Chapter 9

By the morning light, the three slayers traversed a bridge leading out to the central tower of the castle. Blanche had a hop in her step, and Andre, who had been quite beside himself, seemed somehow reinvigorated. Cass, however, was flustered and seemingly embarrassed every time she looked at the two of them.

"What're you so down in the dumps about?" Blanche asked. "It's a bright, beautiful day, meaning we'll probably get the jump on the old Lord of the Night. Besides, he sure didn't bring us down last night, did he?"

Cass groaned. "Last night was a major breach of protocol and basic professional ethics. I could be tossed behind bars because of this whole dumb assignment, or at the very least discharged from service. I don't even know what I was thinking... I mean, this isn't how Mother raised me! If I wound up giving myself to someone, it was supposed to be one man I'd gotten to know for a good long time, not... a three-way with two people I've barely known for a weekend! I mean, Andre, you were raised Catholic, weren't you? How can you be so calm about this?"

Andre turned to her, smiling. "I was excommunicated, remember?" Cass rolled her eyes.

"Excuse you, but who was makin' all the moves last night?" Blanche asked. "The kisses, the embraces... You weren't no victim, babe. You were the match that lit the fire."

Cass looked down, blushing heavily. "Look... This mission's made me a lot more aware of my own mortality than any other I've been on. I think I was acting on the nagging thought in the back of my head that if I don't end up leaving here alive, I don't want to have any regrets. I... kind of lost sight of the possibility of living through this with a whole bunch of new regrets..."

"But that does essentially mean that you were doing what felt right at the time, does it not?" Andre questioned.

"I... I guess I was, wasn't I?" Cass said to herself. "Yeah! And you know what? It felt really damn good!"

"Exactly!" Blanche exclaimed, wrapping an arm around Cass' neck and kissing her cheek. "After all, there's a chance we'll all hafta live in exile together after Andre kicks Felix's ass, so better to get acquainted sooner than later. Besides, sulky brooding's his job, and we all know what happens when he slacks off on that."

Andre chuckled to himself. "Only when I hold everything in. But today, I must confess to feeling... genuinely optimistic."

Blanche wrapped her other arm around Andre's neck, giggling. "I think you're the only guy I know who can apologize for bein' happy!"

The three began to laugh out loud. Their laughter was interrupted, however, when the bridge began to collapse behind them.

"We should run, right?" Blanche said, letting go.

"Do you think?!" Cass yelled as she promptly picked up speed. Blanche and Andre ran along with her, working their legs as fast as they could. As they ran, they were swarmed by Medusa/Gorgon heads and stone gargoyles, which Cass whipped at with panicked desperation. Blanche swung her halberd at anything that approached her, while Andre tossed crosses at the foes ahead. Finally, they made it through the door of the central tower, slamming it shut behind them as they collapsed into a pile.

"I thought this place'd be a little less active in the daytime..." Blanche complained.

"For all we know, it is," Cass exhaustedly speculated. "Let's consider the fact that we're still alive and take that for what it's worth."

"Not all of Dracula's minions are harmed by the light of day," Andre observed. "That would, after all, leave him quite vulnerable."

"Exactly correct," spoke a familiar, deep voice from the shadows of the large, ornate chamber they found themselves in. The familiar form of Felix Vladimirescu stepped forth, now garbed in a black cloak and dark purple vestments. "And those of us who can walk in the daylight have no intention of allowing your lot to progress any further."

Andre immediately jumped to his feet, his eyes filled with rage. "Vladimirescu!" he shouted.

Cass and Blanche picked themselves up. "Go for it, Andre!" Cass said. "Nobody here's gonna shed any tears for this creep!"

Felix laughed out loud. "Not for me, but perhaps for yourselves? You see, I have taken the liberty of contacting Nicolae. Regardless of the outcome here, he has been informed that if I do not return, it will be your doing, Agent Morris. Not yours alone, of course. Your accomplices will be implicated, as well. It matters little, as even should I die here, Lord Dracula will feast upon your blood and reign for eternity. But we politicians do love to cover all of our bases."

Andre, whose hand had been resting on his crosses, let it down. He was visibly seething with rage.

Cass frowned. "Andre... Look, I'll be alright. Taking him down is more important than whatever could happen to me."

"No... I cannot allow any others I care for to suffer. Cassandra, Blanche... For your sakes, I refuse to end Vladimirescu's life, regardless of the fate that he has earned for himself..."

Felix smirked. "A very wise and benevolent decision, Belmont. One that I am certain not everyone could make. Of course... I suppose physical intimacy does make the heart grow fonder."

Blanche growled. "You... Were you peepin'?!"

He gave a careless shrug. "Dracula and Death see all that transpires within their walls. It was their decision to leave you be last night. They were curious to see how such an experience would affect your bonds. The seeds of jealousy have been planted in your hearts, and none of us even had to do anything to put them there. What a waste of an incubus... After all, you've done a fine job corrupting each other."

"Shut your damn mouth!" Cass yelled. "Not that it's any of your business, but we did what felt right and don't have any regrets!"

"Oh, I'm certain," Felix said with a smirk. "I'm certain each affectionate kiss between any two of you doesn't boil a pit of rage within the hypotenuse. But in his case, you all must be extraordinarily suspect. Who were you thinking of when you indulged in their bodies, Belmont? Was it Morris? Or perhaps Lecarde? Or maybe..."

Andre immediately grabbed his cross. "I'm sorry... Even knowing the consequences-"

Cass and Blanche put their hands on his shoulders, seeming to speak in unison. "Kick. His. ASS."

