Anna watched Aleera carefully as she walked toward the vampire. She was strong, yes, very strong now, but there was chance that Aleera was still stronger. Anna had to be careful if she wanted to live through this. But it would be well worth embracing the power she felt to finish this once and for all. "Why do you hate me?" the girl asked of her vampire foe. "Why so jealous, so angry? What did I ever do to you?"

"Don't play coy with me," Aleera hissed. She was furious, to be sure, that she had been struck so hard by one not even yet a vampire. Such power was obviously the touch of her Master, the effects of his blood on this mortal girl. "I know what lurks in your lusting heart." She smiled faintly. "You're just like all your other pretty little ancestors, saying you want to destroy my Master...but I know what you really want."

Yes, Aleera was jealous, jealous of Anna. Dracula made clear his desire for the girl, to make her his Bride, because she was an exact twin of his lost wife. Adrian had said it many times, informing Anna that she would grow into a beautiful woman who would capture many hearts. No doubt, Aleera saw that as well and was afraid.

And Anna found it hard to deny she wanted to play along. But sometimes, it was better to tell the blunt truth. "Yes, you do," she replied. "I want to see Dracula, withered and rotting in death, I want to drive a blade right through your black heart!"

She screamed, her voice nearly splitting the air. Anna took the chance and leapt up, grabbing a torch from its mounting before landing on the ground again. She swung it at the bride, but Aleera just blew out the flame and laughed. That was her first mistake.

With a grunt, Anna swung again, this time swatting the vampire in the head with a solid blow that cracked her skull open. Aleera screamed out in pain, trying to heal the wound, but a second swing caught her right in the chin, knocking her off her feet and to her back. Now, Anna had the upper hand.

Her head bleeding, Aleera rose to her feet, the wounds healing rapidly while she glared at the girl. "You shouldn't have done that," she hissed. Moving like a blur, she backhanded Anna, flinging her through the air until the girl slammed into the wall and crashed down in a heap. The vampire bride flashed her fangs, anticipating the chance to kill this child and drain her dry. "It is your blood, dear Anna, that shall keep me beautiful forever."

Her lip was split open, bleeding, but Anna licked the blood from her lips, feeling the strength that it gave her. The curse was giving her power, yes, but also hunger, a terrible hunger. Her body already demanded blood, blood not her own. She had felt it back in the manor, before she and the others had crossed through the mirror, but it was raging now, unlike anything she'd every felt before. She breathed in, hoping that it would not be her last, and opened her eyes to reveal the blazing red irises as she rose to her feet. Yes, she was still among the living, even if just barely, but she was hungry, so very hungry.

She snapped her head up to look into Aleera's eyes, to show the vampire bride her own inhuman stare. Aleera stopped in her tracks, seeing something that actually scared her now about this girl. It wasn't just the vampire power that was growing in her veins. Aleera could see it in Anna's eyes, the hunger, the thirst for blood. And more frighteningly, she was looking at Aleera for food.

"No," the girl whispered, her tone filled with malice. She stepped toward the vampire, smiling as Aleera backed away in fear. "No, Aleera, you are mistaken. It is I who will feast." She laughed, almost sweetly, but there was a coldness in that laugh. "You fear that I will steal Dracula away from you, become his favorite plaything while you are tossed aside like an old ragdoll."

"Silence!" Aleera hissed. She didn't like the image that was in her mind. Anna was not acting like that naive girl she had been only days before. This was a woman who did not hide her desires, nor her scorn. Just what had Dracula's blood done to her. "The Master will always love me, I was his first!"

Anna smiled, stepping toward Aleera while opening her mouth to reveal the small extended fangs. Something was not right about them, they didn't look at all like the canines of a vampire, they looked like the smaller teeth of a dunpeal. "Love you?" she cooed, almost like she pitied Aleera. "Dracula is incapable of love, dear Aleera. He is empty, a hollow shell...but he still lusts for his Lisa. His beloved Lisa, the only woman he truly loved. And I am her rebirth."

"Stop it!" she screamed. Aleera let out a piercing wail of anger and sorrow, then brought her attention upon Anna. "You want him all for yourself, you want to make him think you're that Covrinus bitch!"

Anna's eyes flashed. Not with amusement, but anger. Even if she wasn't truly Elisabetha Corvinus reborn, she could feel the fury of her ancestor's soul at such an insult. "I'm not Elisabetha herself," the girl spat angrily, walking toward Aleera once more, but now letting her hunger show again. "But I am of her blood!" Taking another step, Anna revealed her fangs, knowing in her heart that she was falling too deep into embracing the curse. She fought to control it, she could control it. "Blood...the blood is the life."

