A/N: This chapter is long and it introduces all the back story but I've gotta get all the boring stuff out of the way so we can get to the action in Chapter 2! This chapter will also give us more backstory on Julius' trip to visit Dracula's castle in 1999. We'll also learn how he got into the magical structure. I use real life locations and did research to combine facts with fiction just for fun!
Chapter -1-
Justus Lupus
Great Britain, an hour later…
"I feel sick, mom." The young man's voice sounded almost boyish in nature. It was obvious that he didn't feel well but his face was painfully pale, as well. Justus Bell casually draped the backside of his right hand across his own forehead, feeling for a temperature. His throat hurt, his stomach ached and his abs felt tight. Oddly enough, his jaw throbbed horribly and he had a painfully horrid headache that seemed to be hurting most on the central top left and top right part of his head.
His lower spine was pounding and his ankles were swollen. His mother looked the nineteen year old boy over, shaking her head with a sigh. "Your father wouldn't have been pleased."
"Do you think I would help it if I could?" Justus asked, gawking at her. "You act like you know what's wrong with me and I should have the power to fix it. Do we have any Advil or something? I really feel like hell."
"Language, Mister Bell. I won't have you swearing to your mother, mister." She folded her arms and tried to look stern but seeing him like this really tore her apart. "Yes, your father had this problem too. Your Great Uncle knew how to cure this bane but we were all hoping that this blight wouldn't have been passed on to you."
"Bane? Blight?" Confusion marred the masculine features of the youth. Sandy tresses framed his face, one of the few members of his bloodline to have light facial features. "My father had this problem? What do I do? Should we see a doctor or can I just get some aspirin and sleep it off?" His normally gray eyes were now an odd coloration of the most brilliant amber. His mother recognized the symptoms.
"I'll call Julius and see if there's a way to stop this. But I'll warn you now," she told her son. "Your Great Uncle is a little out there, in left field. He managed to cure your father and the sickness never came back."
"The sickness?" Justus glared at her in his state of incomprehension. He stood only a few feet from his mother in the middle of the kitchen. Sunlight poured in through the kitchen window above the stove and brightly illuminated the cheery little setting. Justus Bell, however, felt horrible. "I've never met my Great Uncle Julius. Dad said he was a little crazy in the head but that he should still be respected."
"That pretty much sums it up," said Justus' mother, Tina. Mrs. Tina Bell was a widow of four years, raising her teenager alone after her husband, Simon Bell, was killed in an automobile accident in South Romania on a Real Estate business trip. Tina shook her head slowly then said, "Your father had a genetic sickness that only affects one out of every ten percent of possible offspring. However, the gene stays dormant and we thought you would be a carrier but not actually have to go through this."
Justus snapped, "Go through what? I'm just coming down with the flu or something," turning for the pantry where the counter medication could be found. He swung the Formica cabinet wide then snatched a bottle of Pepto and a bottle of Advil. "I'm achy and my stomach hurts. What in the world are you talking about, mom?"
Tina closed her hands into fists, holding back the tears that began to well up inside of her. "Your eyes are brownish yellow," she replied in a soft, almost empathetic tone.
"Huh?" Justus quirked a brow at her. She couldn't even scold him at this point. "They're as gray as a cloudy sky, mom. Maybe it's just the angle and the lighting," he added without thinking any more into the situation. Young Bell turned to the fridge and took out a pitcher with Tea in it. A moue of disgust crept across his face. "You know I hate when you make iced tea."
"I'm American," she grumbled defensively. "I can't help it that you and your father like your tea hot. I like it cold and I don't plan on changing. If you don't like it, drink water from the tap," Tina replied, ending on a sigh. "I'll call Julius, you take the Advil and Pepto then lay down on the living room sofa. Try to sleep it off, all right? Maybe you're right and you are coming down with the flu but either way, you need to rest."
She walked out of the kitchen and into her bedroom. Once the door was shut, she took her cellular telephone from her purse and picked up a beige address book that was lying on a desk adjacent to the bed. After looking up the contact information for Julius Belmont, she began to dial the number.
It rang… twice. A third time… but then a gruff voice answered on the other end of the line. "Yes?"
"Julius," said Tina, not sure if she felt relief or worry. "This is Simon's Wife. Tina, remember?"
"Yes," Julius replied quietly. "One doesn't forget a family member who changes their surname from 'Belmont' to 'Bell' …but I don't hold it against you. I'm surprised you called. Is everything all right?"
Tina's voice seemed a bit weak at first but she knew she had to tell the man. "Justus' eyes turned and he is feeling the physical ailments of the change that Simon was experiencing. Can you help him the way you helped Simon?"
"The cure is only a temporary fix but with enough of it, he can make pills like Simon did," Julius said on the other line. "Maybe they can do something more modern like a vaccination." The older man still had an iron-strong tone of voice but she could tell that he had aged a great deal since they last spoke at Simon's funeral. "But the weed that it's made from only grows one season a year, like Hyacinth. I would have to travel to the Moravian Hills to find it but we won't see it again until late March."
"It's happening now, Julius," Tina said, clinching her left hand into a fist once more. She shifted the cellphone from her right ear to her left, clutching it between her ear and left shoulder. "Julius, is there anywhere we can find it? What should I do with him? He's in pain. You remember Justus... He's the kind of boy who could take a baseball to the face and finish playing the rest of the game. For him to want pain killers really surprises me."
"I do remember that he has quite the tolerance to pain," Julius mused on the other end of the line. "He's only one-third the blood of a Belmont but he certainly has the upper body strength and endurance of my own Grandfather. I'll tell you what, Tina."
"Yes?" She sat down on the bed, switching the phone back to her right ear while using her free hand to push her hair over the opposite shoulder. Those light brown locks tumbled down her left cheek, cascading over the front of her chest.
"I'll come and visit you. I can be there by ten tomorrow morning," said Julius. "Don't worry. I should be able to help him but he might learn about the transformation at least once before we can find the medicine. The thing is, I need him to travel to Romania with me because I'm not quite the young man I once was. And, of course, you know if he changes completely… then I have to release him to the wild until the cycle ends."
"…I know," said Tina, distress evident in her tone of voice. "He doesn't even know."
"Well, it's not like it's his fault that my half-brother married one of those things," Julius said with a reluctant sigh. "I'm going to go and purchase my tickets. I'll be in on the first Delta Airlines flight that I can get. Just sit tight."
