Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia: Axis Powers, Teen Wolf: The Series or Twilight.

Chapter 9: The Vampire King's Castle

Natalya drove the coach out West towards the Antelope canyon. There were more red clay roads than trees and they were diverging from the river. They had about a 5 day trip to the Antelope canyon. Because of how hot it was, they did most of their traveling at night.

On this first night, Natalya was relieved that nothing had come out to get them. She had a moment to reflect in peace. She missed Irunya; it had been almost three weeks and although she wouldn't be able to see any of her letters until they were on their way back; she hoped the older woman had written back. It would hurt to know she decided to distance herself from Natalya because she had left.

Natalya thought Irunya was bothersome at times but she was the only mother Natalya had known. Natalya didn't want to disappoint her.

Then Natalya heard a knock and furrowed her eyebrows before looking upward briefly. Lovino was above her, on top of the coach.

"Lovino?"

"I didn't want to scare you by just climbing down."

"Oh? Shouldn't you be sleeping?"

"Yeah, yeah but I wanted to talk to you without Blondie in earshot."

"Alright." Natalya said, looking back at the dimly lit desert road ahead.

Lovino soon settled himself beside her as she continued to drive.

"Are you ok with the whole not getting powers thing?"

Natalya raised an eyebrow not expecting Lovino to want to talk about it. It wasn't his fault at all, and she didn't blame him for wanting to take them.

"I am upset, but they're not my powers so it's not my decision." Natalya shrugged.

"You seemed like you wanted them more than me. I just hope you don't think ill of me for… I don't know…"

"Lovino, it's ok. I'm not upset at you for anything."

"I hoped you didn't think that allowing Blondie to join us again was a mistake. I've been thinking about it; I did take a risk that I hadn't thought through."

"No, you made the right choice. Irunya always said that I needed to think about other people's feelings, and if we had left Arthur I don't think I would be able to look his mother in the eyes and say I didn't know where he was."

Lovino sighed, "That's good to know." They were silent for a few moments before he said, "And for what it's worth; I trust you."

Natalya felt a smile twitch at the corner of her lips, "Spasibo, Lovino. I can now see why Antonio thought so highly of you. I hope one day your family can see it too."

It was silent for a few moments and when Natalya glanced over at him, Lovino wasn't looking in her direction. "I-I'm going to go b-back to sleep." He said before shifting around to climb on top of the coach.

Natalya knew he was going to go cry.

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The next day Natalya woke up to her two male companions engaging in fisticuffs. Lovino was losing.

"Come on! Land a punch!"

"I can't if you keep hitting me!" Lovino was shielding his face with his arms.

"Find an opening and hit me!"

"Can you just let up a little?"

"That's how the vampires will be! " Arthur manages to punch Lovino in the stomach, sending him stumbling backwards.

"Ugh!"

"Now we have some distance between us. Just like you wanted." Arthur said.

Lovino grit his teeth before putting up his fists, "You're not teaching me how to use these stupid powers at all! I know I'm already a terrible fighter, you don't need to show me that!"

Natalya decided to make her way over, a little intrigued at how they were going about training.

"What are you two doing?"

"At the moment Blondie over there decided I should be his punching bag."

"I'm just trying to prepare you for what we might face at the Vampire King's castle." Arthur said.

"You're not training him right."

"What would you know about training?"

Natalya pulled out her knife, "I know enough. Training is about stakes." Natalya turned and threw her knife with the intention of stabbing the brunet. She had caught him off guard but he was just able to dodge her blade as it landed in a nearby rock formation.

"If you want him to do his best, he's going to have to feel like he's in danger."

"What? No! I don't need to–"

"Hmm, that's actually a good point." Arthur said before causing his eyes to glow.

"I-I could go back to being punched! I'm sure I can dodge them now!"

Lovino started to back up.

Arthur's teeth were sharp and he started growling. His nails were sharp too.

Lovino's eyes started to glow green in color, before he let out a scream and ran in the opposite direction. It was as though he were a blur, only a gust of wind left in his place. Natalya blinked and so did Arthur.

"I guess that is how it works." Natalya raised an eyebrow.

"Is he going to come back?" Arthur asked, his voice a bit distorted from partially shifting.

