Michael Belmont and the Heir of Van Helsing (The Adventures of Michael Belmont) (29 page)

Then a thought came to him- a wonderful, exciting, invigorating thought.
 
What if he could change just like his mother?
 
He could fly on his own wings to safety, and even return to help the girls.
 
Liam had changed for the first time when he was falling just like this.
 
Maybe if he concentrated enough, wanted it enough, then he’d be able to do it!

He closed his eyes and pictured it.
 
Change into a bird, he commanded himself.
 
CHANGE INTO A BIRD!
 
Just do it you WIMP, you WEAKLING.
 
Do it and save yourself, save ABBY AND MAGDA!
 
Change into a bird, change into a bird!

Suddenly Michael felt a strange jerking sensation.
 
He opened his eyes to see the castle wall standing still in the morning light beside him, and then he began to ascend back up toward the clouds.

“I don’t think this is the place either,” Mark Belmont said as they watched another tour begin near the entrance to Bran Castle.

“I wish Alucard had been more specific about where he was going,” agreed Declan.
 
“This castle is rumored to’ve been associated with Dracula, but there’s no real proof for it.
 
And Hunyad Castle didn’t show any more signs of being Mihnea’s stronghold than this place does.”

Liam ran up to them, waving his faery lantern through the air.
 
“I didn’t see anything unusual,” he reported.
 
“I even snuck into some sealed off areas, and I’m pretty sure that this isn’t Mihnea’s castle.”

“Stop waving that thing around,” his father told him.
 
“People are looking at you like you’re out of your mind.”

“People always look at me that way,” Liam mused.
 
“I’m getting used to it.”

His father just stood shaking his head in annoyance.

Liam put the lantern in his pocket.
 
“So let me get this straight, the only leads we have for the location of Dracula’s Castle are this place, Hunyad Castle, and Poenari Castle?”

Mr. Belmont unfolded his map to show Liam the location of the other two castles.
 
“That’s right.
 
These three castles are our prime suspects because of their historical links to Dracula, but we’ve been to all three of them now, and we’ve seen no trace of Mihnea.
 
I don’t see how he could be occupying a castle in any part of Romania without the surrounding residents knowing about it.”

Liam’s father crossed his arms and frowned.
 
“You would have thought Alucard would tell us where the blasted place was.
 
He must of assumed we’d be able to find it easily enough, but then again he meant to come back and lead us there himself.”

“Doesn’t Caleb Boone know the way?” Liam asked.

“He’s never been there himself, although he seems to think that Poenari Castle is the likely choice.”

“If you take me there, I can explore the place with my lantern,” Liam told them, taking it back out and waving it in his father’s face.

He swiped at it dismissively.
 
“Well you’ll have to sniff around like one of the Queen’s hounds because that lantern’s going to be shoved up your nose if you don’t cut it out.”

Mr. Belmont’s phone rang.
 
“Oh, hi honey…no, I’m sorry, the phone wasn’t getting reception up in the mountains, I…YOU WHAT?”

Liam snuck the map out of Mr. Belmont’s hand and held it out to take another look.
 
“You said that out of these three castles, Poenari is the most run down and the hardest to get to right?”

“It’s only ruins now, but hikers and sightseers climb up there on a regular basis,” his father said.

“I bet that’s where we need to go.
 
You two must have missed something!”

“And you think you’ll be able to find it, do you?
 
Do you know how long Mark and I have been kicking over stones together?
 
If
we
couldn’t find it, then it isn’t there.”

“But Da,” protested Liam, “you didn’t have this with you.”
 
He gave the faery lantern another shake.
 
“I know it’s hard to believe when you haven’t seen it for yourself, but this thing is amazing.
 
It helped us escape the traps in the Necropolis of Anubis, and it let us see those spirits in the Fianna Barrows too.”

“Alright, just hold yer horses for a moment, I don’t like the look of this,” he said, nodding toward Mr. Belmont, who was just getting off the phone.

