The two men suddenly appeared within the magical confines of the tower of the castle and it is here where Arthur looked puzzled for he had many questions, questions only Abraham could answer and no other. However, the view from the balcony pleased the Dark Lady…

“All this want and destruction, and yet the living are falling with ease.”, commented one of the three Brides of Frankenstein, the malfhi among them. “Like lambs to the slaughter.”, it would be the harlefi who commented next and in that moment the Dark Lady’s expression changed.

Her ear twitched, her eyes shifted right for a moment and it could be seen a thought had entered her mind that seemingly did not wish to leave, and she gazed back to the battlefield.

“Like cannon fodder.”, the gorgon commented among the brides and in that moment is when the Dark Lady turned, her eyes gazed forth in realization that she might just be deceived…

It was in that moment when the Dark Lady truly realized what these Brides of Frankenstein were and she looked at the gorgon that she could see was smiling rather delightfully, and the other two simply stood by waiting for their mistress to speak. They were once the Brides of her brother but now they were her brides and to an extension they were her thoughts and her very own voice. It was then that the Dark Lady turned to her brother, Rendfield, and gestured with her head…

“Go back to the castle and ensure that there are no interlopers wandering about.”, the three brides turned to face Rendfield and the council that seemingly looked to one another. “Now!”, the Dark Lady raised her voice and the council dispersed immediately as she ordered.

The Dark Lady stood her ground and then gazed towards the brides before reaching for the very gorgon that stood before her, kissing her on the lips in order to show just how appreciative and very grateful she was to have her brides, and then the Dark Lady took her leave.

“The plague is ready, yes sisters?”, asked the gorgon and the two brides nodded their heads. “Yes, sister Nilofar. Shall we proceed with distributing the plague?”, asked the malfhi. “Of course, Liss, death to the living.”, replied Nilofar and the harlefi bride grinned.

At that same moment, Arthur and Abraham moved through a large hallway. Arthur knew where they were and so did Abraham. Arthur felt something was wrong due to the sound of many of Blackwood’s finest facing death itself. He could hear their screams as the plague barrels were launched at them and those that were struck by them had their bodies melt away, starting from their very eyes and then their entire bodies. The damned that were fighting them dispersed and those that were unfortunate enough to be caught in the crossfire were also killed. The Brides of Frankenstein were merciless feline-like creatures. There was no room in their hearts for mercy and their souls were icy, deadly and cunning. They enjoyed every moment of slaughter.

“Abraham, I feel like there’s something that you are not telling me.”, said Arthur. “Like what, Arthur?”, replied Abraham. “Well, that ring would be a good place to start.”, implied Arthur.

“Yes, it is the ring of the famed Vlad Dracula, the First of the Vampires, and the founder of this castle.”, revealed Abraham and then Arthur grew further puzzled. “First of the Vampires?”, Arthur wanted to inquire about this Vlad Dracula but Abraham did not have time for such things.

“Yes, a long time ago he was the one who ruled this castle on his quest to destroy humanity as a whole. It is he who gifted my great descendant, Jennifer Van Helsing, this ring. I journeyed to her sacred tomb to retrieve this ring and to access our family’s library. It is there where I had discovered her true fate; she was butchered due to the elves that had starved the vampires and he killed her in order to sustain his thirst. Afterwards, he continued his onslaught and seemingly disappeared…”, explained Abraham Van Seward and this only raised more questions.

“Wait…”, said Arthur. “Van Helsing?”, he asked and Abraham turned his head slightly but not to face Arthur. “Show yourself, spirit, for I feel your essence!”, shouted Abraham Van Seward.

“Vlad Dracula did not continue his onslaught, he tried to put a stop to it.”, said the spirit that revealed itself to be none other than William Frankenstein. “Lies!”, shouted Abraham. “These are all lies made to deceive me!”, he dismissed the words of the spirit who shook his head.

