Heart of Ashes

Castle Dracula

Evelyn's feet were rather numb after sitting for three hours and the growing uneasiness in the pit of her stomach didn't help. Ragnar also seemed rather happy to back on the ground. Anthony had fallen asleep so they had to wake him up, which was damn near impossible considering his ability to put himself into a coma at will. Evelyn held his nose for a few seconds until he snorted himself awake.

"We've landed," Ragnar announced behind her.

The trio disembarked and went to collect their luggage in Bucharest's Henri Coanda International Airport. Evelyn eyed Ragnar who still looked a bit shaky.

"Why are you scared of flying?" she asked, "You're a vampire, you're not supposed to be afraid of anything but the sun."

Ragnar shrugged, "Because I've seen what a plane crash can do to a vampire. A friend of mine in the late eighties boarded a flight and never returned. The plan went down in the ocean, when the sun rose, he died."

Evelyn could see how that could make sense and she couldn't think of anything to say but, "Oh, I'm sorry."

Ragnar shrugged, "Not the first time I lost a friend and it certainly wasn't the last. Isn't that yours there?"

Evelyn looked to where Ragnar was pointing on the conveyer belt. A medium-size, red suitcase was moving closer. As it neared she reached forward to haul it off but a muscular, tattooed arm did that for her. Then Anthony's and his own. She thanked Ragnar, who was in the act of loading the luggage on a trolley. While he did that, she turned and scanned the room, which wasn't very full, for anybody who looked like they might be there for them. There was nobody.

She reached into her jacket pocket for her cellphone and switched it on. The sound of the familiar tinkle, then the loading screen. She punched in her PIN code and waited a moment while the device searched for signal. Nothing. She sighed and shoved it back into her pocket, thinking how silly that had been.

"So, what next?" asked Ragnar.

"I don't know," she replied, "I don't know who we're supposed to be looking for. What do vampires even look like, because you and Caine are very different?"

Ragnar shrugged, "I don't think they'll be sending vampires, it's past six now. The sun will be rising soon."

"Then who else would they send?" Anthony asked, "I mean it's not like they have human servants or something."

Evelyn looked at Ragnar and he shrugged again, "Don't look at me, I don't know how things work in this coven."

Anthony's eyes flickered around the room and lit up, "Umm... does that look promising to you?"

Evelyn and Ragnar turned. There were two people striding towards them. A man and a woman, they both looked relatively normal. The woman was a slender red head with blue eyes, dressed in leather. The man - dressed in blue jeans, boots, a black hoodie and leather jacket - was a tall, muscular blonde with brown eyes. As he approached, she noticed his hair was long but had been tied back in some half-hearted attempt at a ponytail, his jaw was covered in stubble and his eyes seemed to glow despite them being dark. He was a vampire.

"Evelyn?" he said with question in his tone, "You are Evelyn, aren't you?"

She nodded, "Hi, yes and you must be..." she really had no idea who he was.

"Dmitri Vasilescu," he said, then indicated the woman next to him, "and this is Katrina Van Helsing."

Evelyn studied her. She was pretty, very pretty, but she didn't have the unnatural beauty of a vampire. She seemed to - while having a perfect posture and movements that showed she was very aware of her surroundings - lack the effortless grace of a vampire. She was human then something clicked. The name Van Helsing.