Terribly sorry if it says that I posted two new chapters in your emails, I forgot to add an entire section of this chapter. -hears thousands of palms hitting faces- Oh shut up.

A/N: Tell me if you like the three new characters I added in. I like them flawed, because flaw make things more humane, and that means that you can relate to them.

In explanation for the wait, midterms plus birthday equals madness and minor depressions. There you go.

Oh, and I'm basing Dracula's coffin off of the one in Van Helsing when he does the whole "MARISHKAAAAAA!" -sob- -drama queen pose- routine.

I'd like to dedicate this to Orealie, who, instead of just reading until one gets to the end of the fanfic (so far) and giving me one review, actually took the time to review each and every chapter. Every review counts, even they're only on sentence long, I still always appreciate them. Also got me to 250 reviews, which is super cool!

Enjoy.

xxxx

Amira turned away from Dracula's door and walked down the hall to the armory. She opened the tall doors and grabbed several knives from the nearest rack of them. She put one in each boot, and one in each cuff on her shirt. Now all Amira had to do was hope that when she was turned into a vampire, she somehow managed to acquire the ability to use knives with skills. Yeah...

When she believed that she was somewhat well equipped she left the armory and walked back to Dracula's bedroom chamber and got herself prepared...

Just remember what he did to you.

Amira burst through the doors with red hot fury blazing in her eyes, it was quite the dramatic sight. Of course, it wasn't as if anyone was around (or awake) to shrink in terror, but it's the effort that counts, right? She glanced back and forth with predator's eyes, looking for Dracula. Her eyes locked on to his stone and ice coffin. She prowled forward and stopped at the side of Dracula's coffin and glanced inside.

And there he was, looking absolutely perfect... as always. His arms were crossed over his chest in the typical vampiric fashion, though Amira was sure this was just for dramatic effect. He looked almost peaceful, lying there, shrouded in ice.

Amira traced a sharp fingernail across the glassy surface as she circled the coffin, a faint smile playing upon her red lips. It would be so easy to kill her husband right there, while he was in this unconscious state. Her nails sharpened as she dragged them across the top, creating deep gouges in the otherwise smooth ice. Her anger boiled and surged forward as she watched him sleeping so innocently. He wasn't allowed to act like he was the image of innocence. He stole hers.

Just do it now. The honeyed voice whispered playfully in her ear. He hurt you so much, now it's your turn to hurt him.

Her eyes gained a wild, insane look as she smiled slightly. He... hurt... me.

None of her knives would penetrate completely through the ice and reach Dracula's sleeping body. She flicked her head to the right and saw a decorative sword hanging above an empty fireplace. She was at the fireplace's mouth in an instant, and in a second more she had relieved the sword from where it had been collecting dust and slid it out of its sheath. She tested the blade against her finger, it cut it easily. Amira smirked as she stalked back to Dracula's coffin, trailing the blade behind her. She decided that beheading him would be the best way to go. When she reached the side of the coffin once again, Dracula was still lying there. (What a shocker, eh?)

Amira climbed on top of the coffin, her legs spread slightly far apart in order to gain purchase on the stone sides. She switched her hand position and grabbed the hilt of her sword with both hands as she prepared herself to drive the sword straight through his neck.

Just do it. Just do it. Just do it. The voice chanted into her ear, filling Amira's mind.

She raised her arms high over her head and then, time slowed. She felt herself driving the sword downward with all her strength, the blade was just touching the surface of the ice when...

CRACK.

There was an explosion of ice and stone. Amira was thrown off her feet and into the wall several feet behind her. She smacked her head against the stone wall and felt blood seep out of the wound the crash had created before the skin on her scalp began to heal almost instantly. Stars bloomed in her eyesight as her head spun, but she knew she had to move before Dracula killed her. She got up and stumbled to the right, and she was not a moment too soon, for a giant icicle had been thrown directly at where she had been lying a second before. Amira lurched to her feet when the stars cleared up and she could see properly again. She stared at the spot where Dracula's coffin used to be, all that remained of it was dust and rubble. Where did that bastard go?

Her question was answered in record time.

"What are you doing in my room?" A soft, deep voice purred in Amira's ear. Dracula's arm snaked around her waist and pulled her close.

