Michael Belmont and the Heir of Van Helsing (The Adventures of Michael Belmont) (42 page)

The shuffle of their feet seemed to be making far too much noise as they snuck along, and every movement or whisper, no matter how light, echoed off the walls around them.
 
Liam held up the lantern to give them as much light as possible, and to Michael’s pleasure, he saw that the corridor down which they were traveling seemed to be twinkling a little brighter than any other.
 
Good, he thought, at least we’re headed in the right direction.

They travelled along for several long minutes before coming to a large open room with a broad staircase.
 
Magda approached the base of the stairs and turned her head to check on everyone.
 
Michael gave her an assuring nod, and she began to ascend cautiously toward the balcony.

“You don’t want to go that way, dear,” came a soothing female voice from behind them.

Michael spun around to see three women standing at the doorway where they’d just come in.
 
A huge metal door swung shut behind them, barring the way out.

“Didn’t anyone warn you kids about the horrible things that live in this castle?” said one of the others.

All three women were breathtakingly beautiful, and their flowing ethereal dresses left little to the imagination.
 
The one on the left had shoulder length black hair and a blue dress.
 
She was the one who’d just spoken.

The woman in the middle had long, red hair and her dress was white.
 
Michael noticed instantly that her eyes were of a darker red than her hair.

The woman on the right took a step forward and ran her fingers through gleaming, blonde curls.
 
“I’ve had my eyes on you, handsome,” she said to Liam, who pointed at himself and gave her a dumb, scared grin.
 
This one was wearing a short, black dress, and it only took Michael a moment of uncertainty before he recognized her as the waitress who’d served them at Mihnea’s restaurant back home.
 
She gave Michael a smile and winked at Abigail.
 
“Nice to see you again, Michael, this time it’s
my
turn to have
you
for dinner.”

Michael drew back his arrow and stepped in front of Abigail.

“Are you sure you want to turn your back on that one?” The black haired woman chided him.
 
“She’s one of us, after all.”

All three women began to call to Abigail as mothers would call to a child, and Michael looked down at her in horror to see a glazed expression on her face.
 
She soon snapped out of it though.

“Well, what are you waiting for,” she grumbled up at him.
 
“SHOOT THEM!”

Before he could let loose his arrow, the three women leapt into the air, morphing into horrible, gray half-bat creatures.
 
Their fangs clicked together and their forked tongues flicked as they eyed their victims hungrily.
 
Michael jumped when the sound of a gunshot rang out through the air.
 
The redheaded beastess was already turning to falling ash.
 
He turned to see Liam gritting his teeth, trying to aim the gun for another shot.

Michael let an arrow fly, but the black-haired vampiress saw it coming and lunged to the side.
 
The missile clipped her wing and she shot toward him screaming in anger.
 
Abigail used a leg swipe to take his feet out from beneath him and they fell to the ground together as the creature zipped over their heads.

Michael looked up a moment later to see Magda entangled with the blonde.
 
Liam had turned and was still trying to get a shot off, but it was obvious that he couldn’t do so without endangering Magda.

Michael pulled a bottle of holy water from his backpack and scrambled to get to his feet, but the bat-faced waitress was upon him again, plowing her body into his and taking him into the air.
 
The bottle fell from his hand and he watched in terror as it splashed down all over Abigail’s face.
 
He heard her scream, but lost sight of her as he was carried through the air and slammed high against the far wall.
 
The grotesque woman snapped at his throat over and over, as he struggled to hold her at bay.

Behind the head of his own attacker, Michael could see Magda trading blows with the blonde, swinging her daggers furiously through the air and getting some good strikes in before the two of them crashed through the rotting wood of the staircase railing and falling from his sight.

Out of nowhere, an arrow came through the air and stuck in the wall by Michael’s head.
 
He made use of the distraction and punched the vampiress hard in the face, breaking her hold just a bit so that he looked down to see Abigail pulling back another arrow on his bow.
 
Relief flooded over him as he saw that the holy water had done her no harm, then fear gripped him as he remembered what a terrible shot she was with a recurve bow.

“Abigail, DON'T,” he pleaded with her.

Another arrow whizzed past and stuck into the wall even closer than the first one had.

“Just HOLD STILL,” she commanded him, pulling back yet another arrow.
 
“Third times a charm.”

“I AM holding still,” he argued.
 
“And what if it’s three strikes and you’re out?”

“Stop being such a baby.”
 
She let loose the third arrow and this one shot through the creature's left upper thigh.
 
It turned and hissed at her in fury, dropping Michael to the ground.

Magda plunged her dagger into the heart of the blonde, and seconds later she was burning away into ash.
 
Liam shot two rounds at their only remaining enemy as she swooped for Abigail, but upon hearing the shots she changed course and went for Liam instead, kicking him hard in the chest and bowling him over.
 
She then flew up to the top of the room, hung from the chandelier and glared down at all of them.

“Don’t let her get away,” Magda shouted and ran back up the stairs, standing in front of the door with her daggers drawn and ready.
 
Abigail threw Michael’s bow back to him before following her up the stairs.

The vampiress shrieked in frustration, and then began to sob.
 
It was one of the most unnerving and unnatural noises Michael had ever heard.

“Don’t hurt me,” she cried.
 
“I never meant to harm anyone.
 
Mihnea made us do it.
 
We’re his slaves, and he punishes us when we disobey him.”

Abigail looked horrified, and her face puckered up as if she might begin to weep herself.

“Don’t listen to her, Abby,” Magda warned.
 
“She’s evil.
 
She’ll say anything to trick us into letting her go.”

