Christine Marquez: grins not gonna tell you whats gonna happen with Sarah and Drac, t'will all happen in time. Sarah does have a twin sis but she's not important I wanted to focus just on the friendships of the charactors and not their families, there will be longer chapters and yeh Aleera forgot her life when she became a bride but not until the vampire took her over completely. I'm mite write a prequel to this saying how it happened but I figure she was seduced by drac and so gave in to easily. Sarah's still fighting it but if she ever stopped she'd forget too. Ne-who thats what was going on in my head when I started writing this.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, this is all just my twisted imagination.

Chapter 48

Valerius manor was ghostly at night, its many halls and rooms lit only by the small candles and torches lining the walls.

Tony walked from room to room, glancing in each one searching for Sarah, she hadn't joined the group for dinner, which he reasoned wasn't surprising since she no longer needed to eat normal food.

The others were in the library, Jory and Bob enthusiastically trying to explain Game-cubes to a very bewildered Carl, while Van Helsing and Anna told battle stories to the rest, who hung on their every word.

Only Tony had noticed Sarah's absence and it had worried him. Sarah lived for the group and always enjoyed Van Helsing's tales; he couldn't understand why she would seek out solitude, especially with all that had happened recently.

Lightening briefly lit the corridor, casting shadows across the walls, Tony shivered. 'Defiantly creepy' he thought picking up his pace.

He glanced through an arced doorway and looked into the main foyer of the mansion. He was about to turn away and head to the armoury when he realised that the front doors were wide open.

Frowning he edged into the room, torrents of rain from the storm outside soaked the marble floor. 'She can't be outside!' he thought frantically as he took the small silver knife that Anna had given him out of his belt.

Granted it wouldn't be able to kill a vampire or werewolf, but it would give him time to get away should he come across any of them, and in this place that was always a possibility.

As he drew closer to the doors he began to make out a figure standing in the driveway of the manor, head tilted towards the sky.

"Sarah?" Tony whispered.

The storm was raging around her but she didn't seem to notice, the simple gown she wore stuck wetly to her figure, the light blue colour turned dark with the water. Her blond hair whipped towards the sky with each blast of wind, stray strands sticking to her pale face.

Tony stepped away from the house glancing left and right, painfully aware of how exposed they both were to attack; god knows they had both given Dracula enough reasons to kill them and this would be the perfect opportunity.

"Sarah?" he whispered again coming up behind her, he glanced at her face, she wore a look of supreme pleasure, her eyes shut and a small innocent smile on her lips.

He tried once again to get her attention "Sarah come inside it's not safe out here, and you'll freeze to death in this weather." He cringed at his choice of wording and cursed himself when he saw the serene look disappear and her eyes shoot open.

Sarah turned to look at him, blinking the rain out of her eyes she regarded him for a moment and then smiled.

"Not a problem anymore" she said sarcastically, her voice cracked slightly and she turned away from him staring at something he could not see in the darkness around them.

Tony shifted uncomfortably, usually he would bite back with a smart assed comment and the banter would begin, each working out their hurt with the other behind a mock argument.

That was the way it had been for years, it was the basis of their friendship. But this time it was very different, this time there were no jokes that could be made, no half hearted insults to be passed… He could only stand in the rain and watch her softly cry. Her tears mixing with the rain drops and lost in the downpour.

He stepped closer and hesitated before reaching out and clasping her shoulders, turning her gently to face him. Her skin was like ice beneath his touch the sleeveless gown offering little protection from the elements.

"Have you been out here all night?" he whispered. She stared at the floor and nodded.

"Since the rain started" she said and slowly raised her head to look him in the eyes. His heart rate flickered slightly and she frowned wondering if it was fear that made it quicken.

"Are you afraid of me Tony?" she whispered searching his eyes, to her surprise he laughed and for a minute he was as he'd always been around her, the cocky sarcastic teenage boy who hid behind his ranting.

She felt him relax as he held her, automatically shifting into his other confident personality, and suddenly the awkward Tony who'd come looking for her was replaced by one she recognised from years of teasing.

"Please Woman I'm not scared of you, just came to find out why you weren't in the kitchen, woman's place and all that…" he began to rant his voice getting higher when he made a point.

Sarah normally would have joined and argued her case by now, but she was content to listen to him, the sound of his voice was familiar, it soothed her and for a moment she let herself believe that they were home safe and dry.

