12

Dracula's Door

Gabriel watched Verona for a moment. How can I leave her there with that monster? He wanted to go back, but then he heard a shriek from the sky. It had to be Aleera; she had spotted him. Time to go, he thought to himself. Gabriel began running from shadow to shadow hoping to loose the beast. He had no luck. She began to lunge at him. He managed to dodge her for a while, but he was weakened from his stay at the castle. Aleera finally caught a hold of Gabriel and picked him up. "You are so much trouble to my master. I should kill you myself. You poison Verona's mind." She screeched and flew higher. Gabriel struggled with her hold. He reached up and grabbed her wing. They began to tumble down. Aleera let go of Gabriel and he fell into the icy river below.

He sank to the bottom of the river. He struggled to resurface. The water was so cold; it felt like dozens of needles poking his body. Above, Aleera was circling the river waiting for the man to resurface. He must have drowned, she thought to herself. She didn't think any mortal could survive both the fall and the icy water. Aleera was satisfied; she turned and headed back to the castle. Below the surface of the river, Gabriel was waging a battle. The water was sucking the life out of him. He was slowly wearing down. He finally managed to surface. He gasped in the precious air, but it was too late. His muscles burned; they were slowly giving out. His mind began to cloud everything was growing dark. He thought this was the end the world went dark.

Back at the Valarious manor Carl and Anna were still searching for Dracula's door. So far they had not gotten far. "Any luck?" asked Anna. "No there are many clues, but none of them make any sense. I don't know what to do." Just then there was a pounding on the door. Sensing it was urgent, Anna ran to the door. She opened it to see one of the villagers. "Princess Anna", the villager said out of breath, "we think we have found the vampire killer, Van Helsing." Anna's face became more serious, "Where?" "Down by the river, he washed up on shore." "Ok I'm coming with you. Carl we think we've found him; you stay here, I'll be back."

Anna followed the villager to the river. She saw a dark, motionless figure on the ground beside the river. She ran to the figure and rolled it over. It was Van Helsing. He was unconscious and his face was blue. Anna felt for a heartbeat. "He is still alive, but barely. Hurry we need to get him back to the manor." A few villagers picked him up and put him on a small cart. Anna led the way, while two villagers pulled the cart. Anna led them to the manor. She had the villagers put the man on a bed. "Thank you. Please leave us. Carl…Carl come down here." The villagers left and Carl entered the room.

"Where did you find him?" "Some villagers found him next to the river. Go get some blankets and dry clothes." Carl scrambled out of the room. Anna placed her hand on Gabriel's face. He felt like a block of ice. His hair had frozen into little icicles. Carl arrived with clothes and blankets. They stood there for a second… Anna then said, "I think you should change him." "What? Why me? Why do I have to do the stuff that no one else wants to do?" "Because you are the monk." Carl huffed and said, "How many times to I have to tell you people that I am just a friar!" In the end they both changed him and put the blankets on. After a few hours his face had turned back to its normal color and his body temperature had risen.

After a few days Van Helsing finally woke up. He was alone in the spare room. He shot up out of the bed. His first thought was of Verona. Was she ok? He ran out of the room to find Carl and Anna. "Carl…Anna…" He met Carl and Anna in the hallway. Anna ran to him and said, "You're awake." "Yeah, have you found the door to Dracula's lair?" Carl spoke up, "Umm no, we have lots of clues, but I can't put them together." "What do you know? I need to get back there." "Van Helsing slow down, you just got back." "No Carl, you don't understand. I need to get back there now!" Anna was suspicious, "Van Helsing why do you want to get back there so much?" He hesitated for a moment. "Let's go have a seat, we need to talk."

Gabriel led them into the main hall and they all sat down. "I know why Dracula's bride was so eager to save me…you know I have been alive for ages and have no memory of it. Well while I was at the castle I had this dream. I had been having these dreams for ages and figured it was just more memories trying to resurface. But this was different; it was as if I was really there. Then I met someone I did not expect…Verona." Carl sat back in his chair and said, "That's interesting…" "Oh just wait Carl, it gets better form there. So then this dream goes on and I find out that I am a commander of an army. But then I find out that Dracula is my first officer, and my name is Gabriel Van Helsing and my fiancée is Verona." Both Anna and Carl were shocked. "Well I'll be damned. That explains a lot…I know I know I cursed; I'm only a FRIAR." Gabriel jumped back into his story and said, "Apparently, Dracula was obsessed with Verona and tried to steal her from me…" Anna interjected and said, "So then you murdered Dracula to protect Verona." Then Carl came in and said, "And then Dracula came back and took Verona. This is fascinating, now all of the clues fit." "You see now that Verona remembers too, Dracula has her locked in the tower. I can't leave her there with that monster. We need to find that door."

Anna got up and said, "Even if you do manage to save Verona when we kill Dracula she will die with him." Gabriel looked to the floor and said, "I know I'm still working on it. But the first step is finding the door." They all sat in the room silently for a moment. Gabriel looked up at the mural and it hit him. He jumped up and said, "This has got to be it. Anna you said that your father spent hours staring at this painting." "Yeah so?" Gabriel walked up and said, "I think he was onto something; I think this is the door to Dracula's castle." Carl came up and started reading the Latin inscription on the wall, "I can't finish it there is a piece missing." Gabriel pulled the missing piece from his pocket and gave it to Carl. Carl placed the missing piece and finished the inscription. Gabriel said, "In the name of god open this door!" The mural instantly changed into a mirror. It had worked. They had found the door to Dracula's castle.

I'm sorry it took so long to update, I've had a hell of a writer's block. I hope you like this chapter. Please review.

Thanks again for all the good reviews.