CHAPTER THIRTY

A week had passed since the girls were left on their own. They had been pouring over maps ever since. Bethany was loosing sleep again. Mori was helping to fix that problem by sneaking strong sedatives into whatever she was drinking, usually coffee. That seemed to help a lot. Also, Beth was trying to sleep. She knew that she couldn't get as weak as she had been the last time she lost sleep. It was far too dangerous if something unexpected happened. Beth wouldn't take that risk again and Mori wouldn't let her unknowingly take that risk again either.

Both of them were on edge. The knowledge that they had was enough to drive anyone to the brink of insanity. Still, they had to remain calm. Otherwise, Dracula would never be vanquished and the others would never be found. They poured over maps for a week, trying to decided where he was most likely hiding. Finally, they had no other option but to go look with their eyes.

And look they did. They found nothing. Everywhere was empty, well, everywhere they checked was. Beth was about ready to give up. Her heart told her not to though. She hadn't given up yet and saw no reason to start now. Her mind, however, couldn't help but think this was useless. Still, she couldn't give up. Her father was counting on her. Jen was counting on her. Ah heck! If that second prophecy was true, the entire world was counting on her. That was a lot of pressure for a sixteen year old girl. All Beth could do was pray that she wouldn't go absolutely crazy!

"Are you feeling any better?" Mori asked Beth on one of their evening rides. They had been going over maps again all day and both girls needed the fresh air before they got an extreme case of cabin fever. Beth smiled softly before she turned to Mori and answered.

"Are you?"

Mori just gave her a small, comforting smile in return. It was the kind of smile that only Beth could notice because it was only in the dark girl's eyes.

"I thought so." Mori said. Beth sighed and turned her emerald eyes to the trail ahead.

"I'll feel better when everyone is back and safe." The young Van Helsing stated.

"I'll feel better when my father is dead."

"Everyone will agree with that statement." Beth said turning back to her dark friend. Mori nodded thoughtfully in response.

"Mori?"

"Yes, Bethany?"

"What would your mom say about all this?" Beth asked. Even after it passed her lips, she still wasn't sure if she should've asked it or not. Instead of being offended as Beth had feared, Mori just looked at her.

"What curiosity brought this question about?" Mori asked her, a small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

"I've just been thinking about my mom a lot lately." Beth answered. Mori nodded to show her understanding.

How long had it been since she thought about her mother? At least a decade, maybe more. Mori's entire life was about killing her father, so she was constantly thinking about him, what he wanted, how he planned to get it, and what his next move was. But her mother, Trissa, was a completely different story. Her mother had been a strong woman…and a pacifist, of all things. Had it not been for her, well, Mori had no idea where she'd be now.

"I guess I never really took the time to think about that." Mori said. "One thing is for sure, it was easier being Trissa Trice's daughter than Dracula's.

Beth smiled and nodded. "I bet."

"You're random, you know that?"

"Yeah."

Both girls looked at each other at that moment. Bethany was smiling widely while Mori's smile was hardly big enough to be called a that on a normal person, but Beth knew that it was a smile nonetheless.

"What about yours?"

"She'd say something like 'everything will be alright' and 'if this guy gets anywhere near me, I'll smack him with my rolling pin'." Beth replied with a smile.

"She almost sounds like your father." Mori told her.

"I think that's why he married her." Beth answered.

The girls came to a river and stopped. The horses needed to rest. While the animals had a nice reprieve, Mori and Beth calmly threw stones into the water, watching the splash they made once they hit the surface.

"This is good for letting out stress." Mori informed her friend.

"I can see why." Beth said as she threw another stone into the water.

Suddenly, they heard a laugh and the wind picked up. The horses whined in fear and galloped away as fast as their legs could carry them. The wind died down as suddenly as it picked up. The girls turned to see Dracula and Aleera before them.

"Hello my dears." Dracula said smiling. "Did you miss us?"

"Where are the others?" Mori demanded. Beth was glaring evilly at the red head as she fingered her trusty revolver that was in her coat. First, she took her mother and then her father. Enough was enough. Anger and hate pumped through her veins at even seeing Aleera. Mori, sensing the fury building up inside her friend, grabbed her wrist with a gloved hand to make sure that Bethany didn't do anything foolish. They couldn't handle those kind of mistakes now. Too much was on the line.

"That is for me to know, Morianalynn." The vampire replied. He smirked and began to circle the two of them. Mori pulled Beth closer behind her. This fight was meant to be between Dracula and her. If he so much as touched Bethany, Mori would kill him. She wouldn't let him hurt her. The vampire saw Mori being protective and an idea came to him.

"Aleera, will you please finish what you started." Dracula told his remaining bride. Aleera just smiled, her canines slowly growing into fangs.

