Chapter 14

She was in a cemetery. It was the one in her home village. The one that was on the other side of town opposite the old mansion. There were people around her. Some she recognised by name, others by face, and some she never even see before. They were all dressed in black dresses and suits, black hats and black veils that hid the women's' tear streaked faces. The people were weeping, one person especially loudly beside her. It was Catherine. She had a black handkerchief that she continuously dabbed her red eyes with. The people then ordered themselves in a line, leading up to an open casket coffin. The mourners walked by, saying goodbye and giving their condolences. When it was Catherine's turn to say goodbye, all she heard was a series of weeps that were apparently supposed to be words. Catherine hurried away and sat down on a nearby bench, one of many that were scattered between the rows of tombstones. When it was finally her turn, she walked up to the open coffin and peered down into the lifeless face of Amelia.
"No!" shouted Michelle. She sat up straight from the velvet couch she had been sleeping on. She had a dream. That was all. It wasn't a vision. It couldn't be, Michelle wouldn't believe it.
"Rough night?" Michelle turned and saw Dracula sitting in his armchair across from her. She caught her breath. She hadn't noticed him there before. Had he been watching her sleep, and for how long?
Michelle only remembered falling into sleep after Dracula told her the truth about Amelia. She was laid down to rest on a long fancy velvet red couch that matched everything else in the room.
"Bad dream." Michelle rubbed her forehead and her eyes. She wondered if once again they changed colour. "How long have I been asleep?"
"Eighteen hours. You're quite a sleeper." Dracula smiled. Eighteen hours? She was worse than Catherine.
"How? I never sleep that long." Michelle was sitting up now and she didn't know why this bothered her so much.
"Well, I myself find that couch particularly comfortable. It's not surprising that you think so too." Michelle watched Dracula rise from his chair and proceed to the door. He opened at and before he closed it behind him, he poked his head back in. "And don't try leaving. Not that you could. You food will be brought up later." Dracula closed the door and Michelle heard a clicking noise. The door was locked.
Michelle got up from the couch and tested the door handle. It was locked. She sighed and wandered over to a tall mirror that stretched up to room's ceiling. She tilted her head while looking into it, bored. What was she to do? She approached the mirror and gazed into her own eyes. No doubt, they were paler. It was a vision she had. Michele broke out into tears and collapsed onto the floor, sobbing and weeping.

She was alone in her bed, staring at the wooden ceiling. She couldn't sleep, something was unsettling. She looked to her side out the window, the moon was only over the mountains. It wasn't too late, but it was for a little five year old girl. She heard a knocking at the front door, then shuffling footsteps past her bedroom door. Her mother was also awake, and so was the late-night visitor. She heard the front door open, a deep voice in an unrecognisable accent, and then a scream. She got up from her bed, startled by the sudden noise. Her little feet tiptoed across the cool wooden floors. She pushed open her door only a little bit, so a crack was large enough for her eye to see through. There was a man at the doorway, her mother was raised off the floor by his strong grasp. She was gasping for breath. Her legs were kicking but to no avail, her arms hands were scratching at the strange man's arms, a desperate attempt for him to loosen his grip.
The eye peeking through the door opened wide in horror. The man was laughing, and he turned and left through the door, the little girl's mother still in his firm and relentless grip.
Amelia sat up, breathing hard. Her eyes were red, not as in sleepy. Literally red. Once she calmed they faded back to their normal colour. Nightmare. The same one as always. She would try not to think of the night her mother got kidnapped by Dracula, but it always haunted her dreams. She rubbed her eyes. Now fully awake. She looked beside her and saw Van Helsing sleeping peacefully, his wide rimmed hat pulled over his face to avoid distractions that might wake him. She smiled and got up. The sun was peaking over the forest trees, bathing the sky in pink and orange light. It was beautiful.
She went over to her horse and opened the pack full of food. She took out the container that was full of eggs and opened it. Egg yolk soaked all the cloths, eggshells floating on the top of the gooey substance. She took it back to the fire that was now almost gone. With her only useful hand, she placed three fresh logs atop the charred black ones, and waited for them to alight. It didn't take long.
