Superhero Adventures, UK Style

Based on an original suggestion by John McMullen

It started with a VOIP call to Mary apparently from Naomi Van Helsing, except it wasn’t. It was late afternoon and the screen clearly showed the call was from Naomi’s account but when Mary accepted the call the camera at the other end was switched off.

“Hello? Can you help me? I’m trying to find a mutual friend, Naomi Van Helsing?” The voice sounded like a young boy of about ten, however his English was just too perfect, too precise and there was something about his pronunciation that to Mary’s ear made her think he might be Dutch.

“Who are you and why are you trying to find Naomi?” Mary asked in response.

He ignored her question and continued, “According to her computer you were the last person she spoke to before she took a flight to Marseille in France, booked a car and a room for a couple of weeks in a village called Casteil in the French Pyrenees. I phoned the hotel and they said that she had not been seen since she had booked in. I was hoping you might help me find her as I’m worried that something might have happened to her.”

Again, Mary asked who he was. He replied, “I’m just a friend concerned for Naomi’s safety.” The call suddenly went dead with a final “bye, bye.” As the call ended, Mary confirmed it had come from Naomi’s internet address.

She considered calling the Balance together but knew Mace was off-base at the moment dealing with her own little intrigues that she refused to discuss and Locker was doing an advert for Dalton as part of Sir Damien’s attempt to try and limit the damage the OmniTech fiasco had caused, thanks to Bethany’s latest revelations.

That left Akira. After Mary had explained what had happened, they both agreed that they should visit Naomi’s flat in Kensington. Parking the Crate in a nearby street, they walked up to the third floor of her Georgian apartment block and stood in front of the heavy security door of her flat. Turning into Banshee, she flowed through the door into a dark corridor. She resubstantiated herself on the inside and opened the door. Hermetically sealed, it opened with a loud hiss. Why would anyone have an airtight door she wondered? Could she have been worried about attackers that could turn to mist perhaps?

Inside they found a clothes cupboard by the front door with a wheeled tailor’s dummy inside as well as several shelves of near identical black coats, jeans and boots. Only the stack of t-shirts with their various comedic slogans showed any sign of personality. They moved on, shouting out if anyone was there as they went from room to room.

They passed the bedroom with its massive emperor-sized bed, wall-mounted TV screen and en-suite facilities and the guest bathroom opposite before walking into the open plan living area dominated by the massive bookcase filled with novels and reference works behind a huge oak desk.

Off to the side was a compact kitchen area located behind a wide oak bench with a recorked bottle of wine and a wine-stained glass sitting on the counter. A leather sofa took up the whole of the opposite wall.

They walked over to the desk. Several reference books lay open on the desk as well as several articles primarily about the Brides of Dracula, one about a Countess Dolengen of Gratz who mysteriously vanished in 1598 in Austria as well as a brochure on the Abbaye of Saint-Martin-du-Canigou, which was apparently close to the village of Casteil in France.

A box file also lay on the desk, underneath an open pack of cigarettes and an ashtray with several stubs lying cold in it. Mary opened the file and found it contained a half-finished manuscript printed out from the laser printer located under her desk.

The desk itself had a three-screen display. The computer was still switched on but has gone into sleep mode. Mary moved the mouse and the screens burst into life showing a google map of the area in and around Caseil and the abbey. A shrunken onscreen window revealed the last transmission made from that computer had been her call back to Mary three weeks earlier. The boy’s call had to have been made elsewhere using a cloned IP address! What was going on here, she wondered?

Akira smiled and lifted the dirty glass, “The only real mystery here is how she could leave a dirty wine glass and not wash it up?”

They began researching the notes and open books including Naomi’s well-thumbed copy of Bram Stoker’s novel and its notes about Dracula’s three brides.  Except they weren’t, called brides that is – the book referred to them as ‘sisters’. Then they noticed a neat little handwritten note in several margins, just “the fourth bride?” What did that mean?

Mary smiled and phoned Jeeves to ask him to log a flight plan for the Crate, to Casteil. They would set off immediately and hope that the clues as to where Naomi was were hopefully still fresh.

A couple of hours later, Mary parked the Crate on the outskirts of Casteil and both of them headed to the only hotel in the village. As they approached the reception desk, they remembered to switch on the translation circuit on their commdots and ensured it was set to translate between French and English. They booked two rooms for the night. As they passed the bar and café area they noticed that of the twenty or so locals drinking or eating, about half of them were dressed in safety vests and work boots, many of whom looked extremely pale skinned in contrast to the tans of everyone else.

As they were about to head up to their rooms, they saw a crumpled poster that was pinned outside the public toilets. It had a picture taken from the hotel’s security cameras, of Naomi standing at the reception desk and beneath it was a word, “manquant” in large print and written below that was what they thought might be her description. Mary spoke the word aloud and their commdots translated it ‘missing’.

They approached the desk again. “Ah, we’re looking for a friend of ours, Naomi Van Helsing?” the manager, smiled, “Mais oui, Madame, are you here to collect her luggage? We were very worried when she first booked in and disappeared that same night. We even did a search party organised by the Sûreté. Even the workers from the Monastery renovations took part, only for it to be called off when her car was dropped off at Marseille a couple of days later and she sent a message paying off her bill and stating that someone would come to collect her luggage. That would be you, yes?”

