Thanx to everyone whos stuck with the story and reviewed!!
Charis-1974:At first I was like "aww why didn't you review after every chapter?" but then I read the rest of your review and was so flattered that I forgive you : ) Yeh my first one lol and tis a pain having so many people to write especially I the fight scenes I gotta remember whos got what when and how they would react think next one ill stick with two people lol yeh I havn't really writte carl in much…don't get me wrong he's great in the movie but frankily I got a bit annoyed with him (ducks as Carl fans throw eggs)
lil-blonde-pirate: lol thanx for another great review!!!
Marston: Lol yeh you did come off a bit dark but hardly evil villain material. Lol maybe you can be evil in my next story ;) Amie tried to send Jory the first few chaps but gave up lol speak soon!
JeanieBeanie33: lol ok I have to be diplomatic here because Marston is probably reading this. I never really intended Sarah to end up with someone in this story (would be nice though lol) so everything ive written about the inter relationships with the group of friends reflects how we treat each other in real life, alot of the conversations (barring the suicide and fight stuff lol) are based on actual conversations we've all had. So if it comes off as screwed up and confusing its generally because that's the way it really is lol
Lol I am considering a sequel but my muse is angry at me at the moment so we'll call it a work in progress!
lukina starhopper: Drac and his wife coming back? that sounds like a great idea for a story!! Why don't you write it? Like a sequel to the movie id read it!! I think it's "Jealous" lol but I failed English so I know nothing. Lol hmm two guys fighting over Sarah….tis a nice fantasy.
Christine Marquez: lol good "woah" or bad "woah"? I figure he had a right to be mad Marston cares allot about people especially his friends, it would really hurt him to know that she was thinking about ending it all while she was talking to him that night.
Ok on with the story!
Disclaimer: I own nothing!!
Chapter 80
"How many helpings is that?" Chris asked Amie as they all watched Sarah tucking into a large plate of food, the table top already littered with the remains of the other dishes she'd consumed in record time.
Amie shook her head "I lost count…"
Sarah beamed at them all over her now empty plate, leaning back with a contented sigh "You have no idea have great that was." She said happily.
"It'll go straight to your hips." Tony said grinning.
She giggled "let it."
They all turned as Van Helsing walked in. He looked some what surprised to see Sarah "You shouldn't be out of bed." He scolded.
She cocked her head to one side, eyeing the edge of the bandage just visible under his shirt.
"Says the guy with the hole in his stomach." She answered smirking.
Jory snorted. "Actually he'll probably get more rest out of bed with Anna around!" he said loudly.
Sarah frowned in confusion at this while Van Helsing cleared his throat loudly and, to her astonishment, actually blushed! The group dissolved into giggles, and Amie tried hopelessly to scowl at Jory though she couldn't stop grinning.
"I thought we discussed the tact thing?" she said.
Anna entered the room then, greeting Sarah warmly and hugging her while the others continued to smirk.
"Aha I see you've gotten your appetite back!" she said in approval, while Sarah beamed at her.
"And you ended a centuries old holy war, how's it feel." She asked.
Anna looked thoughtful, glancing around at the eager and expectant faces turned in her direction. "Honestly…I don't know how to describe it…" she replied somewhat hesitantly, as the now familiar feeling of misplacement returned.
It vanished suddenly as she felt Van Helsing snake a comforting arm around her waist, and kissed her cheek sweetly.
Sarah's grin widened at this obvious display of affection.
So different from the film.
This time the werewolf didn't cradle his loves broken body in his arms. No mournful howl escaped the beast as its fur dropped and fell away, to reveal the man beneath.
She smiled as the hunter kissed the princess briefly on her pale cheek and clutched her possessively against his body.
This was how it was supposed to be all along, no sorrowful goodbye as Van Helsing watched his loves body burning, no wondering what could have been…now they had a chance to live life together.
That was how the movie should have ended.
Chris started to look troubled, frowning at his empty plate he sighed deeply.
"What's up?" asked Jory scratching absently at his bandages.
Chris shrugged "I just miss home." he muttered.
Marston nodded "Yeh…Tv, the simpsons…Chicargo Rock Monday karaoke night…" he muttered dreamily.
"To shamelessly embrace the clique…there's no place like home." agreed Tony.
Bob smiled "Now click your heels and wish real hard."
Van Helsing sighed "You know sarcasm is considered the lowest form of wit." He said ignoring Anna's raised eyebrow.
"Who's being sarcastic, at this point I'm willing to try anything."
Sarah sighed "We'll find a way."
Amie looked at her "and if we don't?"
