world turned a full circle, then righted itself as he caught hold of the window ledge. He forced his palm down and flipped over, to land upright upon the ledge before Dracula.
Dracula flapped down to hover over the ground, and the two circled each other warily. Then the count melted down into his handsome human form. "Impressive, Gabriel." He did look impressed, and not displeased either.
Dracula's cloak flapped in the night wind as the count stood silhouetted against the laboratory window. Beyond him, and beside the Black Tower, Van Helsing could glimpse an ancient clock tower. Right now the clock hands were nearly at midnight. The minute hand was ticking forward, forward...
"I'm so sorry, though," whispered Dracula, almost regretfully, "but the game has to end here."
Above the clock tower, the mass of grey clouds roiled in agony – and then burst apart, and the full moon rolled forth...
And the minute hand on the clock slammed forward, producing a musical, eerie chime from the clock tower...
Something surged within Van Helsing, something terrible and yet irresistible and overwhelming. He knew the curse was upon him.
"One," he said.
Dracula stared. Van Helsing started to shake as the world zoomed in and out of focus. His heartbeat accelerated, forcing the werewolf venom inexorably through his veins. He felt his old self melting, being shed like a cast-off skin, and being replaced by nothing but a huge ball of rage – animal rage.
"No..." whispered Dracula, "...it...can't...be..."
He was running with the moon now, his limbs throbbing with power. He growled in his throat, and took a step forward towards his prey. For the first time in four hundred years, Dracula actually stepped backwards in fear. He felt desire, lust for the blood of the thing before him – and also a deep-seated satisfaction that he was feared, rightly so. Dracula feared him. Dracula feared the Wolf.
On the broken bridge, the three stared at the gently humming box that was their assignment.
"Well?" asked Faramir eventually. "How do we destroy it?"
Éowyn stepped forward and swung her sword up over her shoulder. "Like this," she replied, and brought the blade smashing, sparking down into the innards of the box, again, and again, and again.
Harry heard the cogs grinding to a stop. "They've done it! They've destroyed the box!"
Root tried to stick his head through the bars, but it was definitely bigger than Holly's. Grunting in frustration, he pulled away and starting melting the bars with the blaster's laser.
"Stand back," came Harry's command from behind him.
Startled, Root drew away. Harry aimed his wand at the shaft wall and yelled: "Reducto!"
Rock blasted into chips and shards. Dust was blown up into the air and then settled over the four of them. Up there, they could hear the prisoners coughing.
"We'd better start moving," suggested Ron, "someone will have heard that."
"Right," replied Root, and they advanced up the rubble slope of the detonated wall.
They had reached the room at the top of the Black Tower, and were now staring at the jar of viscous liquid with the syringe containing the antidote suspended in it.
"Something doesn't feel right about that jar," muttered Anna.
"No it doesn't – especially not that gooey stuff," agreed Jack fervently.
"But of course!" supplemented Aleera.
They jumped. Aleera was suspended upside down from the ceiling, smiling benignly at them. Slipping down from her perch, the vampire advanced on them smoothly, till all that separated them was the table with the syringe in its jar on it. "Well, well, well. Look who came to keep me company."
Anna was suddenly struck by an idea. Yanking Jack down, she smashed the jar with her sabre and ducked the flying acid. The bulk of it landed on Aleera's face. The vampire screamed very satisfyingly. Anna took advantage of the distraction to seize the syringe, which was smoking dangerously from the acid, and to make a run for it. Jack was about to follow when an iron hand reached out and clamped down on his shoulder.
"Oh no you don't," snarled Aleera. "Not after what you did to my face."
Jack felt himself being spun around to face her regenerating visage. "Keep running, Anna!" he called desperately over his shoulder.
"You can't go until I say you can go," said Aleera in a sing-song tone as she stepped back from him, "and I'll say you can go when you're dead."
"I don't take orders from a woman, lass," replied Jack impertinently.
A blast of wind nearly knocked his hat off. Before him, Aleera morphed, white and devastating. "Well, you will from this one."
"Oh," said Captain Jack Sparrow. "Savvy."
"It looks like Jack's in danger," observed Mr. Gibbs as he peered at the Black Tower through the field glass.