"Should I tell him everything?" Tina asked.
Julius sighed over the line. His gruff voice softened only slightly. "It might be a little awkward, considering that Simon never really went into details about it to his own ...wife. If things would be easier, just wait until I arrive. Who knows, maybe I'll get lucky and find a flight with an opening that leaves tonight. I'll call you at this number when I arrive in town. My proper English is a little rusty, having spent the last few years between The Czech Republic and Japan."
"Your English sounds fine to me," Tina replied. "I'll await your phone call, Julius. Thank you for coming so soon. Justus is a bright boy and I want to see him attend a nice University, down in London. I don't want to see him stalking the streets, scratching for fleas."
"Are you sure that's what he's having?" Julius asked. "The likelihood of having the exact same symptoms as Simon is very slim. Either way, I see you're determined for his health so I'll call you back when I'm in town." He ended the call and Tina took a moment to glance at the phone before flipping the top shut and lying back across her bed. Had she only known that she'd married a werewolf before she was pregnant, she might have thought twice about the marriage in the first place.
"Nineteen years too late, now," Tina told herself. "He's going to hate his Great Grandmother's blood, that's for sure."
Eighteen Hours Later…
Tina Bell's cell phone rang. She answered it, glancing at the clock. It was 9:45 am. Julius was on the other line and responded to her weary-sounding greeting with his firm, too-masculine voice. "I'm standing in line at the Car Rental booth. I'll be up there in thirty minutes, if traffic permits. It's rather incredible – the cost of Petrol, here."
Tina sat up in bed, rubbing her face with the backside of her left hand. "Remember, Julius: Other side of the road, here in England. I'll see you when you arrive. I take it you still remember the way by heart?" she asked.
"It was right off of the main road, on the Northbound side. Third house on the left with the gray roof and double chimney," he said.
"Good memory, old man," Tina said in a partially jesting voice. It was her way of showing that she felt some measure of relief that he came to England to try and help Justus with the situation. She then added, "Justus is growing worse. His eyes are vertical-slit and yellowish, now. He's also complaining that his lower back is hurting."
"Hmm," Julius frowned. Belmont decided that the progression came rather rapidly and offered a sigh over the line. "His tail should be coming in very soon. What about his jaw, any pain there?"
"Tremendous pain; he was complaining of that just last night. I hate that this is happening to him," she said, her tone of voice growing thin and full of worry once more. "Why couldn't I have a normal marriage with a white picket fence; a teacher or police bobby, maybe… why did I have to fall in love with a man who turned into a goddamn animal?"
"I did some genealogy research, last night, Tina." Julius suddenly paused. The line sounded scratchy and muffled as if he'd put his hand over the cellphone for a moment. She could vaguely make out his voice in the background and assumed that he made it to the front of the line of his rental car agency. The muffled speech lasted just a few more moments then his voice returned. "All right, I'm picking up my vehicle now and I'll be there shortly. Anyway, there is a chance that Justus will be able to learn how to control this at times. Normally this should have occurred at puberty but with Justus and Simon, the Belmont Blood probably kept the bane at bay for a while longer. I'll explain what I know upon arrival. Until then," he concluded and immediately disconnected the line before she could say anything further.
…Approximately fifty-five minutes later…
Julius and Justus sat on the living room sofa, side by side. "The werewolf blood ties in here with Cornell. And this is Juste, the man you were named after. Now, back to these two," Julius said, placing his finger on the mother and father of Christopher Belmont. Between Julius and Justus sat a rather splendid looking book of the Belmont Family. "And this is why the Belmont Line is so close in ties to the Belnades family. Trevor and Sypha gave way to Christopher. Although Trevor and Sypha came together, her brother continued the Belnades family name. It continues today and the two families have crossed paths on and off for seven hundred years."
Justus tilted his head. "The family names have survived that long and can be traced back that far… and both still survive?" He looked a bit surprised. Although it wasn't like "Smith" had originated from one person, either.
"Yes," Julius mused thoughtfully, adding, "Yoko Belnades is the latest sorceress descendent of Sypha, but you won't see me following in Trevor's footsteps with her. Now, I've traced your lineage back towards Cornell, so it's rather ironic that you have a piece of that bloodline. Cornell also sought to defeat Dracula, like many Belmonts and Belnades, and now you have a bit of all three in your blood, which makes me wonder what your future lot in life may be. You're lucky; if my father hadn't had an illegitimate child, my half brother, then Simon wouldn't have had a father."
"Maybe I should fight vampires, Uncle J. You going to teach me how to throw knives and snap a whip?" Justus, while ill, was able to afford a meager grin before returning his gaze to the genealogical records that were photocopied for this lesson. "All right, so now I vaguely understand a blood-history fairy tale. How do we reverse or suppress this change until I learn to control it?"
"Without the plant needed to make the suppression medication," Julius mused, closing the book firmly, "We have no choice but to head to where it grows and see if we can't secure a stockpile in dry storage by one of the shop owners in the area. It's used as a cooking spice for very rare but very special delicacies in the gourmet world, in the Romanian Culture. But I'm getting a bit too old to go wondering Romania by myself anymore so I invite your company. I don't invite people often, so consider this a special occasion."
"Seriously?" Justus blinked rapidly. "I'm sick as a dog but I think I can manage for a chance to check out something outside of England. I've never even left the country before. I'll have to get a passport."
The old man shook his head slowly; brown tresses framed his aging face. "Sick as a dog… you have no idea just how close that expression works for you right now. Although, you're far from an actual dog; a werewolf isn't something to be taken very lightly. This is a learning experience but," Julius shook his head again then added, "While I invite your company, I do expect you to recognize that I'm a serious man. I don't have time to baby sit. It's not what I do. It'll be two grown men, each pulling their own weight. Understood?"
Justus nodded slowly. "I'm not a ward; I won't slow things down. When do we leave?"
"I'll speak with your mother. But the fact of the matter is… The sooner the better," Julius replied earnestly. "It may be the crucial key to your rapid recovery. There's only one problem: No matter how sick you are and how much you hurt, you'll be walking a lot. Okay?"
"Sounds fine. I don't want this pain and if you tell me that I'm turning into a dog," Justus mused, tapping his chin. "I'd better walk, if I want to dance at my wedding with someone normal."