“These are no lies but you are too blind by rage to see it! The Draculas strove for eternity but instead they faced damnation and their family bloodline is all but facing near extinction. Vlad realized the mistake he made. The blood frenzy that you speak of is true, yes, and Vlad could no longer live with himself. He could no longer live an eternity wandering the earth, being unable to die, nor to forget his horrible mistake. He loved Jennifer Van Helsing with all his heart. That is why he gifted her the ring, it wasn’t to toy with her!”, the spirit shared the truth but Abraham would not hear it for he believed more in his family’s scrolls then he did this wretched undead.

“Silence!”, Abraham then raised his right hand and a darkness enveloped him that appeared as if it nearly consumed him, dark tendrils and dark green flame rose that consumed William.

Before Arthur’s very eyes he witnessed the spirit of William Frankenstein being erased from the very plane of existence. Abraham Van Seward was not the huntsman that Arthur and the others were lead to believe but rather he was a warlock, a dark and twisted magician filled with rage.

“Who are you?”, asked Arthur after witnessing but a shard that was held by Abraham, a shard that contained the soul of William Frankenstein. “I am Abraham Val Helsing, Arthur Harker, and I’ve come to bring hell to the very doorsteps of House Dracula.”, the warlock would close his hand and shatter the shard into many fragments that crushed William’s soul, sealing his fate.

“I am vengeance incarnate.”, he revealed before he turned to Arthur. “Stand by my side or stand aside, the choice is yours.”, he had warned the human who took a deep breath. “I am with you, Abraham, or did you forget that I too am driven by vengeance?”, replied Arthur and this very response pleased Abraham Van Helsing that looked to the human with admiration, and it was in that very moment that the warlock would proceed further into the castle along with Arthur.

However, Igor Dracula stood before the pedestal of the rose and he observed the flower whose petals were deteriorating and falling apart, bit by bit. There was sorrow in his eyes and yet he felt her cold presence standing behind him, a cold and yet commanding presence…

“What do you want, Bellindia?”, Igor asked. “I want you, Igor, and you have been avoiding me for some time lately, why?”, replied Bellindia. “What have we become?”, asked Igor. “Undead.”, she replied with such simplicity in her words and Igor smirked at such a comment.

“Monsters.”, Igor added. “Yes, that too.”, and she seemingly agreed. “You have no remorse, no shame, no pity, don’t you? For all that you’ve done, for all that we’ve done!”, he raised his voice and she could tell he was furious, angry, with himself and her as a whole.

“Really, Igor, self pity?”, she asked and Igor turned his head, snarling at her. “All that is good within me has died, Belle, and all that is good within you has also died. I can’t wait for the last petal to fall.”, explained Igor, revealing that he’d rather lose his mind to forget all emotions.

“So that you finally become a beast consumed by feral instincts and animal-like thoughts in order to forget rational thoughts, in order to forget everything that is circling around in your mind?”, she asked. “Yes.”, replied Igor as he stared at the rose. “Including me?”, she asked and Igor then paused for a moment as the last petal barely clung on to its branch. “Yes…”, said Igor.

However, that response only garnered a smile from Bellindia Frankenstein that stepped forth.

“Liar.”, she said to him and Igor was shaken as eagerly awaited for last petal to fall. “Let the last petal fall, my love, it means nothing to me.”, she said to him and he turned to face her. “All that it represents is how you’re lost and how you cannot feel warmth within you, like a cold and very harsh winter…”, Bellindia stepped closer to him as she explained this to him and the lycan remembered the words of the elf witch that had cursed him, the words that she said.

“You’re trapped in a vicious storm, my love, and no matter how long this blizzard lasts I shall love you always.”, she raised her right claw and touched his chest just where his heart was, but unlike the scientist here touch was cold and yet he felt a warmth he could not explain.

The rose’s petal that once withered then blossomed and the branch started to blossom with new petals as the beast stepped back, and he couldn’t find it in his heart to deny her.

“Be a wretched beast, be a damned undead, be merciless…“, she smiled as she dragged her claw over his body. “Be cold and ruthless, be apathetic...”, she dragged her other claw over his body and the rose kept on blooming, it was a dark and twisted love that they had but it was love.

