Posted by The Black Knight on September 06, 2000 at 07:20:38:
Chapter 17
That evening after the Halloween Dance only Danielle, and a few students stayed behind to clean up the mess. Among those ten students that were left were Charli, Kelly Nelson, and Janie Barker.
"Professor Drake was supposed to be here." Danielle complained.
"I'm sure that he had a good reason for leaving." Charli said.
"And I'm sure that you're going to find out about it tomorrow." Janie said.
"What is that suppose to mean?" Kelly asked.
"Oh come on Kelly, you would have to be blind not to see what's going on between those two." Janie said.
"Are you suggesting something improper is going on?" Danielle asked.
"I'm not suggesting Miss Francis, I'm saying it." Janie said.
"Oh don't worry about Janie, she's just paranoid. She's studying to be a lawyer you know. She sees a case everywhere." Kelly said.
Danielle laughed a little. Kelly looked down at her watch.
"Janie and I both have finals in the morning, so if you don't mind we'll be leaving." Kelly said.
"Of course, go ahead." Danielle said.
One by one they all left except for one student. She was very young, barely in her twenties. She had shoulder length golden blonde hair and crystal blue eyes. The blonde helped Danielle finish cleaning the
cafeteria.
"Excuse me Miss Francis." the young woman said.
"Yes? Lisa Edmond isn't it?" Danielle asked.
"I was wondering when we were having our finals." Lisa said.
"Very soon Lisa, but I wouldn't loose any sleep over it. If I remember right you have an A average in my class don't you?" Danielle said.
"Yes I do." Lisa said proudly.
"I'm going to let you in a little secret. I hate to grade papers. The reason that I have been pushing you hard is that I let all of my A students off without taking the final exam." Danielle
said.
"And they call you the Dragon Lady."
"Oh do they now?" Danielle asked innocently.
"I have to be getting back to the dorm. I'm getting sleepy and I don't know whether or not I'll be able to drive."
"Go on all that's left is turning out the lights." Danielle said.
Lisa smiled and walked out of the cafeteria. Danielle followed her a few moments later. Lisa stood at her car trying to put the key in the door lock when four men walked up to her.
"Give us all your money and you won't be hurt." the biggest one said.
"What's going on here?" Danielle asked.
One of the men was startled and accidentally squeezed the trigger. Danielle screamed as she slammed back into the wall of the college. She folded her hands on her stomach as she slid down to the ground. Lisa gasped as she saw blood on Danielle's hands.
"Now unless you want to end up like your friend give us all of your money." one of the men said.
Lisa put her purse on the hood of her car and ran to Danielle's side. The men rifled through it and pulled out her wallet. They pulled out all of the bills and credit cards inside. Three of them ran away whooping like a pack of wild dogs. The fourth one walked toward
Danielle and Lisa.
"That's a pretty necklace you're wearing Lisa." he said.
"How did you know my name?"
"It's on your driver's license." he said.
"Please it was my grandmother's." Lisa said as she began to back away from him.
He pointed his gun down a little and fired. Lisa fell crying as his bullet ripped through her left thigh.
"Now just give me the necklace and anything else that I may want and I'll let you live, or would you rather be gut shot like your pretty friend?" he said.
Lisa crawled away from him shaking her head.
"Leave her alone." Danielle gasped.
"What was that friend?" he asked.
Danielle opened her mouth to speak, but he put his foot on her stomach and leaned on it. Danielle grimaced as she found herself in agony, but unable to scream.
"Oh I'm sorry, but I can't hear you." he said.
He stepped back and moved toward Lisa.
"I'm afraid that we just can't leave any witnesses." he said.
He pointed his gun down at Lisa again and fired three times. Lisa jerked as all three bullets hit her chest.
"Lisa!" Danielle screamed, but Lisa was already beyond hearing.
The door to the University opened and Dracula walked out.
"You do pretty good against women, but how are you against men?" Dracula asked.
"Man or woman it makes no difference. They all fall down when they're shot."
"Do they?" Dracula asked.
The thug raised his gun and fired twice into Dracula's chest, but he kept on walking.
"What are you man? A magician?"
"Much worse." Dracula hissed showing his fangs.
The thug started to run, but Dracula already had him by the throat. Dracula picked him up with a look of disgust on his face.
"We kill because it is necessary, but you kill just for the fun of it. Then you have the audacity to call us monsters." Dracula hissed.
