"Dracula," she said. "I didn't expect this."

"Do you think this is connected to the attempted kidnapping the previous night?" Leslie asked.

"I don't know," Ariana answered. "But my instincts say not. It isn't unusual for Dracula to put a woman under his spell. It's his usual MO. He lives for that,"

"So what do we do now?" Torrance asked.

Ariana was resolute. "We find her!"

I need to contact Silas, he thought. Let him and his friends in the Midnight Sons deal with Dracula and face his wrath.

Cole had also heard that Dracula was looking for a translator. Was it for the page of the book of N? If so, this was another way to manipulate Silas Androvich to go after Dracula. Silas wanted that page!

"Perhaps I can be of some assistance," he said.

"Silas?" Ariana said, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to help you with your little problem," he answered.

"How did you know . . . " she began. "No, never mind. I'm just glad for any help you can give."

"I think I know where Dracula is," Silas said. "And you should move fast! I don't know what Dracula is up too, but Sedona is undoubtedly in grave danger. Also, I'm given to believe that he has the page we lost earlier. Getting that back is important, as well. You must confront the Lord of the Undead immediately!"

"What about the translator?" Dracula asked of his lackeys. "Have you found me someone who can translate the page?"

"I think we have found what you need," one of his loyal vampires said. "Nearby is a Temple of N. A man named Silas Androvich may know the language."

"Excellent," Dracula said. "I'll seek him out, just as soon as I attend to my pretty Sedona. Come to me, my dear."

Sedona was excited and enraptured by the sound of his voice. Eagerly, she moved closer to him.

"Bare your neck," he commanded.

"Yes master," she said, brushing her blonde hair away from her neck. Dracula embraced her and moved his lips closer to her neck. Sedona knew what was coming next and she welcomed it. "Take me!" She said, smiling.

Dracula was about to sink his fangs into Sedona's soft neck, when the door was smashed open. Dracula turned, irate, to see who had dared intrude. He saw Leslie standing there, a ring of mystic energy surrounding her hands. "Let the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak bind you!"

"Damn you, woman!" Dracula hissed.

Suddenly, red bands of supernatural bindings appeared around Dracula, imprisoning him. "Meddlesome female!" He snapped.

"Leave him alone!" Sedona screamed. "I belong to him!"

But Dracula was a resourceful opponent. Turning to mist, he floated out of the space between the bands and re-materialized behind Leslie. He tried to strike her, but she was ready this time. She had prepared a counter spell, similar to the one that Dracula had used to deflect her spell earlier. Dracula was bounded away from her. He landed on the front porch of the big house. He looked up . . . And saw a werewolf!

Torrance Angus was the latest in a long line of werewolves of his clan. Taking on his fanged and furry aspect, Torrance growled at the vampire. Dracula was hesitant to tackle this opponent. There were few creatures in the world that could kill a vampire without use of weapons or by exploiting their usual weaknesses. But werewolves could. These lycanthropes have the power to rend a vampire to pieces with claws as lethal as any wooden stake. The bite of a werewolf is immensely painful to a vampire. This paranormal wound, incompatible with the flesh of a vampire, was agony to the Undead.

Dracula rose and eyed the Lupine creature cautiously. Daniel Ketch appeared, brandishing a crossbow. Leslie also emerged, ready to cast another spell.

Should he stand and fight, Dracula wondered. He knew where the man who could translate the page was. What was to be gained by fighting? For the girl? There would be time to get her later, after he became indestructible.

Dracula turned himself into a bat and sped away. Daniel fired an arrow but missed narrowly. Leslie tried another spell but Sedona leaped out of the house and tackled her before she could succeed. The bat vanished into the hazy mist.

Sedona had Leslie pinned to the ground. "You hurt the master! I'll kill you!" She screamed.

"Pull yourself together, Sedona! Fight this!" Leslie insisted. "You can do it!" However, her entreaties did no good. Sedona seemed determined to kill her.

Daniel and Torrance — now back in his human form — pulled her off of Leslie.

"Let me go!" Sedona screamed. "I must go to him!"

"This is scary!" Daniel said, struggling to hold her.

"Let's bring her to Ariana," Leslie said.

"What can we do for her?" Duane asked.

Silas was now interested in Sedona. There was clearly something special about her. He wanted to examine her more carefully. "We must bring her to my Temple. I can free her mind from Dracula's dominance, but I need to do it there."

"Very well," Ariana said. "Leslie and Torrance will accompany you. Do this right, Silas. Don't let me down."

"Of course not, dear lady," he said, charmingly. "In return, I trust you will help me find the Page I seek."

"Let me go!" she yelled. "I belong to Dracula! He'll kill you all for this!"

"Can't we gag her?" Torrance asked.

"Hush," Leslie said.

Silas was about to perform a ritual that would free Sedona from Dracula's power. Before he began, he noticed the change in her expression. She suddenly looked excited. "Master," she said, looking around.

Silas was alarmed. "He's here! Dracula is here!"

