Michael Belmont and the Heir of Van Helsing (The Adventures of Michael Belmont) (16 page)

“Good for you,” Michael said incredulously.
 
“Is that supposed to mean something to me?”

“It means,” said his father, pulling up his own sleeve, “that he’s a member of the Order of the Dragon.
 
Just like me.”
 
There on his father’s arm was the same mark.

“What?
 
What’s the Order of the Dragon?
 
What are you talking about?”
 
Michael was beginning to wonder how much he really knew about his father’s past.

Caleb folded his arms in front of his chest.
 
“The order was established centuries ago to confront the forces of evil.
 
Its members were sent to track down and destroy the enemies of God and mankind wherever they might be found.
 
In fact, Dracula’s own father was a member.”

Michael’s father nodded.
 
“As was Bram Stoker, although I’m fairly certain Dorothy Stoker doesn’t know it yet.”

“Why didn’t you tell her,” Michael asked.
 
“Why all the secrets?”

“I didn’t know myself until Caleb told me,” he responded.

“I still don’t understand why you’re so willing to trust these guys,” Michael said.
 
“So you and Caleb are in the same club or whatever.
 
So what?”

“We’re not talking about the Cub Scouts here.
 
Caleb had to earn that brand, just like I had to earn mine.
 
It means we’re brothers, and it means we can trust him.
 
You got me?”

Michael knew he was trying his father’s patience.
 
He surrendered a nod.

“I knew them both,” Alucard broke in.
 
“Stoker and Van Helsing.
 
It was I who led Stoker to the sword, and told Van Helsing how to navigate the castle and close the portal.”

“You helped them destroy your own father?” Liam asked.

Alucard nodded.
 
“It was necessary, though I took no pleasure in it.
 
His reign of evil needed to come to an end.
 
Even now, the legacy of destruction that he began continues to spread across the face of the earth.”

Caleb placed the sword gently down onto the coffee table.
 
“And if Mihnea is able to fulfill his plans, he could create a kingdom of evil unlike anything the world has seen before.”

“So what are we going to do?” asked Liam.
 
“Keep the sword hidden and go rescue Elizabeth?”

“It’s not quite that simple,” Mr. MacDonald told him.
 
“The sword isn’t the only thing that Mihnea is after.
 
In order to open up the gateway, he needs to find the heir of Abraham Van Helsing.
 
Only the true heir of Van Helsing can open it for him.”

“So we need to find this guy and warn him or something?” asked Michael.

Caleb snickered.
 
“I wish it were that easy.
 
Nobody knows for sure where the kid is.
 
His name is Olaf Van Helsing, but he’s not going by that name.
 
His family has been a target ever since Dracula’s death.
 
His followers have taken revenge on the Van Helsings at every possible opportunity, and now that Mihnea has learned the gateway can only be opened by Van Helsing’s heir, he’s been searching for Olaf as relentlessly as he has for the sword.”

“The truth is,” Michael’s father added, “we think there’s a chance the portal can be closed permanently.
 
Declan and I have discussed what happened down in the Tomb of Anubis with Caleb.
 
You remember how driven Aiden was to get that gateway closed?”

Michael and Liam both nodded.

Liam cleared his throat.
 
“So if we can find this Olaf guy and get him and the sword to the portal, he may be able to destroy it? ”

“But Anubis had to
sacrifice
himself to close the portal,” Michael said.
 
“He used his staff, which served as the key to the gateway, to charge up the energy until the thing destroyed itself.
 
Does that mean Olaf would have to do the same thing with the sword?”

“We don’t know,” his father said.
 
“It’s a possibility.
 
What do you think, Alucard?”

He shook his head.
 
“I don’t know.
 
I’ve never heard anyone speak of destroying the portal before, but if it
can
be done it would put an end to this threat once and for all.”

“Anubis never mentioned any other gateways like the one he destroyed,” said Michael.
 
“Maybe he never knew another existed.”

“That’s assuming that this gateway leads to Tartarus like the one in the tomb did,” his father shrugged.
 
“It certainly appears to.”

“It
does
lead to Tartarus,” Michael insisted.
 
“Uriel said so.
 
I saw him when I touched the sword.”

Caleb raised his eyebrows and eyed Michael curiously.

His father sighed.
 
“It also brings up the question of how many more gateways like it there might be out there.
 
And what kind of evil has been unleashed in other parts of the world. ”

It was an unsettling thought.
 
Everyone stood there for a few moments without speaking.

Mr. MacDonald broke the silence.
 
“Before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s take care of the business at hand.
 
What do we do now?”

“I think we need to introduce Rachel and Dorothy Stoker to our guests,” said Michael’s father.
 
“And then we need to come up with a plan to rescue Elizabeth, and find Olaf as quickly as possible.”

Dorothy Stoker stared at Alucard with fear and awe in her eyes.
 
If the old woman could get her hands on a stake, Michael thought to himself, she’d probably try and plunge it right through his heart.

“You must forgive me,” she said, eying Alucard suspiciously.
 
“I’ve never met one like
you
before.”
 
Then turning to Mr. MacDonald she whispered- as if the albino wasn’t even there- “Are you sure he can be trusted?”

Michael listened to Caleb Boone and his father repeat the entire conversation he’d heard just a few hours before.
 
Caleb looked as though his patience was just about exhausted.
 
He’d spent an entire day and the previous night explaining himself and his motives, and there was work to be done.
 
In the end, everyone was fairly satisfied and mostly in agreement about what needed to happen.

They would all be traveling back to Scotland.
 
McGinty Castle would serve as their base of operations and be a safe place to keep the sword while they searched for Olaf Van Helsing.
 
