I just told her everything I know. I betrayed them all. First my own brother, and now the only people who helped me survive my past year and helped protect my brother.

I’m so sorry, Jana, so sorry…

I have but one consolation. I really do not know much about the Van Helsings. I only know the twins, and I have met some of the other hunters occasionally. I have never seen anyone else in that family or bloodline. I never met the Grandfather that Jana and Jonah mention every so often. And short of the place where the twins stayed as they enrolled in Bayport High, I have no idea where their true dwelling places are.

And now I am truly grateful they never trusted me. I am untrustworthy.

But Jana and Jonah, and those few hunters I met will be in danger. Lilith now knows about them. She knows about their strengths and weaknesses as I perceive them. And soon She will be sending me after them.

Are the twins good enough to take me down?

I hope so.

Please God, let them be good enough!

Suddenly Lilith is right before me again. She gently touches my face, and turns me to face Joe.

“It is time, my Fledging.”

I start to hyperventilate. I am not ready for this, and I gag at the feel of Her within my mind.

My attempts to prevent Her entry by throwing up mind shields as Jana taught me fail miserably. My shields don’t even last three seconds. She just walks in as if my mind is her home. It is Her home; I can still feel that single drop of blood coursing through my veins and chaining me to Her will. Still I battle hard against her control of me; I hit out at the walls She creates to hold me in. I claw at them till my psychic hands are raw to the bone and bleeding profusely. But I remain still trapped by Her will.

Then to my horror and shame, She awakens Joe.

I watch his eyelids flutter open, and then his eyes slowly focus on me.

“Frank? What happened?” Joe asks me.

She does not permit me to answer him. Not that I have any idea how to answer [to] him. So I wait in trepidation as he slowly becomes aware of his surroundings. I watch the incredulity form in his eyes when he realizes he is being held immobile by invisible chains. And I watch fear seep into his eyes as he realizes that the symbols on him are written in blood, as the coppery scent hits his nostrils.

“Frank…what’s going on?” My heart bleeds at that hint of panic in his voice.

Next I know, Lilith is standing behind me, Her hands on my shoulders. I know Joe can see us both clearly.

“Show your brother what you are, Frank,” She commands me.

And I obey that command. But I keep my eyes averted. I cannot bear to see Joe’s reaction when he sees me for what I am. A sharp indrawn gasp tells me all I need to know….

“Know this, chosen one, that it is your own brother who delivered you unto me,” Lilith tells Joe, and then She turns to me. “Now, my Fledging…turn your brother for me.”

Forgive me, brother…

I stand at the edge of my mind, ready to take the leap into Joe’s. I can almost feel the Queen shaking Her head in mock resignation at my continuous but almost insignificant attempts to thwart Her efforts.

I can feel the desperation arising in me. I really do not want to do this, but what can I do? What else can I do? I tried and I tried and I cannot break free of Her hold over me…

To my surprise, I find that I cannot leave my own body. Something is holding me and preventing me from going over to Joe’s. Needless to say, I feel relief and gratitude for whatever that is helping me out at the moment. Then I hear her calling out to me…

‘No Frank, you don’t want to do that.’

Jana…

Lilith snarls at her.

And in my mind’s eye, I see two women facing down each other. It is a strange feeling, standing there in this battlefield that your mind created, and seeing the events as they transpire right there within you.

“He is mine!” Lilith snaps at Jana. “I have already broken the binding spell you had over him.”

Jana laughs. Her gentle laughter is a sweet, light breeze brushing by me, and also a soothing balm to my bruised soul.

Lilith looks confused by Jana’s actions.

“He gives himself to my service of his own free will, Lilith. After that, the binding spell is clearly mere formality.…”

Dare I feel relieved?

Lilith’s eyes glitter eerily in the dark moonless night. I can almost see the hell fires burning in their depths.

Then I feel Lilith make another tentative move to regain control of me, and watch Her frown.

Why is She being so tentative?

After another two tentative attempts that Jana blocks fairly competently, She suddenly laughs cruelly.

“Oh Jana, Jana…how could you? That was an interesting strategy, my dear girl, but it will only buy you a little extra time…a one-way bonding is not a very strong bond. You should know that, Jana.”

What? What did Jana do?

“You bound your heart to him…a gift that even he did not realize….Oh you foolish girl, don’t you know that men are never to be trusted? Will he return your gift, even if I didn’t already own him? You will die in his place and he will move on with the other woman.”

I stare at Jana in shock. What?!

But Jana merely smiles pityingly at the Queen. I do not understand why. Neither apparently, does Lilith.

“I loved him since I first saw him that summer when I was twelve and he was thirteen. Surely you understand that feeling of first love and only love? You shared that with Adam once upon a time….But I truly love him, and unlike you, I expect nothing in return. And I will help him achieve what matters most to him in life, because I love him…do you understand that, Lilith?”

For a moment, it looks like Lilith may empathize with Jana. Then She must have decided to focus on Her long years of barrenness….

“You can hold him but for a moment, Jana!” Lilith growls at her. “And after I burn your soul into nothingness, he will once again be mine, and ready to do my bidding.”

I stand helplessly by as they battle on my mind-field, and I can tell that Jana is losing. Yet I cannot move in to help her. The Queen’s hold over me holds, despite my efforts to break free. And I am quickly exhausting my reserves of strength. Believe me, mental battles are much more strength-consuming than physical ones.

