A/N- And the countdown continues! Not including this one, only four more updates to go! Oh, and my kudos to Slinky_And_The_BloodyWands for naming this chapter!

Chapter 22- Bound and Gagged

Ria heard Isaac and Sara both sigh. She, for her part, was still lying on the stone floor—which was comfortably cool—with her eyes closed. She wasn't sleeping, but it just felt so good to pretend that she was. Finally, she felt a pair of hands shake her. With a groan, she opened her eyes to find Isaac staring down at her.

"We need to make sure the bond worked," he said, standing.

He held out a hand, and Ria took it, allowing the devil forger to pull her to her feet. She dusted her clothes off and nodded.

"So, I just give you an order?" she asked.

He nodded. Ria pursed her lips, trying to think of an order she could give that they could test. Sara looked between the two and groaned. Crossing her arms in front of her, she gave her head an aggravated shake.

"Why don't you just order him not to attack and kill Dracula?" she said.

Ria grinned sheepishly. "That only makes a whole world of sense. Good idea."

"And an obvious one," Sara snipped.

Ria rolled her eyes, turning back to Isaac. Isaac was staring at the spot where he thought Sara was, only with a stranger look on his face than the last time he had tried to see her. Ria arched a brow at him.

"What is it?"

He turned his eyes to her for a moment, only to put them back at the exact spot where Sara was standing.

"This is going to sound strange, I think," he said.

"What doesn't in this place?"

Isaac nodded once. "Given. Tell me, is that where Sara is standing?"

He pointed directly at the ghostly woman.

"Can you see me?" Sara asked.

He didn't answer, instead staring now at Ria. Ria nodded.

"Can you see her?" she voiced her ghostly friend's question aloud.

"Could you ask her to move somewhere else in the room, anywhere?" he asked.

"I can hear you, you know," Sara drawled, moving to stand directly on Isaac's left.

"She can hear you, even if you can't hear or see her, you know. She's moved. Why did you want her to move?" Ria asked.

"She's on my left, isn't she, Ria?"

Ria's eyes widened as she nodded. Isaac nodded slowly, taking a small, half-step to his right. Sara scoffed.

"I'm not a disease or anything," she hissed.

Ria thought it best not to relay that one. Instead, she stared at Isaac, willing him to answer.

"You know that feeling you get when you can feel someone standing behind you or beside you, even if you can't see them? Like when you're looking the other way?" Isaac asked.

Ria nodded.

"I can feel Sara like that. It feels like she's there, even though I can't see her."

"Weird," Ria drew out. "Does that mean the bond worked?"

"We still need a more solid test," Isaac responded.

"Sara came up with a good one. Isaac, I order you to not attack or kill Dracula…I also order you to not follow his orders...unless they are for the greater good of my mother or myself."

"That's not overly complicated at all," Sara muttered.

Isaac blinked at her. Apparently, he, like Ria, had not thought of this either. The two stood, staring at one another for a few moments, before Ria flapped her arms in a half-way I-don't-know move.

"What now?" she asked.

"Dracula would have to enter the room for us to test this order of yours," he said, drawling out "of yours."

"Wait! Did you feel anything like anger or anything when you said his name? Like you had to hunt him?"

Isaac shook his head. Ria smiled.

"That's a good sign, right?" Ria asked. Before Isaac answered, she turned to Sara and added, "Where is Dracula? Wasn't he with you?"

She nodded. "Yes, but he sensed Isaac in the room with you and thought it best that he wait outside. If you call for him, he'll probably hear you."

Ria turned towards the door behind Isaac. "Dracula! Dracula, I think it might be safe for you to enter the room!"

A moment later, the vampire appeared in a huff. With a theatric whirl of his cape, he sniffed the air lightly.

"I am never in danger from the likes of him," he said, indicating Isaac, who had a strange look on his face. It wasn't quite anger—which Ria thought it should have been after that snipe—but it wasn't quite reverence either.

"Whatever," she snapped, turning to Isaac. "Do you feel the need to attack him?"

