CHAPTER 8
Dracula choked down a howl of pain. He knew if he showed weakness, the strange creatures would exploit it to the utmost. Damn that Van Helsing and his brood. But soon, soon the Executor would come. And when it did, there would be hell to pay. Of that he was sure.
IAN's daughter sat across from the chained up Dracula, with her legs crossed in way that would indicate some time spent at a finishing school. The demure hostess knew that despite his tough exterior, her and her wolf brother’s unique form of hospitality was starting to get to the Count.
“So Dracy, how do like your accommodation?”
"I am afraid, my dear, that it leaves much to be desired." He spit a gobbet of rotten blood from his mouth. “I am afraid I am at a loss. You know my name, but I do not know yours."
The count was eager to gather information as he sensed the Executor coming closer every moment. "You seem to be dhampir, but not of a sort I have seen before. Or…” He paused. “Perhaps not a dhampir at all. Just what IS Van Helsing playing at? I know you cannot be of his blood."
“Oh Dracy, I afraid there is much you don't know. “You can call me Hel-en. Helen.
He decided to try another tactic. He summoned what small strength was left him and focused it all in his supernatural charm.
"I DO know that you are quite an attractive specimen. One that I wouldn't mind keeping in my collection. What would you think of that? Eternity at my side? Surely you will fare much better as an honored member of The Council than as a subcreature here. Comely lass, press your lips to mine and it is done. Come to me and loose these chains." She began to move towards him only to abruptly stop and give Dracula a coy smile.
“Sic, brother.”
The incredibly large charcoal-colored wolf bit down on Dracula’s arm.
Just then, they were interrupted by the form of Betty being flung amongst them. She immediately scooted into a corner, trying to avoid whatever confrontation was about to follow. Dracula spoke through gritted teeth, with the wolf still attached to his arm. "Ah, Executor, how nice of you to join us this evening."
“An uninvited guest? Daddy will be most unpleased.”
The thing that looked like a girl waved its hand, and the silver chains fell off of Dracula, who immediately rose to his full, imposing height. "The time for play is over, don't you think?" It asked pointedly, not looking directly at the count, but instead at the other beings before her.
The count sighed wearily. "Yes, I suppose so. But I was having such fun." His wounds were already closing as they spoke. He stepped towards Betty, but It warned him away.
"I think not. This one must be destroyed. And unless Van Helsing can give better account, so must these abominations."
IAN followed closely behind. “A terrible thing to say about someone’s family.”
"Ah, I see you have decided to join us. I must know why you decided to risk interfering with one so protected by the Council. In essence, what is your plan here?"
“Risk would infer fear; something I have never had for the Council or for the ones they protect.”
"I notice, once again, you are dodging the question." Dracula chuckled low. "Yes. He does have a tendency to do that." He has been asking questions about the fissures closing."
It seemed to be considering. "Then this has passed out of my hands. I suppose the thing now is to take you to the Council and they can decide what must be done."
The thing that was not a girl began chanting in sibilant vowels and strange guttural noises. The room began to change shape and dim around them until they were surrounded by darkness.
IAN could hear Betty scramble to her feet. "Right. What in blazes just happened?"
The Executor snapped her fingers and wall lights flared around them. They were not where they had been. Not at all.
They had obviously been transported to some kind of ante room. "Through the doors, if you would." It encouraged. "Now, I must retire, as I have used up my transport allotment for the day. Rationing, you know.” As it walked away, it cast a meaningful glance back at Betty and the two "children." "Hope to see you again."
“Daddy? Is this the Council?”
“Yes, Sweetie. What gave it away, the tacky velvet walls?”
They walked through doors into a room with seven thrones. Dracula wordlessly took a seat below the dais; evidently his. Just like that, all his charm had gone stone cold and Betty somehow knew he would not speak another word until the Council required it.
IAN walked over to Betty. “Quick, tell me, how is his hold on you?”
"Since we entered this room? Non-existent. At least, I cannot sense his pull."
IAN curtly nodded. “Good. Stay close to Helen, she will protect you when the time comes.”
There didn't appear to be anyone seated in the thrones, but a dark mist hovered above every cushion. A harsh whisper made of many voices filled the room.
"Who has come before us?"
Helen spoke up. “My father, the one who moves between the cracks.”
Murmuring filled the room. The voices spoke again. "Why has he come before us?"
“Well I didn't really come willingly, but nevertheless, you perhaps have the answer I seek. Who gave the Ancients power to cross over?”
"Ah, yes. This is the one who vexes us so.”
“Where is the Executor?”
“Yes, where, where?"
