(Chapter 7: The Resurrection)
The interior of Castle Frankenstein was an absolute mess, having been ravaged by the furious lynch mob two years ago not too long after the windmill on the hill collapsed in a plume of smoke and fire. The place reeked of oil and abandoned rusted equipment.
Iron generators turned over, copper dynamos smashed to bits and pieces, gears had been torn from their places. Fan belts had been mangled; the four men were lucky to even find a place to stand. The only thing that remained intact was the mantlepiece over their heads.
"Have we gathered all of what we need?" Aidan asked, Van Helsing handed over the vials of Dracula's remains, Friar Carl handed over the vials of the brides' remains, each of them big enough to make a handful. "Excellent! I'll get right to work."
Aidan walked off into a separate room, an emergency room used by Dr. Victor Frankenstein if his plans and projects were to ever go South, unfortunately for the revolutionary scientist, he would never be able to use such a room.
The room itself was like the main laboratory that had been ruined, albeit much smaller and with much less equipment. However, Aidan, being a warlock, found that the use of machinery wasn't required for what he was about to perform.
Van Helsing, Friar Carl, and Father Gabrielle Valentino all awaited in a large clearing in the main lab. Friar had a hopeful look on his face, but his expression was cautious all the same. Van Helsing noticed that Father Valentino was staring to the ground, grinding the heel of his boot into the dusty floor with a sigh and a shake of his head.
"Father Valentino, what's the matter?" The left hand of God asked, tilting his head with a look of concern on his handsome face.
"Are you…sure about this?" The fighting priest spoke, his face screamed distrust.
"Of course I'm sure about it, if I wasn't then we wouldn't have gone through all this trouble to get here." Van Helsing replied, his voice carrying an almost intimidating sternness to it that wouldn't be denied, but Father Valentino stood his ground.
"We're using unholy abomination magic to resurrect one of Satan's strongest warriors to helpus in battle…A soldier of the Fallen One has no place standing next to warriors of Go—"
"Will you just trust me!?" Van Helsing barked, his voice echoing around the destroyed lab.
"Oh I'd never distrust you, Van Helsing…" Father Valentino sighed regretfully. "However it was by your hand that you killed Dracula, a person that, according to you: Was once a powerful brother in arms to you, and yet it was because of his use of dark arts and sorcery that you had to strike him down…"
"Is…that supposed to back me into a corner?" Van Helsing asked, bewildered as ever.
Father Valentino scoffed… "It seems that you've backed yourself into a corner my friend."
"We can't stop Lord Ruthven with just the three of us, I'm the strongest force in the Knights of the Holy Order but even I admit that we aren't perfect."
"So, we resort to putting our trust in Aidan, one who uses abomination magic, and even worse, putting our faith in someone who made a deal with the devil to aid us in our fight? If the Vatican found out about this, they would have our bloody heads!"
"Their sins can be absolved just like the thieves that were crucified next to Jesus." Van Helsing retorted.
"It's too late for Dracula, he sold his soul centuries ago to our sworn enemy!"
Van Helsing fell into a silence following the priest's remark, staring to the floor. His mind was unable to come up with anything to fight back against Valentino's valid points.
"It may be too late for him…but we can figure things out." Van Helsing said softly, Father Valentino's jaw dropped, and his eyes widened with a shake of his head in an obscene amount of confusion.
"I hope that you're right…"
(Vaseria)
Lord Ruthven came to a landing in front of his fallen werewolf ally, Clint. The body of the beastly vampire form slowly morphing back into his human figure as he crouched over the naked body of his left-hand man.
"A pity that Aidan betrayed us, my friend. If anyone is deserving of a second chance, it is you." Lord Ruthven said as he placed his hands over the still heart of Clint Shadows.
"However, you possess something that is key to my 'holy' crusade…"
Lord Ruthven traced his hand down to Clint's abdomen and proceeded to punch his entire hand through his stomach, the body of his ally involuntarily jolted from the impact as Lord Ruthven's hand began to feel around the organs within his body.
Squelching sounds were heard as the vampire overlord searched without a hint of disgust, feeling the outlines of the stomach organ. Giving the slimy pouch a squeeze, he found something small and hard within it. A grin came to the face of the vampire, and he sliced open the stomach, feeling blood and body fluids come oozing out of the cut, but also the object he was looking for…
"Your sacrifice shall not be in vain my faithful servant…I shall raise you stronger than you ever were before…" Lord Ruthven said as he raised the Blood Whistle to his eyes with a look of satisfaction, wiping some blood and slime from the object, revealing the skull-like face of the Blood Whistle, a faint red glow coming from the eye socket of the skull relief.
