Thank you, guys! No more voting because I'm afraid a sudden flood of people will vote "fake" now that I've decided. But I'm actually really excited now! Read and review, s'il vous plait. And for those of you wondering, I'm not French, just learning it.

"Daphne!" I yelled, racing a mad, desperate dash for the stairs, the others chasing after me.

After what seemed like centuries, the all too familiar feeling of panic, terror, dread, and fear threatening to overwhelm me as I ran, I reached the staircase Daph had used.

Relief hit me like a wave as I saw her running down, pulling Lucien along with her. Then surprise struck as I saw what was chasing them.

"Daphne, behind you!"

"Yes, Freddie, I'm aware!" she snapped at me, trying to keep from screaming.

"Jump down!"

"Are you insane?!"

"No, jump," Duval agreed, running forward to catch my Daph when she did so.

Instead, she got Lucien to leap off. Duval caught him as the "vampire" lunged at Daphne.

She spun around, making a roundhouse kick. He slid back before her foot could reach his face, not seeming to move his feet, just sliding back, dark cape closed around him. He bared his fangs at her as she started running down the stairs again.

I sprinted up the steps, as did Duval.

"Go, Daphne!" I ordered once we were between her and the vampire.

She didn't seem to hear me but ran on anyways.

"Get away from her!" I shouted as the vampire stopped, turning to her as she ran down the last stairs. Would he leap down after her?

Instead, he raised his arms, his pale hands gripping the edges of his cloak, and wrapped it around himself. There was a blinding burst of red light and, once it cleared, all that was left was a bat, flying towards the top of the tower.

Talk about amateur. That has to be the cheesiest and most melodramatic vampire yet. I mean the special effects weren't THAT bad, but come ON! The whole grabbing the cape as you raise your arms to turn into a bat thing? Is this some old, black and white vampire movie?

"Are you all right?" Darian asked, eyes full of concern, brow furrowed.

"I'm fine," I assured him, turning to Lucien. "Are you hurt, Lucien?"

"Non, mademoiselle. Merci beaucoup…"

"Call me Daphne," I insisted with a smile.

Darian was pacing back and forth, speaking French rapidly, worrying over me.

"Darian, I'm fine! Really!"

He turned to me, eyes wide in disbelief.

"You can't be serious! You were just attacked…!"

"Please, I've been in situations much more frightening than that."

He stared at her, incredulous, and I chuckled inside. Duval wasn't use to Daph's unshakable fearlessness. Sure, she could be frightened, she could be terrified, especially if the menace threatened someone other than herself, but she was always calm and rational and acted quickly and logically. No monster, however terrifying, could make a lasting impact on her.

He shook off his surprise and I tried to not show my disappointment. Seeing the normally unflappable Duval lose his aplomb was something I relished. He rested a hand on each of Daphne's arms and I could feel my face turn red with fury as she looked up into his eyes, topaz blue eyes lost in his brown, unable to remember anything but him.

"But this was my fault. If all of you hadn't come to Notre Dame with me…"

"He's right, you know," I muttered once my face was normal again, my arms crossed as I frowned bitterly.

Duval winced, as if truly hurt by this comment. He's a good actor. Daph, apparently recalling my existence, turned to me with a scowl and glare.

"I have to make it up to you."

"That's really not necessary, Darian. We're used to being chased by monsters," I said with a teasing smile.

"Like, speak for yourself, man!" Shaggy disagreed.

Darian's eyes lit up with an idea.

"You can all stay at my chateau," he suggested.

"What? No!" Fred protested; everyone looked at him. "I mean…"

"We couldn't impose," I said, frowning.

"Please, Daphne," Darian said, lifting my chin up with a gentle touch that sent tingles to my heart, his chocolate eyes smothering my heart and making it skip a beat; all that existed was he. "If only to make me feel better about this whole thing…"

"Well…"

"Ah hem, I do not wish to interrupt, but zere iz still ze business of zat, zat, thing," Pierre said, aghast how we could be so calm and casual with a maniac, theatrical criminal, or vampire on the lose in his cathedral.

"Daphne, did you or Lucien ever actually come in contact with the 'vampire'? Did he ever even bump into something or push something or…?"

"No," I answered, shaking my head. "It's possible he was just a hologram or something, but… his eyes glowed in the shadows so there are probably lights hidden up there."

"Do you think he may still be?"

"Unlikely," Velma said. "You're little vampire is long gone by now. But we should probably go up there and search for clues."

"Velma, I promised Daph…"

"It's fine, Freddie. We should help, before whoever he is does any real damage."

"'E 'as already mangled a priceless painting."

Okay, I was thinking more along the lines of hurting PEOPLE but…

"Really?" I asked. "Which one?"

***

Nothing. We'd torn the bell tower apart and not a single clue. I couldn't remember the last time we'd looked for clues and even Velma hadn't stumbled upon something. We hadn't found anything that meant the vampire could've been a projection or hologram or something, but that didn't mean such a machine wasn't hidden there, or had been.

