(A/N: Here is chapter four. Happy Rae? STOP BUGGING ME! If you don't I won't post for a week! HA! For the others, please enjoy.)
CHAPTER FOUR
When Bethany woke up, it was sunset once again. She brushed her hair and headed to the kitchen. She really hadn't eaten anything for two days, so today she was going to indulge.
When she got to the kitchen, she found that Mori and Jen were already there. Mori was drinking water while Jen was inhaling some oatmeal.
"Evening." she told them. "Do we have any more coffee left?"
"It's in the pantry." Jen told her.
Beth found the coffee and fixed it just the way she liked it.
"I believe that sounds like a good idea."
The three turned to see Van Helsing as he entered the kitchen with Carl behind him.
"Help yourself." Beth said as she poured herself a cup of the bitter liquid. She then went back to the pantry and came back with a bagel and peanut butter. She sat down between Mori and Jen and saw that Van Helsing and Carl sat opposite the three girls. Beth spread the peanut butter on her bagel and then ate it happily. She felt so much better now that she had food in her stomach.
"Are you going to eat anything Mori?" Carl asked.
"No, I already ate, thank you." Mori replied.
"Someone needs a cup of coffee." Beth mumbled.
"Thank you, I think I will." Mori said and poured herself a cup.
"Let me guess, you didn't sleep much." Jen said.
"Clever little girl, aren't you?" Mori mumbled.
Beth rolled her eyes as she got up and got another bagel. She also smothered it in peanut butter and inhaled it.
"Slow down Beth. It's not like the bagel is going to run away." Jen told her.
"Look who's talking." Beth said.
"Hey, I'm starving here!" Jen argued.
"Well so am I!" Beth replied.
"Eggs anyone?" Carl asked suddenly as he got up and moved to the stove.
"Yes please!" All three girls said at the same time.
"I'd like some too." Van Helsing said.
"Right eggs for five." Carl said and began to cook breakfast.
Beth wolfed down two plates of eggs and another bagel before she was finally full. After not eating for a few days, everyone ate a lot. Even Mori ate at least one plate of eggs, after which she had a small bowl of oatmeal. Van Helsing ate the most out of all of them. He had three plates of eggs, three bagels and a blueberry muffin. Jen had a plate of eggs and two bagels after she finished her oatmeal. Carl ate two plates of eggs and a bowl of oatmeal.
After breakfast, everyone went to the hidden library, all feeling much better after finally eating. Mori said she wanted to get something and she would meet them there in a few minutes. When Mori met them, she had a glass of red liquid in her hand.
"You drink wine?" Carl asked her seeing the glass.
"Doesn't everyone?" Mori replied before she took a sip out of her glass.
"Someone's in a better mood." Beth told her smiling.
"That's what wine will do to you." Van Helsing said humorously.
"Wonderful." Jen mumbled. "Just don't get drunk."
"Wonder what would happen if we got Carl drunk?" Beth thought aloud jokingly.
"It's very funny. Trust me." Van Helsing with a smile on his face that said it had happened before.
"I would bet." Mori said smiling slightly. There seemed to be a plan forming in her mind on how to get the friar intoxicated.
Beth started to laugh quietly to herself as she pictured Carl 'under the influence' in her mind. Van Helsing was right, it was funny.
"Hey, I found a resurrection spell." Jen said suddenly, breaking Beth's image of Carl with a lampshade on his head.
"Is it holy?" Van Helsing said.
"Yeah, at least grandpa Boris says so. He's the one who wrote this book." Jen said.
"How does it work?" Mori asked before she downed another swallow from her glass.
"It says you have to have someone who cares for them on the other side, you know, in the living world and you have to have a piece of something of theirs, like a lock of hair or something like that." Jen said.
"Can someone other than the person who cares for them perform the ritual?" Beth asked.
"Yes. The person performing it also needs a good reason for the person to come back. It also has to involve lots of herbs and magical junk."
