Merry Christmas everyone! My present to all of my fabulous readers is an update on Christmas Eve! *Thunderous applause* Thank you, thank you. Lol! Well this chapter is actually a two-parter again because it was just too long to make just one chapter. But I came up with good titles for both parts so that's why it doesn't appear as "Part 1" in the title.

Well you all better be prepared to be on the edge of your seats because this is the beginning of the most suspenseful part of the story! Enjoy!~

Amelia became more and more precautious as they approached his house on the edge of town. She had a couple of spells in mind just in case she needed them. Even more in her favor, the full moon was still high in the sky which meant she was stronger than ever. If Alucard even dared to try anything, he had another thing coming. With that small comfort in mind, though still alert, she followed him inside.

They were in the small living room when he turned around and said, "Wait here." and walked off into another room.

She heaved a small sigh of relief and shifted her weight from one foot to the other, just a little bit edgy. Who wouldn't be eager to receive a present?

Alucard soon returned with his hands behind his back and a cool, though slightly mischievous smirk.

"Close your eyes and hold out your hands." He instructed.

She did as she was told, and then felt something placed in her palms.

"Ok, open them." A hint of anticipation laced his voice.

She did and found in her grasp was a small rectangular, purple velvet box. She glanced at him as if to ask if it was alright to see what was inside. He gave a curt nod, obviously wishing she would have just opened it already. She gently lifted the lid and inside resting gently on an ivory colored silk cloth was a rose bracelet. It was made of silver and tinted with the slightest shade of red. With a gasp in awe, she lifted it up and it shimmered radiantly in the light.

"Oh my gosh…it's beautiful!" she spoke still amazed at the stunning gift. "Thank you so much Alucard." She said with gratitude filling her eyes.

"I thought you might like it," he grinned, satisfied with her reaction. "Here, allow me."

He took the bracelet carefully in his grasp, as though it would shatter into a thousand pieces if he made just one sudden movement, and tenderly clasped it around her wrist. She admired the piece of jewelry and felt that it was almost too perfect for her to accept.

But then the silver roses' red tint began to glow brighter, almost sinister-like.

"What the?" she took a step back in confusion.

Then she heard a low, growling sound and looked up to see Alucard with his head down as his strange sound increased to be a sort of maniacal laughter. Suddenly, the door locked behind her on its own, windows slammed shut, and the clicks of several locks echoed throughout the house.

"Alucard?" she paused, her eyes stricken with fear, "What's going on?" Though frightened, she took a fighting stance to prepare to launch an attack if need be.

"And here I thought you were a smart girl, Amelia." He lifted his head to meet her nervous gaze.

Her eyes widened at his appearance. His face was twisted into a sinister grin and his crimson eyes were glowing blood red. He looked as though he had gone completely mad!

"But I see now how incredibly foolish you really are!" he quickly tried to reach toward her, but immediately saw that she was about to shout out a defensive spell.

He then sliced the air with his hand as though it were a blade, causing her arms to be unwillingly held tight at her sides, almost as if some invisible rope had suddenly bound itself around her.

"What the! I can't move!" she exclaimed in panic.

"Such a stupid girl, you don't recognize a trap even when you've walked right into one!" he pointed to her wrist with the glowing bracelet, "I control you now."

"Alucard, why are you doing this!" she pleaded for an answer as she tried to move her hands for what little hope she had of escaping.

"You still don't get it do you?" he walked up to her and roughly grabbed her chin to force her to keep her gaze on him. "It's the first night of the full moon since your powers have been fully awakened. You are at your strongest this night and will never be again until you've become a master sorceress. Well I simply cannot wait for that day to come for I need a powerful spell caster now to free me from this accursed prison that I've been trapped in for nearly two centuries! And you are going to be the one to do it, for you have no choice."

"Help! Help! Somebody! Please help—" her cries were cut off when his hand clamped over her mouth.

"Your feeble shouts will get you nowhere!" he yelled, but then a smirk spread across his face. "For you see, I happened to acquire a rather useful item recently." He brought out a familiar looking brown book with the green gem in the center surrounded by a circle of diamonds.

