Years passed, many years, since that fateful night at Castle Dracula. Anna and Gabriel shared their life together, as each had hoped, and a beautiful life it was. Not a year after they had met, they were married on a cliff top, overlooking the ocean at sunset. A year after that, their son was born.

Scott Velkan Van Helsing was now a fourteen-year-old boy, who looked like his father in every way. The same straight dark hair, but he kept it slightly shorter, and the same eyes that you saw trust and faith in. He was so brave, always putting others before himself; he was everything a parent could want. He also looked after his sisters and brother tremendously, and their eldest daughter was so close to him that they seemed to know what one another was thinking.

Katie Grace Van Helsing had grown into a beautiful young twelve-year-old. She had long golden hair and bright blue eyes that were always filled with a certain spark that always made you smile. Everyone had known that the children would have angel blood in them with Gabriel being the left hand of God, but no one had expected Kate to be the living image of a child angel. She was a portrait of everything innocent in the world. Her bond with Scott was indescribable, she loved her brother a lot, and since she was old enough to crawl, she would follow him around whenever she could.

Scott and Kate were Anna and Gabriel's only children for a while, but when Kate had turned seven, the couple were blessed with the arrival of another two children in the form of identical twins. Alexander and Serenity were now wonderful five year olds, they looked like their mother a lot, and it had been proven by Carl that Serenity looked exactly like Anna had at that age. Alex and Serena, as their names were shortened to, were playful and curious children, and worked together from a young age to cause mischief and havoc around Vaseria.

The eldest children knew all about Dracula and his supposed demise, as well as their parent's involvement in it. But in Anna's eyes, the twins were too young to understand. They knew of werewolves and vampires and their dangers, as Carl had told them stories, but the legend of Dracula and the Valerious Curse was still a mystery to them.

But the day when they found out everything, and when Scott and Kaie were in charge of keeping all four of them alive was drawing closer, unknown to all except five people. Dracula, and his three new wives, Nakeisha, a beautiful Romanian widow, Neusha, another Romanian with no memory before Dracula 'rescued her', and Larissa, an English woman no older than twenty-one in appearance, and also Dracula's son, Devin, who resembled him in every way, but trapped in a thirteen-year-olds body. But this family hid in the sanctuary of Castle Frankenstein, unknown to all, feeding off stray farm animals and disposing of the bodies so no one would ever know. Only they knew of the danger coming, and only they knew when it would strike.

"Scott, do you think Momma and Dad will like us going to meet them?" Kate asked in the stables of Vaseria. They stood, readying their horses, so they could meet Anna and Gabriel from their trip to the Vatican. There had been some trouble with a witch there so the children couldn't accompany them this time, which was a shame, as they had all wanted to much to go and see their godfather, who was the leader of the Holy Order, Cardinal Jinette. It was early morning, and still rather dark, and their parents would be arriving in a few hours, so Scott and Kate had crept out of their rooms, careful not to wake the twins or Carl, and planned to meet them on the edge of the forest.

"I'm sure they'll love it, after all, we haven't seen each other for a month." Scott assured. Kate smiled, her brother was always the optimist, and always restoring lost faith when things went wrong. She watched as he finished attaching the saddle on his horse, Beacan, and she did the same to hers, which she had named Braelyn. Together, they quietly rode out of Transylvania, thankful that they didn't meet anyone on their way to stop them, or tell Carl, who had been minding them while their parents were away. It wasn't a big deal any way, they would be back in a few hours.

They rode for about half an hour and they reached the forest. On the way there they had talked of the ball they would be attending with their parents that night in their home. Kate loved going to watch the balls, but she hated it when she was made to wear a dress. She preferred it when her and Scott would watch from upstairs at all the guest in their suits and dresses looking amazing, but doing it themselves were an entirely different matter.

When they reached the forest it was partly covered by a fine mist in the early morning. The tall conifers were towering over them and the followed the path that led to hill where they would wait. The short journey to the hill was a quiet one, making the forest seem eerier than usual to Kate. She had always been afraid of entering it alone, and would only ever go in with Scott or her parents, there was something about the stories she heard that unsettled her nerves around the place.

At the top of the hill they could see the path her parents would take home. They would be able to see them right from the bordering village, which was thirty miles away. Kate tied Braelyn to a one of the nearby trees, and her brother followed her. She finished before he did and went to the edge of the hill and began to follow the path, she would be able to see them for sure by now, as the sun was just starting to rise in the east.

