(Chapter 6: Gathering the remains: Aleera and Dracula)

The four emerged from the portal and at the foot of Castle Valerious, Aidan made sure to close the portal behind them to ensure that the beastly Birsha wouldn't come following them.

"So…where do we go now?" Carl asked as he followed Van Helsing towards the entrance of Castle Valerious.

"Oh, come on, Carl. You know where we are going now…" The monster-hunter replied with a grin, briefly glancing towards the friar as they passed through the entryway; Father Valentino looked around with dread while Aidan remained cautious but calm all the same.

"Something's off…" Father Valentino said, finding himself looking over his shoulder.

"What is it?" Gabriel questioned, stopping momentarily to look back at his allies who had all come to a stop as well.

"Ruthven came to this village with a convoy…where are they now?" The priest spoke with worry; Van Helsing looked over Valentino's shoulder and noticed that the convoy was no longer within the village.

"It's a bloody setup, isn't it?" Father Valentino continued, his voice having a sternness to it.

"They're gone, Gabrielle, they would've fell upon us immediately once they saw us if they were to be here." Van Helsing answered.

"Again, do you know so…or are you just making a bold assumption?"

The monster hunter took a step forward, his eyes narrowing on the priest.

"I know so…" Van Helsing then turned around and began to make his way towards the magical door that acted as a portal to Castle Dracula, his allies following him once more. "However, we will need to keep our wits about us with where we're going…"

After heading through the castle, the four heroes eventually found themselves standing at the large door that had turned itself back into a map of Transylvania. Father Valentino appeared puzzled and looked towards the monster-hunter with a raised brow.

"A map?"

"No…" Van Helsing began. "A door."

With that, Friar Carl took a scroll from his robe's pocket, unfurling it to reveal a removed portion of the massive map on the wall at their front. The monk placed the broken section into an empty chunk on the bottom left corner of the map, and it seemed to weld itself into place. Father Valentino's eyes lit up with surprise and his lips parted with amazement as he took a step back.

Van Helsing's eyes narrowed again, knowing what was beyond this wall now. Memories of his battle with Dracula flashed through his mind, memories of holding the deceased Anna Valerious in his arms popped into his vision. The monster-hunter took a deep breath, acknowledging the resurfacing of trauma…

"In the name of God, open this door."

With an otherworldly sounding cry, the map burnt away into what appeared to be a mirror. The sight and sounds captivated Father Valentino, Aidan didn't seem to care, Carl looked unnerved, while Van Helsing seemed steadfast on their mission.

"Grab a torch." The monster-hunter commanded, and the three others did as such. Gabriel would lead the way, holding his torch at his front and marching into the mirror which warped around him as he passed through it.

"That was…something." Father Valentino said to himself once he passed through the portal, now they found themselves at the edge of a cliff, at the foot of Castle Dracula.

"Van Helsing…" Friar Carl whimpered, his lips quivering. Gabriel turned around to see his old pal pointing to something on the ground at their feet.

About ten feet at their front were tracks in the snowy ground.

"We aren't alone." Van Helsing warned.

"No shit." Father Valentino remarked.

"We must move swiftly. Aidan, teleport us to the other side of the castle." Gabriel commanded, and with a wave of his hand; Aidan casted a portal at their front, and the four men entered it to end up on the other side of a massive bridge which had been blown in half during the war against Dracula two years prior.

"I'm getting the shivers just looking at this place…" Friar Carl gulped as he looked towards the bridge, remembering his harrowing encounter with Igor and the pulse-pounding team up with Anna and the Monster.

"Aidan, I was here two years ago with Carl. I fought Dracula near the rooftop, and from what I understand, Anna fought Aleera on the side of the castle. I'm unsure of where exactly they fought. Think you could lend us a hand?" Gabriel asked, Aidan nodded his head and closed his eyes.

For a moment there was darkness, and soon he felt raindrops lightly falling on his head and shoulders, the rain picked up with its intensity before it turned into torrential rainfall that pounded his body and head mercilessly. Thunder roared, and from behind his closed eyes, a flash of blue-white light was seen. Upon opening them, his allies weren't around him anymore.

Turning his head to the side and looking up, he noticed a familiar man in a robe scaling up the wall where Anna Valerious was seen flying towards! A winged figure slightly larger than Anna was flying after her, cackling wickedly.