Betty piped up "The nasty little girl? She left us outside. Which is really kind of rude, no introduction and..." she did not see Dracula's warning look. "I have no idea what's going on, but IAN and I just came here because we were investigating a particularly odd Bleed..."
"SILENCE fledgling!"
Betty jolted and felt her mouth, which would no longer open. No matter how much she pried at it with her hands. Even though no bodies could be seen, Betty felt the weight of expectant eyes on the spot where she stood. Or more accurately, the spot beside her. They were focused on IAN.
"We have asked ourselves this question many a time."
"Yes."
"Yes, many a time."
"Who has been closing the Dimensions?"
"That is also what we wish to know."
"Yes, we must know."
"How could the ancients cross without culture seeding?"
"We do wonder."
"No human knows of them."
"No one, but this man."
"But he is not a man."
"Yes, he is not."
"Someone must be offering access through whatever small gaps are left."
"But who?"
"But who?"
"Who?" The words echoed through the great chamber, growing with each repetition.
The mists hanging above the thrones glowed red. "We must know."
"Yes, now."
Dracula spoke. "Oh, all right then."
Betty was shocked to see he had moved behind the Great Throne of the council. He was fast.
"It was me."
"Traitor!"
"He has betrayed us!"
"Executor!”
“Executor!"
The large door to the ante chamber opened behind them and the Executor came floating in, looking quite incensed. "Dracula, what have you said to them now?"
But its eyes widened when it saw he had stepped behind the sacred thrones, where not even a Council favorite should dare approach.
"Usurper!" it cried, running in rage at him. A murderous sheen over its eyes.
"Executor. Nice of you to join us."
From his coat, he pulled out a small, unassuming wooden box.
He threw his cloak in Betty and IAN's general direction and winked at IAN.
The box opened and a small golden orb floated inches above it, pulsing.
The mists grew more vocal and began to solidify. "No!"
"Fool!”
“It will destroy us all!"
The orb suddenly exploded and just before IAN covered her with the count's cloak, she managed to see old,
wizened, skeletal vampires trying to escape their thrones.
When the dust of their bodies had settled, IAN removed the cloak and they all saw Dracula seated on the Great Throne, lounging.
The Executor was no more than a pile of ash at the foot of the dais.
In Dracula's right hand, he toyed with the box, now closed. He noticed Betty looking at it confusedly.
"Oh, this? Well, it is a complicated matter. Just understand that the Ancients have secrets and weapons which would turn your mind to jelly. This one just happens to be a box filled with a micro-ounce of energy from the sun." He let it drop out of his hand. Betty shrank away. "No danger now, my pet. It is spent."
Dracula, amused, leaned forward. "Do you understand now, IAN?"
IAN smiled. “Oh, I understood from the beginning, I just didn't know the extent your part was. If you will pardon me for a second.” He walked over to his children and huddled them in conference.
Helen pouted. “You're being cryptic again, daddy. You know I don't like that.”
“Sweetheart, this is a time you should be less argumentative, like your brother here.” The wolf growled.
“How bad is it?”
“Not bad precisely. We might need backup. How does your mother feel about me these days?”
“I would suggest alternative options, daddy.”
“That bad, huh? I never could figure out goddesses.”
Betty tried to avoid eye contact with Dracula, but soon their eyes locked and her master summoned her to him. She brought his cloak and laid it by his feet, sitting on it.
"Van Helsing, I do not wish there to be any more enmity between us. Despite what your...children did to me, it all worked to the good. My marriage to Gabriella is no longer advantageous, so she is free of her pledge, if she wishes to be. Not that I'd mind a queen as vicious as her, mind you. In case there is any confusion, let me clear up a few matters. I had cache in Betty's dimension and was tasked with providing human cattle. I found that the Ancients were being starved by the Council. What could I do, but help them?"
"Of course, not without price. In exchange for transport by what you call the bleeds, they were able to gift me with their immunity to sunlight. It's a shame they are such bestial creatures, for their powers are great. I will no longer be assisting their journeys. However, I feel I must tell you - I have heard rumors they have been crossing over in...other ways. More than this, I cannot help you with."
“Oh, you helped me plenty, and while I won't be shedding a tear over the untimely demise of the Council, your actions today will lead you to be king of only one thing; the king of fools.”
Dracula's eyes blazed. "I do not know if you are trying to goad me into a fight, but I refuse to rise to the bait. Besides, I've always had a soft spot for fools. They're always so useful. Just ask Renfield."
"By the way, what DID you ever do with the fellow?"
“One word; Parliament.”
