Disclaimer: No, Van Helsing is still not mine…

A/N: Hey everybody, I'm SO SORRY I've taken so long to update! I feel absolutely horrible…you all probably thought I died or something, lol. I've just been so busy; I have no life anymore, literally, because I'm participating in my school's musical this year and so I have rehearsals all the time. But, after April 2nd, things should (in theory…) go back to normal and then I'll be able to update more quickly. Anyway, this chappie is longer than my others so far, and Drac is back with a bigger part than last time, lol. On an even happier note, I got my braces off today! This is a big thing for me; I've had them on since 7th grade, and I'm a sophomore. (Please, try to look a little excited? For me?) You probably don't really care, but my teeth look fantastic and I am so happy. D Okay, some quick personal reviews and then it's on to chapter 7!

Fox of the Nova: Did you really choke as well? Lol, don't die on me! Glad you liked the chappies and I'm sorry for taking so long to update.

Countess Alana: Yeah, I suppose Drac still likes Andrea, but more on the physical level, y'know? I'm not sure yet if they'll get together, but probly not. You NEED to update soon; just because I don't doesn't mean you have an excuse, lol. What! Ending soon? Your story! NOOOoooooo….That's one of the saddest things I've heard in, like, forever! Yes, sequel is a must, and I hope you like this chappie!

Lady Kathrin: Hey there, sorry for the long update! Of course Drac still has his castle, why wouldn't he? But not in the future, if that's what you mean. Well, maybe…I haven't really thought about it to be honest. It's worth exploring…Anyway, I'm glad you liked the chappies and I hope you find this one to be just as good, despite the long delay!

Christine Marquez: I'll forgive you for not reviewing sooner if you'll forgive me for not updating sooner, lol. Yes, I agree with you, I think this one will be better than the first, which is rare for sequels (in movies anyway), and it will definitely be longer. It's almost as long as my first one in typed pages on my comp, and this story's just gettin' started! Anywho, enjoy!

Etherealfire: Who doesn't love Drac! Lol, sorry for the long wait, but I think this chappie's worth it. Hope you just absolutely love it! LOL. :)

L'Tara: Well, my lack of update has probably given you plenty of time to review, lol. I'm so happy you like my story…Yeah, Drac in a lab coat is a pretty priceless scene! Not sure yet whether Van Helsing and Andrea will stay together at the end…I guess you'll just have to stick around and find out!

Okay, thank you Thank You THANK YOU for all of your reviews and for your patience with me. Once again, I'm very sorry to leave you hanging for so long! Without further ado, Chapter 7!

Chapter 7

The next day, Lydia and I decided to go to work as usual and pick Fiona's brain about "Vlad" at lunch time to find out everything she knew about him and what she'd told him about us. That was the plan anyway. However, when our lunch break rolled around, Fiona showed up at our lab with Vlad in tow. Apparently she'd invited him to come along with us to get something from the café thinking it would be fine, and I'm sure Vlad had no objections. I really wish she'd asked us about it first though.

Lydia and I exchanged a look when we saw them; now we had to think up a new plan, and quickly. I shrugged at her discreetly as if to say, oh well, just go with it for now. We'll think of something. We all walked to the café just off campus together, Fiona and Vlad walking next to each other in front, while Lydia and I walked side-by-side behind them in order to keep an eye on Dracula and plan our next move.

"Great. Fiona can be so impulsive sometimes. Now what do we do?" Lydia whispered to me as we walked.

"I know she can. We'll just have to try to get her alone to ask her about Vlad."

"And leave Dracula alone?" Lydia responded, doubtful, "I'm not so sure about that."

"I know; it's not the best option, but it's the only one we have and he has been in this time for quite a while now. It's not like this would be the first time he's been left alone here." I pointed out.

"True." Lydia agreed. "I guess we'll just pretend nothing's wrong and wait for an opportune moment." I nodded, and we walked a little faster to catch up to Fiona and Vlad.