Tony held Sarah to him, trying to defend her from the cold. He'd stopped talking a while ago. She smiled at him and closed her eyes; he'd calmed her for the moment.

"God its cold," he muttered as the rain soaked his shirt, he hadn't thought to grab a jacket on the way out, too preoccupied with the threat of vampires in the night.

Suddenly he realised where they were, 'damn it' he'd let his guard down 'stupid stupid' he cursed himself as he scanned the darkness. In his paranoia he saw shapes and shadows surrounding them slowly moving in, imagined he heard the drag of claws over gravel.

She heard the change in his heart rate and gently pulled away looking at his face "you ok Tony?" she asked concerned.

He glanced at her and then looked towards the manor doors a few meters behind them.

"Come on let's get out of the rain you must be freezing," he said gently pulling her in the direction of the manor. He felt her hesitate and looked back to see a strange haunted look cross her face. A horrible thought struck him and he grasped her arms forcing her to look at him.

"Sarah, is 'he' here?" he yelled almost shaking her in his fear driven rage.

She looked at him blankly eyes widened and fearful at this sudden change in temperament. He looked around her into the darkness.

"Dracula!! Is he here? Is he making you stay out here?" he looked urgently looking into her face and seeing her comprehend what he was saying and why he was so fearful.

"No….no he's not" she whispered. Tony relaxed slightly relief clear on his face, but it quickly melted into confusion.

"Why are you out here Sarah? Why have you been out here all this time, in this storm? Vampire or not this can't be good for you…not dressed like that anyway" he gestured towards the gown plastered to her slim frame.

Sarah glanced down at it and blushed; little was being left to the imagination. Tony smirked at her it seemed he'd noticed too.

"Come on lets get you dry and in something a little less comfortable" he joked again steering her towards the candle lit foyer. The same sad shadow passed over her features but she willingly, if a little slowly, followed him.

Sarah stood dripping in the middle of the foyer, she heard Tony close the doors behind them and pull the lock into place, an audible sigh of relief escaped him as he heard the lock click shut.

"It's gone," she whispered.

Tony glanced up sharply "what? What's gone?" he asked looking around the room.

Everything was exactly as when he'd left it; confused he looked at the dripping girl beside him and was shocked to see that once again she was quietly sobbing.

"Is this a woman's thing?" he asked sarcasm laced his voice.

To anyone else this would have be the most hurtful thing he could have said and a slap would not have been far behind. In fact Tony was bracing himself for such a slap wondering if he might have gone too far, but…incredibly she didn't respond at all.

She'd heard him and she took it for what it was, a subtle attempt to bring her out of her misery, whether to turn it to anger or laughter, anything he could handle. Tears were something he could not deal with, she knew that and she wished that he wasn't the one to see her cry.

In her watery blindness she felt and found the wall and braced herself against it. It was something real to hold on to, something cool and rough beneath her fingers. He was watching her; she could hear his steady heart beat, smell his scent, the blood pumping just below the skin teased her with its heat.

She pushed the thoughts aside and tried to focus on the wall and calming her sobs, she was shaking with the effort of it, and perhaps the chill of the storm had penetrated her body finally.

She was aware of Tony's footsteps moving away from her.

He was leaving her and in her misery she was glad that he would not see her like this anymore, that she was free to mourn her life alone.

Alone, alone…the word echoed around her and she accepted it. 'This is how it will be.' She thought 'I'm meant to be alone.'

Her breath came in painful gasps between her sobs, the air was no longer needed for life but to give her a voice, the air fuelled her sobs, and through all this she didn't hear the footsteps returning, barely felt the blanket being wrapped around her nor the strong arms lifting her from where she'd slumped against the cold stone of the wall.

Tony lifted her into his arms and carried her towards one of the nearest rooms; it was a small living room, lightly furnished with a sofa, two armchairs and a table. He'd built up a roaring fire in the large ornamental fireplace.

As they'd entered Sarah's sorrowful crying had ceased, he'd expected her to protest to being carried, the Sarah he knew would have been up in arms by now over feminism and that she wasn't a weakling that needed to be carried.

But she said nothing; this scared him.

There was something so wrong here; the Sarah he knew was dying right before his eyes to be replaced by a strange soulless creature. Abruptly the dagger at his belt seemed to become heavier, Van Helsing's earlier warning echoing around his head.

