Chapter 19

Flying though the forest as fast as he could, Dracula used his advanced sight powers to find Ericka's tower, but all he saw were trees, trees, and more trees. His frustration grew, but he knew he couldn't give up.

He then noticed some movement from the shadow's below as a familiar voiced called out to him, "Master, follow me! I'll show you the way to the tower!"

It was his cat and horse , Maximum and Salem, and without question he followed them through the forest as they traveled and blended through the shadows as swift as he was, if not faster.

Before long she had lead him to a hidden cave covered in moss and cringing vines, the tall entrance covered in a curtain of vines. He flew through the entrance, and before long the cave opened to what looked like a beautiful hidden valley or a cove with an open grassy field with different vibrant flowers, a waterfall flowing into a small stream, all surrounded by walled mountains, and in the center was a tall tower covered in vines.

Dracula looked around the hidden basin, amazed at how he never even knew this place existed and it was no wonder Gothel had hidden from him all these years. He noticed grey clouds blocking out the sunlight and he took his chance to fly to the top of the tower and through the open window, transforming back into his original form before Salem emerged from the shadows near the window.

"Ericka?" he panted as he looked around the darkened room frantically, "Ericka, are you here?"

Suddenly, he spotted a trail of long golden hair leading to a heavily shadowed corner of the room where he heard a faint muffle, but he knew it was Ericka and his heart soared she was here and she was okay.

"Oh,Ericka, my love," Dracula gushed as he took some steps to the certain silhouette of his beloved, "I thought I'd lost you and I'd never see you again."

But Dracula's relieved smile disappeared when he realized something was wrong. There was Ericka chained against the opposite wall, and seemed to be struggling to get free as she tried yell a warning through the gag binding her mouth, with a fearful look in her green eyes.

While Dracula was distracted, from the shadows behind him a dark female figure emerged from the window to quietly and malevolently approach the vampire as she slowly raised a deadly dagger in her hand. Sensing a dark presence behind himself, Dracula's eyes narrowed as Ericka continued to try and warn him with pleading muffling; Gothel was right behind him.

"Look out!" Ericka tried to warn him through her gagged muffling.

While Eunice climbed up Ericka's long white hair, and when she saw her tied up, she went to set free her.

" Ericka",Eunice screamed.

"I'll have you and untie in a minute",said Eunice as she walked to the chains.

The next moment, with such speed Dracula whirled around to face Gothel, his eyes deadly red as his fangs lengthened and his claws grew longer. He gave off a threatening hiss as he saw Gothel's face was twisted with a murderous anger, and he was ready to devour her blood if it meant saving his beloved Ericka from her this manipulative old witch.

It was a moment frozen and stretched in time, for though Dracula was fast, in that moment Gothel was faster and seized her chance. Suddenly the next thing Dracula knew, he felt a horrible excruciating pain agonizing in his chest. "Aaagh!" he cried.

The red hue was lost from his eyes and he became numb with shock as he stared into Gothel's dark eyes, her lovely face twisted with malice satisfaction. His eyes widened and overcome with shock as he slowly looked down and noticed Gothel's dagger in the very center of his chest. All he could do was stare at it as he flexed his claws and groan in agonizing pain.

"You recognize this?" she whispered dangerously to him, "It's the same dagger that pierced the heart of your wife. A simple wooden dagger dipped in the purest silver, made just for you and your kind. Poetic justice, as this is how I've felt for so many years. This is for spurning me all those years ago."

"Hgh," Dracula groaned as Gothel sank the dagger further into his chest and twisted it, making him flinch in pain as she continued, "And kidnapping my precious flower."

Dracula only shot her a saddened look through his pain as he looked at Gothel in the eye, and slowly put a gentle hand on her shoulder as he said through shallow and labored breathing, "I... I didn't know... h-how you really felt. Ugh... m-my father... only a pure... bloodline... uugh..."

Gothel's eyes narrowed dangerously again as the dagger was withdrawn maliciously from his body, causing Dracula wince in pain. Gothel watched impassively as Dracula fell to the floor close to her feet.

"No!" Ericka screamed as Dracula collapsed onto the flagstone floor. She cried with dread, worried for her vampire lover as he kept grasping at his chest and struggled to breath. She struggled through her chains to get to him, but it was futile as her chains were unbreakable.

Gothel gestured towards the vampire, chiding over his groaning, "Now look what you've done,Ericka. But don't worry, dear," she said calmly, walking past the two vampires and towards her captured flower, "our secret will die with him."