"My spell book!" she realized and her eyes widened. 'So that's why I couldn't find it.' She thought bitterly, 'He stole it!'

"Correct my dear." he taunted. "I have gained some very useful knowledge from this seemingly silly little book. For example, my entire house is covered by a sound-proof barrier to make sure that your precious Pumpkin King doesn't hear your distress, so he can't come rescue you." He moved his hand away from her face, "And it's also how I was able to curse that bracelet of yours. You were just foolish enough to accept it." He chuckled darkly.

"Oohhh," she growled and glared daggers at him while struggling to move her other hand to yank the piece of jewelry off. "You'll be so sorry you ever messed with me! Just wait till I—"

"Till you what?" he laughed, "Till you manage to break free? Not likely, I cast the spell. I put the bracelet on you. Only I can take it off."

"How the heck were you able to do that anyway!" though angry, she was in disbelief he had such abilities.

"What? You think you're the only one with magic powers? Ha! You honestly know nothing about sorcery." He retorted. "Those little fairy-tales about vampires is your only knowledge about them I'm sure. Well you have a lot to learn." He said mockingly. "But there is simply no time, for time is beginning to run out." He then glared at her. "Apparently you still aren't getting it. I have a spell for you to cast that will free my true form and restore my full powers so I may regain what is rightfully mine."

"Wha-what!" she became stricken with fear and panic all over again, but this time much worse. "No! You can't make me! I won't!" she protested.

"Oh yes you will." he then pointed to the door of one of the rooms. "Now go inside."

A strange electric shock ran through her body and she began to walk toward the door obediently like a dog, though her mind was practically shouting at her feet to run in the opposite direction. The vampire crossed his arms and smirked in triumph as he followed behind her. Amelia felt her body suddenly stop moving when she reached the center of the dark room with the only light being the moon's that poured in through a single window. In front of her was a large, black cauldron that gleamed in the pale light. Against the walls either side of her were massive bookshelves and small cupboards. There was a table next to the cauldron and set on it were several candles.

Reluctantly, the sorceress raised her hand in the air and the candles were lifted up to form a circle around her. She blinked her eyes once and all of them suddenly became lit. Alucard stood outside the ring of light with her spell book still in his grasp. But he willingly let it slip out of his hold as it flew over to where Amelia stood so she could await further instruction.

"Turn to the Cursed Seals section." He spoke firmly.

The sorceress felt the strange shock jolt her body again, which forced her to wave her hand and the book turned to the correct chapter.

"Now, find the Soul Release spell." He ordered.

Again, she obediently followed as the pages turned on their own accord yet again to the appropriate passage.

"I've never seen such a complicated spell!" Her eyes widened in surprise, "It would take a master sorcerer to perform it."

"Must I remind you?" the vampire crossed his arms irritably. "This is the night when you are your strongest. You are the equivalent of a master and will never be again until you actually become one. I simply don't have that kind of patience to wait for that to happen when I've been trapped for practically two centuries. You are now probably the most powerful sorceress alive so thus only you can cast it."

"But for me to do this, it's going to take time for me to get it right!" she looked at him with pleading eyes, "Why do you want to release your soul anyway? You are obviously exceptionally strong just as you are!"

"I am no where near the strength I once possessed. So quit making excuses and get to work!" he yelled.

'I don't want to do this…but I have no choice…' she thought in deep grief as she stared at her feet. 'Why did I let it get this far? I really am an idiot for falling for such obvious tricks.'

A single tear slid down her cheek as the electric shock ran throughout her body. She raised her hands and several different ingredients were levitated out of the cupboards.

"Don't even dare try to cook up another spell because I've studied this one and know it like the back of my hand." Alucard growled bitterly, "If you slip something in there, I'll know immediately and you don't want to be punished now do you?"

She solemnly shook her head no and got to work. The ingredients were simple enough, but it was the extremely detailed procedure was the difficult part. If things were not added to the concoction in the correct order, in the exact amount, then the whole thing would be ruined.