Nodding, Andre leaped towards Felix, tossing a cross at him. Felix jumped up into the air, floating with his arms spread out. He gave a devious laugh, snapping his fingers. "Let us not keep the lovers unoccupied, shall we?"

Two creatures rose up from dark portals in the floor. One seemed to be a man stitched together from the parts of various dead bodies, bolts in his neck keeping an electric current flowing through his large, muscular frame.

"Ugh! How cliché can you get?!" Cass yelled as she ran at it with her whip at the ready.

The other creature appeared to be the very same were-minotaur they had killed when they first entered the castle, but his eyes were milky-white, his fur listless and dead. "Braaaaaaaaiiiiiiinssssss..." he growled.

"You bastard!" Blanche yelled. "You desecrated Were-Minotaur! Now he's a Zombie Were-Minotaur!"

"We kind of killed him in the first place!" Cass reminded her as she dodged her opponent's electrified punches.

"They called me a monster! Ostracized me from civilized society! I say that society is the most despicable monster of all!" the re-animated creature yelled.

"Is that really what happened?" Cass asked, hesitant to attack.

"Well, the first time I wandered outside the castle, a man did offer me food and board free of charge, but I was so insulted by his pity that I crushed his skull. And then there were the orphans that picked flowers for me. That was nice and all, but I really preferred the sound of their bones snapping to the scent of flowers. Come to think of it, I just really like murder a lot."

"Glad I could help you reach this little breakthrough," Cass said as she wrapped the whip around his neck and slid under his legs, pulling him down to the ground behind her.

Blanche clashed halberds with the Zombie Were-Minotaur, noticing as she did that his attacks were notably lacking in energy. "What am I doing?" she asked herself. She smacked the halberd out of his hands, and when he looked over at it, she slashed the blade down between his neck and right shoulder. However, somehow it seemed not to even break the skin.

"Their bodies have been reinforced by dark magic!" Felix boasted. "Your pitiful strikes cannot hope to destroy-"

Andre jumped up and punched Felix in the nose. He was launched back against the wall, then fell to the ground. Blood poured from his nostrils as he glared up at Andre. As he struggled to his feet, Andre whipped out the Bible he had acquired from his library.

"Keeping the instrument of your destruction was careless, Vladimirescu, and it shall be your undoing!" Andre proclaimed. He began to chant as the Bible floated in front of him, glowing. He halted, however, as Felix once again began to laugh.

"You... truly are a fool... Do you really think that book has any power over me?" Felix gloated. "I would never have kept it if there were any chance of it bringing me harm."

"Then... why keep it at all?"

"Ha ha ha... Only a fool trusts a vampire implicitly. As I told you before, a politician covers all of his bases. Were Lord Dracula ever to turn against me, I needed something that could weaken him. A trump card, so to speak, in case our interests cease to align." Suddenly, an inky black portal opened directly beneath Felix's feet, and a pair of skeletal hands reached up to grab his legs. "WHAT?!"

Andre put the Bible away and crossed his arms. "It is as you said, Vladimirescu: Dracula and Death see all that happens within these castle walls. They must have suspected your treachery well before you openly admitted it within their earshot. And to think, this could have been avoided but for the power of one mere book."

Felix's eyes widened as the hands continued to drag him down. "You KNEW! You had this all figured out the moment you laid eyes on that book! How did you know that I would explain its purpose to you?!"

Andre got down on his knees, shooting a chilling look directly into his eyes. "Your alliance with Dracula, lording your political power over Cassandra, and the fact that you destroyed Dumitru and expected to live told me all that I needed to know about your 'superior intellect.' You have failed your dark lord in every possible way, Felix, and now you are paying the price for your failure."

Felix screamed as his head sank beneath the thick black cloud. Slowly, the portal closed behind him, his scream still echoing through the chamber. When Andre looked behind him, Cass and Blanche each tore through their opponents with a single strike, reducing their bodies to dust.

"Huh. I guess without Felix's magic, there wasn't much to them," Cass observed.

Blanche frowned down at the granulated pile that was once her foe. "So long, Were-Minotaur, my worthiest foe... I'll never forget you..."

Cass quirked a brow. "Don't you feel like maybe you're over-romanticizing this a bit just because you stole your weapon from him?"

Blanche looked solemnly out the window. "It's the spirit of the lancer, Cass. I don't expect you to understand." Cass came up behind her and wrapped her arms around her waist, kissing her ear. Blanche giggled, blushing lightly. "Okay, okay, I'm over it!"

Andre turned to face them. "About what he said... I did occasionally think of Dumitru when-"

"Of course you did," Cass said, letting go of Blanche. "You don't just get over someone the night they disappear from your life."

He smiled, his cheeks turning a light pink. "Well... it certainly wasn't as though I had to distract myself from either of you..."

Blanche leaned against the window. "Yeah, 'n' who cares what Felix says anyway? He was a dumb asshole who got himself killed."

"He certainly was the quintessential politician," Andre said. "He was so preoccupied keeping track of every possible angle that he failed to realize the corner he backed himself into."

A large pair of doors opened at the end of the chamber, leading to a wooden spiral staircase. They approached it and began to travel upwards.

"But man," Blanche said, "that dark magic stuff sure gets into people's heads. Can you believe a human being would actually do anything like that?"

"Magic is a tool when it comes down to it," Cass said. "Humans have proven over the course of millennia that if they can misuse a tool, they will. Doesn't matter if it's ancient spells or nuclear fission. Give it to a human and they can be more terrifying than any monster..."