A Love Returned

Chapter 9

"Lead us. Lead us. Lead us. Lead us."

The voices hissed all around Vlad, the words engulfing him. His head ached as the vampires' hisses entered his mind, the sound violently repeating itself over and over.

"Lead us. Lead us. Lead us. Lead us."

"What just happened?!" Erin shouted, hands on hips. She sounded more shocked than worried.

"Where did Vladimir go?" The Count pointed his bony finger at the empty space where his son had stood only a minute earlier.

Robin moved forward, standing out among the crowd of confused party guests, "A man grabbed onto him, he took Vlad somewhere."

"How wonderful!" Count Dracula clapped his hands sarcastically, "Would anyone else like to announce some big surprising event to add to the excitement?"

The guests shook their heads, slightly frightened that anyone who did have something to announce would be staked.

"How about we look for them?" Erin suggested, arms still crossed.

As if on cue, Wolfie turned into his wolf form, a small brown dog, and began sniffing the air. His little wet noise turned downward and touched the floor.

"Wolfie?" Erin urged him for information.

The young werewolf barked, obviously not able to speak english right at that moment.

"Isn't that helpful," She groaned.

The Count used vampire powers to levitate into the air where everyone could see him, "Okay!" He yelled, "Whoever finds Vladimir first gets a crate of Duchess of York, all to themselves!"

At this remark, the room of vampires became empty as they all sped away on the hunt, hoping to find Vlad and get the reward.

All who remained were Erin, Wolfie, Robin (Who wanted to join in but found he couldn't speed like the others) and Count Dracula.

"Wolfie," Erin knelt down beside the pup, "Where is he?"

Once again Wolfie's noise touched the floor, but no one understood what he was trying to say.

"Lead us. Lead us. Lead us. Lead us."

Vlad began pulling his hair, the sheer pain of the repeated words being too much to handle.

"I, your leader, order you to stop!" He added the leader part for effect, hoping that it would cause them to cease their hissing.

The man with the deep voice smirked and arrogantly applauded Vlad, "Well done, Chosen One, accepting your destiny."

Vlad nodded, "What must I do?"

The hundreds of vampires who had been clinging to the cavern roof instantly surrounded Vlad.

"Lead us to victory in a war against breathers, of course," The man beamed.

Vlad had no intention of doing this, but he was greatly outnumbered and didn't know how he could get out of the giant cave undead. His best chance was to just go along with their game. And get as much information as he could.

"How do you wish me to do this?" He asked, glancing at the other vampires.

The man nodded at a female and she sped away for a second, then reappeared with a terrified young girl.

"Prove you are on our side," The female hissed, shoving the girl at Vlad's feet, "Bitey, bitey."

The girl's eyes were full of darkness. Like her soul had died from all the fear she'd encountered. He could not bite her and would not.

"Show us your fangs, Chosen One," The man insisted.

"I will not have the first blood of this war be that of a young child. Take me above and let me find larger prey."

The vampires laughed, their cackles echoing all around the cavern.

"Bite her," The man pulled out a stake, as did the hundreds of others, "Or you know what will happen."

The girl whimpered, a continuous whimper that didn't stop.

"Go on, put her out of her misery, bite her."

"No!" Vlad bared his fangs, his voice causing the earth to shake.

Seeing that their approach was not working, the group of vampires began again with that torturing hiss.

"Lead us. Lead us. Lead us. Lead us."

Vlad's head throbbed once more. That brainwashing sound, it was more than he could take.

Vlad felt his worst enemy pushing it's way out if him, the one enemy that knew him too well; his reflection.

The good Vlad lost consciousness and bad Vlad took over once more.

He smiled, one great evil smile, and plunged his fangs into the girl's neck, her rich blood flowing into his mouth and dribbling down the back of the throat.

The endless luxury filled him with a power that he had not felt since he first wore the Grand High Vampire's crown. A power that was so epic it could destroy the world with one touch if willing.

Vlad dropped the drained, lifeless girl to the ground.

"Breathers have lived too long," He declared, "It is time to turn the oceans red, to stain the grasses of the land. To war!"