She grinned "Then we can make money predicting the future…personally I'm going to write star wars and sue George Lucas for copy write, because technically I wrote it first."
Days passed with little or no disturbances and a steady snowfall eased the village of vaseria into its first winter free from the fear of the early hours of darkness. The teens knew that in their own world it was still summer and the sun would be beating down mercilessly on their friends and relatives, winter a long way away yet.
The peace of the afternoon was shattered as a rogue snowball smashed mercilessly into its intended victim. Marston gave a shout of laughter and triumph as Chris toppled face first into a snow drift caught off balance by the force of the sudden assault.
Shouts of laughter carried up to the high window of the Valerius library that overlooked the snow covered, driveway where the teens battled like small children savouring the freedom and the happiness that comes only when the worst is behind you. A lone figure sat curled up on the window seat, a book of poetry on her lap unread and her head resting on the frozen pane of glass.
Sarah smiled as Tony disappeared under a pile of bodies, his angry shouts faint through the glass. Sarah raised her hand in greeting when Amie caught her eye, standing at minimal safe distance from the scuffle the girl still managed to throw a few rogue balls of snow artfully hiding behind Bob whenever her victims tried to retaliate.
She sighed with longing, wishing she could be out there with them, Her aching body swiftly reminding her why Carl had made her swear to stay inside and Van Helsing had enforced his wishes with threats of allowing the friar to perform experiments on her, to see the effect a vampiric transformation had on a human. Of course she didn't believe he would actually subject her to that, but the look of excitement on Carl's face had been enough to persuade her not to push the subject.
Running a hand through her loose blond hair, she returned her attention to the book in her lap. Marston had introduced her too it, the author was Keats and he was one Marston had to study for A'level English. She'd been reading the same passage for the last hour unable to concentrate for one thing and another.
"Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
Are sweeter; therefore, ye soft pipes, play on;
Not to the sensual ear, but, more endear'd,
Pipe to the spirit ditties of no tone:
Fair youth, beneath the trees, thou canst not leave
Thy song, nor ever can those trees be bare;
Bold Lover, never, never canst thou kiss,
Though winning near the goal - yet, do not grieve;
She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss,…"
She smiled at the poets brief reference to the Pipes of the pagan god pan and his longing for that music that had been lost. Poems and story's like this had eventually led to the renewal of the old pagan religions, she could see why in such harsh times, people would long for the freedom to do as they wished. Reaching out she noted the lines down in her book of shadows, relieved to have the book still in her possession after everything that had happened. Amie had kept it safe for her.
More screams and shouts made her glance once more through the glass and she laughed aloud to see Jory stomping towards the manor doors, completely drenched having slipped into a puddle of freezing water that had been concealed by the snow.
She laughed harder when he wandered into the library afew minutes later, pulling on a new brown peasant's shirt to replace the one he now hung above the roaring fire in the mantle.
"Knew Tony would get you back for getting ice down his back." She said sniggering at him.
Jory grinned walking over to look out of the window and at the chaos below. "Why don't you come out? We'll get him while his backs turned I'll hold him down you can stuff his shirt full of snow."
She laughed shaking her head. "Would love to but I don't want to risk the wrath of Friar Carl." She said bitterly.
Jory shrugged "He might let you out when you've recovered a couple of days, a week at most and you'll be out there with us."
Sighing she watched Amie animatedly dodging Chris and Marston, throwing Bob in the line of fire.
"A week…" she whispered. "Do you really think we'll still be here then? It's already been a month; tonight's the first full moon."
Jory shrugged "Where else are we gonna be? We can't go home….we don't know if we ever will."
"We will" she said with a confidence she didn't feel. "People are searching for us…"
She stared out at the falling snow seeing her vision from her dream…her wiccan friends calling her from their circle, searching for her in the astral planes. If anyone could find the weak link between the dimensions they would…they might have even weakened it just by connecting with her briefly, all that was needed was for a bridge to break through that weakness.
Jory scowled "What like the police? Somehow I can't see them figuring out that we got sucked into a dimensional portal."
He made to go rejoin the group when he caught sight of a small book sitting on one of the desks. Different from the leather bound tomes that surrounded it the photo on the cover glinted in the firelight.
Sarah watched him pick it up, his fingers tracing the man on the cover and the vampire silhouetted behind him.
"I thought Van Helsing would like to read it now" she explained slipping from her seat at the window and walking over to him.
Jory flipped through the pages pausing to read the last chapter.
