Chapter XVI

Orlok the Hideous

After the group had reunited they were on their way to the next room in the tower, which they were hoping would lead down, when they were interrupted by a now familiar voice.

"Seriously, where are you even going?" You can't find the place I'm taking you without me," Scarlet grumbled, flying in through a window.

"Well, technically we can, it'll just take us longer," Jonathan said pointedly.

"You have a valid point, moron. I'm also going to ignore it entirely."

"Are you ever going to stop calling me stupid?"

"Not in the foreseeable future, I don't think."

"You are just a pleasure to be around, you know that?" Jonathan grumbled sarcastically.

"In more than one way. But not until I can think dirty thoughts again without getting turned off."

"Don't remind me. You're outta here once Orlok's head implodes."

"Fine," Scarlet pouted, "Spoilsport. Although I do like the thought of his head imploding."

"Unfortunately, and I mean very unfortunately," Charlotte emphasized, "I'm pretty sure that there aren't any spells that actually do that."

"Then just create one! I thought that you were gifted!"

"To answer your question, creating a spell takes months of figuring out the right energy formula, weeks of planning, and days preparing if you want it done correctly. Even then, they can still take years to perfect. If you make a mistake, it's not a guarantee that you'll get a second chance. You might be trying to develop a hex that can open boxes. Possible disasters that could occur without calculating the balance of energy in that scenario could be that the spell would end up splitting you in half, thereby opening you up, causing a huge earthquake, opening a gorge, or even turning you inside out. But more to the point, how the hell do you know I'm gifted?"

"I'd tell you but you'd feel violated beyond your comprehension."

"Figures," Charlotte groaned, "but are we at least close to Orlok's quarters?"

"We're close enough. We just have to follow this hallway for a bit."

It was a little while before anyone said anything again. In that time they had taken a mechanized lift down to the lower levels of the tower, and continued down an adjoining hallway that sloped downward steeply. The castle's walls had a strange design here. The dull grey and black bricks were standard issue instead of the usual masonry. The overall atmosphere was quite gloomy.

They were traversing on such corridor when six armored skeletons wearing green armor flipped down from the ceiling with acrobatic precision. All of them carried a short sword in each hand. Maria was nearly paralyzed in trepidation, a position of which two skeletons took full advantage.

"Maria! Duck!"

Charlotte's voice barely snapped her out of her shock and she crouched down just in time to avoid having her head removed from her shoulders by the unforgiving swords the pair of offending skeletons carried.

Both skeletons landed nimbly and flipped around to face Maria again, but by this time, Alucard and Maria were standing on either side of her.

"You have to be more careful," Charlotte said irritably, not taking her eyes of the monster strafing around them, "Skeleton blazes are agile, and they don't hesitate for a second before going in for a kill."

"B-but those skulls!"

"I know you're afraid of skeletons, but you can't let your fear overcome you in these situations."

"Your friend makes an astute observation," Alucard agreed, fending off a blow as the other skeleton blaze leaped towards him and slashed down with both swords. It only succeeded in getting itself tossed into a wall before it landed. "It is important that you never let fear rule you. And even if you cannot overcome your fears, you must at the very least call for help instead of cowering.

Jonathan was trying his best to ward off both the skeleton that was attacking him and the one that was trying to approach Loretta. Balmung shattered both attacking parties into individual bones with one massive stroke.

Charlotte had her hands full. She had dealt with the first skeleton blaze easily enough with a blast of her powered up Raging Fire spell, which worked out particularly well when she saw a light shoot out of the skeleton's body and fly into her book of binding. Flipping through the book found her new spell.

"We just got 'speed up' back, Jonathan!" she called getting a thumbs up in approval as Jonathan avoided a combination attack from the skeletal assassin. The next skeleton was being much more cautious than the first. Charlotte didn't have enough energy to cast Explosion or Chain Lightning either, so she couldn't just go for a direct attack. She decided that she needed to use a different approach. Alucard had already disposed of the other skeleton that had threatened Maria and was rushing over towards her. As it happened, he was no longer needed, as Charlotte opened a large book, causing an armory's worth of weapons to burst forth from its pages and shred the last skeleton blaze. Pieces of bone littered the floor in macabre piles all around them. Maria shuddered and ran off a bit further ahead as to get away from the bones. Thinking it would catch her by surprise, a dogether materialized in front of her. It failed disastrously.

