Chapter IX: Brauner

As the group entered the painting they saw a rather tall man working on a gruesome painting. He did not stop working, but he did seem to notice the new additions to the room.

"Stella, Loretta," he said without turning, "I told you not to come here."

"Hey! Hey!" Jonathan shouted at him, "Who are you talking to? They're busy following orders!"

Turning around he was greeted with Jonathan and Charlotte confronting him as the others stood back, "You! You two! What have you done to my daughters?"

"Sadly for you," Charlotte scoffed, "they've regained their senses. Thanks to my magic."

Panic surfaced on Brauner's face, "How can this be? How could you two understand? Those two are the reincarnation of my dead daughters!"

Serenity shared a look with Nathan as Jonathan shouted, "I don't care! Being a family means being connected by heart. Ties of blood and souls are insignificant," here he paused to look down, "When I learned why my father did what he did, I understood," then he brought his head back up and glared at Brauner, "You used a curse to manipulate your dear daughters! Now that's sad!"

The cane Brauner had grabbed when he turned to face Jonathan and Charlotte snapped in half and his eyes glowed a deep red, "And now I must suffer the loss of my daughters to humanity again. I'll show you how that feels," he grinned wide showing his fangs, "And then I'll make those girls my daughters once more!"

"Now that's a problem," Jonathan said taking the Vampire Killer from his side, "Sorry, can't let you do that."

"Behold," Brauner shouted, "the power of my painting!"

Brauner summoned a canvas and entered it. It took off seconds later and began flying around the room at incredible speed.

"I promised Eric," Jonathan said as he watched the painting fly, "now time to carry it out."

"Right," Charlotte agreed and readied her spell book, "Together, we can do this."

With that Jonathan and Charlotte engaged Brauner. Serenity and the others watched them for a moment before they turned in on themselves.

"What do you think?" she asked keeping a close eye on the canvas as it flew around the room, "Do we intervene here?"

"As much as I would love to end this quickly," Nathan started, "this isn't really our fight. I feel for the girls and their father, but we have a more important target to worry about."

Simon nodded his head in agreement, "I know he's here. He's behind that seal leading up to the throne room. Once Jonathan and Charlotte take care of Brauner it will be our turn to battle Dracula."

As they were all in agreement they each turned their attention back to the battle before them. It did not take the two of them long to force Brauner out of his painting and attack him head on. They were able to do a massive amount of damage to him before he dropped to his knees.

"Darn you, humans…" he gasped as a thin line of blood trickled from his mouth, "You selfishly start wars and despoil the earth…," he paused briefly to catch his breath, "Perhaps justice wasn't on my side but I will never admit that it was on yours."

"Fine either way," Jonathan said breathing hard himself, "After all, justice is just a matter of perspective. The fact is, you're just a coward who couldn't face the truth. You couldn't accept your fate, so you just abandoned humanity to get what you wanted."

Serenity could see blood forming in Brauner's eyes as he tried to keep his voice steady, "I just…," he paused as a single bloody tear streaked down his face, "I just wanted to protect my family."

Suddenly Death appeared from behind Brauner and sliced him nearly in half with his scythe. He screamed in agony as blood erupted from his body. He knelt screaming for a moment longer before falling to the ground dead. Death was laughing the entire time as he looked over Jonathan and the others. Jonathan was shocked beyond words as his eyes focused on Death.

"Well done!" Death grinned at him and Charlotte, "Now the interloper is no more!"

"What?" Jonathan demanded readying his whip for an attack.

Death floated closer to Jonathan as if daring him to make a move against him, "The studio painting was cutting off the throne needed to revive Lord Dracula. A cleaver plan. Alas, now my lord can be revived!"

Death broke into a fit of laughter once more and took his leave. Sharing a look of concern everyone in the painting made a hasty exit.