Van Helsing slammed his hand against the door. It was locked and the lock was tight. He turned. "Where's the balcony!"
Vladan shot toward her and wrapped his hands around her throat. His mouth opened and he aimed for her throat.
Rachael's left hand went smashing into his mouth and the other broke his wrist. She grabbed the broken wrist and sent him flying through the air. She crouched and jumped after him. She landed next to him and reached for him.
His foot went flashing out and slammed into the back of her right knee.
She faltered and that was all Vladan need. He grabbed her neck and sent her sailing through the air.
Rachael gasped as she slammed into the stone wall. Then her eyes narrowed. She crouched.
Vladan landed in front of her and his fist came flying at her.
Rachael jumped aside and buried her mouth in his neck.
Vladan's scream echoed through the castle. Blood dripped down his neck and spilled onto the floor.
Suddenly his hand flashed out and he caught Rachael hard in the side of her neck. She went flying through the air and slammed into one of the decorative pillars.
Van Helsing threw opened the doors of the balcony and ran to the rail.
Vladan fell to his knees and began gagging. Blood filled his mouth and trickled ou from the corner of his mouth.
Slowly the red light faded from his eyes and they began to glaze over.
Rachael lay where she had fallen. Her face was pale and she looked like a flower caught in a frost. Her face was pale, the only color was the redness of her lips, Vladan's blood on her mouth and the dark black of her eye lashes as they lay against her cheeks.
Vladan fell foreword on his face, dead.
And the ballroom, the battleground of two of the greatest vampires of that time, was at last, silent.