"You again? I thought I—whatever, doesn't matter. Doves of the Heart!"

Her spectral doves spiraled up around her and assaulted the cyclopean creature repeatedly until it seemed to melt and evaporate, just like the once she had defeated previously.

The monsters in the area just seemed to love their punishment, considering that an alura une blossomed out of the bricks in front of her. She never even got around to whipping Maria with her roots. And Maria didn't even attack.

"I am in no mood!" she growled furiously, "And put a shirt on you skank!"

The dryad-like creature gaped at her.

"You're so mean!" she sobbed before disappearing back into her flower.

"Well now that our terrifying reincarnation has saved us all that trouble, let's get going," Scarlet commanded.

Who died and made you the boss?" Jonathan asked her sarcastically.

"Nobody," Scarlet cooed seductively, "but that can be arranged," she brought a clawed fingernail up to his throat. Before she could even trace her nail along his jaw line she collapsed and began retching.

"Okay, lead the way Scarlet," Charlotte went to help the sickened demon to her feet.

"We keep going this way then we turn. There's a guard posted nearby so be careful."

"Shouldn't be a problem," Jonathan smirked. He turned a corner, coming face to face, or more accurately, face to chest, with a psychotic-looking minotaur. Its eyes were bloodshot, it was hyperventilating and it was frothing at the mouth.

"You've had your shots right?" Scarlet asked.

"Don't tell me…" Jonathan groaned.

"Oh don't worry, it doesn't have rabies."

"Oh, well that's a plus I guess."

"No, it's much worse than that."

"Okay, what's his problem then?"

"Demon rabies. If he bites you, and he will, you'll have between five and ten seconds to think coherently before you start drooling and biting your friends."

"Fabulous," Jonathan groaned, "Charlotte, barbeque it."

"Sure. Explosion!"

The bullheaded creature went up in flames for a few moments before becoming visible again. Its red skin was now black, and the froth from its mouth had mostly evaporated.

"Let's not take any chances," Jonathan said, more to himself than anyone. He raised his sword and beheaded it. It didn't bleed. Not normally at least. From the lethal wound sprang not blood, but coppery smelling red gas.

"Charlotte, you may have overcooked him, his blood had evaporated."

"I can see that."

"Doesn't matter, we're just about at Orlok's quarters. Once we go through this door we take a staircase down and go through the door at the end of it. He should be there bragging to his friends about how powerful he is."

"He has friends?" Charlotte gasped incredulously.

"Not really, just a swarm of rats that enjoy his fetid stench. He thinks that he understands what they're saying by their squeaks. I can actually tell what they're saying because of a few demonic studies that I did before I hit puberty. They think he was dropped on his head as a young child. Repeatedly."

"I wouldn't be surprised if that really were the case," Jonathan chuckled, "I mean Charlotte burned him to a crisp and electrocuted him and he managed to think I was casting even though the magical energy was manifesting itself around her."

"Sounds just like him."

They proceeded through the now unguarded door and walked down the long spiral staircase.

"Aren't we right under…?" Jonathan muttered to himself nervously.

"What was that, Jonathan," Charlotte asked.

"Nothing. Don't worry about it," Jonathan said evasively.

"Come on Charlotte," Stella giggled, "If it's going through his head, it probably isn't worth knowing. Or it's obvious."

Charlotte looked puzzled for a moment before responding.

"You're probably right."

Jonathan sighed in resignation.

"Believe whatever you want."

"I will thank you," Stella giggled cheekily.

They came to the bottom of the stairs, facing a huge ornately decorated door.

"Here we are," Scarlet said contemptuously, "through this door is the single most spineless, pathetic bastard to ever defile Earth, Heaven, or Hell. Let's kill him."