"Gladly." She answered and then vanished.

The bride reappeared behind Beth in her bat form and lifted the girl up in the air before she or Mori had time to react. Bethany kicked and lashed about in an attempt to free herself. Aleera just laughed as she tightened her rip on Beth's wrist. The bride flew higher and further away from where they had been. The young huntress' mind raced as she mentally ran through her options. All of them ended with Beth falling, so she decided that that certain aspect of her idea would be unavoidable. The girl reached in her coat and pulled out her revolver. She fired up at the bride and hit Aleera in the face. The red head screamed in pain and fury. In her brief moments of distraction, Aleera dropped Bethany.

The young Van Helsing flew toward the ground. She fell through the trees, which was fairly painful. The smaller branches snapped off when she hit them and the thicker ones cut into her skin and hurt terribly when the girl hit them. Beth finally collapsed when she hit the ground. That way her joints wouldn't get hurt. Mori had taught her that little trick when Beth was only thirteen. Needless to say, it was a handy piece of information to have.

Bethany pushed herself up and quickly replaced the bullet she had used in her firearm. Since she was facing Aleera on her own, the girl knew that she'd need a full revolver. Suddenly, Beth had been shoved hard against the trunk of a tree and was being held there by Aleera. The bride smiled at her own success.

"I want you to know that your blood will keep me beautiful." Aleera hissed at her.

"Not tonight." Beth growled back and fired off. Aleera fell back with three bullets lodged in her gut. Beth quickly turned on her heel and dashed back toward where Mori had been. As she ran, Beth reached into her coat and wrapped her hand around another weapon, replacing her revolver in the process. Aleera unexpectedly tackled her from behind and sent the girl to the ground. She swore in her mind, but really didn't have time at the moment to reflect on her back luck. The bride began clawing at her in an attempt to trap and injure the girl. Beth thrashed out to try an free herself, but it wasn't working. Aleera's fingernails grew into razor sharp claws in an instant. With one swipe of her hand, the vampress had made four long and deep gashes in Beth side. The young huntress grunted in pain and could already feel warm, sticky blood running across her skin. Bethany, focusing all her physical strength in her legs, managed to kick the bride off her.

The girl, ignoring the sharp pain in her side, scrambled away from the crazy red head. Beth got up to stand and ran as fast as her legs could carry her. Aleera grabbed the collar of her coat before she could get very far and raised the teenager into the air. She wasted no time in grabbing Beth by her upper arms and pinned her to a tree trunk once again. The young Van Helsing struggled against the bride in an attempt to free herself. Aleera's grip became tighter, causing her nails to dig into Beth's arms. The teenager winced in pain and stopped moving, hoping to ease the dull roar of fire in her arms. Aleera just smirked.

"Now that's better." The bride hissed. "I must admit you were harder to get a hold of this time around, child. You don't have your mother here to protect you this time. She wasn't even the one who was supposed to die that night twelve years ago. She was very pretty and my master had taken a liking to her. He wanted to make her one of us. There were only two problems however; your father and you. Getting rid of your father was easy. That was all my doing. All it took was a potion and a few good whacks to the head. Of course, I thought he was dead, but he managed to escape that fate. Then, all that was left was to get rid of you. It should have been easy, of course; a full grown vampire against a four year old child. But your mother wouldn't have that, naturally. Her interference lead to her death. Somehow, you still managed to escape me. This time, however, the end result shall be quite different."

Beth closed her eyes as anger boiled up inside her. She had taken enough and she couldn't stand it anymore. It was time Aleera got what was coming to her. The girl snapped her eyes open and focused them on the bride. Aleera was suddenly flung backward, but landed softly on her feet.

"Is that the best you've got?" Aleera hissed as she flew at Bethany. The young huntress reached into her coat and pulled out a silver stake, but was careful to make sure that Aleera didn't see it. Aleera tackled Beth to the ground and hissed at her face. The red head then looked down to see the stake lodged in her heart and that it was in so deep that it was sticking out of her back.

"Not exactly." Beth answered.

Aleera reeled back screaming and clawing at her chest. The vampire slowly disintegrated into dust and her screams faded away into nothing. Bethany breathed a sigh of relief as she pushed herself up and then leaned against a tree. She was exhausted and, not to mention, bleeding. She'd survive, but right now she had to get back to Mori. The girl took off toward where Mori probably was, picking up her silver stake along the way. As an after thought, Beth pulled out a bottle of holy water and sprinkled it over Aleera's ashes, which burst into flame when they came in contact with the water.

"And don't come back." Beth whispered and then went on her way.

When Bethany got close to where her friend most likely was, she slowed down to a walk. Her side was screaming in pain, but she blocked it out of her mind. She had a sneaking suspicion that she wasn't done yet.

