Michael Belmont and the Heir of Van Helsing (The Adventures of Michael Belmont) (40 page)

“Michael, please,” the girl cried.
 
“Help me!
 
I’m your sister.”

Michael began to weep as he lowered his bow and set it on the floor near the window, and then with all the strength he could muster, he cast it open to let her in.

Michael’s heart pounded as he watched Abigail float in from the window and alight down in front of him.
 
He began to collapse, too weak to stand any longer.
 
Pain shot through his legs as his knees hit the floor.

Abigail threw her arms around him.
 
Her body was trembling and her skin felt as though she’d been bathing in ice water.
 
“Thank you, Michael, thank you,” she whispered through chattering teeth.

It took a few moments before Michael felt confident that she wasn’t going to lunge for his throat.
 
“We need to get you warmed up,” he told her.
 
They helped each other over to the hearth, and before long a fire was crackling before them.

“What happened, Abby, why were you floating around outside like that?”

Abigail had stopped shaking, but was now breathing heavily.
 
Color was beginning to return to her face.
 
“I re-really thought…that for a moment there…you were going to shoot me.”
 
She began to sob uncontrollably, and Michael put his arms around her once again.

“I’d never hurt you, Abby.
 
You’re my baby sister.
 
I love you, and you’ll always be able to count on me, even if you are a blood-sucking vampire.”

For some reason, this made her cry even harder.

“That didn’t come out quite right,” he apologized, patting her back.
 
“We’ll figure this out, okay.
 
I’m not going to let Mihnea win.
 
We’ll kill him before you change for good into a vampire.”
 
He looked at her seriously.
 
“You…you haven’t made your first kill yet, have you?”

“Of course not.
 
What do you think I am, some kind of monster?”

“No, that’s not what I meant.
 
Look, just tell me what happened, okay.”

Abigail took some long, deep breaths to get herself under control, and wiped the tears from her eyes.
 
“I-I’m not exactly sure what happened.
 
I was about to go to bed, but I felt really hot, so I opened up my window.
 
Now that I think about it, that was kind of a weird thing for me to do, not knowing what was out there to let in.
 
But I was so hot, burning up; all I could think about was letting in some cold, fresh air.
 
Anyway I opened up the window and laid down on the bed.
 
I was so tired, I fell asleep right away, but when I woke up I was floating away outside my window.
 
As much as I kicked and tried to swim my way back through the air, I just kept floating around until I ended up outside of
your
window.
 
I didn’t even know this was your room, I was just trying to get back in.”
 
She began to cry again.
 
“I was so scared out there.
 
I thought I was going to stop floating and fall to my DEATH.”
 
With this last word she wailed out as if she still expected it to happen.

“Look, try to calm down.
 
You’re alright now,” Michael assured her with another hug.
 
“Abby, listen to me, I know you were under Mihnea’s spell earlier, but I need you to try and remember everything you saw, okay?
 
Do you remember how to get to Elizabeth’s room?”

Abigail’s sobs suddenly turned into a maniacal chuckle.
 
Tears continued to run down her face.

“Why are you laughing?” Michael asked nervously.

“I wasn’t under his spell.
 
I was faking it the whole time,” she explained.

“Faking it?” Michael repeated in shock.

“Of course.
 
I saw through his stupid tricks that night in the orphanage.
 
He hasn’t been able to pull anything on me since then, but I thought it might be useful to let
him
think otherwise.
 
I wanted to see where Elizabeth was staying, and now I know.”

“Sometimes you really amaze me, Abby, you know that?” Michael told her with a tight squeeze.
 
“How far away is it?
 
You can find your way back there without getting lost, right?”

“Sure, but our rooms are locked.
 
We’d have to find a way out of here first.”

Michael nodded.
 
“I’ve tried, but haven’t had any luck so far.
 
Dad would tell us that there’s always a way out, we just have to find it.”

Abigail shrugged.
 
“I suppose I could bite you and we could float out the window together.”

Michael gave her a concerned frown.
 
“Don’t even think about it,” he warned.

She laughed at him.

“Hey,” he said with a snap, “Have you tried turning into a bat or a wolf yet?
 
Alucard could even turn into mist.
 
If you’re part vampire now you might be able to do those things.”

“I don’t want to,” the girl whined.
 
“I don’t plan on staying this way any longer than I have to you know.”

“I know that, but give it a shot,” he urged.
 
“If you can pull it off it might help us escape.”

After a few minutes of arguing, she reluctantly agreed to try.
 
She concentrated with all her might, and then changed form.

The little mountain lion sitting on the rug before him looked just like the one he’d seen before, although this time her fangs appeared to be a bit longer.
 
Maybe that’s just my imagination, Michael thought.

“Hey, that’s really great,” Michael told her, “but it’s not quite what we’re looking for.
 
Try again.”

She changed back into a girl.
 
“Okay, but there’s something I need to tell you first.
 
I’ve been able to change into a cougar for a long time now.
 
For months actually, but I didn’t tell you because I thought you’d hate me for it.”

Michael was stunned.
 
He didn’t know what to say.
 
He was annoyed and a little hurt, and wondered if he’d done something to make her distrust him.

“Alright, listen, we’ll talk about that later,” he told her.
 
“Right now we need to focus on getting out of here.
 
