(second half) by Steve C.

           After making a few stops and warning a few of his vampire hunting colleagues, Gustav reached the castle and found his way inside, heading for the Great Hall. He didn't yet know quite what to say to Dracula, but he had to get help from someone, even if it was his arch-enemy.
           So, with his bag across his shoulder--just in case Lucard didn't want to talk--Gustav opened the door in, expecting the worst.
           "Why, Helsing, pleasure seeing you again," Dr. Varney said, standing up from his chair to greet the man. "Feel free to talk as loud as you like--my patient is in a deep trance and won't be disturbed." He gestured to Dracula, whose head was resting on his shoulder.
           Gustav walked in a little, cautiously. "What are you doing here?" he asked, trying not to sound too suspicious.
           "I'm afraid my young friend here is not feeling very well. It seems he's having a little spiritual conflict."
           "I assume, then, that this has something to do with the Cievarians coming?" Gustav asked, stepping in just a little more, almost at the foot of the stairs now.
           "So you've heard," Varney said, looking away and pouring a glass from the decanter. "Some wine, Helsing? It's quite good."
           "Thank you, no," he replied, still staring intently at the vampire doctor. "I really need to talk to Lucard about them. It's a... personal matter."
           Varney took a drink, setting the decanter down and looking back to Gustav. "Look, I'll level with you, Helsing, since you are so familiar with the two of us. Dracula has become a danger to himself and the vampires he creates. The Cievarians coming is just the thing he needs to get back on the right track."
           "What are you saying, Varney? What exactly is wrong with him?" Was it concern in Gustav's voice, or did he just want to know in order to better fight the vampire?
           "It's a funny story, actually," he said, smiling a little. "I had a patient of mine inject himself with a compound called Glasnick, and told him to be in the right place at the right time for our friend here." He again opened his hand to Dracula, who was completely oblivious to the conversation. "You see, I heard that the monks were going to be passing through here, and I wanted Dracula to experience a feeling that would get him eager to meet with them."
           "What did this 'Glasnick' do to him?"
           Varney smiled a little again, looking down at Lucard. "It made him feel all empty inside. I told him it was a common disease called Dissolution, and that he'd need the monks' guidance to get rid of it. Because of the nature of the disease, that is."
           Although the vampire was all smiles, Gustav had to take the matter much more seriously. "If he finds out you manipulated him, I dread to think of the consequences."
           "But he won't," Varney said quickly, his face again without expression. "By the time he gets on the good side of the Cievarians and they teach him to change his lifestyle, the affects of the Glasnick will have worn off. Dracula will become a better vampire, and I'll have half the work load that I do now to worry about."
           "But don't you know what bringing the Cievarians to this place will do? Or giving him the knowledge of their techniques?" Gustav asked desperately, trying to reason with the vampire.
           "Yes," Varney answered, looking up towards the ceiling. "I had forgotten. That beautiful young vampire that showed up the last time I was here. Her parents belong to the monks, don't they?" he asked, looking back to Gustav.
           "She's not a vampire anymore, Varney. And I need Dracula to help keep them away from her." Gustav hated having to just sit around and talk like this, with Varney or Dracula. It just went against his blood to not take the cross out of his bag and try and make them flee. He was beginning to get impatient.
           "I doubt Dracula would do any such thing. In fact, as fond as he was of her, I'd guess reminding him of her parents would just make things worse for you. Look," he said, suddenly talking to Gustav like an equal for some reason. "Dracula isn't going to be in that trance much longer, and I think it might be best if you just go. I won't tell him anything about the Cievarians, and I suggest you don't either."
           Gustav exhaled deeply, looking again at the hopelessness of the situation. "All right," he said. "All right, I'll just go home."

           Meanwhile, back at the house, Chris and Max had begun to experience their own problems keeping the secret of the coming Cievarians from Sophie.
