Pulling herself up on the wall, Anna groggily looked over to where Frankenstein stood. The giant had smashed through the window, not only tearing open the iron bars, but knocking Aleera away as well. He had saved her life. Van Helsing was right about this being, this man.
A terrible scream made itself know as Aleera shot through the air toward Anna. Just at the last moment, Frankenstein grabbed her by the legs, holding her back while Anna backed away into the window frame. The vampire bride would not give up, struggling to reach the girl and drain her completely.
Anna scowled, and kicked hard to catch Aleera right under the chin. The vampire was flung upwards, and Frankenstein took his chance to turn and throw Aleera back at the wall, where she hit head-first and crumpled into a heap.
He turned to Anna. "Go!" he cried. "Go and help your cousin!"
She hesitated, wanting to help this man, but his gaze was commanding. "Now!" he roared. The urgency in his voice was overwhelming. Anna slowly nodded to him, unable to think of how to express her gratitude.
"Thank you," she whispered. She thought she saw a smile on his face, and then, he turned, staggering toward Aleera to continue this fight. Anna now stepped out to the windowsill, then saw that there was nothing but a massive drop that had to be thousands of feet deep. It was impossible to even see the bottom of the abyss, there was no way she could just climb down.
The bridge nearby. If only she had a way to swing across to it. Wait, she did have the insanely powerful vampire strength. Granted, she needed to fight the curse, but if it could help her now, it would be worth it. Anna quickly judged the distance to the bridge, not sure if she would make it, but it was a risk she had to take.
Taking a deep breath, he looked back to see that Aleera was now latched to Frankenstein, swatting him endlessly, but he was obviously able to take it. Anna knew she couldn't delay, then leapt out, soaring through the air at an incredible velocity. Moments later, to her great surprise, she landed on the bridge. Stumbled and fell down to her rear, but still, she had made it.
"Anna!"
She stood and looked to see Carl and Velkan, the latter of whom was still in his lycan form, running over to her. She found herself swept up by the werewolf, held tightly in a hug that she wished could not end. "Oh God!" she cried, holding Velkan tightly around the neck. "I was so scared!"
"Where's Adrian?" Carl said, looking around for any sign of the dunpeal. "He's got the antidote."
There was a roar from in the air, and the three looked up to see what appeared to be a humanoid dragon flying toward them. It wasn't Dracula, his form was a bat. It had to be Adrian. But, he had never before shown the power to change in such away. Why hadn't he used this form before?
There was no time to ponder things as another cry, a terrible scream, came from the window up in Mephisto's Tower. Aleera had escaped from Frankenstein, and was now making a beeline for Adrian. She slammed into him, sending the dragon-form dunpeal crashing through a window in the foyer.
Dracula stared in horror while Gabriel spread out his massive black wings. He could feel the power in his foe, the power that was reaching out to destroy his own unholy energies. This was nothing like their confrontation four hundred years ago, this was much worse. Or maybe, it was better.
"We are part of the same great game!" he cried, backing away while Gabriel took a step toward him. "There is no need to be on opposite sides of the board!"
"We've been enemies since you showed your true colors," Gabriel replied. His hands ached to grip a weapon, any weapon, though he preferred to have his old sword back. "You slaughtered those people, Vlad!"
Dracula's features distorted. "They were invading my land!" he roared. "Corrupting the soul of my reign!" His hands began to change, face warping. "I fought for your God, sacrificed everything, and this is how I am rewarded!"
He could not trust the word of this demon creature. Gabriel had been there himself when Vlad Dracula, the Impaler, had committed his horrible acts. He truly had earned his titles, as the Impaler, and as the son of the Devil. "You called to the powers of Hell," he stated, wings shifting while feathers lay in his wake. "You summoned the princes of darkness, and you brought this on yourself!"
"No!" Dracula spat. He began to transform in full, head changing while his hands shaped into horrible claws. His coat pulled away and became a massive set of bat wings, spanning at least twenty feet. A pair of blade-like protrusions grew from the back of his neck, his ears stretching while his legs cracked and realigned the bone structure. Now, Dracula stood more than ten feet tall, a terrible creature that looked like it was made in the fires of Hell. His fangs all presented themselves in his mouth, lengthened and gleaming with saliva, and his own wings spread out to complete the frightening image.