The crimson-haired man shook his head. Dracula grinned, triumphantly.

"You did the bond, did you?" he asked, though it was still not quite a question.

"Obviously. My first, and standing, order was for him not to attack you…or to follow your orders unless it benefited my mother and myself. So don't get too cocky, Drac," Ria sneered while Dracula released a soft growl.

"Well, at least this proves that I was in the right. The lot of you ought to listen to me more often, shouldn't you?" he smirked.

Sara growled—not so softly—and actually stamped her foot. She strode forward, shoving a finger into Dracula's face.

"You pompous ass!" she yelled, and Dracula blinked in surprise.

Ria fought the surprised look bubbling to the surface. Sara's dainty voice really wasn't made for swearing, and Ria was sure she would never get used to hearing her friend curse. She then had to fight down the laugher she felt climbing up her throat. She eyed Isaac, who only seemed mildly surprised to see Sara.

"Whoa," he muttered, and Ria let out a tiny snort.

"I'm sorry you feel that way, my dear," he said, looking her right in the eye.

Sara pursed her lips and stepped back a pace or two. She looked abruptly to her right, trying to will the anger from her voice. When she looked back at the vampire king, the hatred of him was only slightly gone from her eyes.

"I'm sorry. I'm trying to be civil, and that wasn't very civil of me," she said.

"Apology accepted," Dracula grinned.

"I wasn't addressing you. I was talking to Ria."

Ria laughed. "No problem. Let's just not let the hatred get in the way of why we're here, okay?"

Sara nodded, smiling at her. Isaac's gaze was glued to Sara, watching her every movement. He opened his mouth several times, like he was about to say something, only to close it after a few moments. Finally, he said, "Sara."

Sara huffed. "Do not address me like you know me."

He blinked, confusion in his eyes. Ria was sure that he was thinking the same thing that she was. If he couldn't call her "Sara," what could he call her? Miss Trantoul? Ria shook her head, moving to stand in the middle of her three companions.

"I say we've wasted enough time in this room. Let's move on, shall we?" she asked, turning to Isaac.

"Finally, something I can really agree with," Dracula snipped. Ria ignored him.

"I will travel with you," Isaac said, answering Ria's unvoiced question.

"But…" and she let the sentence hang. Isaac smiled knowingly.

"My devils are more than capable of protecting your mother until we arrive. We're quite close to the coliseum, I believe," he said.

"Really? We're close?" Ria said, her heart lifting and falling all at the same time.

Close meant closer to saving her mother. Close also meant closer to facing Walter. And Ria was still pretty sure she wasn't quite ready to face off with the monster that had taken Sophy. Isaac nodded, but Dracula cut him off as he began to elaborate.

"We go upward. The way I'm assuming Isaac came to you, Adriana," he said, pointing up at the open passage.

"You know what they say about people who assume," Sara muttered.

Ria burst out laughing, causing both Isaac and Dracula to stare.

"What?" she asked. "Can't you see Sara anymore?"

Both shook their heads. Ria shrugged. "Okay. It wasn't important anyway."

Now Sara was laughing and Ria was trying to stop her giggles. They were pretty much over after she looked up and finally registered the distance between the stone landing and the floor on which she stood. She groaned. She had barely managed the platforms, and now this. The platform was well over her height…and over the height of most of those with her. But most of her companions had some sort of supernatural ability in their movement. She looked to Dracula.

"How in the hell am I getting up there? I'm not a monkey," she said.

"Can't you use your whip to get up there?" Dracula asked.

Ria rolled her eyes. "Nor am I Indiana Jones."

She knew that none of her companions knew of whom she was talking about, but she wasn't going explain. Dracula stared at her questioningly, as did Sara, but Isaac simply shook his head.

"If you get onto my back, I can teleport up to the ledge," he said.

Ria fought a blush that she couldn't explain and furrowed her brow, eyeing the horrid Chauve-Souris strapped to his back.

"Your spear…wouldn't it be in the way?" she asked.

"No, not really."

