Chapter I: Introduction

1944: The world is in chaos. The second world war has claimed millions of lives, leveled cities, destroyed nations. The souls of the war's dead blanket the planet, lost, hurt, and angry. Their anguish summons an accursed castle of legend. It has appeared many times throughout history, brining with it evil and darkness. The castle of Dracula, the lord of evil. It arrives in man's darkest hour, to push us over the brink, into ruin.

The hunters arrived at the castle several minutes before the priest. They were each covered by a black cloak to hide their identity should they cross paths with anyone. As they were about to make their way into the castle Hugh and Simon heard him approach.

"Quickly," Simon said quietly and ducked behind a row of trees.

The others followed without a word. As the priest came into view Richter regarded him carefully, "What's a priest doing here alone?"

"I don't know," Serenity whispered, "Best we keep hidden from him for now."

"Damn," Hugh said under his breath, "with him pacing back and forth like that we won't be able to get into the castle without being seen."

Nathan put a hand to his shoulder with a smile, "Be patient Hugh. Let's see what he's up to."

An hour passed by before a young man and a woman came walking up to the priest. Neither of them looked much older than a teenager. The young man seemed to be full of confidence and pride while the woman was slightly more cautious of her surroundings. The hunters remained silent and listened.

The priest saw them at once and exclaimed dropping his eyes to the young man's side, "That whip! There's no mistaking it! You're Jonathan Morris!"

Serenity shared a look of surprise with her team as the young man, Jonathan replied with a smile, "Good eye. And you are…?"

The priest gave a deep bow to them both and replied, "Ah, forgive me. I am Vincent Dorin. By order of the church, I have been awaiting you. To think that the master of the legendary Vampire Killer would come here! A blessing indeed."

The young girl at Jonathan's side gave a sweet smile as she looked over at him stating, "Too bad he can't actually us it."

Jonathan turned on her and shouted, "Charlotte! Can't you pretend to play along for once?"

Crossing her arms she gave a small shrug and replied, "Well, that's the truth, isn't it? You can't lie to a priest."

This caught the priest, Vincent, by complete shock as he stammered, "Wh...What? Are you suggesting that whip is a fake then?"

Here Simon and Richter came forward slightly trying to get a better look at the boy's whip as he replied, "It's true. I can't use the Vampire Killer. This whip wasn't actually passed down through my family."

"You've heard of the Belmont family, haven't you?" Charlotte questioned.

"Why, of course I have!" Vincent exclaimed in pure excitement, "They've used that whip for generations to destroy Dracula. And that family is related to the Morris family by blood."

Hugh was about to say something when Nathan pressed a finger over his lips while Jonathan elaborated, "Been doing your research, huh? Unfortunately, the fact is…we're not the true successors." Here he paused to take in Vincent's apparent shock before continuing, "No problem, though. I've won every battle till now without the whip. Not one loss."

"Lucky you have me to help you." Charlotte said with a smile.

Vincent looked the young girl carefully questioning, "Yes, I was wondering about that. And you are…?"

"Well, excuse me," Charlotte said in a huff blowing out her cheeks, "If you're from the church, then remember this! I am Charlotte Aulin!"

"Charlotte…I've heard that name before…Charlotte…," Vincent replied deep in thought before jumping in shock, "Oh! You must be the great magician everyone's been talking about!"

'Heh heh…," Charlotte chuckled gazing over at Jonathan with a smug smile, "Great, you say?"

Jonathan looked back at her with a frown as Vincent shouted in disbelief, "U…Unbelievable! To think that she was a mere child…" At this Charlotte glared back at Vincent in anger causing him to stammer once more, "Oh, well, I mean, such a lovely young lady!"

Once more Charlotte smiled at Jonathan, "You heard that? Jonathan! He called me L-O-V-E-L-Y!"

Jonathan regarded this with pure embarrassment, as did the other hunters watching, as he stated absently, "So anyway, Vincent, you had some business with me?"

Charlotte, angry anew for being ignored, scowled at him as Vincent answered, "Oh, yes, yes I do! I have been ordered to assist you in your quest. I've brought potions with me, but, well…"

"Well? What?" he asked.

Vincent began fumbling with his hands slightly trying his best to hold his eye contact Jonathan and failing in the end, "It's a matter of…economics."

"You want us to pay you, right?" Charlotte injected with her anger subsiding.

Vincent caught her eye for a moment before looking down, "Um, well, if you insist…"

Jonathan smiled as his embarrassment with mild humor, "Sure, no problem. I think we can take care of that."

"I couldn't care less," Charlotte replied with a shrug.

"But more importantly, the castle," Jonathan said suddenly growing serious as he looked up and the enormous castle looming before them all, "Is that really Dracula's castle?"

Vincent turned to look at the castle himself, "No one has seen Dracula thus far. However, the church insists that it is indeed Dracula's castle."

"No doubt about it," Charlotte said looking up at it herself, "This castle is pulsing with dark magical power. I can't imagine it's anything but the castle of Lord Dracula that I studied in the books."

Jonathan smiled turning his attention back to Vincent, "Sounds like fun. Come on, better get going than," here he paused to turn to Charlotte, "Charlotte?"

"Right with you," she replied with a smile.

"B…Be careful," Vincent said as they began walking into the castle grounds, "I'll search for a safe place. I'll meet you inside. Godspeed."

With that Vincent lingered for a moment longer before entering the castle himself. The hunters waited for several minutes before coming back out into the open.

"Those two…" Serenity began looking after them.

"They're going to get themselves killed," Nathan said absently folding his arms.

Shaking his head Hugh frowned, "They're just kids. They have no idea what they're getting themselves into."

Simon and Richter were also quite shocked as Simon stated, "It seemed like they weren't serious at all. Like this is just a big game to them."

"Enough," Serenity said brining everyone out of their thoughts, "We need to get into the castle ourselves and have a look around."

As she began walking after them Nathan stopped her, "Wait a minute Serenity." Stopping she turned to look at her brother, "How does that boy have the Vampire Killer if the one from the current time is with me?"

"Maybe it's a fake?" Hugh questioned turning his eyes to Simon and Richter.

Richter shook his head and answered, "I don't think so. Even with its power sealed I can tell that it's real."

"Yes," Simon nodded, "It's faint, but I can sense its power. It might not be such a bad idea to go after them. We might learn more."

"Well…" Serenity thought, "I suppose it would be better than running around the whole castle without any leads."

Nathan smiled lightly, "Perhaps it would be wise to stay hidden though. At least for now. Even though they're just kids the girl seems to be knowledgeable enough about her history." "There is one thing that the priest said that interests me," Hugh said suddenly, "That boy is supposed to be related to Simon and Richter."

"Well," Simon started carefully in thought, "I certainly don't know anyone with the family name of Morris." He looked over to Richter who only shook his head.

"Hugh," Richter began, "Wasn't Morris the name of your father?"

"Yes it was," he replied looking down, "but Morris was his first name. I don't think it would be any relation to the Morris family…unless…"

Serenity began walking towards the castle as she called over her shoulder, "If we have the chance to sit down and converse with those two we can always ask them. Let's get going before we lose track of them."

Without another word the others followed behind her.