           It had started out unfairly for Chris, to tell the truth. Sophie had come down the stairs, wearing mostly black and a pair of earrings that Chris knew well. They were triangular, silver, and very reminiscent of the night she had almost killed him. Sophie had been wearing those same earrings on that night, and many nights afterward, probably just to remind him of how close they had come. Of course, as time went on, Chris didn't know if he had been closer to death or the love of his life, and probably wouldn't anytime soon. Still, she had come down the stairs, and they had to keep her occupied until Gustav returned. "Max, Chris, where's Uncle Gustav?" she asked, trying to go toward his desk.
           "Uncle Gustav?" Chris asked. "Our Uncle Gustav?" He stepped in front of her, and she squinted her eyes in suspicion.
           "Yes, he's an older man, lives in this house. I need to talk to him."
           "Oh really, about what?" Max asked, also getting between her and the desk.
           She looked down to him. "It's kind of a personal matter. Could you please tell me where he is?"
           "He's... uh, he's..." Max started, looking up to his brother.
           "He went to the market," Chris said abruptly, probably a little too loud. He could not stop looking at her earrings; it was getting absurd. "Yeah, he had to buy some stuff."
           "Chris, the market's closed--what would he get?" She had walked into the situation without much humor, and was now starting to get a little angry.
           "Well, I'm sure I don't know," he said, and stepped in front of her when she tried to move around him to the desk. At this point Max finally got the right idea, and went around his side, grabbing the black letter from the top.
           Not that Sophie didn't see this.
           "All right," she said, holding her hands up to back Chris away a little. "What's going on?" She looked around at Max, who had the letter behind his back, and noticed something. "Uncle Gustav's red bag isn't here. He went up to the castle, didn't he?"
           "We don't know where he went, okay?" he said, stepping away now that Max had the letter.
           "Max?" she asked, walking over in front of him. "What do you have behind your back?"
           "It's private," he said, smiling up at her. "So what was it you needed to see Uncle Gustav about again?" he asked, handing the note to Chris, who quickly stepped over and threw it on the fire, before Sophie could get around his brother.
           She sighed, upset at them and still unhappy about everything else that had been going on. She sat down on the couch, Max and Chris sitting close by.
           "It's my parents, all right? I wanted to talk to him about my parents."
           Chris and Max glanced at each other, the older boy asking a question he already knew the answer to. "What happened to them, anyway?"
           "I don't know," she said, looking from her hands to him. Her hair was covering up the earrings for the moment, and it was easier to look at her. "They and Gustav were friends--they had been for a long time--and when I started coming to school here a few years ago, they thought it was best if I stayed with him." She paused, trying to hold back her emotion in front of the boys. "When the first summer came, I didn't hear from them, and Uncle Gustav said that he doubted ever seeing them again. When I asked him why, he told me about vampires for the first time, and I just assumed they were killed by one."
           "Who, Lucard?" Max asked.
           She laughed a little. The water had come up to her eyes, but was staying there for now. "No, he would have told me if Lucard had done it. I think that it was done by a group of vampires called the Civians or something. At least they didn't transform them, huh?" she said, thinking of Chris and Max's mother. Sophie wiped her eyes, but she managed to leave it at that. "And lately, I've been getting these weird feelings about them, and I just needed to talk to Uncle Gustav about it."
           Chris rubbed her shoulder a little, trying to comfort her. Max looked at the fire and the burning letter. Despite his brother's wishes, no doubt, he spoke up. "That letter," he said pointing at it, "is from the Cievarians. It said they were coming to see Lucard, and then Uncle Gustav took off, probably up to the castle."
           "What?" Sophie said, looking down to him and grabbing his arm. "They're coming here?" She stood up and walked towards the desk.
           Chris moved over on the couch and slapped his brother on the back of the head. "Nice work, Max. Soph, where are you going?" he called, standing up and following her. "Uncle Gustav said to stay here; it's too dangerous."
           "I don't care," she said back to him, taking the only thing left on the desk by Gustav: a small vial of holy water. That and the cross around her neck would have to do.
           He went after her, this time getting in between her and the door. Max got up from his seat and went stop to Sophie as well.
           "I can't let you go," he said, looking right into her eyes.
