Chapter 9

One year from now

As he drives his truck into town, Matt start to look at any oddities. The good thing about StoryBrooke is the fact that it is very similar to Mystic Falls. Everyone know something about everyone's business. It meant that secrets are never hard to keep in the dark. If there is something wrong, someone will tell someone.

Now that Matt starts to think about it, Mystic Falls was really not a good example to compare Storybrooke to. After all, Mystic Falls is still keeping the existence of vampires a secret.

But this was different. No one had said anything. Wherever the machine is, the builders were doing a good job of hiding its existence.

Matts starts to review the facts while he makes a left turn into the main street of Storybrooke. Making the machine would have made noise. There was no hiding that even if it was done in the evening. Everyone knew when Gestapo's had a big project to work on. This was no different from that. The question was where can someone build it?

Matt slams his brakes in front of the clock tower.

"Dude!" yells Lilly as she braces herself from the sudden stop.

He stares at it, ignoring Lilly. All he can do is smile.

"What?" ask Lilly.

"It's here." said Matt as he parks his truck on the curb.

Lilly gets out and start to scanning the area. She sees everyone going about their day. Lilly look at her watch and realizes it is lunchtime.

"Ok. Where?" ask Lilly as Matt gets out of his truck.

"It's on the roof above the library." said Matt as he points to the building. Lilly looks at the building. "With Belle taking care of her newborn, the library has not been open for a while. There would be no interruptions. The roof would be perfect to hide it with it being flat. It's perfect."

"I hate to play devil's advocate here. But that would be very obvious to do it here." said Lilly. "Besides, there is too many people in the area. I mean, it is lunchtime and everyone is out. Everyone would hear it being built. I am willing to bet you someone would have call us about some noise."

"It wasn't built there. It was built somewhere else. But the test run will be there."

"Why do something so stupid as that? I think every single "bad guy" used that clock tower as a liar or a hideout." said Lilly.

"Symbolism."

"What?"
"Every magical objects has meaning behind it. Always. One of many things that I find annoying about magic. In the beginning, it meant something to the person who created the object."

"But we are not dealing with magic." points out Lilly.

"No, but we are dealing with a guy who would do anything in his power to make sure that this goes well." Matt stop and try to think of a better way to explain his line of thought. "You heard about some football players wearing the same exact socks on game day.

"Yeah?"

"I am betting you that he is doing the same thing. I am betting that he is using that clock tower as a good luck charm. And considering that this is a town filled with magic, it is not unreasonable to think like that. I bet you that he is on that roof." said Matt

"Ok, I'll take that bet. Twenty dollars." said Lilly.

"Deal."

"Alright. Let's see if you are right. Momma needs lunch money." said Lilly as she start to walk toward the library with Matt walking behind her.

Present

Lilly turns into a dragon at the first moment she cross the portal. She did not know what is on the other side and did not care. After all, this is the first time that she is crossing a portal. She did not know what to expect on the other side.

Lilly Page also figured that her ticket home is only going to be open for a limited time. Regina did not look so hot when she opened up that portal. Even with Emma's help, Regina still looked weak.

It is the only reason that Lilly "volunteered" to do this. Lilly did not want to hear the argument on who would try to find the missing guy. After watching all of those reality shows about law enforcement taught Lilly anything, time was not on their sign in finding Matthew Donovan. To avoid all of that nonsense, Lilly simply ran into the portal and hoped the best.

As she crosses the portal, Lilly counts her blessings. The portal opens up in the middle of the sky. She extends her wings to start to glide. Once she stabilizes, Lilly starts to flap her wings.

She start to survey the new environment. There are plateaus everywhere. While she can see the other plateaus, the gaps between them are too far enough to be canyons. She could see grasses growing on the plateaus.

She looks at the world in wonder. The scene is breathtaking. For one moment, Lilly simply enjoy the fact that she is a dragon.

Lilly focuses back on the task on hand and starts to explores the new place. The place had a Southwestern cowboy feel. She is expecting to see cowboys in the distance. She flys into the canyon. Lilly then increases her speed to climb up in the sky.

She knows that she did not have time to marvel at the view or fly for enjoyment. She starts focus on the voice and smells of Matt.

Once she embraces being a dragon, Lilly found that her senses are stronger. She could smell what shampoos a person used in the morning. She could smell a hint of wood on Gestapo's body after making a clock. Lilly could smell what Grumpy ate for dinner. If she concentrated, she could hear Snow White talking to her husband about what to buy from the store.

Lilly hated that.

People did not always smell good and she did not appreciate it. Other people's conversation were not that interesting.

When she was talking to Matt Donovan, she could smell him. It was a distinguish smell and good. It is hard to describe it but he did not smell bad.

The key word was distinguish. Lilly can work with that in locating him.