He began to read aloud:
"The werewolf crouched over Anna, who even in death seemed beautiful, lying on the broken couch. Behind the creature, the arched window showed the full moon in all its glory. The beast tilted his head back and gave a terrible howl, baying mournfully at the moon.
The roar seemed to go on forever. Then it began to change – the creature began to grow smaller. A few moments later Van Helsing was himself again, crying out his very human pain and anguish…"
"Holy shit!" he said loudly turning to look at Sarah in disbelief.
"She died…and Van was a werewolf?"
Sarah nodded hugging herself against a small draft from the chimney. "Do you really think he should see this?" Jory asked suddenly concerned.
She nodded "I thought he deserved too…but not before Dracula was killed, how would you have felt knowing she could die…knowing that the man she loved might ultimately kill her?"
Jory looked pensively down at the picture on the cover. "So that's why you never wanted anyone to read this while we were here?" he frowned suddenly remembering the beam on the ceiling where she had hidden it. "Hey how'd you get it down anyway?"
Sarah grinned. "Lets just say the vampire flying thing cured me of any height fears." She answered cryptically.
"So did you show him?"
She nodded. "He was about to read it but he gave it back to me…he said there were something's he didn't think he should know." She grinned "then he wandered down to the training room to beat himself up for saying it and blowing his chance."
Jory laughed, they both jumped when a rogue snowball slammed into the window pane.
"You sure you won't risk it?" Jory asked her gesturing to the window.
She sighed "Nope I'm going to go and find Anna, if anyone has the right to read this she does…if it would have happened like that, tonight would have been the night she died."
"Well my guess is she's not in the manor, she came in here this morning and didn't come out again so I'm guessing she's gone to the beach." Jory supplied wondering towards the door impatient to get his revenge on his battling peers.
Sarah frowned turning her attention to the large map on the wall. "Technically if I go there I'm not with you outside right?" she asked the retreating boy.
Jory grinned "Carl will never know, just follow the passage round and walk through the burial chamber. You'll come out at the beach sooner or later." He waved and left her clutching the book to her chest.
Sighing she traced the coastline with her fingers and pulled her woollen coat on to defend against the bitter cold outside. Taking a deep breath she read the Latin inscription allowed:
"…'deum lacessat ac inaum imbeat aperiri." The image immediately began to fade revealing the mirror beneath.
Sarah stared at her reflection, "Cool." She whispered before stepping through.
Sarah crept along the dark passageway sighing with relief as the opening appeared in front of her and the wide beach stretched out under the evening sky. For a moment she stood and inhaled the tangy smell of the sea, smiling as memories of herself running along the welsh shoreline with her sister, each with a crab bucket and their mother and aunt sitting watching from a rock farther up. It had been many years ago but they still went back every Easter and summer, to the little farm near shell island.
She promised herself that she would be there the coming Easter, she would do everything that days ago, she thought she would not live to do.
Catching sight of the solitary figure down the beach she slowly made her way over to the princess.
Anna turned when she heard her approaching, taking in the girls pale complexion and the small tremors in her legs as she made her way over the sand towards her.
"You shouldn't be out of bed your still weak." She said sternly.
Sarah rolled her eyes lowering herself painfully to sit beside the princess. "You sound like Amie and Carl, I'm sick of staring at the ceiling it gives me too much time to think which is just not healthy."
Anna smiled knowingly and returned her attention to the sunset and the rich red light dancing on the waves.
"You finally got to see the sea."
Anna nodded smiling "And the sunset…without fearing what lies behind it."
Sarah laughed "Yep life is good" she agreed stretching out on the sand.
Anna wasn't convinced "If life's so good then why is everyone so depressed?"
Sarah sighed "Now that Dracula's dead we have more time to think about home…we're still not sure if we'll ever get back. Your world is beautiful and I don't know about the others but I love it here…but it's not our world."
Anna smiled sadly "If we don't find a way to send you back the manor is your home now, Van Helsing Carl and I, will care for you. We can never replace what you've lost but we'd do our best."
Sarah smiled at her gratefully and they lapsed into comfortable silence, she studied the young woman beside her unable to believe that had they never arrived in that dimension, had the story remained as Steven Summers had imagined it. The young princess would have been facing her death hours from now.
"Here." She said quietly, Anna looked down to find her placing the Van Helsing novel in her lap.
"I don't know if you want to read it, a lot of it's nothing like what happened…but I thought you had aright to know what could have been, or at least what Hollywood had decided to do to the ending of your story."
Anna stared at the cover, caressing Van Helsing's image with hesitant fingers. With a deep sigh of regret she passed it back to the girl.