"You did this to me!" he continued. Gabriel was now backing away, and the vampire demon laughed. "You were the one who killed me, Gabriel, the one who murdered me!" He snorted, curling his left hand tightly into a fist. "As I said, so long as I walk this earth, you can never return to the Gates of Heaven!"
Gabriel's features darkened. Dracula was indeed a creature of the outer darkness, spat out by Hell itself. But he was an Archangel, the divine warrior of Heaven. If anything could kill this beast, surly his angelic power could. "Then I guess," he hissed. "I'll just have to kill you again!"
He launched himself forward, slamming into the demon bat and pushing Dracula up against one of the massive conductors. In response, the vampire angrily swat him back, then kicked him with enough force to send Gabriel flying through the air and crashing into a wall. The archangel groaned as he pulled himself up from the ground. Even if he was a soldier of Heaven, he clearly still wore a mortal body. That was going to complicate things.
Dracula laughed, then took off, beating his wings to race upwards toward the skylight. In an instant, Gabriel rose after him, latching to the creature's back and pulling him back down toward the ground. The vampire gasped, and Gabriel used his legs to jam his wings. They both came back down, smashing through the catwalks and crashing to the ground while explosions roared all around them.
As he crashed to the ground, Adrian transformed back into his human form, groaning while his wings pulled in to form his coat, the last thing to revert. There was chittering all around him, and as he looked, up, Adrian gasped in horror. "The vampirlings," he whispered as he watched the creatures fly about through the air. The instant they noticed him, they would attack.
Aleera flew in, landing and transforming while the creatures cleared around her. "How do you like my children?" she hissed, walking toward Adrian while he stepped away. He reached to his side, but his sword was gone. But where had it fallen? He hadn't left it on the bridge, why was it gone?
He took another step back, but the chittering grew louder. The vampirlings had noticed his presence, no doubt now. But he had to get the cure to Velkan, fast. His mind had already made the calculations, figured out how much of the antidote that was need. But with Aleera in his way, and those terrible vampirlings all around him, there was not much Adrian could do.
"We could be lovers again," she intoned. Taking a step toward Adrian, Aleera smiled. "Sharing the endless passion of immortal love. I would be your bride!"
He frowned. "And what of Anna?" he asked. "I assume then that you will let her be Dracula's favorite?"
The vampire shrugged, as if it was no concern. "He wants his Elisabetha back so much, he can have her. After all, I have you." She stopped as she saw the look on his face; it was disgust. "Why do you hate me so?"
"You are not the woman I loved four centuries ago," he replied. Adrian breathed heavily, now confronting the one person other than his father he wished he had not seen again. "You're a vile beast, only wearing her image, but I know the rot that lays under it all."
Aleera screamed out, jumping forward and tackling Adrian. "You freak!" she roared, picking the dunpeal up and throwing him across the foyer. He hit one of the large pilasters, his back roiling in protest, but the bride was quick to run over and grab him by the neck. She lifted him, her fangs extending out while her eyes filled with a lust for blood. "If I cannot have you, then at least I will have your blood!"
Something whistled through the air. Slamming his fist into Aleera's face, Adrian scrambled away just before a blade erupted from her chest, right through her heart. She looked down, staring in horror, then turned to see Anna Corvinus, standing in the doorway of the foyer. "You...you..."
She screamed, smoke rising as she stumbled back and began to bubble. She turned to face Adrian, but, instead of shock, she saw pride on his face. "Why?"
"If you're going to kill someone," he said. "Do it, don't just stand there and talk about it." At that, Adrian smiled. "It leaves them to come back and kill you."
She gurgled something unintelligible, then exploded, sending slime and gory about. The silver sword of Matthias Corvinus flew back and hit the ground, skidding to Anna's feet. She reached down, picked it up, then nodded to Adrian. "I told her that I would drive a blade through her heart."