We arrived at the café and grabbed a table. Fiona looked happy, while there was a strained tension between Lydia and I, and Vlad. Especially since he sat next to me and across from Fiona. She did most of the talking, totally at ease with the situation, but Lydia and I barely touched our food, trying to fake normalcy. Finally, Fiona stated she was going to the bathroom, and Lydia exchanged glances with me. This would be our chance to talk to her privately about Vlad, but I didn't think it would be such a good idea for both of us to go and leave Drac alone, even if he had probably been alone in this time before. I just didn't trust him, and with good reason. I gestured for her to go with my eyes, silently volunteering to stay with Dracula. She nodded imperceptibly at me and stood up with Fiona.

When they were gone, Dracula turned instantly to me and smiled, that cold, yet alluring smile so repulsive and at the same time so hard to ignore. My heart began thumping my chest rather loudly, and the side of my neck where Dracula had left his mark on me began to ache a little. Dracula tisk-tisked me.

"My dear Andrea. You should calm down. Don't tell me you're frightened of me now, are you? Really my dear."

Turning my fear to anger, I replied, "Listen, 'Vladimir', you will die this time." Dracula only broadened his smile and ran his hand lightly up my arm and around the back of my neck, burying it in my curls.

Ignoring my threat, he commented idly, "Amazing the resemblance between your friends and my dearly-departed brides, don't you think? Quite unnerving."

"My friends are nothing like them." I replied vehemently, craving yet loathing his touch, not knowing whether or not I wanted to pull away from his grasp. "Their appearance is insignificant."

"Ahh, but look at you, Anna's spitting image and reincarnation as well. Why could your friends not be the same way?"

"If you even think about hurting Lydia, Sylvia, or Fiona, I swear–" I stopped abruptly as Dracula removed his hand from my back and Fiona and Lydia reappeared. Lydia looked excited and apprehensive, and she sent me a glance saying she had important things to tell me. I returned her gaze and we left soon after, making excuses about leaving early. Fiona seemed a little upset that we rushed out rather quickly, but Dracula only gazed at me knowingly, a secret smile playing on his lips.

Once outside, we quickly walked back to the dorm to tell Van Helsing and Carl what had transpired. When we'd arrived and all of us had sat down around the table, Lydia began telling us what she'd been able to learn about Dracula while in the bathroom with Fiona, and with a lot of gusto. She was pretending to be Fiona, putting on the puppy eyes and the fluttering eyelashes, all that girlie stuff that made Van Helsing and Carl recoil slightly. Just the sight of how Lydia was portraying Fiona had me worried. If this really was how Fiona had acted, she must have been really infatuated with Dracula.

"She was all like, 'Oh, poor Vlad! Apparently, he used to have this skin condition that prevented him from going out in the sun. But then, he told me his country had a huge medical breakthrough and now he can go out in the sun without any problems...' " Van Helsing, Carl and I exchanged worried glances while Lydia continued her rant. I had wondered why Dracula had been able to accompany us on our walk to the café. "Then she was like 'Isn't his Romanian accent the cutest? When I met him, he looked like something straight out of Van Helsing.'" she paused and looked at Van Helsing. "The movie, of course..." Van Helsing nodded absentmindedly to say he had understood what she'd meant, and I stood up sighing.

"This certainly does not bode well..." Carl said, half in thought. "I wonder if any of the old rules concerning Dracula still apply in this new playing field, or if the Devil has some new tricks up his sleeve."

"We'd better hope he doesn't." Van Helsing responded, and I turned to ask Lydia something.

"Did you ask Fiona what she'd told Dracula about us?"

"Yes, but she said that she hadn't told him much. Just that we were all friends and we all worked together here, and stuff. I don't think he knows where we live or anything that specific. Although she did seem a little upset when she said that Vlad had seemed to take a special interest in Andrea when she first mentioned you to him. Which is no surprise considering, and she was probably a bit jealous which is no surprise either, really." I sighed. Well, it was good that Dracula didn't know where we lived, but I didn't like the idea of Dracula taking a "special interest" in me, or the idea of Fiona being mad at me because she was jealous of me for no real reason. That was not what I needed.

