C h a p t e r T h r e e : I n t e r v i e w w i t h a Va m p i r e

Ortega stared at it with horror while it leapt from the wall. Its skin was a chalky grey, rough and bumpy. He even thought he saw something crawl under its skin. It wore dark, charcoal pants, and only a crimson vest, frayed and tattered. Its hair (or what was left of it) was a tangled dark mass on top of its head. Its nose was bent at a queer angle that left Ortega not even wanting to know what caused it to be like that. Its ears were crooked, bent and pointed. Its eyes...were so hollow and cold that it almost made Ortega shiver. As soon as it came off of the wall it flexed its fangs, which were long and sharp, but yellowed and decayed. When it stood, it was bent over, head off its spine, and one leg turned inward. It was one of the many vampires. The vampire leered at Ortega as it limped towards him.

"Lord Gills talked to you, didn't he?" It was obvious that the vampire's vocal cords had dried out, giving it a very raspy voice. Its syllables sounded like they were only half made, here and there it lisped. Ortega wasn't afraid of anything, but now he was getting second thoughts about that. He made no avail to answer it, even through it was very hard to understand what the vampire had said. The Vampire chuckled, "Thought so. I knew you wouldn't answer,"

Suddenly the vampire cocked his head to one side, seeming to listen to something, then turned to the stairs. "He's calling..." there was a slight pause, then he turned round again. "Come, man-wolf. Much is to be done,"

The Vampire limped towards the stairs. Ortega only watched him. He felt very strange. Was this the right thing to do? The vampire turned back as he was half way up the stairs. "Come! We cannot keep the master waiting!" It coughed and wheezed as it continued up the stairs. Ortega briskly followed it. As they reached the second floor, Ortega could see, in the dim lighting, two stain glass windows, and in the middle of them there was a painting, canvas torn so he couldn't make out what it was. When he faced the entrance of the stairs again, he saw windows, boarded up with dead light shafting in. A red, velvet couch stood neglected for some time, dust clothed it.

He saw the vampire, frequently coughing and wheezing, making his way to a door on the left side. Ortega thought that the vampire would cough up his liver, or what was left of the decomposing organ. Ortega shrugged the thought off quickly, as he followed the vampire. The vampire ushered Ortega through the door into an open air hallway. The wind began to purr again, softly but eerily. Through the arches, Ortega could see hedges and far off, the castle wall. On the other side of the hall, there were candles, struggling to keep alive.

At the end of the hallway, there was a set of double doors. The vampire protruded a set of keys and unlocked the door. Inside, Ortega was mystified by what he saw. It was a rose garden, very well tended. They were white roses, pale but beautiful, their fragrance was strong, but not pungent. It almost made Ortega feel comforted by their pale heads and their dark green, almost black, stems and thorns. The room was a circular shape with part of the rose garden to one side. The other was in the middle with a column being the center piece. Windows showed the dark, overcast sky and more hedges as the skylight had more dead light pouring in.

The vampire panted as he made his way down the stone hall to yet another door and opened it. Ortega slowly followed to catch the last glimpse of the roses fading away behind the concealment of the door. Yet again more stairs, with a candelabra sitting on the other side of the stairs, flames taking note of their movements. Paintings were hung on the walls although, it wasn't their best time to see them. They were turned at crude angles or shrouded in dust and web or ripped and torn.

Nonetheless, they continued up the stairs. Into a hallway they went, passing many doors, rounding a corner, passing two stain glass windows. They continued past those and to a room at the end of the hall, on the left, went through into the room. It was a large room, with a table in the center, surrounded by chairs. A painting was slashed on the far wall hung at an odd angle, it might have been a salvation to the people that used to own this house.

There was a large mirror with a mantle, and on the mantle was a vase of roses. They were white but splashed with...blood. Ortega was staring at them when suddenly he heard the vampire speak "Well, this is where your journey ends, Man-wolf," Ortega slowly turned round to face the vampire who was looking oddly at him. "And I'll make sure of that. That trip has made me quite hungry... do you understand?" the Vampire laughed, a low, deep, evil laugh as he advanced on Ortega.

Ortega growled then lunged at the Vampire, bringing his claws into the vamp's right arm. It screamed and staggered back. It hissed as Ortega, then held his arms, almost in a embrace trying to hug someone, and ran forward. It was very odd, the vampire didn't bounce at all, he just ran straight forward. Ortega waited for the right moment then did a flip over the vamp, and made a quick kick in its spine. It flopped over: dead.

Ortega, breathing hard, (even though it wasn't much of a fight), walked slowly over to the vamp laying on the ground. He stared at it, then suddenly it hissed while it was on the ground, then flipped up kicking Ortega to the floor. Ortega wasn't expecting that, as he let out a surprised cry. The vamp came close to Ortega, close enough to do some real damage to the vampire, smelling its decaying breath. Ortega swung out his legs to kick the vamp down. He succeeded in doing so, stood up, and put a foot on the vamp's chest. If he pressed hard enough he would break the vamps sternum, causing his ribs to split apart and even break out of the skin, damaging his heart, lungs and many of his organs.