Her body wracked by pain from slamming into the pillars and walls and crashing through the ceiling; Anna couldn't believe that she had enough power to hoist herself on a ramp against the wall. Had she been just a little weaker, she would have plummeted to a certain demise.

With a groan of pain, Anna looked up to see a grey winged lady with Auburn hair landing at her front. The leathery hide skin turning into a beautiful tan, and her wings morphed into a grand pink noblewoman dress. No longer was Aleera's hair wavy like beautiful orange clouds in an evening sky, but it was darkened and all over the place, the rain drenching her face and hair.

"Anna, my love…it is your blood that shall keep me beautiful!" Aleera boasted as she slowly approached her downed rival, her brown eyes having shifted into a glowing pink color that seemed to burn their way through the rain. "What do you think of that?"

Anna had no response, Aleera giggled heartlessly, fangs bared.

SHPLAT! Aleera gasped in agony as a stake was punched through her torso, her mouth hanging open with terror and unspeakable pain.

"I think if you're going to kill someone, kill them! Don't stand there talking about it!" Anna cried defiantly before ripping the gunk-covered stake from the torso of her foe.

Aleera's hands clawed at her head and pulled her hair as she wailed in agony, her entire body involuntarily convulsing and writhing as she cowered away, melting into slimy green chunks of coagulated gunk before the center of what was once a beautiful feminine body burst, splattering the remains all over the wall.

"I found it." Aidan muttered, a grin coming to his face. "Although, I would watch your step and hold on to the wall behind you…"

Friar Carl was already able to keep himself steady, Van Helsing brandished his grappling gun while Father Valentino slowly put his arms behind him. Within the blink of an eye, all four men were shimmying on the ramp.

Carl pulled out a vial and followed Aidan to a spot of dried-up organic material that had a strange green haze to it, a foul smell coming from the remains. Van Helsing stood at the top of the ramp, looking up to where flickering lights were located. His eyes narrowed even further…

"Hand me a vial, Aidan. I know where to go from here…"

Aidan did as he was told while scraping off the organic material of Aleera's remains before scooping it into Carl's vial. Van Helsing fired his grappling gun to a ledge, and off he went to where he fought Dracula two years ago.

The ring belonged to him? Van Helsing thought to himself with his face twisted in shock, backing away, the only clothing that remained on his body was that of a brown loincloth.

"Don't be afraid…" Dracula said as he approached his vulnerable adversary that he once called a brother many lifetimes ago. "Don't be afraid…"

"I shall give you BACK your life…your memory…"

Gabriel's keen sense of awareness told him that he stood in front of the large window, and his heart was filled with relief as he sensed the clouds finishing their journey across the moon-lit sky. A grin came to his face.

"Some things are better left forgotten…" With a growl, Van Helsing collapsed to his knees and morphed back into his beastly werewolf form. Dracula, thinking that was impossible to reason with him when in this state, morphed into his hellbeast form before clapping his massive wings to propel himself towards his ally for the final blow.

Unfortunately for the prince of darkness, the final blow would instead be dealt to HIM. Pinned against a machine, helplessly clawing and pushing at the head of a werewolf which had sunk his fangs into the side of his neck.

Black gunk and thick bloody chunks began to ooze from the wound, he clawed feverishly at it while his gaping mouth tried to formulate words that only came out as spattering groans and hisses as his body crumbled to nothing but dust…

Van Helsing stood at the same machine which had long since stopped working, overcome by rust and grime. The lights which had flickered and flashed had since simmered down to that of a dim glow. There on the machine was the outline of a large body, black ash having been imbedded into the machine where Dracula had been slain.

Gabriel popped open the vial and took out one of his Tojo blades with his other hand. Keeping the blade deactivated, he used the blade to scrape the ashes into the vial, but while he done so, a thunderous sound of beating wings was heard overhead…

The monster-hunter snapped his head upwards, baring his teeth with a ruthless scowl as he tried to figure out the identity of who or what this could be. Strangely enough, there was nothing to be seen.

However, when he faced the machinery, he discovered at the last second that he wasn't alone, and a shadow was behind him. His heart leapt into his throat upon realization, and when he turned around…

SPLAT! A ruthless backhand smashed into Gabriel's face, sending him flying into a support beam with a loud bang! The impact forced Van Helsing to his knees, coughing some with strands of saliva falling from his mouth. When he glanced up, he sees Lord Ruthven barreling towards him with the ornate dagger!

