The air was bitingly cold as the icy wind whipped it through the pass once they reached the old roadway. Reggie's hair strained at her ponytail, threatening to escape, and her skin prickled with each frigid blast of air whistling between the rocks. It was the perfect night for the fruition of their journey with barely a sliver of moon to light the old track. Reggie looked at the dark cloud gathering over the mountains, soon they'd have stormy as well as dark-a storyteller's dream.

It felt kind of surreal as it was. This was what she had been training for her whole life, the reason she had been born. Dracula was a scourge the universe had been battling with for centuries, and she had no doubt she had come into existence to be the means to his end. Even so, it was like she was walking into a movie scene as Mother Nature took it upon herself to create the perfect backdrop.

"We can still go back," Magda said by her side.

"Too late for that," Reggie replied and nodded to the far end of the pass.

Maybe Dracula had been waiting for them, maybe they had arrived just in time, but there, in the distance, was a black shape coming rapidly towards them. Even Reggie's sharp vision couldn't make out any details in the meagre light of the moon. Magda's eyes opened in shock as she turned to look. Reggie couldn't blame her, there was something coming towards them, but it was no natural thing: it made no sound. Only the noise of the wind filled the pass.

"Cursed apparition," the werewolf hissed under her breath.

Reggie reached out and placed a hand on Magda's arm. She had no desire to put anyone else in harm's way, not for this, but, thanks to Division 5 and Major Baron, she had no choice.

"Be calm," she said.

She saw Magda's shoulders relax instantly, but the woman pulled away.

"Do not do that," Magda said, shaking herself, "I cannot protect you if I cannot feel the danger."

"You cannot protect me anyway," Reggie replied.

There was no point in denying the truth.

"Whatever happens, Magda, do not try," she said.

The werewolf whined in the back of her throat. Reggie was all too aware she was ordering Magda to go against every instinct she had right now, but this was no time for plain strength.

Even as she spoke she watched the shape hurtling towards them, details slowly emerging as it moved closer. Reggie could see the horses now, fine black beasts, all muscle, and they pulled a black carriage, ornate, but dark as midnight. On the coachman's seat was a dark figure, cloaked all in black, a deep hood hiding his face.

Reggie didn't need to see his features to know who was coming, though. The power thrummed through the ground and into the very air around her. With every second that passed it soaked further into her as it called to something in her soul. It was cold fire in her veins, vibrating and filling her senses. A sweet song echoed through her mind, and she understood how Dracula called those he had once sired back to his side. It was seductive. Part of her wanted to surrender to it without question. She could not take her eyes off the figure baring down on her.

The song called to the vampire part of her, dragging it to the surface without her conscious consent. Her fangs lengthened, her senses sharpened to their most sensitive, and her nails lengthened into lethal talons. She held it there, but only just.

Like an explosion, the eerie quiet of the night was suddenly shattered. The sound of horses' hooves, iron clad wheels, tortured wood and labouring animals burst into the darkness. It was deafening. Magda growled, throwing her hands over her ears as the sounds echoed around them, amplified and distorted, but it was just what Reggie needed. It pushed the song back, calling her will to the forefront as her senses rebelled.

She kept the vampire at the surface, but she stood tall as the coach roared towards them.

It screamed to a halt, permeating the night with straining metal and leather, and whinnies of protest from the horses. A wave of air pushed at her as it stopped precisely in front of where she and Magda were standing. It brought with it the smell of animal sweat, old tack, polish and leather.

Then, in the blink of an eye, the vision in front of her flickered. Perfect paint became marred and peeling over grey, split wood; shining metal turned dark with malignant swirls of corrosion; satin curtains became rags; leather split, shredding to strips; soft coats vanished in decaying patches of flesh; flowing mains became matted ribbons. And with the ghastly sight came the stench of death.

Magda gagged and heaved, but Reggie stared at the only thing that had not changed; the dark cloaked coachman. The foul smell made her eyes water, but she blinked it away.

For a moment the nightmare tableau held. It was a vision designed to terrify, but Reggie wanted to laugh. Dracula was her destiny and he was far more terrifying than any theatrics. He made her tremble inside, even as she held herself strong.

"Get in, leave the other," was the terse instruction in little more than a growl and Dracula turned his face back to the road.

As quickly as it had come, the vision of death was gone and the coach was back as it should have been.

"She is my wolf," Reggie replied without moving, "I will not leave her."

The hood swung back to her, then to Magda, then back again, nothing but darkness inside.

"Get in," was the only instruction.

Reggie took it to mean her condition had been accepted. This was going to be a game of timing. The battle would be won and lost in strategy, not brute strength, so she did as she was told. Taking a deep breath she steeled herself, swallowing with a dry mouth. The game was on.

Just to make sure, Reggie opened the door and allowed Magda to climb in first, before she put her foot on the step and pulled herself up. Inside was studded leather and plush velvet, all done in very deep red. It would have looked black to mortal eyes. Mina had always told her that Dracula was dramatic by nature, and nothing Reggie was seeing made her disbelieve that.

The moment she pulled the door closed, Dracula gave a sharp yell and the horses leapt forward.

Magda caught her as she pitched backwards.