She eyed the ugly weapon with disgust written all over her face. Even just staring at it, Ria could almost hear the screams of all the innocents whose blood had forged it. She could see their faces, almost blank and drone-like, somehow still twisting and distorting with fear…like looking at people through a funhouse mirror. She shuddered.

"What's wrong?" Isaac asked as Sara approached Ria and put an arm around her shoulders.

"I don't want to touch that thing," Ria said, pointing to the weapon.

Isaac looked rather hurt by that remark, and Ria felt a little bad about having said it. But she wasn't going to lie. That weapon, to her, was an abomination. She wanted nothing to do with it. Isaac removed the spear from his back, muttered one strange word, and it vanished. Ria let out a little gasp of shock.

"What did you do with it?" she asked.

"I put it away. I'll retrieve it once I'm able to again," he said, putting his back to her. "Climb on."

Ria paused, waiting for some innuendo to follow. When none came, she stepped forward, awkwardly placing her hands on each of his shoulders. She paused, not quite sure what her next move should be.

"Well?" Isaac asked.

"Um…what do I do now? Do I hop up or something?"

"Oh, my…my son had this down by the time he was five!" Dracula snapped.

"Really? Is that the son you impersonated to get close to me? The one who's fought against you, like, three times now? The one who seems to just hate you?" Ria hissed back.

Dracula huffed but said nothing. Isaac shook his head.

"Yes, I'll lean down so you can reach, and you hop and put your legs around my waist," he said.

Ria nodded. Isaac did as he said he would and Ria hopped, nearly missing her mark. However, Isaac wrapped his arms around her legs just as she was about to slip off and caught her. Ria blushed again.

"The last time I did this, I was a lot younger and my father was alive," she said.

No one replied to that. Instead, Isaac cleared his throat and asked if she was ready to teleport. She did a quick check of herself, noting that she had indeed put her backpack purse back onto her back—she had no real memory of having done so—and that her whip and dagger were in place.

"Ready," she affirmed.

In a blink, she was on the ledge, and Isaac was placing her on her feet. She hadn't felt a thing. She looked down just as Dracula leapt up to join them. Sara was already with them.

"That was so strange. It didn't feel like…like anything," she murmured.

Isaac smiled. "Teleporting is easy once you master it. And mastering it means eliminating all the nasty feelings you can feel when you are just beginning to learn it."

Ria nodded. Dracula said nothing as he turned and led the way upward. The group found themselves in a hall of plain stone that was uninhabited. It was not long before they arrived at yet another wooden door. Dracula put a hand on the metal knob that looked more like a knocker and grinned arrogantly back at the rest of the group.

"Through this door is my former servant's, Orlox's, personal quarters. They are quite large, but the door we want is not far inside the area. In fact, all we must do is pass through a couple of halls and a staircase. Orlox is paranoid, so there will be creatures as soon as we enter," he said, pulling on the door.

"But—" Isaac began but stopped as Dracula rushed on ahead.

Ria looked up at him, arching a brow. However, Isaac did not continue nor seem to even notice. Sara and Ria exchanged a look of wondering, both simply shrugging as Isaac walked after Dracula. Ria lost no time in following, shutting the door behind them.

They passed through the typical dividing hall, as Ria had taken to calling them, colored by regal greens and blues with an arched ceiling. She watched as Dracula opened the door at the other end and stop, only to have Isaac collide with him. The other side of the door must have been very interesting, since Dracula seemed to have taken no notice of the collision. Ria glanced around to find the vampire king blocking the doorway, staring into the room beyond.

"This isn't right…" he muttered.

"I tried to mention it," Isaac said lazily. "Walter added a small section between the Gallery and Orlox's quarters. He filled it with creatures as well, no doubt."

Dracula whirled on the forgemaster. "Why did he do that?"

"It's all a part of his game for Adriana. He thought it would be more fun to send her through a heavily monster-infested region so close to her mother's whereabouts."

"Oh, yeah, that's a riot," Ria hissed.

"Nothing we can't handle, I'm sure," Sara said to her, although she herself did not sound convinced of this.