She followed the path from the other village and, with her eyes, traced their path, she passed the bridge three quarters of the way through to Transylvania and began to panic a little, she should have seen them already, shouldn't she? Her eyes widened as she reached the end of the path, that then curled around the hill the pair sat on. Scott appeared beside her and questioned her worried face.

"What's wrong?" he asked, not seeing anything wrong with their situation.

"They're not coming, Scott." She muttered, her gold blonde hair flowing a sudden breeze.

"Of course they are." He said, scanning the horizon, "You probably just missed them that's all." He was also worried, but wouldn't admit it to his baby sister. If she knew he was scared too, she would be hysterical.

"What do we do?" she asked after a few minutes.

"We'll wait a while, if they still don't come, they might have missed the boat, we'll go home, they'll be back tomorrow if they missed it." He hoped he was right. But why did he have an awful feeling that although he couldn't see anyone else around him for at least ten miles besides a few farmers, that there was someone watching their every move? What was out there?

Anna and Gabriel had left the path. There was some kind of dead animal in the path that, after inspection, they had found only two small puncture wounds. Both knew what it was that had killed it, but neither would admit it. They rarely spoke of that night anymore, they had children to protect, and speaking of such tales in detail would only worry everyone.

They rode side by side, Anna on her brown horse, and Gabriel on his black stallion, in silence. Gabriel was worried, something had risen in Anna since seeing that animal in the clearing, there was a darkness in her eyes that he had not seen for many days, it had been there, he knew it had and it always would, but since seeing the witch, and what it had told her, the darkness had been growing steadily for a few days.

"Anna, what is it?" He asked, his whisper breaking the soft silence and he reached his arm out to her, clutching her hand gently. She looked down at his hand and then have a slight squeeze on it.

"That witch, she said this would happen."

Her words shocked her. He had refused to believe anything that the witch had told them, but the words she spoke were still fresh in his mind: "He will return. Your worst nightmare, back for you both in the worst way you could possible imagine, dangerous to more than the two of you. He has been back all this time, only hidden, he never really left. Watch the young, for they hold the key. In her heart is the power to vanquish, if only she believes she can do it. Nothing will happen until the child of the devil's child carelessly leaves a corpse in your path. An ultimate battle, heaven verses hell. Child verses Child. The only way to end it and bring eternal peace. Heed this warning." Only this had only enraged Gabriel, and these had been her dying words.

But Anna was right, she had warned them, and they had not listened. The witch spoke of their children and she had not known of them. "He's back." Anna whispered, staring at Gabriel with fear and foreboding. Then, when their gazes locked, Gabriel understood the words she couldn't bring herself to say.

Dracula was back, not for them, not for the two that had killed him, his wives and his children.

For their children. Scott, Kate, Alex and Serena were already in danger. From an enemy they thought was dead.

"Gabriel, I'm scared. I don't want this to be happening." He could feel her pain, her suffering, and her fear for their children. If Dracula got to them, he didn't know what he was going to do. It wouldn't be a simple chase of hunt and kill, there was more than one innocent life involved, and they were his own flesh and blood. Would the angel blood protect them long enough?

"Neither do I, when we get back we'll tell Scott and Kate that he's back, and that under no circumstances are any of them to leave the castle without one of us or Carl. We'll protect them. We'll make it so He can't find them." Gabriel planned. "There is hope yet Anna, I just fear it is in Kate and not Serena that this so called power lies, Kate knows what to do if anything should happen and he appears. Serena would be helpless, she's no more than an infant."

Gabriel was about to speak more words of comfort to his wife but a high-pitched scream and a manly yell pierced the air. Anna felt a tear in her eye. They knew those voices. They belonged to Kate and Scott. "Oh God," Anna exclaimed. "What are they doing out here?" she said, forcing her horse into a high speed run towards the direction of the screams.

Gabriel suddenly felt all his hope crumble. His children were being attacked. They were in danger. His horse quickly caught up with Anna's as he realised what they had done. "They must have come to meet us," He told Anna. "The Hill."

They only took a few minutes to reach the hill, and a sore sight met their eyes. Anna nearly cried when she saw Scott crouched over Kate, shielding his sister's body from the constant attacks of a large grey demon with wings.