Lord Ruthven slid the Blood Whistle into his pocket and with a growl, his body grew and morphed into his hellbeast form before staring down at Clint with a smirk forming on his face.
"You still have a part to play, Clint…come along…"
Lord Ruthven wrapped one of his massive arms around the body of his naked soldier before clapping his wings together, producing a thunderous boom as he took to the night sky.
(Castle Frankenstein)
"Will you two stop bickering!?" Friar Carl begged as Gabriel and Father Valentino had been consistently arguing for the better part of fifteen minutes. No matter how hard the monster-hunter tried to get the priest to see the world from his eyes, Father Valentino was as strong and strict in his faith-driven mission as ever.
"He's the one that's playing hard to get…" Gabriel groaned as he motioned one of his arms towards the priest who was smoking a cigar.
"I'm the only one out of the four of us that has the most sense, I cannot believe you want to team up with Satan's soldiers!" The priest screamed before turning his attention to Carl. "You are just as bad, supposed to be a monk and a member of the Vatican but you curse up a storm every five seconds!"
"It isn't that bad, dammit!" Carl retorted.
"Everything that we've done so far is a negative in God's eyes, why can't you see that?" Father Valentino groaned. "One thing's for sure: When we get back to the Vatican City, I'm never working with the two of you knuckleheads ever again."
Van Helsing scoffed. "Your loss."
A gasp was heard seconds later, it didn't belong to any man in the room. The voice was a female, yet it had a deep, commanding tone, that of a leader of a bunch.
Van Helsing and Carl, as well as Father Valentino, all looked towards where the sound originated from, and there in a doorway stood none other than Verona!
Verona stood in silence, her face appearing shocked, her normal brown eyes having turned into a purple glow. As soon as her eyes met Gabriel's, the true bride of Dracula bared her fangs and sent a scathing hiss towards him.
"Remember…you wanted this…" Father Valentino said softly as he locked his eyes onto the female vampire, brandishing his crucifix.
"Gabrielle, would you shut the fu—"
"VAN HELSING!" Carl's scream of terror cut through the argument as Verona morphed into her taller vampiric form, her olive-colored skin turning a gloomy grey, and her clothes morphed into large wings which she clapped together, torpedoing herself towards her foe, claws at the ready!
Van Helsing stood his ground, digging out his Tojo blades as fast as his arms could allow, but Verona came to a sudden halt a few feet away from the three men, gasping and looking confused as she glanced up at something or someone over their heads.
"Oh-Oh my G-God…" Carl stammered as he looked to see who it was.
"Language, Carl!" Father Valentino growled as he too looked up to see who this person was, and his expression changed immediately. "You've got to be kidding me…"
Standing on the mantlepiece was the count himself, staring towards his bride with a just as puzzled expression as her. He looked towards his hands and felt himself up and down to check if he was still alive.
"How…interesti—" Then he saw Van Helsing, and his confusion was replaced by rage. His brown eyes burned a fiery red as he leapt from the railing, sprouting wings mid-fall and his entire body changing into the hellbeast.
"Give me one good reason as to why I shouldn't kill you where you stand, Gabriel!" Dracula boomed, his voice echoing like thunder as he landed at Gabriel's front.
"Because you need me." Van Helsing nonchalantly replied.
"Like hell I need you!" Dracula roared, spittle flying into the face of the monster-hunter, who wiped it away with a mild look of disgust.
"Just because you disagree with me doesn't mean I'm going to change my mind, you need me. All of you need me…"
As soon as Gabriel spoke those words, two more vampires emerged from doorways in the room, Aleera made an appearance across the room from Dracula on the mantlepiece while Marishka emerged from the door leading to the secret room. The sudden appearance of the exotic blonde vampire startled Carl who was right next to her, causing her to bare her fangs towards him, her brown eyes shifting to yellow with a furious snarl etched on her gorgeous face.
"You need me as much as I need you." Van Helsing added on, Dracula scoffed and began to shift back into his regular humanoid appearance, the furry body and wings forming into his black cloak and clothing.
"I'm afraid I can't help you in that regard, I'm not one for doing anyone's dirty work." Dracula replied as he took a step back from Gabriel.
"Pretty sure you did Satan's work, but whatever makes you feel better, old friend…" Van Helsing fired back with a grin towards the end of his sentence. "Besides, what you and I are dealing with is much grander than the two of us combined." This made Dracula laugh.
"Everyone says that, Gabriel. You're going to have to…try harder to make me join forces with you…" The count replied with a grin.
"What about our children!?" Aleera cried from the mantlepiece before leaping over the railing, landing on her feet. Her brown eyes turned pink as she advanced towards Van Helsing and Father Valentino just like the rest of her vampire family.