Julius narrowed his eyes then said, "It's becoming a werewolf. You need to take this seriously, Justus. At any rate, it won't take over your life, per say, but it will make a social life rather difficult. There have only been a handful of people since Cornell, himself, who have had this problem. While he had it, he was the only one who had control over it but it required rigorous training. After that, he sacrificed his powers in an attempt to help a little girl; his foster family member. It was quite a surprise to find out that his great granddaughter became a werewolf… he wasn't around to teach her how to deal with it and she became an outcast. She married into royalty somehow and the Prince loved her enough that he used his money to pay people to look the other way. It became far more complicated two or three generations later when it surfaced again."
He paused then glanced down, reaching the fingers of his right hand to slide through the soft auburn and brown mixed hair. There were a few gray strands and his mustache was thinning out but he looked damn good for the age of sixty-four. "I don't even want to think about Cornell's parents, a full blood human and full blood werewolf… It seems taboo to even imagine the joining and I don't have a lot of information for that branch of the family tree. Your father was a half-werewolf, so we assumed that Simon's offspring had nothing to worry about. I guess you got unlucky, Justus."
"Guess I did," Justus grumbled softly. "Go talk to mom and I'll go pack. I want to see a place like Romania; that would be awesome. But I don't believe in all that crap, like Dracula, and stuff like that. Anyway, whatever I'm sick with, I'm willing to try something natural out in another country if I had to."
"You won't find it before the first change occurs," old man Belmont replied with a sigh. "But we'll deal with that if it happens. So, let's get things going. Like you said," Julius mused softly. "Go pack and I'll speak with your mother."
The conversation between Julius and Tina Bell didn't last long. It was another hour before the two men were ready and Julius was escorting Justus to the Rental Car. Julius was prepared to answer questions about Lycanthrope but Justus didn't seem to be in the mood to ask at the moment. The old man kept his hands tight on the wheel as the two drove towards the airport. "I'm sure you must have questions about zoanthropy or the transformation of the therianthropy status, Justus." Belmont cast a side-glance at the younger male. Justus Bell stayed silent.
Continuing, Belmont tilted his head but still kept a strangely tight grip upon the wheel. "You seemed eager or, rather, quite willing to go …up until this point," Julius added, shaking his head just slightly.
"I don't feel very good," the boy admitted, sourly. "A trip to Romania is something interesting, of course, but when my body aches and whatnot… at least this badly, I guarantee you wouldn't be in the mood to talk or travel either. …Anyhow."
"It's just because this is close to your first transformation," Julius replied. "The moon will be full tomorrow. Once that happens, your change will happen for that first time, against your will. You won't lose your consciousness or become an insane, frenzied beast," Belmont continued to explain. "However, you'll be seen as quite the menace to society until you learn how to change back at will. That and you have to keep your temper in check."
"Does it always hurt before a full moon?" Justus asked softly. "And why do I have to keep my temper in check when I change?"
"You only feel this kind of pain during the first or second time, from what I understand of it," Julius mused in a thoughtful tone of voice, easing into the accelerator… "I've not been back in that part of the world for a few years, you know. And as far as your temper? If you frenzy and fall into an instinctual temper tantrum, you'll do more harm than good." The old man paused then glanced over at the boy.
"I've heard rumors about you, as well," Justus replied. "If you'll pardon me, once we get onto the airplane, I plan to take a nap and try to sleep off this constant joint-ache. All right?"
The elder Belmont nodded slowly then added, "As you will; I'm doing this as a favor and because I want a stout young man at my side in that country. You'll see why once we arrive."
"Whatever." Justus' grumbled word was followed by silence. That silence would remain for the rest of the night. Even Julius found himself fairly surprised that a young man had so very little to say but he could empathize. He may have had strange and extraordinary abilities but having fought for his life in 1999 and battled an intense concentration of evil in the mid 2030's, Julius was no stranger to body aches and physical pain.
After securing a passport, the two had arrived at the airport and the plane left as scheduled. Hardly a word was spoken in that time and it remained that way until an hour after the landing in Romania when the two checked into a hotel in the west end of Transylvania. The town area had developed into the fine beginnings of a metropolitan city and, regardless of the immense empty space to the southeast of the city limits, Transylvania was quite the bustling region anymore.
The Capital City, Cluj-Napoca had obviously prospered beyond a simple, historical and cultured town area. Lavish twin spires filled the eastern skyline and a majestic soirée of skyscrapers, all shapes and sizes, held the western sky. And yet, beyond the city walls, Transylvania was more urban than the legends painted. Most of the province had become an extension of city and town with the suburban districts stretching far and wide.
This city wasn't nearly as old fashion as Sibiu. A pamphlet at the Hotel's lobby showed that city on the cover of the folded paper. Sibiu, at the center of the city, held a gothic style theme in its buildings. The pictures were beautiful and Justus felt drawn to them just glancing over the paper photographs.
Many of those buildings had scaffolding surrounding them. The obvious signs of repair and restoration efforts did well to show that the government cared for the heritage and history there. It wasn't as fancy as another pamphlet for Bucharest, to the west, but the city did hold a fair amount of charm that London lacked in the eyes of an Englishman. The sights of such things as St. Michaels Cathedral held the skyline of Cluj-Napoca, however. Justus felt captivated.
From what Julius mentioned, upon approaching the Transylvania borders, Romanian fields were as earthy as could be described. While Cluj-Napoca was fairly close to the center of Romania, further south still had sections of unpopulated earth. The landscape seemed to bare little or no transition. From the far end of the horizon, one could see the majestic concrete jungle, while at the other end, things were rural beyond expectation. Rolling hills and the majestic Carpathian Mountains filled the distant eastern skyline while the valley flat was more towards the south and southeast.
It was on these very grounds that the forests and valleys of Wallachia once existed. It was in this area that Julius and his family members were so strangely drawn many times over. And yet now, everything seemed peaceful. As the sun began to sink into the horizon opposite of the Mountains, their snow-topped peaks began to glow orange in the last vestiges of evening sunlight. As darkness swept the valley east of Transylvania... the Carpathian range, or what one could see of it from such a vantage point, was sparkling at the visible crest.
The orange crown slowly faded until it, too, was swallowed by the evening. The night before a full moon, Justus found himself in utter pain. He soaked in the hotel-room bathtub for hours on end and yet it brought only minor relief. Once night came, Justus and Julius began to do their best to settle in. Tomorrow, they would begin a camping adventure to the southeast of Transylvania. Besides Justus' pain, only one small detail worried Julius Belmont...