“Ah, yes”, as the manager looked away Mary leant over and checked the hotel register and saw that Naomi had been given the same room as herself. The manager turned back towards them, “I need to see Mam’selle’s letter of authorisation, you have that yes?”

They asked what they would require and he explained that a written note authorising them to collect her belongings signed by Naomi so he could compare the signature with the one in his register would be sufficient. They asked about access to Wi-Fi and a printer and were directed to a small room off to the side of the reception area. When the manager wasn’t looking, Akira used the illusion of Idolon to create an appropriate ‘letter of authority’ copying the signature he’d seen in the register and asked if the suitcases could be sent up to Mary’s room? He hoped the manager wouldn’t notice when the email subsequently vanished.

They agreed to have some food first, possibly talk with some of the locals and then examine Naomi’s luggage for clues.

As they entered the café area, Akira ordered something vegetarian for himself and Mary asked for bacon and eggs; which turned out to be a plate of gammon steak, fried duck eggs and a helping of mushrooms in a cream sauce. Akira had to make do with a salad. As they tucked in, they realised that the pale faced workers all seemed to have a similar injury, a bloody scab on their necks.

They entered into conversation with the worker sitting at the table next to them who interestingly had a copy of ‘Anno Dracula’ on his table.  Mary asked him if he knew that a famous author had recently stayed at the hotel? He nodded and explained that he had meet Naomi but was annoyed at himself for not getting her to sign his well-thumbed copy of the ‘Vampire Geneviève’. Of course, he had assumed she’d be there for some time while visiting the nearby Abbey on the mountainside above the village so when she vanished he and others had helped search for her and of course he missed her when she left to go home so he never did get her signature to his regret. Akira asked if he’d spoken to Naomi herself? He replied that they all had. “She very kindly agreed to sign copies of her books for us but I’d left mine in the monastery.”  He further explained that all of the construction workers were employed in carrying out renovations of the lower church of the Monastery.

Akira asked, “I assume the lower church hasn’t been used in some time?” the worker shrugged, “Non, the lower church is used all the time but we’re repairing the old crypts underground. Now that isn’t visited very often and especially in the condition it was before we began working there. The Upper and Lower Churches are in regular use by the monks for their services. We’re working deep underground in the original crypts, repairing and propping up the foundations. The Abbey after all is over a thousand years old. There is a lot of work to be done to make it safe.”

“I bet you have some interesting tales to tell from working in the crypts?” Akira hinted. The man shrugged even as his eyes seemed to cloud over, “No, not really.”

“You surprise me; there are usually all sorts of strange occurrences happen in such places or unusual objects dug up.” The worker explained that they hadn’t been digging, just strengthening the supports and carrying out essential renovation work, especially on the old storage areas in the original foundations though it was “good to work on a national monument such as the Abbeye.”

Akira pointed to the wound on his neck, “Still I see several of you have injuries, what happened? Nothing serious I hope?” Their companion reached up and touched the side of his neck as he explained that his wound occurred when he’d stumbled on some loose debris while repairing the crypts beneath. His workmates did not find it surprising that they had also suffered similar injuries whilst working in the crypt. Asking again about Naomi, the workers explained that she had been extremely friendly and approachable and seemed very interested in the work they were doing in the crypt. “It was very strange, she went for a walk that night but failed to come back and after a couple of days with no sign of her the Sûreté, the Police, worried that she might have had an accident started search parties. We were all involved in the search, only for it to be called off a couple of days later.”

One of the older workers sitting at the same table admitted that he had kept some of the missing posters, as he was sure that one day they would be worth something. “There is a touch of the, what was that other famous English mystery author, ah Agatha Christie and her own mysterious disappearance, yes? While I am not a fan of the horror genre, I am very impressed by this Naomi’s writing. Her books come to life, it’s almost as though she herself had lived through the early 1920’s she captures so much detail in her stories, do you not agree?”

“Yes I’m sure you’re right.” Akira had his own suspicions as to how she’d come by that intimate knowledge. He confirmed that they seemed anaemic and all had scabs, though no obvious puncture holes in an identical location on the side of their necks.

After they finished their meal, they headed to Mary’s room to investigate the suitcases. It took Mary a couple of minutes and the use of a hairpin to open the cases.

Amongst several more reference books, Naomi had packed a handheld crossbow, several black wooden bolts, four grenade-like devices filled with a clear liquid and a small-sized Kevlar vest mixed in amongst her knickers. Akira assumed the bottles had to contain holy water and opened one to check, cracking the seal. The smell of concentrated garlic made them gag as it proved him wrong and he had no idea how to reset the mechanism.

Akira took the crossbow out, as he thought it might prove useful and placed the remaining three functional garlic grenades in his bag and they headed outside with Naomi’s two suitcases. It took some time before they reached their transport parked some distance away from the village. It was some form of unknown sixth sense that made Akira duck as they reached the hatch. As he did so, a shiny shuriken whistled passed his ear and stuck in the metal of the door. He looked behind him and saw nothing but the dark. He immediately raised his shield and cast the Eight Eyes of Ios on himself.

