Author's Note: Sorry about the long wait, I've been grounded.

Dracula stared down at Ashling's serene face. The bogey rustled in the rafters above him, making to scare some of the dozing bats in the dawn. The Count looked up into the dawn, mere pinpricks of light peering over the horizon stabbing his eyes. He closed his eyes and looked away, momentarily regretting his life as a night creature. This passed when he saw the girl again and thought of what he could give her, what he could take away.

Smiling lightly he retired to his coffin, leaving the bogey to watch over Ashling.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Dust fluttered in Ashling's eyes as she awoke. She had slept a dreamless sleep, she discovered as she lay there staring up at the high ceiling, a quandary hovering in her mind: Why was she here? The light shining in her eyes from the window slowly disappeared and had gone completely before she found the will to sit up. The window at her back, Ashling stared out at the room; it was exactly as it was before with the addition of two new things.

She gasped her eyes growing wide. "Werewolves, werewolves," Whispered in fear to herself and in her blind haste to get away she fell backwards off the couch with a small yelp. When she had settled from her fall her feet still above her on the couch, she listened for any hint of movement.

Her head felt strangely empty, the voice she had contended with so long now gone.

A yawn, like a dog's but much louder, filled the room. Ashling bit her lip so hard she bled. The thing gruffed, then a clicking of its claws reverberated towards her as it moved. Ashling squeezed her eyes shut; it was getting closer.

Just as she felt its moist breath on her ankles an inhuman yell sounded from her left. Ashling covered her head, expecting a second creature to come rushing toward her. She missed the sight of Dracula's feral form sweeping the werewolf into the back wall. The wolf lay there whimpering in subordination.

Ashling felt herself being pulled roughly to her feet and so kept her eyes pinched shut. Hands roved over her as if checking for injuries. They ran through her hair coming to rest on the side of her face.

"Look at me!" He demanded. The voice jolted her eyes open like it had so many other nights; but this time someone was there. Dracula's pale eyes bored into her in concern. Relief washed over his face and then broke into a smile. Ashling looked at him in horror; his fangs had caught her eye and held them. He saw her look and smiled appraisingly at her before whipping his face out of her view.

He strode down the steps to the floor as if attending a ball. Ashling stood dumb struck at the top of the small flight of stairs, her hair tousled by her sleep and her mouth hanging open. Dracula held out a hand to her and his will pulled her toward him. Despite how frightened she was of all this she took a step, unable to take her eyes from Dracula's face.

She went down into his arms; they stood as if to dance. Dracula still smiled at her in a giddy way.

Ashling gulped and said: "What are you going to do to me?" Dracula dipped her then, so fast her head spun when he forced her back up. His feet had been planted the whole time, but now she felt dizzy as though they had been spinning on a dance floor.

"You'll see," He said with a carnivorous smile. He forced her away from him causing her to spin around. He unnerved her but she was frozen in her fear. "I've devised a test for my new pets." He said leisurely. Ashling's eyes grew wide as she remembered the werewolf she had almost took to dinner. Dracula turned calmly away, ready to leave her alone with his monsters. One of the wolves snarled and shook itself, ready for the hunt.

Dracula looked at her over his shoulder, a mock surprise on his face. "Run little dream; you'll need the head start."

The other werewolf growled low in his throat, and shook itself, getting up to a crouching position. Ashling took off, at first running blindly through the wide corridors of the castle. As she ran she became more and more panicked, although she couldn't see or hear anything behind her. That fact somehow made it worse, the thought that they could jump out in front of her.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Before, as Ashling ran away from them, the larger of Dracula's new servants, had tried to leap up after her.

"NO!" Dracula had hissed at him, his eyes glowing in fury. Whimpering, the wolf sat down his ears layed back. "We wouldn't want her to die straight off would we?" Dracula starred at the path Ashling had taken and hoped she was strong enough to survive, to pass his test.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Ashling burst out of an arch onto a stone bridge suspended above the cavernous valley. She slowed momentarily looking ahead of her. There was a huge gap in the walkway in the center, quite a few yards in front of her. Even as she came on this impassable obstacle a buzzing calm overtook her.

Her vision blurred, and her knees weakened as something cracked in front of her. She was now kneeling staring forward out at a very different night sky.

Screeches emanated from the tower window across from her, and a small man stood on the opposite side of the gap. It was raining, but it was as though she were shielded from it, as dry as she was. It was like she were in a dream or watching a movie as no one noticed her and nothing seemed to touch her, not even the ground.

A black haired woman in dark clothing swung on a wire beside the pathway.

"Throw it to me Carl." Her yell was barely heard over the thunder in the distance and the wind whipping in Ashling's ears. The man threw it to her, she caught it and clutched it to her chest, swinging away.

A huge gray bat flew behind her; the source of the horrid screech. It flew, almost gracefully, behind the swinging figure, before it rammed into her back sending her crashing into the columns of the other tower.

Even as she heard this Ashling heard another sound; the sound of claws clacking slowly on the stones behind her.

Author's Note: I hope this is a very successful cliff-hanger.