(A/N: Hello everyone! Here is chapter two.)
CHAPTER TWO
Beth, Mori, Jen, Van Helsing and the newly recruited Carl rode into Vaseria a few days later. Carl was reluctant to join at first, but Van Helsing is a very persuasive person. The girls had gotten to know the friar and monster hunter fairly well over the journey. The same was true for the two men. Van Helsing had no idea how complicated teenagers were till after he met these three. Jen was a bit more social, where as Mori preferred to be left alone. Beth was a little of a combination of the two…and she hated dresses. All three of them did.
Jen sighed and looked around at the small town. Darkness had fallen only about half an hour ago and the first stars were starting to appear.
"Home sweet home." Jen said looking around.
"Home, yes. Sweet, no." Mori said, her clear blue eyes scanning the square.
"I wouldn't know." Beth said.
"Why are we here again?" Carl asked meekly.
"Is he always this nervous?" Jen asked Van Helsing.
"Pretty much."
"I'd love to see him scared. I bet it's hilarious." Mori smirked, the soft breeze blowing her hair around her. She left it hanging down for once.
Beth started to laugh at Mori's comment, but quickly turned it into a hacking cough as she covered her mouth. Mori just smirked at her. Beth smirked right back.
"Mori!" Jen said shocked at her friend.
"It's my nature." Mori replied dryly. "I can't help it."
"Is it also part of your nature to be partly insane at times?"
"Yes." Mori said matter-of-factly. "I don't have the best bloodline ever."
"At least you know what your blood line is." Beth pointed out. Beth's mother died in child birth with her and her father disappeared when she was four. When she was eight, she went to the order and had training for five years and since she was thirteen, she had been fighting monsters.
"Yes, but I don't like mine." Mori said turning to Beth, who shrugged to say 'fair enough'.
"So you've said before, but your mom…." Jen caught the look she was getting from Mori and quickly became silent.
Suddenly, Beth became deathly still. Evil was around her. She could feel it in every bone of her body. She stiffened and Jen saw it.
"Beth, what is it?" Jen asked.
Van Helsing and Mori had stiffened as well. They all could sense the evil around them. Mori looked to the sky. Mori, Jen, Carl and Van Helsing didn't see it, but Beth did.
"Move!" Beth said and shoved Jen off her horse.
Jen hit the ground hard and Mori flew through the air a few feet before hitting the ground with a brutal thud. Jen looked back at Mori, who was slowly sitting up holding the back of her head. Beth hit a building extremely hard and then collapsed on the ground.
"You're welcome." Beth said in a moan as she looked at the two.
They then heard a low growl. Beth jumped up to see it was a werewolf. The wolf jumped for Mori and she took off running in to the wood. Beth followed her and pulled out her pistol, freshly loaded with silver bullets. She just hoped the wolf wouldn't reach any of her friends before she could kill it.
Suddenly, she heard a scream off in the distance. It was Jen.
"Jen, what did you get into now?" she moaned and ran toward the scream, going as fast as her legs could carry her. Beth came to a clearing at the edge of a cliff. Jen was standing at the edge of the cliff facing the wolf. The werewolf growled and pounced.
Mori appeared out of no where and pushed Jen out of the way as the wolf fell over the edge. The wolf took Mori with it.
"Mori! No!" Jen shouted as she saw the distant two figures splash into the river below.
Beth ran to the edge of the cliff to see the splash in the water below. Beth sank to her knees as she heard Jen crying behind her. The teen took off her hat and bowed her head.
"God, help us."
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"We just can't leave her out there." Beth argued with Van Helsing.
"But we can't go out alone, especially with Dracula out on the loose." Van Helsing argued back.
"Which is precisely why we should go find her." Jen said.
"Um…Van Helsing…" Carl tried to put in, but Van Helsing cut him off.
"Don't worry, she'll be fine."
"She's sixteen! Like us! She can't handle a vampire or werewolf on her own!" Beth told them.
"Last time something like this happened was with Velkan, and he turned out to be a werewolf." Van Helsing pointed out.
"Which is why we should find her! She could be hurt!" Beth said.
"No! And that is final!" Van Helsing shouted.
"You are the most impossible…the most pompous…the most stubborn man I've ever had the displeasure to meet!" Beth shouted at him.