The Eight Eyes of Ios created a glowing ring of mystical unblinking golden orbs that floated around his head and granted him the ability to see in all directions, through any concealment or illusion.

With it he could ‘see’ seven figures behind them on the hilltop, though they lacked the normal body temperature he ‘saw’ radiating from himself and Mary. They were moving fast and some were even doing so whilst clinging sideways to the edge of the rocks. That wasn’t natural. She shouted out a warning. Mary dived for the biometric lock, opened the hatch and jumped inside as she changed into her Banshee form.

Akira tossed the suitcases into the cabin and dived in himself as the door slammed shut. Before the door could seal though, they heard banging on the hull as though it was being bombarded and then first one long blade slammed into the gap between the door and the door seal followed seconds later by a second katana blade trying to force the door open. Banshee responded with an aura of fear that caused whoever was holding the blades to stop. The two trying to lever open the door fell back, staggered, as the overwhelming sensation of dread washed over them. The other attackers however were less affected and continued their assault.

Meanwhile another blade started cracking the windscreen. Holding the blade was a figure completely dressed in black with only a pair of shining eyes showing that there was something almost human inside the dark attire. Footsteps on the roof said that at least another two of the dark, ninja-like figures had apparently climbed on the roof.

Akira had an idea. He jumped into the driver’s seat and over-revved the grav-modules. A sudden pulse wave of contra-gravity radiated out, knocking the dark figures on all sides away as it suddenly forced the craft off the ground into hover mode. He jumped out of the seat and checked. He confirmed their presence by maintaining the Eyes of Ios, which gave him preternatural vision and showed him their locations. Lying on the ground he could see four black figures, knocked down by the sudden flight. The ninja-like figures appeared to be armed only with katana’s and other bladed weapons.

Unfortunately, that still left the one hanging onto the front trying to smash through the toughened windscreen and two more of their attackers trying to hold onto the roof. Banshee jumped into the pilot’s seat, raised the craft high into the air and tried to loop the loop, hoping the manoeuvre would shake them loose. The Crate wasn’t designed for such tricks and its grav-modules ‘sputtered’ as it began to fall towards the ground having lost its ‘push’ when it reached a 90 degree angle from the ground below. Banshee tried to pull it up but it looked as though it was about to crash into the mountain.

Akira used his Theurgical-Kinesis to try to pull the craft’s nose up and lower the craft so that they were only about ten feet off the ground before it slammed into the ground without causing any serious damage.

At the last second, their remaining attackers jumped off, landed inhumanly on their feet and with the other four figures joined them in running away, up the side of the mountain with some hanging like spiders off the side of the rocks as they headed away from the village and Abbey.

Banshee opened the hatch and turning insubstantial and invisible, shadowed the attackers leaving Akira to safely secure the Crate and follow on behind. He also turned invisible, following Banshee’s whispered directions over the commdots.

Banshee got close enough to see their misty, milky dead eyes, what she assumed were authentic ninja outfits and weapons of the group of inhuman figures they were pursuing; while under the Eyes of Ios Akira saw their blank shiny eyes, which screamed that he was in the presence of vampires. They followed them for a couple of miles across the mountains when Banshee witnessed the seven ninja-like figures enter a dark, concealed cave. She followed them in, trying to stifle her breath as she saw them sit down and talk quietly in an unknown language that she assumed was archaic Japanese. The only light came from a single red diode on some sort of square box. Her senses though said there was someone else present as well. She drifted closer to the light and saw it appeared to be the power on light of what she assumed was some sort of portable fridge, similar in design to the portable organ transplant units used to transport hearts, or blood? Behind her, the now invisible Akira crept in to the entrance of the cave, his mystical senses going haywire. It was similar to when they had assaulted the vault, when Khalid had appeared inside the Crate. He crept stealthily passed the seated ninja’s.

This close, Banshee could hear the staggered breathing of someone in distress. Someone was at the back of the cave and obviously in severe pain.  Then a faint moan echoed round the cave.

She reached over and ‘felt’ the figure. She appeared to be crucified and had tubes exiting her limbs. Akira could ‘see’ that the figure was female and that there were chains wrapped round her outstretched arms binding her to a crossbeam. Two of the vampires came over and pulled out tubes from her veins before licking the puncture wounds, feeding. They then opened the box and put the filled sac of blood inside.

No time for subtlety, Banshee physically manifested herself. As the vampires suddenly became aware of her presence in the cave, she grabbed the figure, pulled her free and insubstantualised both of them. The Ninja’s suddenly went crazy searching for their vanished victim. They were obviously unaffected by the darkness.

Holding her close, Banshee knew who the victim was – female, muscles like steel despite the multiple wounds, and the broken bones. Her stale cigarette-smelling breath confirmed it. The crucified victim was Naomi and they had been draining her. Unfortunately, her wounds were still bleeding and the dripping blood was revealing their location though they were immune in this state to any attacks.