Amira wriggled out of his grasp. She was a bit disturbed to realize that Dracula was a horny bastard even directly after people attempt to kill him.

Dracula was standing in the shadows, his brilliant blue eyes drilling into her skull.

"And why..." his eyes flickered to the broken sword lying on the floor before returning back to Amira's. "were you trying to kill me?" His eyes flashed dark for a moment before returning to their original color.

Amira took another step back. Her anger had begun to evaporate and fear began to creep in as Dracula gave her a murderous glare.

There was a pause.

"ANSWER ME." He roared.

He took a step forward, and suddenly Amira was pinned to the wall. She hadn't even seen him move. Dracula latched one of his clawed hands onto her neck and forced her upward. She could feel the fragile bones in her neck cracking under the pressure. Amira clawed at his arm as Dracula lifted her higher, snarling as he did so.

Remember what he did to you!

Amira felt a bone snap. "You destroyed my life." She managed to gasp out. It turns out that physical pain isn't such a trivial thing when it hurts this much.

Dracula let go of Amira's neck, allowing her to drop to the floor. She rubbed her neck as it healed itself. It took longer than it had when she got hit on the head.

"But I gave you so much more!" He shouted back.

"You put me in a trance and made me think that I loved you."

Dracula smirked. "It's not my fault that you are too weak to be able to withstand my powers."

"You tried to make me forget the life I had before!"

"So that you could start anew with me." Dracula had quieted down a bit. He didn't very much like it. He began to walk forward as his mind furiously skipping from idea to idea as he tried to think of the most torturous way to kill Zane for implanting such wicked thoughts in Amira's head just when he had her where he wanted. His mind had instantly leapt to Zane when he been awoken abruptly (and rather rudely, from his point of view) from his slumber, but for some reason he had a feeling that not even Zane would have Amira do such a thing as this.

"That is not true." Amira whispered quietly, her eyes averted. Her hands were so tightly clenched together that they were trembling. Dracula stopped several feet away from his bride. Amira tried to keep the emotion out of her voice as she said, "It was all for vengeance." Her eyes flicked upwards to stare into Dracula's, and she couldn't help but let a single tear trickle down her cheek. (Who said Amira wasn't for drama too?) "Now it's my turn to exact my vengeance upon you!" She pushed herself up and with lightening speed pulled a knife out of her boot and slit Dracula's throat. Dracula's hands clutched his throat as blood seeped in between his fingers. He hadn't expected her to move so fast after being injured so severely. He sneered as the dreadful wound healed. When nothing was left but a faint line of blood from where the knife had sliced the skin, he turned to the side and backhanded Amira. She stumbled backwards but kept her balance.

Dracula advanced towards her, a feral gleam in his eyes. "You insolent fool! You dare hope to defeat me? I am the most powerful vampire in the world." He was now exceedingly angry at Amira for ruining his favorite jacket. Oh, and making an attempt on his life twice in one evening.

Amira snarled and leapt forward, but Dracula was too quick. He easily sidestepped her and watched as she collided with a sickening thud against the stone wall. She staggered back to her feet, hatred shining in her eyes like a beacon.

"You know, you are far too arrogant for your own good." Amira muttered, at the same time loosening the blades in her wrist cuffs. She rushed forward and threw the blade in her left hand at Dracula when she was halfway to him, keeping the one in her dominant hand as she ran the rest of the way to meet her husband in hand to hand combat. Dracula blocked all her attacks with practiced ease, which just caused Amira to get more and more frustrated.

He slowly backed her into a wall before disarming her with an expert flick of his wrist. "You cannot kill me Amira." He pushed his body against hers and whispered in her ears in such a taunting way that it caused Amira's blood to boil. "And I do not wish to kill you." Amira struggled harder, but Dracula only tightened his grip. "But I will if I have to." Amira did the only thing she could do. She shifted her position and kneed him as hard as she could in the... well... you get the picture.

Dracula jerked backwards and fell down as he gasped in pain. Amira took this moment to take her last knife out of her boot and picked up one that had been discarded. She then readied herself for the onslaught of attacks that were soon to come.