“I don’t care which.”, she gritted her teeth and looked at him with anger. “No matter what you become I will always love you and you will be only weakness.”, she declared before him.

“Touching…”, and then the voice of the dark warlock destroyed that passionate moment that caused Bellindia to sigh, rolling her eyes. “Ah, the deceiver has arrived and yet at the most very romantic of times. Could you, I don’t know, make like a banana and split?”, spoke Bellindia who turned her head to see the warlock step out of the darkness and then her ears arose in excitement.

“Arthur!”, she smiled and called his name out loud as the beast growled at the two arrivals. “Belle…”, said Arthur. “What have they done to you?”, he questioned her and she smirked.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

“Done?”, she asked. “My dear Arthur, the Belle that you knew has died and a new one stands before you. In life, the living were my brothers and sisters but in death the dead are my brothers and sisters. I have no quarrel with you or your brothers and sisters. I simply ask that you both leave this place immediately and never return or else you’ll both die here.”, explained Bellindia to the warlock and the huntsman, and Arthur could not believe what he saw.

“Yea, right, the moment we turn our backs you will send the dead and the beasts after us.”, said Arthur. “That would be a fitting punishment for all those lost souls that you have deceived.”, she replied and this confused Arthur while the warlock approached the rose that stood before him.

“Where is he? Where is Vlad Dracula?”, asked Abraham. “Vlad Dracula?”, Bellindia laughed. “Why, he’s dead. He’s history, ancient history in fact. Don’t tell me, you are here to claim your vengeance? Aww…”, she toyed with him and the warlock then raised his head, pointing at her.

“You are a liar!”, he shouted. “And you sound like an angry little child.”, she replied and this humiliated the warlock. “What did you mean by that, Belle?”, asked Arthur. “Hush, Sir Arthur!”, shouted Abraham. “About what, this pathetic little excuse for a human here wittingly leading the very people you both swore to protect to damnation in order to get his revenge?”, she replied.

“Enough!”, shouted Abraham and in that moment all hell would break lose for fire and darkness engulfed the room. “Ugh, touched a nerve, didn’t I?”, asked Bellindia. “Is this true?!”, asked Arthur and the beast then charged forth towards the warlock only to suddenly stop.

A mighty hand turned into a claw, the mighty warlock had turned into a demon, and in this form he took on what he really was. Beneath the attire of a hunter, the beneath the façade of a human, lied a magician consumed by dark magic and sorcery; lied the real Abraham Van Helsing. The demon’s claw raised the lycanthrope as his flesh began to mold and shift, transform and grow that shocked Arthur while Bellindia simply smiled while her love kept clawing at the demon.

“By the gods…”, said Arthur. “A demon…”, he could not believe it and Bellindia rolled her very eyes. “Let me guess, he’s going to…”, the demon threw the lycanthrope onto the table that held the rose and its glass container fell over that exposed it, and suddenly the immense heat and smoke that had gathered within the room started to choke and snuff out the life of the rose.

The warlock stood there and glared towards Bellindia, there was so much pent up rage within him that use to be directed towards Igor who the warlock once suspected was Vlad. All that the warlock wanted and that he desired was vengeance, but the warlock is dead and now he is left with one of his descendant and an elf that dared to humiliate him despite all his power. Igor Dracula then began to growl and snarl, his mind began to wither as the rose withered before the eyes of the warlock and Bellindia. It was then that the warlock, the demon, knew that this rose was tied to the lycanthrope but he also wondered why Bellindia allowed it to burn.

“What’s happening to him?!”, shouted Arthur. “A summer set in but it has no place in the soul of one that is damned, of a heart that is no longer among the living. A new life has set in, one that shall snuff out all the others and when the last petal burns so too shall whatever humanity once remained.”, before Arthur stood a rose that blossomed on the ground and he did not understand why but he could see its very petals burn away as Bellindia spoke to them both.