“Banshee?” Naomi moaned weakly in near delirium. The sound attracted a couple of shurikens, which passed right through them and struck the back of the cave.

Meanwhile, despite also being invisible, Akira’s movements must have given away his location and a couple of shurikens headed towards him. He crouched and two of the shurikens flew passed his head but one struck in his clothing and hung in mid-air, giving away his location.

He responded by again casting the Illusions of Idolon and displacing the image of the hanging shuriken twelve feet over while concealing the real blade. He hoped that would cause the vampire ninjas to focus their attention on the illusion rather than him. It initially seemed to work as a couple more shuriken sliced through the illusion and slammed into the cave walls.

Then he found himself staring into the blank misty eyes of a ninja as their Katana sliced through his robes and for a second it registered resistance. They’d found him! Akira panicked. He turned visible for a second then teleported out of the cave, heading instinctively for the Crate. As he did so, he saw the cave turn instantly from stygian darkness into blinding light as a flare arrow landed in the centre of the cave.

Initially blinded, after a couple of seconds Banshee and a near unconscious Naomi could now see the seven ninjas that were in front of them.

Before anyone could respond, a grenade landed amidst the dark cloth-covered figures and erupted. This time a purple light lit up the cave forcing the ninja’s to try and protect themselves in their all-enveloping costumes and cover their dead vampire eyes.  Three of them weren’t quite quick enough and collapsed to the ground as they tried to safeguard themselves against the destructive rays. Naomi lent into Banshee and whispered in his ear “They mustn’t get my blood, the fridge, they mustn’t keep it. Please..?”

In the light of the flare, they could see two females standing by the entrance to the cave; one an archer with sharp features was armed with a recurve bow, the other was a boyish figure, in a white shirt armed with a silvered Katana of her own. This was the source of their distraction it seemed.

Banshee unleashed the wail of the banshee at the still-standing figures in the cave. The cry washed over the figures and caused two of them to fall to their knees.

The scream also hit the three huddled on the ground, incapacitating them even further. The dying UV blast was still burning powerful enough to melt their now unprotected eyeballs and shrivel them.

Naomi whispered, “Don’t let them catch you.” Banshee changed location again just in case. Who knew what powers they might have to interact with her in this state?

The two remaining vampiric ninjas stood back-to-back, their Katana’s drawn in the centre of the cave. Despite their eyes being covered, they seemed to be aware of their attackers’ locations.

Meanwhile Akira elected to head back to the cave in astral form hoping his physical form would remain safe in the crate connected by his silver cord. He witnessed the two females, rescuers or..? The silver blade in the hands of the shorter of the two gleamed with mystical energy. He assumed they had to be vampire killers.

With his astral eyes, he could ‘see’ Banshee and Naomi but couldn’t communicate with them, warn them, as the archer fired an explosive arrow at the surviving two vampires standing back-to-back.  It landed short and detonated peppering everyone with shards of stone. Thankfully, the three of them weren’t physically ‘there’ as the fragments exploded through them. Banshee knew they had to leave and quickly. She unleashed an aura of fear that radiated out either incapacitating or staggering everyone nearby including the blade-wielding female but only battered the archer who was standing behind her companion. It also caused Akira to instantly ‘jump’ back into his body.

Back in the cave, the one remaining vampire threw his blade at the females outside with a shout, but the missile missed. The only word that Banshee recognised was “Drakul”. In the Crate, reintegrated spirit and body, Akira teleported back to the cave throwing one of the garlic grenades at the two females and another near the remaining vampires. The grenades exploded and the gas filled the cave causing the two females to start coughing uncontrollably while the remaining conscious vampire began coughing up black, blood-splattered bile.

Banshee unleashed another aura of fear causing the surviving Vampire to crawl to the back of the cave, away from both her and the garlic fumes. As Banshee with Naomi still in her arms flowed out of the cavern and into the night, he shouted to Akira, “Get the blood!”

Akira used the confusion to grab the ‘fridge’ and immediately teleport back to the Crate with it. As he left the cave, he witnessed one very curious act; the coughing human females were allowing the last remaining vampire to crawl out of the cave and away from the deadly gas before going in and finishing off his companions.

Several minutes later at the Crate, Banshee and a badly wounded Naomi materialised and they immediately started treating her wounds and realising how badly they had bled her immediately started to transfuse her with one of the pouches of her own blood. Thankfully, there were no bite marks on her.

As soon as she became conscious, they had to ask what was going on.

A shaken and shattered Naomi tried to explain and warn them that, “the rest of the Clan are heading to the monastery to stop the Watchers before they can kill the ‘fourth bride’. Drakul had sent them to capture and imprison her and take her to him so he can transfer her unique abilities to himself and make himself even stronger. If he succeeds, he will start a war between the vampire houses that will escalate over into the mortal world as all sides recruit and feed to increase their strength.

He might be able to absorb some of my abilities possibly as well, if he got hold of my blood. You’re aware some vampires appear able to absorb abilities through blood aren’t you?”