'There's got to be a way I can stop him, but how?' she pondered to herself, though still focused on the task at hand. 'I can't change the potion so what can I do?'

She looked in her spell book as though she was finding the next ingredient when in fact she was reading what the spell was meant to do.

'Ok, so normally this is used to reverse the Soul Sealing spell, which impairs the victim's strength.' she mentally stated. 'So if the Soul Release spell does what it's supposed to do, then Alucard's powers will increase ten fold! But that also means, so do his weaknesses.' She concluded. 'If I remember correctly, vampires have heightened senses, nearly one hundred times better than that of the average human. So that means…Yes! Yes! That just might work!'

She made sure to hide her triumph in her expression so as to not let Alucard know that she had a plan.

'But I'll have to wait until after this transformation is complete. I just hope it works…' she became even more determined to finish the spell.

After several minutes, she finally had everything in and the potion was finally ready. Amelia let her hands fall down to her side as she let out a deep breath of relief. But it only lasted a moment for she knew that it was only the potion she completed. She still had the rest of the incantation to perform and could only hope that everything was going to go right.

"Excellent." Alucard smirked with satisfaction.

He walked around the circle of candles that still levitated in the air and stood in front of the window. With the moon's light hitting his back, he looked like nothing but a dark shadow.

"Begin." He commanded.

'I've danced with I-don't-know-how-many women. I am taking a break!' Jack thought as he crossed his arms with a not-so pleasant expression.

He strode away rather quickly from the center of the square to avoid the fan girl monsters who had refused to leave him alone. But as he walked, he noticed that there was something missing. Or the fact that someone was, to be more precise.

"Amelia?" he asked aloud and looked around for the teenaged sorceress.

He turned back around to see if she had gone onto the square to dance with someone but he did not see the familiar looking dark blonde-haired girl with the ocean blue eyes among the crowd. But then he caught sight a person who might know where she had run off to.

"Mayor!" Jack called as he briskly walked toward the stout man with the tall top hat.

"Oh Jack!" the elected official turned to the king with his face turned to his "happy" expression, "Good to see that you're a free man again."

"No kidding." The sharply dressed skeleton retorted dryly. "But that's beside the point," he waved his hand for emphasis, "By any chance have you seen Amelia?"

"Yes I did see her a while ago." He answered, much to the delight of the Pumpkin King, "But she left with Alucard. He said something about a belated birthday present that he wanted to give her and they headed off in the direction of his residence I assume." The Mayor scratched his head as he recalled the brief memory.

Jack's face fell and, for a moment, looked rather furious but he regained his cool and stood a little taller.

"Thank you Mayor." And with that, he walked off with a quick stride in the direction of the vampire's dwelling.

But just as he was about to pass the fountain with the monster statue, he stopped. A thought had occurred to him.

'What if it really is something as harmless as what the Mayor said?' he mentally asked himself as he looked down at his feet and debated with himself. 'What if she's using the opportunity to finally break up with him? But what if she's really in trouble? What if she's not? Would I be barging in on something that I really should stay out of?'

He let out a groan of frustration and sat on the fountain's ledge. He heaved a depressed sigh and continued to ask himself questions that he could not possibly answer.

"Jack." A voice whispered.

"Huh?" he was snapped out of his thoughts and looked around for whom had possibly spoken to him.

"Jack!" the voice called louder this time, and he could tell it was distinctly feminine. The tone even sounded vaguely familiar.

He looked around again frantically as he stood up trying to locate the source of the mysterious sound.

"Down here!"

Her call had rung out loud and clear in his ears this time. He spun on his heel to face the fountain and peered into its murky green waters. The face that appeared on its surface took him greatly by surprise that he nearly stumbled backwards from shock.

"Elizabeth!"

I belive this would be the perfect "Dun, dun, duuuunnnn!" moment.

Will Amelia be able to escape Alucard's clutches? Will Jack figure out what's really going on in time? OMG Elizabeth reappeared! What on earth is going to happen next!

And a very Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays from yours truly!