           She pushed her hair back, not really knowing this would help, and said, "Chris, what went through your mind when you found out Dracula had turned your mother into a vampire?"
           She had him there, and he also was distracted by those stupid earrings.
           "Look, I'm going, and you can either get something to help and come with me, or wait here and explain to Uncle Gustav what happened. But I can't sit around and wait for him to take care of this. Understand?"
           Chris looked away, frowning a bit. "Okay, we're coming," he said, moving out of her way and leading Max into the living room. "Just wait a few minutes so I can leave a note and we can find--" he started, but was interrupted by the sound of the door slamming.
           "Oh, great," he said, pushing past Max to the door. He threw it open and looked outside, not seeing Sophie anywhere.
           "Perfect. Just perfect," he said, and ran back inside to get a cross.

           About ten minutes after the Townsends left the house, Gustav returned, holding a cross and reaching up to the bell. He waited for a few seconds, and tried the knob, finding the house unlocked. Gustav became infuriated, ready to tear down the boys for not doing what he asked, but found the note on the floor inside. "'Headed for the castle, had to go after Sophie.' Oh, no, no!" he cried, turning right around and going back outside. Gustav pulled the door shut, now facing it, and turned his key in the lock, trying to move as fast as a man his age could.
           "Helsing!" said a very happy voice. One Gustav knew quite well. "So good to see you, old boy. My, you are looking so much older than I remember."
           Gustav froze, and then slowly turned around, knowing who was behind him.
           "You remember me, don't you?" Metolocles asked, smiling at him. "I'm afraid I have some startling news for you."

           On the way to the castle, Chris and Max came across some very bad signs. First, they found the vial of holy water Sophie had been carrying, then a few feet further the cross she had been wearing around her neck. The two boys picked up their pace considerably, reaching the castle within five minutes of the usual time it took. The door started to smoke as Max threw some of the holy water on it, removing the curse for a good hour, if he remembered right. He and Chris opened the door, ready to search through the maze for the Great Hall, where they would undoubtedly find Lucard and Sophie.
           It took quite a bit of time, but they eventually got to the door, Chris stopping Max from running in.
           They could hear voices from the other side.
           "Just calm down; I'm sure we can work this all out." This belonged to Lucard, and he sounded like he was trying to pacify someone.
           "Don't do anything foolish. You know the rules of the brethren," came another voice that Max recognized as Dr. Varney.
           Then a third voice spoke, but it was too hard for the boys to make out. Chris put his finger to his mouth, saying, "Shhh," and they slowly opened the door, hoping no one would be able to see them first. They crept into the hall, seeing four people. Varney and Lucard were standing by the fire, both with fangs out and eye-color changed. Across from them, at the foot of the stairs, a vampire stood, holding Sophie's neck in his hands. He was wearing a long black robe, and was quite tall--almost the size of Dracula. The yellow of his eyes completely occupied the eyeball, whereas Lucard and Varney just had different irises--and his eyes were more of an orange-ish color. His skin was a strange looking tan, with shades of black on the cheekbones and forehead. His teeth went all the way to his lower gum-line when he spoke, and if they were retractable at night or not was anyone's guess. Sophie had her eyes wide open, but she seemed to be in a catatonic state, and was not struggling. She didn't even blink very much.
           "The other brethren aren't coming Dracula," he said, his voice almost inaudible among the roaring. "This was all just a trap for you. I sent a letter to the Helsing house, knowing it would bring this girl here."
           "You are quite the strategist," Lucard said, "but what kind of trap is this?"
           He snarled his lip a little, confused. "What? Isn't it obvious? This female here belongs to us. Since we all know about her past and how much she knows, this girl is the perfect weapon to use on you."
           "What on earth are you talking about?" Lucard asked, genuinely confused. "She owes all of her knowledge to me. If she were brought over again, her allegiance would completely belong to no one but me. What have you been told?"
           "Never you mind," the Cievarian yelled, looking around him constantly. "The point isn't her. The point is you! Do you know who I am? Do you?"
           "Names fail me at the moment."