Anamaria snatched it away and took a look herself. "By Davy Jones he is," she snapped. She turned around to the rest of the crew. "Cannons! Now!"
Jack watched Aleera's fangs lengthen. "Be happy in the knowledge that your blood shall make me beautiful..." she murmured as she leaned forward towards the captain, who hastily backed away.
A cannonball blasted through a window and exploded in the middle of the room. Aleera was knocked off her feet by the sheer force and burst through the other wall, hurtling down into the darkness below. Jack too was blasted after her, but he managed to scramble back onto a ledge on the tower wall. He looked down – too late for acrophobia, he thought – and saw Anna run the last few metres and halt teetering at the edge of the uncrossable gap between the two halves of the bridge. She could never crawl across the girders and reach Van Helsing before the twelfth stroke of midnight.
A crazy idea made itself known in his head. It was extremely dangerous and ridiculous. Jack looked at the long chains hanging down from between the castle walls. Perhaps...
It was a feat no ordinary man could have done without shaking. Even Anna would probably have hesitated. But not Captain Jack Sparrow. With a loud whoop he launched himself into space.
Holly had hardly unclipped Rick when he dashed off towards Evelyn's pod. Holly drew her Neutrino and ran after him. Peering over the pod edge, she gasped involuntarily. Evelyn's skin was charred and blistered. It did not look very hopeful.
Rick was tearing in vain at the metal bonds. Holly climbed over the edge and narrowing her Neutrino beam, began to slice through the metal. Together they managed to pull Evelyn out of the pod and lay her down on the platform. Rick smoothed her hair and clasped her blackened hands. "No, Evy. No."
Holly stared in horror at Evelyn's body. That electrocution – such a horrifying thing. She was distracted by a blip on her helmet monitor.
Impossible. Plain impossible. There was no way she could have survived that. But yet...
"Frond," breathed Holly, leaning over Evelyn's chest. There it was – the faintest of heartbeats. Holly pressed her hands there, blue sparks leaping into life. "What are you doing?" Rick, distraught, wanted to know.
"I know it sounds impossible," answered Holly through the flow of magic, "but there's still a chance. She's alive."
Rick opened her mouth to say something, presumably a joyful exclamation, but was cut off as a muscular arm lifted him off the floor and smashed him into the side of the pod. Rick rolled over with a groan and yanked his pistol out of its holster, aiming at Imhotep, but his enemy knocked it out of his hand before he could pull the trigger. Rick scrambled to his feet and the two of them entered into a headlock.
Holly leapt up and spun around, Neutrino at the ready, when another movement caught her eye. Pointing the gun upwards, she took quick aim and looked straight into Anck-su-namun's eyes. The Egyptian girl was extraordinarily beautiful, dark hair framing dark skin, but her eyes – they were like Imhotep's, cold and merciless. Holly's brain processed all this information even as it added the fact the Anck-su-namun was aiming Rick's pistol at her. No time for thinking now. That split second passed, and they both fired simultaneously at each other.
Dracula took his winged form and shot up to the rafters amongst the ceiling. Not so fast, thought the Wolf, and leapt after him. As a man the distance would have been impossible, but with his powerful muscles he ascended without effort, and he relished his new body even as his claws unsheathed to slash at Dracula. Dracula shrieked and made for the skylight in the laboratory. The Wolf bounded after him, scrambling through the skylight. Dracula would escape. He pounced and pinned the vampire to the rooftop. Dracula struggled frantically and raked his flesh with his talons. The Wolf roared in agony. Dracula yanked free and aimed a talon-tipped wingtip at his snout, but the Wolf tackled him before he could scrape his eyes out and they clashed together on the top of the tower, the two titans of the undead in a battle where only one could triumph. And that would be him, thought the Wolf as they fell through the skylight again, Dracula wriggling like a snake.
They crashed into one of the machines, and sparks flew up about them, singing his fur, but that did not matter. He picked the count up out of the wreckage and hurled him into yet another machine at the other end of the room. Explosions. Flames. The Wolf howled in exhilaration.
"Heads up, Anna!"