At this the creature alighted back down halfway up the stairs and changed back to a normal looking woman.
 
Tears streamed down her face as she walked toward Magda and Abigail.

“Help me, Abby.
 
We’re the same, you and I.
 
I didn’t want to be changed either, I just want to be free like you do.”

“Don’t listen to her, Abby,” Magda warned, stepping in front of her.

“LEAVE HER ALONE,” Abigail shouted, pushing her friend out of the way.
 
“We need to help her.
 
Are you guys just going to kill me like you did those other two girls?”

The woman drew closer, reaching her arms out to Abigail, and just as she reached up to meet her, the woman’s face flooded with hatred once again, and her form changed as she lunged forward.

“You’ll all pay for what you did to my sisters,” she shrieked.

Magda leapt back in and caught the brunt of the monster’s fury as all three of them crashed backward.

Michael let loose an arrow, and he saw it fall true through the creature’s heart just as she and the two girls crashed through the door behind them.

Magda brushed the vampire cinders off her clothes in disgust and jumped to her feet.
 
The door had swung shut behind them, and she pulled on the latch, trying to open it, but it seemed to have locked.
 
She commanded it to open, but even then it wouldn’t budge.
 
“What’s going on here?” Magda said angrily, beating and kicking on the door.
 
“It’s some kind of trap.”

Abigail picked herself up and looked guiltily at Magda.
 
“I’m sorry,” she said, beginning to cry.
 
“This is all my fault, isn’t it?”

Magda stopped hitting the door and took a few deep breaths to bring herself under control.
 
She embraced Abigail and squeezed tightly.
 
“Don’t say that Abby.
 
There are things going on here that none of us are able to control.”

The two girls stood there for a while, and Magda held her friend until she stopped crying.
 
Then they searched around for something that would open the door, but they could find nothing.
 
Magda commanded it to open using several different phrases, but after a while she resigned herself to the fact that it was no use.

“Are you ready to move on, Abby?
 
Looks like we’ll have to rely on each other for a little while.”

Abigail removed the hair tie from behind her head, brushed the tangled locks from her eyes, and nodded reluctantly.

As they started off, they examined their surroundings.
 
They were in a long, large chamber, lit by torches hanging off the walls.

Magda nervously ran her fingers across the blade of her long, slender dagger.
 
They appeared to be safe for now, but she had no idea how they could get back to Michael and Liam.
 
She needed to concentrate on finding the throne room now, and keeping Abigail safe.

“What are we going to do?”
 
The young girl asked, looking up nervously.

“We’re going to be fine, Abby.
 
I know you’re scared, and I am too, but the two of us are warriors; no creature of darkness can prevail when facing both a Van Helsing and a Belmont.”
 
She shook her fists in the air and displayed her muscles.

Abigail laughed and did the same thing.
 
“GIRL POWER,” she shouted bravely.

Magda placed her finger over her own lips.
 
“Right you are, but let’s not temp fate, okay?
 
Are you ready?”

Abigail finished pulling her hair together and retied it into a ponytail behind her head.
 
She looked at Magda with a new determination in her eyes and gave her a nod.

Together they crept through the dark chamber, pushing through the dusty cobwebs and stepping lightly to better conceal their presence.

Abigail soon began to feel as if the dark stone walls were closing in on her, and she started to tremble.
 
She was trying to be brave, but she was tired, and her fever was coming back, and visions of vampires, werewolves, and other dark creatures danced through her head.
 
Fear was beginning to overcome her once more.

“Magda, how can you be so brave at a time like this?
 
How can you handle it all, I mean… everything you’ve been through in your life?”

Magda paused for a moment to look down at her.
 
She could see the fear in the girl’s eyes, and smiled at her assuringly.
 
“My father once told me to strengthen my soul; to develop my courage, integrity, and honor.
 
These are the only things we will take with us into the next world.
 
My mother and father were both well prepared for that journey.”
 
Her eyes wandered off and welled with tears.
 
“Though I greatly miss them both.”

“But what about Olaf?
 
He doesn’t seem to follow that advise.”

“No,” she shook her head, “he doesn’t, you’re right.
 
Olaf is a self-centered coward; I can see that now.
 
But perhaps he’ll change someday.”
 
She looked hard into Abigail’s longing blue eyes.
 
“Don’t fear those who can take only your life, little one.
 
Fear the evil one, who would seek to destroy your soul.”

She took Magda’s hand and gave it a squeeze.
 
She
was
working hard to overcome her fear, and Magda’s courage had a way of making her feel stronger too.

They approached the end of the chamber, where a large wooden cross hung upside down on the wall in front of them, a sword was driven through its center.

Magda looked disgusted.
 
“
Sacrilege
,” she said and spat on the floor.

Abigail cringed.
 
“This must be the chapel, or at least what remains of it.”

“Yes, but now it is an unholy, defiled place.
 
But then again, I suppose that’s true of the whole castle.
 
Let’s keep moving, I don’t feel comfortable here.”

They exited through a door on their right into an adjacent room.
 
Bricks from the wall in front of them were missing, and stars twinkled happily on the other side, dotted across the crisp night sky.
 
A fresh layer of snow covered the floor.

Abigail paused to admire the scene.
 
“It’s beautiful.”

Magda nodded in agreement and together they stood looking for a moment.
 
The breeze blowing upon them was cold, but the view made them both feel a little warmer somehow.
 
“There are always things of beauty to be found,” Magda said softly, “even amongst so much decay and ugliness.”

“I agree, but unfortunately the two of you are blocking my view,” came a snide, raspy voice somewhere from the shadows behind them.