1Chapter 21

"So, now where?" asked Catherine. Amelia told her to be quiet. Van Helsing and Amelia listened to their surroundings. Catherine did it too and although she couldn't hear anything, Amelia clearly did. They were in a corridor lit by torches on the wall. To the left was the entrance door, and to the surrounding walls there were doors and stairs that lead all throughout the gigantic castle.
Amelia beckoned with her hand for her colleagues to follow and they did, towards a door to their right that stood out among all the others. Van Helsing opened the door to find another hall, with a staircase at the end. They ran towards it and climbed. The climbing and running through halls continued until they reached a beautifully decorated corridor, with a wide staircase leading up still, and at the end of the corridor was a fancy door. A red rug poked out from the bottom of the door.

Michelle was sitting cross-legged on the red rug. Narumi was whimpering at her sister's dead body not far away. It had been an hour now that Chelsea was murdered, and not much had happened. Dracula didn't return, there was no sound of Chipeº, and the sun had disappeared over the mountains, blanketing the sky in a purple blue hue. The first stars were coming out, glistening brightly.
Michelle got up when she heard a commotion in the corridor.

"So now where?" asked Catherine. She had her hands on her hips and she watched as Amelia looked up and down the corridor and up the stairs.
"Is that all you do? Ask quest-" Amelia stopped. She started breathing heavily, like no air could get into her lungs. She began shaking. She knelt down to control herself. Van Helsing grabbed Catherine by the arm and pulled her away from her sister, down the corridor.
"What's happening?" asked Catherine. She knew what was happening, but she wanted somebody to tell her she was wrong. Van Helsing started to run when Amelia tilted her head up and her eyes were a burning red. Her face was wild, hardly recognisable. Catherine screamed and let Van Helsing pull her towards the intricate door. He placed his hand on the door knob but it was locked.
By now Amelia was mutating. The cloths at her shoulders and legs were ripping. Her skin on her bare arms and legs appeared to be falling away, like when a dog sheds. Brown fur began to grow on her limbs. Catherine couldn't bear to look at her sister any longer. She turned to see Van Helsing struggling with the door.
"Hurry up!" screamed Catherine. Van Helsing removed a pocket-knife with blades on it that Catherine had never seen before. He flipped one out and jammed it in the keyhole. He turned it gently and the door opened. The two of them didn't even look to see who was in the room before they got in and hurriedly slammed the door shut behind them.

Amelia screamed in pain. Through her red eyes she saw Van Helsing and Catherine disappear behind the intricate door. Amelia was thrown backwards by the invisible force inside her. She hit the stone wall behind her. Her clothes were torn, bits of them lay scattered along the corridor. A burst of pain hit her again and she wanted to scream, but it came out as a howl. She held out her hand and saw a furry paw with long killer claws.
She suspected it was the pain that made her mind go numb. It felt like something else, something monstrous, was controlling her without her permission. She felt violated. But she couldn't control it. She felt like she was having an outer body experience, and then her mind and sight went blank. The last thing she saw was herself running blind towards the door with the red rug poking out.

"Lock the door and get away from it!" yelled Van Helsing to Catherine, who had just shut the door. She put her hand on the knob but found it already locked. They were locked in. Van Helsing pulled her to the side, and Catherine saw Michelle standing there in the middle of the floor. Behind her was a teenage girl, holding a younger one, who by the look of the wound on her throat, was dead. Catherine screamed though when the door shook violently, like something heavy on the other side had slammed up against it.

Dracula came hurrying down the stairs towards the corridor with the red room. While descending the stairs he saw the white rug of the corridor torn and a painting on the wall tilted and the frame cracked. He gasped and hurried on. Someone was ruining his magnificent castle.
When he reached the bottom of the stairs he was indeed shocked to see the one thing he feared. A large brown werewolf was slamming itself up against the door of the red room, where he had his hostages.
Dracula's gasp was heard from the werewolf and it turned and spotted new prey. It ignored the door and lunged at the man on the other end of the corridor. Dracula, putting his mind back into focus, turned into his Vampire form at the sighting of oncoming danger. His wings flexed, knocking up against the stone walls. He would be unable to fly properly here. There wasn't enough room.
The werewolf reached Dracula before he could respond and grabbed him by the midsection and slammed him into the wall. The wings crumpled but Dracula was able to kick the viscous werewolf off of him. The vampire readied himself and lunged at the werewolf who was rising from the white carpet.
The werewolf was thrown down the staircase from the sudden force of the impact. It latched onto the vampire with it's teeth though around the arm. The vampire shrieked and they both tumbled heavily down the staircase onto the next landing. Here there was more room to manoeuvre and once they landed, the werewolf kept his grip on the vampire's arm.
Dracula shrieked and spread his wings. He lifted into the air and kicked the werewolf in the muzzle with his hooked clawed foot. The werewolf let go and jumped high into the air onto Dracula's back. The werewolf bit one of the wings and the vampire spiralled down towards the stone ground. The werewolf dug it's back claws into the vampire's back and watched it bleed.
Dracula hit the ground with the werewolf on top of him. Dracula rolled over and dug his sharp claws around the werewolf's neck. The werewolf was attempting to bite down on Dracula's throat but to no avail. The werewolf clawed at Dracula and with one of his long claws he scraped him across the face, from brow to bottom lip. The vampire put one of his hands to his face to see how much damage was done. The blood was flooding one eye, to make his sight only half as well.
The werewolf wrapped its own furry clawed hand around Dracula's neck and roared into his face. The werewolf got up and lifted Dracula into the air and squeezed his neck. Dracula was losing air, making him weaker. He would still live, but he needed air like all mortals for his strength to renew itself.
Dracula let his grip on his enemy's neck waver just for a moment, but it was enough for the werewolf to throw the vampire across the hall and hit the corner in a heap. Dracula rose and flung himself into the air to attempt escape. But once again the werewolf followed and jumped into the air and slammed Dracula into the wall. The werewolf took his chance and bit the vampire's throat. Blood began streaming out around the werewolf's teeth.
The werewolf let go and fell to the ground. He looked up to see the dieing Dracula sliding down the wall, leaving threads of blood stains. Dracula was trying to stop the flow of blood coming put of the veins in his neck but it didn't work.
Dracula's tough vampire body was wavering, and turning brittle. The skin was disappearing and turning to ash, the bones disintegrated and the remains of flesh dried up and crumpled into a heap on the floor. Dracula was gone. The shrieks from his brides were heard coming from the floors above.