Guest of honor: (you must have a glitch or something on your computer because I'm being alerted on my email that you review the day of a new chapter, but I don't see it on the review page till days later) (to those with the same glitch, I'll reply when your review is on the review page)

IHaveNoName and IDC: intriguing…

Ilikehats2: they should

INeedAUsername8: yeah, I did things way to out of character there…

Plasma57: thank you

Chapter 18: What Is Going On?

(In Dracula's castle)

Peter is silently crawling on the walls to see if he can find any secrets hidden in the old walls.

(What? You've seen the movies and read the books! I'm desperate here! Dracula is having guests… guests! That can't be good.)

He carefully scans for anything strange in the stone that the walls are constructed from. For several minutes he doesn't find anything that catches his attention. This starts to worry him.

'Come on, give me something.' Peter grumbled in his thoughts.

Frantically he started staring at anything and everything. Nothing was popping up that said: investigate.

'Wish Tiger was here, she would've seen something long before me.' He grumbled to himself.

(Why can't I get her out of my mind? She'd beat me senseless if she knew I'm not focusing on the task at hand)

He shuddered at the thought of Tiger 'punishing' him. But he snapped out of it and kept on with his search. After 10 minutes of non-stop searching, he called it quits for the moment.

'What now? What the hell am I going to do now?... Huh?..' The newborn thought to himself when he saw Dracula walk out from behind a curtain on a wall.

(*facepalm* really…. I really missed that…. I know what Tiger would say: YOU STUPID IDIOT!)

When Dracula walked around a corner, Peter silently/quickly made a mad dash for the curtain. Behind it he found only a small area caved in the wall. The young newborn was speechless and pissed.

'Damn… IT!' He screeched in his thoughts.

Then he saw a small, dust-free area on the wall. He pushed it with his right pointer finger. The floor underneath him opened suddenly and silently.

(Ah hell)

Peter fell like a rock.

"Come on! Fly! Fly! Fly damn it!" He shrieked, as he indecisively flapped his arms like a bird.

(Was worth a try I guess)

Then he landed on a pile of pillows with a slight thud. He rubbed his back slightly as he groaned in pain.

"Did it have to be so low? Geez…" The turn-blood grumbled.

Then he looked up to see a collection of various items from different ages. Peter got up and started looking at the gathered items: scrolls, books, jewelry, aged weapons, etc.

"A letter?" He said as he picked up one.

The message: My lord, you and the others must leave immediately! They have learned of the location to your place of choice for the ritual! You must gather everyone and leave! I am truly sorry, you must wait or this will have all been in vain! Those murderers are gathering their strength to head there in only a few hours. You may not even survive their attack; they have to many men and weapons for your guards to defeat. They have convinced the nobles to organize their men to make an assault on you. Sorry for the rushing tone of my words, they have discovered me. Hurry!

'Huh?...' Peter grumbled as he read the letter.

There is a spot of old, dried blood on the letter and imprints of what seems to be a raven's feet on it. The one who wrote the letter had died, the blood just slightly older than the ink on the paper.

"… What ritual?... It couldn't be some involving the Pure of Heart thing… but what could it be?..." He said, confusion thick in his voice.

He looked at a scroll that had a strange design of a dragon on the handles and outlining the paper. Peter shrugged then unrolled it. The scroll displayed a portrait of Dracula in is armor and holding his sword in both hands, the blade tip on the ground. Even though he's a villain, Peter had to admit Dracula would have to be one of the most lethal individuals he's ever met. He'd heard of how he fought and defeated many of the avengers with great ease. That was one of the reasons why he hated that his blood gave the vampire king even more power.

"I don't what the hell I'm going to do… How am I going to... What? This looks interesting…" Peter said as he spied a box with a bat insignia on the cover.

The newborn held it up and saw that it needed a key. Peter scanned the room and saw a key under a piece of paper. He grabbed it and saw the paper is another letter.

(I'll look at that next)

He put the key in and carefully turned it. The box opened with a click.

"What's this?..." Peter inquired as he looked at the box's contents.

There are a few things that caught his attention: a locket, a vial of blood, and a flower in a glass case.

""Let's see what behind door number one." Peter said as he opened the locket.

It had a picture of a young man with dark hair and eyes, but the other half of the picture was burned slightly. He didn't know what to think of it. He put that back and looked at the vial of blood.

(Don't know what the hell this is, best leave it alone)

Peter put that back and looked at the flower… it's a rose. It's just a normal rose… He didn't think much of that. He put it back up and shut the box. Carefully he placed it in the same area/place/position where it originally was. Then he walked over to look at the other letter. But it wasn't a letter.

"Huh?... Is this a… dairy entry or something?... Dracula… has a diary…" Peter said.

He shuddered at the thought, but concluded it was just a note to 'himself'. So he started reading the note: No! No! No! No! I! I! They… After waiting for the precise moment after all these years… No… They… And they just destroy and kill without thinking of what I… No… They don't care… they wouldn't give a damn… I will… I will… They will pay dearly for this monstrous act! They will pay… I will have my justice! And I will then finally have what I lost…

"What is going on?..." Peter mumbled.

He suddenly realized he'd been here to long. Quickly and carefully he arranged everything they way he found it and went to make his exit. He swiftly crawled up the wall he fell down earlier. When he got to the top he looked for a way to open it. Once again he saw another dust-less area and pushed it; which then caused the door to slide open. He leapt up to wall outside of the 'drop-off' and the door then closed.

'What now?... I can't think of what to do?...' He mumbled in his thoughts before he crawled out of the hidden area.

He stood 5 feet in front of the curtain for a moment, just thinking. He decided he needed to return to 'his room' before Dracula came looking for him. He then jogged off quietly to hurry back. Then the vampire king himself landed on the ground after standing on the ceiling for the past 15 minutes. He looked from the secret area to the direction the newborn went off in. His red eyes narrowed slightly, and then he turned into his mist form.

To be continued…