I should have won that race. I should have never underestimated that man they called Van Helsing.

But I did. That was my first... and last mistake.

He reached his crossbow and fired silver straight into my flesh. I remember that pain. I had not felt pain like that since I first felt Dracula's fangs sink into my neck. But unlike the first bite that changed me forever, this pain did not change to pleasurable bliss.

I slammed into the church spire. Stuck. I could feel myself changing back into human form, the light fabric of my clothes hanging loosely around me, the hair around my face damp with sweat. I had never felt that before either. I didn't have to breathe, but I still found myself gasping. And then, I slept...

When I awoke, I was no longer in the spacious castle I had become so accustomed to. I was in hell. Dracula had spoken of it before, but I had never envisioned it like this.

And I was alone. Whether for minutes or years, I can not tell. I was alone in the darkness.

And then I heard a familiar voice calling from an unknown location: "I will give you Gabriel!"

A carnivorous smile spread across my face, eyes nearly glowing in the darkness around me.

http://users.livejournal.com/-marishka/611.html