Then it stopped as suddenly as it had begun and there was a collective shudder of relief, or maybe of fear...
"Giordano" said The Skull quietly.
"Yes, Master" said Giordano, a definite note of fear in his voice.
"Escort your friends out into the hall to wait" said The Skull.
"Yes Master" said Giordano, then he turned to the others. "Come"
They left silently and followed Giordano up the stairs at a much faster pace than they had descended them in and when they reached the top they were all seriously out of breath and had an odd feeling of dread hanging over them, like a suffocating woolen blanket.
"Stay here" ordered Giordano. "Don't leave and don't go exploring because if you do he will have you heads, understood?"
"Yes" they chorused dully.
"Good, see you all in a minute" said Giordano and he went running off again.
"What do we do now?" asked Aleera.
"Just wait, I guess" answered Van Helsing.
Aleera nodded and sat down on the floor as did the others, but her eyes alone strayed around the room, taking in the scenery. All she could see was that this man lusted after power more than she could ever lust after blood, or her own master. She could feel that this place was drenched in despair and malice, hatred and lies; this place was worse than hell it self, and that was saying something. Aleera had been young and untouched when she had been bitten, Dracula had just done it instead of seducing and courting her first and she had been left to adjust on her own, she was the youngest of the brides and, back then, by far the most impressionable. Since then she had learnt to be as emotionless or vice versa on whim, controlling every aspect of her being and fighting strongly for what she thought was right. When she had been bitten, many of them would have called her weak, for she, unlike the others had had a family when she had been bitten and memories of them had plagued her constantly in dreams. She was very unwilling to kill and had hated the idea of drinking someones blood, the very thought had made her sick. And now, as she looked at her self, all she could see of the bouncy, energetic child that played with her big brothers, Aron and Larson and her little sister, Kay was a little bit of mischief in her eyes when she was having fun. Sometimes thinking of Kay had kept her going back then; oh how she had loved Kay, if Kay were alive now she would be one hundred and eleven years old! God, how strange it feels to see things from the point of view of a mortal!
Just then she was pulled out of her musings by Olivia calling: "Earth to Aleera, do you read me? Come in vamp bride three, do you read me?" Olivia waved her hand in front of Aleera's face.
Aleera smacked her hand away. "Yes, a simple shake would have done"
"Well sorry" said Olivia sarcastically.
"Oh, come off it" said Verona. "How long do these meetings last?"
"I have absolutely no idea" said Van Helsing. "How long have we been waiting?"
"An hour at least" said Aleera.
"No, three quarters of and hour exactly" corrected Verona.
They waited for another half and hour before Giordano came to collect them and they set off for the Vatican.
"You said 'see you in a minute'" accused Aleera. "We waited for an hour and a quarter"
"Sorry" said Giordano. "It appears you won't be the only ones initiating this weekend, there will be a grand total of six others"
"Oh joy" said Aleera sarcastically. "What do you have to do to be initiated?"
"Well it's not exactly pleasant" said Giordano, grimacing. "They take a hostage and you have to kill them, then if you can do that he gives you the brand that signifies you as one of his men"
"Well that shouldn't be difficult, we do it all the time" said Verona coolly.
"Have you ever had someone who was begging you not to?" asked Giordano. "Someone who had already been tortured and just wanted it to stop, this will not be as easy as you think"
"We will take that into account" said Misha.
They spent the rest of the journey in companionable silence and arrived back at the Vatican about twelve, by one they were all in bed and asleep.
When morning dawned they were still asleep and had to be awoken by their servants.
Misha looked out of her window at the sun rising red against the sky line and was reminded of the old saying: A red sun rises,
Blood shall be spilt this night.
She wondered idly whether blood was about to be spilt, and how much she wished she could drink some right now, she was famished.
Upon reaching the breakfast room, she found the others waiting for her.
The atmosphere was a tension and the air close and hot, making it difficult to breath. They sat silently and ate, the same feeling of dread and fear lingering over them, growing stronger as the day wore on, a sense of expectancy, though they had no idea what to expect when it finally happened.
It was close on three when a massage came with a fast rider whose horse looked as if it had run the world and never stopped, as did the rider. He came pelting into the sitting room and collapsed in front of them saying he had an urgent message from the Count Draguilia for Lord Van Helsing and must give it to him at once, Van Helsing was there in a flash and opening the letter which he read several times before giving it to Verona and running out.
"Verona, read it" said Aleera.
"Alright" said Verona. "My dear Brides and Gabriel, some truly terrible news must come with this letter and I am very sorry for that. Vesorion isattacking the villages surrounding Castle Dracula, last night he took out Luidion and two days before, Vikaza it self, his army is very strong and powerful now that he has gained the allegiance of the Lycans. They are being lured by the promise of blood, thirty children were taken three nights ago to be transformed, young children and I find it truly barbaric, even we do not kill children and to sentence them to a living hell is worse than death.
My sources tell me that Viktor is doing all he can to secure them as his, fortunately we still have many Werewolves of our own so we are not in drastic need yet. I must implore you once you read this to stay with Van Helsing in Rome until we have sorted out this problem, forever yours, Vlad"
"That is so horrid. Killing innocent children! That's just barbaric!" exclaimed Misha, horrified by the thought.
"I know" snarled Marishka angrily. "It's sick! The foul murdering bastards!"
"And he asks us to stay here and watch while our lands are destroyed!" said Aleera, her eyes glowing and fangs lengthening. "I love him, but he underestimates us! Really underestimates us!"
"We must go to him at once" cried Olivia. "He can't win this war without us!"
"No! He can't win without us, and going might mean we die" said Verona determinedly. "We can help him from here, we will be the best spies ever and help by collecting information for the Holy Order, we can do far more by spying than we can do by fighting!"
They all nodded, seeing her logic.
"Lets get training then" said Corinthia. "No use being spies if we aren't ready for it, we should learn to duel and shoot, and we should learn some martial arts and pluck up on the skills we already have"
"Lets do it!" agreed Misha.
The next few days passed in a whir of colour and training. Learning to be knights in the Holy Order was very difficult and stressful but rewarding in all ways. For the brides though, it was aiding there master and they would go to the ends of the earth for him.
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A/N: SO SO SORRY THIS CHAPTER TOOK SO LONG TO GET OUT! But I had to get thenext chapter of my otherfic up. BUT AS COMPENCATION, THE NEXT CHAPTER SHOULD BE LONG LONG LONG, and will be calledSpyingGames 'cause wefind outjust how horridThe Skull is and what he does if he thinksyour atraitor,I think he's turninginto Voldemort anyway, Dracula really needs his brides to do this and they'll do it to perfection for him in the next chapter. REVEIW PLEASE!