Just keep trying to change okay.”

Abigail tried again and again, but each time she changed it was only into the form of a mountain lion.

Michael groaned in frustration.
 
“That’s enough, you’re just going to wear yourself out.
 
Besides, it’s probably a good sign that you can’t change into those things anyway.”

“Well, there has to be something we can do.”
 
She gazed at him with a worried frown.

“What is it?
 
Have you got an idea?”

“Well, what if we tried to call Og again?”

Michael thought about it for a moment, it wasn’t a bad idea, but he wasn’t sure it was safe.
 
“No, I don’t think we should risk it.
 
Just because he didn’t hurt us when the Dragon was with us doesn’t mean that
we’ll
be able to control him.”

Michael walked to his window and took a look at the castle wall beneath him.
 
There was a narrow ledge about eight feet below.
 
He might be able to skim across it and find another way back into the castle.
 
He was examining it thoughtfully when Abigail came up beside him.
 
She saw what he was doing and groaned nervously.

“I’ll do it,” she told him weakly.

“Abby, don’t even think about it.
 
I’m not going to let you try that, no way.”

“
You
can’t do it.
 
You could barely stand up a minute ago.
 
What’s wrong with you anyway, you look terrible.
 
Are you sick or something?”

“I’ll explain later.
 
Right now let’s focus on getting out of here.”

Abigail looked down at the ledge again.
 
“Well, if I climb down as a cat, my claws will do all the work for me anyway.”

“But you’re terrified of heights,” he reminded her.

Her eyes grew wide as she looked down at the ledge.
 
“Don’t remind me.”

Michael thought about it for a few moments before reluctantly agreeing to let her try it.
 
Then he had an idea.
 
“Hey, do you think you can make it up onto the roof?”

She held her head out the window and looked up, examining the prospective climb.
 
“Sure,” she gulped with a scared look.

“Alright, I’ll tie this rope to you, you climb up there and find a good place to tie it for me, then I’ll climb up too.”

She gave him a disapproving frown.

“I’m feeling much better, I promise.
 
If you tie the rope up there for me, I’ll be really careful and go slowly, I’ll be fine.
 
Look, it’s the ONLY WAY.”

“All RIGHT,” she said pointedly.
 
“But what do you plan on doing once we’re up there?”

“Once we’re up there,” he said thoughtfully, “our next step will be to pay Magda a visit.
 
I have something important to tell her.”

Abigail just stared at him nervously.
 
“And what exactly…oh never mind, just get the
stupid
rope.”

Magda Van Helsing sat upon her bed with her legs crossed beneath her.
 
She clutched a silver crucifix in her hand and listened to the sound of the crackling fire, a sound that had always brought her comfort.
 
Sometimes peace could be drawn from the strangest places, she thought to herself as her eyes fell shut.

“Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
 
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
 
Give us this day our daily bread.
 
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
 
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.”

Magda hopped off the bed and walked to her window.
 
She pushed it open and drank in the cold night air, and listened as the howling of wolves echoed off the mountains in the distance.
 
Large flakes of snow were falling down, and all she could see was a shifting veil of white.
 
“Father, protect us,” she whispered.
 
“This is an evil place, and these forces of darkness have hunted my family for far too long.”
 
Magda thought of her mother.
 
She’d been so beautiful and warm, so full of life, and she’d always made her feel safe and secure- until the day she’d been taken.
 
Ever since then, there was no such thing as safety, no such thing as warmth, or security, or beauty.
 
Magda remembered that day as if it were yesterday; she remembered how everything beautiful and good had been washed away, taken from her, and from Olaf too.

For a while she had blamed God, and she’d learned to hate everyone and everything around her, but now she just blamed Mihnea.
 
She’d somehow learned to see the difference between good and evil again, even from that dark prison of sorrow.

She was beginning to see and appreciate beauty once again too, she realized.
 
She wasn’t sure when it had happened, but somehow she’d always known that her mother would have wanted her to embrace happiness, to seek joy.
 
That’s what’s made the difference
, she thought to herself while gazing at the stars,
loyalty to my mother
.
 
I’ll find happiness
, she promised to the stars,
I’ll survive this dark journey, no matter what it takes.

Her thoughts turned to Michael, and a worried grin spread across her lips.
 
She liked the boy, despite his awkwardness and strange sense of humor.
 
He was brave, and for some reason she trusted him. She could tell that he really liked her too, and it gave her a warm, secure feeling inside.
 
How odd that seemed to her.

She closed her eyes once again.
 
Father, protect them
, she prayed silently.
 
Michael and his family, and their friends.
 
And Olaf, please don’t let him be taken away from me too.
 
Help him, I beg you.
 
Help us all.

Magda scanned the night sky once more before pulling the window closed.
 
She walked to her bed and drew the covers back, placing a selection of weapons beside her in case she had need of them sometime during the night.

Perhaps a good nights sleep would do her good before having to deal with whatever fight awaited them.
 
She covered up and closed her eyes, wondering if she’d be able to rest at all in such an evil, dangerous place.
 
For some reason she couldn’t explain, she felt oddly at peace here.
 
But how can that be
, she asked herself.
 
Even as she searched for the answer in her head her eyes began to slide shut and her mind began to drift away.