Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Van Helsing characters. However I can proudly say I do own Mara and Kai so ..back away! Mine! ::Swings stick and accidentally hits self on nose:: Ow.

A/N: I apologize for the delay in the story. I apologize more because it's going to be the last chapter I write….for a whole week. I'm going to the beach! Wahooo!

Chapter 9

What do you want to know warrior?

The cat asked him grudgingly and for a moment, Velkan was thrown off guard. What did he need to know most about these people?

"Why did you come here? What made you travel so far from Ireland?" He asked finally.

Kai stared at him unblinkingly for a long moment before answering. First of all, human, we did not come from Ireland.

Velkan stared at him. "I am sure that is where Mara told me she was from. Are you saying she lied." He asked in a soft voice, barely hiding his impatience.

Kai released the rumble that Velkan had come to know as laughter. No. She is from Ireland originally. That much is true. But that is not where we come from.

Velkan stared hard at Kai. While the cat was answering his questions willingly enough he was also still being very evasive. He would have to be careful while questioning him. "Where did you come from then?"

We came from the lands of Tir na nog, Velkan looked at him blankly. The fairy lands. Kai clarified.

"What is that place? I've never heard of it."

I'm not surprised. You seem to have enough of a problem dealing with your own legends. It is the home of my kind.

Velkan shook his head, filing that in with the other statements he would examine later. If there was a later.

"Alright then, back to the original question. Why have you come."

Because we had no reason to stay, and my sister, Mara, wished to see human lands again.

"How is she your sister?" He asked puzzled. "She doesn't…resemble…you at all." He added delicately, eyeing the cat's giant fangs.

"He is my brother by adoption." Said a drowsy voice from behind Kai. Velkan craned his neck around to see Mara sitting up and stretching, much in the same way as a cat with her back arched and her arms reaching toward the ceiling, apparently awakened by their discussion. "I was adopted into his pride."

"Adopted?" He repeated, dubious. "You were adopted by cats?" She nodded and he sighed. "Alright, I can believe that for now." He ignored her frown. "Why did you choose to come here? You must have heard the stories along the way."

"That was one of our reasons." She answered. "We wanted to see if any of them were true. Stories about a man who lives forever and feeds of the blood of the living? We've heard stranger stories but none that were told so widely or so commonly taken as truth. So we came to investigate."

"You came all this way to see Dracula?!" he asked, torn between astonishment and outrage. "That has to be the stupidest thing I have ever heard of anyone doing, ever."

Mara stiffened her back and Kai growled. "How dare you say such things about us! We've been around since before …." She seemed to think better of what she was saying and quickly shut her mouth.

"What?" He asked, pouncing on the unfinished sentence. "You've been doing this before what?"

"For a long time." She finished lamely. His eyes narrowed at her.

"Anyway," she continued. "That was only one of the reasons. The main reason we came was for the legends of the wolf men." She stared into his dark gray eyes as she spoke, watching for his reaction. He stared back it her in obvious shock for the next minute and a half.

"Wha –that's even worse!" He got out finally.

How? Kai interjected. I am more than an equal for any kind of creature your land has to offer. Velkan ran his eyes up and down the creatures great length, the taunt muscles hidden just beneath the skin and the thick, tawny mass of fur that acted as armor around his neck and shoulders. He shook his head.

"Not Dracula. The man made a deal with the devil and he cannot die." Kai snorted rudely and Mara nodded, but he thought he saw caution and a little fear lurking in her green eyes. Good, maybe she'll change her mind and go home and I'll have one less death on my conscience when the time comes. "And the wolves he controls have no sense of self. They will fight until they are torn apart piece by piece and be glad of it so long as they take you down with them. He controls them utterly."

He shivered slightly. And soon, I'll be one of them. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up into a pale face framed with dark red hair. He pulled himself up strait and she took her hand away.

Kai sat up and gazed down the length of his nose at him. He felt Mara move away from him and stand beside her brother.

"We will be fine. Kai can take care of anything that tries to surprise or overwhelm us and I am not exactly defenseless either."

Velkan bowed his head. They were going to stay. Nothing he could say would stop them and eventually they would be killed. "Please, listen to me. This is not a game or an adventure! The man can not be killed. "

"Everyone can be killed." Mara said reasonably.

"This monster can not!" Velkan shot back. "My family has tried for over four hundred years and have nothing to show for it but a full graveyard."

"Then it sounds like you really need us." Velkan groaned and Mara's eyes softened. "Everything happens for a reason. I believe that. There is a reason you were bitten, and why me and Kai were drawn here, so don't despair. Things will work out."