The local newspaper mentioned an odd Solar Eclipse which occurred the day before yesterday. Julius recalled the climatic moments in 1999 when he banished Dracula and his entire castle into a Solar Eclipse. The fact that the castle reappeared in Japan during a Solar Eclipse just about a decade ago caused Julius to double take at the thought of an unscheduled Solar Eclipse. Julius Belmont didn't want to begin connecting dots but part of the reason he wanted to come here in the first place had something to do with that Eclipse.
The elderly man knew he had to investigate as soon as he'd heard of the occurrence and the ulterior motive in bringing Justus Bell brought him no guilt. The fact of the matter was that he wanted someone like Justus on this trip and the possibility of curing the boy seemed a perfect alibi. After all, who got on a plane, flew to London then personally brought out a family member to a place like this, after only meeting the kid two or three times in the past? Tina's call provided Julius with the perfect travel companion at the perfect time.
Julius wasn't the type of guy to manipulate a situation for his benefit but certainly killing two birds with one stone seemed practical. Straight forward and practical was often Julius' way of living. He didn't like drama but finding a family member to which he could pass on his whip? That was a fairly important task as the old man grew closer to death by age. Giving the Vampire Killer to a werewolf, however, would be awkward. In the end, Julius decided that Justus would simply be a candidate worthy of testing.
The town of Bran would be the first start but a seasoned professional like Julius Belmont knew that wasn't the real location. Castle Bran, built in 1377, was as notorious as the stakes at the base of Timpa Hill where many rumors of impaling began in the mid 1400's. Finally they would continue on to Poenari Castle, where Julius was able to locate a portal to the true location of Dracula's Castle, forty-five years ago.
According to Julius, it was rumored to be a special, almost futuristic metallic chamber put into place by Prince Mihnea, one of Vlad Dracula's children. The remains of Poenari Castle were originally constructed in 1459 by Turkish Prisoners. The remains of the castle were embedded into the rock in the Argus Valley. Julius explained that it would be a 1500 stair climb to reach the top and that he wished for Justus to feel rested before they arrived. The two continued to speak of this in the hotel room, but Justus Bell did more listening than reciprocating conversation.
Julius wasn't the kind of man to ramble on, however. He was simply explaining things to Justus on a need-to-know basis. Justus wasn't feeling well enough to ask why they would be visiting Bran or Poenari Castle on the Arges River but he had a feeling that the old man was here to check on things so that he could feel comfortable knowing that everything seemed in order. All of that suited Justus just fine, so long as they were able to cure this new ailment.
"So is Dracula really the stuff of video games, movies and novels?" Justus asked, lying on the bed, trying to spread out on his back.
"He's not a count," Julius explained. "He's a Prince. He was killed and buried near Bucharest, on an island. In 1935, his body was exhumed and… let's just say that was a foolish thing to do because Dracula's castle made another appearance during the Second World War. But the body found in '35 was without a head because Dracula's head was removed at death and given as a trophy to a Turkish Sultan.
What most people didn't know was that the Turkish Sultan wanted the head of Dracula to try and assume the Prince's power. The head was able to project an astral form and Vlad Tepes Dracula, continued to walk the Earth. No one realized that defeating Dracula over and over had no effect. It wasn't until I had obtained the skull in 1998, took it to Dracula's Castle the following year and locked both him and his castle into a Solar Eclipse… But then some foreign exchange student, in Japan, named Soma Cruz was born as the reincarnation of Dracula."
"So Dracula's spirit finally transferred from the skull to a human being?" Justus was lying still, trying not to let the pain get to him. The clouds in the evening sky, which passed over the nearly full moon, provided some measure of relief for some reason but his body still ached horribly.
"I'm surprised," Julius suddenly said. "I just told you that I personally fought and defeated a vampire who is centuries upon centuries old… And your next question says to me that you believe it whole heartedly."
"Mom said you were a little weird," Justus admitted. "But I was just told I'm about to become a werewolf and my eyes have changed to allow better vision at night and my body is hurting in strange places. Who the hell am I to argue that you had a fight with someone who has been dead for a long time?"
"I just want to ensure he's gone before the year 2476," Julius replied with a shrug. "Story book villains tend to become bent on world domination right around that thousand-year mark. The future of the Belmont Line should not have to worry about the resurrection of someone like Dracula."
Justus couldn't even bring himself to shrug in return. He just lay there, on his back. "Theoretically speaking, shouldn't there be some sort of balance of Good and Evil? No matter who you kill, someone takes his or her place to keep the balance of nature, law and order."
"Well…" The old man shifted his weight down upon the other bed, looking over Justus with a sigh. "Dracula has been the Belmont Family specialty for generations. He comes back; we drive him back to Torpor. If he still exists, he's plotting revenge right now. Either way, he's been banished to a Solar Eclipse. I believe he's gone."
"Great. So you wanna visit his place to make sure?" Justus asked. "Are we fixing my dilemma before or after your personal business is complete?"
"We're killing two birds with one stone," Julius explained. "The only place I've seen these weeds grow this time of year is at the summit of Poenari Castle's remains. I'm hoping that we'll be able to find it. Rumor had it that Vlad found a way to make it grow there, all year around, to keep the werewolves from scratching at his castle gates."
"How convenient," Justus mumbled. "Why didn't you just say that to mom?"
Julius turned to glare at the boy. In a sudden flit of temper, the aging Belmont displayed something abnormal for his personality: Sarcasm. "Hey, Tina. Julius Belmont here; I want to take your son to Dracula's Home… you know how we Belmont's have a history with the old Vamp, but there's nothing to worry about!" He shook his head, those chocolate tresses spilling over his shoulders. "Sorry, Justus, but you really have to have consideration for your mother. Making her worry the entire time isn't good for her health."
Justus sat up on the mattress, glancing over at the man on the other bed. He didn't know Julius well enough to find the sarcastic outburst out of place but he did feel the need to offer rebuttal. "Look, Mr. Belmont, Mom probably doesn't believe in Dracula anymore than I do. Science can explain my condition as a rare genetic defect or wildly exotic disease. However, vampires don't stalk the night drinking the blood of their victims. The Belmont family has fought scientifically explainable lunatics who used their mind over matter to come off as a vampire because of their deeply disturbing belief in themselves as such. Nothing more."
