Disclaimer: I own nothing!!
Chapter 68
The Manor was pleasantly warm after the chill of the tome; the teens huddled gratefully around the fire while Van Helsing and Anna hovered around a very disgruntled Carl, who was frantically searching through a pile of archaic volumes.
He ran his finger down a page of Latin muttering to himself. Abruptly he turned his head and jumped to find Van Helsing leaning over his shoulder.
"You know that doesn't make me work any faster." He said in frustration.
The Hunter stepped back and kicked the wall in frustration startling the group.
Anna placed a calming hand over his, "Do you have any idea what he means by dept?" she asked turning to the friar.
Carl sighed. "Nothing, it has to be a debt to Dracula, but I can't find a connection."
Jory glanced out of the window alarmed to see the sky darkening. "The sun's about to set." He stammered.
Van Helsing nodded "Carl if you don't figure this out now they are going to be coming for us anyway, one of them has an all access pass to this manor."
Tony barely heard what was being discussed around him, something flickered in his memory just out of his reach, something Dracula had said the first night they fought him in the square.
The scene played itself out in slow motion behind his eyes. The count and his brides laughing at them, taunting them and them he said it:
"…You owe me the loss of Marishka, I collect all my debts in blood."
With a cry Tony leapt up from his place by the fire and pulled the journal out from under the Friar's nose.
"I collect my debts in blood." He yelled echoing Dracula's words.
Everyone stared at him. Unaware he continued to mutter to himself reading and re-reading the page again and again.
"Anything you want to share with the class Hongy?" asked Bob impatiently.
Tony looked up sharply "It's about blood!" he announced.
"That is generally what vampires are all about." said Amie sarcastically.
Van Helsing stepped forward. "Who's blood? Why?" he asked intrigued.
Tony held the hunter's gaze, his eyes shinning with excitement. "You said that Dracula was murdered, his blood was stolen from him."
Carl nodded in comprehension, excitedly snatching the book out of the boys grasp. "Of course the man who murdered him, who stole his blood." He stopped and looked meaningfully at Van Helsing. "He needs to pay it back…"
Tony nodded earnestly. "There must be blood on the sword when it strikes Dracula, it must be…"
"Mine." Van Helsing finished quietly.
He touched the illustration in the ancient book, his fingers tracing the tip of his old blade; the fragile and faded paper was coarse beneath his skin.
Anna placed a desperate hand on his arm. "How much?" she asked fearfully.
They all turned to the friar. "Carl?" Van Helsing asked.
Carl flinched and avoided his gaze. "A lot" he answered quietly. "You'd be too weak to use the sword…Dracula would kill you before you could lift it to strike."
Van Helsing sighed and turned to the princess "Then Anna will strike the blow." He said simply.
She gazed at him, her eyes full of hope and fear. "You will wield the sword at the end…as it was meant to be." He announced taking her hands within his own.
Anna raised her head and the young teens found themselves in the presence of the last gypsy princess ready to face her destiny.
Amie's small voice thick with emotion shattered the moment. "If you kill Dracula, every being he has created will die won't it?" she asked sadly.
Marston looked at the sword in the book. "So if we succeed, if we get the sword and kill Dracula…we kill Sarah."
Anna placed a comforting hand on his shoulder; he looked up and met her sorrowful gaze. "It will set her free." She promised him.
An hour later the horses were saddled and ready. The clink of metal echoed in the dusk as the group walked out of the manor clad in the finest armour and weaponry the Valerius armoury had to offer, with some minor additions courtesy of the Holy order.
"Guns!" Amie cried in horror when Van Helsing and Carl handed out four large shot guns.
"You're giving them guns!"
Marston grinned at her fixing his into the holster at his back. "If I die tonight, I die happy." He announced patting it lovingly.
"Does any one else miss a good old fashioned wooden stake?" Jory asked scrutinising the silver one in his hand.
"I know I do." muttered Amie, eyeing her sword with suspicion.
Chris strapped on his gear. "So specifically how do we kill them?" he asked.
Van Helsing grinned at him "The vampire's you know, Dracula's other servants…decapitation, disembowelment…take your pick."
"What are we likely to be fighting other than Dracula?" Carl asked nervously.
Van Helsing turned to Anna who was strapping on an impressive breast plate, adorned with a large Raven in the centre. She shrugged "Dracula has many servants" she answered.
"Such as?" Tony prompted.
"Vampires, Werewolves, Dwergi…"
"Oh my…" Carl whispered, causing the teens to stifle grins.
"So what's the plan?" asked Chris. Van Helsing clambered on to his horse looking towards the distant castle.
"We confront Dracula and hope to defeat him." He said.
Anna's horse trotted up to be level with his own. "Overcoming overwhelming odds to do so."
Grimly they urged their horses into a canter; Carl found his own horse following.
"Over-whelming odds? How much more than whelming is that exactly?" he asked fearfully.
The village was silent as they passed through, men and woman bowed with respect as the princess passed followed by her armoured party. Men who had followed her father for years on such missions lined their path.
Bob shuddered when a man waved at him with just the stump of his wrist.
He kept his eyes forward on Van Helsing and Anna after that, his free hand itching over the bronze hilt of his sword.
The Villagers watched them long into the distance the setting sun casting them in red light bathing the sky itself in blood with the black towers of castle Frankenstein stretching out towards the horizon.
"We're off to see the wizard." muttered Marston grimly.
Note: The ending is in sight can't tell you how much I've enjoyed writing this fic!! Newho I'm struggling abit on the final fight scene's their a bugger to write so if I don't update for a few days its because the dreaded writers block has a hold of me :glances over shoulder nervously: either that or my new ebay addiction will be the cause. Read and Review!!!