"Now, she's mad." Jen whispered as she shrunk back.
"Well, if you won't help me find her, I'll go myself!" Beth turned on her heel and marched out of the room.
Jen followed her and the two girls ran out to the stables. It began raining heavily as Jen saddled her brown horse with a black mane and tail that she named Ash. Beth herself had an all black horse named Eclipse. The two saddled their horses and rode out full gallop into the stormy night.
Beth lowered her hat over her eyes to keep the rain out of them. Her coat flew out behind her as she rode. Jen closed her coat around her to keep out the rain. No matter what the two tried, they still got soaked through.
"Mori!" Jen shouted.
"Mori! Please answer us!" Beth shouted.
"Mori! Please let us know you're alive!" Jen shouted again.
"Mori! Get your butt out here!" Beth shouted.
The two rode through the tempestuous night for hours. The rain drenched their clothes and chilled them to the bone, but still they kept looking.
"Alright, let's split up. You go to the right and I'll head to the left." Beth suggested.
"Okay. Let's meet back in one hour. You be careful." Jen said.
"I will be. You too, and good luck." Beth said just before the two rode in opposite directions.
Beth walked her horse. Eclipse needed a rest anyway. Beth was freezing cold from the pouring rain.
"When I get back to the manor, I'm going to take a three hour long boiling hot bath." Beth mumbled to herself. "Mori, be glad I like you. If I didn't like you, I'd kill you."
Needless to say, Beth was not in the best mood. She was tired…and cold…and hungry. Anyone else in the same situation would be more than a little grumpy.
Beth turned the corner and saw the bank of a river and Mori lying on the shore.
"Mori!" Beth said jumping off her horse and running to her friend's side.
"Mori, speak to me. Are you hurt?" Beth said, her voice growing more concerned by the second.
"I'm wet." Mori moaned.
"Is it dead? Were you bitten? Can you stand? How long have you been here?"
"Yes, no, maybe, and three hours." Mori replied. "In that order…and I'm really wet."
Beth sighed and smiled slightly. "C'mon, let's get you back. First, we have to find Jen."
"What about what's his face? Isn't he out with you?" Mori asked as Beth wrapped her arm around her friend's waist to help her up. Mori put her weight on her left leg. "OUCH!"
"Here, lean on me. You mean Mr. Big, dark, and pompous? He didn't want us to come. Me, being stubborn, came anyway and Jen followed. Up you go." Beth said as she helped push Mori up on Eclipse. Mori got on safely and Beth lead the horse on it's way.
" Tell me Mori, who is your new friend, and why haven't we meet before?"
Mori and Beth turned to see a man dressed all in black. He had black hair pulled back in a pony tail with bangs hanging off each side of his face.
"What?" Beth asked glaring at him.
"Why Mori, you haven't told her yet?" he said.
"Who are you? What do you have to do with Mori?" Beth asked.
"Now, I wasn't talking to you, child. I was simply asking a question of Mori." the man said sounding calm for some weird reason.
"Dracula." Mori almost hissed at him, hatred filling her eyes.
"Intelligent child. Now would you care to answer my question?" he said smirking and walking toward the two. Beth backed up, leading Eclipse to do the same.
"You vile…"
"Tut, tut, tut." Dracula said cutting off Mori. "That is no way for a young lady to talk."
"What do you want?" Beth asked.
"Nothing, just your name."
"Is he always this insane?" Beth whispered to Mori.
"No, he's pretty sane right now." Mori replied.
"I heard that." Dracula said.
"And I thought you were bad." Beth mumbled barely above a whisper.
"Hey!" Mori said.
"And you have good ears." Beth said rolling her eyes.
"Your name child!" Dracula demanded, bringing both of the girls' attention to him. For a moment, the two forgot he was there.
"Why do you want to know?" Beth retorted.
"Child, my patients grows thin. Give me your name!" the vampire roared. The birds in near by trees fled in fright and Eclipse trotted backwards, pulling the rattled Beth with her. When silence settled around them again, a voice could be heard in the distance. They were coming toward them.
"Mori! Please answer, Mori!"
The two girls looked at each other. It was Jen. This was a problem. If Dracula knew Jen was the last Valerious…well, they knew It wouldn't be good.