Natalya nodded, "The coach is here and–"

Natalya was barely able to react upon seeing Arthur knocked to the ground a second later. It was so fast she was barely able to comprehend what was going on before the dust settled and Lovino had returned.

He had come up behind Arthur and knocked him down. Arthur got up, shaking his head. Lovino's eyes were still glowing green and he held up his fists.

"You managed to get one over on me." Arthur's appearance was normal now.

Lovino let out a sigh, "We can stop now right? I definitely need a siesta."

"Yes, that should be efficient enough"

"Thank God." Lovino said before walking past them and laying down by the fire where they set up camp.

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Natalya had an apple in her hands and tried to create a portal for it to go through. She was a distance away from the fire, sitting on the ground. Lovino was snoring away. Arthur was feeding Betsy some hay Lovino had in the coach.

"Obliictus Noctortia." She said before closing her eyes. When she opened them the apple was still in her hands.

"Obliictus Noctortia!" She yelled but the apple didn't move nor did a portal open up.

"Stupid apple! Move! Disappear!"

Natalya squeezed her eyes tight. Move! Teleport!

When she opened her eyes again the apple was still in her hands. She tossed the apple to the side before pouting her lips and crossing her arms. "That stupid mage lied to me."

"You're just doing it incorrectly." Natalya looked up to see Arthur smirking down at her. The smug bastard thought he knew everything. She stood up to match his height, "Ok how do I do it then?"

"Magic is about the flow of energy. Anyone can possess magic, you just have to know how to control the energy that you want to create through the spells."

"Did you study mages? My brother was only focused on vampires and werewolves. I was curious about alchemy but there wasn't much time for me to go out and find books to study it."

"I thought it would be best to learn everything about the world I had been thrust into unwillingly."

"You didn't want to be bitten? Is it not something you were chosen for?"

Arthur frowned, his eyebrow twitched.

"No, I wasn't chosen." He balled up his fists.

"But I thought you said the weredogs–"

"Do you want me to show you how to transport that apple or not?"

Natalya pursed her lips, "If you know how to perform spells, why didn't you do so earlier?"

"I never needed to perform spells before, but it shouldn't be so hard."

Natalya sat back on the ground, turned around, and reached over to grab the apple she had previously discarded.

She stood back up and held the apple in her hands.

Arthur took a breath, exhaled, and closed his eyes.

She watched him, and glanced at the apple. Silence had settled between them and Natalya blinked.

"Obliictus Noctortia!" He said, before opening his eyes.

Natalya felt her lips part as the apple started to disappear from sight. Soon it was gone and she spread out her hands and wiggled her fingers.

A blue circle with strange symbols appeared just above and the apple fell out of the sky. It hit Natalya square on the nose.

"Ack!" Natalya covered her nose as it throbbed with pain.

She narrowed her eyes at the blond across from her who seemed to feign surprise at seeing her get hurt.

"Oh my! Are you alright?"

"Save your worries, you did that on purpose!"

"You're right, I did." Arthur smirked.

Natalya frowned as her nose still throbbed with pain. She felt something wet in her hands and pulled them away to see blood.

"Look what you've done! My nose!"

He walked over to her and tilted up her chin. Would the blood attract vampires?

She furrowed her eyebrows as her companion leaned closer to her face before opening his mouth.

"What–?" Only for her to be cut off by him licking the blood from her nostrils.

Natalya punched him in the throat, Arthur coughed violently, his cheeks pastel pink.

"What are you doing!? Are you trying to eat me?" Natalya held a knife up to his throat, grimacing. She looked into his eyes, as they flitted away from hers every so often.

His face was red as a rose. "No! H-haven't you ever seen dogs lick their wounds? I-I can do that too." He visibly swallowed before he muttered, " I probably should have told you before doing that…'' His gaze was away from her, sideways, somewhere in the distance.

Natalya blinked, her panic subsided, and she felt her nose was dry and not bleeding anymore. The pain had gone down to a dull ache.

"Oh. Good job then." She stepped back from him, lowered her knife, and gave him a nod.

"I-I only did it because it was my fault you got hurt. Don't expect this to be a regular thing." He crossed his arms with a sneer.