"Something's are better left alone." She said smiling.
Sarah grinned "Gabriel said the same."
Anna blushed at the mention of her new lover causing Sarah's grin to widen. "Oh yeh how are the happy couple?" she asked smirking.
Anna sighed staring out at the setting sun. "Concerned." She said quietly.
Sarah blinked in confusion. "Why what's happened?" she asked suddenly alert and afraid.
Seeing her fear the princess hastened to reassure her friend "It's ok nothing for you to worry about."
Sarah watched her carefully "Then what is it?"
The princess ignored her gesturing towards the book. "What did Carl say?" the princess asked quickly.
Sarah frowned. "Actually no-ones seen Carl for a couple of days, not since he threatened me with science to stay inside the manor." she shrugged "He's probably holed up somewhere dissecting whatever vampire organs he managed to salvage."
Anna laughed "that sounds like Carl." She agreed.
Not willing to be distracted Sarah held the princesses gaze. "Princess Anna, whatever the problem is with you and Van Helsing maybe I can help."
Too her surprise Anna laughed aloud, shaking her head with amusement. "It's not a problem, at least I don't think it is…more of a surprise."
Sarah groaned. "Now I'm really confused."
Anna smiled, "Let's just say I don't think I can claim to be 'The last Valerius' anymore." Her hand drifted unconsciously to rest over her flat stomach.
Sarah stared at her in astonishment making Anna jump when a joyful squeal escaped her mouth. "Oh my god!!! Your pregnant!!!"
Anna grinned sheepishly.
"How did this happen?" Sarah asked immediately, shaking her head when Anna raised an amused eyebrow. "No I don't mean that, I already know about that I don't need a diagram! But when? How long have you known?"
Anna shrugged "I've known for a few days, a doctor in the village agreed to keep it private until I decided what to do."
Sarah frowned. "What do you mean? You are happy about this aren't you?"
Anna looked shocked "Of course I am, but I'm not sure how Gabriel will take it…he has a life in Rome a job…"
Sarah frowned. "I wouldn't call it a life…" she muttered quietly. "When are you going to tell him?"
Anna shrugged. "I honestly don't know."
Sarah grinned. "Trust me on this Anna the one thing in the world he longs for more than anything is family…this will be a dream come true."
Anna smiled "You know him that well?"
Sarah snorted "Hello, I'm a fan I know pretty much everything about him!!"
Anna frowned "That is slightly disturbing."
The last rays of the sun finally disappeared over the horizon and darkness fell suddenly. Anna sighed and stood up.
"We should get back to the manor." She stated turning and making her way over the sand. Sarah smiled and followed unsteadily as Anna led the way towards the small cave in the rock face.
Anna paused to watch her casually avoid objects barely visible in the meagre light that she herself had stumbled over.
"It looks like some of that vampire sight has stayed with you." She said smiling.
Sarah grinned at her "I'll never need glasses again" she said gleefully.
Then she frowned "Granted laser eye treatment could have done the same without you know, the murder, the torture, the skanky outfit…"
Anna just stared at her in confusion "I lost you at "Laser eye treatment" didn't I?" she said sheepishly.
Anna grinned putting her hand through the mirror at the end of the passage. "I've learnt to nod and smile when you and your friends say things I don't understand." She said smirking. They entered the Tomb, Anna pausing to say a whispered prayer over her ancestor's remains. Sarah shuddered when she'd finished.
"I think I have issues with coffins, might have something to do with waking up in one."
Anna smiled. "That'll pass in time."
Sarah looked at her in disbelief. "Somehow I doubt it."
Anna grinned then gestured to her pentagram necklace. "You know you've lost that so many times and every time you manage to get it back."
Sarah smiled fingering the disk "I just have good friends who kept it safe."
Anna grinned. "Speaking of friends you and Tony seem close, is there more to that?"
Sarah blushed. "I like him and he knows it…but he has a girlfriend back home. Frankly after all this I've realised that I'd rather have him as a friend than anything else." She smiled "Plus as a friend I can mock him and argue with him with no adverse effects."
Anna laughed at that pausing as they reached the mirror. She turned to regard the girl, her hand poised above the small lever that activated the portal from their side. "About the pregnancy, don't ell anyone?"
Sarah nodded grinning at the thought of the new life growing inside the princess. Together they stepped through the portal disappearing back to the manor.
Note: long chapter again…im sorry to say that the next one will be the last chapter. Hopefully I will be able to wrap it all up nicely. By the way im not critising the way steven summers wrote the ending but really hated anna dying!!
Keep reading and reviewing!!