(third part) by Steve C.

           Standing in the Great Hall, his throat still wet from the kill, Dracula looked out the windows in the direction of his great enemy's house. He brought his two fingers to his temple, focusing all his concentration and effort into a single, three-letter word. This word planned to travel down through the forests and roads to the house of Helsing, where the only current occupant would receive it and instantly become entranced. It was a word that could make only this human boy lose his ability to think and to reason clearly. And when that happened, Dracula only had to keep that steady, unchanging focus to lure him up to the castle, to this very room.
           So, with his strength at its highest and his mind completely clear, Dracula pressed down hard on his temple, and thought in great exclamation:
           !!!MAX!!!
           Traveling faster than light, the word soared from mind to mind in such a way that by the time Dracula's mind pronounced the `X,' the young boy was frozen in a standing position, staring blankly into nothingness. Lucard had him now, and, using all his power to hold onto the connection, made Max, a living human and true enemy, slowly walk to the door. His small ten year-old hand reached to the doorknob and opened it, and the young boy headed out into the night.

           Across the countryside, Gustav and the others had nearly reached Jacob's home city. They would be there by eleven, meet up with the man within a few minutes of arriving, and hopefully have the vampire Robert destroyed sometime before sunrise. Now, though, it was time to give adequate warning to the teenagers with the older vampire hunter.
           Chris, who was riding in the back, moved upward so he could hear better when Gustav said their names. "All right, we're almost there. And before you meet Jacob, I want to inform you of just how terrible a thing it is we're going up against."
           "Okay," Chris said, knowing now was the time to be serious.
           "This vampire--his name is Robert, I believe--" Gustav started, not taking his eyes off the road, "he's a direct creation of the vampire Nosferatu. I trust you remember the little 'problem' Max had with the same man?"
           "Yes," Sophie answered, "but he was destroyed by, Lucard wasn't he?"
           "That's what was supposed to have happened," Gustav said, his doubt about the actual death of Nosferatu evident to both children. "But, that doesn't really matter right now; what's important is that he created this vampire, and this is the vampire we are going to be dealing with."
           "Robert," Chris clarified.
           "Yes." Gustav went on. "Now, Robert has killed most of the inhabitants of the town, along with a vampire hunter friend of Jacob's, who was a student of mine as well. This vampire is one of the most violent and destructive I have ever heard of. The stories Jacob has told me of what he's done to people..." Helsing trailed off, then turned to Sophie. "When I told Jacob who was living with me and that all three of you kids were hunters, he made me promise to keep Max as far away from this place as possible." He looked back to the road, which curved ahead, the town within thirty miles now. "As if I would ever put his life in danger," he said, more or less to reassure himself of this fact.
           Gustav turned again to Sophie once they were on another straight-away.
           "With Max safe at home, I'm afraid that you, being the next youngest and female, will probably become Robert's target in the fight."
           He paused, Sophie taking in the information calmly, looking from Gustav to the view in front of them.
           "Which means, Chris," he continued, looking up into the mirror at the boy, "that you and I are going to have work extra hard to protect her."
           "No problem there."
           "What is it exactly about this vampire that makes him so dangerous?" Sophie asked, gently grabbing Gustav's right arm.
           "It's fairly simple, really," he answered, making sure Chris was listening. "Unlike Dracula or any other vampire that we've fought before, this one reacts to two situations differently. One, if he gets cornered, instead of transporting away or turning into a bat, he will fight his way out, even if it means burning his hand on a cross or slicing his arm on a stake. And two: he doesn't come into the fight with any speeches or words of his impending victory or anything like that. He comes in trying to kill you."
           There was a moment of silence, other than the noise of Chris' back hitting the seat as he slumped away from their heads, and the wind whipping around the car, before Gustav finished his warning.
           "And this vampire doesn't make other vampires," he said gravely. "And he doesn't believe in a quick and painless death."
           With those words repeating themselves in all three of the hunters' heads, the car sped on, the town getting closer and closer.

           By the time Max reached the gate, Dracula was running out of energy. He hadn't known how far it really was from his castle to the house of Helsing, until he forced that boy to walk it, each step draining a little bit more of the power it took to keep him from realizing what was going on. Dracula's breath was actually starting to get heavy! He was a vampire, he normally didn't even have to breathe if he didn't want to! But he couldn't just shut his lungs down this time; he had to hold his concentration. If he lost Max now, he might never have an opportunity like this again. All he had to do was get the boy inside the castle walls, and then Jacques and Luis could bring him to the Great Hall. By all likelihood, Max would be too tired from going so long without control of his mind to fight back.
           Just a few more steps now, and his hand would be touching the giant oak door with the rook on its front. Lucard could see the boy's hand reaching to the handle, grabbing hold of it, pulling--
           There, Dracula thought, and let go of his hold.
           He lost control of his balance, but grabbed onto the chair to keep from falling. He staggered into it, a flask of blood and his Book of Laws on the table next to it. Dracula hurriedly spun off the cap and began drinking, the fluid not doing much to revive him on an instantaneous basis. According to the book, though, he would be himself in a few minutes.
           As he regained his composure, the door to his right opened and Max was brought in, supported by the two zombie-servants.
           They took him over and put him in the chair to the left of Dracula. The zombies turned the chair from the fire to face the vampire, and Dracula told them to lock the door on the way out. He had made sure to do the same to the other ones himself.
           Max's head was slumped against the side of the chair, his eyes blinking but half-shut. Dracula said his name, his voice feeling better now with each word.
           "Maximilian," he said, like a father addressing a son that was lost in thought. "Wake up Max, and do try not scream."
           Max stirred awake, his head and eyes in constant movement. "Wha-what's going on? Uncle Gustav?"
           "Not exactly," Lucard said, his eyes directly on the boy's closed ones. "Wake up, now." He sounded even more stern with these.
           Max opened his eyes all the way, seeing Dracula. He started to back up into the chair, picking his legs up from the floor and trying to lift himself up.
           "Now, you're much too tired to run, aren't you? I know I couldn't do it."
           "How?... How did I?... What happened?" His voice had gotten very loud with each interrogative remark, and he again tried to rise. This time Dracula had enough strength to counter it with one of his own, but neither made it to a standing position.
           "Just relax, Maximilian; I have no intention of killing you tonight. With all the blood I have imbibed I don't think it would be possible, anyway," he said, trying to calm the boy down.
           "What am I doing here, then? What's going on?" Max's voice was louder yet with fear, and this time when he tried to get up Dracula stood but wavered a little before he was able to lean forward and put his hand on the boy's shoulder, stopping him from all movement.
           "To make this night easier on both of us I must ask that you stop yelling." Dracula said, his voice reverting to its whisper on the last two words. "I plan on explaining everything to you in due time, but first you must regain your strength."
           Max, still having trouble accepting the fact that he had been in Dracula's company for so long without the vampire showing one fang, looked at his enemy with the ability to judge as only a child could, and decided to wait a minute.
           "All right, M-mister Lucard."
           Dracula nodded once to him, and backed to his chair, the relief of getting off his feet affecting the vampire tremendously.
           "I brought you here with the intention of bringing you over to my side, Max. Not tonight--not tomorrow night, even, unless necessity demands it. But, I want to explain to you exactly why..." Dracula trailed off, losing his train of thought. He didn't think that he would be able to continue--that the night was ruined. But then, just as he felt his weakest, it hit him: the rejuvenation of the blood in his system. Suddenly, he was himself again, feeling as powerful as he had before making contact with Max.
           And in a much stronger voice he said, "I want to tell you why you must become a vampire, Maximilian. Why it is your destiny as well as mine."

           Continued in Part Four.

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