"I'm glad the world is able to laugh about Dracula," Julius said softly. "Because it's a far better place than a world that lives under his evil reign."
"Geeze," Justus closed his eyes and sank back onto his twin-sized mattress. "So I'm named after Juste Belmont, huh?"
Julius offered a light smile in reply to the question. "Did you remember his name from my lesson in genealogy from before we left England?" The old vampire killer slipped off his bed and went to the window, glancing out into the evening sky.
"Yeah," Justus said softly. "So, Curtea De Agres, tomorrow?" The boy glanced down at one of the hotel brochures that rested across his lap then cut his gaze back towards the older man.
"Yes," Julius said in a firm, flat voice. The typical Belmont personality came back rather quickly. His eyes narrowed and his gaze shifted to the nearby window and the sky beyond. "The expense to fly into this city was far less, saving us money to travel for tomorrow. Also, I've been banned to fly into the Capital. It's a long story I do not wish to explain. Let's just say I'm on record there."
"What about your whip?" Justus asked. "I thought you can't take weapons on planes?"
"I didn't," Julius replied with a knowing smirk. "You'll see, day after tomorrow." The old man stood up, approached the window and drew the shades to ward off the dark eastern sky.
"You want to go that soon?" Justus asked, tilting his head from the pillow to glare at the other man. "Why the rush?"
"I have to be there at 10:30 in the morning," Julius explained. "I'll be receiving a priority delivery from DHL; I don't want to be late. It's just an insurance delivery to insure that all is well."
"Whatever," Justus grumbled. "I'm going to sleep. I took some sleeping pills a little while ago and if you don't mind, I'm kinda finished talking about some wacko's house at the foothills of the mountains. Let's go to bed, huh?"
"I suppose I'm being stubborn in my old age," Julius muttered. "Goodnight, Justus Bell. Let's hope your body has no plans of changing in the middle of the night, hmm?"
Justus' voice was beginning to grow as groggy as he was now feeling. "I took enough Unisom to help an Elephant sleep peacefully. I don't think you'll have to worry. Under normal conditions, just one Benadryl will keep me out for the night; Unisom is exactly double the dosage of one Benadryl."
"Fair enough." Julius reproached the other bed, turning out the hotel room light.
At Eight in the morning, Justus sat up, watching Julius from across the room. Belmont was buttoning his coat, standing in front of the door. Their eyes met in the mirror bolted to the back of the door. Julius turned about and nodded.
Justus, in return, offered a nod then kicked the blankets to the floor. "Something says we're not leaving just yet or you'd have woken me. Give me a few minutes to get at myself."
"I was going to the Post Office and," Julius said, finding himself suddenly interrupted by Justus.
"…Get breakfast, right? Let's get an early start. I sat in the tub for hours last night, so it's not like I need a shower this morning. Just give me a minute and we'll roll out."
Julius Belmont nodded slowly. "So be it."
Within half an hour, the two were heading to a small airport, outside of town. A prop-engine airplane took them into the next town. The plane touched down by Ten-Thirty at a Flex-Jet refueling station at the edge of a large airport. They collected their duffle bags and headed into the main terminal where Justus led them to a travel center kiosk. At the booth, he signed them up for an afternoon tour of Bran Castle owned by the Habsburg family.
Julius arranged transportation to Braşov and they returned to the Flex-Jet building. By noon, the two had arrived, claimed their bags and found themselves in a public shuttle bus. The elder Belmont turned to the boy and asked, "How're you holding up? You've not said much in the last few hours."
Young Bell frowned. "Better than last night but isn't tonight… you know, the night?"
"Weather calls for overcast skies all night," Julius said. He frowned then added, "Tomorrow night calls for clear skies."
"Wonderful." Justus leaned back in the seat on the bus, added, "So what's the game plan?" then returned to silence.
Julius folded his hands in his lap, stoic and relaxed. "We head to two different locations today. It's going to be cloudy tonight and rain tomorrow morning. The storm will be out of the area tomorrow by two in the afternoon, give or take an hour; it's going to be clear skies by tomorrow night." He grew quiet, cutting his eyes to the passing scenery.
"Bran then …?" Justus seemed fairly well educated.
"Bran first, yes," Julius replied with a firm nod. "Then Poenari's remains. That's the name of the real one."
"The real one huh?" Justus closed his eyes, sighed and grew quiet.
Castle Bran sat majestically upon a hill. Justus and his Great Uncle, Julius Belmont, made their way through the tourist markets, several of which sold "Dracula" T-shirts and other merchandise accoutrements. The entire interior was not accessible to the public, however. Only certain rooms granted access to the tourists.
Julius and Justus joined the back of a tour group, remaining quiet. Once the group made it to the third floor, the tour guide began explaining a secret passage that led back to the first floor. Part of the tour utilized this secret passage; the group of people took the steps, single file, with Justus and Julius at the very back. Halfway down the stairs, Justus glanced over his shoulder only to realize that his uncle disappeared.
Belmont now had his back against a concrete wall, on the other side of the staircase. He kept his ear to the wall until the footfalls ceased on the other side. His fingers traced the track in the concrete where the wall opened to the staircase, keeping his back flat against it. Satisfied that the tour group was no longer in the adjoining hallway, Belmont turned his attention back to the dark room.
Julius slid his hand into an interior coat pocket, drawing out a box of matches. The Diamond-Head brand of 'strike-anywhere' matches opened with ease and he drew out a match. Julius knelt and placed the match against the stone floor, dragging the head across the granite until the head flared to life. Julius approached a statue at the other end of the small room and grinned inwardly.
The aged Belmont placed his free hand against the statue, leaning it forward, exposing the base. He eased his hand beneath the statue and closed his fingers around an ovular stone, retrieving it from the hollowed basin. The match grew dim in his other hand; the stone was placed into his inside jacket pocket and the old bounty hunter headed back for the square section of the wall, mounted on old iron hinges.
He stepped back up onto the staircase and turned back to the faux wall, pulling it shut. Julius reached into his pants pocket, removed a fist-shaped magnet and slid it across the concrete wall until the metal tumbler slid back into place. He added pressure to the wall to ensure that it would not move then whirled around to face…
…Justus Bell folded his arms across his chest, standing a few stairs down the case. He narrowed his eyes at the older man then, in a quiet voice, asked, "Been here before, have you?"