She went on to explain that ‘the Clan’ were Drakul’s chosen assassins. She tried to insist that, despite her injuries that she needed to accompany them as she hoped to talk the Night Warriors down from killing Countess Elana Dolengen – the fourth bride of Dracula, or to be more precise his unwilling concubine.

Quietly, they knew she would have to remain behind and recover but decided not to say anything for the moment.

She went on to explain that from what she had learnt, Elana had been chosen by Drakul to be an experiment in his first trip to Britain. He wanted to travel over the channel to persuade the Fisher King to allow him to use the Sanguine Grail and elevate himself to the status and power of a First Born. He was at that time unable to travel in sunlight so he elected to check how safely a vampire could travel across the sea using one of his ‘brides’, by sending her to England in a sealed box to find out if it would protect her from the sun’s rays…

She was sent to join a trading ship travelling from Spain. The overland route took the box via the monastery Saint-Matthieu-des-Pyrénées-Orientales, where the monks recognised it for what it was and, having driven away the escort, imprisoned her in a crypt, in the foundations of the monastery after having staked its unconscious occupant with a wooden blade carved from the stem of a wild rose.

The crypt was hidden behind a faded mural, which concealed the entrance to the chamber where they hid her remains. The wooden box was subsequently replaced with a stone coffin and it’s still intact ‘corpse’ lay hidden, walled in, for hundreds of years while the stake made from a wild rose disintegrated allowing the heart to again function. However, the body was starved and she was incapable of escaping in that condition.

Over the centuries, Drakul had forgotten his ‘bride’ and had made no attempt to rescue her. His own several deaths had apparently shattered the bond that bound her psychically to him. What’s more in the early 1900’s she underwent Meta breakthough and gained powers beyond her vampiric state but still she remained trapped, too weak to move from her prison. Then a year ago, the building was being renovated and a worker broke through the crypt wall, found the coffin and its remarkably preserved inhabitant. Saw the bejewelled necklace round her neck and leaned in, intending to steal it from her corpse. Elana was able to drink for the first time in centuries.

After the first couple of very thirsty attacks (however she assured Naomi that she had stopped short of causing any actual deaths unless someone knew differently?), she set about establishing herself in this new land. She didn’t speak the language and she doesn’t know the century. She learnt modern French and English, and she discovered that Dracula has been killed several times from books that the workers were ‘encouraged’ to bring her including Bram Stoker’s tale and of course Naomi’s own books. For now, she seemed to be free of Dracula’s influence. She has been his slave and she doesn’t want it to recur.

She’d read that a Van Helsing was involved in his first death as a vampire. One of the workers had other books about vampires, including a couple written by herself, so why not reach out to an apparent descendant for help? Her family has a history of being effective against Dracula after all.

She arranged for a message to be sent to Naomi via one of the workers explaining that she was trying to escape her bonds to Dracula, that he wanted her and if he succeeded he will become even more powerful; however, she also knew how to permanently kill him. She also claimed she knew how to prevent the birth of any more vampires in the future and would reveal this information but only if she was rescued.

Naomi paused for several seconds before continuing, “Needless to say, I was determined to stop Elana from being taken by Dracula and I was tempted by the offer of information that could prevent any more vampires from being spawned but I don’t trust her, don’t believe her. Hey, she’s a vampire; however it wasn’t hard to discover that Dracula’s agents were looking for Elana and intended to capture her for their Dark lord.

Dracula sent his Ninja’s of the Clan but they couldn’t find her. Then I arrived at the hotel and they managed to capture me alive – since then they’d been torturing me for information about Elana’s whereabouts and draining me, both to weaken me and because Dracula wants to see if he can absorb any of my abilities for himself through my blood. Thankfully I cannot be turned, so they were forced to keep me alive and torture me for information.

I, I broke. The Clan now know that Elana is trapped in the crypt below the lower church and have sent half a dozen of their warriors to find her while the rest of them attacked you.” She went silent, her face pale with shame.

Akira changed the subject by asking who the vampire hunters were. She brightened up slightly as she explained that the woman carrying the silvered Katana was Ariela Stone (or Ripper as her team called her) and the archer had to be Adriana Verstraeten. It was likely that there were others with them, most likely the mage Amir Hussein and possibly a Dex’ Grimwood. He was a bit of an explosives expert and chemist. They’d originally been Watchers who had set themselves the goal of destroying all vampires. There were also others in the team and named several others including a Despyre Summerfield and Sandra Chiang.

Akira wanted to know if there was any way to let them know that they weren’t a supernatural threat? Naomi tried to smile, “Well you’re obviously not vampires but it’s very much a case of you’re either with them or against them and they are not afraid of collateral damage if it achieves their purpose.”

She was worried that they might end up hurting the monks in the process of trying to kill the Clan and Elana.

”As for Elana, I don’t trust her, I don’t trust any vampire but she does claim to know how to kill Dracula and stop any more vampires from being born. Whether she’s speaking the truth or not, who knows. The only thing in her favour is the fact that she hasn’t killed any of the workers since she reawakened however she is still treating the people round her like cattle. She’s using her hypnotic abilities to leave them unaware that they have been fed upon.”