"Uh…Van Helsing?" Carl asked with loads of fear in his nervous voice, he tried to hurry towards his partner to be of some use to help, but the back of Marishka's hand met his face! The monk was launched across the room into a pile of machinery, foul smelling petroleum began to spill all over him. "Ow…"
"If you want to even have a chance of seeing your children again, you'll join me in taking Lord Ruthven down!" Van Helsing screamed as now the vampires were a little too close for comfort, his fingers trigger happy to activate the Tojo blades he held in both hands.
The vampires stopped at the sound of a name they hadn't heard before, each of them looking confused. With a tilt of his head, Dracula questioned Gabriel.
"Lord Ruthven?"
"Yes, allow me to explain…"
(Valerious Village)
"Oh no, Clint!" A servant of Lord Ruthven cried when the naked body was laid out on an altar before them. The small army gathered by the vampire had surrounded him, with Birsha standing tall amongst them.
"Fret not, my faithful!" Lord Ruthven reassured his werewolf minions. "You shall see that Aidan isn't the only one blessed with power."
"Quick! Gather candles!" A man cried out, and several of Lord Ruthven's werewolf servants who weren't transformed rushed into the deserted homes of the Valerious Village, scrounging up any candles or light sources they could find.
Making use of a red chalk, Lord Ruthven scrawled a massive pentagram beneath the body of Clint Shadows. The stolen candles were placed in the corners of the upside-down star, and seeing this brought an unholy smirk to the face of the abomination that was Lord Ruthven.
"The blood is the life…my dear Clint…" Lord Ruthven spoke softly as he took his ornate dagger and cut into the palm of his hand, blood sprinkled forth from the wound as he allowed it to drip in a circle around the altar that the naked body had been placed upon.
"Now, my beloved faithful…let us join hands." He continued, and every one of his servants linked their arms together, Birsha even joined in. "Close your eyes…"
"Luciferum invoco, Satanam, ut dilectam Clint umbram e mortis manu revocet. Meum sanguinem donavi, sanguis enim vita est, et sanguis meus est sanguis. Ita sit!"
As Lord Ruthven chanted the unholy sermon to bring back Clint, his freshly spilled blood began to seep into every pore of Clint's body. The wound that had been created on his gut, and the internal lacerations that had been done to his stomach organ healed in a matter of seconds, and his eyes opened with a gleaming white glow.
A cold, hellish energy surrounded the village as Clint sat up slowly with a yawn, staring towards Lord Ruthven with curious eyes.
"Welcome back, brother, you've been missed so dearly…" The vampire said as he held Clint by the hand, pulling him back to his feet.
"Have we succeeded, has Thalaba been revived?" Clint asked, causing Lord Ruthven to let out a hearty laugh of cruel delight.
"Not yet, not yet…" Lord Ruthven explained as he examined the Blood Whistle again, the faint red glow in the eye sockets of the skull relief still as gentle as ever. "We must destroy two more villages to achieve the right amount needed to open the portal."
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's keep going!" Clint cried out as he stood up, the grin on Lord Ruthven's lips widened.
"Your enthusiasm is most inspiring…"
(Castle Frankenstein)
"If he has his way, then your children may even be at risk. You have no idea what evil the Blood Whistle can bring into this world, and it's imperative that we get it back." Van Helsing explained, but he had a strange feeling that Dracula wasn't paying much attention.
"A splendid history lesson, my friend." The count said with a smug look on his face before facing his brides for the approval, the three seemed to be game on joining Van Helsing, although they didn't appear so happy, nonetheless. "I shall join you." And Dracula offered a hand to Gabriel with the mischievous grin still on his face.
Van Helsing grabbed Dracula by the hand, shaking it, and it was then that Dracula's face changed from a grin into a stern scowl…
"Don't take this as a kindness, I'm doing this for my children…not you…"
Now it was Van Helsing's turn to smirk.
"I was never expecting anything kind from you to begin with…"
Marishka curled an arm around Carl, whom she was standing next to. Turning her head to face him as he cowered down and back, a smug yet provocative look on her gorgeous face as she stared deeply into the worried eyes of the monk. Her brown eyes slowly shifting into gold as her smile widened, revealing her fangs…
"You hear that, dear…don't take it as a kindness…" She repeated softly before…KISSING Carl on the cheek! Carl's face glowed a bright red as his heart leapt into his throat.
"Oh…oh my…" He said to himself as Marishka snickered to herself before letting him go, strutting towards Dracula to meet up with the rest of her vampire family. "That felt…good?"