Anna looked up, just in time to see an astonishing sight: Captain Jack Sparrow swinging out of the night sky at her, clutching what seemed to a long chain. Then he grabbed her arm, and they went arcing up towards the Devil's Tower. Anna managed to get a good grip on the chain and turned to Jack. "What on earth were you thi—"
A rush of wind passed over their heads, and they both barely ducked Aleera's talons. The Bride had recovered, and she had returned to worrying their backs. Not now! thought Anna frantically as Aleera circled beneath them and prepared for a fresh attack. Out of the corner of her eye she saw two more winged shapes join Aleera. The three Brides were on their track now.
Then she heard a maddened shriek of agony, and spared a glance below. Aleera spun out of orbit and whirled away brokenly. They were now swinging over the other half of the bridge and she saw Aragorn leap backwards, Andúril wet with vampire's blood, as what looked like Aleera's foot thumped onto the bridge before him and bounced off into the darkness. He shot Anna and Jack a small smile.
"How dare you, mortal!" screamed Aleera, blood dripping copiously from the stump of her leg. "You will pay!" Keening wildly, the Brides swooped in upon the Bridge, distracted from the two on the chain.
Anna turned back, only to see the wall of the Devil's Tower rushing towards them. "Jump!" yelled Jack, and pushed her. Anna gathered her senses and twisted her body expertly, angling for the small window at one side. She just made it. Tumbling over the ledge, she scrambled up and saw Jack swinging away. "Don't worry about me," he called as he arced back to the Black Tower. "Van Helsing doesn't have much time left!"
Anna nodded, and turned to race up the stairs, but a figure appeared before her. Anna apprehensively transferred the syringe to her left hand and drew her sword, as her new opponent stepped out of the darkness, saber in hand.
"I've been waiting for you, lass," leered Captain Barbossa.
"Alohomora," ordered Ron.
The locks of the metal straps binding Hermione to the pod snapped open. With some careful manoeuvering, Harry and Ron managed to free her from her bonds and help her onto the back of the Firebolt. Heavily laden, it lowered slowly to the ground.
Root had finished lasering through Foaly's metal bonds. "Here," he said, and offered the Moonbelt. He latched his own self on as Foaly fumbled with the clip. Soon, Foaly was free and back on the ground. He dusted himself off, looking satisfied.
"So," went on Root, "do we save the Mud Boy?"
"Artemis? I guess," sighed Foaly. "After all, we owe him for stopping the machine. You could cancel your own vendetta with Mud People, you know. You've been spending the last few days in their company after all."
Root grunted something unintelligible and fired up his wings again, disappearing into the shaft. Later he returned with Artemis clipped to the Moonbelt.
"Thank you very much," said Artemis politely as they landed on the pile of rubble.
Foaly trotted up. "He'd like to say you're welcome, but being the commander he won't." He elbowed Root playfully. "Right, Julius?"
"You shut your fat mouth before I stick your hooves into it," retorted the commander, secretly glad that the awkward moment was thwarted.
Behind them, an anxious Ardeth Bay helped Alex off the Firebolt. "Thank you," he said fervently to Harry and Ron. "May the Messiah bless you."
"Uh, you're welcome," replied Ron hesitantly.
Commander Root looked around at the rescued prisoners. He opened his mouth to give an order and was hit by something hard and painful on the head. "Ow! D'Arvit, what the..."
He was interrupted at the recognition of the object on the ground. It was Holly's Neutrino blaster.
In spite of the odds of one in a million, the Neutrino's laser beam missed the bullet from Rick's pistol by picometers. Both missiles, however, did not fail to strike the opposite weapon. With dire consequences, as it happened.
The bullet did nothing serious to the Neutrino. What it did do, though, was knock it out of Holly's hand. The handgun went flying and missed the platform edge, disappearing into the depths of the shaft.
Rick's pistol was less fortunate. Anck-su-namun dropped it just in time and jumped back as the laser caused it to explode. There was a small explosion, blowing a fairly large hole in the platform floor. As the smoke cleared, gritty black ash that might have been gunpowder remnants drifted off into the night sky.