Ericka continued to fight against her shackles, scrambling to reach the injured vampire. Gothel seized the chain that held Ericka captive and began pulling her to a trap door that lead to a hidden stair case, muttering, "And as for us... we are going where no one will ever find you again!"

Pascal, who had been watching from the shadows, rushed out and clamped his tiny mouth over the hem of the witch's dress trying to heroically prevent Gothel from taking away. The witch sneered at the little chameleon and cruelly kicked Pascal away. Salem, who had recovered, leapt out of the shadows with a screech. She landed on Gothel's head, sinking her fangs into her hair and digging her claws into her scalp. Startled yet angered, Gothel struggled to pull Eunice off her head and back . Finally, she pulled the cat and stein loose and threw her against the wall.

The next moment another little bat flew through the window and materialized into the older vampire, Vlad, who had followed Bela through the forest, but at some point had lost him in the shadows, and recently followed Dracula as quickly as he could. Now seeing Dracula clutching his bleeding chest on the floor, Vlad became shocked and outraged as he kneeled by Dracula's side in worry.

"Dad..." he groaned, and Vlad could see his son struggling to breathe as he reached out to something. The elder vampire turned and saw Gothel and her captured prisoner, the human girl with the golden hair his son had fallen in love with.

Vlad's pale blue face twisted with rage as he yelled, "You murdering bitch!"

He leaped at her, but even surprised by the arrival of another vampire Gothel was ready as she drew her silver dagger again as Vlad leaped at her in a fury. First she was able to stab him in his abdomen, but even though Vlad was ancient he was still tough enough to temporarily shrug off the stab wound and pull Gothel's dagger from himself by her wrist, and they began to struggle for the weapon.

Vlad's eyes turned red while he snarled and tried to wretch the dagger away from Gothel. Both had hatred in their eyes, Gothel's an evil madness as she tried to wretch herself away from Vlad's grip, and finally pushed him off of herself but in the process lost her dagger. As Vlad came at her again, Gothel pulled something else from her dress and shoved it right into the side of Vlad's face. He screamed in agony and fall to the floor near his son.

"Dad!" Dracula groaned, reaching out to his father but grasped at his chest as his wound got worse.

Vlad grasped at his face, which now had a strangely shaped red burn. He glared at Gothel in anger and confusion, but he could see she held a silver holy cross in her hand.

"Don't think I wasn't prepared," she chuckled dryly.

As he collapsed to floor grasping his face, Vlad could only look on as Gothel again began pulling Ericka's chains towards the trap door, commanding her, "Let's go, Ericka."

From where the Count lay, Dracula stared blearily up through pain-misted eyes. He could vaguely hear Ericka still yelling for help within the gag, and every shriek made Dracula's heart hurt in agony that had nothing to do with the angry wound on his chest. Then, inexplicably, his hearing and vision sharpened, and he saw that Gothel was having trouble tugging Ericka towards the open trapdoor.

"Ericka, really!" The evil witch shouted, jerking the girl backward. "Enough already! STOP FIGHTING ME!"

With a tremendous heave, Ericka fell back down on the floor, her arms twisted behind her due to the chains. She whirled around to glare at Gothel, her gag lying loosely around her neck. "NO! I won't stop! For every minute - of the rest of my life - I will fight! I will never stop trying to get away from you!"

Gothel grit her teeth at Ericka's declaration, her anger grew at her 'daughter's' stubborn resistance.

Then Ericka declared more, "I will escape and find a way back to the man I love, because he's shown me so much more than I ever dreamed possible. We're meant to be together, I felt it. We're part of each other now, and I won't let you take that away from me!"

Gothel raised a suspicious eyebrow, and this also got an injured Vlad's attention as he too looked suspicious of what the blonde girl was trying to say.

"What are you saying,Ericka?" she asked.

Through his agonizing pain, Dracula smirked as he declared with a chuckle, "We made love."

"YOU WHAT?!" Vlad yelled in disbelief as he clutched half of his face and allowed his healing powers to do the rest, "Drac, how could you? You have ruined our bloodline! She's a human, and they hate us, just as we hate them! How could you do something so stupid and foolish!"

Dracula didn't answer. He couldn't as his breathing became further labored and he felt his strength fading away. The wound he suffered would have killed a normal human, but his healing abilities kept him alive, just barely. The stab wound had been too close to his heart and he could feel his very life energy fading away as he coughed.

