Catlover15489: Thanks! I did try you know )
Fortune Zyne: I tried to do that too!
Princess Airiana: Nope, Van Helsing isnt her dad either. Sorry. But Anna really isnt going to be the bad guy. it'll seem that way, but just wait til you read the last line in this chapter.
Chapter 4
Several hours seemed to pass while in reality it was only minutes. Larissa took hold of herself and grabbed the reigns, holding Marishka's body on the horse. As she reached the edge of the forest and the gate to the village, she realized that in order to get to the castle, she had to go through the town, as there was a twenty foot deep, ten foot wide river on one side, and a glade on the other.
Readying herself to go through as quick as she could, Larissa failed to detect the tears still trailing down her face, and really, all she could think was how stupidly brilliant whoever it was who located the town was. Larissa pulled the cloak around the two of them, trying to make them a bit less recognizable before hurriedly setting the mare in a trot.
Passing through, Larissa saw nobody take any particular interest in them until she was almost out. Someone also on a horse was following. Larissa cursed under her breath and nudged the mare a little faster. Soon she reached the exit and set the horse into a gallop, but the follower was faster.
She was cut off and the follower pulled off their hood of their cloak. Anna. "How did you know?" Larissa decided to play dumb. It does work sometimes. "Know what? I know a lot of things." Anna scowled. She pushed her horse so she could reach Larissa and tugged her cloak down off her face. "How did you know the brides were going to attack!" Larissa moved to pull the cloak back up, but ended up doing the opposite; revealing Marishka's form.
Anna looked shocked. She took in the scene as a whole; Larissa in tears with Marishka's body, heading towards Castle Frankenstein. "What…" Larissa just kicked her horse, pushing Anna out of the way, and Anna didn't even follow, too baffled to do so actually.
When Larissa reached the stables, she fixed the mare up with some oats and wiped her down before lifting Marishka, wrapped in her cloak, bridal style. Larissa was at first sort of shocked that she was so light, but concentrated on climbing up the multitude of staircases that would lead her to the bride's chambers.
Somewhere off the hall Larissa was walking, there came screams of sorts. All Larissa knew was that they sounded fearful. Quickly locating the source, Larissa watched as Dracula sent everyone away, but before he or the brides got anywhere, Larissa spoke…smugly too. "Am I interrupting anything?" the way the brides sprung away from the count usually would have sent her into a fit of laughter, but now Larissa could only give a small, humorless smile.
They didn't seem particularly surprised at Larissa being there, but were quite surprised when they saw Marishka lying limp inn her arms. Dracula quickly lifted Marishka's body out of Larissa's arms and moved her over to one of the wooden tables, blearing it off with a sweep of her arm before laying her on it. "The hunter hit her in the leg, but the bullet was covered in Holy water."
"For that we must be thankful. At least she didn't turn to ash, as would normally have happened. The hunter, did he have anyone from Rome with him?" Dracula said.
"What do you mean, thankful!"
"Well at least she isn't ash Larissa. There was a monk, master." (a/n: can't you just imagine Carl saying, "Actually, I'm just a friar." every time I put that? He will correct them…eventually) Dracula just nodded, a look of sorrow on his face as Larissa exclaimed, "What? You mean that if one of you gets some Holy water thrown on you, BAM, you're a pile of ash? Try harsh." None of them answered, like they didn't know what to say. Larissa then decided to go on a different track. "So what experiment was a failure?" the vampires just looked at her. "What? Your voices echo really well, okay?" the brides continued to give her a funny look, but Dracula just gave her a little laugh. "Smart girl, very smart." Larissa just sat on the edge of a nearby table top and looked at him. "Blink woman, blink. Now, I'd have to start with a man named Victor Frankenstein…"
(a/n: for sake of not boring you, I won't go into the explanation. I'm assuming all of you (or most of you) have seen the move, so already know about the 'bringing to life' stuff, experiments and such)
Approximately two hours later Larissa was just staring at the Count in shock, (not surprise), awe, and as though she had the wheels turning hi her head. Dracula then concluded, "…and as of yet have been unable to find a sufficient human it would work with."
"So why not use more than one human? Or-you said it depends on how strong the person is, right? Why not use a werewolf? Plenty of those."
"And those I have on hand. Yes. Why did I not think of it before?" Dracula speculated.
"Why? Because you didn't have the extraordinary Larissa spelling it out for you." Larissa answered smirking, then glaring in annoyance as she finally gave in to the brides, and they started playing with her hair.
"Yes, yes." he said distractedly, as though she had not just practically insulted his intelligence. "Tonight there should be a storm." Dracula's back straitened as he left thoughts, and snapped his fingers. Moments later a werewolf came leaping through an opening high up on the wall, right up against the ceiling. As the wolf man crashed to the ground, Larissa immediately reached to her side where she usually kept her sword. If any of them in the room noticed the instant reflex, none showed it, although she thought Verona's grip on her shoulder got a bit tighter.