She reopened the container and fished her finger around in it, looking for a full egg. She luckily found six eggs that weren't broken. Only three didn't survive the trip. She found a pan outside of Nikki's tent and decided to use it, hoping the girl wouldn't mind. She cracked all the eggs onto the pan and watched them sizzle. She heard a sigh and turned. Van Helsing was awake, sitting up. He smiled and without a word got up and wandered into the forest. Behind him. She didn't mind. He would be back soon enough.

Catherine woke in the morning to find Amelia cooking eggs on a pan over the fire. The flames were licking the underside of the pan, the eggs sizzling. Van Helsing was nowhere to be seen, but the sounds coming from the tent meant Nikki was awake.
Catherine sat up, pulling off her thin cover that hardly kept her warm in the night. Amelia looked up.
"Good morning, sleepyhead." she said. That was one of Catherine's only faults, sleeping in. It got her into trouble sometimes. She enjoyed her rest. She wondered why people couldn't appreciate that. Amelia went back to tending to the eggs.
Catherine scratched the back of her neck lazily as Nikki finally appeared out of the tent. The orange sunlight struck her face and it glowed nicely against her tanned skin.
Catherine didn't see people like this often. Nomads often came through the town with dark skin and tough faces, but they were a lot darker than this girl.
Catherine remembered a woman in the town with the same toned skin as this girl. She was beautiful herself, and admired by many men. Many of the woman had envied her. Catherine was too young to understand anything then. All she remembered really was a young little girl holding on to the beautiful lady's dress, afraid to get lost. Catherine smiled at the memory.
Amelia took the pan off the fire and laid it on the ground. The eggs were a nice golden colour. Catherine stood up and went over to the horse with the pack of food. She took out a half a loaf of bread, leftover from their last meal.
Before Catherine could unwrap the bread, a yell came through the trees of the forest. A roar was heard, and a gunfire made an echoing noise. The three girls at the camp opened their eyes wide, waiting for something else to happen. Another roar came through the forest, this time closer.
"Get my pack!" Amelia was yelling. Catherine didn't know what to do herself so she followed Amelia's orders. She raced to the horse, spooking it. Luckily it was tied or once again it would of bolted. Catherine untied the pack from the saddle and ran back to Amelia, who had her hand outstretched to Catherine, waiting for her pack, her eyes still focused on the depths of the forest.
When she got the pack she pulled out the silver stake and one of the pistols. She opened the box of bullets and loaded her gun with the delicate silver ones. She reached out the silver stake to Catherine, only to find she already had one poised and ready. Amelia tilted her head and smiled. She did a knowing laugh and removed her sword from its sheath at her side and placed it in her pack, filling in the empty sheath now with the silver stake.
Nikki had her bow ready and had three arrows knocked. She stood ready, focussing too on the forest. Everything was quiet for a moment, and then she could see a figure breaking through the forest trees.
Van Helsing ran into the field, he had his gun raised, and waving it, a sign to show it was empty. Amelia understood and threw him the case of bullets. He stopped running beside her and crammed the bullets into the gun. They waited there.
Then it came hurling out of the woods. A werewolf came charging towards them. It's fur was a light blonde, almost white. It's eye were a flaming red. Arrows flew and bullets were shot at it, but it was stealthy and dodged them with ease. It came closer and closer. An arrow hit it in the arm but it was no use, the arrows would only work if it hit the monster through the heart.
The monster halted, its gaze shooting back and forth between the four enemies before it. They had stopped shooting. They were pulling the trigger, but no bullets were coming out. The one with the bow had run out of arrows. They all had fear in their eyes, except the two in the middle. The one on the left was a man dressed in a completely black attire. He had a pistol raised but nothing was shooting from it. The girl dressed as if she had much wealth, and prepared for battle. She also had a pistol raised, but despite her pulling the trigger, it only made a faint clicking noise, signalling it was out of bullets.
The girl had an eerie aura about her. The monster's eagle eyes saw the red in hers'. The monster could sense it, she was hardly human. The others no longer bothered him, but the younger girl with the silver stake was still danger, although she held it with quivering fingers and hardly any determination in her eyes.