"Is that the scientific term, 'magical junk'?" Beth asked teasingly.
"Is this going to help us?" Carl asked. "Is it important?"
"It could be incase one of us gets killed." Mori said and then took another drink.
"True." Van Helsing said. "Let's keep looking still. We still don't know what the half and half thing from yesterday means."
The five researched for a few more hours. It was around ten thirty at night when something made them all look up. It was a wolf's howl.
"Werewolf." Van Helsing said.
Immediately, all five of them were running towards the door. Carl, realizing what he was doing before it was too late, stopped and ran back into the library. Mori, Beth, Jen and Van Helsing ran out into the night in search of the beast.
The four reached the town square to find it deathly silent. There was no sign of life. Everyone in the village must have heard the wolf and went inside where they thought it was safe. Suddenly, they heard laughing. They turned to the well to see three women sitting on it, all in revealing outfits. One had blonde hair, the second black hair and the third red hair.
"Hello again, Van Helsing. And look! Mori and young Jennifer are with him. They have a little friend too." the red head said and laughed.
"Shut up Aleera!" Mori almost hissed at the bride.
"Stubborn, isn't she?" the black haired one said.
"Dear sister Verona, I'd like to know who the new girl is." the blonde said.
"Yes Marishka, let's ask her." Verona said.
"Cut the coffee talk. What do you want?" Beth demanded.
"Oh, how cute! She's acting tough." Marishka cooed.
Beth gave the woman a death glare as she pulled out her revolver. The girl fired and grazed Marishka's arm. The woman screamed in agony and held her arm.
"Still think I'm cute?" Beth said. "And next time, I don't have to miss."
Mori eyed Beth and smiled. "I've taught you well."
"Sisters, kill them." Verona said.
With that, the three women transformed into grayish-white bats. Marishka flew straight at Beth, but the girl ducked out of the way.
"Split up, and don't get killed." Van Helsing told them.
The three members of the group who were standing ran off in different directions. Beth got up, swearing at herself for making a vampire mad. The girl got up and ran like heck. Marishka was following right behind her. She could tell by the laughing that followed her. Beth felt herself being lifted up into the air. The girl looked up to see that Marishka had her by the shoulders.
Beth began rummaging through her coat to try and find something to get her out of this predicament. She pulled out a wooden stake and lodged it in the vampire's ankle. Marishka screamed and dropped Beth immediately. The girl saw the ground flying toward her. Beth flung her arms out to try and grab onto something. She managed to get a hold of the side of a building. Beth looked down to see that she was two stories in the air. The girl pulled herself onto the roof.
Beth looked around and saw that Jen was stuck with Verona in front of her.
"Jen, you are going to get me killed one day." Beth mumbled as she pulled out her pistol. She quickly aimed and fired at the beast.
The girl hit the vampire square in the shoulder. She roared in pain and turned around to see the sixteen year old girl standing on the roof. Verona's eyes flared with hate as she flew at Beth. The girl ducked down out of the vampire's way. When Beth hit the roof, she began to slide down it because of it's slope. She tried to grab onto something, but still fell over the side.
Beth saw the ground racing toward her. The girl closed her eyes and waited for the sickening smack of her body hitting the ground. It never came. Just before Beth hit, Van Helsing had caught her. Beth was a little shocked when she saw this.
"Uh…thanks." Beth told him as he put her down.
"Welcome, and be careful." he told her.
"Look out!" Beth shouted and pointed behind him.
Van Helsing turned around and saw that Marishka was right on top of him. He fired his crossbow and hit the vampire in the wings. Marishka fell back with a screech and came at them again.
"Move!" Van Helsing said shoving Beth to the side.
She hit the ground and looked up to see that Marishka had Van Helsing in her clutches.
"Sisters, back to the master!" the blond screeched. The brides began to fly away, laughing the whole time. Van Helsing was still struggling to get away.
Beth watched this, her mind racing. Mori and Jen ran up next to her.
