A/N- Okay, my internet is still down. It may be so for a while. Until then, I hoped you all enjoyed the last chapter. Here's the next.

Disclaimer- Don't own it!

Chapter 9

Sage found her way through the castle to the place called Orlox's Quarters, just as Adrian had instructed her to. He had told her to go on ahead of him, that he had an errand to run. He hadn't offered her any information on the errand, and she hadn't asked. She did have a sneaky suspicion that it had something to do with an involved prayer.

After centering herself in Orlox's Quarters, she began to set up the things she would need for the spell. A crystal, a bowl of water, eye of newt, a map of the castle, feather of owl, and an embroidered handkerchief her father had given to her when she was little. It was white silk with her initials done in olive-green thread.

Adrian approached her from behind and placed a kiss on her cheek. "I have thanked you for doing this, haven't I, Sage?"

"Not in words," she replied, running a hand through his long hair. She then moved her hand to rest over his heart. "But I know that you feel grateful to me."

"I don't understand how I could ever repay you for this."

"Well, it hasn't worked yet, but a start would be for you to keep loving me."

"Easily done," he said, giving her a teasing kiss on the lips.

Sage settled herself on the floor and began combining ingredients and muttering the incantation that she had copied down. She then covered the bowl of water--which now contained the eye of newt and the feather of owl--with the castle map. Over that she placed her handkerchief. Then she picked up the crystal and broke the chanting--as instructed--so that her mind could rest.

"What is the handkerchief for?" Adrian asked, peering over her shoulder.

"The spell calls for ' something from the heart.' I decided to use my handkerchief because, for the longest time, it was the most meaningful gift anyone had ever given me," Sage answered, now beginning to swing the crystal over the handkerchief.

She began to mutter, in Latin, what she wished to see on the map. Nothing happened for a few moments, and then, suddenly, a light shined out of the bowl and through the map and handkerchief to project a wall length visual of the castle map. Sage stood.

"Show me the location of Maria!" she called out loud.

A hole appeared in the center of the map, as if the map had been caught on fire. Then, just as so, the hole expanded until the whole map vision disappeared from view. Sage knew that the spell had quit itself, and that it hadn't worked. She glanced over to Adrian to see how he was taking this. The disappointment in his eyes was almost too much to bear.

"Well," he said after a moment's silence, "you did your best. Perhaps you should rest? That looked tiring."

Sage appreciated what he was trying to do for her. But showing a brave face wasn't going to improve her mood. She collapsed to her knees and began to gather the spell ingredients.

"I don't understand. Maybe I misread the spell? I could check it again," she began to mutter.

Adrian sat down behind her and put his arms around her. "It's not your fault. Perhaps it's just not the right spell. We could try again when we've found another, if you like," he said comfortingly.

Sage nodded.

"Come on," Adrian said, after helping her gather and carry her things. "I'll take you back to your rooms. You need to rest, dearest."

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Sage, however, couldn't sleep. Several hours later, well after nightfall, she was still awake and pacing back and forth. Vaguely amazed that Dracula had not come to call her for her duties, she began to ponder what could've possibly gone wrong with the spell.

Maybe if I look over it again, she thought. Maybe from the original source.

Which of course was in the library. Grabbing a woolen cloak from the back of a chair, for the castle was steadily growing colder as the days progressed, she wrapped it around herself and headed for the library. She was determined to find out what went wrong.

She soon arrived at the table she usually sat at in the library and found that she had forgotten to put up the spell book. Well, that would certainly save her some time. However, as she moved to leave the library, voices from the behind a nearby closed door leaked out to her. One of them she recognized as Dracula's. The other she did not recognized. She moved closer to the door, curiosity getting the better of her. She pressed her ear to it just in time to hear Dracula call his guest by name.

"What news have you come with, Orlox?" he asked.

A deep, hissing voice replied, "I found evidence of magic within my quarters when I awoke this evening. Magic that I had not performed. I had a hunch that it might be the human that you brought to this castle that did it."

"Good. I hope it was," Dracula replied.

Orlox's next reply sounded just as confused as Sage felt, "But, Master, it was very powerful magic. She could be trying to escape."

"She's not that strong. Not yet. Nor will she ever be given the chance to be, but it is good that she is progressing."

"I don't understand," Orlox said.

Neither do I, Sage thought.

"Then allow me to explain," Dracula continued. "You see, I have a plan that I would consider fool-proof for finally being able to conquer this human infested planet."

"Interesting. Continue, please, Master."

"You see, after some deep thought, I came to the conclusion that he only creatures within this castle that has ever given the Belmont clan any trouble are the creatures that have vampiric connections. So, I will do a summoning spell that will also resurrect any and all the vampires I wish, and together we will crush the Belmonts and take over the world!"

"But the girl…how does she play into this?" Orlox asked.

"I need her for the spell."

"To perform it? She'll never do it."

"Not to perform it…to be it. You see, her blood is strong. It was strong when I took her from her parents, and it is even stronger now that she has been doing magic. I need her blood strong enough so I can bleed her longer than I could a normal sacrifice. The stronger the blood, the longer I can bleed her before her soul leaves her body and the blood becomes useless."

That was all Sage needed to hear. Slowly at first, so they wouldn't pay any heed to her footsteps, she walked out of the library. As soon as she cleared it, however--with spell book in hand--she ran like a bat out of hell toward Adrian's quarters.

End Notes: Sorry for the long wait for this. I had to get re-inspired to write for this fic. I like this chapter very much! I hope all of you enjoyed it as well. Please R & R! Thanks!