Authors Note:

Apparently you enjoyed the first chapter. Well, I feel good about that. Enjoy, my friends. (And this takes place before the movie, just to let you know.)

Chapter 2

Past to Present

It had been seven years since that fateful day that Lena had been found. She was now 16, and helping out Van Helsing in his missions. Much to his dismay when she first started, she was now growing better, and he now accepted her as a partner. She seemed to hate the vile monsters as much as he did, if not more.

Her past had been discovered slowly. Her parents were killed by the werewolf that was chasing her, sent by Dracula himself to kill off the family, for a reason unbeknownst to them. Their burning house was found deep in the woods, embers shooting up past the trees only to slowly die into ashes.

Karl had taken full responsibility for caring for her, the only exception being when she would go on trips with Van Helsing. In this case, Van Helsing himself would take responsibility for her. This greatly annoyed her, in her opinion she could take care of herself, and no one needed to take responsibility for her. But she'd learned to look to Karl as a fatherly figure.

And now she was learning to be nearly as great a hunter as Helsing himself, no one realizing she was there until the body struck the ground. She'd also unfortunately taken a bit of Van Helsings personality, usually killing the monster rather than bringing him back to Order.

But now was when things got serious. Now she'd been given an assignment all her own. Out of all the years she'd been helping Van Helsing, this one would be the most important. Dracula had been found; they knew where he was. But sending Van Helsing would do no good, they needed to attack him from the inside, and to do that they'd have to get him to abduct her as a future 'bride'. She was beautiful enough for it to work; she just had to get his attention.

"After he's got you in the castle, earn his trust." Father Marcury was telling her. "Once his trust is gained, you will then find out how to kill him. The hard part will be extracting you from the castle to get the information."

"Why can't I just send you a message of some sort?" She looked to Karl, the genius.

"Because sending any messages from his castle is nearly impossible. It would take me nearly a week to invent something for it to work, and we need you to go in there as soon as possible." He explained. She sighed and looked to Van Helsing.

"And you've got nothing?"

"Nothing." He replied to her. "But I can get you to the village that he usually attacks. One of his brides has been killed and he's on the prowl for another."

At this, the plan was worked out. Van Helsing and Karl would take her to the small Transylvanian village always attacked by Dracula's brides. She'd stab him with the stake to get his attention (it was noted that every time a bride was killed, he went in place of that bride to find another) and he would then, hopefully, take her to his castle after picking her up. After spending a few days gaining his trust, she'd discover his weakness and find a way out to send them a message. Easy, no?

"You can't be serious." Lena mumbled, walking out of the cathedral dressed in a tight red T-shirt and tight red jeans. "Its winter. This is tight and thin" she glared at Karl. "And it's uncomfortable. Can't I change into something more…weather oriented?" She searched for the right words.

Van Helsing and Karl walked on either side of her, Van Helsing suppressing his laughter and Karl staring ahead blankly, listening to Lena's rants. She hated anything that stuck to her, anything that was tight, she refused to wear. It had to be baggy…always.

"It's what Transylvanians wear." He shrugged, instantly earning a retort from her.

"And how would you know!" She snapped at him. "You haven't been there!"

Karl merely rolled his eyes and kept walking, leading her to the carriage that would take her to the small village. It was about a half an hour's walk through whispering wind and dusting snow, and it didn't help that Lena was complaining the entire way. Needless to say, Karl couldn't help but smile as they dropped her off and left as she entered the carriage.

So she sat in the carriage silently, waiting for the nearly two hours to arrive at her destination, where her first solo mission would begin.