Chapter 19

"Christine!" my cousin said playfully. I had chased him into his room, where everything had already been neatly packed away. I looked around in amazement. Absentmindedly, I had bumped into him, not realizing he had stopped. "That hurt!" he said. I smirked.

"You deserved it." I answered in response. I looked around my self. I didn't realize that he had finished his packing so quickly. Seeing this made the inevitability of what we were doing sink in deeper. My mouth opened in surprise. "Well, I gather you are ready to go, aren't you?" I asked. William nodded his head in response.

"Why put off tomorrow what you can do now? It's the motto I live by." William answered, with an amused grin on his face. I stepped around him, finding five trunks filled to the brim with his belongings. I furrowed my eyebrows and turned my attention back to him.

"I don't understand why you are going to need all that, William." I answered, somewhat confused. He became flustered. It took a moment for him to answer.

"I have my reasons." He responded. I smiled at him and slowly turned away from his luggage, walking past him. "It's all things I am sure we will be needing." I had headed to a seat, throwing falling into it. Almost habitually, I laughed. William watched with an amused grin on his face.

"I suppose you would." I answered. I sat up, smiling at him. "Is Uncle Ferdinand coming with us?" I asked. William shook his head.

"He is getting older, Christine. He would not be able to help us. I believe Uncle Rajon is coming in his stead." William responded. I widened my eyes in surprise. Uncle Rajon was a relative I had not seen since I was 12. Uncle Rajon…his name was as vivid as his memory. He was a soldier, a very good one, to say the least. To put it gently, the age difference between him and Uncle Ferdinand was rather large. Uncle Ferdinand had been born over 18 years before Rajon, Uncle Rajon being only 28, not much older than I. He could easily have been confused for our brother. Of course, I didn't remember much of what he looked like. His memory had dimmed in my mind. I looked up to meet my cousin's gaze.

"When is he coming?" I asked William. He shrugged his shoulders.

"I have no idea." My cousin responded. "Uncle Rajon works on his own clock. He'll come as soon as he can." He replied. I smirked.

"Exactly how I remember him." I answered. "He only came to see me when he had time." I heard William's laugh.

"Don't be so hard on him. He has kept us safe for all these years." William responded. I took a deep breath and looked away.

"All these years..." I muttered. "Why do you say that? He is not much older than we are, William. He just has more skill with a rifle." I answered. He didn't reply. We both remained silent, not knowing what else to say.

Despite the trepidation I was feeling at not having Uncle Ferdinand beside us, I was also feeling a sense of strange excitement. This was a member of my family, which had always eluded me. So much was spoken of him, yet so little I knew about his life. Did he have a wife, children? Did he ever think of us? I didn't know the answers. It surprised and pleased me that he had decided so quickly to come to our aide. Yet, I was a bit unsure at having a stranger join us, no matter what blood ties he may have shared with us.

"I can't wait to see him again." I said after a moment of awkward silence. William smirked. I watched as he turned and headed towards a writing table he had. He busied himself by sorting out the mess he had left there, covering a bottle of ink and quickly hiding away slips of paper left out.

"Are we still on the subject of our young Uncle?" he asked. I nodded my head.

"I can't wait to see what he looks like." I said. William smiled.

"I am sure he will be handsome. He was when we were younger. All the girls in the city were in love with him." William answered. I caught a hint of resentfulness in his voice. His memories of our Uncle seemed to be much more vivid than mine seemed to be. We were silent again. Nothing more was said.

Quite suddenly, I heard my name being called, the housemaids. They were wondering where I had gone. William heard this as well. "I suppose I should be going, shouldn't I?" I asked with an amused grin on my face. William did not respond. He only nodded his head.

"I will be there in a few minutes." My cousin said after a moment. He smiled at me as I rose and headed towards the door, slowly. "Go, they are calling you." He said. I walked out of his room, and then gradually began to pick up speed as I began to run. Strangely enough, I was excited about this trip we were taking, I felt like a little girl again.

I hurried from the room, running down the hallway, rushing to my room. I was in such a hurry, I was not even aware of anyone else nearby. I felt myself crash into someone, sending them backwards.

"Whoa there!" I heard. I felt hands on my shoulders. Looking up I found a young man smiling down at me. I blushed furiously, pulling away. Who was that?