"Agreed," Charlotte said viciously. She proceeded by making the door explode.

"Vaht are you doing!" Orlok shouted, springing up clumsily from his easy chair in the middle of the room and glaring at Jonathan, "How dare you vahndalize my chamber you wretched boy!" he was still dressed in the ragged brown trench coat and his face was as ugly as it had been the first time they met. The room they were in was huge, with a high ceiling and two rows of pillars that stretched to meet arches in the ceiling. Two extra pillars also reached between the rows up to the chamber ceiling, designed to look like they spiraled down from rthe center of the arches they stood beneath. The hunters currently stood in an area cut away from the wall that more like an afterthought in the architecture than an actual part of the chamber.

"I'm the caster here you misogynistic bastard!" Charlotte roared.

"No voman can cast magics! How dare you qvestion my eenteligence!"

"Miss Aulin, I'm afraid that I'll have to ask you to give up on convincing him," Alucard grumbled, "This senile old fool lacks the mental capacity required for reasonable thought."

"How dare you call me senile, eenfant!"

"Uh, you do realize you've said 'how dare you,' like, three times in the past thirty seconds, right?" Stella asked with a raised eyebrow.

"As a voman you have no right to qvestion me. Learn your place!"

"Wow, how far has his dementia reached?" Loretta asked pityingly.

"Take a guess," Stella suggested sarcastically.

"You eensolent brats!" Orlok snarled, an air of righteous anger sweeping over him, "I see now that I must teach you a lesson in respecting your betters."

"Okay, if we meet any opponent who's better than us, we'll be sure to show him the proper respect," Stella agreed daringly, "Although I can't see anyone here worthy of any such thing."

"Audacious vench! I shall keell you!"

"Audacious what?" Scarlet smirked at Orlok provocatively, "Audacious bench? Audacious wrench? Your accent is too thick to understand."

"Vhy vould you say such a theeng dahrleeng?"

"I'm not in love with you dammit, you disgusting troglodyte! You don't know anything about magic at all! That 'charm' you put on me makes your face appear on anyone I try to seduce! It's been a nightmare! And now, I'm coming to collect. Me and the witch here will be immolating you in a moment. I just want you to know who was killing you."

"How cood you possibly find somevone as handsome as myself deesgusteeng?"

"Because you're not handsome: you're probably the most hideous creature I've ever laid eyes on," Scarlet fumed.

"Vhy vould you lie to me so blatantly, love?"

"You braindead idiot! Get it through your thick skull that I despise you with every fiber of my being! You make me sick! And putting that 'charm' on me was your signature for your death warrant!"

"Maria," Alucard said with a rare smile, "about one hundred and fifty years ago, I actually cut this vampire into six pieces. Can you believe that he doesn't remember me?"

"Well actually, based on his behavior, I'd be surprised if he did."

"Well said."

"I do not understand your deeslike of me, my dahrleeng," Orlok observed with genuine befuddlement.

"Let me put this in a way that you might partially understand," Scarlet hissed. She held her breath and rushed up to him and slashed him in the throat with one hand and impaled in with the other.

"Who are you really, for you certainly are not my beloved?"

"Someone, just kill me. Alucard, whatever it was you did to finish off my aunt, just do it to me right now."

Alucard didn't actually do anything, but he was surprised by her apparent death wish.

"You know what, Orlok? I'll try that again, however I'll make it more painful this time. Of course since women apparently can't cast magic, this'll probably be lost on you, but I still want to hurt you."

Scarlet spread her wings and held her hands out in front of her.

"Bloody Pleasure!"

Two thick jets of blood shot forth from Scarlet's hands, one blasting him in the stomach and the other engulfing his mouth and nose, effectively waterboarding him. Slowly, Orlok collapsed to his hands and knees. About a minute later, the jets stopped, and Orlok got to his feet, glaring furiously not at Scarlet, but Jonathan.

"That ees the last straw you fooleesh boy!" Orlok roared, "Prepare to die!"