           The Cievarian roared, shaking Sophie a little bit. "You did this to me, Dracula. You took my life and made me this hideous creation!"
           "That's hardly a way for a Cievarian to think of a vampire. Isn't the whole point to revel in the fact of being Undead?"
           "Be quiet!" he shrieked. "I joined these monks to make myself more powerful than you. Though they all have this great admiration and devotion to a vampire of your status, I have been trying to build a force against you."
           "Where are they?" Varney asked slowly.
           "They couldn't make it," he said, his tone of voice going to one of calmness for an eighth of a second. "Anyway! With my powers, and when this female is a vampire under my control, you will have a defeat the likes of which you have never seen."
           "That would be a defeat, then," he said, proudly.
           "And it will be soon!" the Cievarian shouted, roaring and turning Sophie's neck to sink in.
           At this, Chris and Max ran onto the scene, the crosses causing Varney and Dracula to back away in pain, but merely making the Cievarian jerk up from his arc to Sophie's neck.
           "Why, Christopher and Max," Dracula said, his hand turned sideways in front of him, "I was wondering when someone would show up to save her. Would Helsing happen to be with you?"
           "No," Chris said, not looking at him. "But we can kill this guy just as easily as he could."
           "I don't know about that. He's quite insane and much stronger than any vampire you have dealt with before," Dracula said, also looking at the Cievarian. His voice took on the whispering quality he had a habit of, as he said, "Why don't you just leave and let me handle this."
           "Because, if you stopped him from killing Sophie, you'd just do it yourself," Max answered, like he was talking to his best friend.
           "True, but you would have at least a few more days as humans," he said, at which point the Cievarian used a power they had never seen before.
           Chris had been watching him this whole time, and saw his neck tighten up in a jerk and his eyes blink. They couldn't see what was coming, but were suddenly hit by an invisible wave, which knocked the two boys over. As the crosses fell from their hands the Cievarian used telekinesis--another power they hadn't seen from Dracula--and tossed them against the back wall, breaking them apart.
           Dracula and Varney put their hands down, the pain gone and the Cievarian still a problem to deal with. Speaking of him, he looked down at the boys, simply saying: "I'll take care of you two in a minute." He roared again, while the vampires and hunters watched, unable to do anything about it.
           But as his fangs just reached above Sophie's throat, their was a loud *fwapping* sound, as a vampire transported into the room. Unlike the way Dracula and most vampires did it, the purple-white light came from the walls, flying at tremendous speeds, and flashed into the Cievarian leader, instead of swirling upward into him. As he appeared, a yellow light morphed into Gustav, whose shoulder was under the Cievarian's hand. It wasn't as impressive as the regular vampire transport, though, much less Metolocles's. Metolocles was the representative Cievarian in appearance, a by-product of being their leader and teaching them for so long. He was wearing a black robe, head to toe, his skin the same color as it. His eyes were yellow, everything but the pupil, and his fingernails were the brown and sharp claws that all vampires had at wish. His teeth were blindingly white next to his skin, and just as long as his fellow Cievarian's. Also, he at no time retracted them that night. Metolocles spoke with a combination of Classical Latin and English accents, the result of growing up and dying in one country--Ancient Rome--and spending most of his time in the other--Elizabethan to modern-day England. His voice had a tendency, like Dracula's, to revert into whispers when he began speaking seriously but without anger, and he spoke quite eloquently.
           "All right, Frederick," he said, talking to the other Cievarian as if he were a misbehaving child. Gustav and Metolocles had appeared at the first platform on the staircase, and the Cievarian holding Sophie had turned his back to the windows so he could still see everyone. "Come on now, it's time for your medication, let's let the human go."
           "Leave me alone, Master," the Cievarian said, now sounding like a child, and holding Sophie to him like an ill-gotten toy.
           Metolocles held up his hand, wobbling it like the gesture one makes when saying something is "okay," and Frederick's arms fell to his sides, Sophie left standing in her catatonic state.
           "Release her now, Frederick," he said, looking at the vampire with a stern eye.