Natalya reached down to grab the apple on the ground, "Now show me."

Arthur walked her through the process. She had to first relax and feel the energy surrounding them. When she felt it, she had to direct the flow in a circular motion to surround the apple. Then she had to visualize where she wanted the apple to go. Finally she could say the magic word.

When Natalya tried this three times it didn't work. She couldn't feel anything, magic, nothing, just the hot desert Sun, burning her face.

"It seems I'll have to persuade you in a different way. What was it you said about being in danger?" His eyes started to glow.

"You don't scare me, dog boy!" Natalya spat, her hands balled into fists.

"I'll give you a ten second head start before I chase you. The only way you could evade me is by teleporting."

"And if you catch me, what then, you'll bite me?"

"If I catch you, I'll throw you up as high as I can and you'll have to teleport yourself safely onto the ground."

"Eh, I suppose that is incentive enough." Natalya shrugged.

Natalya took off running, spurred by the determination to perform the spell, not the impending threat.

She squeezed her eyes tight and willed for herself to be at the campfire next to Lovino.

"Obliictus Noctortia!" She said.

She opened her eyes to see more of the desert road in front of her. She slowed down and looked around to see she was still in the same spot.

She breathed in through her nose, feeling the wind in her bonnet and the Sun on her cheeks. She visualized the campfire.

"Obliictus Noctortia! U-uh!" Suddenly she felt a tight grip on her forearms, halting her in place.

She turned to meet the piercing green gaze of her male companion, "Caught you." His voice was soft and eerily calm.

Natalya barely had time to blink before she was thrust into the air, soaring higher above the ground than any man had traveled. It was unnatural to be above the rock formations, where the vultures were. But soon she was approaching the ground again and panic started to rise.

She flailed her arms as her heart beat in her chest, throat and ears. The sky was dusted orange as the bright yellow sun showed from above. She could feel the wind in her hair,bonnet, fingers and around her body as she made her descent. She closed her eyes, a moment , finally understanding the energy around her was similar to how air was everywhere but sometimes unnoticed.

"Obliictus Noctortia!"

She willed for a portal to open and swallow her whole. To be wrapped in the energy of the portal at peace at one with the Earth's dirt and soil so she may emerge on the other side near the warm orange glow of the campfire next to Lovino's sleeping face so she too may sleep. She visualized herself sleeping next to the fire, its heat tickling her cheeks and nose.

When Natalya opened her eyes she was greeted to the warm orange glow of the flames of their campfire. She looked over to see Lovino snoring away. She sat up, patting her chest and legs to see if she was really not dreaming and in one piece. Arthur was making his way over.

"That was fantastic!"

She stood up, mouth agape, "I do not know whether to hurt you or embrace you."

"I would rather you hurt me." To which Natalya wrapped her arms around him tightly.

"Spasibo Arthur!"

"It's a gentleman's duty to help a lady, no matter how infuriating the lady can be."

Natalya could hear his heartbeat, seemingly faster than a normal heart should beat. If she had hers to compare to.

Natalya wondered if he still didn't trust her.

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It had been four days. They had been attacked a few times by vampires in the area but managed to fight them off. This was the day they would head out to the Vampire King's castle if they wanted to be there by nightfall. Arthur had finished driving the coach, and they were eating fire roasted corn on the cob.

Natalya tore a blank piece of paper from Ivan's journal and started to write her letter to Irunya.

Dear Nyah,

I hope this letter finds you well. I am still alive. This will be the letter you will be the happiest to receive.

I've been gone for almost a month. I hope things haven't changed too much while I was gone.

"Are you writing another letter to your sister?" Natalya looked up to see Lovino in mid-bite of his corn on the cob.

Natalya nodded.

"Do you think you could pen one for me? My writing is not the best."

"What do you want to say?"

Lovino's gaze lowered to the ground and he pursed his lips, presumably in thought.

"Wait a moment. Natalya, you have been sending letters the entire duration of our excursion?"

Arthur asked, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Yes, I do not want Irunya to fret. Have you not sent one to your mother?"

"No of course not, they could be following us through these letters!"

"They know where we used to be, not where we are now. You left a letter to your family, da?"

"My family doesn't need to know anything about this."