The man shook his head and began massaging his temples. “That was Rachel, she just got out of the hospital in Eindhoven.
 
She was shot down by one of Mihnea’s ghouls while keeping an eye on the kids.
 
The bullet clipped her wing, and now her arm’s in a sling.”

Liam gritted his teeth.
 
His own mother was gone, and in many ways he thought of Mrs. Belmont like a second mum.
 
“Is she going to be alright?”

“Yes,” Mr. Belmont said, putting a hand on Liam’s shoulder, “but I’m afraid there’s more.
 
The orphanage was burnt to the ground.
 
Everyone survived, but the kids and the Van Helsing girl were taken.”

Liam and his father locked eyes, they were at a loss for words.

“Now that Finnegan’s on his way to pick up Olaf, I’ll call Caleb and have him meet us at Poenari Castle.
 
I hope you’re right about that lantern of yours, Liam, because if we don’t find anything out there this time we’re back to square one.”

Michael felt himself rising back up through the air.
 
For a moment, he thought he’d actually changed himself into a bird, but then he looked down and noticed his normal body dangling beneath him.
 
He snapped his head up to see the same vampire that had brought him to the tower in the first place.

“You need to be more careful, boy,” the bat-thing spat.
 
“The master would be most displeased to find you mashed to bits upon the rocks.
 
He needs you alive!
 
For now.”
 
The creature let out a deep, guttural laugh.

“So I’ve heard,” Michael told him impertinently.
 
“Thanks for the lift, SLAVE!”

The monster laughed again, drawing his claws into Michael’s shoulders.
 
He gritted his teeth in pain.

“Do you think your insults will harm me, you pathetic weakling?
 
You’d better watch your mouth.
 
Once the master is through with you he may allow me to keep you for a pet.”

Michael decided to hold his tongue as the beast carried him back up to the tower window.
 
It threw him back in, this time even harder than before, and he crashed into the same armchair, sending a few more pieces of the rotting wood flying across the room.

“Hey, where are your little friends?” the thing asked suspiciously as it crouched in the window and looked around.

“Dead,” Michael told him.
 
“They jumped out the window just before I did.”

“Ha-ha-ha,” the thing's laugh echoed through the chamber like a bass drum.
 
“You are as bad at lying as you are at flying.
 
I would have seen them- just like I saw
you
.”
 
It bore into him with its little red eyes.
 
“Girls, come out now and have a bite of the dinner I’ve caught for you.”
 
He cast a sack on the floor, and a dozen terrified rats scurried out to seek a new hiding place.
 
“Come on out now and I’ll give you a big kiss.” He stuck out his long, purple tongue.
 
“Doesn’t that sound nice? HA!”

“So you want a kiss too, do you?” came a muffled shout from above.
 
“Men!
 
You’re all the same.”

The beast hissed in surprise and hung out the window to look up.

“You’ll have to come up here to get it,” Magda yelled, and the bat creature jumped into the air.
 
Michael dashed back to the window and stuck his head out.
 
He saw the beast hanging in mid-air glaring at the top of the roof.

“What are you two doing up here?” the creature sneered, “trying to escape?” He laughed maniacally.
 
“My compliments for making it this far.
 
Let me guess, you’re headed for the other tower?
 
If I hadn’t caught you, you might have done it.
 
After all, you made it up here.
 
But you don’t know what awaits you over there, do you?
 
I’m tempted to let you go find out, but the master wouldn’t like that.
 
No, he wouldn’t like that at all.
 
I’m afraid I’m going to have to put you back into your cage, but this time I’ll bar the window.”

Michael watched the creature move in toward the roof above him, and disappear out of his sight.
 
He ached to go up and help, but if he wasn’t careful he’d just fall off again, and this time the beast might not catch him in time.

“No, get away from me and leave me alone.
 
PUT ME DOWN!” Abigail screamed.