"Where is Gilles de Rais?" Ortega barked at him. The vampire's face writhed in pain, but his body remained stationary.

"What business do you have with him?"

"I am supposed to help him raise Dracula,"

The vamp looked shocked, but at the same time he was giving Ortega an 'that's what I'm trying to help you with' look. "Well," the vampire began "I'll take you to him, it you take your foot off me," Ortega began to get suspicious "How can I know that this isn't a trap?"

"You'll...you'll just have to...trust me,"

"That's not good enou..."

"Quintin? Were you trying to kill the Dark Prince's chosen?"

Ortega turned to see a familiar man in a purple suit, wearing an amused smile.

"My lord!" Quintin wheezed "this is.the chosen!?" Gilles de Rais nodded "That's right, Quintin. He going to help us with the other man-wolf, because there is an offer that he cannot resist." Gilles looked at Ortega. "Follow me, Man-wolf. You destiny awaits," Ortega looked back at Gilles then took his foot off of Quintin, who began to cough and hack. With one last look at the hissing, angered vampire, Ortega followed Gills through a hallway into a small library. Inside it was very dark, so only he could see the outline of things. He saw a table with a chair by it. Book shelves lined the walls. There was a small alcove with a chair in the center of it.

Ortega was led to the chair, as Gilles motioned for him to sit. "Wait here," Gilles went to the door which was the only light that emanated the room. It was quickly shut, not leaving a slight crack of light. It was pitch dark. Fear and panic began to leap into Ortega's veins. He was a man- wolf, one of the supernatural. Why was he fearing his own kind, the other supernatural? He had never really know about the vampires until he was eight. A storyteller told the legend of "Vald the impaler", killing his own kind to scare off the Turkish, making a pact with the devil when his love died, becoming a vampire, and the legendary Belmont clan, destine to kill the dark, vampiric lord and his followers.

That night he and Cornell went out to see if they could find a vampire. Both stayed up for hours and hours walking endlessly around to find a grey skinned vampire. Not successful, and disappointed they were going to head back to camp .They were both trudging along, when they both heard a sound, snapping twigs...going very fast. They could tell it was human and frightened, but since they were not old and wise yet, they couldn't tell who it was. To they followed the sound until the made it to the spot: a human woman in a badly tattered dress ran as fast as she could go. She kept on turning her head frequently, but that made her slow down.

Then it came, what the two boy-wolves were looking for: A grey skinned vampire sprinted so fast that it looked like he was only fueled by one thing, the woman. At last the woman tripped and fell. She struggled to get up, but the vampire bore down upon her. She struggled, but it was too late for her. He semi-raped her first, ripping her dress down the middle, kneading her breasts as the woman cried out, fearful of her death to come. Then, finally, came the death. The boys watched in half awe, half horror as the vamp began to pull her head to the opposite side (so there would be a bare space of her neck) as she began to scream and cry out in help, and he grazed his sharp teeth on her throat, playing with his prey.

The vampire seemed to relish her sounds of pain as he ran his long, grey tongue over the place where he soon would feed. He then laid his teeth on her skin, which looked like pure alabaster in the grim moonlight, then, a pause as he just reveled in the rampant pulsing of her jugular; in her fear. Swiftly, he bit through, taking in his much needed nourishment. The woman gave a loud moan that sounded like a half cry for help, as blood oozed out of her neck. The woman fell limp as the vampire began to finish the job. Both Ortega and Cornell began to run away asking each other questions like: "Did you see that?", "Wasn't that terrifying?"

Ortega came out of his musings when he noticed a sudden drop in the temperature. The room suddenly became frigid. Ortega thought he could see something in the dark, something in the shape of a man, but he really wasn't sure. Suddenly, a burst of violet light made Ortega nearly jump out of his skin. He stared at it for a moment then saw a face. He couldn't remember what It looked like, but then he felt weak, and then fell limp to the floor.

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Ortega thought he could hear thousands of voices in pain. All screaming, an no end. Ortega opened his eyes and all he could see was a dark sea of bodies screaming for their souls, their vocals echoing. Ortega stared in shock as they reached out for him, wailing for help. Ortega began to walk backwards, still staring at them.

"Ah, so it is the man-wolf," Ortega whipped round to see what he had feared most. It was a tall vampire at least seven or eight feet tall, grey skin, the eyes were ever so worse than the old one's. So dark, so hollow, and so frigid. He felt his soul wither and die at the sight. The vampire was wearing a gentleman's suit with a cape, all tattered. It was the dark lord himself: Dracula.