"How very optimistic." Said a snide voice from the caves entrance. A familiar voice. Velkan jumped to his feet and stepped in front of Mara and Kai.

"Dracula." He spat. The dark count merely nodded.

"How kind of your new friend to show us where you were hiding. I should have to reward her suitably." He smiled over Velkan's shoulder. It was all fang and he heard Kai growl a low warning behind him. He pressed his lips together tightly. They should have left when they had the chance.

"Leave them out of this!" He yelled. "They're only passing through, they have nothing to do with you!" The count chuckled.

"It would be very rude of me not to introduce myself then. Wouldn't you agree, your highness?" The count bowed at him mockingly and Velkan felt his blood boil with hatred.

"My lord and lady," Dracula continued, bowing at Mara and Kai. "My name, is Count Vladislaus Dragulia. And who do I have the immense pleasure of addressing?"

"Mara." Came the girls voice from behind him. He wished he could look away and warn her not to look into the monster's eyes, but he didn't dare take his own gaze off of him for even a second. That would be all the time he would need to pounce. Actually, he thought. He doesn't even need that. He's strong enough to take me down now but he's having more fun toying with us.

"A lovely name for a lovely woman." Both Kai and Velkan growled at the same time. Mara laughed.

"You must be blind Count, if you don't see this." She ran her smallest finger down over the scar that crossed over her eye left eye. Velkan saw the Count frown ever so slightly and anger flash in his eyes. He didn't like being contradicted. Or laughed at.

Velkan felt the burning heat of the Vampire's stare on him again. He glared back and was disturbed to see the Count smiling evilly. He had seen the same expression on cats that had trapped a mouse.

"Well, well." Dracula hissed. "So the young prince has been bitten."

He laughed outright then and Velkan fought the urge to lunge at him and feel his hands wrap around the monsters throat. If he was going to die fighting the monster he would wait until he at least had the chance to put up a decent fight. It would be a very short match if he attacked while the count was still so interested in him.

"Come here, Velkan." The count said, as if he were only stating the time.

"Go to Hell!" He said and Dracula laughed again.
"Been there, done that, little wolf. Now come here!" It was an order enforced by the dark ones will and to his horror, Velkan felt his feet move, one in front of the other, carrying him to the beast.

"You are mine now, little wolf." Dracula said, still chuckling at his opponents horror. "Your mind, your body, and your soul, are mine."

Velkan fought the command with all his will, and for a brief moment he thought he felt himself stop, but as he looked down he saw that only a few feet now separated him from the beast.

Something small and compact hit him without warning from behind, knocking him off his feet and the breath from his lungs. He heard Dracula roar and the weight was lifted off of him. He heard a thud and a moan that sounded disturbingly like a body hitting a solid rock wall and saw Kai leap over his head and knock Dracula to the ground, lunging repeatedly for his throat as the vampire tried to force his jaws back.

The force that held him earlier was gone now as Dracula was distracted and Velkan leapt up, looking around desperately for a wooden stake, a silver knife, anything to finish the bastard off. He saw Mara's limp body lying against the back wall of the cave and ran over to her.

He looked her over quickly and found her unhurt except for the small bump at the side of her head. She would be out for a bit. His eyes rested on the dagger at her hip, the sheath and hilt wrapped in the same colored leather as her pants so it would be near invisible unless you knew what to look for.

Kai howled behind him and he turned.

Dracula had succeeded in throwing the cat off him and was striding purposefully toward them. He grabbed Mara's dagger and pointed it warily at the Count. Dracula stopped and stared at him, laughing. God how he hated that sound.

"A dagger, little wolf? And one made out of stone no less." He stopped laughing and stared at him, a predatory glint in his eyes and Velkan knew they were all about to die.

Dracula lunged and reflexively Velkan stabbed at him. The knife buried itself to the hilt in his shoulder and Dracula screamed as the wound started to smoke. He jerked away and Velkan kept enough presence of mind to keep hold of the dagger. He watched bemused as the Count assumed his bat form and shot out of the cave. His eyes fell down to the dagger where drops of blood were still sizzling along the stone outlining the runes carved into the blade.

He walked to the edge of the cave and looked down at Kai. Already the cat was pulling himself up and limping back into the cave to see to his sister, no lasting harm done to him. Velkan bent down and wiped the blade clean on the grass, it smoked and the plants turned brown and lifeless. Gripping the hilt tightly he went back into the cave.