CHAPTER 15
Carrie found an elevator by the bottom of the stairs. The both of them hopped in and rode it up to the top of the tower. There, the same boy on the dark horse flew overhead. Carrie looked up at him.
"The strength of this evil surpasses even Dracula's foul aura..." She declared. "Malus, what are you?"
Dracula looked down at her smugly but did not answer. Yet Carrie gazed back up at him confidently, still expecting one.
Malus too was awaking from his melancholy state to hear Dracula's answer.
Finally, he flew down landing on the ground a few feet in front of Carrie and Reinhardt.
"You have destroyed my servant, I did not expect such power..." Dracula said. "Enough! Now you face the dark lord himself!"
Something clicked on inside of Reinhardt's head. Malus. The dark lord.... The Belmont should have known!! Dracula had been following them all along and he hadn't noticed! Reinhardt gritted his teeth at the sly youngster.
Carrie felt distraught. What sympathy she had for the sad boy evaporated slowly into anger and even more, surprise. Her mind's view was just catching up to Reinhardt's, beginning to see Malus as the enemy. Carrie wanted to ask why, but Dracula needed no excuse for being a coldhearted liar.
The real Malus watched the revelation through his nemesis' gaze and his heart buried itself down farther into a void. Carrie and Reinhardt wouldn't aid him now. The boy was stuck and his last beacon of freedom was now gone. What could he do now...?
A surge of blue light and electricity rose from the ground, surrounding the boy. It circled around and covered him in a shimmering bright whirlwind. As the light grew more and more intense, Carrie and Reinhardt were forced to shield their eyes. Both heard an angry rumble of thunder pound across the sky and the air picked up a swift gust...
Inside, Malus felt the same turmoil doubled. He could feel a strange new power rushing through his veins. A demonicly powerful feeling filled his shifting form. An unusual, hungry kind of energy shot down his muscles; more than he could contain. As he and Dracula transmuted, Malus glimpsed two great and unsettling thoughts in his adversary's mind: to control and destroy.
The storm and the light faded away. Instead of a boy, a very tall man took his place. His skin was pale like frozen stone, and his straight dark hair dropped down to his neck. In a fashion like Malus', he wore a pastel purple robe-like trench coat laced in white. He wore black pants and yellow ribbon fell across his neck.
Dracula took his black-gloved fingers to his forehead and shut his eyes somberly in meditation.
Reinhardt clenched his fists together for a split-second. Carrie didn't appreciate the eerie feeling that came into the air either... Nothing more than a light breeze was left in the air, but that tornado left her trembling a little from the inside.
"Pull yourself together!" Carrie muttered to herself, "This is it..."
The vampire breathed in. "Imbeciles. You thought you could defeat me? I only waited to regain my full power...now I will crush you!"
His eyes opened and glared at both hunters. "Finally, I return in the body of this child...I never dreamed it would last so long...Ah, the wasted years! I live again!!"
"Think again," Reinhardt shot back with resolute, "For every time you rise, it's another wasted effort. I will kill you here now, Count Dracula."
Dracula touched his forehead again, and before Reinhardt or Carrie could blink twice, he disappeared in a spiral of blue light and electricity.
Malus saw the arena white out in his mind... Then all four corners and the center of the tower spun before his eyes all at once. Was he able to be in five places at one time?!
The heroic duo noticed the five vortexes circling them and joined backs. Reinhardt readied his whip and Carrie began to create an energy orb in her right hand. The four vortexes vanished and Dracula reappeared in the center. He held up his arm and a tall protective circle of fire encompassed him. Not long after that, the ground surrounding them on all sides went up in a second towering ring of fire.
Carrie and Reinhardt kept close, with their focus still towards the Count's pyro shield. His scare tactics didn't fool them this time...
"To get past that barrier, Mister Schneider, we'll have to attack here with force."
"I agree with you there," Reinhardt answered.
"I'll take the left and you can take the right. Ready? Go!!"