Torrance and Leslie snapped into defensive mode, ready for the undead villain. Dracula appeared from out of the shadows, carrying a walking stick. He moved with a supremely confident swagger. "Good evening," he said.

Sedona, still bound, stared longingly at Dracula. "I knew you'd come for me, master," she said.

Leslie raised her hand to cast a spell, but Dracula was prepared his time. With a gesture, and army of flying insects appeared in the room. They swarmed all over Leslie. "Get them off me!" She screamed, in a panic.

Torrance re-assumed his wolf form and attacked Dracula. But this time, the Vampire carried a silver cane. Silver was a werewolf's main weakness. When the silver tip of the walking stick hit Torrance, he convulsed in a spasm of pain. Dracula hit him a second time and Torrance fell, writhing in pain.

Silas faced Dracula. The Priest of N pulled a powder out of his sack and tossed it at Dracula. It was a combine form of wolfsbane and garlic. Dracula would have been incapacitated by it had he not blocked most of it with his cape. Still, he was dizzy for a moment. Silas reached into his bag, about to pull out another weapon to use against the vampire king.

But he was standing too close to Sedona. Although her hands were bound, her legs were free. She kicked out, striking Silas in the knee. He yelped and tripped. This gave Dracula time to recover. He swatted the sack out of Silas' hand. Bereft of his bag of tricks, Silas tried to reach a nearby drawer where he had a cross hidden. He limped toward his goal, but Dracula grabbed him and threw him roughly to the ground.

Silas looked around. Torrance couldn't stand, and Leslie was in a wild panic, as thousands of bugs nibbled away at her. Silas saw Dracula free Sedona. They duo stood over him. Sedona hung on Dracula's arm.

"I told you that my master would come for me," she said to Silas. Then she looked at Dracula. "Kill him, master, for daring to try and keep us apart."

"No, my pretty," Dracula said. "I may grant this priest of N a pardon."

"In return for what?" Silas asked.

Dracula held the page out where Silas could see it. "You can read this, I assume," Dracula said.

Silas was excited. The page! he thought. He tried to maintain his composure. "Yes, I believe I can. I am a Priest of the Order of Stone, 1st Circle."

He reached out to take the page. Dracula yanked it away. "You don't need to touch it, priest! Just read it!"

"Very well," Silas said, studying the page. "This may take some time. It is a very ancient language."

"How ancient?" Dracula asked.

"As old as the oldest language," Silas said. "Older than the Mayans. Older than Atlantis. Older even than vampires."

Dracula's eye's opened wide. "What's this you say, Priest?"

Silas nodded. "It's true. This book predates vampires. They didn't exist when this was written."

Dracula let out a primal scream of rage. He slapped Silas, knocking him to the ground. "Then, this is useless to me!" he cried. "There can't be a spell in this telling me how to make a vampire immortal if there were no vampires when this was written!"

"I would say that was an accurate summation," Silas said, lying on the floor, wiping blood from his lip.

Dracula paced the room, ranting. His lack of concentration caused the bugs to cease their attack on Leslie. They dispersed. Leslie fell to the floor, scared and hurt by the bug attack. She forced herself to focus on the situation. Dracula had been denied his goal but he still had the page and Sedona was still under his power. She had one trick left. It was something her grandfather had suggested as a means to deal with Dracula. She concentrated and cast a powerful spell.

Suddenly, a miniature sun appeared in the room, floating in front of Dracula. The sunlight bathed him. He screamed and ducked into the corner of the room trying to conceal himself, but there was no protection. The problem was the Leslie didn't know if she could maintain the difficult spell long enough to destroy Dracula. If her power fizzled out before Dracula was destroyed, she's be too weak to do anything else and Dracula could kill them all while she was powerless. She didn't want to gamble with the lives of her partners. It was time to bluff!

"Prince Dracula," Leslie said. "I will allow you to live if you release Sedona from your thrall and leave Transverse City forever! Will you agree?"

Dracula was in pain, his skin starting to burn and char from the sunrays. "Very well!" He said.

Leslie waved her hand and the miniature sun vanished. Dracula, scarred and burned by the light, stood unsteadily, but as proudly arrogant as ever. He smiled at Leslie. "I like you, girl. You are a formidable opponent. I will keep my word. I will not return to your city. But someday, I hope we meet again."

"The page!" Silas yelled. "We need the page back!"

Dracula thought about this. He offered Leslie the page. "Take this as a souvenir of our clash. Let it remind you of your victory, and of the fact that I await a rematch. Goodbye, milady."

Leslie held the page in her hand as Dracula turned to a bat and flew away. "He is charming," she muttered.

Sedona almost swooned, but Leslie caught her. "Are you all right, Sedona?"

"I . . . I think so," Sedona said. "So dizzy. And I feel . . . violated."

"You'll be all right," she said. "Everything will be al right."

Torrance got to his feet and joined Leslie and Sedona. Across the room, Silas eyed the page of N. He grinned. They had it back! The page was in his grasp . . .