"More than once," Belmont replied with a firm nod. "We've got find a hotel; I want to have you settle in and take some of those sleeping pills again. Tonight is the full moon… weather aside, I want you to be relaxed and possibly sleeping because you're going to be in pain later."
"Dammit." Justus muttered under his breath, turning away from the older man for a moment. He then asked, "What was that all about, anyhow? Something of interest in that wall?"
"This," Julius said, pulling the stone out of his pocket. Now, in slightly better lighting, he noticed a tag on the bottom of the object. "What in the…" he trailed off and descended the stairs, into the next hallway. Julius approached a window and studied the sticker on the object. "Well I'll be."
"Yes?" asked Justus who followed behind his uncle.
Julius shifted his eyes to the boy then back to the stone in his palm. "Apparently that room has been located in the last forty-five years; this stone has a tag on it, marking it as a belonging to this castle. We've got to catch a bus and settle in at our hotel; I've got what I came for, let's go."
36 hours later…
Typical tourists were coming and going up the side of the staircase leading to Poenari Castle. Justus felt a bit better and his change hadn't occurred yet. Julius, on the other hand, seemed distracted by something else all together. The young man approached the elder and folded his arms, looking down at Belmont who knelt in the dirt.
"What've you found, Colombo?"
"They're cow prints," Julius muttered. "But look at how the indentation is made here," he said, brushing his finger at the base of one of the prints. "Do you know what that means?"
"The cow was running?" Bell replied with a shrug. Julius glanced up with a smile. It was the first time the boy saw Julius actually smile; he couldn't help but feel awkward about it.
"Running, sure. Galloping is more like it. How many galloping cows do you know of?" asked the older Belmont. "Unless you get horseshoes specially made for your steed. There are no free roaming cows in a tourist attraction area in the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains."
"Let me guess," Justus grumbled in a flat tone, "Dracula once fled his enemies on a horse, leaving cow tracks?"
"In the year 1462," Julius acknowledged, pensively touching his thumb to his chin in thought. "He was evading the Turks and a rogue mercenary Belmont named Cyrus. He was Trevor's Paternal Grandfather. I don't mean to suggest anything; it's probably just a coincidence."
"Or it's not a set of cow tracks," Justus chuckled softly, adding, "It's the tracks of a horse made by one of the travel guards, here." As if by some extreme coincidence, a travel guard approached the two, looking down at Julius on his knees.
The guard spoke to Belmont for a moment and Julius replied in the language native to the area. Justus didn't understand it and so he remained quiet. Julius said something else then the guard nodded and began to walk away, speaking to the next set of tourists in the area.
"Did he want a cigarette or something?" Justus asked.
"How in the world did you know that? I thought you only spoke English," Julius said, looking somewhat surprised.
Justus shrugged then said, "He's a soldier, you can tell by his uniform. The first thing any soldier usually asks for is a cigarette and the second thing, a light. I assume he also asked if you were all right. I mean, it's not every day you see an old man on the ground and a teenager standing there with a blank expression on his face, looking like he doesn't belong here, and standing around like an idiot."
"You're right; he also asked to make sure I didn't need any medical assistance." Julius was fairly impressed by the kid's insight and intuition. "Your attention to detail is pretty good. I'm glad to know I have a sharp eye watching my back. I'm getting pretty old, after all."
"Don't bullshit me," Justus exclaimed. "You could have taken me and that guard in arm wrestling. And you're how old? A thousand?" Justus' soft eyes twinkled with mirth and Julius could see the boy was trying to have a playful sense of humor despite his physical ailments concerning the werewolf sickness.
"That would make me just a little older than Dracula," Julius said, coming to his feet. "You know, historical lore claims that Dracula's first wife, Lisa, cast herself from this castle as a distraction to keep the Turks from capturing her while Vlad fitted his horse with cow-track shoes and raced over the mountainside back to Bran. But from what I understand, Lisa was killed as a witch for her knowledge of medicine. I wonder which of his wives really jumped to their death from this castle?" Both men glanced up at the cliff-side fortress, Poenari Castle.
"Not much left of that structure," Justus said with a frown. "Are you sure there are secret rooms in that place? It looks as though someone has sacked the castle and burned it to the foundations."
"It's there. Do you remember the artifact I took from Bran?" Julius asked.
"Unfortunately, yes I do," the boy replied, making a sour face.
"It's a key to unlock the inner sanctum, so stay close." Julius and Justus approached the 1500 stairs that would lead to the top, glancing at one another before they began to ascend. Julius continued to speak, adding, "I want your help to ensure that no one is watching what we do. Once I see that inner sanctum, I'll be satisfied. We'll search for the weeds and head home."
Justus couldn't help but ask, "How will seeing a dark room make you feel better?"
"That chamber has a seal on it," Julius began, thinking of the right words to phrase his explanation. "If the seal is broken, I'll worry. However, simply seeing the seal in place and seeing the room undisturbed will make me feel better about this random and un-planned Solar Eclipse that was reported about in the paper we saw the other day."
Justus chuckled. "And if Drac is back, we go and kill him again?"
"Absolutely." Julius' firm tone was unnerving. "I know you were trying to make a joke but I'm serious. If that seal has been broken, I have no choice but to pass through the transportation chamber and finish what I started, all over again." The two continued the light chitchat as they hiked the stairs together. "What's sad is the fact that this blood sucker is a Romanian Folk hero, here. He's not the evil Count that Bram Stoker portrayed him to be."
"So he's more than an evil Count, after all?" Justus asked as the two continued a light jog up the large steps. The young man waited to hear the drawn out lecture he expected Julius to deliver.
"He's the Lord of Darkness," Julius snapped quickly. "He's powerful beyond means. He can use his hatred to decimate an indoor garden twice the size of a cathedral using fire on a whim… with a mere thought. He can shift his form to that of a bat, a gray wolf or even the mist itself. Dracula can mimic the magic of his foes. He's incredibly powerful and intelligent. Throughout the 1800's, he used to collect state of the art technology and use it in perverse ways such as this teleportation chamber I mentioned."
"You're getting weirder by the minute," young Justus replied quickly. "I can't say I'll be disappointed when we get to the top of this thing and there is nothing more than rubble and tourists. I understand that Dracula was a real guy but I think this stuff was blown way out of proportion and he was just some asshole who murdered a lot of Turks and Saxons."