No! She couldn't give into the hunger. Anna realized that she was losing control, not controlling the curse, but being controlled by it. But she was so hungry, thirsting for blood. Just this once, she would be freed from the curse once Dracula was dead, she would be a normal girl again...

Wait, did she want to be free? She had power, unimaginable power in her veins, power that Dracula had given her. What if she really was Elisabetha reborn? Could Dracula bring that life back to her, give her what she'd lost? Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. She would be immortal, living forever.

And then, she heard a voice. A soft voice, faint, but one that resounded in her soul. No, she could not accept Dracula's offer. He was a creature of Hell, and to join in his lot was to be eternally damned. But the hunger was so demanding...she needed to feed...and she was becoming aware of other needs her body demanded.

The bride looked at her foe. She could see the confusion, Anna not knowing what was happening to her. Now would be the perfect time to kill her, to tear Anna Corvinus apart. But there was something new in Anna's eyes, something besides hunger; lust. The girl was becoming aware of her body's more carnal demands, and it clearly was something she didn't know how to handle.

"You seek nature's pleasures," the vampire said, taking a step toward the girl. "You seek blood, and other things, don't you?"

Anna backed away, losing her confidence. Her mind was reeling, unable to understand the raging thoughts in her head. She couldn't fight in this state, Aleera would overpower her. "No," she whispered, trying to get control. It became clear to Anna that the vampire curse did more than give her the hunger for blood. It also gave her other hungers, needs that were part of nature, but not on this level. Images went through her head. Thoughts of things she'd managed to abstain from, but now, they were overpowering her, bringing her to her knees. "No, I'm stronger than this, I must not give in..."

"Surrender yourself to the hunger," Aleera whispered, now standing only mere feet away. "I will be your teacher, your master...your lover."

She couldn't control it, overwhelmed by the powerful rush of desires that she could not give into, but she was losing her will to resist. It would be so easy to just give in, to let it consume her. But something continued to push her away from surrender. A soft voice, one that was so familiar to her, yet she was unsure whose it was. It urged her to keep fighting, to push back against the curse. It sounded motherly, but it was not her mother's voice.

"I won't," she whispered, looking up to glare at Aleera. "I won't become one of you!"

The vampire smiled, baring her teeth while her eyes gleamed. "But sweet Anna," she said. "You already are!"

Scrambling to undo the restraints before another bolt could strike, Van Helsing knew he was hindering his own work, but he didn't have time to do otherwise. If he delayed now, it could very well be over.

"Just a few more seconds," he said, opening a panel piece to release Frankenstein's left leg. He then stared in shock; there was a chained lock on the giant's leg. Now he wished that he hadn't abandoned his last tojo. It would have been very useful right about now.

Just as Van Helsing reached into his coat, hoping to find anything that could help, he heard a screeching noise from below in the lab. It wasn't Velkan, and he'd heard that sound before, back in Castle Frankenstein. There was a shattering of glass, and the screech was heard again, but this time it was coming for him. Turning around, Van Helsing saw a blur just before he was struck, knocked off his feet and falling through the skylight into the laboratory below.

It was a terrifying eighty-foot drop, and he went smashing through wooden scaffolds and slammed down hard into the ground. He was aware of spark flying, flames billowing, and then an explosion as he hit the floor. But, he was alive, something that shouldn't have been so if he were any normal man. And that was his gift, what saved him. In four centuries, Dracula had never faced a foe who had succeeded in anything more serious than simply annoying him.

Tonight, that was all going to change.

Adrian raced through the foyer, reaching the bridge within mere minutes. The rain was pouring down hard, the winds violently blowing as if wanting to knock him into the abyss, but it was nothing compared to his resolve. He had to get up into Ba'al's tower and deliver the antidote into Velkan's hands, purge the lupus curse from him. But there was the problem of knowing how much to give him, so that the antidote did not also destroy Velkan's lycan powers.

About a fourth of the way across the bridge, Adrian came to a halt just before a bolt of lightning slammed down in front of him. The energy crackled over the giant black metal chains that supported the bridge, but he was not sure just how much this ancient structure could take.

Then, he heard something else. A crackling sound, like wires that were sparking. His instincts told him what it was, but, turning around, Adrian knew it was better to see his foe and be ready.

Racing from the main tower, holding a ten-foot cattle-prod was that horrible twisted man, Igor. He was laughing sadistically, and nearing the dunpeal, thrust out with his weapon. Adrian was quickly to move aside, the prod sparking against the iron chains. With another swing, Igor brought it crashing against the stone railing, now glaring at Adrian with a vicious grin. "Are you ready to meet God?" he asked in a mocking tone. "Or will you instead be greeted by the Devil when you die?"