"Go to Valerious manor. Find out who our new visitor is." Dracula commanded. The wolf looked almost questioning, and the Count sounded as if he could read is mind next time he spoke. "If our visitor was fighting to keep Anna say so, it is apparent that he was sent to keep her alive. She would have taken him to her manor; she is altogether too predictable. Now go." the werewolf growled harshly, but seemed unable to disobey Dracula. "He'll be back soon. Come." Dracula gestured for the three women to follow him, and as he passed, picked up Marishka's body off of the table.
After a while, Larissa realized that they were heading for the brides chambers and walked a little closer to the wall. But as they reached the corner to turn down the hall to the entrance, Larissa started to turn and was surprised when Dracula and Verona kept walking strait. Aleera reached over and turned Larissa in the right direction, winking at her as she passed her.
The room they walked into turned out to be the room with the indoor balcony and over again, that feeling of unease returned to Larissa, although she barely felt it this time. Then she noticed how Verona went and stood at the balcony, Aleera started to but instead turned and watched Larissa, who in turn was watching Dracula move and set Marishka on a bed in the far corner. It was quite a large bed, but Larissa did see how it was missed her first time there, considering the size of the room.
"This is the room we used to sit in while waiting to see if the experiments worked. That door over there leads to the lab. But I wouldn't go in there; it's full to the brim with dwergi. Believe me, you don't want to know." Aleera added when she saw Larissa open her mouth to ask what a dwergi was. Larissa just closed her mouth and gave the slightest of smiles.
After a while, Dracula went and held Verona in a hug as he kissed her temple. Then her turned into the room off the balcony, gave Aleera the same treatment and spared Larissa a rare smile before gliding into the room adjacent to the one in which they were residing. "So what's happening now?" Larissa asked as lightly as she could. Aleera took Larissa and led her over to the balcony where Verona was sitting on the railing. 'Lucky. If she falls off, no chance of death, is there?' Larissa though with slight envy.
"What happens now is we wait. It may take a while, but we wait." Aleera said.
"Wait? Wait for what?" Larissa asked skeptically.
"Life. Is your hair getting darker, Larissa?" Verona spoke, turning from the cast room to study her hair. Larissa gazed thoughtfully at Verona before her question registered. "Is it? Huh, that time already." Larissa seemed to be surprised that it was 'that time', although neither of the brides knew what she was talking about.
"What do you mean?" Verona asked.
"Wha-? Oh. During the summer my hair is usually a bright auburn. I think the brightest it's been before is like, a couple shades darker than yours," she gestured to Aleera, still not knowing her name. "But during the winter it's a really dark red-brown color. And right now, I guess it has just started to change." Verona listened to the explanation-she was the one who asked-but then stood and pushed Larissa lightly back into the room, Aleera only following after she saw them by the fire.
Larissa collapsed on the conveniently placed, squishy run in front of the fir, laying on her stomach and gazing into the flames. At no sign of anyone speaking, Larissa delved into thought, a crease appearing upon her brow. The brides missed the look as they settled themselves on either side of her and once again settled with playing with her hair. If Larissa noticed, she showed no sign.
They lounged there in silence for only god knows how long, before a piercing screech came from the neighboring room. Aleera jumped up and went to see what was wrong. Verona shook her head sharply. "Something really good happened, of something really bad happened. I'll be right back. If it's bad, the master won't be calmed easily."
"Oh, he needs anger management then, hmm? Great." Larissa muttered when Verona left. A flash of blue shot into the room, catching her attention. Quickly returning to her feet, she went and glanced out beyond the balcony to find that the sacks hanging from everywhere where pulsing and coursing with bright blue electricity. Larissa leaned against the rolling trying to get a better look at one of the nearer ones. She almost toppled over the edge when she heard the sound of a surprised yell from somewhere below. The sound set Larissa into a search for the source, trying to see through the dimness surrounding her. A moment later, there was another cry of shock, and a white…bat with arms was the best Larissa could come up with to describe it. It flew around and hundreds more burst out of the sacks. As they formed a cloud of white, Larissa stared, not moving and the brides almost ran out to the balcony, closely followed by Dracula, who put his arms about their waists.
Larissa turned to stare at them as she heard two identical gasps, to see Verona's expression of joy (and red hair). "They need to feed. Teach them how…teach them!" Dracula said, and helped them jump off over the railing. Larissa blinked before saying, "Oh yeah Dracula, throwing your brides over the edge of a building. Oscar nominee right there." Dracula shot her a look but didn't comment.