Belmont scoffed. "Twenty thousand heads and impaled bodies that lined the road from Tirgoviste," Julius noted as the two passed the thousandth step. "This is a man who embraces darkness not necessarily trivial things like …murder. Breaking one of the Ten Commandments doesn't make you the Lord of Darkness, Justus. Vlad was faithful to his wife, he was a Christian Crusader and he probably never used the Lord's name in vain. He most likely respected his mother and father and lived by every other Commandment in the book save for the one about not killing."
"So what makes him the all-powerful Lord of Evil?" Justus asked, huffing his breath in a rhythmic sound as the two hiked up the steps. "Or is he self-proclaimed?"
"His mastery of dark power," Julius explained. "His ability to tempt, seduce and inspire evil. I'm not as biblical of a man as some Belmonts' were but I do know that the end of the world is written to begin with the return of the Devil to the mortal world. It happens before the return of the Savior. If Dracula returns as the Lord of Darkness from beyond the Mortal Realm, and if he's allowed to stay in the physical world, we're all gambling with our destiny as a species if we let him live. I know it's blunt but who has room to gamble?"
"So, to be even more blunt than you," Justus began, "Just incase Dracula is the Devil Reincarnated, you wanna be around to kill him every single chance you get just to ensure that Humanity stays around for a lot longer, to keep Armageddon from being triggered?"
"That's the gist of it," Julius answered with a nod and a slight smile, the second Justus had seen the man offer in the last few days. "So, about that artifact I took from Bran Castle yesterday…"
"The one I nearly flipped out over when you stole it? You know, I really bit my tongue when you did that. If you weren't my Great Uncle, I'd have ratted you out." Justus narrowed his eyes at the aging man. "I didn't know you were a kleptomaniac, too, old man."
"It's the key; I always return it when I've finished with it; that way I can ensure it's where it belongs when I have to go back. Are you ready?" Belmont inquired as the two finally began to near the summit of the Poenari ruins. "Today should be perfect; the tourists will clear out any minute."
"How do you know?" Justus asked with a raise of his eyebrows. Noticing the furrow of young Mr. Bell's brows, Julius simply cocked the slightest smile; the corner of his mouth tugging just a bit.
Before Justus could ask again, Julius lifted his right hand and pointed at the morning sky. Large, billowing storm clouds began to roll in quick, following the air current. The barometric change caused fog to rise from the river, creeping up the castle ruins. It almost instantly enshrouded the stairs they just ascended. It was so thick that young Justus couldn't see back to the bottom. Once they reached the top, Julius approached a man in an orange rain coat, leaning against the old iron rails that were covered with overgrowth.
"DHL?" Julius asked with a measure of expectancy in his voice. The man nodded and pulled a clipboard out from his still-dry rain coat and passed it towards Julius. The name on the contract read 'Julius Belmont'. The old man nodded firmly and said, "That's me. I see you're prepared for the incoming weather. Can I see the package first?"
The courier reached under his ankle-length raincoat where he had the box between his ankles. He took the cardboard box, a quarter meter in length, rectangular in shape, and handed it to Julius. The archaic hunter opened the box and pulled the whip out, inspecting it for a moment. Satisfied with the transaction, Belmont turned to sign the document and handed the DHL courier a tip in Romanian Lei for the three thousand stair round-trip hike.
A local monument guard approached Julius quickly, explaining that no weapons were allowed on the premises. Belmont was quick to produce a professional Bounty Hunter's License and weapon registration card. The guard simply asked Julius to put the weapon away so that it wouldn't scare tourists and so Belmont attached it to the belt beneath his pullover tunic. "I'm happy to comply, officer, I just wished to inspect my delivery upon arrival." The matter was settled and the guard began to walk away.
Almost immediately, as if on cue, the rain began to fall from the sky. It was a late-summer shower which drenched anyone at the top of the roofless ruins. People began to make their way down the stairs, slowly, and that's when Julius led Justus over towards a dark room-like corner which went straight downwards.
Julius glanced down into the brick pit and began to explain its origin. "This shaft was designed to hold prisoners by rope without any means of escape so that they wouldn't have to be guarded during battles."
"We're not going down into it, are we?" Justus said with a frown.
"No," Julius replied, adding, "but our destination is between several of these shafts, where archeologists wouldn't notice its existence. C'mon, I'll show you." Julius walked back to where he met the DHL man a few minutes ago. He glanced around, watching as the guard followed the courier down the steps. "He's going all the way to the bottom to make sure the courier makes it down, safely. We have time."
Julius began to climb over the iron bar opposite of the sheer cliff face, heading into a part of the rock in which the castle fortress had been built. There was a sharp dip in the rock-bed and Julius skidded downwards into the strangely cut slope. Justus followed obediently.
What seemed to be a strange cut in the side of the bricks along the outer hull of the fortress was actually a reverse-fitting manmade shape. Unveiling the stolen artifact, Julius placed the piece directly into the brick wall that was partially covered by the strange landscaping dip.
The side of the tower remains began to cave inwards as if part of the brick section sat on hinges. Julius pushed on it to help the mechanism from getting stuck. The two of them quickly crawled through the small square entryway and into the darkness. Julius reached into his supply sack and withdrew two flashlights, handing one to Justus.
Flipping the Mag-Lites to life, Julius began to creep down the crawlspace shaft for about 3 meters. The area opened up into an underground sanctuary just large enough for them to stand in. There were old rotted barrels and crates that barely survived complete decomposition. A facing wall was completely metallic and empty chandeliers hung from directly above their heads. They hung so low that Justus had to dip his head slightly when walking beneath them.
"It feels strange in here," Justus muttered.
Julius' eyes cut over, casting a sidelong glance at the young man. "When I came here in 1999, there were three skeletal remains of men who'd been hanged. They were guards and reanimated upon my approach, because I had the artifact in my possession. They provided me with quite a challenge. Anyway, it's right up here."
Julius Belmont took the artifact he'd used to get into the small chamber and pushed it into a bust of Prince Mihnea the Bad. Justus approached the deteriorating old statue and shined the light upon its face. "I recognize this man."
"I don't know if that's good or bad," Julius replied quietly, trying to wedge the artifact all the way into the statuette's hands. A mechanical pop was heard and the grunting sound of granite shifting against concrete followed. The elderly gentleman approached the metallic door at the end of the room and began to tug on it.
Justus quickly came to his aid and the two of them pulled on the metallic barrier with Julius placing his foot up on the doorway. Slowly but surly, the door opened, revealing a completely metallic room inside. Every wall panel had intricately carved designs on them. Belmont went back for the artifact, yanking it from the grip of the sinister looking bust then pocketed the stone key.