"This cannot be happening." Jen said in disbelief.
"I think it just did." Mori said in dismay.
Beth looked down to see something on the ground. It was Van Helsing's crossbow. She picked it up and aimed.
"Not while I'm here." Beth said. Mori looked over and saw the glare in her eyes. It was like fire was in them. Mori stepped to the side carefully and Jen took several steps back.
"Okay, now." Mori said.
Beth smiled, aimed and fired.
"My master will be very pleased to have you for a prize." Marishka hissed at Van Helsing before she laughed.
"Anna will be thrilled to see him as well." Aleera teased.
Van Helsing wanted to ask about Anna. Was she alive? Had Dracula bitten her? The monster hunter shook out his head. He couldn't think about that now. He had to escape.
Suddenly, Marishka as screaming in pain. Van Helsing looked up to see an arrow sticking out of her shoulder. Another arrow embedded itself in the bride's ankle a second later. Marishka screamed and dropped Van Helsing. The brides quickly flew away in fear of getting hit in the heart.
Van Helsing plummeted to the ground. He grabbed onto a free branch to stop his fall. Van Helsing slowly climbed down the tree slowly to keep from falling again.
"Van Helsing!" Jen shouted as she, Beth and Mori looked for the monster hunter. They saw him fall in the forest and were now trying to find him before a vampire or werewolf did.
"Jen? Is that you?" came a voice.
"Van Helsing?" Beth asked resting the crossbow on her shoulder.
Van Helsing just then stepped out of the bushes. He was a little scratched up, but nothing to serious.
"Are you alright? No bites or anything?" Beth asked.
"I'm fine. What about you three?…Beth, why do you have my crossbow?" Van Helsing asked eyeing the girl.
"I'm alright." Jen said.
"Just peachy." Mori said flatly.
"Only a scratch or two, but other than that, untouched. I have the crossbow because I had to get you free somehow." Beth said handing him the crossbow.
"Bethany, you have been spending too much time around him." Mori told her motioning to the monster hunter.
"C'mon, let's go home. I want to make sure Carl hasn't burned anything down yet." Jen said.
"So, how do you think we did for today?" Beth asked Van Helsing.
"Not bad for a bunch of children." he admitted.
"I still think we should have made the brides suffer a little more." Mori said.
Beth cocked and eyebrow at her friend as they began walking back to Valerious Manor. Mori glanced over at her and caught the odd look.
"What?" Mori asked.
"Two words, Mori: anger management." Beth said.
Jen began to laugh slightly but quickly stopped once she caught the look that Mori was giving her.
"Plus, there is always next time." Beth pointed out.
"Be glad we are friends Bethany, otherwise I'd kill you for that last remark." Mori told her teasingly.
"Mori, why do you always call me Bethany instead of Beth?"
"Bethany, some answers are just 'because I can'." Mori told her.
Beth smiled slightly at this answer. Good old Mori. she thought to herself.
"Mori, we'd be lost without you." Beth said smiling and lightly slapping her on the back.
"Don't worry, I know." Mori replied.
"Oh, and what am I? Superfluous?" Jen demanded.
"No, you are just annoying." Mori told her.
Beth smiled, but quickly covered it with her hand. She wiped it away before she spoke.
"No, you are not superfluous. You are the best one out of all three of us with a sword." Beth pointed out.
The girls continued chattering on like little birds and Van Helsing watched with amazement. He had no idea how teenage girls were till now…and these weren't even the normal ones! They were talking so fast that he could barely catch one word of a sentence. He also noticed that all three girls had a gift for sarcasm, Beth more than Jen and Mori more than the other two combined. First they talked about fighting strategy and weapons, then moved onto when they first became fighters.
"Well, I was born into the family but my first fight was with Verona and I was only twelve. I was trying to find my dad while he was hunting. I was trying to tell him that two vampires had been spotted in the village. Verona found me before I found dad and I held her off with my sword till dad got there and scared her away." Jen said.