Dracula pulled a face. “On Earth’s Dimension? IAN, even for you, that is cruel.”
“Yes, well, I'm not goading you, I am simply pointing out the glaring oversight in your plan, that being the Ancients themselves. You underestimate them. They lean on the side of savage but that does not mean they lack the skill to deceive. Especially someone as dense as you.”
Betty stood and walked over to IAN. "IAN, do you have what you needed from these vampires? I think I would quite like to go home now."
Dracula chuckled. "Ah, well, that was not discussed."
She turn back to Dracula. "Was so!" She caught herself. "Wasn't it?"
IAN reassured her. “In due time my dear. Now extract your fangs, you're going to need them for the battle.”
IAN looked over at his daughter. “Sweetie?”
“Yes, daddy?”
“Did you get the information you needed from Dracula in the dungeon?”
Dracula raged, “She got nothing from me!”
Helen contradicted him. “Yes, I did, daddy.”
“Lies! Such slander about the king will not....”
A thunderous roar knocked Dracula off his throne. “What was that?” He shouted, stumbling to his feet.
IAN put himself in a defensive stance. “The coming storm. The thing that has protected your civilization from the Ancient Ones was not your superior intellect, it was the beings that inhabited these thrones; beings you just killed. So congratulations, you are the king of a land that is about to be invaded.”
The roar amplified followed by a flash of light and when their eyes had adjusted, they were surrounded by the Ancient Ones. The smell was the first assault. Extremely powerful, it was the scent of rest. Dusty pages, molding ruins, fecund earth all hit with a soporific effect. Everything felt final; everything felt good. Betty knew she was where she needed to be. There was never a time when she wasn't here. It was inevitable.
But there was also something wrong. A feculent impurity that made everything else somehow obscene. Betty began to struggle, to get as far away from that loathsome presence as she could. She realized with a dull ache, that something was attached her wrist. She opened her eyes, blearily, and saw a creature gnawing at her veins. The recognition was instantaneous. This was the same creature that had savagely introduced her to a world of wonders. And monsters.
Helen was fighting to get to Betty, but had been cornered by three Ancients. She was gravely wounded. Betty moaned, seeing the blood rush from Helen's side. IAN's other child was fang-to-tooth with an enormous Ancient and IAN himself was backed into a corner, cutting the creatures down with a sword he had grabbed from one of the shields lining the wall. But even he looked like he was flagging and would not be able to keep them at bay much longer.
She looked up and caught a glimpse of Dracula and a particularly ragged Ancient engaged in a gravity-defying dogfight of mist and claws.
Sound came rushing back. Screeching and screaming and whimpering all at once. Somewhere in there, IAN was laughing. She was able to use that as a touchstone and managed to drag herself completely out of the stupor. She violently shook her arm, but the creature stayed attached, locking its shining black eyes with hers. All Betty could think was "This should not be. Stop! Stop! Stop!" And suddenly...it did.
The ancient dropped off her wrist and crouched, still looking at her, head cocked and whining in confusion.
Betty connected with a voice speaking directly with her primal brain. Well, not a voice as such. More along the line of urges than thoughts.
Helen was on the ground, whimpering, but just before one of them went for her throat, it seemed to seize and turned around with its two fellows.
Betty screamed and it seemed to break the connection and all four of them advanced on her.
Betty's fangs descended as she willed herself to a calmer state. She used all the willpower she had and instead of speaking, she thought at them.
Once again, they fell back.
They bobbed their heads up and down, not unlike birds. A path of influence went before her and as each Ancient touched its wake, it stopped and looked at her, suddenly still.
Betty reached IAN in the corner as the very last Ancient seized and stopped. Unfortunately, IAN was still mid-swing, but was able to stop his sword just before it would have opened her throat. The tip pricked at the original wound that had brought them both there, at the base of her neck, and drew a few drops of blood.
Betty gasped and clutched her neck as IAN backed away. Both of them turned their attention toward the battle, to find that the battle was over. The Ancients had all disappeared. The battle was theirs; by default.
A mist floated before them, solidifying into the self-styled king of the vampires, looking much the worse for wear. He attempted to straighten his torn evening jacket while his eyes darted back and forth. “Just like that, it is over?” He echoed what they were all thinking.
Betty began laughing in a relief bordering on hysteria. “I, I guess so...”
IAN leaned nonchalantly on his sword. “A little anticlimactic, if you ask me.”