           The Cievarian roared loudly, making Dracula raise his hands to get ready for a move. Instead of turning and attacking, though, Frederick's face went into a pout, and he waved his hand, freeing Sophie. Chris and Gustav went to her aid, catching her before she could fall to the ground. Max ran up to them when they had her, and the group looked around at the vampires.
           "Helsing, I'll see you tomorrow, around noon?" Metolocles said.
           "All--um, all right," he said, looking at Dracula, who had altered his appearance back to normal.
           "Once again we seem to be at a sort of truce, Helsing. We really should try to fight each other more."
           "I guarantee it," he said, and left with the children, the vampires watching him go.
           At their leave, Metolocles descended from the stairs, and put his claws to the Cievarians neck, pinching him. The Cievarians eyes shut flutteringly, and he fell to the ground.
           "Thank you so much for your call, Dr. Varney. Without it, we would have missed this one's leave."
           "Well, you're welcome," Varney said, a little nervous now that Metolocles was here and he hadn't had a chance to talk about Dracula.
           "Now that you are here," Lucard said, walking over to him. "I need your help. I have this Vampric Dissolution and need you and the monks to help me find my way out of it."
           Metolocles looked over at Varney, furrowing his eyebrows, and received a quick telepathic message that explained the situation.
           "Oh, of course," he said, trying to contain his displeasure that the Cievarian Church could have been taken advantage of because of Varney. "I'll send you the book of laws, and, if you read and follow them, your 'condition' should leave you in a few months."
           "That's it?" Lucard asked, not quite understanding. "I thought I needed to join you--completely follow the teachings."
           "If you ever feel the need to join us while completely well, then we'll gladly take you in, Dracula. But you can see what happens when you have other motives." He opened his hand down at Frederick, who would have to be dispatched on his return to England, and before the migration.
           "Well, farewell, gentlemen," Metolocles said, picking up the Cievarian. "Again my apologies for this one. May blood rain from the skies," he announced, and transported, the purple-white light going out in all directions.

           The next day, Gustav and Metolocles met for lunch, so the Cievarian leader could explain to him what happened.
           In the daylight, Metolocles looked completely human, but was quite uncomfortable. He refused to eat anything, but drank from a flask that surely contained blood, while Gustav dined on schnitzel.
           "He sent you that letter, because he knew it would get you out of the house and hopefully get Sophie away, too. I hope you didn't think it was really from me."
           "No, of course not," Gustav lied, having forgotten how noble Metolocles really was.
           "It doesn't matter, though. He was off his rocker, completely. He had this whole plan and idea about Dracula and your ward, and just didn't know what he was doing. We had been keeping our eyes on him, but, well, no one's perfect," he admitted, pushing up his sunglasses and taking another drink.
           "Yes, I know. I'm just sorry the subject of her parents and her being a vampire had to be brought up again. It's not something that leaves us in good feeling."
           "She doesn't know about her parents, does she?" he asked, shocked at the thought.
           "No, of course not," Gustav answered. "But she does think you or one of the monks killed them. That's why I was so worried when she became a vampire. I thought she would leave the country to find you. If she had, I'd hate to think what would have happened."
           "I'll bet she was a wonderful vampire," Metolocles said, marvelling at the thought and thinking of the monks that had been her mother and father.
           Gustav smiled. "Oh, you would have loved her. She just about killed one of her teachers her first night, almost ran me through with a sword, and nearly transformed that boy Chris that was with us last night."
           "You keep your eye on her, Gustav," Metolocles said, standing up and putting down some money for the bill. "I've never known a human that became a vampire and became human again that didn't return one day. If Dracula ever reforms his ways and upgrades his mind control abilities, she might go back to him--and after being bitten twice you know there's no going back, even with the Quinidrine Solution."
           "But, that's just it," Gustav said, wiping his mouth. "From the writings of my great grandfather, to my grandfather, to my father, to me, I've discovered something about Dracula."
           "And what's that?"
           "His ways will never change."

Fan Fiction / Lucard's Home Page / lpetix@dpcc.com