"What's it look like? I can't even see!" Ria snapped, pushing her way to the front and looking past Dracula.

What she saw beyond made her blanch and want to vomit. The entire room was made of gray, rough stonework. At the center of the room was a giant staircase—really, the only thing in the room—that reached skywards until, finally, it appeared to level off. The room itself was unornamented, and colder than most the other rooms had been. But it was not the staircase that had made Ria's face drain of all color. It was what occupied almost every stair upward.

Gaibons and slogras, alternating every other step, stood ready for their approach. She heard, from behind her, Isaac mutter another strange word. When she glanced behind, she saw that his spear had reappeared and it was in his hand.

"Oh my," Sara muttered.

"This…does not look like fun," Ria said.

She soon felt eyes upon her. When she glanced back at her companions, Dracula was staring at her with a bemused look on his features, while Isaac and Sara looked as if she had just said something utterly ridiculous.

"What?" she asked.

"What part of this, exactly, has been fun before now?" Dracula asked.

Ria blinked, then rolled her eyes. "It was an expression. Now, how are we going about this?"

She gestured to the gaibons and slogras, who had—thankfully—not yet noticed their presence. Dracula withdrew the sword he had somehow gained from within the folds of his cape, while Isaac poised his Chauve-Souris for attack. Ria sighed.

"I was afraid of that answer," she said, putting the Vampire Killer in one hand and her dagger in the other.

The group charged into the room, rousing the monsters almost into a frenzy. The first three monsters—two slogras and a gaibon—had been taken by surprise, and Ria, Isaac, and Dracula slew them easily. The others, however, learned quickly from their kin's mistake. Dracula had taken it upon himself to handle any and every gaibon that charged towards them, leaping into the air and slicing piece after piece off of them…sometimes managing to slice the blue demons right in two. Isaac had placed himself in front of Ria, taking down anything that dared attack her over the others. Somewhere at the back of her mind, Ria wondered if this defensive feeling he seemed to have taken was a side effect of the blood bond…then again, Isaac had a blood bond with Walter, and he felt no need to defend him. Maybe he just wanted to ensure that his interests made it safe and sound to defeating Walter.

Ria dodged an attacking slogra that had slipped past Isaac. She lashed out with the whip, knocking the monster's spear from its bony claws. She smiled, proud of herself, and ducked as the slogra began to swipe at her with it claws. She kicked out at its legs, managing on her third kick—how had she ever gotten as far as three was beyond her—to break the right leg, sending it flailing to the ground. She used the Vampire Killer and took its head, moving on.

There were no breaks between each battle as the group pushed itself onward and upward, and weariness was beginning to take over Ria's limbs. Her legs were growing wobbly and her hits with the whip were weakening. Noticing this, Isaac fell back to stand directly in front of her.

"Stick close," he said, stabbing a swooping gaibon through heart. It dropped like a bag of rocks and burst into flames.

"I'm okay!" Ria insisted, puffing out the words as she struck down a gaibon. She watched as Dracula took its head.

"You're tired, Adriana, and we're just now nearly halfway up this staircase. Stick close, let me take the force of these creatures while you rest for a little bit," Isaac said.

She wanted to argue, to tell him that she could keep going. But in truth, she didn't have the breath to. Instead, she growled, as much of one as she could muster, and nodded. The progress they had been making slowed with one of the team taking a break, but they kept moving on, nonetheless.

The fight and the monsters seemed to last forever, all the while Ria feeling stupidly helpless. Finally, she glanced up and saw the landing. She felt a swell of strength and stepped out from behind Isaac's protective back. In one swing, she managed to take the heads of two slogras, sending them into flames. However, she had missed the approaching gaibon, whose claws dug into her shoulders and lifted her off the ground.

She cried out in pain as she felt her own, hot blood flow down her arms. She kicked the air in vain, unable to raise either of her arms to attack.

"Ria!" Sara cried out.