Dracula pitched him back effortlessly. The thug soared fifty feet before he landed on his back in the middle of the parking lot. He got up just as a car sped toward him. He barely had time to scream before
the car hit him. Dracula knelt beside Danielle.
"How's Lisa?" Danielle asked.
"I'm afraid that Miss Edmond will never take your final now." Dracula said.
"Poor kid never had a chance."
"I heard." Dracula said as he pushed her hands off of her stomach.
She smiled as he held his finger up showing her the blood on it.
"How bad is it?" Danielle asked.
He touched his finger to his tongue.
"I was right, sweeter than any honey I've ever tasted." Dracula said.
"I was talking about my stomach." Danielle said.
"According to your modern medicine you will die in a few days from kidney failure or possibly internal bleeding."
"That's not encouraging." Danielle said.
"I have never been a believer in medicine Danielle." he said as he lay his hand over the wound in her stomach.
Danielle grimaced as her wound healed.
"I'll bet you save a lot of money on doctor bills." Danielle quipped as she looked down at her stomach.
"Doctors and vampires don't get along too well." Dracula said.
"I can imagine." Danielle said as she stood.
"How do you feel?"
"A little sore, but mostly angry. This was my best suit." Danielle said.
Dracula lay his hand on her stomach again and she jerked back.
"Do I frighten you Danielle?" he asked looking into her light brown eyes.
"Yes and no. I know that you won't hurt me, but I know that you can." Danielle said as she lay her hand on her stomach.
She gasped and looked down at her blouse. The rip and the blood stain were gone.
"How did you do that?"
"Give me a little credit Danielle. I'm an old man. I've learned a few things in five thousand years." Dracula said.
"Why do you keep saying my name?"
"It sounds as beautiful as the woman who carries it." Dracula answered.
"If I didn't know better I would say that was sincere." Danielle said with a smile.
"What does your female intuition tell you?"
"That I should run." Danielle answered.
She gasped as he lay his hand on cheek.
"What does your heart tell you?" Dracula asked.
"I don't know."
"Listen very close." Dracula said as he stepped very close to her.
Danielle gasped as she realized that they were so close and she was backed against a wall.
"You're afraid of me." Dracula said as he backed away.
"Well your reputation isn't exactly too good."
"You do not judge a man by his reputation, but by his actions. Would the man that I'm reputed to be have saved your life?" Dracula said.
"If it suited your purpose." Danielle said.
"Now I know why you earned the nickname 'the Dragon Lady'."
"Really, then why don't you tell me." Danielle said angrily.
"You have very low self-esteem. You see yourself as imperfect so you push your students to be perfect, to exceed you. It's not me that you're afraid of. It's you." Dracula said.
"Oh spare me your psycho-babble Count. I've had relationships, I just haven't been in one since my husband died three years ago."
"Thrown yourself into your work, frightened of a relationship that sounds like low self-esteem to me Danielle." Dracula said.
She winced and Dracula smiled a little.
"May I show you something?" he asked.
"What?"
"Have you ever seen the lights of a city at night?" he asked.
"What do you mean?"
"Do you trust me?" Dracula asked.
"Shouldn't we wait on the police?" Danielle asked looking at Lisa.
"Without us here to complicate matters it will be a very open and shut case."
"Yes, I suppose you're right." Danielle said.
Dracula stepped beside her and put his arm around her waist.
"This isn't going to hurt is it?" Danielle asked.
"No more than getting shot."
Danielle looked a little confused.
"It's a joke Danielle." Dracula said.
She gasped as they flew up past the roof of the University.
"You can actually do this?" Danielle asked.
"Are we doing it?"
"Yes, but I still don't believe it." Danielle replied in amazement.
The soared above the city and beyond the city to a small hill on the other side. They settled down on a rock bluff overlooking the small city that surrounded Walton State University.
"I used to hate the night, but now I think that it's beautiful." Danielle said.
"There are many things to fear in the night, but for you I am not one of them." Dracula said as he stepped closer to Danielle.
She relaxed for the first time in three years as he put his arms around her.
"Why are you doing this?" Danielle asked.
"Because I want to, and because I can."
She gasped as she noticed that his face was very close to her throat, so close that she could feel his breath when he talked. She closed her eyes as she heard him let out a faint hissing sound and she knew that his fangs were inches from her jugular vein. She felt the razor sharp points touch her throat and clamp down, but not penetrate the flesh. She gasped as he pulled back. His eyes were blazing red and his fangs were in plain sight.
