I wasn't expecting to hear Vlad's name. But I guess I can't be surprised. The man had been around for a while. "How do you know Vlad?" I ask her. She laughs. "Who wouldn't know Vlad the Impaler? He's one of the fiercest men in the world. No man bows to him." She says she is looking me up and down. I sigh. "You're not going to believe me, but I guess I should tell you how I got here." I say, sitting down and telling her the events that transpired and brought me here.

"So you don't work for or with Vlad; you were accidentally sent here. Hmmm, interesting. I may know of a way back to your time. But you will have to promise one thing: please take me with you." She says it with a sad look on her face.

I agree and follow her to a small room in the back of the inn. She picks up a black crystal and hands it to me.

"What's with the crystal?" I ask. She shakes her head. "Just hold it; that's one of the tools we'll need to get back. It's an ability crystal. I just need you to focus on a destination, and a portal will appear, and we can go back." She says this as she reads through a book.

I hold the crystal and imagine Dracula's castle. I feel her hand on top of the crystal as a portal appears next to us.

I look at her and put my hand up. "Before we go through, I have to do one thing." I say this as I walk out of the room. She waits there patiently. I walk back into the diner, raise a hand, and let the darkness flow from it, swallowing everyone inside, good or bad. "It's hard to tell who exactly is bad and who is good. So this way, I can cover all bases." I say as I close my hand and walk back into the room.

"All done, let's go." I am walking through the portal. We appear on the other side, in front of everyone. They looked shocked. "How long was I gone?" I ask. Dracula chuckles before answering. "You were gone only 10 minutes." I put a hand on my chin. "So does that mean there's time dilation when teleporting to different times?" I think to myself.

Everyone notices the woman and looks at me. I shrug my shoulders. "She's an Oni; I figured she'd be great with us. We're a band of misfits now." I say this as I turn around and notice that she's lying on the ground, unconscious. I lean down to her and feel a pulse. "What's happening?" I ask.

Dracula walks over and explains. "I had lowered my pressure for you guys, but not for everyone. But for her, I'll do it." He lowers his pressure even more, picks her up off the ground, walks into another room, and places her on a bed. We all look at him weirdly. "The Dracula we know would never do this." We all think at once.

He returns to the room and says, "I cannot believe you have found her. It's been so long since I've seen her; it can't be real." He says this as he paces back and forth. Everyone looks at him in confusion. "Do you know her?" I am curious.

He looks back at me. "This is the old friend I was talking about. The one I had lost. I can't believe she's back." He says it almost joyously. The woman looks at him and squints her eyes. Realization sits in. "Vlad? Is that you?" The woman asks. It looks like Dracula could tear up at any moment. "Yes, it is Vlad the Impaler. How are you still alive, Toriko?" He is curious.

The woman brushes her kimono off and replies. "I went into hiding after I had lost that battle with Toshigui. Ever since then, I have gone town to town, getting money from strangers who were weak-willed enough to fall for my charm. That was until I met that one over there." She points over at me. I raise my hands. "Hey, I wasn't going to fall for it. At least I didn't hurt you." I say.

Toriko scoffs like she's offended. "You could never hurt me, vampire; you're a hundred years too early for that." Elizabeth starts laughing. Toriko looks over at her. "Lady, the things that Kamen can do would blow your mind. He's in a different league than you." She says.

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Toriko stares at me up and down. "This little twerp is in a different league? I'd like to see that." She thinks to herself as she walks over to Dracula and gives him a hug. Everyone cringes. The Dracula they know is letting someone hug him? That was a death sentence. But what was strange was that he returned the hug. It was odd seeing the human side of Dracula. It would seem that he wasn't so bad after all.

Dracula stares at us and coughs. "I'll ask that none of you speak of what you've witnessed tonight." Everyone nods their heads. We end up in the dining area, sitting at Dracula's table. It's gigantic; it could easily seat thirty people. I look around and notice everyone is sitting next to me. Jenny is on my left, Elizabeth is on my right, Alice and Ruby are fighting to see who gets to sit next to Jenny, and Alistair is sitting next to Elizabeth with Rose on his left. I sigh and shake my head. I wave my hand out and picture a can of soda. It appears in my hand, and I open it and take a sip. "Ahhhhh, that's good. I've missed this." I say this as I look over and see Jenny giggling.

"You've always loved soda, haven't you, Kamen? Even in school, you always drank soda. It was so unhealthy." She says it, and it looks like she's remembering school. I offer her my soda. "I know it's no water, but it should be good enough, right?" I said, smirking. As soon as she takes a sip, Dracula walks in with Toriko on his left. He coughs. "I must apologize; Toriko and I were talking about her life. I won't bother you with the boring details. I feel that I should thank you since you've brought us back together." He says, clapping his hands, and all around us butlers come out of nowhere with plates of food. We all look astonished.

Elizabeth stares at him and squints her eyes. "What game are you playing at? Are you trying to butter us up to join you?" Elizabeth says. Dracula looks at her and laughs. "If I wanted you to join me, you would have done it already. I am the king after all."He says. Ruby looks up at him. "Not all kings are listened to; I'm sure my master would have said no if you had asked him." She says it makes everyone uncomfortable except Dracula.

He starts laughing. "I like this one. What is your name, and are you perhaps a servant to someone?" He asks. Ruby shakes her head. "I am Kamen's kin; my bloodline starts with him; he gave me a new life." She says she is looking over at me. Dracula squints his eyes. "So, you've already started making vampires of your own. I can't say I'm surprised. But it doesn't matter because I'm the king. All vampires will do what I say with no fuss. Like this." Dracula says as he points to Jenny.

"I would appreciate it if you slit your own throat and drank from it." Jenny stares at him, unmoving. Dracula looks unnerved. "I said, "Slit your throat."He is slowly getting angry. Jenny looks at him and still does nothing. "I will not listen to you. You are no longer my king. Kamen is my king now." She says she is looking at me and smiling.

This makes Dracula look at me with angry eyes. "What have you done, boy? Answer me now!" He shouts out. I shrug my shoulders. "I haven't done a single thing; I merely let her drink my blood, along with Elizabeth, which I didn't really allow, but it happened anyway. Ruby, Rose, and Alice cannot be controlled by you. Alice, for one being a witch, has no affiliation with you." I say, looking at him dead in the eyes.

Dracula sighs. "So this is how it will be." He says this and turns to walk away. He snaps his fingers, and the statues around us come to life. Knights come off of their pedestals and pull their swords up to their faces before slowly marching towards us.

As Dracula leaves the room, we all look at the statues and act. Elizabeth flashes to one of the knights and smashes its head into its torso. The knight falls down. Ruby is casting a spell of blood ice around one of the knights, freezing it in place. She turns to look at me and gives a thumbs up. Jenny is in the center of the room, fighting three knights. Seeing this, I slash out with blood and cut two knights in half before meeting her in the middle.

"I never would have imagined fighting knights in Dracula's castle with you, Jenny." I say smashing one of the knights into the ground before turning around and seeing a sword go through Jenny's side. She stops and coughs up blood. I feel my anger rising and rush over to her. I pulled the sword out of her side and put a stop to the knights. I summoned the darkness to sweep the room and swallow the knights whole. Seeing that they're all gone, I look back to Jenny and see that she's healing. I sigh deeply and hug her. "I'm sorry, Jenny; I should've watched you better." I say.

She giggles and winces. "It's okay, Kamen; you've always been overly protective of me." She says getting back

up to her feet. "We need to get out of here before he sends something else to us." She says she is trying to walk to the door.