They watched as the brides transformed whilst falling, weaved through the cloud of bats, which then started to follow them. Larissa covered her ears as Dracula decided to be a human fog horn (of at least was as loud as one) when he yelled to the vanishing cloud of vampires, "AND BEG THE DEVIL, that this time they stay alive!"
"Oww…" Larissa held her head as a quickly approaching migraine started up. "I'm so going to hit you…when I can think strait." Dracula just looked at her, no expression, no movement….until they head gun fire start up. Two heads jerked back to the overlooked hall to find the hunter-Van Helsing shooting the few lingering bats, causing them to explode in green goo. Dracula growled, and Larissa found herself hard pressed not to back away from him. 'Yep. He really needs anger management.' Larissa thought as Dracula took it upon himself to leap over the railing. 'Van Helsing was going to get-' Larissa's attention was caught by another form, ducking through a side door near, and which probably let to, the lab.
Not waiting to watch the confrontation between the two below, Larissa dashed back into the room and through the door to the lab, only to cover her eyes and grind to a halt as she came face to face with a blindingly bright blue light. Getting used to the light quickly, she went to the side only to realize it was only that bright right there, and she had to get used to darker light again. Larissa cursed in annoyance and moved on the moment she could. She searched, but only saw Igor and what she could only assume what they were the dwergi work at keeping the machine they were working with functioning. She stood in a corner, looking for any sign of a new figure in the room for nearly ten minutes, but was secretly studying the machinery around her. Honestly, she wouldn't have known anyone was there is she hadn't heard one of the dwergi say "Anna Valerious…!" below her.
Larissa cautiously stepped to the rail guard and looked down to the center of the room when a rope hung from the ceiling. Surprisingly, she found Anna hanging form the rope with three of four dwergi hanging below her, trying to fend them off while climbing up. Larissa almost laughed when Anna seemed to just get fed up with them, took out her sword and cut the rope, letting everything fall from right below her knees. Anna apparently had great upper body strength, because she shot up the rope.
"Igor! What's the fastest way to the roof!" Larissa called; she made sure he couldn't see her though.
"Ladder, miss." Igor went back to spinning a lever. Larissa looked around quickly, spotted the ladder and shot up it. Minutes later, she hoisted herself out of the tower. "Tsk, tsk. Trying to free the werewolf? What would the maser say?" Larissa said in a condescending voice, acting as she knew any one of the brides would have if they'd found Anna alongside he werewolf trying to fee him. Anna jumped, fortunately right out of the suffocatingly tight grip of the werewolf's, now in human form.
Dropping the act when she saw how emotional Anna was, she stepped over and placed a hand on her arm. As she did this, Anna seemed to snap out of her fright and her eyes focused on Larissa again. "You again? Did you just call Dracula ma-never mind. Please, help me save my brother!"
"Your brother?" Larissa looked over at the man, whose skim was turning dark, signaling an approaching change. "Anna, go!" Larissa pushed Anna away and back towards the edge of the tower where there was a flight of stairs. So occupied with keeping track of where the werewolf was, Larissa pushed Anna right back into Van Helsing who had just come up the stairs.
"Oh good. Take Anna and run!" Larissa said almost wildly. She couldn't let someone else die right in front of her because of a werewolf. "You again!" Van Helsing snarled.
"Why is everybody asking me that today? Yes, me again, now go! Larissa answered more forcefully; the werewolf and nearly shredded his bindings to the chair. Taking in what she was saying, Van Helsing took out a grappling gun and shot it off the tower, across the ricer below, and into the forest. He obviously could tell that is his a tree, because he pulled the rope tight and stuck the gun part into a secure place between two thick pieces of metal, where it would hold two people's weight. Van Helsing took one more look at Larissa before grabbing Anna around the waist and sailing off on some sort of pulley. Just in time too, because the moment they sailed off, the werewolf pounced on the place they'd been standing. He kind of looked after them, then a Larissa as if she was new prey. "Well?" she asked it, holding off its impending pounce. "Aren't you going to go after them?" 'Oh, god, now I'm bipolar. What next?" She really shouldn't have asked because as soon as the werewolf jumped onto the rope, it snapped, sending it down towards the river, and she heard the brides approach. Their distraught wails were kind of hard to miss. And they were coming right towards her.
Dracula suddenly appeared right next to her, looking sort of flustered. "Help me with them!" she didn't really figure out why he was asking this of her. Then it hit her. Most men were helpless with distressed women. Great.
Hours after sundown the next day, you could find Larissa deep in though (Yet again) while the brides sat in stony silence. Verona, tired of this, noticed how the expression of thought was present and asked, "Larissa, what are you thinking about?"
Absentmindedly, Larissa answered, "I'm trying to remember if my father said if my mother's name was Anna, or Aleera."