Anck-su-namun wasted no time in mourning the pistol. She reached into the pod she had been revived in and drew out her pair of long golden daggers. Holly could not help taking a step backwards in trepidation as the once-concubine settled into a duelling stance, daggers glinting in the moonlight, dark eyes flashing ruthlessly. Unarmed combat was not exactly her forte. Especially when her opponent was an Egyptian with a couple of sharp knives and a lot more extra inches than her.
Anck-su-namun attacked, leaping over the hole in the platform, slicing the air with her daggers in a graceful double sweep. Holly saw one of them coming for her and barely dodged it, only to have to duck the second one. The next second she was caught in a cross-sweep as both daggers swept towards her. She evaded them with much difficulty and tripped.
Anck-su-namun stood poised over her, a cruel smile on her full lips. She was speaking in a mocking tongue, probably Ancient Egyptian, thought Holly as her gift of tongues kicked in. "You'd better keep that helmet on," laughed the girl. "Don't want to scar that pretty face, do we?"
Holly felt something clink against her knee. There. Her buzz baton. Her one weapon left and her only chance. Almost undiscernably, she powered up her buzz baton.
"No one calls me pretty," she retorted in the same language, "and lives to tell the tale."
Holly flipped onto her feet, thrusting the buzz baton into her opponent's stomach. Anck-su-namun screamed as the volts rippled across her belly, stumbling backwards into Rick and Imhotep, who were viciously uppercutting each other. All three staggered over the revival pod.
Anck-su-namun was the first to recover. Struggling to her feet, she raised one of the daggers and threw it at Holly, who curled into a ball and rolled away. The dagger lodged in the other pod, about five inches away from Evelyn's head.
Anck-su-namun attacked with the other dagger, but Holly leap-kicked her in the stomach and caught her on the elbow with the buzz baton. Behind them, Rick punched Imhotep in the mouth. Imhotep reeled away and dropped to the ground, kicking Rick savagely in the shin. Rick staggered, nearly falling off the platform.
Evelyn stirred. Her mind was clearing; things were falling into place now. She opened bleary eyes and saw the scene before her. She attempted to struggle to her feet, but her legs wouldn't bear her; she could barely raise her head. She strained further and her forehead struck something. She looked up. It was the hilt of Anck-su-namun's golden dagger.
Silhouetted against the huge full moon, the Brides gathered in a shrieking cluster of doom. Aragorn clutched Andúril warily. Beside him, he heard Faramir swallow nervously.
The Brides attacked. Swooping low, they slashed with deadly claws, nearly carving up Faramir's scalp as their three opponents ducked. Almost immediately, they straightened up, swords at the ready, as the Brides prepared a fresh onslaught. As the vampires lunged again, Aragorn lashed out at Marishka, whose foot was nearest. Marishka shrilled as Andúril opened out a long gash on her leg, but nevertheless turned on all three and attacked them. Screeching, Aleera and Verona also threw themselves into hand-to-hand battle.
It was terrifying. The three defenders were buffeted by the gusts from the Brides' wings, hardly able to keep their balance, and assaulted on all sides by claws and fangs. Faramir slashed at Marishka's face while by his side, Éowyn grimly parried Verona's talons. Aragorn and Aleera were battling furiously by the edge of the bridge. "You cut off my favourite foot," hissed Aleera as she rammed a punch at Aragorn. "I'll take both of yours as payment."
"Take this instead, spawn of darkness," spat Aragorn, and sliced across Aleera's wrist.
"We meet again, my dear," called Verona as her swipe just missed Éowyn's ear.
Éowyn gritted her teeth. "And this time you won't leave alive."
Verona took to the air once more. "Oh, I wouldn't be so sure."
With a powerful kick, her two muscled legs slammed into the shieldmaiden's chest, thrusting Éowyn backwards to the edge of the bridge. For one alarming moment she struggled against gravity as her feet slipped. A decisive push from Marishka sent her toppling off.
"Éowyn!" yelled Faramir in horror, and got Marishka's claw in his shoulder for the distraction.
"Don't worry," said Verona, launching off the bridge. "I won't let her fall. At least, not yet."
Swooping down, she seized Éowyn by the shoulders and flew her up above the bridge. "And up we go..." she sang.