He smiled, then ran over and led Anna out of the foyer. The vampirlings were chasing them, and they only smelled the human blood out there. But maybe his vampire blood was what had confused them, why he hadn't been attacked. It had given them the time they needed.
"Take this," he said, handing the antidote to Anna. "Inject only a fourth, it should be enough to destroy the lupus venom and leave him a lycan." He then looked up toward Ba'al's tower, something dawning in his mind. His vampire blood, mingled with mortal... "I have to help Van Helsing," he said, now understanding.
Anna nodded, taking the syringe, then handing Adrian his sword. "It belongs to you," she said when he looked at her in surprise. "Go, we'll be alright!"
This girl truly was the descendant of his uncle. Pride was glowing in Adrian's eyes, and he took his weapon, sheathing it and launching himself from the bridge. As the faint blue trail of light streamed behind him, he turned, raising his hands as a large group of the vampirlings roiled out of the foyer. "Return to Hell," he hissed, energy crackling over his body. "Cleansing Flames, consume the corruption!"
The fires in the pilasters surged up, flying through the air and tearing into the swarm of vampirlings. As it came to their center, the blaze exploded, incinerating them in a flash. The charred remains fell, and Adrian nodded in satisfaction. He transformed into a bat, now flying away toward the highest tower of the castle; Ba'al's Tower.
Dracula was in human form again. He pushed his way out of the rumble, noticing a few surviving Dwergi who were running about, blazing with fire, but it didn't matter now. They had served their purpose.
A groan alerted him to the other presence there. Dracula spun to see Gabriel pull himself out of the flaming debris. His clothes had been torn and burned, but he now was clad in red, plates of gold and silver armor on his body. This was how Dracula remembered him, when they had last seen each other so long ago.
"You are being used!" he roared, pointing to his angelic adversary. "Just as I was, but I know who controls you!"
He pushed away the flaming wreckage, his wings shaking slightly to shed the burned feathers. "I am not a puppet," Gabriel stated, his voice filled with confidence and conviction. As he walked toward Dracula, he picked of a piece of piping. It wasn't a sword, but it would do for now. "I willingly serve Heaven, just as I have done so for countless eras! I was there at Sodom and Gomorrah, delivered the judgement on those who were corrupt beyond all redemption! I was there when the Romans took Masada, I was there when the Christians fought to take back Jerusalem!" He raised his weapon, pointing to Dracula now. "And I was there when you slaughtered those innocent people, burning them alive, just for the misfortunes that had fallen on them!"
"Oh, how naive!" Dracula replied. He waved his hand, as if pushing away the accusation. "They were beggers, cripples, and vagrants! Those people contributed nothing to the welfare of my region!" He smiled now. "I simply removed a burden from the honest working man so that no one would go poor in my realm."
There was no good left in this creature, no doubt about it. All that had been left had become Adrian, a man with a noble soul who fought for true compassion and justice. Vlad Dracula, however, was a twisted mockery of those ideals. "You really are a sick bastard," the archangel spat in disgust.
"We all have our problems," he replied, unknowingly echoing the words of another such man who believed his acts to be right. Gabriel had seen to that man already, it disturbed him to face that kind of mind yet again. "Join me, and I will cut the strings, free you from your servitude."
Gabriel shook his head. "I'd rather you die and rot like you deserve."
He sprang forth, swinging the pipe just as Dracula transformed again. The iron pipe slammed into the demon's head, giving a satisfactory crunch while it broke the bones, but Dracula retaliated quickly. His massive hand flung Gabriel away, and he jumped up to escape. The archangel couldn't let Dracula get away, not this time.
Gripping the pipe, Gabriel flung it hard, landing a hit right between Dracula's shoulder blades. The creature roared as the pipe impaled through his back, falling down and crashing into the scaffolding. Gabriel flew over, his wings spread, and he came down, grabbing Dracula from behind and pounding him ceaselessly. Dracula flung him off and pulled the pipe out of his back, then was assaulted once more by the angelic warrior. He was getting tired of this, but Gabriel would not stop.
