Chapter II: Entrance

It did not take the hunters long to catch up to Jonathan and Charlotte. They followed the trail of defeated monsters all the way to a small secluded section of the castle not far from where they entered. They were about to walk in when they heard Charlotte's voice drifting out to them.

"In that case," she said sounding somewhat cautious, "please help us."

"No," Jonathan's voice stated harshly, "I've been able to do fine without any of his help so far. So why don't you just…"

Here Charlotte interrupted him, "Right, so far. But this is Dracula's castle. Even if you could use that whip, it won't help when you die. Don't you remember your father?"

"Enough about my father!" Jonathan shouted in anger, "Just leave this to me, okay? My father's dead. Forget him."

At this the hunters shared a solemn look as Charlotte replied in a quiet voice, "Sorry. But still,"

"No, wait," Jonathan cut in sounding ashamed, "I'm sorry…guess I got a little overdramatic there. You might be right, Charlotte." There was a slight pause before he continued, "Wind, perhaps we could use your help. Would you help us?"

There was a long pause here before a male voice answered back, "If you can complete the tasks I give you, only then will I help you."

"Deal," Jonathan replied at once, "Let's go, Charlotte."

The hunters quickly removed themselves from the area, but neither of the two exited the room they had been in. Serenity peered back where they had been previously. When still they did not see Jonathan or Charlotte they returned and listened carefully. They were each interested in what Jonathan had said about his father and were eager to learn more. They did not have to wait long when the voice of the stranger drifted through the air.

"Now you should be able to advance deeper into the castle," he stated, "If you complete the tasks I give you, I shall teach you even more, including magic skills. I may be able to entrust you with other items in the future as well."

"Sounds good to me," Jonathan replied in a lighter tone than he had previously spoken.

The hunters were about to move again when they heard the man's voice once more, "Oh, one more thing," here he paused briefly before continuing, "Regarding this castle's lord."

"You mean Dracula, right?" Charlotte asked, "I've read books about him."

"Dracula isn't this castle's lord," the man replied.

Here the hunters shared a look of concern and drew as close to the room as they dared without being spotted as Jonathan demanded, "What do you mean? That's why they call this Dracula's castle."

"It is indeed Dracula's castle," the man replied, "However, the castle's lord is a vampire by the name of Brauner."

"I've heard nothing about that!" Charlotte exclaimed in horror.

"As one would expect," the man stated absently, "His identity has been kept secret for years, after all. He infuses magic into paintings to increase his power. You will undoubtedly come across his paintings in this castle. Search for these paintings."

"He's using the paintings to make the castle's power his, isn't he?" Charlotte questioned in deep thought, "Still, he isn't Dracula, after all, so we're safe for now."

"Be careful," the man warned, "His power grows stronger by the minute."

"No problem," Jonathan said cheerfully, "We won't let you be tied down here for long. That's a promise."

Here Charlotte chuckled, "Trust us. Jonathan might seem unreliable, but he'd never break a promise."

The man replied with a chuckle of his own, "Heh, that's reassuring. Very well. Best of luck to you."

"All right, then. Let's go find those paintings!" Jonathan shouted as his voice drew nearer.

Again the hunters removed themselves from the area. This time they watched as Jonathan and Charlotte existed the room and carried on their way. Once gone the group reemerged into the area cautiously.

"Well that was unexpected," Nathan said looking over to the room they had been listening in on.

"What do you think?" Serenity asked coming up next to him, "The man they were talking to seemed to have a lot of useful information."

Hugh came up beside her and put a hand absently on her shoulder, "I think maybe we should stay away for now. He sounds to me like a hunter. We wouldn't want to cause any unnecessary fighting."

"Especially since the three of you are vampires," Simon stated with a nod.

Letting out a sigh Serenity stated, "I guess so. Still…I would like to learn more about what transpired with Jonathan's father."

"We have bigger things to worry about right now," Richter began, "We should find this Brauner and put an end to him. That man said he was a vampire. It wouldn't surprise me if he's the one trying to resurrect Dracula."

Serenity looked back at him in question, "Are we going to leave those two on their own then?"

"For now I think it would be best," Simon said, "Finding the vampire should take top priority. If we can put an end to him then this castle should disappear before Dracula ever makes an appearance."

"Alright," Serenity agreed.