"Your mother must be fretting."

"Yes terribly so and because of it I'll be berated when I return, no need to have it in writing as well. They'll be appeased when we return with Ivan."

"On second thought, Natalya, disregard the letter for me." Lovino spoke up then.

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Lovino put on his cleanest clothes and shined his shoes to look presentable for the vampires. He was wearing his cape and his fake canines again as he was driving them to the Vampire King's castle. Arthur's hands were bound with Tower handcuffs they had purchased in Albuquerque. Natalya's hands were bound with rope. They caked mud on their faces to fake the appearance of a scuffle.

"This plan of yours better work. This rope is irritating my skin."

"It will."

And soon the coach halted. "Who goes there?" Natalya heard someone say from a distance away.

"I'm a vampire just like you!"Lovino said.

"Show us proof. Draw your venom." Someone female sounding said.

"No, no. I can sense it from you. You're not human." A male voice said.

"I've got something you'll be interested in." Lovino said before she heard the sound of his penny loafers hitting the desert floor.

THUNK! THUNK! It was their cue to leave the coach.

Natalya blinked as the moonlight flittered through the coach door. It was opened and she was greeted by two sets of red eyes.

She stepped out and the two vampires stepped back out of the way.

"Who are they, newlyweds?" The shorter female vampire who looked to be a Negro, now that she was able to get a better look, asked.

"No, you've got Ivan Braginsky. I've got his sister." Lovino placed a hand on her shoulder. "And I've got a weredog." Lovino gripped Arthur's arm.

"You captured a weredog?" The male asked.

The female stepped past her to look at Arthur. She looked down at his handcuffs.

"You put him in these? He'll be able to break out of them."

"O-oh really? You're not saying he was pretending in order to pull wool over my eyes, are you?"

"Mhmm! That's what I'm sayin'. But don't you worry I've got a better pair right here." She said before clamping a pair of shackles over Arthur's wrists right above the cuffs.

The female vampire grinned, "Magic dampening cuffs!"

Shit.

"Well I need the keys then. I brought him in." Lovino said.

The female shook her head, "My cuffs, my keys."

"Mary Ann, go and take the horse to the stables." The male said.

"Alright Richard." Mary Ann frowned and muttered something to herself that Natalya couldn't understand as she walked over to Betsy and started to pull her and the coach along.

"Apologies I hadn't introduced myself. Richard Watson, of the Watsons." The man bowed in greeting. "And you sir?"

"U-uh Lovino Miller of the Millers."

Richard's polite smile turned into a nasty snarl. "I thought we made it clear that your clan isn't allowed around here! What kind of trickery are you trying to pull?"

Lovino shook his head, "No trick. We wanted to make a peace offering to get into the Vampire King's good graces. We're not working with those werewolves anymore."

Richard pursed his lips, "As luck would have it his Majesty is looking for a specific weredog. He is to be the guest of honor, and we're putting on a play for him."

"A specific one?"

"Yes. I don't know the details but we've rehearsed what to do in case he's been found."

"What about Braginsky's sister?"

"Oh she'll do nicely, along with her brother, as meals after the play." Richard said, gripping her arm, rather tightly and pulling her along. The vampire grinned, showing his fangs.

They were now approaching the Vampire King's castle. Two more vampires emerged from the entrance, one tall, pale, and blond and the other: short and stocky with raven colored hair.

The blond said, "We have orders from his Majesty to take the weredog and bring him forth."

"Hey, I'm coming too! I brought him in." Lovino spoke up.

"No, just him. He will send for you later."

Lovino frowned, "Alright. I'll at least get to see where you store Braginsky's sister, right?"

"Yes, you may accompany me to the holding dungeon."

Natalya got one last look at Arthur before he was escorted inside, his expression was unreadable. They would be split up again, she hoped he would be alright without his powers.

They went in some time after, the grandiose entrance was lined with carpet along the cobblestone floors. A few paintings of the previous Vampire Kings dating back to the 16th century were along the wall. They turned a corner only to be at a large intersection. After going left they walked along the cobblestone floors in the dimly lit castle towards the edge of the corridor. Their feet made light taps with each step. Soon they were approaching steps leading to what she assumed was the dungeon.