Van Helsing leapt away from the final blow attempt from his new rival, the blade of the dagger puncturing the support beam. Taking advantage of Lord Ruthven trying to rip the dagger from the beam, the monster-slayer pounded a round kick into the small of the vampire's back before taking him by the head, SLAMMING it into the beam as hard as he could. Lord Ruthven grunted in pain before he was forcefully jerked away from the beam, his iron grip pulling the dagger from it as he was slung away by the left hand of God.

Lord Ruthven nearly lost his balance but was able to catch himself, but he caught himself a little too late as Van Helsing had charged towards him before leaping into a machine to rebound towards him with a flying side kick to the side of his head! The force behind Gabriel's kick was hard enough to jar one of the vampire's fangs loose as he fell towards the ground, twisting his body so that he fell to his knees, facing away from Van Helsing.

"This doesn't make sense…you should be dead…" Lord Ruthven growled as he reached for his ornate dagger, grabbing it by the grip. "I sliced you to bits!"

"The One Over Heaven will not let you win, he will do everything in his power to keep me and my allies alive, and to ensure your failure." Van Helsing spoke calmly, evidently Lord Ruthven took grim pleasantry to this, for a cruel chuckling was heard from him…

"I guess God failed in keeping Anna safe…"

Van Helsing gasped, and this moment of hesitancy was exactly what the vampire preyed upon, as he turned around with a ruthless cry, striking downwards towards the chest of the monster-killer who just barely avoided a fatal blow! The blade of the dagger tore through his dark clothing, creating a bloody mark on his chest.

With a deep breath, Van Helsing's eyes narrowed, and his lips pursed, locking in as Lord Ruthven tried a slash at his neck which the monster hunter dodged and fired back with a monstrous left hook to the liver of the vampire which had his entire body double over in pain as he cowered back with a pained growl of agony.

The eyes of the vampire flashed a silvery glow, and Van Helsing jumped away as Lord Ruthven shot towards him in the blink of an eye, narrowly avoiding a tackle that broke through a support beam which resulted in several tons of machinery and equipment falling towards where Van Helsing stood with loud crashes and bangs!

The monster hunter evaded the falling debris by making use of his grappling gun to escape it, turning around to see dust swelling upwards from where the debris had smashed into the floor. Several seconds passed as Van Helsing stood his ground, patiently waiting for Lord Ruthven to emerge from the smoke, but he never came.

"Van Helsing, what is going on up here!?" Friar Carl asked from behind, Van Helsing turned around to see Aidan, Father Valentino, and Friar Carl all standing there side by side.

"I told you we aren't alone, Lord Ruthven was—"

BOOM! Emerging from the massive pile of debris stood a towering figure with glowing red eyes, with a clap of its large dragon-like wings, the cloud of dust was pushed away to reveal a demonic bat monster.

It towered over the four men and had long dark brown hair running from its head and over its shoulders. Large amounts of hair covered the tops of the forearms and the backs of the hands and fingers, elbow spikes protruded from the arms of this hellbeast form. Dark brown hair also covered the sides of the waist and legs of the monster. His head was an uncanny demonic cross between bat and man, the front of the chest and most of the torso was covered in a natural armored plating with a material resembling chitin. Sharp claws stuck out on the ends of his five fingers and toes, and his 24-foot wingspan casted a gigantic shadow that engulfed all the men that opposed him.

"He was waiting for us!" Van Helsing cried, Aidan was quick to create a portal behind them which they entered as fast as they could as Lord Ruthven clapped his gigantic wings together to launch himself towards them, but to his dismay, the portal would close right before he could get inside of it.

Rearing his head back, Lord Ruthven let out a thunderous demonic howl towards the ceiling high over his head. His heart pounding with unmatched fury.

"GABRIEL!"

His voice echoed across the dark skies that surrounded Dracula's Castle, and traveled all across Transylvania, even reaching Castle Frankenstein, where our heroes now stood ready to resurrect the four iconic vampires for their campaign…

A/N: Hey everyone! It's been quite a while since I updated this story, I'm sorry for the wait. I've been caught up in a lot of busy things in my personal life, as I've probably mentioned before, I'm working on original works outside of Fanfiction and now I'm even writing a screenplay! I'm looking to make leaps and bounds in my career here soon. Thankfully though, I've gotten back into a vampire kick, so I've found the resolve to finish this story. Again, apologies for the wait, chapters should come out more frequently than having to wait for months on end :)