Waking up from Raistlin's Dream, Dracula found himself in a cave at the top of a snowy mountain. He looked around, confused at being in a cave instead of the northern woods where he thought he had been. He stood up, stretching out stiff, sore muscles that apparently hadnt been used in some time. Peeking out of the mouth, he could see a horrible blizzard starting outside. Not having any provisions, he decided to try escape. He was already starving, and had no way of telling how long the blizzard would last. He lept into the air, shivering when a blast of cold air hit him, and glided down the mountain, hoping that the valley below would be relatively clear.

For once his luck seemed to hold, the valley was calm if still cold. He wandered down the length of it, not really sure where to go. The cold would let up further south, he knew that, and so he turned his steps that way.

Occassionaly he would come across a band of lupines, more and more the further south he went. It was rare that any of them let him get close enough to speak to though. The demons had them all spooked, and the site of a vampire was not generaly welcome even in the best of times. He spent most of the trip alone, with only very rare and brief interruptions of his solitude.

During one day's journey, Dracula came across a lupine lying in the snow. Around her were a lot of others, all dead, but this one was still breathing, though just barely. He stopped to see if he could help. He was still apathetic at best about his own survival, but still he couldnt quite ignore a lupine in pain. He was not quite that far gone. It took only a swift glance to see what was wrong with the pack. They were all far to thin, merely skin and bones really. He was amazed that the one was still breathing at all. He had no food on him, having lost a great deal of weight himself lately due to the scarcity of prey.

Still, leaving the lupine there and doing nothing didnt sit well with him either. Finally he picked her up and flew on, deciding that at least if she died, it would not be alone. He flew on for several miles before spotting a single, lonely deer. It was thin, hardly worth noticing under normal circumstances, but it would do. Dracula landed some distance away, and laid the female in the meager shelter of a bush.

The deer was not hard to find, and it was too listliss to put up much of a fight. He ate some of the meat himself to lighten the load, and carried the remains back to where the female lay. For a moment it appeared as if she had died while he had been gone, but a closer look revealed that she simply was too weak to move. He tore strips of meat from the deer, and held them near her mouth, but the lupine was simply too far gone to save. He lay next to her for a few hours, providing what comfort he could, until finally the lupine took her last, ragged breath and lay still in the snow.

After she died, Dracula ate what remained of the deer, and simply flew on. She had been a stranger, someone about whom he knew absolutely nothing, but somehow she took on the faces of every member of his lost pack. During the dream he had somehow forgotten thier deaths, but now again, it was as if the wound of thier loss had been opened fresh again. For the first time since the cave-in, he wept.

Every moment he had ever spent away from any of them, even Rose, suddenly seemed a total waste. Those moments when, for reasons that now seemed so petulant, he had wanted to get away from all of them seemed to haunt him. And Astyana... he would never forget the way he'd felt when she had been injured by the dragon, or the sudden release when Chapawee had announced that she would live. The day he found out she was pregnant would remain forever etched in his memory as the best he had ever known.

Dracula turned his flight upwards then, flying higher than he had ever gone. The air seemed to thin around him and he found himself gasping for breath. The plan was to fly as high as he could, to see one last time the view he had so loved to share with Astyana, and then simply fold his wings. A fall from this height would certainly put him out of his misery. Even if his wings opened of thier own accord as they had the last time, they would be torn to shreds by the sheer velocity, and he would still rejoin Astyana on the other side.

Wings folded tightly against his body, he began to fall. As he did, Astyana's face appeared unbidden in his mind. Her face was angry, dissapointed even. he knew she was upset because if what he was doing. He tried to explain, to tell her that he didnt want to live without her, but she refused to listen.

'Do you really think I want you to die like this?' she said angrily. 'Are you so selfish that you cant see what is right in front of you?'

'I dont understand. There is nothing in front of me but misery and lonelyness. The entire pack was wiped out! You might have lived if not for me. Why should I go on now, knowing what I've done?!'

'The world has been torn apart by demons! Do you really think there is anyone in it who hasnt lost someone? You can find the survivors, find yourself a new pack. You might even find love again, if you would just try. There are still good things in this world, and you cant allow the bad to destroy them. You made a mistake, but you can learn from it. Just open your wings, and find the remaining lupines."

Astyana's face slowly faded away, smiling now as her words took root in his heart. He clung to the visage, not wanting to loose the look of peace on her face, but his eyes seemed determined to open as her voice echoed in his mind. The vision was replaced by the sight of the ground racing up to meet him as he dropped like a stone through the sky. Dracula unfurled his wings slowly, turned the drop into a dive, and fought to pull himself up. The wind ripped at his body, threatening to tear apart the leathery membranes which strained to hold him aloft. He managed to fight its shredding force long enough to avoid hitting the ground, and he finally skidded to a halt just outside a grove of trees. He found a tall one and climbed to the top, worn out from all that had happened. He was desperate now for rest, but somehow sleeping on the ground just wasnt apealing right then. His body was used to sleeping in trees still, and he sought the familiarity in the strange world in which he found himself.

This story continues in the Ancient Well RP, found here.

From there, you can find more of his adventures at the following website. are all in roleplay format, and you do have to sign up, but I garentee it's worth it. Dracula finds himself a mate, has cubs, nearly loses both several times, fights with his brother Alucard... It's a real soap opera and highly recomended. And no not just by me. ;) If you havent signed up for Pony Island yet, please do so using the following link. I can use the references, and really its a small price to pay for such excellent reading right? 0:)

hope you enjoyed this story, and I'd really love to hear your thoughts on it. You can also check out the prequel which is currently in progress for more of Dracula's backstory.