Banshee realised that Naomi wasn’t going to be fit enough to accompany them and secretly administered a sedative, hoping that combined with her weakened state it would be enough to keep her safe while they tried to make contact with the vampire inside the monastery.

She then arranged for the Crate to rise and hover 30 metres in the air as the two of them flew out and headed up the mountain towards the monastery.

The Abbey would be locked up for the night but hopefully given the hour the monks would be in the main chapel attending to midnight vespers and singing God’s praises, or at least Mary’s hoped so based on her Catholic upbringing.

Thankfully, while renovations were ongoing they were not accepting overnight guests.

They flew up the mountain and turned themselves invisible as they flew over the courtyard wall and headed towards the lower church and the crypt.

What worried them though, were all the long stretches of orange cables that seemed to be strung everywhere. They were too thin to be electrical cabling so what did they actually indicate? The Ninjas were already down in the original crypts and unfortunately, they had discovered the entrance to the concealed crypt that led to Elana’s prison. That’s when Akira’s mystical senses began to twitch as he sensed another mage nearby. He was strengthening the prison spell that trapped the female vampire Elana here and was adding another enchantment on top, like the heath spell The Balance had used to keep vampires out of Container Town, a spell that prevented a vampire from passing through it.

Akira was sure it was powerful enough to prevent a vampire from being teleported out.

Akira and Banshee knew where to look and quickly found the mural. The wall swivelled in and revealed a long tunnel that led even deeper into the mountain to the hidden crypt. The path took so many twists and turns that they had no idea where they were or how far below ground they’d travelled. Then they passed the original barrier spell erected by the monks’ centuries before, a barrier that both concealed and trapped Elana behind it. The walls were lined with various religious icons that she believed kept her psychologically imprisoned.

It also was the reason Dracula had sent the Clan rather than coming himself. According to Naomi’s notes, he had similar psychological inhibitions about Christian artefacts.

Behind them, they heard noises as someone followed them down the tunnel as well as noises from inside the crypt itself. They stepped into the chamber and found Elana just as the Clan, unaffected by the presence of Christian symbols, had already hold of her and were trying to force her to leave her prison turned sanctuary. Three were holding her at the back of her prison cell while another two, realising something was wrong, had begun to advance back towards the tunnel.

Akira unleashed a series of mystical blasts, the first missed but the next two blasts blew the other two holding the female vampire to pieces. The other two blasts resulted in one staggering one of the advancing ninjas but missed the other.

Behind them, they could hear a male voice at the other end of the tunnel chanting, apparently enacting some sort of mystical spell. Whatever it was, it was making the Clan’s prisoner afraid.

Banshee followed up the attack by flowing across the crypt into the cell and manifested herself, becoming both visible and substantial as she unleashed her corrupting touch on the remaining ninja holding the female vampire, Elana. She deserved a name. It left him staggered as he tried to pull his prisoner away, only for Elana to reach out and touch Banshee gently on the shoulder. There was a slight shock like a static discharge, which passed almost instantly and Banshee was rewarded with a smile. If it hadn’t been for the prominently displayed canines she would have taken it for a sign that she was grateful.

Even as Banshee reached Elana, a shuriken hit the door to the chamber and Akira was forced to turn and move away from the open door, while Banshee shielded almost unconsciously Elana. Then a Katana swiped by their heads missing them both but only just.

Akira shouted out that they had to get the countess back to Naomi. He explained, “We have come to rescue you so please come with us. We have got Naomi back in the Crate.” She looked shocked and scared, “You’, you’ve got Naomi Van Helsing in a crate?” Akira smiled, even as he was forced to dodge a couple of attacks. “The Crate is what we call our vehicle is a sort of bus, a coach.” She frowned, “a coach would not be fast enough to escape them. “ Again, he tried to explain that it was a flying ‘coach’ that could take them to safety but gave up when she immediately assumed he meant some form of winged vehicle.

“We can provide you with sustenance and safety but we need you to come with me.” She seemed surprised by their offer and explained that the ritual they’d heard was binding her inside the crypt.

Akira was forced to unleash a couple of mystical blasts in response at the staggered shuriken-wielder and the other ninja. The first vampire was knocked unconscious. Meanwhile the Archer and the sword wielder from the Night Warriors had arrived at the tunnel. A grenade arrow hit and exploded the previously sealed crypt door, leaving it leaning precariously.

The sword-wielding female shouted out, “Give her to us now and get out of here. Dex’ has set explosives all around the crypt and if we have to we’ll bring the whole place down on your heads if that’s what it takes to kill her and the remaining members of the Clan.”

The ritual that the monks had used to bind her down here made it impossible to get Elana out by normal means even if she were to be rendered insubstantial and invisible. Akira was too far underground and too confused with all the twists and turns they’d taken to get here that he wasn’t sure he could teleport her out safely and then there was the ritual being enacted by the chanting mage.

As Akira considered their options, Banshee unleashed her corrupting touch on the remaining member of the Clan, shrivelling him and leaving him unconscious.

