Little-Snowbird

Hunt for the Monster Meanwhile, back in Vasaria, the mad scientist and the vampire had been hard at work. Count Dracula had managed to secure a place for him and Dr. Gregory Pretorius to stay, under the alias of Baron Latos. He may have been a vampire, but Dracula was also a wealthy nobleman too. He was able to purchase a sizeable residence that would double as a private laboratory for the doctor and a safe haven for him while he slept by day. The Count's money became helpful in other things too. He and Pretorius informed the new Head of police in the small town that they were looking for someone who was potentially dangerous. The money was enough to hire search parties to be on the lookout for anyone who was out of place. And when money couldn't motivate people, the Count's "charm" did the rest. Before a month had passed, most of Vasaria was keeping watch for an individual who was described as "eight foot tall, muscular, with a bad limp and possibly disfigured." The pair

Secrets are Revealed The entire morning was spent with Lawrence Talbot trying to explain to their visitor what was going on with his son, Nathan. He needed to convince Rose to keep this a secret, for the sake of his son if nothing else. Even if it meant revealing his own past as a werewolf too, he had to make her see why this had to remain between them. Rose had listened carefully to what Lawrence told her. At first, she didn't believe what he was saying. But there was too much detailed description, too much that matched what she witnessed during the night. And she knew she hadn't imagined seeing Nathan change from a wolf to a man. All she had to do was look at the state of him to know that had happened right before her eyes. "So, werewolves are not just stories? They exist?" Rose asked while she wrapped a blanket around Nathan to offer him protection against the morning chill. "I wish I could say differently, but yes. It was a time in my life that I would rather forget.

Full Moon That night, one person in the town was unable to sleep. Because he dreaded what would happen once the full moon appeared that night. The young heir to the Talbot fortune knew something bad was going to happen tonight. There wasn't much he could do about it. He had no control over what was about to happen to him at all. In minutes, he fell into a state of hypnosis. As he stared at the moon, a layer of hair started to grow all over him. His teeth grew longer and sharper until they poked out from behind his lips. Each finger was now tipped with long claws. Before another minute had passed, a werewolf stood where a man once was. Seeing the open window in the room, the beast climbed out the window to the ground and went on the prowl for prey. ---------- The sound of a howl rang through the night. It was loud enough to wake Rose Von Frankenstein from her sleep. She sat up in bed and checked the clock. It was four in the morning. "What was that?" Rose thought out

Strained Interactions Checking in to the Inn had not been as easy as it first sounded. Rose found that British money cost a great deal more than American money. She was spending three times as much to rent a room for a few days. The only consolation was that she might be making some new friends in Llanwely. She wasn't too sure about Martin Owen after he bumped into her, but Nathan Talbot had been very charming. His fair hair and blue eyes were appealing, to be sure. But there was something more about him, and that was what drew her in. She hoped that she would see him again before she left for London. She wanted to uncover the mystery surrounding him. Once she was settled in, Rose thought she would do a little exploring. Llanwely was an entirely new place to her, one she hadn't heard of until she arrived in England. This was a chance to learn about a town she was visiting. So she walked around the village and window-shopped for a while. Just walking around allowed her to

The Wolf Meets the Flower Ever since he learned what was happening to him, Nathan Talbot had been nervous about letting too many people get close to him. Not even his best friend Martin knew about his being a werewolf. Only his own father was aware of the secret, as he had once been one himself. Oh, they tried their best to keep up appearances and carry on as usual, but it was hard to do that when you were constantly having to keep track of time around the full moon. It wasn't long before Inspector Owen noticed the sudden change in behavior. Martin was confused by it too. Before the attack that night a month ago, he and Nathan would attend late viewings for entertainment or parties that lasted late into the night at least every week. Now, they had to always be back by sunset. He couldn't shake the notion that something was very wrong. But whenever he asked about it, Nathan cleverly changed the subject. Martin wanted to help Nathan in whatever way that was possible. He was

Trip to England When Rose Von Frankenstein learned of her cousin Elsa's misfortune, she wanted to visit her in England. True, she had never met Elsa before, but they were still family. And family might be just what her cousin needed now. Her mind was made up. She was going to travel to England and spend some time with her cousin. Her family was a little surprised by her desire to visit her cousin across the Atlantic, but they supported the idea. After all, she was old enough to travel on her own and was capable of making her own decisions. Her mother and brother helped her with getting packed and paying for passage on a boat. During the time that she had before her trip, her father talked with her about where to find her cousin. "Your cousin Elsa last wrote to me after she left our family's ancestral home. She left in the company of an English doctor named Frank Mannering. Their new address is enclosed here." Wolf told his daughter as he handed her a set of directions he

Wolf Pup While some family histories are shadowed by conscious mistakes, others are haunted by a choice that became a double-edged sword. The Talbot family in Llanwely England is one such case. And it all centered around the current Lord of Talbot Castle. Lawrence Stewart Talbot was not first in line to inherit the estate when his father, Sir John Talbot, was ready to retire. He was the second son of his father's second wife. After the death of his mother Selene and half-brother David, Sir John didn't have much to do with his two sons, John and Lawrence. When their father did come around from his grief, he set about looking after his boys as best he could as a widower. Sir John Talbot never remarried after the loss of Selene and David. When Lawrence was thirteen, his father sent him to stay with his aunt in America while John was groomed to be the next lord of the manor. There he would stay for nearly two decades. He didn't return to England until he was

Withered Tree's Blossom Blood is thicker than water. That is often what people say about family. Some families are cursed by the actions of one of their members. Nowhere is this case more true than in the Frankenstein family. Ever since young Henry Von Frankenstein gave life to a body he pieced together from bodies he stole where he could find them, his family line has been plagued by his creation. The resulting being nearly killed him and his fiancé Elizabeth all on the same day. The townspeople cornered Frankenstein's 'Monster' in a windmill and set fire to it, believing the horror was over. But Henry had made his creation very resilient. When one of his old mentors, Dr. Septimus Pretorius turned up to request his help in a joint project, the Monster came along as added incentive to comply. It helped that Pretorius had instructed him to kidnap Elizabeth as leverage against Henry. Together, the two scientists built a bride for the Monster, to stave off his loneliness. The

Echoes of the Past The castle, once belonging to one Dr. Franz Edelmann, was in ruins after the fire that consumed its owner and the Frankenstein monster. Ever since that fire, no one in Vasaria approached the ruins. They felt it was best to leave the past where it belonged: in the past. But what they didn't know was that the bodies were not the only things they left in the ashes of the fire. The basement in the castle had been untouched, as were all of its contents down there. Among them was a coffin with a family crest on the lid. The crest of Dracula. Suddenly, the door to a secret entrance from outside the castle. A moment later, the door was pushed open and a man climbed into the room. He was a thin fellow with wild red hair and piercing green eyes. He wore a dark coat over his suit, a doctor's bag in one hand and smart shoes for walking in. The visitor looked around the room carefully. He seemed to be looking for something in particular. His gaze landed on the