Damn me, damn me to hell…

Suddenly the world around us stilled and everyone stood as if frozen as the clock struck nine.

Too late the Queen realizes Jana’s true intent.

Jana was never here to win the fight, only to buy time.

With a single burst of psychic energy, Lilith shoves Jana out of my mind. I can see that Jana has taken a really bad hit. I can feel her agony, but there is nothing I can do for her.

Lilith has at that moment taken over control of me again, and next I know I am again standing at the threshold of Joe’s mind.

Come on Joe, surely you can block me somehow…especially if you are who She believes you are….

I see Joe’s mental walls loom high before me. I navigate past that confidently. I did it once before about a year ago. Joe’s mind is beautiful, just like when I was here last. However, this time I am drowning in dread and horror at the sight before me. I was expecting the need to search, like before, and that would take up even more precious time. But instead I find myself standing right before the very essence of his being. The light of his soul shines bright and clear.

Damn…I forgot there must be a reason why God gave Joe a protector….Why? Nothing here makes sense. But no, don’t think, Frank, don’t think….There is clearly something here that Lilith doesn’t know, and you don’t want Her to know through you.

And there, right in the centre of the bright flaring light sits a little box. I can tell that Lilith is as surprised as I am over that mysterious box. She pushes past me to reach for the box, only to shrink back in pain.

So She sends me in next.

I fight against that directive with everything I have. But in the end, I still reach out for that box. It feels warm and comforting in my palms. I open it as Lilith tells me to, and I see…

I can hear Her screech in anger somewhere behind me. But I ignore that; I continue to stare at what is there nestling comfortably in that box. I have no idea what it is, but it is beautiful, and it comforts me like nothing else I know.

Lilith tries to take the box from me, but Joe stops her. I stare at my brother as he comes in between me and Her.

She cannot get past him.

“Your soul may now be safe from me, but your brother’s still mine,” Lilith says as She reaches for me instead.

“No,” Joe contradicts Her. “His soul is mine…mine to guard and mine to protect.” With that, he pushes Her out of his mind. I can see Her shocked and furious expression.

The little box in my hands closes and returns itself to its former position. Then I feel Joe’s essence surround me comfortingly for an instant. I wish I could stay there forever. Then I find myself being gently returned to my body.

But not before I saw the flash of intense pain that Joe tries to hide from me.

I force my eyes open as quickly as I can. The sight before me sends terror into my heart. Joe is bleeding profusely from a wound to his left torso, and I can see that Lilith is preparing to hit him with a death blow. I move swiftly, placing myself in front of Joe. The pain is excruciating…but at least Joe is safe…for a while more.

Lilith’s face blazes with fury, then it suddenly turns cruel.

To my horror, She commands me to kill Joe instead.

I instinctively steel myself for a losing battle against Her will, only to realize that I no longer feel the compulsion to carry out that directive. I can almost feel Joe smiling behind me, and I know he blocks that directive somehow. I certainly can feel his hand resting comfortingly on my shoulder.

Now I can appreciate the word ‘exhilarated’ fully.

I can feel Her fury now, but somehow it does not terrify me as it did before. I guess I don’t feel quite so alone anymore, knowing that Joe is behind me, and that he’s always with me.

Even unto death… death? Death.

And Lilith towers over us both; the fires of hell burn in Her undead eyes. Before She can come down on us, a couple of arrows whiz past, forcing Her back. The arrows continue to fly, forcing Her further away from us.

I turn my head and see Jana and Jonah rushing towards us, crossbows in their hands. And I note with some concern that both of them are injured. And Jana, Jana is definitely not in good shape. She looks pale and shivery, but there is no mistaking that determined glint in her eye.

She came for me.

That knowledge warms my cold heart. I hope I will have the chance to talk to her about that.

Behind them is an older stocky man in his late thirties. I wonder who he is; I’ve never seen this particular hunter before. And the way he moves, the way he moves….Then I hear Jonah calling him ‘Gramps.’

When Lilith makes another attempt at us, it is the older man who intercepts Her death blow and flings Her away from us. It is clear that I am not the only one who is taken by surprise by his appearance. Lilith clearly fails to expect another vampyre like me on the Van Helsings’ side.

I feel my brother struggling to get up from behind me, and I turn to help him. Then we join everyone else in watching the tableau as it unfolds before us….

“You…” Lilith whispers, but her words carry easily across the silent night air. “I searched for you for centuries, but never found a trace of you.”

“It’s over, Lilitu. His nineteenth birthday was over a year ago. You did not successfully turn him then, and I doubt if you can ever tempt him to join you again…and you know he can only be turned once,” the stocky man whom Jonah calls ‘Gramps’ said to Her.

Lilith stares at that stocky man for a long time, and when She finally talks, Her tone is dead and flat, “Adamah…it’s been a long time since we last met…but I see you are still against me….”

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Disclaimer

The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The Hardy Boys Fan Fiction authors of the Hardy Detective Agency have just borrowed them for an adventure or two. The authors promise to put the boys back when they are done with them. The authors do claim copyright to the original characters in this story. Please do not borrow original characters without express permission of the authors.