"Young Jennifer is coming. At least I'll be able to finish her line." Dracula said, as if reading their mind.
Beth looked at Mori on top of the horse. Mori looked back at her and knew something from the look in Beth's green eyes. They seemed to glow in the dark and wet night. Mori shook her head to say 'no'. Beth nodded. They both knew someone had to warn Jen. It just wouldn't turn out so well for one of them.
Beth smacked Eclipse's behind and the horse galloped off into the night, leaving Beth with the deadliest vampire alive.
"Not very smart, are you?" Dracula asked her.
"Only compared to some." Beth replied.
"Child, you are either very brave or very foolish." Dracula told her as he walked toward the girl.
Beth backed up quickly so he wouldn't get near her. She racked her brain for a plan. Then one came to her…well, it was more of a vague conception. In her situation, it was all she had. It would just have to do. Suddenly, she bolted off running. The girl didn't even look behind her to know that the vampire was following her.
Beth's boots splashed in the puddles on the ground from the pouring down rain. The soggy ground made her trail easy to follow, unfortunately. When Beth could no longer run, she quickly scrambled up a tree. There, she calmed her breath. It was coming quickly and in gasps from running like heck. She saw the vampire appear below her. Beth held her breath and pressed her back against the shaft of the tree. She didn't want to be found. Her heart was racing and the rhythm of it pounded in her ears. Beth closed her eyes and quickly calmed it.
Dracula's ice cold eyes searched the area for her. For being so enraged moments ago, now he seemed eerily calm in his searching. He was being very precise, as if he didn't want to miss anything. Beth saw his eyes catch the tracks left by her boots. The girl swore in her mind. Now it was only a matter of time.
Lightning flashed and Beth could have sworn she saw something like Dracula's skeleton, only it was far more terrifying than the man that had it. Dracula's gaze followed Beth's foot prints to the lower base of the tree. His cold eyes slowly looked up and an evil smile crossed his lips. He had seen Beth. A horse whined not to far off and the sound of hoof prints was heard. They were fast approaching and coming their way quickly. This caught Beth's attention, but Dracula didn't seem to hear them.
The vampire punched the tree trunk and the tree swayed heavily. Beth tried her best to keep her balance, but eventually lost it. The girl hit the ground with a brutal thud, her hat tumbling off.
"Stubborn little thing, aren't you?" Dracula asked as he walked toward her.
Beth scrambled backwards on the ground as quickly as she could, grabbing her hat in the process. Suddenly, Beth was lifted into the air by the back of her shirt collar and set down on a moving object. She then realized it was Mori and she was on Eclipse.
"Mori, if I were a stupid, fluffy person, I'd kiss you right now." Beth told her smiling.
"It's a good thing you aren't that stupid, because I'd literally kill you afterward." Mori told her.
Beth smiled at her friend and placed her hat on her head. Good old Mori. she thought.
"What about Jen? Is she okay?" Beth asked.
"She's back at the manor, where we are going."
Suddenly, Eclipse reared in fright. Mori fell off, but Beth quickly grabbed the reins. Beth got Eclipse to calm down and saw that there was a werewolf in front of them. Beth pulled out her silver revolver loaded with silver bullets and shot at the beast. She hit it once in the shoulder and it charged at her. It swiped at her with it's claws and Beth leaned back, taking Eclipse with her. She wasn't fast enough and four cuts were made across the sixteen-year-old's thigh. Beth shot it again and this time she hit the wolf in the heart. It still charged at her. Beth fired again and hit it in the head. The wolf immediately fell down dead.
"Beth, are you alright?" Mori asked rushing over, her long hair all over the place.
"Yeah, it's just a scratch." Beth replied.
"From tooth or claw?" Mori asked worried.
"Claw, and here." Beth said handing her a hair ribbon. "You probably want it by now."
"Thanks." Mori said taking the ribbon and tying her hair in a ponytail.
"Get on, we have a long way to go." Beth told her.
Mori jumped on Eclipse and the two rode off to the manor.
(A/N: Well that's it. I'll try and post chapter three soon. Thanks to everyone for reviewing. If you want to, please review and do remember, no flames. Thank you!)