"Bring it on, Count Idiot!" Scarlet giggled maliciously.

Maria summoned her doves and Alucard rushed forward, his heirloom sword drawn. She immediately sent them after Orlok as Alucard slashed at him viciously.

Scarlet continued to cast blood magic as Charlotte flipped through a variety of spells. Jonathan opted to use the Undead Killer Whip.

Stella decided to draw herself away from the fight and search for the swords mentioned by Geist. Searching the walls for a symbol of good fortune while Loretta covered her.

"Piercing Beam!" Charlotte shouted, a huge ray of light bursting forth from her hand and burning Orlok who shrieked in pain upon contact with the positive energy. Of course this prompted him to attack Jonathan, rather than his real attacker. Which was twice as much of a folly considering that he couldn't even get close to Jonathan without getting lashed by the Undead Killer.

"Thees ees tiresome! I shall use much greater power now!"

With that, Orlok transformed into a swarm of bats and began flying around the chamber. Despite the apparent harmlessness of the maneuver, it was anything but. The bats opened their moths and began firing bolts of unholy energy in every direction. Everyone except for the Lecarde sisters scrambled to take cover behind the numerous pillars in the room. Regrouping into his humanoid form, Orlok charged at Jonathan and slashed him in the arm before transforming into a swarm of bats. Charlotte however took that opportunity to charge a spell.

"Chain Lightning!" Charlotte declared her spell confidently. A bolt of lightning hit one of the bats and Orlok was about to gloat at Jonathan's incompetent casting when the lightning bolt continued from the first bat, on to a second and then a third, hitting each bat in his body's swarm until he lay in a steaming pile with the rest of them, and was forced to revert to his human form.

"You are fools to theenk that you can defeat me!" he said smugly, even as he patted out a small fire that had erupted on his trench coat. His hands then were engulfed by thick clouds of darkness. He shakily began to float in the air, with several bats flying down from the ceiling to follow him like a tattered cloak. He aimed his arms at Alucard and shot a barrage of negative energy at him. Alucard deftly avoided the attack and slashed Orlok several times. Scarlet noticed that his back was turned to her and snatched the opportunity to cast a spell on herself.

"Claws of Blood!"

Her hands turned to crimson talons as she leaped up and slashed at Orlok, laughing as he yelped in pain.

Meanwhile, Stella finally found what she was looking for: Three 7s engraved on the wall above a dragon's head. Its mouth was open, like it was waiting to have something offered to it.

"That seems like a lucky sign enough for me," she chirped lightly.

If this is anything like the ones in the previous castle, I'll need to deposit seven hundred and seventy seven dollars to pass through here. I think…"

"You may as well try it, sister," Loretta encouraged, "We've earned a lot of money from killing monsters in the castle."

"True. So should we just place the coins in here?" Stella asked, pointing at the dragon's mouth.

"That is what it looks like."

"Alright, let's do it."

Stella tossed the necessary Castlvanian coins into the statue's mouth and watched with satisfaction as the wall vanished before their eyes revealing a short hallway.

"Shall we?" Stella asked.

"Do you think that they can handle him on their own?" Loretta returned worriedly.

"They seem to be doing fine," Stella confirmed, watching as Jonathan snagged his whip around Orlok's neck.

"Let's end this!" he smirked.

He gave the whip a sharp tug, and the vampire's neck broke with a sickening crunch.

Charlotte ran up to the vampire's body and kicked him sharply in the head. Orlok didn't react.

"He's dead," she said cheerfully.

"I wouldn't be so sure," Alucard said warily, cautiously approaching the body, "Vampires tend to have an internal defense mechanism."

"That's right," Jonathan observed recalling his and Charlotte's battle against Dracula. He had transformed into a giant demon, "Oh, so is that what was happening when you transformed into that gargoyle thing?"

"More or less."

"How dare you attack me, you fooleesh humans!"

"Not good!" Jonathan shouted as the supposedly dead body of Count Orlok lurched to its feet. He, Charlotte and Scarlet managed to move out of the way as the grotesque Count's flesh seemed to boil.