Mr. MacDonald had already spoken to Mr. Finnegan, and asked him to see what he could dig up before they returned.

Once all the plans had been made, Caleb and Alucard got up to leave, but promised to return later that evening for dinner and further discussion.

Rachel wasn’t at all happy about her family being dragged into the middle of a war with vampires, and she gave Michael and Liam quite an earful for leaving the hotel and returning to the burnt down ruins of their home.
 
She was also livid about the boys taking Cisco down into the family’s relic vault, even though they explained that they hadn’t really had any choice and didn’t know what the place was to begin with.

“That’s what you get for keeping secrets from us,” Michael told his mother in an unfriendly tone.
 
A few minutes later he was cleaning the hotel bathroom while Abigail bombarded her parents with questions about what they were talking about.
 
She was extremely annoyed by the fact that the Cisco Kid had gotten to see the relic vault before she did, and he’d even gotten to sit at the security station.
 
“I guess now he really
is
your sidekick,” she barked at her mother.

She found herself scrubbing the toilet while Michael cleaned the shower.

“I didn’t see any relics in there,” Liam told Mr. Belmont.

“Well I didn’t give you the whole tour.
 
There’ll be time for that someday.
 
At any rate, it’s not as impressive as the chamber of antiquities in McGinty Castle.
 
But we do have some pretty interesting things stashed down there.
 
Before today, my wife, your father, and Wandering Bear were the only ones who’d ever entered, besides the crew who built it, and I had all of them killed.”

Liam looked at him in horror.

“Oh, come on.
 
I’m only joking.
 
I had a crew come in from Japan.
 
They’ve all been sworn to secrecy.
 
Besides, they didn’t know exactly where they were anyway.
 
Didn’t even know what state they were in.”

Michael, who had been listening, leaned over to Abigail and whispered, “At least now I know where they hid Mom’s amulet.”

Abigail looked up from the toilet she was scrubbing and gave Michael a thoughtful look.
 
“I wonder what kinds of treasure they have hidden down there.”
 
Turning her head she shouted, “Dad, are we rich?”

“Well, your mother and I have some money.
 
I think you were a hundredaire the last time I checked your savings account.”

Michael laughed, and Abigail threatened to splash him with toilet water.

“Go ahead and do it,” he told her.
 
“I’ve always wanted to give someone a swirly.”

She decided not to test him.

Michael went with his mother to pick up the pizza they’d ordered over the phone.
 
“I can’t believe we’re having a vampire over for dinner,” he told her.

He knew what she was going to say before the words came out of her mouth.
 
“Well, I suppose it’s better than a vampire having
us
for dinner.”
 
They laughed together.
 
That was one good thing about his mother that could always be counted on- nothing cheered her up like a cheesy joke.

“So what do you suppose vampire’s like on their pizza,” he asked her with a smile.

She shrugged.
 
“Actually, I’d rather not think about it.”

“It just now occurred to me.
 
Aren’t vampires supposed to be afraid of the sunlight?
 
I think it’s supposed to hurt them.
 
Alucard didn’t seem to be affected though.”

“You’re right.
 
He seems different.
 
I mean, I’m certainly no expert on vampires, but he does seem quite unusual doesn’t he?”

Michael nodded.
 
“Maybe Mrs. Stoker knows something about it.
 
Anyway, I hope he’s okay with pepperoni.”

They picked up the pizzas and headed back to the hotel room.
 
Michael looked off toward the mountains and watched as the sun sank behind the snow-covered peaks.
 
He thought about his family’s house again, and the relic vault beneath it.
 
Knowing what existed underneath his home made him feel better, he was now more confident that the house would be rebuilt.
 
He thought about asking his mother if they would build it just as it had been before, or if they would do something a bit different, but she looked happier than she’d been all day, and he didn’t want to remind her about the fire.

They pulled up to the hotel and parked the car.
 
Michael hopped out and opened the back door to get the pizzas.
 
Somewhere nearby, he heard a woman scream.

“What was that?” his mother said, popping her head up over the top of the car.

“I think it came from over there in the alley behind the hotel,” Michael said, trotting off to go take a look.

“Hey, wait a minute,” she called after him.
 
“Where do you think you’re going?”

He ran around the corner of the building to see a young woman standing by the dumpsters, cornered by two men.
 
One of them was yelling and cursing at her.
 
The other one backhanded her, and she stumbled over, crashing head first into one of the dumpsters.

Michael gritted his teeth.
 
“HEY, WHAT'S GOING ON OVER THERE?” he shouted at them.
 
They turned to see him, and then looked at each other and laughed.
 
Disregarding him, they returned their attention to the terrified young woman.

Michael looked around frantically for some sort of weapon.
 
If only he had his bow.
 
He turned to see his mother run up from the corner of the building.

“Those two men, they’re beating up that girl,” he told her angrily.

“I see them,” she said, tossing him her cell phone.
 
“Call 911.
 
Hurry.”
 
She drew out a snub-nosed .38 revolver and walked cautiously toward the men.

“Get away from her,” she commanded them.
 
They ignored her, and continued to beat the woman as she advanced.

Michael looked down at the phone.
 
He was so angry and full of adrenaline that his hands were shaking.
 
He managed to put in a 9 and a 1, but before he could put in the last number, he saw the two men rush at his mother.
 
He dropped the phone at the sound of the first shot- CRACK.
 
The shot was followed by three more- CRACK- CRACK- CRACK, and the bodies of both men tumbled to the ground at his mother’s feet.

Michael ran up from behind and threw his arms around her.
 
“Are you okay?”