"My first assignment was when I was thirteen. I had to take care of a gargoyle. It was easy since I followed it at night to it's resting place and then destroyed it in it's stone form once the sun came up. Then I had a warlock and that's when I encountered my first group. There was only supposed to be one, but there were twelve. I about killed the Cardinal after that one." Beth told them.
"I had my first battle when I was ten. It was about a week after my mom and I moved here from Britain. I went into the woods at night to…do something and the three crazy bat ladies found me. Needless to say, I whopped them badly and sent them home crying." Mori told them.
"I highly doubt they were crying because of you Mori." Beth said smirking.
"Shut up, Bethany!"
The four reached the mansion to find it still intact.
"Out of curiosity Mori, what happened to your mom? She was so nice." Jen asked.
Mori's eyes turned cold with hatred, anger and sorrow even before Jen finished her sentence.
"You don't have to say if you don't want to." Beth told her to try and make her feel better.
"No, it's alright. She was murdered." Mori replied.
"By who?" Jen asked in shock.
"Who do you think?" Mori said and then pushed opened the two large oak doors to the mansion open and walked through, leaving the other three behind.
"If I'd known it was a touchy subject, I would've left it alone." Jen said.
"Don't worry Jen. No one blames you." Beth told her as the rest of them walked in the mansion. "I didn't know either."
"No one seems to know a lot about Mori, even us." Jen said.
"I think she wants that way." Beth said.
"What do you know about her?" Jen asked. "I only met her when I was thirteen."
"So did I. I remember I met her in London one night while I was chasing a warlock." Beth said.
"What was she doing?" Van Helsing asked.
"I don't know."
Beth and Jen turned down the hall to go to Beth's room. When the two girls got there, they entered the room and Beth closed the door behind them. Jen lit the gas lamp and then sat on the edge of the bed. Beth herself opened the doors to the balcony and then sat down on a backwards chair and faced Jen.
"What do you know about her?" Jen asked.
"All I know is she was born here in Vaseria. When she was barely one, her mother moved the two to London. Then when she was almost fourteen, they moved back here." Beth said.
"Who's her father?" Jen asked. "Surely he would take her in since her mother…"
"No one knows. Only Mori's mother and Mori herself. Maybe her father knows he had a child but I doubt it." Beth said the thought of something. "Why are you asking me these question instead of Mori?"
"I don't want to make her mad." Jen replied.
"Well, I don't think you should be asking me. Walls have ears you know." Beth said getting up from her chair.
"Where are you going?" Jen asked.
"To see if Mori is feeling better." Beth said and then left the room.
When the girl got to Mori's room, she knocked on the door. There was no answer. Beth knocked again and waited. Nothing.
"Mori?" Beth asked slowly opening the door. Mori's room was as dark as could be, and the doors to the balcony were open. It looked rather creepy with the soft breeze blowing the curtains around. The room was empty. Beth walked out to the balcony to see Mori sitting in the courtyard in the moonlight.
Beth grabbed onto a nearby tree and climbed down. When her booted feet hit the pavement, the girl walked up behind her friend.
"Mori?"
"You just had to talk about me, didn't you?" Mori snapped at her.
"You heard that?" Beth asked. Of course she heard it you idiot! Otherwise she wouldn't have said anything. Beth scolded herself.
"Mori, we didn't mean to offend you…"
"I guess the reason no one knows about me is because I don't know about myself." Mori told her.
Beth sighed and looked up at the sky, so clear and full of stars. If only night in Transylvania was as peaceful and safe as it seemed.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Mori asked as Beth sat on the stone bench next to her.
"It really is. Each one looks like a little jewel of some kind." Beth said. Both girls had their necks craned upward as they gazed at the sky's picture of diamonds set in black velvet. The two had no idea that someone was watching them.
(A/N: Well, that's it. Hope you liked it and yes Rae I know it's not long enough. Same rules apply and please review. The more you do the sooner I'll post. Thank you.)