Orlok began to grow taller, increasing in size by over two-and-a-half meters, and his mutating skin began to take on a sickly bright green color. Five-inch claws sprouted from his gnarled fingers and his head began to resemble a creature that might have come into being if someone crossed a human with a toad. That is if the toad had several rows of razor sharp teeth.

While the other three companions who had been standing close to Orlok had had managed to get out of the way, Alucard wasn't so lucky. The beast that Orlok had become raised a massive clawed hand and sent Alucard flying head first into a wall, knocking him out instantly.

"Alucard! Are you alr—" Maria mad a move as if to try and run up to check on Alucard but Orlok lurched forward and blocked her, forcing her back a few paces to avoid getting swatted. She summoned her doves again and sent them after the grotesque creature, but getting no results.

"This is bad."

"Stella, what are these?" Loretta asked looking in awe at the pair of swords in the pedestal at the far end of the hallway.

"Those are some fascinating weapons, I can tell you that," the older sister responded, taking in the majesty of the swords. One was a pale green, the color of the first leaves of springtime, and even in its inactive state, it seemed as though it was cutting through the air and drawing in the wind. The second was a stunning golden sword that was thrilling Stella just to look at. It had a pair of rubies encrusted in its hilt, the first at the base of the pommel and the second in its guard that separated the hilt from the blade.

"Well, let's try these out," Stella said with poise, stepping up to the pedestal, "What are you two called anyway?" she searched for anything that might provide a hint, quickly finding a pair of inscriptions in front of the swords.

In front of the green sword was written:

I am the wind that buffets your enemies, that blows the tempests of battle in your favor.

Valmanway

And before the golden sword:

I am the luck that your enemies lack, that gives you the advantage in battle.

Joyeuse

"Let's see how well these new toys work."

Jonathan dug into his bag for the Vampire Killer.

'I'd really rather not us this, but I'm thinking that I'm going to need this if I don't want to die right here.'

He dashed towards Orlok and swung the whip with all his might. The abomination roared but didn't even recoil.

"How much punishment can he take?" he gasped incredulously, "He might have been a raving lunatic but he's a lot more powerful than we gave him credit—Urgh!" Orlok swatted him into one of the two centered pillars that were placed between the two main rows of columns. Which is when he noticed something that he found very interesting.

"What did we miss?" Stella shouted from an adjacent hallway that he hadn't noticed earlier.

"Where have you been! Look what's happened while you decided to go running off on your own!" Jonathan shouted, pointing at the gangly form Orlok had taken.

"What the hell is that monstrosity?"

"It's Orlok! He transformed into it just before we killed him," Charlotte groaned, "Well actually, we thought we had already killed him and then he transformed into the Creature From the Black Lagoon."

"Well, I think I can take him a little more seriously now that he isn't quite as ugly."

"I agree, it is an improvement," Scarlet said appraisingly, nodding slowly.

Orlok lurched towards the three girls and swiped at them, sending them flying backwards just in time for Loretta to emerge from the hallway that Stella had come from.

"Sister are you alright?" she yelped before realizing that Stella hadn't taken any lasting damage.

"I'm fine, but keep your distance. You're not going take too well to an attack like that."

"Understood!"

Stella leaped to her feet and disappeared for a few moments before reappearing behind Orlok.

"Secret Strike! Furious Wave!"

Instead of producing a gale, Valmanway unleashed a blast of air that was nothing short of a hurricane. The creature held its arms up over its face and was pushed back a few yards, but seemed otherwise unharmed.

"What the hell!" Stella shouted in outrage, "That could have killed an elephant! How is he still standing?"

"I've used all of my spells against him at last once," Charlotte grumbled, "We're hurting him, but only marginally. Maria's been able to distract him with her doves from time to time, but she's not able to do much either. She doesn't want to use her dragon because she's worried it'll be hurt more than Orlok if it bites him. And honestly I wouldn't be surprised."

