Chapter 36

Dracula

"Who are you?" Dracula stepped forward, pushing Lucy behind him to safety, his fangs slowly shooting out.

"My name is Egon Ajax Kayden and I am a Triton, fill in leader of the sirens." He announced, flames burning in his eyes as he set his staff down. "You have what belongs to us!"

Dracula scrunched up his face and glanced around him for anything he might have taken from the siren kingdom. He hadn't even been there before.

Maris was excited, she could feel a connection with the man. Could he be her brother or father? But this man was too young to be her dad.

"No, I don't." Dracula shrugged, interlocking fingers with Lucy in an attempt to walk out, but the Triton stopped him by holding out his staff to Dracula's chest.

"Yes, you do. You have one of our kind and we heard her cry for help." He stated, still keeping his cool.

"Wait, aren't sirens just women?" Dracula frowned. "I thought the males got extinct a long time ago."

"You thought because that was what they wrote," Egon said, keeping a dead serious face.

Dracula swerved the staff off his chest and dusted his clothes before exchanging a death glare with Egon.

"To avoid war, give us back our kind." Egon warned, not taking his eyes off Dracula for a minute.

Dracula's eyes brightened and silent laughter danced in his orbs. He held in a laugh and guffawed after his cheeks could no longer hold it, cradling his stomach.

"War?" Dracula laughed and slapped the sides of his laps. "War with the sirens, funny. So am I supposed to fight with women, the weak gender?"

"Hey!" Linda exclaimed, staring daggers at him.

"Oh, please. Get out of the way," Dracula said between laughs, by dismissing Egon with a wave.

"Oh, yeah?" Egon tilted his head to the side before the bushes behind him snapped–many men and women slid out of the bushes with their weapons in hands. "Male sirens aren't extinct, don't always believe what you read."

Dracula's eyebrows immediately had a crease in between them. He quickly ordered three vampires to keep Lucy and Maris safe, behind them.

"I'm a demon, I don't need to read to know what's going on." Dracula orated, his fingers turning into talons with elongated white fangs. "And I'm not giving you the girl."

"Then we shall fight." Egon stretched his neck and tossed his staff to a man with blue hair. Slowly, he pulled out his sword saying, "My name is Egon, meaning strong with a sword!"

Dracula grunted, "Do you always have to make everything dramatic?"

In one insane second Dracula's followers launched at the sirens, while the two leaders of the different kingdoms stood in a glare battle before Dracula's jaw clenched and he yelled, running to throw a punch at Egon's face.

Suddenly, wolves howled from afar and Dracula's fist hung in the air. Their heads snapped to the direction as the thumping of paws kept drawing closer.

"Werewolves..." Dracula and Egon seethed through gritted teeth.

A scream caught their attention from the other side of the forest and their heads turned. Dracula's eyes widened with horror when he saw a huge half dog and half man pulling Maris away, his fist deep in her hair.

"Help!" Maris struggled and something happened.

An arrow with full force pierced through the dogman's forehead. He froze then dropped to his knees and stayed that way for few seconds with blood trailing down his nose. He transformed back to his human form and he fell to the ground, plainly laying naked on the floor.

Hastily, Maris ran behind a vampire for safety and clung unto his shirt like magnet.

The arrow was from the short man named Dick, the right hand man of the king of werehynas. He blew away the invisible smoke from the crossbow and jumped down from a stone.

"The girl is ours!" He yelled and many werehyenas stood behind him, ready to attack.

Men slipped out of the bushes at the other side of the forest and growled, placing their palms on the floor and transforming into dogmen.

"She killed our king and left our kingdom in havoc!" A woman dressed for battle pointed at Maris. "We must avenge his death. And that man," she pointed at Dick, "He killed one of our warriors, get him!"

They launched at the werehynas and were soon throwing blows.

"Werewolves are coming." Dracula sniffed. "I have an idea."

Egon folded his arms against his chest with the sword hanging out through his underarm, "Why should we trust you?"

"Because we both want her alive." Dracula stated, putting down his weapon and raising his hands in surrender. "Trust me."

Egon shoved his sword back into it's pouch and narrowed his eyes at him, "I think I have an idea too."

"Why don't we join heads and fight off the enemies." They chorused and shared a look of understanding.

"How am I sure you don't want her dead?" Egon asked and Dracula sighed, glancing at the two kingdoms fighting.

"Because I want her alive, darn it! I was betrayed by Azazel so I decided to set her free to get back at him." Dracula reasoned, "I don't want to kill her. Maybe Linda wants her dead, but not me. I have a heart, I've gotten my Lucy back."

He caressed Lucy's cheek with his thumb and smiled sweetly at her before facing Egon.

"Okay, deal." Egon and Dracula shook hands.

After they agreed on it, werewolves arrived and Maris exclaimed from behind the vampires, "Logan!"

A blue eyed wolf snapped it's head to the direction the call came from and growled. Maris jumped forward in an attempt to run to Logan, but a vampire gripped her waist and stopped her.

"Sirens!" The werewolves fumed.

When they saw Dracula, anger combusted in them. They were faced with their arch enemies and this meant one thing–war.

The sirens and vampires Joined forces, standing side to side as they raised up their weapons and yelled.

That was it, a great war between five kingdoms had began.

Dracula watched from the side of his eyes as the sirens yodelled darkly and transformed into their siren forms. Maris gasped when they weren't half human half fish, but half bird half human just like she had read from the Greek mythology. Some were brown and some white.

It all made sense to her, birds were melodious singers. According to Ovid's book of metamorphosis V, Persephone had three human companions who tried to save her when she was taken by Hades. They prayed for wings to fly across the oceans and was granted by the gods, but when they couldn't save Persephone, Dimitri banished them on an island.

Back to the fight, Dracula got to his feet after drinking the blood of the werehynas ruler. Blood dripped from his mouth and he wiped it with the back of his palm.

Dick laid on the ground, shaking like a wet kitty with his arms shielding his face.

"Now, it's your turn." Dracula grinned maliciously with an appetite as large as a tank.

He grabbed Dick by the collar and raised him up to the sky with a dark look.

"Don't kill me, please." Dick whimpered, eyes screwed shut in fear. "I'll serve you, I'll do anything. Please, spare my life."

"Really?" Dracula arched his brows and smirked, while Dick nodded rapidly with shaky lips.

"Why should I trust you?" Dracula tilted his head to the side to the rhythm of the swords clanging in the background.

"You can bite me or even make me your slave." Dick announced and Dracula held his gaze, giving it a thought before accepting and putting him down.

Blood spilling out, wails slipping out from their mouths and soon the sirens and vampires had taken down the dogmen and werehynas.

Next up were the werewolves.

"You killed our king!" A man from the Oberon kingdom exclaimed and the others snarled. "And you," they pointed to the vampires, "Killed one of us in the brotherhood."

"We want her dead, she brought an imposter to the kingdom!" The werewolves chorused, except Logan who held the devil's gaze.

"Give me back my consort." Logan seethed and Dracula laughed before raising his middle finger up.

"Fuck you!" Dracula exclaimed and flashed him a smirk, it irked the nerves in Logan and before one could say jack, the two kingdoms charged at the werewolves, biting and slaying.

The sirens put the werewolves under their spells by enchanting them with their voices and beheading them with swords.

This went on and on with a bush set ablaze. They had succeeded in taking down all the werewolves except for one person, Logan.

Dracula held Logan's neck and his eyes were a darker shade of red.

"I am the right hand man of the devil and no one–" he started, voice as deep as the dead of the night like a man possessed with a thousand demons. "–No one can defeat me."

"No, Logan!" Maris screamed