However, Vlad gave his own cough as he continued with more reserved and sadder tone, "Ah, who am I kidding? You were right, Drac, I'm the fool. I screwed your mother before we got married. Since it happened to me, it happened to you. Love is love, no matter who it is."

Suddenly Gothel's face had twisted in an angry sneer as she looked like a volcano had exploded. "YOU, AND HIM?! You blood sucking son of a bitch! You really are a sex driven monster! You've ruined her! Defiled her! Why?! It should have been me! ME!"

Ericka and Vlad were confused at her angered ranting, not knowing what she was talking about.

"What are you trying to say?" Ericka asked with pity in her voice.

The witch sneered in response and yanked on the chains, seething in jealousy, "He's besmirched you! Corrupted you! Enthralled you and robbed you of your innocence! Your a child! He's a night stocking blood sucking vampire, and his kind feed you!"

"Well, you're no catch, lady!" Vlad joked bitterly, "I thought she was beneath my son, but I see now she's got shit."

"It should have been ME!" Gothel screamed, but everyone remained confused, though poor Dracula cried in agony due to his injury.

"More than 100 years ago," she explained, "I was just an old lady whiling the last of her days away in solitude because I was a humble herbalist, but I was condemned as a witch because of my vast knowledge of healing plants. Where I lived people feared me and I was driven from my home by those horrible, selfish people. I nearly fell off a cliff in the mountains. But then HE appeared, first as a bat that caught me in the middle of the fall, and then as a man, the most beautiful man I had ever seen. I didn't care if he was a vampire, because if he did his bite would make me young and beautiful again, just as I always wanted. I only knew I had to have him, to have him love me back. I tried for months to find him again and to find a way to become young again. The short version is I stumbled upon the magical golden flower one night and it made my dreams come true, it kept me young and beautiful for many, many years. I finally found him one night only to discover he had married another - MARTHA LUBOV! I pleaded to him but he turned me away like I was nothing and I only knew in that moment I had been rejected. So I vowed if I ever found him again I will destroy him, because if I couldn't have Dracula, no one will!"

It wasn't a story, it was clear insane ranting. But Ericka felt different emotions when she heard this story, shock, disgust, and most surprising of all some pity for a miserable and lonely soul who had no one to care for and thought no one cared about her, and only knew fear, hatred, and ostracizing from others for being different.

Then in a rather disturbing way, Gothel gave what was once a warm motherly smile as she said, "But I now know I don't need him, or anybody else. I have you, I raised you as my own and I learned what real love really is. I can't forgive your betrayal,Ericka, because I lost one dream, and I won't let that monster take away another one from me." She lost her smile as her face became evil again as she concluded, "Which is why we must go. NOW."

Gothel pulled fiercely on Ericka's chains again, but still continued to resist. "No! I told you I'll won't stop fighting until I get away from you, and never let you use my hair again!" And then, Ericka continued to speak in a calm serious voice, "However, if you let me save him, I will go with you."

Gothel's grip on the chain relaxed, still frowning. Pascal and Salem weakly looked up, especially Vlad, shocked that Ericka would say something like that.

"No, no,Ericka!" Dracula protested, weakly trying to get up and clutching his chest at the same time. Why would she sacrifice her freedom for him? The very thought of never seeing Ericka again was far worse than what he endured.

But Ericka ignored his pleas and gazed up at the old woman who held her captive for eighteen years. "I'll never run or try to escape. Just let me heal Dracula, you let Vlad go free, and you and I will be together forever, just like you want. Everything will be the way it was. I promise, just like you want. Just let me heal him."

The witch glared at her flower, considering the proposition, but the glare on her face told that she was skeptical about it. It would easier to find a new life if the girl stopped fighting her. And she knew, no matter what happened, that Ericka always kept her promises. Especially if she dealt with someone she cared about, and evidently she cared about that vampire a lot. So, to show she wasn't without a heart, and to not have Ericka hate her more than she might now, Gothel agreed.

The witch unshackled Ericka and went over to the Count. Dracula felt his body propped up against the banister of the stairway leading to Ericka's bedroom. Slightly glaring at the old woman, the Prince of Darkness felt Gothel roughly secure his right wrist with one of the heavy iron cuffs, but left some garlic at his feet and some more at his father's side.

Then Gothel jerked him towards her, hissing, "In case either of you get any ideas about following us." She swept away as Ericka knelt down to the coughing, weakened Dracula.