So, she start to use all of her senses to find Matt.

It did not take long for her to lock onto him. As Lilly fly towards Matt, it did not take long for her to figure out why she had be able to find him. There are no other smells here. There is no smell of moisture in the air. Even with the grass on the plateaus, she could not smell it.

There are no sounds other than her wings flapping. She could not hear the air moving. No birds chirping. The more she thinks about it, it scares her. The beauty that her eyes sees is an illusion. She wishes she knew why.

Luckily for her, this places help in finding Matt. Lilly flies straight to Matt.

At a distance, she see two plateaus. They are connected to a rope bridge. When she see Matt on a bridge, Lilly could not help but be proud of herself. That thought shatters when she sees one end of the bridge start to swing toward the other end. For a second, Lilly did not understand what was happening. It did not matter when she sees Matt falling off the bridge. She know what she had to do.

Lilly flies straight to Matt.

She had hope that he would hang onto the bridge. Instead, he seem to have let go and is falling toward his death.

For Lilly, it did not matter.

Lilly had been training with her mother in various different scenarios. She has flown with grace. She has fallen from the sky and pull up. Her mother grabbed her in human form and dropped her from the sky to force Lilly to transform into a dragon. Her mother put her in such a training that Lilly has slept every night without waking up.

Catching someone fall toward his death did not seems like an impossible feat now.

She catches him like an eagle grabbing a mouse from the ground. She grabs him with her feet...dragon feet. Even thinking about it, it seems weird.

Lilly holds Matt and flies up toward the sky and pray that she can get to the portal before it closes.

Matt opens his eyes to the glaring light. He can smell a familiar smell of a hospital. After all, he had been in a hospital one time too many. Matt sees that he is lying in a hospital bed in his own room. There is the prerequisite bad wall picture, a small table beside him, and a television playing a Latin Soap Opera. He looks around to see Lilly Page curls in a ball with a blanket over her, sleeping peacefully.

For a moment, Matt simply thanks whoever is watching over him. Matt knows now what he has to do. It is the only thing that he has ever wanted to do.

"It seems that you have a fan club." Matt's train of thought is stop by the voice. His heart start to races because he knows who it is. He look towards the source to see the old Hunter standing at the doorway.

Matt really thought that his trick would have taken the old man out. It was the only reason why he did something so stupid. He really wanted to protect the town from this mad man.

But there he is. The old man now has a sword in his hand to finish the job.

"Don't say a word. We don't want to wake her up." advises Abraham.

Matt stare at the man, wondering what he is going to do.

"Relax. I am not going to kill you." said Abraham. "You crossed the bridge. You get to live."

The Old Hunter start walking toward Matt.

"Not the way I hope, but you did cross. Nearly took me out too." said Abraham with a smile on his face as he continues to approach Matt's hospital bed.

Matt's mind races. He starts to wonder how he can defend himself against this man. His whole body feels sore. He did not want to admit that he could not take another round with the old man.

"Congratulations." Abraham stand beside Matt's bed. He then places the sword against the wall besides Matt. "You are going to need this."

Matt did not bother hiding his confusion over the "gift."

"It is a sword that has been passed down by Hunters before me. When a new Hunter pass the test, they get the sword. It signify the passing of the torch." explains Abraham.

"Who are you?" said Matt in a whisper.

"My name is Abraham Van Helsing."

Matt's eye widen.

"I see you have heard of me. That is good." said Abraham. "Then I don't have to explain what has been my life mission for so many years."

Matt looks at the man who has been connected to vampires. He wondering how he survived an encounter with the legendary vampire hunter.

"My time is over. My story is done. I don't get to finish it the way I want. I, at least, can make sure that no one fall because of my failure. Thank you, Mr. Donovan. I know that you may not want this but only a fool would wants this. A smart one wouldn't, but would accept this responsibility."

Abraham starts to walk toward at the doorway.

"I am too old to continue the fight. You know that vampires do not age. That is their advantage over us. They can be at their prime forever while we ages."

The old man shoulders lower like the weight is too much for him to say what is on mind.

"I was able to stop the Blood Storm a long time ago. But I didn't finish the job. I failed." said Abraham as he stops at the doorway. He places his hand to steady himself.

"Who?"
"He will bring his army with him and will conquer this world with ease. This world without magic is perfect for him. I can at least be assured that you will be here to try and stop him.

"Who?" asks Matt one more time.
"The King of the vampires. The Impaler. The Scarlet Sword. Dracula." said Abraham. Matt let the information hang in the air. "He is coming and he will be here. Everything that you love is in danger. I hate to say it, but you are this world's only hope.

Abraham looks back at Matt with a smile.

"Good luck, Mr. Donovan. I am rooting for you."

Abraham leaves the room. Matt lay in his bed, wondering what he can do with this new bombshell in his life.