The duo turned and faced their adversary. Carrie shot the super charged energy orb she was holding, while Reinhardt swung a wide and strong whiplash. Both attacks went through the dark lord's fire defense with ease then met their target with all out harshness.
Dracula did not even flinch. Solemn expression still holding his ice pale face firm, he slowly raised his hand up again, then pointed it down to Carrie and Reinhardt.
They bounced back promptly and used that short opportunity. The Fernandez spread out her arms and motioned them forward, releasing a mighty stream of energy stored inside of her. Reinhardt rounded back with another lash from his vampire-killer whip. Then the ground under the duo sparked, sending a blast of fire between them, knocking them clear off their feet.
Carrie felt sharp pain all over, just before the wind started stirring up again. It picked up speed going faster and faster catching her into a wild cyclone of sharp flames and air. The young heroine clawed down on the stony floor as best she could as her body was swept across it by force. The power felt strong enough to send a herd of rams flying into the howled in her ears. Hot red and orange light twirled before her eyes, and the fire biting at her skin didn't feel too pleasant either.
When the wind subsided, Carrie was left utterly exhausted. She searched around the ground for Reinhardt as far as her half shut eyes could see. All she could find was that accused great fire wall surrounding her still. The girl closed her eyes reluctantly.
Where is he...? Is he hurt...? Argh, get off your stomach, Carrie, and prepare yourself...You've got to concentrate and heal....heal...
Not long before she started to restore her health, both her body and powers were stifled completely. Like a wounded rabbit caught in a glass jar way too small for it. An invisible force picked her up from the ground, and eventually Carrie found herself eye-to-eye with the morbid Dracula.
"Before you defeat me, you will die, child."
Carrie glared back at him boldly. Her amber eyes were filled with a passion.
"You're the prince of lies, Count Dracula."
"Do not force me to kill you, Fernandez. Don't you realize what I did to your miserable cousin? Surrender your powers to me or die!!"
The young girl felt sharp pain return to her burnt out muscles, but she continued to look through the vampire's eyes as long as her chilled nerves would allow. Something else gave her a strange feeling...
"So there really is a boy trapped inside of you. Is his name really "Malus"? Then I still hold to my promise of helping him!"
Reinhardt's whip came out of nowhere, aiming to strike Dracula. The vampire took the hit without showing any pain, then caught hold of the whip with his hand.
Dracula didn't expect the whip's ordained power to begin burning through his skin like acid. With a pure sour look of contempt on his face suddenly let both Carrie and the ends of the whip go.
Malus watched the battle from the shadows of Dracula's mind, but it felt as though he were the one whom was fighting. For every hit Dracula took, he could feel the pain himself. Once Dracula was defeated, he felt just as weary. Dracula had fell to the ground and retaken Malus' usual form.
[So...you're finally defeated...] Malus managed to say. [I knew...this day would come...]
[And if I were? It would not mean you're free. Do you not see? You have given yourself the choice of damnation. They no longer trust you...]
Carrie rushed over to the boy's side. He looked up.
"Where am I?" Dracula asked as Malus, hoping to fool Carrie yet again. "What has happened to me?"
Carrie held out her hand to help him up. Just as he was about to take her hand, a voice cried out.
"Stop right there!!"
Someone threw holy water on the boy. Dracula shrieked, writhing back onto the ground. Carrie and Reinhardt turned around. Charlie Vincent, the vampire hunter they had met in the villa, stood behind them.
"Do you still not see? This boy is really Dracula!"
[They don't trust you anymore...] Dracula repeated to Malus. [You cannot escape...]
For the second time, Malus felt the intense burning feeling of holy water. How could he endure such torture?
[You liar...] Malus whispered weakly. [I will escape...]
Dracula laughed. [Foolish boy, you cannot oppose the power of darkness!]
Malus was plunged into a never-ending abyss. That strange, cold, crushing feeling had returned, destroying all means of hope. The last words he had heard Dracula say to Carrie and the others echoed in his mind: "Miserable human scum! How long do you think you can oppose me? Very well...prepare to cower before the true shape of Dracula!"