Both of them stepped into the chamber and Julius immediately placed his hands against a square tile on one of the walls. Oddly, the walls began to incandesce brightly. Justus squinted his eyes shut due to how bright the area was, finally opting to cover his face with his hand. Julius placed a firm hand on Justus' shoulder and said, "Just relax. This is painless. When it ends, we'll be in Dracula's main chamber. Be ready."
The bright walls finally dimmed in their intensity until the only light remaining was that of two Mag-lites. Julius blinked a few times to get his pupils dilated then pushed on the doorway, leaving the chamber. He suddenly gasped in surprise, blinking rapidly.
"What's wrong, old man?" Justus asked, following him out of the metal chamber.
"We're in the same place. I can even hear the rain outside, it didn't teleport us," Julius reported with dismay in his voice. "Perhaps it's for the best. Apparently the Seal is still in place and that means Dracula's Castle hasn't returned to the Arges Valley. It's not that I'm disappointed but I just had this gut feeling that Evil was back in the air and …I was wrong this time."
"Julius," Justus said, shaking his head slowly. "What about the weeds for my condition?"
"Quite right," said the aging hunter, crawling back into the crawlspace to leave the stone chamber. They reemerged back outside of Poenari Castle in the midst of an intense summer rainstorm. The recently evaporated Arges River poured from the clouds, decreasing visibility in every direction just beyond arm's length. As the two men struggled back up over the side of the iron hand rail, the rain immediately ceased.
"Short storm," Justus mumbled.
"Here, hold this," Julius said, handing the stone artifact to the younger boy. Justus took it into his hands and looked over the small stone carving of Radu the Handsome with a spike through his neck and out the top of his head as if to implicate that the person was impaled before having their likeness carved into the smooth stone. The guard returned from the stairs, casually walking back towards the iron bar from earlier.
Justus watched as old-man Julius approached the guard then asked him a question in a language that the young Englishman didn't understand. His eyes lowered back to the stone with the carving. Bell turned it over, noticing the tag on the bottom, but the words weren't in English.
The guard replied then Julius turned back to Justus and grinned. He took the artifact from Justus then handed it to the guard. Almost immediately the guard began to head down the steps, leaving the men alone. "What was that all about?" Bell asked.
"It has a marking on the bottom, tagging it as property of Bran Castle," Julius explained. "I said I found it and that one of the Dracula-Fanboy tourists must have stolen it from Castle Bran only to have dropped it here. He's taking it back down to have it returned or maybe to catch that DHL guy."
"Clever. Now we can concentrate on those weeds," Justus said in a bemused tone. The two moved around to the top of the tower fortress and all that lingered in the wake of its age. Julius quickly began pulling weeds out of the dirt that was caked up overtop of the brick ruins all along the exposed, roofless hallways of Poenari's remains.
Once Julius felt they had enough, he hopped down from some of the higher sections of the crumbling fortress. His tunic billowed in the wind, leaping to the ground, landing half crouched. Justus tilted his head and said, "Looks like you've still got it for an old man."
"It's in our blood," Julius replied, coming to his feet. "We've got enough to make a serum. Let's head back to England and find an allergenist who can make something out of this. Then we have to have it injected into you."
"Like an allergy shot, huh?" the boy said, heading for the stairs.
"More like a vaccine but an Allergenic Doctor would make the serum the same way he would make allergy shots from pollen," Julius explained. "I'm satisfied, so far. We got your weeds, I checked to make sure that Dracula's Castle wasn't accessible by means of Poenari, the way it was in 1999. It's how I arrived back in 2035, too."
"Didn't you say his body was exhumed in 1935?" Justus asked, quirking a brow as the two began their trek down the 1500 stairs to the bottom of the fortress.
"Yes, it was exactly 100 years to the very day his body was uncovered," Julius replied. "But I think that was more of a coincidence, because I was dealing with the reborn spirit of Darkness in human form. I recognize patterns of things that happen by a time table. This wasn't one of them."
As the two made it to the last step, they saw the Guard handing over the artifact to a FedEx employee who was walking back to his white truck. At the end of the lot, the yellow DHL van was pulling out onto the main road. The guard turned back towards the stairs, coming face to face with Julius Belmont and Justus Bell. "There seem to be a lot of Dracula Fanboys out there," the guard said in a Romanian tongue. "A man was found impaled on a spike outside of a valley castle that doesn't appear to be documented. The media started by announcing it was some sort of Gothic Role Playing crap gone wrong but now the story is turning into something to do with this new castle at the edge of the valley."
"Excuse me?" Julius asked, his eyes widening. "Did you hear this on the news?"
The guard shook his head slowly. "It's on the police scanners and I heard something about it on the FedEx driver's van radio."
"How far from here?" Julius asked, narrowing his eyes.
"Head south-west from here," said the guard. "You'll have to head over the mountains to get there. No one even recognized the castle or can figure out who owns it or how it got there. Pretty wild huh? The thing about it is the fact that someone mentioned that it resembled original Poenari Castle but larger; they mentioned that in the news bulletin on the FedEx van's Radio."
"And you're telling us this, why?" Julius asked, tilting his head. "Because we mentioned Dracula Fanboys when we returned that artifact?"
"Indeed," the guard replied. "That and you're a Belmont."
Julius' eyes widened. "How did you know?" To his question the guard merely smiled and pointed to the bottom of the whip that was showing just beneath his tunic. "Bit of a fanboy of the Lore, yourself, I see," Julius added, trailing off at the end of his statement. The guard simply shrugged then began his ascent back up the side of Poenari, which rested quietly in silence. The old man turned to Justus then hooked a thumb back towards town. "C'mon."
A/N: Okay, so I had a lot of background history to shove into your brains. I wanted to make the entire first chapter nothing but background so that we can get right into the action from here on out! Now, our heroes are going to investigate this strange castle… I wonder who else will be there? Possibly someone from the Japanese Paranormal group? Anything is possible but let's get to the next chapter and see what's probable, shall we?
Sorry this chapter was so long, lol. Let me know what you think, please? I'm curious to see if this story intrigues anyone. I'll post the next chapter and if no one really gets into it… well… who knows. I write for the reader; if there aren't any, I'll respond accordingly. ARE there any readers out there? Let me know!
-Kit