"How's Alucard doing?" Loretta asked, wondering why Charlotte hadn't mentioned him.

"He was taken by surprise and was knocked out."

"Well, I can safely say that we are all dead meat," Stella, snarled in frustration.

Charlotte ran over to Jonathan who was lashing out furiously at Orlok with the Vampire Killer, "Get your knives ready!"

"What? Oh! I'm ready when you are."

"Good. Let's get some range on it," Charlotte rushed to the other side of the chamber, Jonathan in tow.

"Dual Crush! Thousand Blades!" they shouted in unison, throwing a barrage of knives through Charlotte's spell, multiplying them tenfold, and hitting Orlok doing minimal damage, not even eliciting a roar from the grotesque creature. It did however turn to face them and began approaching them at a steady pace.

Charlotte refused to hesitate for a second before casting again.

"Piercing Beam!"

No effect.

"Summon Medusa!"

Orlok didn't stop moving.

"Charlotte?" Jonathan worriedly tried interrupting her.

"Explosion!"

No visible signs of major discomfort.

"Charlotte! Calm down!" Jonathan ordered, grabbing her by the arms, "You're just going to end up hurting yourself!"

"I-I just can't figure it out! How can we even beat this thing? It's invincible!" Charlotte cried in anguish. The strength in her legs left her and she slid to the floor in defeat. This was all too much for her, both physically and mentally.

"Wait a minute…" Jonathan muttered. "We went around in a circle to get here didn't we? From the gallery where Camilla told us that the tower would collapse on, we'd have had to go in a circle to get from there to here. We're definitely directly under that room, there're no other possibilities! I've worked it all out!"

"But how does that help us?" Charlotte asked wearily.

"Well, the Ruined Gallery wasn't architecturally sound. It's precariously delicate."

"And!"

"Haven't you noticed Char? Look at the pillars in this room! See those two sticking out there. All the rest are perfectly aligned with each other, but those two are closer to each other and they're clearly not aligned with the rest of them. Because they're still aligned with each other, a casual observer would still think they're part of the overall artistic structure, but when ugly over there knocked me into that pillar, I noticed that it was actually thicker than the other one. And that means that those two pillars are like the keystones supporting this room! Even if we destroyed all the other pillars in here, the ceiling would be severely strained, but it would still hold. But if we take down even one of those, the entire tower will come down on top of us! And the best part is that the entrance of this room is part of the tunnels and isn't part of the tower structure!"

The soundness of his plan hit her like a train and her jaw dropped.

"Wait do you mean that if we hide beneath the overhang and hit one of those pillars with a few explosions, the whole tower will collapse, killing him and saving us? And you figured that out on your own?"

"Yeah. Nothing too special about it."

Charlotte's throat dried up.

"That's utterly ingenious!"

"Really? Thanks! I never thought I'd ever hear you say that to me."

"You're fun and you're brilliant! Where have you been hiding that intellect from me for all these years?"

"I just studied what interested me."

"Jonathan, you're an architectural genius!"

"Not nearly! I still only understand the basics. What I just explained is the only bit of the more complex stuff that I can remember regularly."

"I, uh…I know that I said this a while back, but I really mean it this time."

"Huh?" Jonathan responded obliviously. Before he could try to elaborate on whatever he might have been thinking, Charlotte stood op on her toes and pressed her lips against his, silencing whatever he might have been about to say, as well as most of his brain activity. He was too stunned even to kiss her back. For nearly a minute she explored the inside of his mouth with her tongue. When did she learn to kiss like that? Had she been seeing a guy he didn't know about? Something about that possibility irked him and he was beginning to figure out why. All too soon she broke away. She was blushing, but was still beaming radiantly. Until a terrible thought crossed her mind; "I really hope you don't still think of me like your kid sister, because if you do, I just did something that could get me sent to Hell with no hope of redemption in the eyes of most Roman Catholic authorities. And would definitely get me disowned by my extremely orthodox family."

Jonathan shook his head.

"You already told me you loved me. Not to mention that I had to drastically readjust my viewpoint on our relationship the moment I saw that outfit on you."