"I'm sorry!" I said loudly. I tried to push past him, seeing my room at the other end of the hall. "I'm in a hurry. I didn't mean to bump into you." I said. I tried to walk by him, but he stopped me.

"You look familiar to me. What is your name?" he asked. I smiled, bowing my head slightly in respect as I noticed the uniform he wore.

"I am sorry, but I really must be going." I said, trying to push by him. I heard his playful laugh as he stopped me again.

"I know you." He said simply. He walked a circle around me, his eyes dancing in curiosity as he looked at me. I saw his finger travel to his lip in thought. A habit, most likely. I slowly began to grow uncomfortable under this intense scrutiny.

"I am most positive you do not know me, sir." I answered, growing slowly irritated. I heard his laugh from behind me. I chose to ignore it. "I would be sure to remember the likes of you." I said.

"And I am most positive, miss, that I do know you. I never forget a pretty face." He said simply. I blushed furiously. I was done with his game.

"Christine Aveire." I responded. He widened his eyes in surprise. "May I please pass?" I asked. "I am in quite a hurry, my housemaids are calling to me."

"Christine!" he said happily. "It has been such a long time since I saw you last!" He looked me up and down and smirked handsomely. "You've grown up so…quickly. You've completely blossomed…" he trailed off, taking in my height, and my clothing. I flushed in embarrassment. He noticed this and smiled in amusement. "You don't remember me, do you?" he asked. I looked up at him, fully taking in his face. Dark eyes, auburn hair, doll like nose. No defining features that I could recollect. He smiled. "Well?" he asked. I shook my head.

"I'm sorry, I don't remember you." I said simply. His smile wilted only momentarily. I glared at him in confusion.

"You are my niece!" he said happily. "Remember, we used to play together as children." He said his eyes dancing. My eyes widened in surprise. The man who stood in front of me was my Uncle. He had arrived sooner than I expected.

"You are Uncle Rajon?" I said, surprise apparent in my voice. He looked nothing like William's father or my mother for that matter. He looked so young…

I still heard the housemaids calling for me as I stood there, somewhat surprised at seeing him arrive so soon. I looked up at him, an apologetic look in my eyes. "I'm sorry, Uncle, but I must go and tend to my housemaids. They are calling me." I said, feeling awkward at using the term 'uncle'. He smiled.

"Let me come with you." He said. "We have much to catch up on. I was coming up here to see you and William anyhow." I smiled, heading down the hallway. He followed behind.

"Speaking of William, where is he?" he asked. "I didn't see him when I arrived." I didn't respond, Uncle Rajon laughed. "How old is he, twenty six?" Rajon asked. I turned back and smirked.

"Yes, he is." I responded, finally reaching my doors. The women in my room had finished my packing, and remained cleaning up the small mess that had been left with the jewels and other ornaments lying about. Uncle Rajon smiled.

"Well, well, well." He said behind me. "You have quite a room here, my dear." He said. I felt him approach slowly from behind me. His hand touched me gently on the shoulder. I jumped in surprise.

"What's wrong?" he asked, concerned. I turned to face him.

"I didn't expect to feel you touch my shoulder." I responded. He narrowed his eyes in confusion. "I haven't been quite myself lately. I'm sorry." I said. He smirked.

"It is perfectly understandable." He said in answer. "Now when do we leave? I am ready when you all are." he said. It was then that finally I understood where William had inherited the eagerness that ran hot in his veins.

"We are leaving now." I heard suddenly. My uncle and I turned in surprise, not expecting to hear the voice we did. William smiled. "It nice to see you again, Uncle." I saw Rajon's eyes brighten in happiness.

"See," he said, looking back at me. "At least someone remembers me." He continued. He held out his hand for William to take. "How are you?" he asked eagerly. William smirked and reached out to take his as well, Uncle Rajon shook it excitedly. I saw my cousin flash me a quick smile before returning his concentration to our uncle.

"I am alright. I trust your trip was a pleasurable one." William responded. Rajon smiled before he answered. It was strange that, even now, we all pretended as if this was a mere pleasure trip, rather than an all out declaration of war against not a nation, but a race of demons. I watched the whole conversation transpire, never saying a word.

Their conversation continued for some minutes, recounting events from early childhood I did not even remember. I saw Uncle Rajon turn to me suddenly.