Dracula recovered quickly and stood up, all previous "affection" gone from his eyes, replaced only with fury. He rushed at her so quickly that Amira barely saw him. She stuck both of her knives out and swung wildly, praying that one would find its mark. Indeed one did. She was rewarded from her swinging when one of the blades sunk into Dracula's soft flesh, but Dracula was going too fast to stop himself, so he just dug the blade further into his own shoulder. Unfortunately for Amira, he barely noticed the pain in his shoulder, for he was far too busy focusing his attentions on hurting his bride. He punched Amira in the stomach and grabbed onto the arm still holding her knife, twisting it into an awkward angle. Amira cried out in pain and shock, but managed to pull herself low and kick Dracula's legs out from under him. She scrambled backwards, clutching her hurt arm as she did so. Dracula finally noticed the knife in his shoulder and pulled it out. He bent it in half and tossed the ruined blade carelessly aside.

Dracula stood up and walked towards her. Amira was lying on the floor, trying to hold back tears as she stared at her injured arm. "You are a silly little girl." He sneered at her and crossed his arms under his chest. "You are more trouble than you are worth. I should have just killed you when I found you."

Amira gritted her teeth and reset the bone, crying as she did so. Then she looked up through her tear filled gaze. She wiped the tears away and stood up, still holding her arm as it began to heal. Her fingernails dug into her own arm, causing tiny droplets of blood to leak out and dribble down her arm. Amira had never been so angry in her entire life. Everything around her seemed to vanish, just so she could focus every fiber of her being on Dracula and the idea of destroying him. When she let go of her arm, her long, sharp fingernails were covered in her own blood, but she barely noticed. All she had on her mind right now was killing Dracula. So, without any weapons at hand other than her own body, she raced towards Dracula as quick as she could. Dracula attempted to sidestep her again, but she was ready this time. She changed direction with a twist of her foot and leapt at Dracula, her blood soaked claws outstretched. Amira slashed Dracula in the face before he had time to dodge her again, creating large slash wounds from one side of his face to the other. He lengthened his own claws and stabbed Amira in the stomach with one hand while dragging his claws down her uninjured arm with the other. As soon as he had done enough damage he jumped backwards, readying himself for another attack.

Amira, however, was far too busy staring at the ever increasing blood stain on her shirt. She forced herself to look away and focus back on Dracula, now licking her blood off of his fingers. He savored the taste of the still warm blood as the salty liquid filled his mouth. When he looked up and found her staring at him, he smirked, licked the last of her blood of pinky finger, and leapt forward just as she did. The met in midair, crashed together and locked themselves in a battle for dominance. They both managed to do a fair amount of damage to the other, though Amira was certainly becoming in a steadily worse condition than Dracula. She had lost too much blood, and was beginning to become light headed.

And at last came the final blow. Dracula sneered at his wife's weakness as he lay on top of her and, before he could stop himself, reached forward and crushed her throat so hard that her head tore off from her body. How ironic, the fate that she had willed upon Dracula had become her own instead. Dracula, realizing what he had done a half a second later, fell backwards and crawled away from the now dead body of his wife as a sense of shock set in.

xxxx

Amira, on the other hand, had been thrown into a blinding white light the moment Dracula's hand and reached down and clenched her throat.

She was floating... Where exactly, she was not sure at all. She looked left and right, but all she could see was white nothingness.

And then...

Damn. I should have known she would die. A deep voice rumbled through the void.

Another, more feminine voice answered, Ha! I told you so. Now I get to choose the next antichrist!

Oh shut up you two, she's here. A distinctly authoritative voice rang out.

Amira was abruptly dropped out of the white void to land on a pale marble floor at the feet of three figures draped in gold cloth. Two of the figures were male, and one was female. All were inhumanly beautiful. They all had slender forms and pale white skin, but not in the vampiric way that Dracula and herself possessed. The female had long, light red hair the tumbled down in curls to her lower back. The two males both had straight black hair that reached to their mid back, but one was of larger build than the other. Amira felt very small and ugly in their presence. The female reached down and helped Amira to her feet.

"Sorry about that," said the male with the authoritative voice, "those two" he jerked his thumb behind him at the two bickering beings, "were too busy making bets about your survival."

At Amira's bewildered expression, he changed his expression to one of sympathy. "I'm sorry, how rude of us to not introduce ourselves. You may call me Deimos. This," he gestured to the second male, "Is Azariah. And this," he gestured to the female, "is Rhonwen. We are the Powers That Be."