A great commotion rang out from the roof.
 
There were thuds, screeches and curses, and Michael’s skin crawled as he yearned to see what was happening.
 
He expected to see the beast come floating back down with a girl in each arm, the way Caleb had held them after he’d broken up their fight, or perhaps one of them come shooting off the roof and the bat creature flying behind to catch her.
 
Michael was scared, but at least he knew the beast wouldn’t harm them- not much anyway.

Suddenly there was a loud thud, and he could hear something sliding off the roof.
 
After a few moments the limp body of the vampire came dropping over the edge.
 
As he fell, Michael saw one of Magda’s silver daggers buried in the beast’s heart.
 
He watched as it fell into the distance below, gradually turning to ash as it went.

“Are you both alright up there?” Michael called up nervously.

“We’re fine,” Magda answered.
 
“Although your sister looks like she’s just been attacked by a vampire.”

Michael shook his head and smiled.
 
He loved Magda’s sense of humor, although he was too tired and shaken to laugh.

“Well,” she called down, “hurry and get up here.
 
But be more careful this time.”

Michael took a long deep breath.
 
Here goes
, he thought to himself.
 
He reached out and took hold of the rope- luckily it had snapped near the bottom, and there was still enough to tie around his waist.
 
Although he didn’t trust the rope anymore, it was better than nothing.

He cautiously climbed the side of the tower wall, but it was even more difficult this time around, it was starting to get dark, and his hands were sweatier than before.
 
Eventually he made it up and over the edge of the roof without a hitch.
 
Abigail and Magda wrapped their arms around him; both of them were crying.

“We thought we’d lost you,” Magda told him.

“I thought so too,” he said.
 
“Believe me, that fall was not something I want to experience again.”
 
He ruffled his sister’s hair.
 
“Are you ready to keep moving, Abby?”

She didn’t say anything, but nodded as the tears streamed down her face.

“Alright, we need to keep going, it’s our only chance.”

Michael looked out at the heavy chain, which hung between the two towers.
 
The links were about a foot wide and two feet long, and very thick.
 
Long icicles hung down from the section near their own tower, and a few smaller ones were scattered farther down.
 
The evening air was downright cold, and Michael knew the chain would be freezing.
 
They’d have to get across before their bodies numbed up so bad that they couldn’t feel what they were doing.
 
Michael couldn’t imagine how much the chain weighed.
 
How could it even dangle there without pulling the towers down with the sheer force of gravity?
 
Squinting into the darkness he could see that similar chains connected various other parts of the castle.
 
A few of them dangled lifelessly down the side of the castle wall.
 
Michael returned his attention to the chain below.

“We can shimmy across this thing with it between our legs.
 
I don’t think we have to worry about it turning over because it’s so heavy.
 
I doubt our weight will affect it, but we’d better tie ourselves off just in case.”

He drew the rope up and they cut it into smaller sections, tying a length around their waists, and the other end in a loop they could easily move along the chain.

“So how are we going to do this?” Magda asked.
 
“One at a time, or together?”

“I’M NOT GOING OUT ACROSS THAT THING ALONE ARE YOU PEOPLE CRAZY?”
 
Abigail was visibly shaking, from the cold or from fear, Michael couldn’t tell.

He gave her shoulder an encouraging squeeze.
 
“Well that answers our question.
 
It’s probably better to do it together anyway, that way if there’s a snag we can help each other.”

They carefully moved out onto the chain and finished the knots.
 
Magda took the lead, Abigail was placed in the middle, and Michael brought up the rear.

Dracula’s Castle loomed up in the distance above them.
 
It was a cloudy night, but a crescent moon hung in the sky giving just enough light to hold the darkness at bay.
 
Looking down, the only thing to be seen was blackness and an occasional passing bat.
 
Every time they saw one, they held still until it was gone.
 
After all, they weren’t positive that these things were ordinary bats.