"You remember when you were young and you loved pretending to have a house and family of your own?" he asked me. I narrowed my eyes in confusion, and I saw him laugh. "William and I used to always agree to play with you, but neither of us could quite decide who would play the role of son. I clearly remember William fighting with me once because of it. He seemed pretty adamant against being 'Little Willy', yet again." William's eyes darkened somewhat.

"I hated playing that role." He said. "If I remember correctly, I always had to fight you to play the role of the husband. Somehow, you always won and I ended up wearing a bib and child's hat, parading about as if I was a baby." I laughed despite myself.

"I think I do remember that…" I said quietly. "Or we would put it to a vote…and you would always lose, two votes to your one." My heart grew heavy at the memory.

"I loved playing the role of the husband." Uncle Rajon said, smiling sadly to himself. "It was very fun…" his voice slowly trailed off, his eyes growing distant as he remembered the distant memory. I heard William's voice interrupt us.

"Well, I suppose we must be going." William said, hearing the quickened sound of footsteps climbing the stairs. He cast a quick look down, noticing the footmen coming to take our belongings. He grinned before turning back to us.

"I suppose we have to cut off the introductions and greetings." William said. "Have your things been packed, Uncle?" he asked. Rajon smiled and nodded yes.

"They were packed into the carriage as soon as I arrived. We are waiting only for you two." He said, looking between William and myself. I smiled. William moved to the side and allowed the men to enter my room, each one taking some bags and climbing down the stairs.

"Well," I said, watching my things being carried out. I looked further down the hallway watching William's things being carried out as well. "I suppose we should be following them downstairs, shouldn't we?" I asked. Uncle Rajon smiled.

William quickly began to head down the small hallway leading towards the stairwell. I felt Uncle Rajon's gentle hand at my back as he led me down the hall as well. I turned back and smiled at him. With my Uncle there, I felt as if nothing could go wrong. He had completed the final piece of the puzzle that William's father had masterminded.

A small speech my William's father gave to us soon after we came downstairs, telling us to be careful and to listen to our Uncle. It seemed to last two hours when it was only minutes long. Ferdinand narrowed his eyes slightly at his young brother, noticing the close proximity Rajon kept to me. It was a brief flash of disapproval, which Uncle Rajon did not even catch. At last, it was time to go.

"William, take care of your cousin." Uncle Ferdinand said, hugging his son tightly. He pulled away for a moment. "I'll kill you if something happens to her." He said jokingly. I heard William's light laugh.

"I will father." He responded. Uncle Ferdinand smirked in response, pulling away from him. He turned to me and his brother.

"You know what to do." Uncle said to his brother. Rajon nodded silently in affirmation. He held out his hand for Uncle Ferdinand to take.

"Goodbye for now, Ferdinand. I'm sure when we return I will have taken care of that pest." He responded. I smiled.

Funny, how those few days seemed only like hours to me. The farewells were short and sweet, no tears and no worries. Uncle Ferdinand watched from the doorway, his wife close by his side, as the three of us climbed into the carriage waiting to take us to the train. I felt William's strong hand on my back as I took his other to climb into the carriage carefully. William followed behind, sitting next to me with Uncle Rajon right after. We sat in the carriage in uncomfortable silence, each of us not knowing what to do next.

"Well, I suppose it is time to go." I heard our Uncle say. He smiled at William and called out to the men at the helm of the carriage. We slowly began to move. We were going to Budapest, finally.

A/N: I know, I know, not a lot of stuff happened here. A boring chapter, to say the least…lol. I need to get through these occurences before I can get to the main part of the fic…If I don't do it then I feel like the story will be incredibly rushed and it wouldn't sound very good.

Countess Alana: I hope you like this latest installment, and the new character I introduced into the story. I don't know really how to describe him….he is interesting to say the least, lol. Let me know what you think of him!

Widow Dracula: Thanks for letting me know what you think about the last chapter you reviewed!! Your suggestions are really, really valued because sometimes I just need a second eye reading the story to let me know if something was too rushed, or not elaborated enough on. I don't take criticism as an insult at all, as long as it is not said in a mean or demeaning way, which I am sure you would never do! And yes, I think you did get your conjecture right about the 'gift' that Dracula wants to bring back for his brides.

Anyway, Let me know what you think of this chapter. I hope it was good and at least smooth and relevant to the story. If you think there are any small changes I need to make, don't hesitate to tell me on the review board, I will try my best to fix it! I love getting constructive criticism. I really do, because it helps me to improve my work!!!!