Akira tried to negotiate with Elana, explaining that they would get her away if they told them how to destroy Dracula and stop all vampires. “I will tell you once we are away from here and safe.” She wasn’t willing to tell them now, presumably in case they got the knowledge and just left leaving her to her fate. Akira felt frustrated. She explained that it involved a ritual using the Sanguine Grail but that was all she was willing to say until she could speak face-to-face with the Van Helsing and was free.

Banshee was trying to figure out how to stop the spell that was obviously seriously weakening Elana and stop this Dex’ from blowing up a thousand year old church. The swordswoman the other referred to as ‘Ripper’ warned them to leave now, or they would be killed when the crypt came down. The two females advanced into the middle of the crypt and stood ready for a fight.

If the crypt collapsed, it might even bring down the Church above and possibly even kill the monks. Would they really risk that to ensure they killed Elana?

Then, Akira had an idea – he had recently prepared a spell, the Airts of Ahgrazul, which guided travellers on the winding coils between worlds. Ahgrazul had been a mighty Archmage supposedly, best known in the mystical community as a seer and diviner.  This spell might allow him and Elana to teleport to a different dimension and bypass the mystical barrier than kept her caged in this crypt. Of course, he would then need to find a way back but if all else failed he always had the pendant.

He called the magic forth, muttering the words and manifested the gesturing of his fingers in an arcane pattern. The words and motions by themselves weren’t magic, they were just a way to create the right frame of mind, which then had to be modified to take into account the circumstances of the practitioner so they could alter reality by force of will.

He could sense his words and gestures getting traction on the mysterious magical substrate of the universe. Ready, he grabbed Elana’s hand and teleported, but for once without a specific location.

Usually when Akira teleported, the journey was instantaneous, one second here, the next there with nothing to see in between except for a moment of bright, intense light. Under the influence of the spell it was as though time had slowed to a crawl and he could see the afterimages of previous movement between worlds, including the rips in time and space that hadn’t yet healed. He felt drawn to the strongest of the dimensional lacerations and with his passenger flowed through it.

A second later, he felt a hot, moist wind caress his cheek as creatures the size of whales with gossamer wings passed overhead. The ground was fragmented into islands composed of black, gritty stone, between which rivers of bubbling lava flowed freely. A strange magic in the air made it hard for them to retain their own shapes. They both grew wings the moment they had arrived, the lady’s, black and bat-like while to his horror, his own were more reptilian with a silvery, scaled look. They used them to rise above the molten landscape on sulphur-stenched thermals as he searched for a suitable way out of this apparent hell. Despite the nightmarish view, there was also something beautiful about it as well, like something out of a dream you couldn’t ever forget.

There were numerous disruptions in ‘reality’ nearby. Several of the breaches appeared to lead to a series of pathways filled with blood red, mana-rich liquid that humanoid-like creatures composed of light travelled through and he was tempted to forget getting back and travel them himself. His mystically enhancement however warned him of the risks of travelling unprepared through these crossways to the thousands of connected dimensions that the mystical red artery fed.

These streams were dominated by magic but to do so he would need to bypass the custodians of light that patrolled the pathways. However, the Airt did reveal a way back home, an old scabbed over wound in the dimensions where another mage had once passed through badly, causing the breach to remain unhealed.

As he dragged his passenger towards the mortal realm, to his amazement she apologised and suddenly turned both insubstantial and invisible just like Banshee. In this form, even the Airts of Ahgrazul could not find her. She had apparently disappeared, undetectable.

He couldn’t wait, he stepped through and found himself once more standing outside the Crate. He turned, flew up and stepped inside, waiting for Banshee to turn up.

Whether Elana was nearby, he had no way to tell. Of course, if Banshee was present she might be able to see someone else who was invisible and insubstantial but she was still back in the crypt, maintaining a running commentary over her commdot. “Another day”, Akira muttered, “we’ll meet again another day…”

Back in the crypt, Banshee raised her hands and walked out and towards the two female vampire hunters. “She’s gone. Accept it and check for yourself. You don’t need to risk demolishing a thousand year old church, she’s gone, so go dismantle your explosives.”

The two females walked into the crypt as Banshee walked to the centre of the chamber and waited while two unhappy men also came through the tunnel to see from themselves.

They proceeded to decapitate the fallen ninjas and stake their bodies before reducing them all to dust with a UV grenade. She tried to ignore the butchery and calmly answered their questions. No, she had no idea what had happened to the female vampire and yes, her friend had teleported away. They knew the spell the tattooed African, Amir had cast would have stopped the vampire from escaping that way so they didn’t bother going after Akira who they suspected would be contacting the local police. Meanwhile, Dex was forced to head up top and remove his explosives and unseal the door to the chapel. He’d trapped the monks inside to keep them away from the Lower Church.

After they finished ‘dusting’ the Clan and checking the walls for hidden priest holes, chambers or tunnels, they gave up and departed, jamming the crypt wall behind them. Banshee smiled and simply flowed through it and followed them up to the surface, whistling quietly to herself.

