Dracula And Anna: Finding The truth

Ch 22: What's Going On

It had not been easy getting out of that bed and walking out of the room. He was happy to know that he had somehow managed to do just that without waking a single bride, sometimes he astonished even himself.

Sometimes.

He put his intriguing thoughts of Anna out of his mind, for now. He would get back to that later, he knew that she would not remember saying his name, but it didn't matter. Somewhere inside was his beloved Anna whom he had known for so many years. It might be the 21st century, - there were some things he had taken a liking to, and he still didn't like cars - but Anna had not changed that much over the years. There had really been only one thing that had changed. She no longer denied the truth of her feelings for him. He had always known that in her mind and heart, she had always loved him, but had feared what would happen if she should ever admit it out loud, so she had decided to hold her silence, keeping the truth from everyone, even from herself.

He walked down the long dungeon corridors until he reached a door with a man standing next to it, leaning casually against the wall, waiting patiently as if nothing would faze him. Dracula did not speak to him as he unlocked and opened the door. When Dracula stepped inside, he was expecting to see one occupant looking rather frazzled, or fearful. Instead, much to his chagrin, he found it empty.

Furious, he turned to the man standing outside. He couldn't help but yell; his anger obvious.

'Gabrielle, where is he!' Van Helsing's face clouded with confusion, taking a quick look inside, to make sure he couldn't be hiding anywhere, or hanging from the ceiling, (he wouldn't put it past him, since the prisoner was a vampire), but found nothing.

'I don't understand,' he turned to the Count, who did not look very pleased, in fact, he almost looked murderous. Van Helsing instinctively moved out of the dungeon cell, just in case Dracula had any ideas of locking him in there as punishment. Dracula watched him silently for a time. From what Van Hellsing could gather, he looked thoughtful. He wasn't going to get Igor to punish him again, was he? He involuntarily shuddered at the thought.

'Don't worry Gabrielle,' his voice much calmer and steady, 'you will not be punished.' Van Helsing sighed in relief; with Dracula, it was always hard to know what he was thinking, especially when one, such as Van Helsing, couldn't read minds. Usually, when Dracula read his mind, he would get agitated; however, this was one of the rare times that he didn't mind the intrusion.

'No, Gabrielle,' Dracula continued, his voice low, Van Helsing not liking his tone. 'As long as you tell me anything that might be useful, did you hear anything yesterday, anything at all?' Van Helsing flinched under his deadly gaze, a gaze that filled him with dread. Van Helsing forced himself to concentrate, to remember if anything had been suspicious yesterday, while Dracula had been sleeping...

'There was something,' he said suddenly, breaking the long silence that ascended around them, while he thought. 'I heard a scream... but it couldn't have been him, it was so girly,' Van Helsing paused, 'on second thought, it probably was him.' This comment stirred a rare chuckle from the Count. At least he wasn't angry anymore.

'Indeed Gabrielle, however, it is not possible that he escaped, someone must have taken him.' Van Helsing couldn't understand it, even if he had been taken, what could they possibly gain from it? He wasn't of any value, was he?

'I do not know, Gabrielle, but I intend to find out.'

He groaned, his head hurt like hell, was it possible that he had been run over? He didn't feel like he was in that kind of pain, he simply felt groggy, as if he'd been hit over the head, or maybe it was just a really bad hangover. He'd had quite a few of them in his time; he wouldn't be surprised if that was the case.

'Wake up!' came a voice, splitting his head, it sounded far away. He opened his eyes and tried to focus them. The room swirled, bringing back memories of drunken parties. He felt dead; in fact, he couldn't even hear his heartbeat. What had happened? Had he gotten drunk at another party? Surely his mother was going to kill him, he didn't want to go through that again; the way she looked at him, so disgusted. Her look was always far worse than any beating that he received from his father.

'Wake up you filthy nosferatu!' that voice again, it felt much closer this time. The room was finally coming into view, although it was still spinning slightly. He blinked; it looked like he was in some sort of cabin, an old cabin.

He jolted when he saw a man standing in front of him, who looked agitated, and impatient. He appeared to be a gentle soul, but there was something monstrous about him. It was not in his appearance, which seemed wild, it was merely his presence. He was a handsome man, or perhaps would be, if he got rid of the beard. His long brown hair, which looked as if it had been cut shorter recently, was unkempt as if he didn't have the time or facilities to keep it tidy. It even looked as if he'd hacked it (or was it some new fashion?); his beard was in the same situation.

'Who are you?' he muttered his mind still groggy, had he been drugged? He let out an exasperated breath, as a sharp pain split his head, like shards of glass. His memory was hazy, but the last thing he remembered was being attacked by some monster in one of Dracula's dungeons in Budapest.

He went to get up but found himself immobilised. Looking down, he found himself tied to the chair that he was sitting in. Wait? He was sitting in a chair? His head had hurt that much, he hadn't noticed.