Isaac had seen the gaibon grab her. With a snarl, he leapt into the air, swinging his spear upwards. The weapon connected, and the monster let go as the flames of death began to consume it. Isaac landed in a crouch on the staircase, catching Ria easily. She moaned in pain, closing her eyes. She didn't want to run the chance of seeing the wounds on her shoulders. She had never been particularly squeamish, but she had felt how deep the creatures claws had gone. She didn't think she could stand seeing such a wound, especially on herself.

"Adriana?" Isaac's voice sounded worried.

She blinked open her eyes and nodded. "I'm fine…just in pain."

Isaac nodded once, then looked up and found Dracula busy slicing more monsters to pieces.

"How close are we to having the monsters cleared?" he yelled to vampire.

Dracula sliced another gaibon in half and crushed—actually crushed—a slogra into near dust. He looked up and appeared to be taking a quick count.

"Six more monsters, up ahead, but there is a clearing through them, if you hurry," Dracula shouted back.

"Keep them busy, then. I have to heal Adriana!" Isaac said.

Isaac dashed through the tiny opening in the monsters, taking a couple of small wounds himself. However, he made it to the landing, where he laid Ria gently on the ground. She hissed when her shoulders made contact with the cold stone.

"Stay with me," Isaac said.

"I'm here," she groaned.

She felt dizzy with the blood loss and intense pain, but she didn't feel like she was dying or anything. Unless dizzy and in intense pain was a symptom of death…in that case, she was in some deep trouble.

"Ria! Ria, I'm here," Sara said, bending over her. The ghost woman turned to the forgemaster, her eyes wide in panic, "Heal her, Isaac! Heal her!"

"That's what I'm trying to do," he said, nothing in his voice to portray that he was surprised to hear or see Sara again.

He put each hand over each one of Ria's shoulders, muttering in another language. Ria groaned and hissed, her wounds suddenly feeling hot. Sara was whispering soothing things to her, while in the distance she could hear Dracula finishing up the monsters. A few moments and a little bit more pain later, Ria suddenly felt just fine. Isaac sat back as Dracula approached, not a speck of blood or guts on him. Isaac looked somewhat tired, like he had just got done lifting something really, really heavy, while Dracula looked…pumped. Ria almost expected the vampire king to start begging to do it again.

"I couldn't get rid of the scars, but everything else should be fine," Isaac finally managed to say. "How do you feel?"

"Great, actually. Not even tired anymore," she said.

"What the hell did you think you were doing?" Isaac said, jumping to his feet suddenly.

Ria started and blinked up at him. Even Sara and Dracula looked a tad bit confused.

"What are you talking about?" Ria asked, pushing herself to her feet.

"I told you to stay behind me!"

Ria grinned sheepishly. "Actually, if we want to get technical, you just said to stick close…nothing about staying behind you."

But Isaac seemed in no mood to brush this off with a grin. "You could have gotten yourself killed! You were exhausted, and, in being so, no match for those monsters!"

Ria knew her face had to be red, and it had nothing to do with embarrassment.

"I felt fine after a little while. I just didn't see the gaibon," she hissed.

"Because you were tired!"

"And why do you care? What, afraid that your precious Dracula won't make it back to his throne without me? Well, don't worry your little head, Isaac. I'm just fine now, thank you very much!"

Isaac's eyes widened, while Ria crossed her arms and looked away from him. There was silence for a moment. Finally, Dracula cleared his throat.

"If I could direct everyone's attention to the door in front of us," he said, gesturing forward.

The group turned and collectively groaned. The door was bright red, glowing, and had a very large skull on it. Ria rolled her eyes.

"What now?"

"I can't say for certain, but in my castle, a door like that always leads to something exceptionally bad," Dracula said.

"Well, then, what are we waiting for?" Ria said, bowing comically and gesturing Isaac and Dracula to go ahead. "After you."

End Notes: Okay, so there was a good deal more fighting in this chapter than I thought, so I've taken two parts off the end of it, and I'm moving them to the beginning of the next chapter. Which is good, because I think I'll need to rename the next one. I wasn't too crazy about its original title. Well, I hope you enjoyed! See you next chapter!