Disclaimer: I don't own Van Helsing it is the property of Steven Summers and universal studios.

Chapter 51

Everyone jumped when the large front doors of the manor burst open hitting the walls either side violently.

Van Helsing strode through them, completely blanking the group and heading straight for the basement gym to work out his frustration.

"Van Helsing?" Carl asked moving to follow him.

"Leave him Carl." Carl turned and met Sarah walking sadly into the foyer "He needs to be alone right now." She said watching the retreating hunter.

Amie stepped forward "Are you ok? Where's Anna?"

Sarah shook her head. "Everything that happened…" she turned to Carl "It was Dracula, he got into my head made the hunger worse. It was all a ploy to get Van Helsing and Anna to come after me. He set us up, and the werewolf attacked us."

Muttered curses went around the group.

"Aleera caught us by surprise…she took Anna… and Dracula made sure I couldn't stop her." Sarah said anger and regret making her voice catch.

A loud crash sounded somewhere below them, a roar of anger accompanying it.

"He's taking this hard." said Chris worriedly.

Carl nodded "His mission was to protect the last Valerius, until Dracula had been destroyed. He's never failed before, that's why he's taking it so hard."

Amie and Sarah exchanged glances as another crash sounded. "It's not the mission he cares about." Amie said knowingly.

Nobody slept that night. Van Helsing didn't reappear as the sky got lighter and Sarah did not retreat with the coming of the sun.

She stood at one of the large windows in the foyer, staring out as the cloudy sky shone a breath taking pink.

Tony appeared beside her worry on his face. "Maybe you should get away from the window."

He said hesitantly, trying not to sound patronising "the suns rising."

Sarah didn't move. "We won't see the sun today." She said not looking at him "The clouds are shielding it from us. It won't burn."

Tony nodded and they watched the pink turn to a drizzly grey.

"The first morning we were here, I watched the sun rise with Anna." Sarah muttered eyes glazed with tears. "I didn't know it'd be the last real sunrise I would ever see."

She sighed and wandered away from the window, turning towards the huge map of Transylvania, which dominated the left wall. She scrutinised it for a moment and to Tony's confusion bent to finger the tear in the bottom left hand corner.

"There's a piece missing." Tony said stating the obvious.

Sarah nodded and stood tall again "what lies North of Vaseria?" she asked.

Tony glanced at the map. "Looks like Budapest." He said dismissively.

Sarah cursed and ran out of the room, leaving a bewildered Tony in her wake.

She dashed into the hall and saw Van Helsing striding purposefully towards her fully armed wearing his hat and trench coat.

"Van Helsing!" she cried "I have to talk to you."

To her surprise he pushed past her snapping "Not now" and rushing out of the manor. Sarah blinked watching him go as Carl rushed up to her, her friends armed behind him.

"What's going on?" she asked urgently.

"Aleera's in the village asking to speak to you and Van Helsing!" he reported hurriedly.

Sarah groaned she knew where this was leading, running to the doors she yelled back at her friends. "Meet us there!" before disappearing, heading for the village faster than their eyes could process.

Aleera set herself gracefully on the roof of the church giggling as she watched the villagers scurrying away like rabbits.

Regretfully she wasn't there to feed; no this was all about business. She smiled as she saw the two figures approaching her, a smaller group closing fast just behind them. 'Well' she thought 'mainly business'.

Aleera waited for the whole group to assemble before speaking.

"So much trouble to my master…so much trouble." She said silkily.

Amie lent over to Bob "This is creepily familiar," she whispered.

Van Helsing made to fire his crossbow but was stopped by Sarah's hand over his on the trigger. "Wait." She whispered.

"You killed Marishka and Verona, if my master was capable of love, he would have loved them very much. Now he misses his newest bride." Her lustful gaze fell on Sarah and she involuntarily shivered.

Aleera shook her head at her "Master is very disappointed that you ran away darling." She said flashing her fangs at the group.

Van Helsing realised she was not there to fight and found himself feeling disappointed. "What do you want?"

"The master commands a trade, his bride… for the princess." Sarah froze and felt her friends gather protectively around her, each one glaring at Aleera in defiance, believing that there was no way Van Helsing would agree to the trade.

Sarah looked at the ground. She knew differently.

"Somewhere public. Lot's of people." He said evenly.

Now the group was staring at him apart from Sarah who kept her neutral gaze at her feet.

"A place where your master will be less inclined to show his…other side."

Aleera thought for a moment and then her eyes lit up. "Tomorrow night is All Hallow's Eve! In Budapest there is a wonderful masquerade ball." She leaped for joy to a position higher up on the roof. "I love masquerade balls! Vilhova Palace! Midnight!"

She whooped and leaped again, vanishing in a burst of wind and snow that told Van Helsing she had transformed into the flying creature.

"You can't seriously be considering handing Sarah over!" Amie yelled at Van Helsing.

He turned angrily to face her "I have lived through wars and lost much. I know what's worth the fight and what's not. We cannot allow Dracula to kill Anna! She's the last of the Valerius, her life means more than anyone of ours." He looked over at Sarah "Sarah understands that." The girl met his gaze and nodded a secret understanding passed between them.

Chris glanced from one o the other "I'm feeling like I'm missing something here." He said dryly the rest of the group silently nodded.

Van Helsing ignored them "Tell me one thing, do we succeed?" he asked the Vampire.

A pained look crossed her face as she recalled the rescue mission in the movie. "You get her back." She said carefully.

That was all he needed to know.

Silently the hunter turned and began to walk towards the manor. "Carl go to the stable and get the carriage ready, we're going to a party." He yelled behind him.

Amie and Tony appeared either side of Sarah, watching the hunter and the friar walk away.

"What was that all about?" Tony asked.

"You read the book right?" Tony nodded "I'm guessing you got distracted at the ballroom scene?" she said knowingly.

"Yeah so?"

"Your about to see it Technicolor."