"See? Az I told you, mademoiselle," Pierre pointed out, reminding everyone of the painting as we passed it. He is just NOT gonna let that go is he? "It iz…"

I frowned, stopping in my tracks, as I stared at the painting. Had that been there before…?

There was another figure in the vampire painting. My heart sped up inexplicably, suddenly terrified, as I saw the long, fiery red hair, a color all too familiar…

Velma apparently had noticed the change in the painting, because she tried to pull me away from it. She glanced at Daphne, eyes begging me not to mention it. That was not helping the irrational way my heart was speeding up. Why didn't she want Daph to know? I mean sure her hair color was the same as the girl's in the painting, but…

"Hey, do you guys see that? Did you…?" Velma started, pointing to a stained glass window that she had already given us a lecture on.

"We know!" all of mystery inc. said simultaneously. Well, Scoob said "Re row!"

Velm just smiled.

***

Duval had convinced Daphne that we should stay at his undoubtedly ostentatious chateau. How he had succeeded was beyond me, even I could rarely convince Daph to do something she had decided was a bad idea. But she melted like putty in his hands. I'd never met anyone that could make Daphne Blake weak-kneed. Daphne! How in the world…?!

Daph suddenly jerked up, she paused her ipod and turned to me, blue topaz eyes wide.

"What am I going to wear?!" she asked as if this were the most crucial question on the planet.

"What?"

She scowled at my ignorance.

"For my date, Freddie!" she declared as if it would be blatantly obvious to even Shaggy. "It's supposed to be a 'surprise' and I don't have the slightest idea what to wear! We could be going dancing or on a picnic or…"

"Chill, Daph. Just ask Du-Darian when we get there," I shrugged, turning the wheel, glancing at the mirror to see why everyone else was being so quiet. Ah, Shag and Scoob were eating and Velma was completely into her book, totally lost to the world.

"Fred, the hotel's that way," Daph pointed out as we missed our turn.

Nice try, Freddie. You can't stall forever.

"Right," I said as I searched for a place to turn the mystery machine around.

***

The Duval's chateau was truly breathtaking. The massive estate was beautiful, simple yet intricate and elegant at the same time, the gardens were absolutely amazing, the bushes, trees, topiaries, and shrubberies all perfectly trimmed, they probably had every kind of flower, yet they were all organized and placed to make them all look so naturally and perfect where they were. The architecture of the chateau itself had also reminded me of Chambord.

Shaggy and Scooby stared in awe, jaws dropped, eyes wide and Velma not only looked up from her book, but closed it! Then again, she was fascinated by French architecture and, let's face it, anything that had at least one book about it. Fred was frowning.

We finally reached the end of the long drive and the mystery machine came to a stop. Freddie quickly got out, slamming his door bitterly, and went to the back to help unload the luggage.

Velma grabbed her bag, which had more books than clothes, and backpack, which had nothing but books. Shag just had a backpack that probably only had two baggy green t-shirts and two pairs of brown slacks. Scoob and Shag also had three coolers stuffed with Scooby snax, doggy bags, leftovers, condiments, and any food imaginable. Freddie and I each only had one suitcase. After all these years, I was a master at cramming as many clothes as possible into a suitcase. Oh, and I had another bag full of the clothes I had bought in Paris.

"Thanks, Freddie," I said as he slung my new clothes bag over his back.

He just nodded as he pulled his suitcase out and handed me mine.

"Velma, Shaggy, Scooby!" a warm, familiar, velvet voice greeted us.

Fred scowled as Darian walked down the steps.

"Fred," he said, dipping his head to him but walking to me. He smiled that mind numbing, breathtaking smile as his chocolate eyes glowed and melted my heart. "Daphne," he cooed, kissing each of my cheeks.

Freddie slammed the van's back door.

"Salut, Darian," I smiled back at him, his eyes making me forget everyone and everything else.

"Ah hem," a deep, rich, familiar voice coughed roughly, waking me from my trance. "Mind telling us where to put all of this?"

"Of course. Bernard will take them to your rooms."

The butler, a middle-aged Frenchman, collected our bags and placed them on a hotel-like luggage cart. I sent Shag and Scooby a look and they reluctantly put their food back in the mystery machine.

"Oh, and you're going to need these," Darian said, handing each of us maps of the Chateau. It was large enough to get lost in for days.

I glanced at the map. Our rooms, bathrooms, etc. were all labeled. Daphne and Velma would share a room and Duval's room was in an entirely different wing. My room was in the same hallway as hers. I guess I can live with that… I thought, grunting in reluctant acceptance.

"Freddie, are you coming?" Daphne's beautiful, clear, warm, flowing, enchanting, heart melting, sigh inducing, bell-like voice rang out from the door.

"Yeah, hang on," I said, sliding the map in my back pocket and grimacing as I saw that Duval was still next to Daph.