At this, Amira's expression became even more confused. "I... what? Then Zane-"

Azariah snorted in an almost inelegant fashion -of course, it would be impossible for them to be inelegant without trying to be, seeing how they are the Powers That Be- and replied, "Is an idiot. And one of our servants. One of the few beings on Earth that know of our existence."

"But I thought you were all apart of his imagination."

"Apparently we aren't, seeing how we're standing right in front of you." Rhonwen replied in a slow voice that an adult would use on a small child.

"Ugh... why must all humans be so dumb?" Azariah muttered to Deimos. Deimos in turn slapped him up side the head.

"Just because they don't have an infinite knowledge of the universe like us doesn't mean that you should just go ahead an insult them!" Deimos growled. "Humans have feelings too!"

Amira decided to ignore this unusual spectacle and the insults upon her intelligence. She had other questions that needed to be answered. "Why am I here?"

Rhonwen answered, "Because you died."

"Did you cause my death?" Amira asked, wondering if they had somehow controlled Dracula's actions during the fight. A tiny spark of hope shone through the black sadness and dull anger that had begun to grow in the pit of her stomach.

"No." Deimos shook his head. The glimmer was snuffed like a candle. "Satan is scheming against us again." At this, Rhonwen and Azariah rolled their eyes in an exaggerated manner. "He just loves to play favorites against ours. He's the one that had you killed, so you can blame this all on him." The hope was ignited again. He tilted his head to one side in a contemplative manner. "Actually, you can still put most of the blame on Dracula. He's the one that ended up wanting you dead in the first place." His expression shadowed for an instant before becoming warm again. Amira, on the other hand, was too busy threatening to douse the hope with a bucket of water if it decided to ignite again to notice.

"Why is Satan scheming against you?" Amira asked, her curiosity aroused.

"Well, I imagine Hell can get rather boring after a couple thousand years. This isn't the first time he's tried to disrupt the balance of the universe. Why, just the other day he sent one of his minions up here to switch my hair care products. Now look at my hair!" Deimos held up a piece of his silky black hair. "This used to be blonde, you know! Now I look like Azariah from the back, and the little monster put some sort of spell or enchantment in it so I can't change it back!"

Amira wasn't quite sure how dying the hair of a Power That Be would somehow disrupt to order of the universe, but she kept her mouth shut about that and asked another question. "Why didn't you sense the minion when he entered your domain?" Wherever this is...

"I was far too busy partying with-" He cut off as all the Azariah and Rhonwen both giving him slightly annoyed looks. "I mean, studiously maintaining the order of the universe to have noticed the dirty little demon." Amira had a hard time believing this, but she had more important matter to discuss with these people than to wonder why one of the Powers That Be was off partying.

A slightly awkward silence ensued until Azariah swept his long black hair behind him and stepped forward. "Now, you can't stay here for too long. The last human that did ended up imploding for some reason..." Azariah grimaced. "It took us forever to clean up, because we kept employing more humans to clean up the mess, but they kept imploding as well. Finally, we had to-"

Rhonwen cut Azariah off as she pushed him aside. "So, we're going to have to just send you back to Earth, good as new. Of course, we're also going to momentarily give you a very small portion of our powers, so that you can send Dracula back to Hell, where he belongs. He's been wreaking too much havoc on Earth for our liking."

Azariah finally recovered and shoved Rhonwen to the side. "Think you can do that for us?"

Amira's eyebrows knitted together. "Why can't you just do it yourselves?"

Azariah sighed, "Because we cannot directly interfere in the state of otherworldly affairs."

"Aren't you interfering by giving me power though?"

"Ah... no. By directly interfering, I mean we can't just go down to your planet and start shooting lightening bolts at whoever we please. That would disrupt the balance of the universe, white would become black, water would become fire, you get the picture. So we send people like you down there to do our bidding to better the universe as a whole."

"Um... okay."

Deimos had finally regained his authoritative composure since the little embarrassing scene earlier, and pushed both Rhonwen and Azariah aside. "Now, after you send Dracula back to Hell, all the power we're about to give you will leave your body. Might I suggest running as fast as you can away from Castle Dracula when you kill him, though? All sorts of little nasties will be coming out of the woodwork and searching for you.

Amira nodded dumbly. She still felt rather small and insignificant in front of these three magnificent beings.

