I dedicate this fanfiction to my girlfriend and all my readers, reviewers and the beta reader wallaceb.
Hi everyone! Sorry for the excessive delay in the publication of this chapter, but I had to revise some parts that still did not satisfy me.
CHAPTER 27 - Compassion?
Just then a dark cloud came out of the woods. It flowed close to the ground towards the two who at first did not notice anything until it is rose and Mavis appeared, still dressed in the white infirmary nightgown.
"Mavis, what are you doing here? Get back to the castle, it is dangerous!" Dracula shouted, worried, but his daughter did not even look at him.
The girl continued to walk calmly towards them, heedless of danger and of her wounded father. Her look was expressionless and emotionless.
Victoria moved the bow to aim it towards Mavis, saying:
"Dracula, enjoy the show, you'll have the pleasure of seeing your daughter die before you see her again in hell!"
"Please kill me, but don't hurt my daughter!" Drac shouted desperately.
"Why should I? You are not in position to negotiate and I have a score to settle with her."
The huntress replied, amused to have destroyed the hope of the poor vampire dad, "However you've changed, I have never seen a vampire half-turned into a bat... but that doesn't matter, I blot out one more mistake of nature!"
Dracula struggled mightily to get free, but it was all useless.
Victoria smirked and shot the arrow which struck Mavis in her chest, straight into her heart.
Dracula was struck, as if the dart had hit him instead of his daughter, he felt his heart shatter and his soul incinerate. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but he could not, he was unable to move, to speak, to think ... The only thing he had in his mind was the image of his beloved daughter smiling.
The vampire stopped, looked down at the wound, and then lifted her red eyes full of murderous rage toward the huntress. The grin that opened on her face showed her sharp teeth, and the blood that came out of the wound stained the dress with red. Finally she touched the arrow with a finger pulverizing it instantly.
The other two remained paralyzed; they knew that no monster could ever have survived such an attack.
The arrogant face of Victoria became terrified in a moment. Mavis, always silently, began to walk towards her, while her grin kept opening to the point of ripping her cheeks, almost to the ears, displaying even more evidence of her ravenous teeth. Mavis with a hand took the bandages covering her face and tore them off, the cut was completely healed, but the scar was still visible.
The hunter tried to hurl several arrows towards her, but they incinerated before reaching the target. Powerless in the face of the monster she threw down her bow now resigned to her fate.
Mavis vanished a few yards from the human, appearing to have disappeared into thin air, but soon Victoria felt a shiver of terror down her spine. The vampire was behind her, she could feel her breath on her neck.
Dracula smirked, he enjoyed witnessing the fall of Van Helsing, but this happiness was short lived when he realized that the monster in front of him was not his beloved daughter, but an evil creature.
He could not allow Mavis to turn into a murderess. The fear that she might become a demon scared him more than his own death, even more than the death of his daughter, so much so that these emotions gave him enough strength to slide his body along the arrow until he break free.
Mavis opened her mouth, but a moment before she could bite the human; Dracula enveloped Victoria in his cloak and took off at full speed.
Mavis stood, she could reach them in a moment, but she did not seem to care for them, she merely continued on her path while her lacerated cheeks healed.
Dracula stopped and looked around; he made a sigh of relief when he noticed that his daughter had not pursued them.
"After everything I did to you..." Said the huntress, "Why did you save me?" The girl's voice had changed, it was no longer arrogant, but surprised and weirded by the unexpected behavior of the monster that was until just before her archenemy.
Dracula looked down at her; the two were face to face enveloped in the same cloak. The vampire looked into her eyes and saw something they had in common, such as those of him even those of her were full of sadness and regret for a past too harsh and unjust.
The count left the woman and opened his cloak. Victoria was calm, as if staying with her sworn enemy did not worry her anymore.
After all, she had not felt any thirst for blood in the vampire, during or after the fight, unlike the other monsters with which she had struggled so far. She felt almost in safe beside him.
"They said the truth?" Asked Victoria more to herself than to Dracula, then turned to him and continued:
"Your daughter and the human... they said there are many peaceful monsters, it's true?"
"Would my answer make any difference?" The vampire said without even turning towards the human, "Are you really willing to believe a monster like me?"
"I don't know what to believe, I don't know who is more of a monster between you and me... everything I believed... everything for which I fought... everything that was told and taught to me... everything was wrong... What should I do now?" Victoria's voice was sad and full of regret and shame for what she had done and continued to talk increasing the tones, venting her anger she felt for herself:
"Why didn't you let me die?! I know what it means to lose what you love to a monster and realize that I am not different from that which I fought against until now"
"I need you." Dracula cut out the cries of the girl, and after having attracted her attention continued:
"Of course, I am very strong and I could stop my daughter alone, but since the stakes are my little girl I don't want take any risks. But don't get the wrong idea; I'll kill you with my bare hands as soon as this is over."
"I see... but what's happening to her?" Victoria asked timidly.
The vampire turned to her and said:
"When you hurt the boy she was forced to bite him to prevent him from dying. Unfortunately their souls at that time were too full of energy because of the feelings they felt for one another. Mavis accumulated enough magical power to awaken the demon inside her. But the thing that worries me even more is..." He broke off deep in thought.
Victoria looked at him questioningly, and then Dracula continued:
"The sacrifice of gift of God will corrupt the purity of the bird incarnation of the demon defeated by love. Arise from her womb the Great Mother, Queen of the new world."
"The seal of Lilith?" Victoria said worried. "But wasn't it just a legend?"
The vampire was absent, he seemed to not hear the voice of the girl, then when she had almost given up to get a response, he continued:
"It was all so easy, too much to think about the more direct meaning... thousands and thousands of suppositions to figure out who could be the bearer of the seal in search of this mysterious bird son of the demon and instead... no oracle had never been more direct than that..."
"What do you mean." Victoria asked, confused.
"I think the oracle has said their names... Jonathan means gift of God, Mavis is a bird and Dracula means son of the Devil. There can be no other explanation, the powers of my daughter have become impressive, now she is resistant to the silver arrows in the heart and she was released from my magic seal without any problems. There cannot exist such a powerful monster."
The woman fell to her knees on the ground.
"Do you mean I could be responsible for having started the end of the world?"
Dracula remained silent to think for a moment before answering:
"I must save her..."
"You said that the boy is alive, right?" Asked Victoria hopeful.
"Yes, why?" The vampire did not understand what she was getting at.
"The soul of your daughter is no longer pure, but it has not yet been corrupted by having taken the life of someone."
These words made Drac smile, after so many problems this little good news rekindled the hope that was vanishing.
Then he came to Victoria offering her his hand, saying:
"Are you with me?"
"The second option is to be instantly murdered here?"
"Yes, more or less." The vampire replied, chuckling.
"Then I guess I'll help you..." Concluded the human taking the hand of the vampire, who holding it helped her to get up.
Brief respite between Dracula the vampire daddy and Van Helsing the regretted huntress; will be enough the count's magic and the Victoria's knowledge and equipment to bring back the little Mavis to herself?
Will suffice the faded memory of Jonathan in the girl's mind to keep her from falling into the clutches of the mother of demons?
A battle much greater and difficult than that between Drac and Viky will be one in which the little Mavy will face against the darkness of her heart so far hidden under her kind and gentle soul.
Greetings to all, I'll wait you at the next chapter!
If you like my story review it! I am always delighted to read what you think about my work :")