Éowyn was still grasping her sword. With a Rohirrim war cry she reached up and ran Verona through.
Verona stopped moving, just hovering in mid-air. Then a slow smile spread across her face. She released one of Éowyn's shoulders, letting her captive dangle from one talon, and with the other she took hold of the blade and drew it slowly out, as blood poured in rivers from the hole in her belly. Then she let the sword fall from her bloody hand, to clatter upon the bridge.
"Never," she told Éowyn, "try to kill someone that's already dead."
Dracula, reverting to his human form, rose to his feet painfully amidst the wreckage. "Gabriel," he panted, "listen to me."
The Wolf tossed his head and growled impatiently, but Dracula's smooth voice bored into his anger like a gimlet. "We were friends once, Gabriel, brothers! Come now, you know that you're being controlled, and I know who's controlling you. Join me, Gabriel, join my cause and embrace your freedom. Don't you remember anything? Nothing about our friendship? Join me, and I'll give you back what you lost!"
The Wolf had heard enough. Howling in frustration, he lunged forward, slamming into Dracula and forcing him up against the wall. Claws around his enemy's neck, the Wolf drew his head back and prepared to sink his teeth into Dracula's neck...
...and something burst. Like a fragile soap bubble floated too long in the sun, rupturing into a shower of invisible droplets...
Outside the window, the clouds had once more obscured the moon's pale face. Van Helsing found, to his horror, that he had his hands clasped around the neck of the most terrifying undead being he had ever faced up close. His heart thumping, he backed away as Dracula turned to look at the clouds screening the moon and then smile at Van Helsing.
"Did I ever mention," said the count callously, "that when I was a mortal, it was you who murdered me?"
Jack had reached the other pinnacle of his arc, and was now swinging back to the Devil's Tower. Now, he had one last chance...
The window rushed towards him. With a cry, Jack let go of the chain at the last second and tumbled through the window and into something large and soft.
"Ow!" cried Barbossa, and followed that up with a series of pirate curses unfit for the ears of the general population.
Jack scrambled off Barbossa, who was sprawled on the stone steps, and drew his sabre. "How many times must I tell you," he called to Anna in exasperation. "Don't. Wait. For. Me."
"Oh," said Anna. "Right." She turned and ran up the stairs.
"My old mate Barbossa," said Jack, adjusting his hat with one hand as he waved the sabre with the other. "I've been looking forward to this fight for a long time."
Barbossa got up. Gusts of air circled the two as Barbossa's teeth began to elongate into fangs. "So have I, Jack. So have I."
Holly backflipped as Anck-su-namun barely missed her collarbone, rolling to her feet. Without waiting for her to recover, Anck-su-namun cartwheeled forward and parried the buzz baton with her dagger. Holly ducked a thrust and moved backward one step...
And her foot felt nothing beneath it. Then she stumbled as her foot went through the hole created by the explosion from Rick's pistol. The buzz baton tumbled out of her loose grip and rolled out of reach. She was stuck, and at her opponent's mercy. D'Arvit.
Pressure on her collar; Anck-su-namun grasping her by the front of her jumpsuit, hoisting her into the air. Long graceful fingers snaked around her neck, almost gentle at first, then suddenly terrifyingly strong, squeezing, strangling her. Holly gasped for air, aimed a kick at Anck-su-namun, but the girl merely held her out of reach. She was choking. The world was breaking up in spots. Air...she needed air...
Through the blurry world there came a new noise, a sharp swift hiss, and then a fleshy, sickly sound. Suddenly the iron bands around her throat loosened, weakened. Holly's vision regained its clarity, and she saw Anck-su-namun stagger, eyes open in shock. Then she looked down and saw the dagger point sticking out of her strangler's chest. Looking around Anck-su-namun's shoulder, she saw Evelyn, propped up on one elbow, one arm still raised from throwing that dagger. That was the last thing she saw before Anck-su-namun toppled off the platform, taking Holly down with her, and above her she heard Imhotep's cry of despair.
"Anck...su...namun..."
Verona's fangs lengthened. Éowyn felt herself being dragged up to face the Bride, who leaned forward for a bite.