Carefully he set her down on the sofa. She sat up and wiped her eyes watching him fascinated as he went to the fireplace and picked up a white linen dressing gown.

"Here put this on" he said passing it to her "I'll be right back" as soon as he left she changed out of her sodden dress and put on the dressing gown. The warmth of it was wonderful against her cold skin.

A small knock told her Tony was back, he glanced round cautiously before entering the room with two steaming mugs. He'd swapped his wet shirt and trousers for a vest top and some baggy trousers.

Carefully he handed the strong smelling tea to her. "Thanks" she whispered taking the cup, now that she'd cried herself out the embarrassment was starting to settle in. She didn't do vulnerability, especially in front of Tony! It was just too much ammunition for the next argument they'd have.

Avoiding his eyes she took a sip of the tea. He seemed amused by the strange look that crossed her face.

"Argh it tastes like chewing gum!" she said eyeing the mug.

Tony laughed, "Chamomile" he said simply "I found some in the kitchen, it'll help soothe you" he hesitated before adding, "I thought Witches were supposed to know stuff like that" he teased her.

Sarah smiled amused at how easily he slipped into their old routine once again.

Tony watched her carefully and was relieved to see her finally returning to some thing that resembled normal.

They finished their tea in silence each lost in their own thoughts, Tony wasn't going to push, she'd tell him what was hurting so badly when she was ready.

His earlier questions had pushed her too far and he didn't want to repeat the experience for fear of losing her for good the third time.

After a while it was Sarah who finally broke the silence.

"Tony?" she whispered staring into the dregs of her cup.

"Yeah?" he glanced up waiting.

She stumbled over her words for a few seconds, "I just…I want to say thanks…for tonight, thanks for coming looking for me" she looked up at him eyes shinning with gratitude.

He nodded and smiled waiting for her to continue.

She looked down again "Tonight I guess it's finally hit me…what this all means…being a vampire…what it is Dracula's done to me" again she looked up scanning his expression for anything other than sincerity, finding no mockery there she continued.

"Today I started to remember the last few days of school when it was so warm and sunny. I remembered sitting on the grass with Amie cheering you all as you played football. Those days meant everything to me Tony…they still do. What hurts is all they are ever going to be now are distant memories, ones that I will eventually forget." Sarah looked at him with tear filled eyes "I don't want to forget the sun" she whispered.

Tony moved closer and pulled her into a hug resting his head on top of hers.

"What's worse is…now everything seems dulled down; I can hear, see and smell everything and everyone. Upstairs I can hear Anna telling everyone about when she was twelve and snuck out to find her fathers hunting party. But as these senses are heightened the rest, touch, temperature, taste even, there all fading. I feel dead Tony, I feel like I'm just in a shell. Tonight when it started to rain I went out to see if I could feel it, just…feel something anything real to let me know I was alive.

That I'm not a ghost drifting and observing, that I'm flesh and blood.

For a little while the rain made me feel that, the sound of it, the taste of it. I felt it run down my skin and I knew I was real."

She pulled away from his embrace and looked into the fire. "That's why I didn't want to come back in, I didn't want to let that feeling go, it's all I have left"

Tony knelt in front of her and clasped her hands between his "It's not all you have left" he whispered, "You have me, Jory, Bob, Marston, Amie, Chris, Carl, Anna, and most of all Van Helsing, we are not going anywhere ok? We won't let you face this alone"

"Thank you" she smiled at him

"You going to be ok by yourself tonight or do you want me to stay?" he asked standing.

"Please stay with me tonight" she whispered immediately.

He smiled and indicated to her now empty mug "Kitchen run?" he suggested. She smiled and followed him out of the room and into the large manor kitchen settling herself on a stool while he crossed to the cupboards. As he rummaged through he suddenly looked back at her.

"No offence but could you not tell anybody about tonight? I have a rep to keep." Sarah rolled her eyes and laughed.

"You afraid I'm going to damage your street cred?" he mock glared at her and she grinned.

"Don't worry I won't tell anybody that your sweet really."

"I'm not sweet woman!" he exclaimed loudly in exasperation.

Sarah watched him fascinated as he pulled out a large glass and began adding random ingredients he'd found in the cupboards.

"So are you not tired, it's past midnight already." He shook his head examining the label of a black jar before muttering to himself and placing it back on its shelf.

This exchange continued for a while before Sarah heard the old Grandfather clock in the foyer chime the third hour.