"That can easily be misunderstood…what are you saying though?"

Jonathan blanched.

"…I don't really know. I'm having a lot of trouble figuring that out."

"By the way, I apologize for the awful kiss."

"No, that was…incredible…especially for your first."

Charlotte blushed furiously, "Th-that wasn't–it was just—!…" she stammered a few more times before her ego deflated from the pressure, "Okay it was."

Jonathan released a breath he hadn't realized he was holding, "I would have enjoyed it more, but Orlok's getting way too close for comfort and if we don't kill him–I mean it– now, we won't get another chance."

Charlotte blinked and looked away for a moment. She took a breath and ran a hand through her hair, calming herself down before she gathered up her resolve and extended her hand up towards her partner, "Right. Help me up."

"You got it," Jonathan took her hand and pulled her to her feet. She had the Book of Binding open to Explosion immediately.

"Time to bring on the pain ratface!"

"Oh, Hell…what'd I miss?" Scarlet lifted her head from the ground groggily.

"A lot, but the ugly green freak over there is about to die horribly."

"Oh, thank gods…I can't stand having to think of that…that…thing whenever I think anything sexual." Oddly enough it was Jonathan who noticed what was off about that statement first.

"Wait, you just said 'thank gods.' Isn't that like mortal blasphemy for a demon like you?"

"Keyword: gods. I can pray to all the pagan gods I want! As long as I don't offer up a prayer to any of the Holy Trinity, Allah or…how do you pronounce the Jewish name for God? It's spelled, Yuud Hay Vavv Hay…so why am I thinking Adonai?…whatever."

"Suit yourself," Charlotte mused, "Alright, time to die Slimeball!"

"Explosion!"

The blast hit the thicker of the two pillars, destroying it entirely, and for a moment nothing seemed to happen. Then they heard something groan.

"Everyone, under here, quick!" Jonathan demanded, grabbing Charlotte's arm and practically dragging her under the ledge. Stella, Loretta and Maria followed his lead, and Scarlet dived for cover as a chunk of rock nearly fell on her.

There was the grating sound of stone against stone but the groaning of the strained structural support was quickly drowning it out. There was a loud crash as the tower above them began to topple inwards upon itself. More chunks of stone began falling from the high ceiling, and were soon followed by bricks and mortar. And then all hell broke loose, the ceiling caved in on itself and they could see what little remained of the gallery, tumbling into the room. Then Maria screamed.

"Alucard! He's not with us!"

"What!" Jonathan gasped, how's that even—Oh God…I forgot, he got knocked out by Orlok just after he transformed!"

"No! We have to help him!" she got up and made to run back into the chamber, but Charlotte grabbed her, hooking her own arms under Maria's.

"No way, you'll get yourself killed if you try looking for him now! I don't want to explain to your mom and dad that you died in a collapsing building trying to rescue what they'll think was an imaginary friend."

The stones continued falling and by this point were nearly cutting them off from the rest of the chamber.

"I can't just leave—"

"You can't help him now!"

"Alucard!"

"He's already dead!"

"No!"

They heard the monster that was Orlok roar in agony as he was buffeted entire sections of wall from the tower's wreckage. Or maybe they were parts of the floors. Gears and various mechanical devices tumbled from the already huge, and still growing hole in the ceiling. He continued roaring until there was a sickening crunch. And then the only noise was the sound of the remains of the tower continuing to fall.

"He's dead…Alucard's dead…" Maria sobbed.

"The irony kind of leaves a bad taste in my mouth. How could you guys have killed him by accident where my aunt failed despite her best efforts? Cruel world…"

"You really aren't helping, you jerk," Stella scolded the succubus.

The last of the rocks fell into the chamber and the dust finally settled. Sending a fine mist blowing through the spaces between the rubble.

"Well, at least that S.O.B. Orlok is dead."

"But so is Alucard…" Maria choked as bile filled her mouth.

Someone coughed from behind them.