"Get away from me, monster," hissed Éowyn, whipping Van Helsing's silver stake out of her sleeve and staking Verona in the heart.
Time stopped. Verona's mouth fell open. "You...you didn't..."
"I did," snarled Éowyn.
Verona gave a half gasp, half scream, and dropped Éowyn.
Aragorn and Faramir paused to look up at Verona. Even the other two Brides stopped harassing them to watch in growing horror.
In mid-air, Verona staggered backwards, reeling, her wings unable to beat. Then they began to shrivel, to blacken into shreds of flesh, and her fangs retreat, and her face diminish. They caught a glimpse of the beautiful black-haired beauty she had once been, and then in a rush her features were rotted. What had once been Verona withered into a black sooty skeleton, and then mere dust on the air.
Aleera caught her breath in horror. "Verona! No!"
"No......" echoed Marishka.
And then they were keening and rending their hair, mourning their lost sister.
Root stared at the Neutrino, then up into the shaft. "Holly? Holly?"
There was silence for a long time. A very long time. Then as if in answer, something that resembled a woman's corpse came tumbling down the shaft and disappeared into the dungeon. Next, Captain Short shot through the hole blasted by the Reductor curse and tumbled down the rubble slope.
"Oh, hello, Holly," said Artemis uncertainly.
Holly did not answer. Instead, she removed her helmet, let out a long-drawn sigh and lay sprawled and unmoving on the rubble slope.
Root and Artemis advanced hesitantly. "Holly?" ventured Artemis eventually. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah," said Foaly from behind. "You don't look so good."
Holly opened one eye. "Just to tell you, it was one heck of a battle. Now leave me alone."
"Oh well, she sounds fine," pouted Foaly.
Just then, a cry echoed down the shaft. "Anck-su-namun!"
Holly scrambled to her feet, jamming her helmet back on. "Oh, not good, not good."
As they backed away from the rubble slope, a hand appeared at the edge, scrabbling about on the rubble. Then another. Then Imhotep scrambled through the gap and strode down the slope towards them.
"Don't tell me," whispered Holly as they formed a tight group away from the advancing Egyptian, "don't tell me he jumped down after her."
"I should not be surprised," replied Ardeth.
Imhotep stared at them through haunted eyes. "Anck-su-namun, Anck-su-namun, where is she? Where is she, tell me!"
"I always thought he was slightly loony," muttered Foaly.
Imhotep flung about frantically, then turned back to them. "I shall have my vengeance!" he roared, and drew his scimitar.
"Well," replied Ardeth from behind Harry, "I shall have mine." Pushing Harry and Ron aside, he drew his own sword and rushed forward. The Medjai and the priest met with a clang of bronze on bronze, and soon the sounds of their battle echoed about the hall.
"What do we do?" whispered Ron.
"Don't try to shoot or anything," warned Holly, "they're fighting so fast you're likely to hit the wrong one."
"Ardeth..." squeaked Alex.
"This is horrible," muttered Ron. "I bet nothing worse can happen to us."
A group of Dwergi came charging round the corner, faces alien in their goggles, each wielding some sort of weapon, a cattle prod, a scythe, a crowbar, anything that would hurt when hit with.
"I wish you hadn't said that," groaned Hermione.
Van Helsing slowly backed away as Dracula advanced on him. Dracula was gleeful, a laugh crinkling his dapper features.
"Well, well, Gabriel. Oh, why so scared? You know you've been wanting this, all along. Now I'll give you back all you wanted, your memory, your past..." His fangs hung down, dripping venom, as he cornered Van Helsing. "One bite is all it takes..."
Van Helsing felt something; a change in the air. Behind Dracula, the clouds rolled away like an unveiling curtain, and the full moon shone forth in its unearthly glory. Van Helsing morphed like lightning, his human skin ripping apart as he leapt on Dracula.
Dracula shrieked and became the bat creature, but the claws holding him down were far too strong. The Wolf howled in triumph, and then with a swift toss of the head, his fangs ripped out Dracula's jugular vein.
Dracula screamed, screamed, screamed in all imaginable agony, writhing as he shrunk in on himself. The Wolf was not finished yet. He picked up Dracula like a rag doll and flung him out of the window.