Twisting around just as a third lunge came at him, Adrian drew his sword. "I do not fear death," he intoned, raising his blade to show he was ready. "But death also cannot claim me so easily, wretch."

Igor thrust forward with his prod. Adrian spun on his heel as he brought his blade about to deflect the attack, jamming the cattle-prod in the joints of the chains. Igor was now trying to pull it back out, frustratedly grunting. When it was obvious the device would not come free, he turned to Adrian and growled. Now, he drew out a metal club, and from the large patches of rust, it was obvious that Igor had planned ahead for such a fight. He saw the fear in Adrian's eyes, noted his hesitation. "What's the matter?" the twisted man stated, holding his weapon tightly. "Afraid of a little cold iron?"

A bolt of lightning crashed down again, surging along the chains while Adrian took a step away from his mortal foe. Just being around so much iron felt like it was sapping the strength from him. The fear was ingrained, burned into his every instinct. Now, Adrian was not so sure he would be able to make this fight an easy one.

Igor waved the club at him, amused when the dunpeal took another step back. "Looks like you can die after all, freak."

Something exploded in him. Adrian wasn't sure what it was, but his fear of the iron metal was overwhelmed by the rage at Igor's contempt for him. He was a defiance of nature, true, but he was also something that showed a hope, that even from evil there could be something that fought in the name of good. And most of all, he was not a freak.

He dropped his sword, running at Igor and slamming his fist into the man's face before he could react. "I'd not speak of freaks if I were you!" he roared, coming about with a punch that cause the hunchback to double over. "You, who betrayed humanity, betrayed the world!"

Igor cried out as a third blow forced him to stumble back, but he swung his club, catching Adrian in the side with the blunt weapon. The dunpeal screamed, his skin burning even though the iron had not touched his skin directly. He fell to the ground, holding his side.

And Igor smiled, raising his club to smash Adrian's head in.

After having watched his rescuer undo the last of his bonds, Frankenstein had watched as Dracula, in his terrible demon bat form, had flown about and sent Van Helsing crashing down into the laboratory below. There was no way the man could have survived, but Frankenstein knew better; Gabriel Van Helsing was no man.

Still, he had to help. Standing in his feet, Frankenstein stepped forward...and could not move anymore. His left leg was chained to the pod. He pulled angrily, trying to snap the chain, but then he felt a tingling on the back of his neck. Frankenstein knew that feeling, and mere moments later, a bolt of lightning slammed down to fling him back into the pod. Its energy crackled violently over his body, drawing from him the force of life. The green cascade of energy built up, then surged downward, crashing through the castle and flowing into the cocoons deep within the castle foyer. The pods exploded, releasing their hideous inhabitants, and they flew about, at last given life.

The electrical surges still pulsed in Frankenstein's body, and finally, he was flung out of the pod, chain breaking while he flew over the edge of the tower and fell downwards toward the black abyss. He couldn't die, not now, not like this. Flinging his hands out, Frankenstein caught hold of one of the cables, now sliding down it before he lost his grip and fell once more. He caught another cable, this time able to hold on.

Down below, on the bridge, he could see Adrian fighting with Igor. For a moment, it appeared as if the dunpeal would defeat his mortal foe. But then, the twisted man struck Adrian, knocking him to the ground. Why wasn't he getting back up to strike his enemy?

Iron, his mind replied. Dracula fortified this place with iron.

The cable slackened, and then, after a moment of free fall, he felt it go taut, and Frankenstein was now swinging like a pendulum toward the bridge.

With his club raised, Igor was grinning. Adrian was wounded, unable to retaliate, and he was going to be the one who killed this annoying aberration of nature. Dracula would be so pleased that Igor had done this.

And then, he heard something. Not sure what it was, Igor looked back toward the foyer. He could hear the chittering of the vampirlings, but there was something else, something that sounded like a person yelling. And it was getting closer...

He looked back, then gasped in horror just as a cable came across, catching him in the chest and throwing him from the bridge. Igor fell down into the abyss, screaming out as he descended into darkness, vanishing into the fog below.

Adrian blinked as he got up, then ran over to where he could see the cable that had caught onto a pilaster. He raced to the railing and looked down to see Frankenstein dangling from the cable, holding on for dear life, but slipping. There was four feet left for him to grip, then three.

"Help me!" he cried out. Frankenstein could see the pain in Adrian's eyes, pain no doubt from being struck by iron. His hands slipped, leaving only a foot of cable left before he fell. "Please! I want to live!"

He lost his grip, and Frankenstein plummeted downward. Adrian watched in horror, knowing that he had only one choice if he was to save that noble creature. "Mother," he whispered while hopping up onto the railing. "I'm sorry. But this once, I must use the gifts father gave me."