Swinging around onto the creature's back again just as Dracula took flight, he grabbed the left wing and tore it open at the joint, causing the beast to scream in pain. Both of them came tumbling down, hitting the ground. Gabriel rolled away, coming to his feet, while Dracula looked at his injured wing, seeing that it was almost useless for the moment. He glared at the archangel, then leapt away, right into a surge of electricity from the dynamos that tore through him and flung him to the rafters.
He could win this fight. Dracula was wounded, blood pouring from a gash on his arm as he reverted to his human form. It was what Gabriel needed to know that he had a chance to win this fight. He picked up another pipe, holding tightly as he leapt up and landed on the rafters, walking toward Dracula. "Time to die again," he said, his eyes blazing with holy fire.
Dracula stared at his foe in shock. "We don't have to do this," he said, trying to figure out what to do. "It could be like old times again, Gabriel. Four hundred years ago, we were friends, partners!" He back away, seeing the anger in those burning eyes. "Brothers in arms!"
"You stopped being my friend the minute you began slaughtering innocent people," he replied. "Do you remember that poor child who did nothing but take a loaf of bread for his starving sister?"
"A thief!" Dracula roared. It was justified in his mind, why could this man of Judgement not see it was justice? "He stole that bread, and like any thief, deserved death! And his sister was no better! They gave nothing to the society, only taking what they had not earned!"
"They were children for God's sake!" the angel spat. There was no reasoning with madness, with utter evil. "You butchered them like animals, impaled them on those god-forsaken pikes, all for being children who had no family to survive, because you ordered the death of their mother!"
Dracula gave a terrible roar, and transformed again. His large hand swung out and grabbed Gabriel by the neck, lifting him high. The archangel struggled, fought to get free, but that one hand was clamped shut around his throat. "They say," the creature hissed, drawing Gabriel close, "that should an angel lose his wings, he becomes mortal." It smiled. "Let's see how true that it."
His other hand came about and grabbed Gabriel's left wing, now tearing it off while the angel screamed out in pain. Golden fluids gushed from the stump of his wing, and Dracula flung his enemy down to the ground, looking at the black wing in his hand and licking his teeth. "Oh, so sad...you lost one already."
Gabriel breathed heavily. Pain blazed from the stump of his left wing, stabbing viciously into his nerves, but he didn't feel any less powerful than he had before. Plus, he knew the secrets of angels. "Just an old wives' tale," he said, getting to his knees. "An angel's wings are merely a manifestation of his being, not the core of his power." His right wing flexed, the blood from his wound now clotting. But Gabriel stumbled. While his divine power had not wavered, his physical form was hurt, already having taken more punishment than any mortal man could have survived.
The creature threw his severed wing to the ground. Dracula roared, now spreading his own massive bat wings. The clock tower outside struck twelve, now chiming the toll of midnight. Time was running out for the world, this battle could not go on any longer, or all living things would become extinct.
Powerful claws clamped around his throat again, and now, Gabriel found he didn't have the strength to resist. Turning about, Dracula swung the angel into one of the generators, letting go and beginning to physically pummel him. His body couldn't take any more abuse like this. Dracula was vicious, grabbing Gabriel and throwing him across the room.
As he crashed into the conductors, the machines exploded all around him, engulfing Gabriel in flames. He couldn't move anymore, his body was drained of strength. Even an angel has his limits, he realized, and it looked like Dracula was going to be the one who finished this war after all. The creature stepped over, grabbed the angel by his neck again, and lifted him to meet Gabriel's eyes.
"It is time," he hissed, "for angels to die."
There was a shattering of glass, and a large white bat flew in, transforming into the tall blonde form of Adrian Tepes. Dracula spun around to face his son, his face filled with anger. The dunpeal drew his sword, pointing it toward his father. "This ends now, Dracula!"
He snorted. "You think you can kill me with that piece of trash!" Dracula bellowed. Flinging Gabriel aside, he stepped toward his son, his eyes lighting up with the desire to kill. "You have driven Matthias' blade into my heart before, Alucard, and I still live! Even God cannot kill me, you know that!" There was a smile on the monster's face. "Did you yourself not drive me into the sun, only for it to do little more than burn my skin! Did you yourself not drive that golden stake through my heart, only for me to pull it out! I am invincible, Alucard, immortal!"