"Mori?" Beth asked loudly. "Are you here?"

Suddenly, Beth was almost hit with a spark of black lightning. The girl quickly jumped out of the way to avoid getting hit. She turned to the side to see Mori. She didn't look good. She almost looked…worried.

"Bethany," Mori began with urgency to her voice. It was the closest she had ever come to showing panic. "I can't control my body."

"Please tell me you're kidding." Beth said worriedly, the prophecy immediately jumping into her mind. "You're kidding, right?"

"No." Mori answered as her hand came up to fire something.

"Shit." Bethany breathed and dived out the way only seconds before black lightning flew above her head. The girl then got up and scrambled away.

"Sorry!" Mori told her.

"Not your fault!" Beth shouted behind her. Mori followed the girl, trying the entire time to stop herself without any luck. Beth's mind was racing. This couldn't be happening! Mori couldn't be trying to kill her! Still, that didn't change the fact that the dark girl had shot at her twice and was chasing her down.

"Bethany, it's just like training." Mori told her.

"Except you can't control your own body!" Beth turned around and snapped. She then had to duck to narrowly avoid getting hit.

"Sorry." Mori told her again. Beth's fist began to glow with white light. She didn't want to hurt Mori, but she certainly wasn't going down without a fight either. Mori shot black lightning at B eth and the young Van Helsing countered it by firing her own white light. The two energies met in the middle and exploded outward, sending both girls flying back. Bethany landed on her injured side and winced in pain as it flowed around her torso. Still, the girl pushed herself up to stand. She wasn't fast enough and was hit with black lightning in the chest. Beth screamed in pain as she was flung back once again. The lightning didn't stop and the girl backed up against a tree trunk. Pain scorched through her veins as she continued to scream.

When the lightning vanished, Bethany fell on all fours, panting. The pain still racked her body and reverberated through her bones. She had absolutely no idea that Mori was that powerful. This was different from training. It almost had the same intensity as training. However, at the end of their sessions neither one of them were dead. That seemed to be the goal for whoever was controlling Mori's body; to kill Beth. The bad news was that she knew that Mori was fully capable of doing just that without even breaking a sweat.

"Bethany?" Mori asked worriedly.

"I'm alive." Beth replied quickly. She pushed herself up and saw that Mori was getting ready to fire. Beth summoned up a shield with her light only seconds before the black lightning hit it. The girl faltered for a few moments. She wasn't prepared for the incredible force of the impact. All the same, she kept her shield strong. The pain in her side had worked it's way to her head. What she hadn't noticed about herself was that she had a cut right below the left side of her hairline. Her body was tired and she knew it, but Beth refused to give in. Those words that she had kept in the back of her mind resurfaced once again.

'Basically, if you die before I do, the world is doomed.'

Beth's strength was failing her and so was her shield. Small pieces of black lightning began seeping through the holes and shocking Bethany. She winced in pain at these small lightning bolts. Suddenly, Beth's shield collapsed and she was enveloped in black lightning. The girl screamed in pain; terrible, hot, stinging pain. She fell to her knees and the lightning kept coming. The intense pain covered every part of her body. It seemed like there was a great weight on her chest, making it hard to breathe. Beth could feel what little strength she had left drained from her.

Finally, the lightning stopped. Bethany gasped for air, but the weight didn't let up. Using a tree to support herself, the girl pushed herself up from her knees to her feet. Her world spun around her and her vision became dark. Beth leaned against the tree and looked at Mori with half open eyes. She held her side, which was still bleeding from her encounter with Aleera.

"Mori," Beth said in barely above a whisper. Pain and despair was laced into her voice.

"I forgive you."

Beth then let go. It was an odd, yet calming sensation. She let go of everything; her worries, thoughts, emotions…everything. With a sense of calmness, Bethany's world faded into blackness.

Mori saw Beth go down and that she handed behind a few bushes, hiding her from sight. After a second of waiting, Mori didn't hear anything. What had she meant by 'I forgive you'?

"Bethany?" Mori asked worriedly and took a step forward. Mori then realized what had happened. She had done something under her own will. Whatever had been done to her was no longer in affect.

"Bethany!" Mori screamed and ran toward her. When Mori got close enough, she saw Beth's lifeless body lying on the ground. Mori instantly bent down next to her.

"Bethany! Bethany! Wake up!" Mori hissed and shook her shoulders. "Wake up! Damn it!"

Mori slapped Beth across the face, hoping it would revive her like it had done the last time. There was no response. Mori, very worried by now, pulled off her gloves and felt for a pulse. Nothing. She felt absolutely nothing. Bethany was dead. The prophecy had come true.

And the wrong person had won.