"Why?" Danielle asked.
"It is a custom older than these hills Danielle. Perhaps in time you will come to understand it."
"You are not a man of mercy. Death follows you wherever you go. I am a threat to you and your family, but you would let me live?" Danielle asked.
"You intrigue me Danielle, more than I care to admit."
He put his arm around her again and they flew back into the city. They settled down behind the apartment building where Danielle lived. Danielle gasped as Dracula faded into the blackness of the night.
"Now that was an interesting evening." Danielle said.
The next night Danielle came into Luke's office just after he arrived.
"Is Professor Drake in?" Danielle asked as she looked over at Charli.
"He's in there with Alexis Sweeton." Charli said sullenly.
"You don't sound happy."
"Should I be?" Charli asked.
Danielle smiled as she knocked on the door.
"Come in." Luke's voice said from the other side of the door.
Danielle walked in and gasped when she saw Alexis Sweeton. Danielle regained her composure as she closed the door behind her.
"You're supposed to be dead. I saw you in a casket, buried." Danielle said.
"Not everything that goes into a grave stays there Doctor Francis." Alexis said.
"I have a question of a personal nature." Danielle said.
"Ooo! sounds serious." Alexis taunted.
"Alexis." Luke said sternly as he walked toward Danielle.
"Last night your father and I had a nice little chat about a quarter of a mile outside the city limits. I was wondering why am I still alive?" Danielle said.
"Either he's getting soft, which is about as likely as the sun not rising, or he likes you." Luke said.
"Likes me?" Danielle asked.
"That's about as far as he's let his feelings go since a certain Sultan had his young daughter butchered back in the 14th century." Luke said.
"I've never heard anything about that." Danielle said.
"It isn't exactly printed in the text books and only the people that were there know about it, except for you." Luke said.
"What was her name?" Danielle asked.
"It doesn't matter, but that was the reason that I asked you to get Donna Miller transferred out of the Count's class. She could pass for her twin if it were another time." Luke said.
"That could explain why he's in Dean Raymond's office challenging it right now." Danielle said.
"Every minute that girl's around him she's in danger." Luke said.
"We can't afford to that kind of risk with John Seward around town." Alexis said.
"You've seen him?" Luke asked.
"He came to the Drake Foundation offices this morning. I barely got out of the building before he saw me." Alexis answered.
"Who is this Seward?" Danielle asked.
"A vampire hunter and the worst of the lot. He doesn't care who he has to walk on or kill to get at us." Luke said.
"Which puts you, Candice, and everyone else here in danger." Alexis said.
"Matty's always said that it's only a matter of time before Seward and the Count come face to face, perhaps we should arrange that." Luke said.
"That's close to premeditated murder you know." Danielle said.
"There's a difference between pulling the trigger and putting someone in front of the gun." Luke said.
"Not in Tennessee." Danielle said.
"We don't exactly answer to state laws." Alexis said.
"That's what I'm afraid of." Danielle said.
"Now back to your problem. What exactly did he do last night?" Luke asked.
"Well Lisa Edmond and I were in the parking lot when these thugs came up and took Lisa's money, credit cards. One of them shot me and three of them ran off. The last one decided to take Lisa's necklace
and when she protested he killed her on the spot. He would have killed me, but your father stopped him. He threw that guy all the way across the parking lot. I've never seen anything like it." Danielle
said.
"That's not to unusual Doctor Francis." Alexis interrupted.
"As I was saying. I don't know how, but he healed my wound. He said that we would complicate matters if we stayed around so he picked me up and we flew, I still can't believe that, across the city. When we got to wherever it was that we were going he acted like he was going to bite me in the throat, that is how you usually do it I think."
"But he stopped just short of doing that. Kind of a little nick, just enough to show you that he could do it, but didn't want to?" Alexis said.
"He said that I would learn what it meant, but I don't see how." Danielle said.
"Because he's chosen you to be his wife, or at least that's the closest thing to it." Luke said.
"I don't like the sound of that. I like living a normal life. Daylight, garlic, and silver are a few things that I actually like."
"If he does convert you all you have to worry about is the garlic and silver. We can go out into the sunlight, a little hard on the eyes at times, but we can stand it." Alexis said.
"You're not serious are you?" Danielle asked.
"I'm afraid that we can't interfere Danielle. It's between you and the Count." Luke said.
"I think I would have been better off if the bullet had hit my head instead of belly." Danielle said.