Back at the Crate, Naomi admitted that it was probably for the best, as you can’t trust any vampire and there was no way of confirming that what she would say would be true. They did have an important clue though. The Sanguine Grail appears to have some sort of ability that might prove useful in defeating the vampire scourge, if they can figure out how to use it. They had also stopped Dracula from gaining any more powers by preventing him from absorbing Elana’s ability to duplicate meta-abilities, at least for the moment and they had preserved a national monument, which was very important to Akira.

With no sign of Elana, they elected to head back to England.

A week later

Mary was surprised to see Naomi up and about even if she did look seriously jaundiced, bruised and was walking cautiously with the use of a cane. When they’d returned with her to the Reading Meta-Medical Facility they’d had to continue the blood transfusions, stitch up numerous wounds and reset several broken bones. It was a miracle that she was still alive yet here she was ambulant (though admittedly only just) a week later.

She waved a letter at them, one written on velvety cream-coloured Vellum instead of paper. She sort of collapsed into the proffered seat and handed it over to Mary and Akira to read with a “She isn’t wrong” and a very heavy sigh.

It was from Elana written in formal, flowing cursive script handwritten surprisingly in English.

It read, “Miss Van Helsing, I write to apologise both for the injuries you suffered in your attempts to rescue me and for the blasphemous sin of lying to you. I never had a means to remove the curse of vampirism from the Earth though I did want to prevent ‘Prince’ Mircea Drakul, he who you know as Drakulya, from recapturing me. Were I to be once more in his presence, he would have drained my extraordinary powers from me leaving me a living husk, devoid of what little humanity I have managed to regain since my departure from his corrupting presence and escaped the fate that befell my sisters.

My ‘sisters’, concubines would be a better description as they and I were never his brides, that title denotes respect. We were his slaves fit only to be used as he desired.

I had to stop him from obtaining these strange abilities that God has elected to taunt me with. I also entertained a misguided dream that with them, I might have drained the power from my one-time Master instead, assuming I was able to avoid becoming enthralled by him once more. When the Clan attacked, I realised then that I would have lacked the strength and vitality to break free of his enslavement, if I were to again be in his presence.

I am sorry. I needed help and hoped the stories the workers brought me, that Drakulya could be defeated were true, especially the journal of your grandfathers that he entrusted to Mister Bram Stoker, but I also knew that you could never trust a leech such as I to continue to exist. Once I had served my purpose you would have seen it as your duty to humanity to ‘release me’ and I was not then nor am I now ready to face eternal judgement and the pits of hell.

Although I thought I knew how to end Drakulya, I never knew of any way to end all vampyres. I told you what you wanted to hear. Even if such a spell existed, I would not have revealed it. Any spell that could end the existence of all vampyres would have destroyed me as well and I’m not ready to give up my existence even if it is one that is cursed. I truly do believe that the Grail of the Blood is important to Drakul but I do not know why or if is the key to stopping Drakulya and the Covenant from being shattered, but I do know Drakulya wants it, thirsts for it.

You must prevent him from once again unleashing the plague that is vampirism upon this fragile world.

Please thank the Banshee for letting me borrow her powers in the crypt and let her know that I no longer retain them – I do thank her for the temporary loan though, as it allowed me to follow the strange jongleur-like mystic through the walls of reality to that strange hell and back again to this world. Once safe, I freely relinquished the gift. I could have drained the power from her but elected not to but I also could not risk asking permission beforehand in case she refused.

I want to survive and I know had I stayed that I would have been a burden on you and a punishment on me, being forced to drink the blood of beasts and imprisoned until such time as someone ended my existence out of hatred for my immortality. To others I will always be the monster of the night that must be hunted down and exterminated as the Warriors of the Night confirmed.

Please know that since my escape from the bonds of servitude from Prince Drakul I have not taken any lives and I pledge as long as I’m free of that monsters’ power that will continue, but I do need to feed and my natural prey is man, even if I will not kill just to feed.

I know that the mortal Warriors of the Night and the Clan will likely never stop their searches for me, given I escaped their wrath and that I am doomed for what remains of my eternity to be hunted. Your mystic friend showed me a vision of the hell that awaits my corrupted soul and I know I wish to avoid a return visit for as long as I can.

Again, accept my heartfelt apology for my deception. Elana, once the Countess Dolengen of Gratz”

When Mary and Akira had finished reading the letter Naomi sighed, “Ironic isn’t it. A Van Helsing was involved in Dracula’s first death as a vampire so why not reach out to me for help as my family had a history of being effective against Dracula.”

Mary asked Naomi if she knew any very young Dutch people that might be concerned about her well-being (and possessed of tech-communication skills)…

“I think that might have been Despyre’s son, Joey. Despyre Summerfield. She’s one of the Night Warriors who usually work out of Amsterdam and is their computer expert – she’s blind, non-verbal and Joey acts as her eyes and translates her signing when she doesn’t want to use her automated voice. They must have set you up as scapegoat to attract the Clan out of hiding.”

“The Clan?” She smiled, “Centuries ago, a clan of ninja’s were sent to the West to kill Dracula. They failed and were reborn in thrall to him, his trained assassins. They are simply known as the Clan. You have dealt them a blow to their reputation and made an enemy I think.”