Disclaimer: I don't own Van Helsing nor anything associated with it, it is the property of Universal and the brain child of Steven Summers

Chapter 34

The coming of morning was a welcome sight at Valerius Manor, even mornings such as this one with patches of sunlight scarce among black rolling rain clouds.

Amie grinned as one rare shaft of sunlight briefly lit the dark second floor corridor before her, temporarily pushing aside the many shadows to give her a clear view of the large oak door that was her destination.

Standing in front of the door she waited patiently for a cloud to block the light out, conscientious of its fatal effect on the occupant of the room.

Before long the corridor returned to its shadowy state, allowing the girl to open the door.

Amie stepped silently into her friends room grinning as she heard her humming to herself besides the fire.

"Hey" Sarah said turning to smile at her.

"Hi, what are you singing?" she asked walking over and sitting Indian style opposite the girl.

Sarah grinned sheepishly. "David Bowie's sort of crawled in to my head." She admitted giggling at her friend's disgusted look.

"What he's good!" she exclaimed defensively.

Amie rolled her eyes. "How did that get in your head?"

"The lyrics are just a bit thought provoking at the moment." She said beginning to sing. "Live without the sunlight, Love without a heart beat…" she stopped as she caught sight of Amie's expression; laughing light-heartedly she looked back at the roaring fire.

Amie sat quietly unsure of what to say. Sarah looked at her once more "How come you're up so early anyway? It's only about eight." Amie shrugged.

"Bob kept me up all night with his leg; I think I got a grand total of two hours from five till seven."

Sarah grinned. "Bet your loving playing nurse though." She teased.

Amie grinned. "So I'm guessing you sleep in the day now?" she asked.

Sarah thought back over the last four days in castle Frankenstein and winced.

"Some, not a lot. I don't think I need it much now. I kind of miss it actually." She admitted sadly.

Amie frowned "I'm guessing you didn't get much rest the last few days then?" she asked cautiously.

The Vampire gave a dry smile "Well when you're sleeping in the same castle as a psychotic killer who wants to make you his play thing, sleeping is not the best option."

Amie looked concerned "That bad?"

Sarah nodded and then blushed smiling sheepishly "If I tell you something you have to promise you won't tell the guys, not even Bob!" Amie looked shocked.

"But he's my hunskull!" she whined childishly.

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Not … even…Bob" she said more forcefully.

Amie ruefully agreed pouting briefly before shifting in her seat and listening as her friend recounted her last full day in castle Frankenstein.

A short time later Sarah got up and walked over to sit on the bed as Amie burst out laughing and followed her.

"You saw that?" she asked as Sarah blushed. "Oh my god, the girl who can't even watch people kissing on Tv because she gets embarrassed…saw a full on three-some."

Sarah grimaced "I'm going to spend the rest of my life in therapy."

Amie grinned evilly "So what you just stood and watched?" Sarah made a face.

"Ewww no!!" she exclaimed in disgust.

"So what did you do?"

"Dracula was … keen for me to join in," she admitted blushing harder and hiding her head behind a pillow.

Amie nearly fell off the bed with laughter. "And you did what exactly?" she asked breathlessly her eyes shining with amusement.

Sarah peered over the top of her temporary feather filled shield. "What do you think?"

Her friend smirked "You ran like a woman." She stated confidently.

Sarah laughed "Little bit, actually hid out in the dungeons and ended up sharing a cell with wolfy Velkan for the day."

"You would rather sleep in the same room as a monster who'd love to eat you, than any where near Dracula?"

Sarah blinked. "The difference being?"

Amie shrugged "One is definitely better looking than the other." She said thoughtfully.

The vampire grinned, "Velkan reminded me of Toby." She said wistfully picking up a photo of her black terrier from the pack still spread out across the sheets.

"Yeah, if Toby was seven feet tall with rabies." The dark haired girl answered rolling her eyes dramatically.

Sarah was about to respond when a flash of lightening split the sky illuminating the dimly lit room. The girls jumped in shock as a booming roar of thunder shook the house.

"Can tell we're in Transylvania can't you." muttered the vampire, listening to the torrential downpour pounding the glass behind the thick maroon curtains at her window.

"I hate it here." said Amie suddenly. "Vampires, Werewolves, lightening. It all scares the hell out of me!" Sarah regarded her with sympathy.

"My best friend was kidnapped and turned into a blood sucking creature of the night…no offence."

Sarah shrugged smiling as Amie continued anyway.

"My hunskull broke his leg, we're all going to die, everyone has swords and Faith shoes don't even exist yet!!"

Sarah grinned, "You hate swords." She said nodding. "You wouldn't even watch King Arthur with me because it had swords in it…that and you hate Keira Knightly."

"She has no respect for herself!" she said furiously.

Sarah smiled at her friend's reaction. God it was good to be back.

"I miss shoes," Amie said forlornly, Sarah grinned patting her hand sympathetically.

"So you're faced with creatures from hell, we could all die…and your biggest worry is shoes?"

The girl shrugged "There special to me." She said grinning.

Lightening flashed again followed by the thunder echoing deeply around the secluded valley. Sarah walked to the window pulling the curtains aside to watch the storms progress.

"Dracula can call the storm." She muttered watching the rain cascade down the glass.

Amie joined her at the window peering fearfully out at the un-naturally dark landscape. "Is he doing this?"

They both gasped, as a spectacular fork of lightening tore across the sky "I don't know." Sarah admitted sighing.

Turning back to the bed she picked up a discarded bobble and forced her unruly hair in to a high ponytail.

"Want to go downstairs?" she asked. "I'm fairly certain we're not going to be seeing the sun till at least this afternoon, if at all. And I'm definitely done with being anti social."

Amie grinned leading the way out of the gloomy bedroom.

The girls made their way through the manor's empty corridors, as usual the servants of the household were absent though the house was spotless and a roaring fire greeted them in almost every room warming the stone foundations of the ancient building.

"Least they do their jobs." Amie noted with pleasure running her hand along the banister of the staircase and bringing it away miraculously dust free.

Sarah grinned at her friend "If they hadn't I bet you would have been up all night doing it for them" she said in amusement.

As they entered the main foyer Sarah began to hear the faint sound of shouting and laughter mingled with the hard clash of metal swords.

She frowned as she realized the sound was coming from bellow them.

"Ok its official I'm crazy." She stated staring at the floor.

Amie grinned "and you would say that why?" she asked in amusement.

"I'm hearing them sword fighting below us." She answered frowning.

Amie giggled "And of course it wouldn't occur to you that a place like this might have a large cellar." She questioned leading the way to the cellar staircase at the back of the kitchen.

"Nope, because that would have been logical." Sarah muttered smirking as she followed her friend down the stairs.