But Betty’s laughter had died. Not ten feet from her was the Ancient that had plagued them from the beginning. Its fleshy hackles were raised, batlike features registering hesitance and uncertainty. Perhaps for the first time in its life. Something unspoken passed between she and the creature, a sense of unfinished business. She felt someone join her side, as magnificent leather wings exploded from the Ancient’s shoulders in a mighty gust. Before there was time to react, it had rocketed through the air in a perfect spiral and burst through the marble ceiling, showering large chunks of stone upon the weary fighters. Sunlight streamed in and as IAN pushed Betty from the concentrated rays, she did manage to see an instant of the Ancient silhouetted against the bright light of day.
The great door to the throne room burst open and Gabriella rushed in, outfitted with multiple bandoliers, rapier drawn. Schreck marched resolutely behind her, outfitted with a new arm courtesy of the good doctor. A weaponized harpoon.
“Fashionably late as always, eh Gabriella?” IAN quipped.
“Oh, and here I was, all ready for a little bloodletting. Poor Schreck wanted to test out his new addition. Look how disappointed he is, poor Schreck!”
Betty could detect no visible difference from Schreck’s regular expression of detached disapproval.
Dracula moved toward Gabriella with open arms, “You have never looked more ravishing, my dear. Violence suits you.”
Gabriella rolled her eyes theatrically. “None of that hocus pocus charm is going to work on me anymore, darling,” she said scathingly.
“Well if that will not suffice, how do you feel about a queenship?”
Gabriella slid up to IAN, “What do you think? Is it worth the bother?”
IAN waved his hands in front of him “I’m not the best to give advice on marriage.”
Gabriella frowned in concentration. “What's in it for me?”
“Untold power?”
She shrugged.
“Undying love?”
“Don't make me laugh.”
“A lot of money?”
Gabriella paused. “That’ll do it. Offer accepted.”
Dracula moved toward her again.
“Ah, ah, ah, not so fast; no funny business. This is a business partnership and I expect you to keep me very satisfied.”
Dracula raised his eyebrows suggestively.
“What is it with you? I mean financially.”
He shrank back, defeated for the time being. “Of course. It seems I shall have to find a royal blood tester. You and your poisons, minx.”
IAN began to lead Betty from the throne room. “On that note, we should probably take our leave. I don't want to be here for whatever this is.”
As Schreck closed the door behind them they heard Gabriella and Dracula arguing about some new topic. “Husband, I think it best to bring consult with Renfield on how to best set up this government. I've always thought taxes were ridiculously low…”
“Renfield? That insufferable nit? He’ll turn everything into one long meeting. Please, take pity…”
Betty hesitated in the antechamber. “What about your children? You didn’t even say goodbye.”
“They are quite independent, believe me. I'm sure we’ll be seeing them again. But it's time we got you home. I promised you a case, but I have lines of inquiry I must pursue on my own.”
Betty tried not to sound disappointed. “Oh, I see. So back to the books it is.”
“Well, until next time.”
“So there will be a next time?”
“Probably. If I don't forget.
“IAN, you are really exasperating, you know?”
He just smiled in response.
Betty began to feel dizzy again. She tried to hold herself up on the marble wall. “Seriously?” She said to no one in particular.
IAN guided her to the ground. “Don't fight it.”
“So this is it? I'm going back right now? You're not coming?”
“As I said, lines of inquiry.”
“But we have to talk about what happened in there. I mean, wasn’t it just a little too easy? Are the Ancients going to come back? Can they follow us? What exactly went on? I felt something in the midst of the attack and…”
He interrupted, “Betty?”
“Yeah-huh?”
“You're rambling again.”
“Oh, but this is important, I…I…” She drifted off.
….
And woke up back in her library, sitting in her armchair, valise at her feet. As if she had just dozed. True to IAN’s word, her fangs seemed to be gone and her skin was warm and decidedly human. She wanted to go immediately to her desk and grab a piece of paper, eager to begin chronicling the experience. But she turned toward the kitchen and kettle instead.
“As my late husband used to say, the best is yet to come, but while we’re waiting, how about a cup of tea?”
###
About the Author
In another dimension D.R. Brooks is the portmanteau penname of Elizabeth Beck and Dusty Stepp
Elizabeth Beck divides her time between working up the courage to perform slam poetry, writing evil unicorn stories, and thinking about The Bleeds over strong espresso. Her harrowing work has been featured in various Northwest publications and museums.
Dusty Stepp knows that the theory of a transdimensional Bigfoot is scientifically implausible and this makes him sad. To ease his pain, he writes stories about multiple dimensions in the hope that someday, it will make them real.
Author’s Note
Thanks for reading our story. We hoped you enjoyed it and will join us for the next adventure of IAN. and Betty.
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