Be careful what you wish for chapter 4 – new beginnings

Hiya - chapter 4. And i got my first review!! Thank you so much Stacey Vorosco ur my hero :) Still quite short but o well my fingers are probably gonna disagree! Plz take Stacey's lead and review! Enjoy!

It had been 3 months since the disastrous events at the village, and Verona had finally come to terms wit the fact that she only has 7 children left. In a way she was lucky, she had the most children survived out of the three brides. Aleera had been able to save only 3 children even though she had returned only minutes after her. But Marishka had been hit the hardest, he was left with a single living daughter. Marishka never let her out of her sight. At first she had merely grieved for her dead children, but now she is just glad that her remaining daughter lives. Aleera had two daughters and a son, but the boy had been badly affected by the sun, and likely to die. Just like five of her remaining children. When the light source had gone off they'd only just arrived back at the castle and the reflection of the light hit some of them. So far they'd survived, but it couldn't be long before they finally joined the rest of their siblings. All three brides were heart broken. But Dracula seemed not to care, at first he had been very upset and filled with anger. But now ... now he was just a shell. Watching the sun rise and fall day after day. The children had already learned to give him a wide birth.

Being vampire children, they grew at a very fast rate. Already they looked like humans in their early teens. But that didn't mean that they were invincible yet. They still had to develop their unique powers, each one having different ones. But they hadn't stepped outside since their night of birth and because they hadn't fed they were becoming terribly weak and vulnerable to an attack from that bitch Valerious or that bastard Van Helsing. Somehow they had to get food for their children, but how?

--X--

Marishka held onto her daughter tightly. She could feel Larca's strength slowly ebbing away. She hadn't fed in three months and she was slowly dying. The brides and Dracula were far older and more experienced and so could last longer if needed. But her daughter wasn't going to lat much longer. Her sandy-brown hair tickled Marishka's chin. She was deathly cold. That was it, she couldn't stand it any more! She was going to talk to the master. She slowly released Larca from her grip, making her look up, and make everyone else's eyes follow her towards the door. As she swung the door open she noticed that Dracula was at the far end of the room staring out of the window. Marishka thought about turning back, but she couldn't. Couldn't sit and watch her last child die of starvation. So she walked on.

"Master, may i speak plainly?" she waited for a response, and eventually got a nod. So she continued.

"Master I am worried about Larca's health. None of the children have eaten in months, they need to feed. I fear that if we delay much longer in finding them a meal then -" He silenced her with his hand. She feared he would ignore her but eventually he spoke.

"I am aware of the fact that my children need to feed, but how, Marishka, am i meant to let them out when there i still a great danger that they will die as their siblings before them?" He turned to face her, waiting for an answer. Marishka thought hard so that she would not offend him, but give him an idea good enough to use.

"We could create a distraction. We still have that werewolf, could we not use him? And while they track it down we get down to the village and feed quickly." He merely walked past her to sit down at the table.

"And that may well work now, Marishka, but what happens if they see it to be a trap. You would be putting everyone's life at risk."

"But if we do nothing then they are as good as dead anyway!" she spoke a little to loudly. She moved back just in case, but he merely stared at the floor. After a few minutes of silence he spoke again.

"Fine." Marishka thought she had misheard him.

"Pardon, master?" He looked at her.

"I will release the werewolf on Van Helsing, but you and Aleera are to go aswell just incase while Verona takes them down to the village to feed."

"But what about -"

"Anna Valerious is in no condition to fight, I have recently discovered. This will make the plan and our overall success much easier." Marishka didn't know what or how he knew but she didn't care. She ran straight out to tell everyone of the battle plans. This time, nothing must go wrong.

--X--

Anna sat in her cold, large bedroom. She had opened the window to get some fresh air but instead it was freezing her to the bone. She had no idea what to do, she was well and truly screwed. She had thought about telling Van Helsing the truth, but how would he react? Istincltively she curled up on her bed bringing her knees up to her chin and her hands around them, slowly rocking. It was almost eight in the afternoon. She knew that Van Helsing would be expecting her at diinner in no more than five minutes. But before she could even move he burst into her room, she immediately stood up with her head high to show no sign of weakness.

"What is it?" she enquired. "Are we going after Dracula now?" She didn't feel like even leaving the house with how ill she felt, but anything would be better than this.

" I am but you're not."

"What?! You can't just leave-"

"Oh yes I can! You're not going anywhere with that stomach bug of yours. I'll be fine on my own, I've managed ok so far." She couldn't believe it, he couldn't be doing this to her! So what if she was ill? He couldn't leave her here alone, that would be plain suicide.

"And no I'm not leaving you on your own. Carl is downstairs." Well that really reassured her. As brilliant as Carl was he was only as good as his gadgets and he hadn't been able to make another light source yet, the chemical balance had to be exactly right before it was used. Otherwise it would backfire.

"And what am I meant to do in the mean time while you are gone? Just sit and wait to see if you survive the bastard a third time?!" She was becoming hysterical. She couldn't sit back and watch someone else dear to her heart be torn away from her. He sighed and walked over to her, placing his hands on her shoulders, steadying her.

"Stop worrying, I told you I'll be fine. I should be back by tommorow morning."

"And if you're not?"

"Then I'm still kicking Dracula's ass ok?" She smirked.

"Just try to relax. Remember, I'll be fine." And with that he was gone. She mentally slapped herself. She was such a coward, she'd just had so many opportune moments to tell him, and she didn't. She fell back onto her bed. How long was she going to be able to hide that she was pregnant?