(A/N: I'm hoping to finish this story soon since it's my pet project at the moment. Reviews
Kate Hawkins: Here's more. Hope you like it.
elwin 16: I updated. Are you happy?
sugah-crystal-101: Thanks!! And your are most welcome. (I've been reading Anne Rice to much…)
On with the story.)
Transylvania, Frankenstein's castle…still
Van Helsing and Mara got on the roof. Mara scanned the roof for her best friend and the princess.
"There they are." Mara said pointing at the two. They were running down steps away from a machine of some kind with a person in it. They ran over to them. Anna backed up into Van Helsing and spun around.
"I think we overstayed our welcome." Van Helsing said. Mara grabbed Veta's arm.
"I think that ended once we came in." Mara mumbled as she followed Van Helsing to the edge of the roof. Van Helsing and Mara both took out their grappling guns and fired at the tall trees. They knew the thin line wouldn't hold all four of them. Mara felt the line go taunt.
"Veta, hold on to me." Mara told her as Van Helsing held Anna by the waist. Mara slipped on her gloves as Veta grabbed her waist. "Hold on!" Mara shouted back as she grabbed the wire and jumped off the small wall in front of them. They began to slide over the moat.
Veta screamed from fear. Mara held onto the line with both hands. She could see Van Helsing and Anna sliding on the line next to them. The werewolf jumped up and ran out on the monster hunter's line.
"Van Helsing!" Mara tried to warn but the wolf had already slashed the line. "No!" Mara shouted. Anna and Van Helsing began to swing across. Mara sighed with relief, then she thought of something. She was worried about him. She didn't even like him and she was worried about him. Maybe she really did like Van Helsing. Did she?
Mara shook her head. She couldn't think about that now. The trees came in sight.
"Veta jump!" Mara told her. Veta let go and fell to the ground beside Anna. Mara let go of the line. She landed with a thud. Mara heard a groan from under her.
"Sorry!" she said quickly as she got off Van Helsing. "I didn't mean to land one you." Mara attempted to help him up.
"Is anyone hurt?" Van Helsing asked.
"No, are you?" Anna asked. Van Helsing shook his head.
"I'm fine." Veta replied.
"I came away unscratched." Mara said breathing hard. She would never say it but that was the scariest thing she had ever done in her life.
"I suggest we get as far away from that castle as possible." the teen said taking off her gloves and her hat. Mara ran her fingers through her hair and sighed. She glanced at Van Helsing, who gave her a small smile. Mara returned it.
"I have no argument there." Veta said. The four set off running. As thy ran, the sky clouded over and it began to rain. They ran hard and as far as they could. Soon enough, they came across an abandoned windmill. It looked like it was all that remained after a fire.
"A stake? A crucifix? What did you think? We haven't tried everything before?" Anna shouted at him. She shoved him under the windmill.
"Something tells me this will get good." Mara whispered to Veta. The teens did their best to stay dry even though the rain had soaked through their clothes already.
"We've been hunting this creature for more than four hundred years. We've shot him, stabbed him, clubbed him, sprayed him with holy water, staked him in the heart, and still he lives!" Anna ranted and walked up to Van Helsing. She put her face close to his. "Don't you understand? Nobody knows how to kill Dracula!"
A sardonic smile played out on Van Helping's lips. "I could have used that information a little bit earlier."
"He's going to try and kiss her." Veta whispered to Mara.
"Bet you money he doesn't." Mara smirked back.
"You're on." Veta said shaking on it.
Anna glared at Van Helsing. "Don't give me that look." she said and walked away.
"Pay up." Mara said holding out her hand. Veta put a coin in her hand as Mara smiled and put the coin in one of her many pockets.
Van Helsing picked up a bottle of absinthe as Anna turned around and began to walk closer as Van Helsing uncorked the bottle. "You were right…he isn't my brother anymore."
Van Helsing looked at her with sympathy in his eyes. He took off his hat and set it on Anna's head. The two teen girls looked at each other and smiled.
"Do you have any family Mr. Van Helsing?" Anna asked him, her face and tone going soft.
"I'm not sure. I hope to find out someday; that's what keeps me going." he said and began to bring the bottle to his lips.
"Story of my life." Mara mumbled to Veta. Anna took the bottle out of Van Helsing's hands.
"Here's to what keeps you going." she said and raised it to her lips. Van Helsing stopped her.
"Absinthe. Strong stuff."
Anna looked at him with a smirk on her face and drank.
"I knew I liked her for a reason." Mara said turning to Veta, smiling.
Anna handed the bottle to Van Helsing as the teens drew in closer.
"Don't let it touch your tongue. It'll knock you on your -"
The teens screamed from shock as they fell into the soggy ground beneath them. Anna and Van Helsing were nowhere and blackness consumed them.
Mara woke up slowly. She was covered in timber that had fallen with the small group. Mara shook out her head as her vision cleared. She held her head a moment, just to get her bearings together. She felt a pain on her stomach and saw that a heavy beam was on top of her.
Mara tried to push off the timber. It moved a little bit, but not much. She pushed again. Nothing.
She could hear mumbling. It got louder and the words became clear.
"Mara! Mara where are you!"
"I'm over here! I'm trapped under a pile of wood." Mara shouted up.
"Can you move it?" came Van Helsing's voice.
"No. There is a beam on top of me. It's to heavy to for me to move."
"Well, there is a three foot tall wood pile on top of you as well." Anna pointed out.
"Just help me." Mara groaned. Mara could hear wood being moved. Soon, light met her eyes. It took Van Helsing along with Anna to move the beam off of her. Van Helsing picked her up and set her on her feet.
"Thanks." Mara told him looking around at their surroundings. It didn't look pretty. "Where is Veta?"
"We haven't found her yet." Anna replied.