"Tony… its 3am, I'm fairly sure you need to sleep at some point." She pointed out.

He ignored her and continued adding various ingredients to the liquid in the glass.

Sarah wrinkled her nose at the smell coming from the conspicuously brown liquid.

"And this would be what exactly?"

He grinned proudly "The new and improved Flaming Hong!" he announced.

Sarah smirked, "Aha…So how is it improved?" she asked curiously, remembering his original concoction that enabled him to stay awake for a full 73 hours during his A-level exams.

Tony continued raiding the cupboards, the candle in his hand steadily dripping hot wax on to his knuckles. "No coffee. So I'm improvising." He answered adding some white powder from a large jar.

Sarah took it and read the label, her eyes widening in surprise. "Essence of garlic…your substituting essence of garlic for coffee?"

"Yep"

"What else is in there?" she asked eyeing the finished concoction with suspicion.

"Ale, Garlic, apple juice, honey, mince meat and milk." He informed her stirring the syrupy contents of the glass.

"I can't believe your going to drink that!" she exclaimed in disgust as he raised the rim to his lips.

With a wide grin he made a big show of downing half the glass. Sarah shuddered as he swallowed smiling at her and smacking his lips.

"Delicious" he said happily.

Sarah laughed "Liar."

Tony raised an eyebrow. "Silence woman it's great!"

The vampire rolled her eyes. "When someone lies their heart rate increases." She informed him smirking. "I just heard yours increase by over three beats per second. It's disgusting isn't it?"

His expression dropped instantly and he nodded. "Tastes like crap." He admitted.

Sarah grinned "Think Jory would drink it if you dared him tomorrow?" she asked.

Tony laughed "Almost certainly." He said before yawning loudly.

To her surprise Sarah found herself feeling sleepy, 'guess this is the vampire version of an early night' she thought.

"You going to bed?" she asked.

Tony shrugged "Yeah I think I might." He eyed her with concern. "You going to be ok by yourself?"

Sarah shrugged "Actually, I'm feeling a little sleepy myself." She admitted.

Tony smirked "God even as a vampire you're a lightweight!" he exclaimed earning himself an amused glare.

They made their way through the now silent manor, everyone having retired a few hours before. Pausing outside her room Sarah shuddered unwillingly reminded of the nightmare she'd experienced earlier.

Tony studied her expression. "You don't want to sleep alone do you?" he asked carefully.

Sarah looked sheepishly at her feet and shook her head. He grinned, "its ok we all share Marston's room now anyway, there'll be room."

Sarah followed him down the hall, astonished at how thoughtful he had become in the last few hours. It had always been there but it had always been masked behind a scathing remark or hidden in sarcasm. Tonight he was just being the friend she needed, no strings attached.

Quietly he eased open the bedroom door and they stepped silently inside, Sarah stifled a giggle as she heard Marston snoring from a single bed against the wall.

The double bed that had dominated the room the first night she had slept here was gone, and had been replaced by several singles and one three-quarter bed.

The teens noticed at the same time that the only bed available was the three-quarter. Tony cleared his throat "Er…you take the bed I'll be fine on the floor." Sarah rolled her eyes.

"Oh for god's sake we're both adults, we can both take the bed."

Tony smirked. "I'm just worried you won't be able to keep your hands off me, what if your hand "accidentally" slips during the night."

Sarah rolled her eyes "I'll try to restrain myself." She said sarcastically climbing under the covers and shuffling over.

Tony climbed on top of the covers and pulled an extra blanket from the bedside cabinet. "So technically we're not sharing." He pointed out. Sarah smiled settling down to rest.

She sighed her relief and then gave him a wicked smile. "Try anything, and I'll scream rape," she whispered closing her eyes.

Tony grinned, "Don't flatter yourself woman" he replied.

"So what else do we have to look forward too?" he asked quietly.

Sarah shrugged "You read the book; I think we've screwed up stuff enough that we're way beyond the film now."

Tony frowned "That's not a good thing is it?"

She sighed "It's just that everything's changed so much, maybe the ending will too."

"It won't." he reassured her "The good guys always win, and then we can find a way home… where you can be dissected and studied for the benefit of modern science."

Sarah gave a weary smile "Only if it's for science." She muttered before drifting into a thankfully dreamless slumber.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note: There you go a really long chapter and I got up early to fit it in before work too!