"…Ungh…Not just…yet…" They all turned around in stunned silence as they saw what they had thought was dust reforming into Alucard's body, slumped against the wall.

Nobody said anything. They all just stared, mouths agape at the dhampir and his uncanny survival.

The pressure finally took its toll on Maria and she fainted in Charlotte's arms, her head lolling forward from her restrained position and her legs giving out from under her, forcing her captor to struggle to lower her to the floor gently before she slid out of her grasp.

"How did you survive that?" Stella asked, completely flabbergasted, "An entire building collapsed on top of you!"

"I do not…think it is essential…for me to explain myself."

Loretta gave him a pointed look, "My sister's question is perfectly valid, Alucard. We don't really care how important it is, it's just that your survival of this incident has to be the most unlikely thing that we've ever seen happen."

"More like the most unlikely thing that has ever happened in general," Stella chided.

"Besides, this knowledge could come in handy later on," Loretta finished.

"I am alive. The details are…not necessary."

"Look, he'll never tell you, so I think that I will," Scarlet drawled, "You see, vampires can take on a variety of shapes to move around undetected. These forms aren't restricted to living creatures either; I've already seen that he can turn into a bat, and from what I know, it isn't much harder to turn into a wolf. What he did to escape being killed by the wreckage was transform into either a cloud of mist or a cloud of smoke."

Alucard remained silent.

"I'm actually kind of impressed. Even for full-blooded vampires, the form of mist is one of the trickier morphing abilities. Considering that he's only half-vampire, he's got to be much more powerful than he's let on."

Still, Alucard said nothing.

"Anyway," Scarlet continued in a suspiciously conversational tone of voice, "all this commotion has really distracted me from the most important part of this: Orlok's dead! Which means I can't see his face in my head whenever I'm thinking my usual dirty thoughts anymore! Thank gods, or rather, Charlotte, because you're the reason for his flattened head." She hugged Charlotte in an uncomfortable show of affection. By the way, now that I've got all my powers back, Round Three will be coming up next time we see each other."

"I look forward to turning you into toast again."

"And I look forward to doing unspeakable things to your body now that I can."

"Like you could even get that close."

"You keep thinking that," Scarlet quipped in semi-encouragement.

"We'll settle this later after we've finished our job, alright," Charlotte said, rolling her eyes.

"Deal! So, who's up for a five-way?"

Nobody responded.

"What if I sign a demonic contract not to suck out any of your souls at any time?"

Jonathan slowly began raising his hand, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible until he felt something clamp around his arm. He turned his head to face his unknown attacker and was rather surprised.

He'd never realized how strong Charlotte's grip was. Her face was almost completely calm, but there was something in her eyes that radiated an aura of doom. Between the extremely painful hold on his arm and the terrifying look in her eyes, he was beginning to fear for his life.

"Lower the arm, or trust me; you will never reproduce."

The implication behind her words clear, Jonathan obediently sat in the corner of the room and awaited orders.

Several minutes after the group had left Orlok's chamber, a figure carrying an elegant sword encrusted with a blood ruby materialized on top of the rubble, pushing a great deal of it aside easily, revealing the broken body of Count Orlok, barely alive at all. The figure slid the sword into Orlok's body, relishing the crucified shriek of a soul being agonizingly ripped from its body. He then withdrew the sword, picked the vampire's body up and vanished, the only trace of his being there the displaced rubble.

Author's Note: I think that this is the longest chapter so far. Just by a bit, but still, I'm happy! So, who liked this chapter? Was Orlok appropriately annoying? Was Scarlet's second last scene amusing? Well, leave a review and let me know.

The Armory:

Stella's Weapons:

Valmanway – The Legendary Sword of the Sky that allows its wielder to control the wind. Its name means Blessed Wings.

Joyeuse – An elegant sword cut from a single huge diamond and coated entirely with gold. It was forged by fairies and it blesses its wielder with good luck. It costs $92,002,740,000.00 on the market in the outside world. Funny how someone would just leave it lying around while exploring a monster infested castle. Heh heh…Not so lucky for him anymore though.