The girl tenderly stroked Dracula's tormented face, stammering, "Dracula." He looked so weak, she knew his immortal vampiric strength was leaving him, and she had to act fast if she was going to save him. Gingerly, she reached down and removed Dracula's hand from where it had been covering his wound. She winced, seeing how deep the red gash was. He had already lost a lot of blood.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Ericka apologized, "Everything's going to be okay." She gathered up a lock of her hair and tried to put it on Dracula's wound.

"No,Ericka." Dracula pushed her arm away.

Ericka tried again, telling him even as he shoved her arm away, "I promise, you have to trust me."

Dracula shook his head, moaning, "No."

Ericka pleaded with her dying lover, "Come on, Dracula. You just have to breathe."

Dracula coughed painfully, "I can't let you do this."

"And I can't let the one I love die," Ericka whispered, setting a hand on his cheek.

Dracula continued to object, muttering, "But if you do this, then you'll die."

"I'll be fine," Ericka assured the vampire.

Vlad looked over at his son. He could see in his son's eyes that Dracula didn't want to lose the girl he loved. He had given her the freedom she deserved. He knew that Dracula knew that as Ericka healed him, both of them would lose each other forever. How he wished he could do something to help. He had already lost a wife and a daughter-in-law, now he was close to losing his son.

And then, Dracula felt something cold and flat on his hand. It was one of the pieces of the broken mirror. An idea formed into his mind. But Dracula, despite his dying, couldn't let Gothel win. In a microsecond he resolved he would rather die than let Ericka sacrifice her freedom, her dreams, her own life for his own because his life will be empty and meaningless without. It was the only way to make it up to her, to show her he loved her that much. Yes, he will give his life for hers.

Just as Ericka began to sing, Dracula suddenly grabbed the blonde tresses just behind her neck. Using his last ounce of strength, Dracula pulled the mirror shard upward, cutting every single strand of hair. By doing that, he cut the last chain keeping her away from freedom. His hand fell to the floor with the mirror shard as it dropped out of his hand. Immediately after Dracula had cut Ericka's hair, it transformed from blonde to white.

Ericka reached up to grasp now extremely short white locks, exclaiming in shock, "Dracula! Wha-?" She picked up the long hair that had fallen on her lap, watching as the dark brown color race up its length.

Even Vlad's reaction mirrored that of Ericka's to his own son losing his last chance of survival. "Drac what did you do?"

Gothel's eyes popped in shock and fury. "NO!" The greedy witch tried to gather up the rapidly changing hair in her arms, demanding it to return gold. "No! No, no, no!"

But as she gazed at the brown hair in her hand, feeling its power disappear, her muscles instantly turned weak. Her skin pale and wrinkly, and her switched from black to almost transparent white. Her face changed also, its lush youthfulness vanishing so that it appeared as an old, witchy mask resembling her true wickedness on the inside.

"What have you done?!" Gothel screeched, "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" She tossed the useless normal long hair aside and ran over to the broken mirror. Staring into the shattered glass, Gothel backed up in horror at her own hideous reflection. Covering her face with her hood, she moved backwards, getting closer and closer to the open window.

Near the window, Salem and Pascal picked up a long piece of the hair to hold it up high enough for the old witch to trip over. Gothel tripped and fell out of the window, screaming in defeat. The Drac Pack, who had all arrived to try and help rescue Ericka, halted in their tracks as they caught sight of Gothel falling, until with a faint whoosh - Gothel's cloak hit the ground. There was no trace of the evil witch for she was gone forever.

Although, Eunice had fainted in shock and her thin body crushed upon the invisible man as she fell, causing Griffin to shout, "I got you!"

Regaining her senses from the shock of watching Gothel die,Ericka felt herself pulled away from the window to find Vlad had healed and freed himself only to show her that his son was still dying.

Ericka quickly pulled the younger vampire into her lap, as if she were cradling him. "No! No, no, no, no! Dracula?"

Dracula coughed feebly, barely able to open his eyes.

Ericka turned his face up at him, pleading with him, "No... look at me. Look at me, I'm right here! Don't go. Stay with me, Dracula!" She grabbed his hand, brining it to her hair as she tried to sing the healing incantation, but Dracula interrupted her.

"Ericka..." Dracula whispered softly, "You were my new dream."

"And you were mine." By now, a rain of tears escaped from Ericka's eyes.

And then his face grew paler still, and with a sigh of release, Dracula was gone.

Ericka felt tears burning within her eyes, gazing down at the vampire who had risked his life for her. He had scarified himself for her. And now he was dead. Looking up at Vlad, she could see him burying his head in his son's shoulder, sobbing.

