Wazaga says: "and we finally continue. Hold the parade people, no cheering please, I get embarrassed easily. Ah to hell with it. Nobody reads my junk anyways. So on we go!"

To Kitala: "true. I couldn't think of anything better at the time."

To Ephraim-kun: "well, sounds like your little brother doesn't believe in good vampires. lol. To each their own, I say. Thanks for the comments, and yes, that last chapter was short. Too short, in fact. Hopefully, this will make up for it."

To Daenis: "well, I did give them names, so they did deserve a little chapter on their own. Hee hee."

Chapter 10: "Boxed in."

Rebecca had been roaming the halls for hours. Each hall she entered looked exactly like the one she would leave behind. It was like a never ending circle. She felt as if she had slipped into a maze of mirrors made to confuse her more.

But why had she left her room? What was she looking for in these halls? For some reason she couldn't remember. Then she saw a figure pass her peripheral vision and she remembered.

"Alucard?" she called out.

Where had he gone in such a rush? Why didn't he answer her?

She ran after his shadow that kept disappearing around corners. She called his name, begging him to stop so she could talk with him. But when she turned the last corner, she was face to face with a blank wall.

She turned to go back, but another wall had appeared behind her.

She was boxed in!

Panic filled her chest, making it hard to breath.

She felt the walls with her hands. She pushed at them, pounded them. But they were as solid as pure stone.

"NO!" she cried out in fright.

She rammed her shoulder into one of the walls, crying out for help.

Then a light flashed down on her from the ceiling. When she looked up, she saw a dark silhouette staring down at her as if it were standing on the rim of a pit she was in.

"Help me!" she cried.

The figure smiled at her. A malicious smile that was filled with venom and spite: "no, human. You chose to come of your own free will. And for that, you shall pay the consequences for your sins."

For a moment, she thought it was Alucard who had spoken. But the voice was too deep to be his. Yet it carried the same musical tone, the same soft purring rhythm.

She felt herself push against the wall, tears of fright streamed down her cheeks: "who are you?"

The intense light dimmed slightly and she was able to see two golden colored eyes glaring at her with hunger. The figure laughed as if her question was the funniest thing he had ever heard.

"WHO ARE YOU!" she screamed over his laughter.

He stopped laughing and glared at her once more. Then smiled. She had never seen such a frightening smile in her life. His teeth were inhuman! They were more suited to be the teeth of a wild cat.

"How could anyone have such abnormally long fangs?" She thought.

"Answer me you damned bastard!" she screamed "who are you?"

At that remark, the figure had leapt into the boxed pit and pinned her to the wall. His face was only inches from hers, yet it was still hidden under shadow save for his golden eyes. He moved closer to her cheek…

She let out a soft squeak as he whispered his warm breath in her ear: "I, dear one, am the one you will be bound to once he takes you as his own. And through you, my young beauty, I will be reborn and rise once again to take my rightful place as the ruler of Avalon!"

And when he drew away from her, she saw his face completely!

Rebecca screamed as she bolted into a sitting position in her bed. Tears spilled down her chin as she gasped and whimpered with her sheets held tight to her breast in a death grip.

Sasha burst through the doorway coming to her daughter's aid: "Rebecca, what's wrong?"

"Oh, God help me." She whimpered. She was so terribly frightened out of her wits! She could hardly understand her mother's words "mother, it was horrible! I saw him! Oh God, I saw him!"

"Who, Who did you see?" her mother asked as she embraced her daughter in her arms.

"The Devil! He came to me in my dreams, mother. He trapped me in my dreams!" she cried out as if she were still in that boxed pit.

"Hush, darling, hush. It's alright now. It was only a nightmare."

"No mother! He was real! He said the most awful thing! He said I would bring him back! That I …. That I …."

"Silence, dear daughter, you are speaking nonsense." Her mother said harshly "no devil will harm you. Your soul is only upset with the aura of this retched household, nothing more. Now, wipe your tears and forget that childish dream. You have to be fresh for tomorrow's meeting with the prince."

With that said Sasha left the room with her black nightgown billowing behind her.

Rebecca hugged her knees to her breast and simply cried. She wanted to leave right then and there. And had she the courage, she would have. But as always, she simply said a small prayer and stayed her ground as she was told.

She lay back down and, fearing that she would dream, cried herself to sleep.

Alucard was running with all the speed he could muster in wolf form. There was an arrow sticking out of his back and a bleeding gash in his left side. One kill hadn't satisfied his hunger and he only felt full on blood by the time he had killed five men. By then several hunters had been out looking for him, and somehow had succeeded in an ambush.

Alucard didn't dare lead them to the castle. He was running like a hellhound in the completely opposite direction. He zigzagged through the trees, leapt over fallen logs and scampered through shallow streams and mud holes.

And the hunters were still somehow giving chase.

He supposed it was bound to happen. Five men was a lot for one night's kill, after all. He usually never took more then two. Hell, he usually refused to stomach one unless he was nearly half starved for it.

To hell with that logic, immortal he may be, but he wasn't invincible. And he sure as spit didn't plan on letting himself get killed without putting up a damned good fight.

He ran into a cluster of wild thorns. Crawling under the death trap on his belly until he reached the other side then bolted. He was running uphill until he reached the peek and halted just before the shear drop. He cursed his retched luck. Of all the hills he could have chosen, he took the one with a cliff that looked like someone had sliced the side off with a sharp ax!

His tongue lolled out the side of his jaw as he panted for breath. He could still hear the yells of the hunters that were after him. He looked over the side and saw nothing but mist. Whatever lay at the bottom of this chasm was covered as a field in snow season.

"Damn!" he cursed.

He had two choices. Either fly off the top or fight his way back down. And the arrow in his back canceled his first option. No way was he going to be able fly with it sticking in his ribcage. He would have to fight. He took defensive stance and snarled as he waiting for is pursuers.

Let the humans come, he thought. If they wanted a fight he would give them one. He already killed five. What's a few more? These ones were looking for their death, he would only deny them what they wanted by refusing to fight.

But then his human side whispered in argument. Did he really want to kill them? Wasn't enough blood spilt on his account as it was?

He shook his head to clear it; he had no choice in the matter. It was fight or die ….. Unless he could pull the arrow out of his back, he wandered as he eyed the shaft.

He craned his head at an unusual angle over his shoulder and clamped his jaw as close to the base of the arrow as he could. With a beastly grunt he snapped his head back and pulled at the shaft. The wood pulled at his flesh and fur, tearing at it, but the shaft snapped in the middle before the head was through. The pain it caused felt worse then when the arrow was left intact.

His wolfen snout let out a whine as he hung his head to let the pain pass as blood dripped down his side staining his grey-white fur, the half bit of arrow still in his mouth. Several men had climbed the hill into his sight. Most of them had already spotted him and were yelling for their comrades to hurry before he escaped.

He spat the shaft from his mouth and looked out toward the horizon. If he planned on changing and flying of there, now was as good a time as any. He took a few steps back then bounded toward the cliff side.

With a mighty leap his body shimmered in mid air and shrank into something else. The sound of flapping wings rustled the air and a grey bat appeared out of the shimmering mist. The hunters shot arrows at it, but it was already out of range.

Alucard flew well into the morning by the time he reached the castle.