It was still dimly lit and she squinted to see in front of her. "So you've been here since the 1500s?" Lovino asked, "And the humans have just now found you?"

"We were further out East but have been moving Westward as the population has grown. Our clan has been around since the 1750s, we took over from the previous generation of vampires, whose King had been slain." Richard explained.

"So the hierarchy, is it a birth thing?"

"It has to do with power, whoever is the most powerful, similar to the reign of kingdoms in the humans, as vampires do not pass down genes. Did you not know that when you were turned?

"Sorry I wasn't given an informational pamphlet before being bitten."

"It would be like the Millers to withhold that information upon choosing someone to turn." Richard sneered.

Vampires choose who they turn. That explains why getting bit hasn't changed Lovino nor me. That part in the book was wrong.

As they walked down another hallway Natalya could see a row of bars to their left. They were empty except one at the end. A mass was huddled on the cobblestone floors in what looked to be a large fur coat. Richard smirked, "It'll be like a family reunion before you are both devoured." The grip he had on her arm tightened. Richard took the keys out of his pocket and unlocked the door.

He tossed her inside the cell. Natalya stumbled and fell onto the huddled mass, who let out a groan at her added weight. She scrambled to get off of who she assumed was her brother before hearing some scuffling. Lovino was wrestling with Richard to grab the keys.

"What are you–?" Natalya used all of her bodyweight to knock Richard to the ground. The vampire bared his fangs and bit her neck, she could feel the pain. Natalya heard Lovino's boots against the cobblestone floors, "Mister Braginsky, can you get up?"

Natalya felt a little tired as her blood was being sucked and she squirmed upon trying to move from the vampire.

"Oh crapola! Natalie!" Soon she was grabbed and lifted above the vampire and hoisted onto Lovino's shoulder.

Natalya heard a sickening SNAP! Natalya was able to see her brother, leaning against the bars of his cell, his coat hanging loosely from his frame and his features a little more defined, from having lost some weight.

"Vanya!"

He looked at her with round violet eyes, "Alya?"

Natalya was being put down now and as soon as her feet touched the ground she ran over to him. He embraced her, as she ran into his arms. She didn't even think about her hands being tied.

"Vanya, I'm so glad we found you." He smelt as though he hadn't bathed in weeks and his coat was a little damp but none of that mattered. She was in his warmth again.

"Little sister, what are you doing all the way out here? Where are Harvey and Clyde?"

Natalya stepped back, "I'll explain everything when we get out of here. But first we have to find Arthur."

"Who?" Ivan furrowed his eyebrows.

"He was traveling with us. I would like you to meet my other traveling companion, Lovino Vargas." She motioned to him as he walked over.

"It's nice to finally meet you, sir. My friend Antonio Carrideo worked alongside you, he told me about your travels."

"So you're Lovi. Antonio wouldn't stop talking about you on our trips. He would always say how much he looked forward to telling you about our adventures when he got home." Ivan said with a nod.

"I hope he didn't say anything bad! The damn bastard doesn't know how to keep his mouth shut."

Ivan smirked, "Sometimes I think he said too much."

Lovino frowned, "Damn bastard. If he weren't dead I'd kick his ass. Did you know exactly how he died?"

"Oh you don't know how he died? We–When we leave, I will explain."

Natalya walked over to where Richard was lying.

"So this Richard guy is dead. What are we going to do about his body?" She said standing over said vampire.

So Natalya took Richard's clothes and put hers on the dead vampire. They put him in the cell and closed it up. His position, and upon wearing her bonnet, could buy them a little time. Natalya wore Richard's flatcap, brown boots, black pants, white shirt and cape.

They heard some light footsteps, signaling someone's descent as they were approaching the stairs.

It was Marry Ann. "Are you taking him to his special cell? I was coming down to get him, but apparently they sent y'all already."

Lovino nodded, "Yeah they did."

Marry Ann grinned, "Luck is with you, Mister. That weredog you brought in was the one."

A/N: This one took longer to write because it directly ties into the next chapter and the next chapter playing out in a way that made sense had me stumped too.

So finally after 9 chapters Russia has been found!

Thank you for reading! Criticism Welcome.