“His winter could only remain for so long to prevent this rose from withering away, a symbol of our love, and the darkness he once forsook he welcomes with an open mind for he knows the truth now…”, explained Bellindia but Arthur did not understand. “What truth?!”, Arthur shouted. “That our love surpasses life and death. That I am his beauty and he is my beast.”, the moment that she said that he was her beast the monster had roared so loud that it shook the entire castle.

Arthur just witnessed a union between a lycanthrope and his beloved vampire, a love that was unlike any other and unexplainable. The warlock had witnessed it too but he was disgusted by it as much as the living huntsman was. He decided to end it and the beast charged at him only to claw him but the demon struck him and bashed his head into a column that broke asunder. The Dark Lady, however, placed her right claw over her mouth and exhaled air that was so cold that the fire around her struggled for air as an arrow of black ice suddenly formed in her claw. It was then that her two tails came forth, one formed a shape of a bow and one of a sling before the third arrow grabbed the back of the arrow. She took aim carefully and the demon turned, and she launched it as the demon moved a few inches to his left as it struck his right shoulder. The very demon had then growled and grabbed hold of the arrow that he broke in half that melted away.

“Claim your vengeance, ranger!”, Abraham shouted and Arthur then turned to the beast, and in that moment he took aim with his rifle just as the beast rose from the debris.

It was then that a wisp flew by like a whisper and all the sounds around him had seemingly faded away. The gorgon, Bellindia, ran on all fours as he three tails already prepared her next arrow and the beast ran towards the warlock that he grabbed hold from behind, started to climb and claw at relentlessly as the warlock grabbed him and threw him away only to charge at the wolf and kick him in the head, time and time again. The warlock raised both of his arms and elbowed the lycanthrope down but then he got shot in the leg by the gorgon. The warlock turned and threw a ball of fire that suddenly struck the ground near the gorgon but she avoided getting struck by it. He turned to strike the lycanthrope but the beast had struck him in his jaw. The wisp, however, was the only innocent light in the room and Arthur could feel a familiar presence. It was then that the wisp took the form of none other than Lucy Murray that reached for the hunter. She grabbed hold of his hand and lifted it as the other hand slowly lowered his rifle. He saw in her eyes that she cared for him, even after she died, but then she turned her head towards the warlock and he could see the seething anger, the fury, in her eyes. The warlock’s flesh began to deteriorate and he held the beast down. The beast’s body was plagued by all sorts of diseases and curses that seemingly drained the very essence of his soul. The gorgon’s arrows struck the dark magician but they melted away simply by the touch and the heat. It was then that Lucy Murray touched the rifle of her beloved Arthur and in that moment the ranger lifted it, took aim and fired at the warlock that got struck through where his heart normally would be but it was long gone. The warlock turned, stood up and raised both of his mighty claws that incinerated the incoming arrow off Bellindia. He would throw three shards towards her that each spawned a demon, a hound, that ran towards her with their mighty jaws opened and she ran throughout the room. The warlock, however, stomped and made his way towards the human that kept firing at him.

“Vile insect!”, the warlock insulted the human. “You dare betray Abraham Van Helsing?!”, the warlock proclaimed. “Whatever you are, demon, you are no Abraham Van Helsing!”, Arthur shouted in defiance and fired shot after shot after shot relentlessly until his rifle ran out.

The demon stood before him and raised its skeletal like arm as Arthur saw a large skeletal with his whole body burnt away, a man that did not even resemble the living Abraham before him. As the demon swung his arm down and fist first, he did not know what awaited him. Arthur knew this was his end and had pulled the pin of two grenades earlier to meet his end. As the grenades exploded, they blasted Abraham away and Arthur was no dead. The demon fell to the ground and the beast showed no mercy as he climbed him, clawed at him and attacked him relentlessly. The beast bit at him, he clawed at the demon and showed no mercy. He did not feel the demon’s very flame for all he could feel is his own seething in anger and rage. The demon struck the wolf in the head, then proceeded to grab him to set his fur on fire and head butt him. The gorgon’s tails then snarled, growled and roared. What the demon did not know, however, is that they were communicating and the demon was then struck by arrow after arrow. The demon turned and then swung his arm as he struck Bellindia that flew across the room as stone fell all around her. The hellhounds that the demon had summoned earlier then turned and ran towards the debris.