The two young girls and the man were no longer on the monster's mind. He was territorial, this land was his. He never minded the girl that lived in the tent on the crook of his valley, she never caused harm to him, and she was always armed with deadly weapons so she was very difficult to rid of. But the older newcomer female was a threat to his dominance. He was to rid of her before he feasted on the rest. He howled at the rising sun, catching his attackers off guard. It sounded more frightening in day, when the thought that you would be safe was now gone.
The werewolf lowered it's big shaggy head, bared it's teeth and growled. It was a frightening rumble. The monster leaped, and far. It's sharply clawed paws reaching for it's prey.
Amelia drew the stake from its sheath just as the monster landed on her. Her broken wrist hit the ground, causing less pain than expected, as the silver stake in her other hand was plunged deeply into the monster's chest.
Amelia's eyes went back to their normal hue of sky blue. They were both on the ground, the werewolf howling in pain and loss. Amelia was stuck underneath the heavy body. When the monster finally went limp, she pulled the stake out and the heavy, furry mass was pulled off her by Nikki and Van Helsing. Amelia relaxed. She was hoping not to come across another werewolf.
"You're a werewolf." accused Nikki, who was staring down at her, astonished. Amelia looked up at her, also astonished that the girl had figured it out. How?
Amelia looked down at her wrist, feeling no pain. The splint was broken, the small sticks snapped in half. It was no longer bruised, and it was bent at an angle that shouldn't of been possible if it was broken. She lifted her arm and flexed her wrist. It could manoeuvre amazingly well, even better than before she broke it. She looked up at Van Helsing, hoping for an answer for what happened.
Before he said anything though, the fur on the werewolf disintegrated, just like it did with her father. They watched patiently, waiting for the man who attacked them to be revealed. When his body was returned to it's normal human form, a middle aged man was revealed. He had light blonde hair, and a sturdy build. Van Helsing and Amelia looked up at Nikki in anger.
"Silverback! You let us stay on the property of Silverback? What were you thinking?" Van Helsing yelled at her. Nikki was taken aback. She didn't understand what was wrong. She knew the werewolf was here and it had done nothing to bring harm to her. She found him a peaceful werewolf, although she had never known his name until now.
"Well, I didn't think he would attack. He never attacked me before so I thought it would be safe." was Nikki's excuse. Amelia shook her head in disapproval. She got up and dusted herself off. She wiped off the blood on the stake and placed it back in her pack as she withdrew her sword and put it back in its original sheath. She then placed her hands on her hips.
"Don't you know who this werewolf is? It's the most famous of all. It's one of the only known free ones. It's the only one strong enough to resist falling into leagues with Dracula. You see that scar on his back?" Van Helsing pointed to the body, where on it's back a clear scar was visible running from the left shoulder to the right hip. "I did that, a few years ago. No doubt it attacked Amelia in fear of losing it's dominance!" Nikki held her breath. She didn't expect to know that Van Helsing also knew that Amelia was a werewolf. Nikki only found out when she saw Amelia's wrist support itself, for a werewolf has independent healing powers running through it's veins. Any minor wounds would disappear quickly. Apparently though Amelia didn't know this, because she was still staring in fascination at her wrist, testing its limits.
"Yes, she's a werewolf. Not a whole one yet, but by the next full moon her transformation will be complete." Van Helsing stated. Catherine was just standing by the horses through all this, just listening to the argument.
"I know she's a werewolf, I just didn't know that you knew." Nikki said, she had her arms wrapped around herself. She was clearly uncomfortable with the argument. Her first encounter with people in years and much of it is spent arguing.
"When did you find out?" Van Helsing asked. He thought he knew the answer but he wasn't sure.
"When I saw her wrist had healed itself. Werewolves have an independent healing power in them. It can cure minor wounds in an instant. Critical wounds take longer to heal, usually a day or so. Fatal wounds count on the natural remedies the body can perform, much like humans." Nikki knew this kind of stuff. Amelia was fascinated. She didn't seem upset like Van Helsing.
"We will no longer stay here. Who knows what else is lurking around out here." Van Helsing said. Catherine looked disappointed. Nikki understood though, and nodded her head.