Van Helsing sat quiet for a moment, thinking, then turned to me asking, "Andrea, where were you when Lydia and Fiona went to the bathroom?"

"Um," I glanced around slightly uncomfortably at this. Van Helsing would probably be furious when he found out. Oh, well. There was no way around not telling him. "I was at the table, with Dracula, alone..." I half mumbled, trying to look nonchalantly at nothing in particular.

"Alone! What do you mean alone!" He rounded on Lydia, looking more than a little upset. "Are you crazy? What were you thinking, leaving her with Dracula! He could've killed her right then and we'd have had no chance at all to stop him!" Lydia glanced at me, a scared look on her face, so I decided to step in and stop Van Helsing's unnecessary tirade.

"Van Helsing," I started, putting a hand on his arm. He, however, didn't hear me as he was still yelling at Lydia. "Van Helsing!" Still nothing. I sighed again. "GABRIEL!" I shouted, shaking his arm and finally getting his attention. He jumped slightly, stopped mid-sentence, and turned around to stare at me. "Will you please stop terrifying Lydia? It's not her fault; I volunteered to stay at the table. I mean, we couldn't both go with Fiona and leave Dracula by himself, who knows what he would've done? And I thought it would probably be better if I stayed with him, since the only experience Lydia has had with Dracula is watching a movie on a TV screen."

Van Helsing took a breath, and I could see the anger slowly leaving his eyes. "Alright, I see your point, and I suppose you made the right decision. As long as you're not hurt."

"I'm not; don't worry." I smiled at him.

"So, Andrea, did Dracula tell you anything important?" Carl asked.

"Well, nothing direct and outright." I said, shuddering slightly in remembrance of his icy touch on my back. "He just hinted vaguely about how strange a coincidence it is that I look like Anna, and I'm her reincarnation, and my friends look like his brides, so..." I waited for everyone to make the connection. Lydia's face grew fearful again.

"I don't want to be turned into a vampire! Sure, they were cool in the movie, but not in real life! And what about Fiona? She's the one in the most danger because she's closest to him. What do we do? Should we tell her?"

"But what would we tell her? That I went back in time, Van Helsing is real, and she's dating the son of the Devil? Oh, yeah, that would go over well. I can just picture her face as we get loaded into the van and taken to our friendly, neighborhood asylum!" I said sarcastically.

"You're right I guess." Lydia said, sighing. "Well, we could just say that we think he's a bad guy, not the right one for her, and convince her to break up with him."

"That'd be the understatement of the century." Van Helsing said, opening his mouth to say more.

"Which century?" I interrupted, "Yours, or mine?" The question caught Van Helsing off-guard, and he looked down pondering for a second, then back up at me, glaring. But I ignored him, having already moved on to another train of thought. "I don't think Dracula would be rid of so easily. Not by a long shot. We need to think of some way to get to Dracula without endangering Fiona."

"Or anyone else." Van Helsing added, staring at me. I nodded, understanding what he was implying.

Lydia checked her watch. "Hate to cut this short," she said, "But Andrea, our lunch break is almost over. Technically, we're still at work, and they'll wonder where we are."

"Oh, you're right!" I responded. "I had almost forgotten. We'll have to talk more about this later." Lydia and I gathered our things and made for the door. "Stay out of trouble!" I called, more to Carl than Van Helsing, as Lydia and I walked out the door and back to the main lab building.

See, a nice and long chappie, and it was one of my better ones too, I think. Now do you forgive me? Please? Review and tell me what you think, but keep in mind that I might not be able to update again till at least April 3rd. But don't worry! I won't forget you guys or my fic that you all seem to love so much, just bear with me! Alright, I got to go, I have no free time, remember? Much Luv to you all! Byes for now!

Gem