With a push, Adrian leapt from the bridge, diving down after Frankenstein. He used every ounce of magicks he could summon to accelerate, and he could see that he was rapidly gaining on the giant. He reached out his hand, Frankenstein stretching to grab it, and, as he took hold, the giant was shocked by what he saw next.

Adrian's eyes shifted, growing larger, reptilian as his clothing transformed into scales. His hands became powerful claws, wings growing from his back while a thick tail emerged from his rear end. Body enlarging, Adrian's head completed its transformation, and he wrapped his other arm under Frankenstein to better support him.

"Hold on," he said, voice deep, but powerful.

He spread his wings, catching the wind and pulling himself and Frankenstein back up toward the bridge. Adrian glanced toward the chamber window of Mephisto's Tower, and could feel something now, a mind which he couldn't touch before. Anna, he realized. She was losing control to the vampire curse, losing her battle with it. If he didn't help her now, she would be lost. But Velkan as well needed his aid.

Frankenstein could help her. "My friend," he said to the giant. "Can you do a favor for me?"

He nodded. "Anything."

"Good."

She struggled, conflict in her face, but Anna was determined not to lose this internal war. She could not give into the vampire curse. It would be an insult to not only herself, but to her entire family. Her people had fought and died to stop the vampires, she could not become one herself.

And clearly, Aleera knew that Anna was now winning that fight.

With a hiss, she grabbed the girl by the neck, lifting her up and staring into her eyes as she transformed into her demon form. "Be happy in the knowledge," she whispered, "that I shall weep over the death of your living existence." Her tongue flicked out, licking Anna along the cheek. "And together, we shall rejoice in the birth of your undeath!"

Her fangs were growing. Anna could feel the surge of pleasure that went through Aleera's mind. She gathered up her will, readying to strike, but she couldn't make her body react; she was choking.

Suddenly, the window exploded in. For a moment, Anna thought it might have been some of that explosive fluid Carl has brought along. But it wasn't something that had destroyed the window, it was someone.

Frankenstein.

The giant let out a yell as he flew through the shattered frame, crashing into Aleera and sending her flying across the chamber to crash head first into the wall. Anna fell to the ground then, on her knees, and breathing heavily, fighting to defy the vampire curse. She was alive still, and there was hope.

As he pulled himself from the wreckage, Van Helsing felt dizzy. He was seeing the realm of light again, faces more clear. He could distinguish forms now, and he could see that this realm was not of the earthly plane. Then, at last, he came to see that realm in clarity. There was only one place it could be, and as he saw it pull away, now falling to earth, he at last knew. He knew who he was, what he was, and his purpose, his duty, his domain.

The professor had been right.

"A test of faith," he muttered, now finding a great joke in those words. Fires burned around him, and a pair of Dwergi ran by, lit ablaze by the explosion his crash had caused. No doubt, they were going to soon fall dead, their bodies burning just as what semblance of souls they had would in Hell.

There was a rush of air, and Van Helsing turned to see Dracula standing behind him. It was like looking at the lords of Hell, the demon princes. He was smiling, an expression of total victory. "You are too late, old friend," he said, walking toward Van Helsing. "My children live!"

It was true. He could hear the chittering of the vampiric creatures, each one of them made from Dracula's flesh, very much in a way his children, his spawn. Thousands of them had emerged from their cocoons, ready to be unleashed upon the world...and they were hungry.

There was no need to stall any more. His back was blazing with pain, but it was not a physical pain that Van Helsing could feel. It was the pain of rebirth, who he was, what he was, restored at last. "Then the only way to kill them," he said, pointing to Dracula, "is to kill you."

He chuckled. "Correct," the count replied, walking still toward his foe. There was a look of inhuman confidence on his face, the confidence of four centuries, experience defeating all foes who stood against him. "And as you know, I cannot die."

Van Helsing laughed. He threw off his coat, feeling a rush of power, divine power, that flowed through him. The count had indeed defeated all his foes in the past, all save one. The man who had killed him in the fields of war in Walachia more than four hundred years ago, the man who had ended the life of Vlad the Impaler.

And Gabriel Van Helsing was that man.

His shoulder blades were stabbing with pain, and as he yelled out, light began to gather around his back, shaping into the form of wings. Dracula, for a moment, looked confused, then gasped with horror and realization. As the light reached out in shape, taking final form, it faded, leaving Van Helsing with a pair of large black feathered wings. His eyes now blazed with blue light, and for a moment, his entire body was glowing with a white aura. This was who he was, his purpose to deliver the judgement of Heaven unto the earth, to destroy those who would plunge the world into darkness.

He was Gabriel, the Archangel of Judgement.