It was a neat throw. Rick and Evelyn jumped away and ran for the shelter of the stairwell as Dracula landed in the revival pod, where the prisoners would have been if they had been less lucky. The Wolf in the tower roared as lightning zigzagged down from the sky and struck the tortured count, again, and again, and again.
While Ardeth fought Imhotep, the rest were regrouping to face the onslaught of Dwergi. "People who are weaponless and can't fight, get behind. Holly and I will take the front. Oh, and Holly, here's your blaster. You wizard Mud Boys, on either side. Get ready."
"If only I had my wand," lamented Hermione, "but Imhotep took it away."
"You can have mine," offered Ron out of the blue.
Hermione turned to Ron in surprise. "You...you really mean it? That's...that's really nice of you."
Ron blushed, and shoved his wand into Hermione's hands awkwardly. "Erm, just take it. It'll be more useful with you anyway. I'll...throw rocks or something."
They hurriedly got into formation. Commander Root opened fire on the front row of Dwergi, which collapsed satisfyingly. "Impedimenta!" yelled Harry as Hermione aimed and cried: "Stupefy!" More Dwergi fell as Holly picked out a few with more dangerous weapons expertly with the Neutrino. A rock thrown by Ron whistled over a head and concussed one.
Suddenly, they had a huge fright. Blue electricity sizzled down the wires into each of the cocoons hanging from the ceiling. Everywhere around them, the cocoons burst into brilliant blue light and began pulsing with life. Again the lightning washed over them, and the air was filled with the sound of tiny shrieks. A third time, a third bolt, and the vampire babies burst free, chittering wildly, darkening the hall with their uncountable wings.
"Oh, D'Arvit!" swore Root.
One of the babies swooped down and grabbed a Dwergi, flying into the dark recesses of the ceiling to feast on its new prey. The team of rescuers rushed for shelter in the shaft, although the two Egyptians seemed too busy to break away from their fight. Ron shoved Hermione and Alex into the shaft as Harry and Artemis hurried up the rubble slope behind him. Holly and Root kept up the rear, shooting any vampire babies that came too close and exploding them into bursts of green goo. But soon they would be overwhelmed.
The Wolf watched as Dracula writhed in the pod, liquid lightning running in colourful streams over his body as he twitched in agony. The count raised his eyes to the dark heavens, and let out one long-drawn tormented shriek. Then his body was still.
The Brides felt their master die, shrieked in horror at his demise. Aragorn, Faramir and Éowyn watched them keen their grief, eyeing them in amazement. Then suddenly both Aleera and Marishka began to shrivel up too, collapsing in on themselves into withered corpses. Their dying screams were echoing about the tower walls long after they had disintegrated.
Captain Jack Sparrow watched in disbelief as the vampire Barbossa clutched his chest, sabre clattering to the floor, and began to dry up before his eyes. Soon, the captain was left staring at nothing but a mound of dust, a sabre and a woebegone pirate hat.
Jack swore colourfully pirate style. "The cantankerous knave!" he yelled, kicking the hat on the floor. "I hadn't even started!"
The Dwergi had well-nigh fled by the time the vampire babies started coming after Holly and Root. Root was just about to accept their doom when a startled look registered on all the little monsters' faces. Then, in synchrony, they all burst into a massive explosion of green goo.
There was a sudden silence in the hall. Goo dripped off the ceiling. Commander Root was unlucky enough to be situated right under a whole squad of vampire baby remnants.
"D'Arvit!"
Holly looked at her slime-drenched commander, and then back at the hall, trying her best to keep a straight face. Then she saw Ardeth standing over Imhotep, who was lying face down on the ground with Ardeth's sword in his back.
Imhotep had not been a vampire, so he had not shrivelled up when Count Dracula had. However, he had been resurrected by the malevolent influence of the count, and as a result that made him mortal at Dracula's demise.
Ardeth Bay removed his sword, and kicked Imhotep over so his face was seen. "Allah rest his soul, evil though it was."
And they were all very glad inside, because they knew Count Dracula was dead, at long last.
End of ChapterNext chapter coming... Footprints in the Snow
In which it ends, at long last.