"Now then!" Deimos rubbed his hands together and then placed his pointer and middle finger on Amira's forehead as Azariah and Rhonwen began chanting in some foreign tongue. Deimos' fingers began glowing brighter and brighter as Azariah's and Rhonwen's chanting got louder and louder until the chant filled Amira's mind and the light blinded her vision. She felt an immense, pure surge power wash into her body as soon as the chanting stopped.

"How... how will I know how to do it?" Amira asked, confused.

Deimos gave her a knowing smile. "Oh, you'll know how to do it."

"Good luck!" The three said together. Deimos swept his hand and Amira drifted away, shrouded in a white light.

xxxx

Dracula finally stood up and dusted himself off as he got over the original shock. Forced himself not to look at the mangled body of his bride lying there on the floor. He felt like he had a heart again, and it was now in the midst of making Dracula feel incredibly disgusted with himself and sad for what he had just done. He turned away and began to walk towards the bathroom door, intent on cleaning himself off, when a burning white light filled the room, causing Dracula to squint and attempt to shield his eyes with his arm as he turned back to the source of the light. It was Amira's body, slowly stitching itself back together. Dracula took a step back as his lips drew back in a growl. Once Amira's head was once again attached itself to it's body, Amira stood up and turned to face Dracula.

"What... what is this?" Dracula whispered softly in awe, taking a step back as Amira took a step forward. "You're alive?" He asked, surprise, fear, and just the tiniest ounce of relief flooding into his voice.

He attempted to turn into his hell beast form, but some unknown power made it impossible for him. This had never happened before. The fear began to set in. He took another step back until he had nearly touched the wall behind him as he watched his beautiful angel with wonder and terror as she advanced upon him.

xxxx

Amira was quite sure at this point that she wasn't the one controlling her body, even though she was conscious of her thoughts and surroundings. She took another step forward, basking in the glory of having nearly infinite power.

"You were right when you said you should have killed me when you found me." Amira whispered, though her voice echoed through the room with a thousand other voices saying the exact same words. "Now you must pay for your mistake."

Amira moved forward, and, with deadly accuracy, grabbed Dracula from behind and pulled him close while at the same time pushing her clawed fingers into his throat hard enough to draw blood. But this was merely a show of power.

"And now," she whispered softly in Dracula's ear along with the many other voices, "Let the gates of Hell be opened." Amira pushed Dracula aside and made a slashing motion with her right arm, causing a huge rift to open directly in front of her and stretch from one side of the castle to the other. Flames leapt out and licked the sides of the gaping crevice. She stared down into it, but she could not see the bottom.

"No!" Dracula shouted, his face contorted in fear and dread. "I will not go back!"

He sprinted to Amira and tackled her, throwing her to the ground. Amira growled and punched Dracula in the face, causing his head to snap back. She rolled over so that she was the one on top of him and hit him again. Dracula spat out blood and pushed Amira away, towards the edge of the crevice. She scrambled backwards as more of the floor fell away. Dracula grabbed onto her neck and pushed her down so that he was on top of her and mauled her as hard as he could. It burned to touch her, but Dracula knew that he could not stop. Amira leaned forward and bit into Dracula's shoulder. He jerked backwards but Amira held on for dear life, sinking her fangs deeper and deeper into his shoulder while Dracula howled in pain. He finally kneed her in the stomach, causing Amira to let go and fall backwards. They immediately went at it again, all the while getting closer to the edge until they were fighting right along it. But with Amira's newfound power, Dracula couldn't stop her. Amira was becoming languid and untouchable as she got used to it, and Dracula was become sloppier and more desperate. But he couldn't give up yet. He grabbed on to Amira's curly hair and pulled her head back as hard as he could. She shrieked and kicked Dracula in the shins, causing Dracula tumbled forward and let go. The moment he did so Amira pushed him backwards with all her might, causing Dracula stumble backwards, over the edge of the crevice and out into the open air.

Dracula was hanging in space, hands outstretched as he tried to grab something... anything other than thin air. The last thing he could see was Amira, standing on the edge, staring at him with a mixture of a hundred different emotions, and then... he began plummeting downwards into the fiery chaos to be engulfed by the flames of Hell.

Amira... you overcame my power.

xxxx

No... this isn't the end.

But we're getting very close.