"Did Veta ever tell you anything about her family?" Van Helsing asked. "If she did and you remembered, you might be able to help her."
"No, she never even told me her last name. I know is she lived with her Uncle till the accident. The accident claimed his life and took her memory. That's all." Mara replied and stopped dead. Van Helsing saw it too.
"There is something down here, and it's carnivorous." he whispered at seeing a pile of rat bones that were picked clean. "It seems to be of human ancestry."
Mara saw the boot prints as Anna drew her sword behind them.
"I'd say he's a size seventeen, about 360 pounds, with a gimp in his…right leg." Mara concluded and looked up. She froze.
Van Helsing was impressed. Maybe the girl was good at this job after all. But why did she freeze? He looked up and knew why.
"…and three copper teeth." Van Helsing said reaching for his pistol.
"How do you know he copper teeth?"
"Because he's standing right behind you." Van Helsing said moving Anna out of the way.
The monster picked Van Helsing up by the neck and flung him into a pool of repulsive looking water. Mara dived in front of Anna, pistols raised. The monster knocked her aside and Mara went flying into a wall. She landed on the ground with a thud.
"Oh my god, the Frankenstein monster." Anna said scrabbling backwards.
"Monster!!" the creature boomed. "Who's the monster here? I have done nothing wrong, and yet you and your kind all wish me dead!"
He lifted Anna off the floor. Van Helsing ran forward and tackled it into the wall. The creature's head popped open, with lightning dancing around inside it's head.
Mara saw this from her point on the floor. She grabbed the wall and stood, using the wall for support. Mara almost fell when someone hoisted her up. It was Veta.
"Where have you been?" Mara asked smiling. Just then, Van Helsing was sent flying back into the pool of water. Mara looked back at the monster, who pushed his head back together. Veta's eyes widened as she gasped slightly. The monster looked over at them and their eyes met.
"Oh my gosh." Veta whispered.
"Veta, what is it? What's wrong?" Mara said recognizing this as odd behavior for her friend. Veta didn't reply. Mara, her bearings now back together, pulled Veta with her and set her in a hiding place.
"Stay there." Mara told her and whirled around. Mara ran over to Anna, but was flung across the cavern instead. She hit the floor with a groan and got up again, holding her ribs. The monster turned his attention back to Anna, who scrambled backward till her back was against burnt timber.
"What do you want?" she asked it.
"To exist."
Mara jumped forward and pulled Anna to the side as Van Helsing put six darts in The monster's back. The monster fell to the ground. Van Helsing came over and joined Mara and Anna. Veta ventured out of her hiding place and ran toward them.
Veta looked different, it was in her eyes. She knew something. With her new eyes, she looked at the monster. Veta sank to her knees beside it and uttered only two words.
"I remember."
It was barely above a whisper but Mara heard it.
"Veta?" Mara asked.
"I remember. My name is Veta Frankenstein. My uncle is Dr. Victor Frankenstein. I came to live with him after my parents died. Count Dracula employed him, more like had him under his will. Dracula made him make him." Veta nodded toward the monster. The monster just stared at her with knowing eyes.
"The accident was after he was created. Dracula tried to take him. To do that, he tried to kill my uncle. I needed to help him so I undid the straps that held him, but we were to late. Dracula had already killed my uncle. I tried to escape the castle but something hit me in the head and I blacked out. When I woke, I had no memory." Veta looked up at Mara.
"You've had a pretty busy life already, haven't you?" Mara said smiling at her. Veta smiled back as Mara pulled her to her feet. "At least one of us remembers something. Half of my life is still a complete blank."
"We must kill him." Anna said.
"No." Veta, Mara and Van Helsing said at the same time.
"Wait." Van Helsing instructed.
"If you value your lives and the lives of your kind, you will kill me." it said.
"Why?" Van Helsing asked.
"Because…" Mara started, her reply forming in her mind as she went. "Because Dracula needs him. He, he is the key…to the machine. If Dracula gets a hold of him, then Dracula could bring his children to life." Mara said looking at Veta.
"That is the exact reason." Veta replied.
"But he already awakened them, last night." Van Helsing said.
"Those were just from one bride, from one single birthing, and they died as did the last time he tried. Only with me, can he give them lasting life." the monster said.
"There are more? More of those things?" Van Helsing asked.
"Thousands…thousands more." with that the creature lost consciousness.
Mara looked over at Veta. "Does Dracula know how to power the machine…correctly?"
"No."
"Do you?" Mara asked.
"Yes."
"Then we will keep you out of his reach." Mara said. Now the mission had gone all wrong. We have to protect this monster and Veta from Dracula while we make sure Anna or either of us don't get killed and kill Dracula. If I live through this, I'm never hunting vampires this powerful again. Mara thought to herself. Mara suddenly got the feeling they were being watched. She motioned for Veta to be quiet. The girl was confused till Mara pulled out her pistols. Veta remained quiet as Mara crept soundlessly to the whole through which they fell. Her deep blue eyes scanned the dark shadows. There she saw it and it saw her.
Mara began to fire and the others whirled around to see her. The werewolf jumped out at her. Mara dodged it and fired rapidly. A silver bullet hit the wolf's shoulder. It decided not to take anymore chances and fled out the roof.
"My god, he's seen us. Now they'll come for him, and neither you nor I can stop them." Anna said.
"Of course, I could always take a whack at it." Mara said placing the pistols back at her hips. She tipped her hat down over her eyes and smiled playfully, as if to say 'It would be fun to do so'.
"What about Rome?" Veta asked suddenly.
"I can get him to Rome. We can protect him there." Van Helsing said.
"Then I suggest we get there as soon a possible." Mara said smiling slightly at the thought of how mad the Cardinal would be at the sight of the monster. She sighed.
"To Rome."