Flashes: a battlefield. A cross. A fallen angel named Gabriel kneeling before a dark lord and saying, "I will hunt you until the stars burn cold."
Van Helsing fought the brides on a burning stairwell, using a chandelier chain as a whip. Anna dueled the Monster on the battlements, not to kill it, but to reach it—to find the man inside the scars. And Dracula watched from above, laughing, transforming into a swarm of bats and back again, always one step ahead.
And somewhere in the Vatican, a cardinal lit a black candle and opened a new file.
"I know you killed me before," Dracula whispered, rising. "In another life. Another century. I know the Church wiped your memory so you wouldn’t drown in the guilt of all the monsters you used to call brothers."
Van Helsing roared. He grabbed Dracula’s head and shoved a spinning, silver-toothed wheel—a steam-driven stake launcher—into the Count’s chest. Not wood. Silver. Blessed by a dead pope.
The Monster blinked its sad, yellow eyes.
"The monster isn’t the creation, Van Helsing," Dracula smiled. "The monster is the one who builds the cage. And you, my dear hunter, are going to help me build the final one. I need his heart to power my children. I need your death to break heaven’s lock." The battle that followed broke the castle.
Van Helsing stood, brushed his coat, and turned to the trembling Cardinal. "That’s the last of Jekyll’s mistake."
"You’re still alive," he replied. "That means I’m on time."
"Gabriel Van Helsing," Dracula sighed. "Or should I say… the Left Hand of God? The angel who fell so hard, he forgot he ever had wings."
The Cardinal didn’t thank him. Instead, he handed over a scroll sealed with black wax. "Transylvania. A village called Transylvanian Alps. The dead are walking again. And this time… they have a bride." Three nights later, Van Helsing stood on a cliff overlooking a valley that had forgotten the sun. The village of Bistritz was a wound on the landscape—charred crosses, boarded windows, and a church bell that rang backward to ward off evil.
Then she walked into the light.