“Is this all that the descendant of the famed Vlad Dracula has to offer? To think that you were once a threat to my people!”, the demon scoffed and grabbed the lycanthrope by his neck as the beast growled, snarled and roared defiantly at him, clawing at him despite being raised up.

“I will take great pleasure in sacrificing you and adding you to my collection of souls!”, the warlock was delighted and then from the debris a claw emerged that grabbed what appeared to be metal that was once built within the column of the castle.

“Say bye, bye, beast!”, shouted the demon and then Bellindia emerged from the debris as the lycanthrope had clawed the demon in the head that caused a piece of his bone to rip, particularly his jaw that had dislodged, and in that moment he dropped the beast.

The beast clawed at him again and the demon waved his right arm as he struck the beast back but not before his other hand shaped like a claw reached for his jaw, noticing that it was missing. Bellindia, however, wasted no time and launched the arrow of metal and stone with a sharp end at its tip that was like that of a spear just as the hounds leaped towards her. Abraham heard a roar and then the demon turned to see the lycanthrope before him, and then the diabolical warlock used his magic with his arms and raised his mighty claws to strike the beast that suddenly stood aside. The demon did not have eyelids nor could he display his surprise in the end but his mind knew he had made a fatal mistake. The arrow had an enchanting glow, one of ice and death. It was made from metal and stone, one from the many ruined columns he had knocked over and destroyed. He knew that his mighty flames would not burn it away and in that moment it struck his skull, right through his nose and impaled him into the wall. The demon roared and grabbed hold of the spear as the hounds landed, clawed and began to chew on the gorgon who’s tails would surround her to protect her. The beast, however, approached the demon that could no longer speak but he could see the rage in the lycanthrope’s eyes as he stared into his very soul.

“Bye, bye, demon!”, the sudden response from a lycanthrope that could speak shocked the demon before the lycanthrope grabbed him with his bare claws over his skull.

The demon roared and reached for the beast’s arms, setting fire to them, but the lycanthrope did not care. The lycanthrope welcomed death and despite his arms being set to blaze nothing would stop him from crushing the diabolist’s head in, caving in his skull into pieces. The hellhounds then became weaker and fell over; their bodies began to shake as if experiencing a heart attack or some sort of spasm. The gorgon’s tails looked nothing like flesh but rather bone and marrow. The diabolist’s flames dispersed and his hellhounds eroded away, the souls of those that were contained within them were now free and could return to the heavens. The Diabolist was dead and his skeletal-like burning body turned to that of flesh and bone, and all that remained were human remains of Abraham Van Helsing as blood poured over the ground. The lycanthrope then turned, slowly stepped away and made his way. Bellindia breathed in and out, she was weak due to the many blows inflicted to her and then she saw the legs of the lycanthrope. She looked up and saw him breathe in and out repeatedly. She could see the rage in his eyes and then his claws reached for her that pulled her up to stand. The beauty was grabbed hold by her neck and she was made to look into his eyes before he grabbed her, raised her into his arms and pulled her head with his right claw towards his chest. The lycanthrope then looked around the room and roared out loud as she grabbed onto his fur, and she could see what he saying for all to hear.

“I am yours and you are mine.”, she said lovingly to him and the lycanthrope then walked out of the room with her, leaving nothing but ruin behind them as two wisps circled inside of the room.

It was the souls of Lucy Murray and Arthur Harker. Both of their spirits took on form of ghosts that grabbed each other’s claw and hand as they leaned their forehead against each other. They both felt each other’s cheek and kissed one another in a warming embrace before a bright light overwhelmed them, both of them found peace with each other as their souls left to the heavens…