The blade glimmered in the light. Silver and gold, over four centuries since it had been forged, yet the blade looked as if it had come out of the blacksmith's shop only yesterday. "No," Adrian replied. He brought the blade to his arm, pushed back his sleeve, and cut open the flesh, spilling his blood onto the sword. "There is a way to kill you."
Dracula roared, opening his wings wide to unleashed a volley of fireballs that tore through the air toward Adrian. The dunpeal dove aside, the balls of destruction exploding against the machinery behind him, his sword was gone from his hand. Dracula stomped over and grabbed his son, lifting him up. "Nothing," he said, fangs gleaming and thirsting for blood, "can ever kill-"
He felt something drive itself into him, through his back. And then, it burst through his chest, gleaming red with blood; Adrian's blood. Dracula dropped his son, turning to see Gabriel stand there behind him. Adrian hadn't dropped his sword, he had thrown it to the archangel. But why?
"Blessed by God," the angel repeated from the book. "Born to a mother's love...by the blood of the son shall the dead's rule be undone."
He looked back to his son, his child, who, as immortal as he, had chased him over the course of four hundred years, seeking to destroy him. And this whole time, it had been he who was the key to killing the lord of vampires. "Lisa," Dracula whispered. His body was rotting, time at last catching up with his horrible existence. "He is your son..."
And Dracula, the lord of the night, King of the vampires, fell dead. His body turned to ash, bones crumbling into nothing, and in the end, there was nothing left of him. The screams of his spawn could be heard as they, in his death, exploded, the unholy powers giving them life torn asunder.
And then, Adrian screamed out. He dropped to his knees, grabbing his chest. Something was horribly wrong. Gabriel ran over and caught the man before he fell, looking into his face and seeing the pain there. This didn't make sense, why was Adrian in pain?
But the son of Dracula knew what it was. He never had thought of what would happen should he actually kill his father, and so he had never understood the price for destroying Vlad. "If he dies," Adrian whispered, "so do all things he has sired. That includes me."
"No!" Gabriel yelled. "No, you're not like his creations, not like his spawn! You're a pure soul, blessed by the Heavens!"
He smiled. He was dying as the law of nature at last took hold of him, but Adrian Tepes was smiling. "Gabriel," he said. "For the past four centuries, I have lived. Not once did I think of myself, but of saving those around me. I have fought my father for so long that I never once stop to think of what would happen to me once he was dead.." He paused, his breath becoming fainter. Gabriel could hear the weakening heartbeat. "But I don't regret it at all. I at last can rest in peace, and I have you to thank for it."
There was a scurry of footsteps. Gabriel turned to see the arrival of his missing companions, and they as well stared in horror at the sight before them. Dracula was dead, Adrian dying, and Gabriel's eyes told them that there was nothing he could do.
But the dunpeal smiled, letting them know that he felt no sadness. "I thank you all," he managed to say. As Anna walked over and knelt down, he gently caressed her face, wiping the tears from her eyes. "And I thank you, Anna, for always being the light that reminded me why I fight. You are my mother's image, in every way possible."
Taking hold of his hand, Anna sobbed. She was losing someone she'd held so dear to her heart, someone who had told her all about her brave ancestors, and of the beautiful woman she carried the face of. Adrian had told her the heartbreaking stories about Elisabetha, how she sought only to help those in need, of how much she had loved her son, despite the horrible things people said about him.
Adrian looked to Velkan. In his hands was the syringe, a noticable amount of the antidote gone. He shouldn't have doubt that the lycan would be cured. "Take care of her," he intoned. "That's all I ask for."
As Velkan nodded, Adrian felt cold. He looked once more to Gabriel, and smiled before he closed his eyes for the last time. His body went limp, all life leaving, and Adrian Tepes, the last Prince of Walachia, died. Gabriel lowered his head in prayer, whispering in a tongue far older than any in human history. "I have judged you," he said softly, looking out to see that the sky was clearing, and the stars shined brightly in the heavens. "And you are innocent, Adrian Tepes, son of Elisabetha Corvinus. May God rest your soul in Heaven."