"A vampire!" Anna gasped as she raced up this hill to her children. Gabriel was already at the scene when she reached the top. She climbed of her horse and Gabriel charged the stallion straight at the creature and rearing it onto it's hind legs, forcing the vampire towards the opposite edge of the hill, and away from the children.

Once free from her own horse, Anna raced to the kids. Scott looked up thankfully at his mother. "Momma, we came to meet you, we missed you, but she came out of no where," he started to explain. She put a finger to his lips and hugged him, kissing his forehead. With a quick scan she noticed no damage to her son save a small cut above his left eye. But she then focused her attention on Kate, who was unconscious in her brother's arms. Scott gave her limp body to Anna and gulped.

"She's gonna be alright, isn't she Momma?" He said. "It flew at her and knocked her against the tree." Anna couldn't see any damage to bones, she must just be resting.

"Kate? Katie, can you hear me? I'm here, baby, Momma's here, wake up." Anna pleaded with the unmoving form that was her daughter. Scott just stared as his usually strong mother began to cry. He looked desperately around and saw his father at the edge of the hill. He watched as his father bend down over the female vampire and pulled out a silver stake that he had plunged into her heart. Gabriel looked round and locked eyes with his son, and then his gaze drifted over Kate and Anna. He ran over, and crouched over Kate.

"Momma? Daddy?" Kate began to stir. Scott looked up hopefully from the small patch of grass he had decided to find very interesting to avoid looking at his sister's lifelessness. Anna held Kate very close to her and hugged her tight. For a small moment, she had feared she was going to lose her to the hands of a vampire. Vampires and werewolves had taken her whole family; she couldn't forgive herself if she had let her daughter become the first of her family to be taken by a new generation.

"Dad?" Scott said uneasily. Gabriel turned worriedly to his son.

"Are you hurt, son?" He said, putting a large hand on his son's shoulder.

"No, I'm fine. It's Katie, the vampire called her 'Angel Valerious'. Why did they call her that?" Scott said, cocking an eyebrow despite the pain and the blood.

Gabriel looked back at Anna, their thoughts reciting the words of the witch once again. Watch the young, for they hold the key. In her heart is the power to vanquish, if only she believes she can do it. Kate held the power, so they had attacked her first before the others. Dracula had been watching them, watching Kate, Anna sighed heavily.

"It's really happening, he's really back."

Larissa flew in through the open window, not caring if anyone saw her in her vampire form. She went straight to Dracula's study where he was reading a book by Mark Twain, thought she could not see the title, she knew he had read it many times in their years here. He looked up as she entered, her head bowed at his watch. Had he noticed yet that Nakeisha had not yet returned from her task?

"My Lord."

"Well?" He asked, quite impatiently.

"Nakeisha has not returned with the girl. Do you think she has failed?" It was usually taboo to speak against the loyalty of the wives to their master, but this occasion called. Dracula opened his mouth to scold her, his fangs bearing, when Devin interrupted by flying to the open study. Dracula's wrath was not unleashed on the boy.

"Father, I-"

"Where have you been?!" Dracula roared at the boy. "You disappear at dawn! Do you have any idea how stupid that was!"

"Father, please, Nakeisha is dead." Devin said quietly to his father. Dracula's face softened considerably, mourning the loss of yet another wife.

"Who? Who did this?" He demanded of his son, taking him by the shoulders and pulling him very close, so their faces were an inch apart.

"Van Helsing. She went to take the girl but she as with her brother, he protected her, then Van Helsing and the Princess arrived and he put a stake through her heart. I was in a tree in the forest, I hear her screams and saw the pain." Devin said bitterly, his upbringing was strict and he now hated the Van Helsings by second nature, as if he had seen everything his father had been through by their hands.

Dracula turned to the window, and looked out at Vaseria. If had been able to feel love for Nakeisha, he would almost certainly feel pure hatred for Gabriel. "Hear me Godsend. You shall pay with the lives of your children for the life on my wife. It is my turn to watch you and your precious wife squirm."

Like it? Hate it? Let me know. Thanks for whoever pointed out the slash mistake in my summery, it has been changed now. In chapters 2 3 there hasn't been any AnnaGabriel romance, but don't worry, there will be lots coming up, I'm going to devote a whole chapter to it, as well as some flashback to some key events in the skipped years. I know I've missed a lot out, but there's a reason for it. Keep the reviews coming and I'll keep the chapters coming!