Be careful what you wish for chapter 3 – first light

The children had almost finished feeding and soon it would be time t return to the safety of the castle and to the master. Verona had decided to question Aleera on her coldness later, there were more important things at hand at the moment. Plus she had lost sight of Marishka and had no idea where she was. But she didn't have long to wait.

"Anna! How wonderful to see you my dear! And you've brought the little friar with you, how charming!" Marishka squealed from behind. If Verona's heart were beating it would've stopped there and then. How could they have got through to the village without anyone noticing them?

"Verona!" She spun in the air to see her master flying towards her. He was out of breath from flying so quickly." The ... the friar... he has the sunlight machine!" he panted. "Get as many of your children out of here as you can... and ... and then go!" Verona was motionless. How could she have waited for four hundred years to bring her precious babies to life, and then have to leave most of the to die? Her heart almost felt as if it was breaking in two. But she also knew that if she decided against leaving most she would condemn hem all. She nodded to Dracula, she would have to choose to save who she could.

"I'll warn Aleera and then assist Marishka." And with that he was gone. Verona tried to call for her children but they were all spread over the village, and the damned humans were making so much noise that they couldn't hear her. She knew that she had all the children near her that she was going to get. And with a heavy heart, she turned and began to fly away with her few children that she had been ale to call. As she flew, she could swear that she felt a tear fall from her grotesque, beast, face.

--X--

Aleera had still been sitting on the roof top of a house when she heard Marishka. She jumped up from her crouching position and almost slipped right off the edge of the house. She steadied herself and then examined the situation. Why were the master and her sisters so afraid? It was only Anna and the little friar. They could easily defeat Anna, on her own she was weak and vulnerable, as her master had shown once before. And the friar couldn't be that hard to beat? She frowned as she saw the two of them run past the house she was standing on. And that was when she saw it, what they were all so afraid of – the light source! They were going to set it off in the village! But how was she meant to get her children out? She would only be able to find a few before having to leave for the safety of the castle. She couldn't leave the rest to die, she wouldn't!

"You have to Aleera if you want to save any at all!" She gasped to see the master standing right next to her.

"I, I can't! I've waited so long for them i can't leave them to die -" "ALEERA!" He screamed. She was so startled she jumped back a few feet. She knew she had to obey, she raised her head up high, and walked to the edge of the roof. She inhaled a large breath of air, and jumped off the roof into the village center. She flew around for a few moments and flew back to the castle, hoping her children would follow her lead...

--X--

Dracula tore his eyes from Aleera and took off in the other direction. He was truly growing tired of her sudden outbursts of feelings. For weeks she would be fine draining women and children dry, and then would suddenly grow sympathy for a few days. Only to be back to normal later in the week. He followed the screams of the terrified people and quickly found Marishka. She was distracting the friar from detonating the sunlight machine. But with Anna protecting him he was assembling it with ease. He growled. He knew he had no other choice. The light was seconds away from being detonated.

"Marishka! Get out of here!" She was only just able to hide inside the well when...

BAM!

The light erupted before his eyes, even he felt the sting pierce through his body. In moments it was over, but those few moments were all it took. All around him he cold see his beloved children burning into ash, barely to hours old, never to see the dark of night again. Anna smiled in triumph, but only with her lips. He could see right through her facade. But decided to leave it right now, he wouldn't be able to go near her right now without snapping all her bones clean in half. Instead he flew past her with a deafening roar escaping his lips. Right behind him Marishka was also hollow with sorrow. A few of her children had been saved from the light, but the rest had vanished into the night, never to be seen again...

--X--

As the last two vampires flew off Anna shivered. That roar of his wasn't full of anger, but of grief, sadness, and sorrow. Beside her Carl patted her on the shoulder. It broke her out of he trance, but it didn't stop her thoughts flying around her head at a hundred miles and hour.

"Well done Anna! That was most of his children vanquished, now we just need to wait for news from Van Helsing." He realised that she was only half listening and left her with her thoughts . It was not that she wasn't glad, but something in Dracula's face when he saw his children dying around him made her feel guilt for what she had done. It reminded her of something she had seen before, but she couldn't quite place where. But she decided not to worry about it for now. Right now she needed to think about how to destroy the rest of the offspring and the brides, then move onto Dracula. But in the cold she was beginning to freeze and so followed Carl's lead to get back to the castle, and away from the countless dead bodies littering the floor that were making her nauseous.

--X--

Van Helsing finally woke up with a pounding headache. At first he had no idea why but quickly remembered that Dracula had thrown him over the room after he realized that Carl was going to set off the light machine, and that was the last thing he could remember. He just hoped that Anna and Carl had succeeded in killing the offspring before they wreaked too much havoc. He then noticed that it was quiet, eerily quiet. When he had blacked out he had been in Dracula's castle and if anything his brides would be weeping if they had survived the attack. So quickly he rose up from his ling down position to sit up and opened his eyes. He was in a forest, and it was sunrise. He quickly reached for his guns on either side of his waist but only to find that they weren't there. Dracula hadn't taken any chances. He looked at the sun, he was facing East. He looked around just to check that nothing was around and, once sure, he set off in the direction to the Valerious castle...