(A/N: I don't own Van Helisng.)
Chapter Ten
Vana ran through the night as she quickly followed Lori. Lori finally came to a halt at a castle. It was all dark stone and designed to strike fear into the hearts of whoever beheld it. Vana recognized it immediately as Dracula's castle. Who else's could it have been?
"I think he needs to hire a new decorator." Vana mumbled.
Vana almost went through the front door, but thought better of it. She ran to the side and swung into the nearest window. She was in an ancient foyer. She quickly ran through the halls and heard Dracula's voice.
She ran to the top of tower and heard them clearly. They were on the other side of the door.
"Where is the girl?" she heard Dracula's voice say.
"I'm telling you I don't know. Last I knew, you took her." came another voice said. It's was Molly's.
"Don't lie to me girl." Dracula said.
"I'm not lying!! I don't know where Vana is!!" Molly replied.
"Master!! I have her blood!!" Came Lori's voice. There was the sound of someone falling on a stone floor and a few footsteps.
"Excellent." Vana heard Dracula say and bent down to look through the keyhole. Molly was lying on the floor and Dracula had his back to the door as Lori handed him the small vial of Vana's blood.
"Now that I know where Molly is, where are Michael and Van Helsing?" Vana asked as she got ready to pounce.
"Now, my creature shall live." Dracula said. He turned away from Lori and walked over to a pattern on the floor. Molly pushed herself up and drug herself near the door. Lori began to walk over to her.
"Now or never." Vana said as she stood.
She kicked open the door and grabbed Molly.
"YOU!!!" Lori screamed.
"Now we run." Vana said pushing Molly out the door in front of her. Dracula turned to see Vana run from the room.
"Bring them to me." Dracula said. With that, Lori flew from the room.
"Molly, where are the others?" Vana asked her as they ran.
"I don't know. Dracula kept us in separate cells."
"You weren't bitten were you?"
Molly shook her head. "No, I wouldn't let him near my neck."
"Good." Vana said.
"Molly, I'm going to have to sneak back a second time to get the others. We don't have time to get them since I revealed myself to save you." Vana said with a heavy heart.
They heard a roar echo through the halls of the castle.
"That can't be good." Molly said.
"You think?" Vana asked sarcastically. They continued to run, but stopped dead when they got to the entry hall. A dragon-like creature blocked the door. Its scales were dark gray. The creature's chest plating, claws and fangs were all silver. The scales that ran down it's back were a deep red. The dragon had bumps on it's skin that formed along it's back scales, shoulders, and knees that were blood red. It had huge wings that were as black as the night itself. The dragon's eyes were a deep shade of blood red with a small black slit for a pupil.
"What is that?" Molly asked as the two girls slowly back up.
"I think it's the Carnan."
"What is that?" Molly asked.
"Half dragon, half vampire." Vana said looking for a way out.
"Not good."
The Carnan roared baring its fangs at the girls.
"Does it eat people?" Molly asked.
"I don't want to find out." Vana said pulling Molly into another room. The girls jumped out a window and ran into the night. Little did they know what and who was following them.
When they got to Valerious Manor, Vana and Molly went straight to their rooms. Megan was crying again.
"Shhhh, it's alright." Vana said picking her up and walking out on her balcony. Megan still cried.
Dracula followed the girls with the Carnan behind him. As he flew over the manor, he saw the brown haired girl holding the baby. The girl was out on the balcony.
"Bring her to me, unharmed." Dracula told his servant and flew away.
Vana gently rocked her little sister. She began to sing Without a sound by Shedaisy.
I pull the covers 'cross the bed
I tuck away the thoughts in my head
And I live behind closed doors
Knowing I will always love you more
And I won't fall apart
I won't lie in pieces on the ground
I won't fall apart
If we say it all without a sound
If we could last another day
Filled with nothing left to say
I will know I've loved my best
Then maybe I could put my heart to rest
Her full voice echoed through the sky. She didn't know what was behind her till she turned around.
The Carnan flew over the balcony. Then it heard something. It was beautiful and it made him feel something he hasn't felt since before he served Dracula. He felt…peaceful, and good. He liked this feeling more than the feeling of destruction. He slowly flew down to the balcony and landed.
Vana gasped when she saw the Carnan. She backed up a few steps but the Carnan didn't do anything. It just stood there looking at her. It looked different, but Vana couldn't put her finger on it. Vana bent down and set down Megan. Megan began to crawl toward the Carnan.
"Megan, no!" Vana said trying to pull her back but she was already to far away. The Carnan bent down and sniffed her.
Please don't eat her, please don't eat her. Vana thought desperately. Megan raised a hand and patted it on the nose. Vana stiffened. The Carnan nudged Megan and she giggled. The Carnan tried to do something that resembled a smile. Vana slowly began to inch toward the creature. The Carnan looked her in the eyes and she met its gaze. Something was different about his eyes, they seemed good.
"Leading you down into my core." Vana said quoting Evanescence. The eyes were the windows to the soul. Vana slowly reached a hand out to it still half afraid it would bit off her hand. She stroked its nose and it made a noise like the purring of a cat.
"There, you're not evil are you?" Vana said. The Carnan nodded a 'no'.
"Vana?" came Molly's voice.
"Molly, we have a new pet." came Vana's reply.
Molly walked out and saw the Carnan.
"No way!! Vana are you crazy?? The thing tried to kill us!!"
"In the words of Van Helsing, 'evil may have created it, left it's mark on it but evil does not rule it.' Molly, Dracula has lost his hold over it. I don't know how and I don't know why, but he has. It's not evil." Vana said.
"How do you know it's just not acting?" Molly retorted.
Vana sighed and looked at the Carnan and then back to Molly.
"I don't know. I can just feel it somewhere deep inside me." Vana replied.
This caught Molly off guard. She sighed.
"All right, but you are taking care of it." Molly replied and went into Vana's room. Vana picked up Megan and turned to the Carnan.
"Stay here for a bit." Vana said following Molly inside. Molly just kept on walking away from her.
"Molly." Vana said but Molly ignored her. "Molly, what is it? What's wrong?" Vana said catching up to her.
"Nothing." Molly said.
"Nothing seems like something to me. C'mon Molly, we don't keep secrets from each other."
Molly stopped and looked at her.
"Don't you feel bad we didn't save Michael or Van Helsing?" Molly said.
Vana stared at her. That was the one question she was dreading since they got back.
"Don't you regret not getting them?" Molly urged again.
"Yes Molly, I do. But there was no way we could have done anything." Vana said.
"Quite fooling yourself Vana."
"Quite fooling yourself. Since you think you could have done something, tell me, what could you have done?" Vana said turning to her. She knew what the answer would be.
"I don't know Vana. I just regret leaving them there." Molly said.
"So do I. I also regret not getting to spend more time with Van Helsing. He was my dad after all." Vana sighed. "I never even called him 'dad'. I know he wanted me to, but I didn't. Now I may never get a chance to."
"Vana," Molly said trying to comfort her. "We'll get them back."
"I know we will." Then Vana got a spark in her eyes and turned to Molly.
"Molly, I need you to do something for me." Vana said sounding exactly like Van Helsing.
Molly's eyes widened. "I'm not going to like this am I?"
(A/N: Whew!! Almost done. I know it's short but this is a good stopping point. Sorry it took me so long to get this up. I've been busy with the start of school, band camp and my other stories. On to the final chapters. (evil smile) This will be fun.)