The girl laid a comforting hand on Vlad's wrinkled blue hand. He looked up at her, eyes red and face stained with tears. Slowly sliding his arms around her waist, Dracula pulled Ericka into his embrace. Both of them sharing tears of sorrow. Even Pascal and Salem lowered their heads in mourning, crying softly.

Without knowing why she did it, Ericka began to sing the healing incantation, murmuring quietly, each word filled with sorrow, "Flower gleam and glow, let your power shine. Make the clock reverse, bring back what once was mine. Heal what has been hurt, change the fate's design. Save what has been lost, bring back what once was mine."

Ericka bent her head over Dracula's forehead, whispering mournfully, "What once was mine." And as she cried, one of her tears fell on Dracula's still face. As soon as she finished her song, the tear sank into his pale cheek.

Suddenly Dracula's skin began to glow with a golden light. Vlad and Ericka stood up, watching in amazement as a shimmering radiance began to blossom from Dracula's wound. It was a bright, shining light that twisted and turned, its tendrils shooting up into the gloomy rafters of the tower. It spread outward like the very golden flower it came from, filling the room with sunlight. Then as quickly as it had come, it vanished.

Amazed at what just happened, Vlad and Ericka reached out to check Dracula's wound. The deep red gash had vanished, leaving only unbroken smooth pale skin as if it had never happened. They gazed intently at his face, hoping to see if it really healed him.

Dracula's eyes slowly opened and quietly spoke his son's name, " ."

Ericka nodded, enthusiastically. "Dracula?"

"Did I ever tell you I've got a thing for white hair ?" he teased, reaching out to touch her face.

Now crying with tears of joy, Ericka laughed at his joke, she leapt onto him throwing her arms around his neck. Dracula held her tightly to himself, hardly believing he deserved to see her again.

After wiping a tear from his eye, Vlad punched Dracula in the arm. "Don't you ever scare me like that again!" he scolded in a fatherly tone.

"Ow!" Dracula winced, rubbing his arm. "I already had enough pain for one day."

From outside the roof looking through a small opening, an enraged and livid Bela saw the happiness unfolding, and it disgusted him. He wanted to kill that human bitch now. The crony tore through the roof and landed menacingly in front of the terrified Dracula and Ericka. Bela grabbed the nearby wooden stake that nearly killed Vlad, and leaped forward to murder Ericka, shoving Dracula out the window in the process.

"Dracula!" Ericka reached out for him, while she was held back against her will by the angry Bela.

"Ericka!" Dracula screamed as he nearly made contact with the ground, only to transform into a bat and fly back up, with his friends watching in horror close by.

Ericka flinched and tried to shield herself with her arms, but when Bela's stake was mere inches from Ericka's chest, the giant lead bat crony was suddenly immobilized in a thin cloud of red tinted mist. Ericka and Dracula gasped in silence to see Vlad with his arm outstretched at his traitorous minion.

"Don't ever come near me or my family again!" Vlad warned with finality as he made a gesture with his long gnarled fingers and Bela suddenly shrank down to the size of a harmless rat.

In panic, the small Bela tried to run away, but he was intercepted by Salem, licking her lips. Ericka shut her eyes. All she could hear was the sound of Bela's high-pitched screams until they died out, ending with Salem gnawing on his tiny little bones until she released a loud belch.

Dracula chuckled as Vlad joined his son by his side with a smile. "Daddy," he said to his father with a newfound respect, admiration, and love, "You just saved a human."

Vlad gave a fatherly laugh as Rapunzel rushed over to embrace Dracula, who returned the embrace with such affection. "I'm sorry about how I treated you,Ericka. I see now not all humans are evil, and I put too much pressure on you both. Who cares if she doesn't have fangs." He waved it away humorously. "I don't have fangs anymore, either. Look." He pulled out his dentures.

Ericka laughed at Vlad's cheeky sense of humor, but Dracula frowned in disgust. "Okay, Dad, I just came back to life. Put 'em back in before I die in my own barf."

As Ericka gazed into the eyes of her lover, she seized his collar and kissed him, rather enthusiastically. Dracula returned the gesture. Vlad smiled, and so did the Drac Pack, all cheering and throwing fists in the air.

After climbing down from the tower wall, Pascal covered his eyes and turned red the second he caught sight of Ericka kissing Dracula. Salem, on the other hand, made a gagging gesture to her tongue and said, "Can I be the first to say ew?"