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The Hunter's Bane

Summary:

AU Dracula fanfiction with Van Helsing and Dracula as bisexual women of colour. Also features Bela Lugosi, the actor who played Dracula in the 1932 film. As well as an asexual Mina Murray and original characters. The story explores themes of race, gender equality, sexuality and trauma.

*Synopsis*

The continent of Eurelle is in the grip of a Monsterfugue. A bestial plague of epic proportions,driven by the mother of monsters, Countess Dracula. The King and Queen of Ravia (Transylvania) summon Aeola Van Helsing and give her a mission. She must defeat Dracula and rescue Jonathan Harker from the infamous castle. She accepts and travels to the castle with two companions. Mina's brother, Henry Murray and Bela Lugosi, a retired Ravian hunter. Will Van Helsing kill her arch enemy or will things take a different turn?

Work Text:

Chapter One~A Royal Mission.

The stoaway shot out of the case as soon as I opened it. 'Henry Pilkington Murray!' I barked. 'You little weasle! I specifically told you not to come.' He beamed up at me, a rakish grin on his aristocratic face. The miniturisation charm had shrunk him and he was as small and nimble as a fire pixie. Minus the incendiary powers. He landed on the armoire, his pressed velvet jacket crumpled and torn. His wizard cane had an ebony top and it was decorated with swirling spell script. He had only been a wizard for three months and he was apprenticed to a grand mage from the Balu islands. My mother is Balunese but I've never visited the islands myself. They are north of the continent of Eurelle, in the Katawan Straights. My mother journeyed to Eurelle as a young woman. An immigrant looking for money, comfort and security. A tsnumani had wiped out most of her family and she was looking for a new start. She settled in Dagland, a prosperous country to the south, with a thriving mercsntile class and a respected School of Alchemy. She met my father, an Alchemy professor and they married and had me. Aeola Van Helsing, Hunter of Monsters.

Henry waved at me cheerily and squeaked a reply.
'I did it Aeola! The miniturisation spell worked! Praise Baku!'
'Congratulations,' I said dryly. 'You won't last five minutes.'

'Minita revete,' Henry chanted. He reversed the spell and I backed away as his body started to grow, his features elongating. He jumped down from the amoire and gritted his teeth in discomfort.'Good grief! I feel like m-murder!' His body settled back into it's usual state and he promptly vomited on the rug. My lip curled; what a buffoon. He wasn't going to get any sympathy from me.

'It serves you right. You cretin.'
Henry mopped his mouth with his silk kerchief.
'By jove, you're in a frightful mood.'
I rolled my eyes and said nothing. Henry Murray was an entitled lummox, but he was best friend's brother. I couldn't be too hard on him. My thoughts turned to Mina and I wondered how she was getting on. She hadn't heard from Jonathan in days. He had come to Ravia to Castle Dracula, high in the Gambelash mountains. His law firm had had dealings with Countess Dracula and he had brought her the deeds to a property in London that she had recently purchased: a run down pile called Carfax Abbey. He had journeyed to Ravia three months previously but he hadn't written for a while.No doubt the countess was the reason for his silence.

A month ago, Eurelle had been plunged into a Monsterfugue, a bestial plague, the likes of which had not been seen in millenia. Monsters had appeared all across the continent: ogres, cyclopses, sirens, kraken, lava elves and lycanthropes. Me and all the other hunters had had out work cut out. The Hunters Association had been dissolved in the Middle Ages but it had been resureected to deal with the surge of bestial activity. Centred in Dagland, it had formed a council and immeduatedly registered all the living hunters and assigned missions to each of them. The council had also worked closely with the King and Queen of Ravia. Their land had been plagued with harpies and elves and other horrifying creatures. They had also noticed an increase in vampire attacks and kidnappings. Dracula's brides and grooms had descended on Ravian villages and fed on more victims than ever before. Some they took back to the castle and even the Ravian army were loathe to rescue them. The king and queen reckoned that Dracula was building an army and that she was behind the Monsterfuge. They suspected that she had imprisoned Harker too and this was all part of a plan to subjugate humanity and put us all under yoke and chain. The purchase of Carfax gave her property and a foothold in London, the wealthiest city in England. England and Eurelle were old rivals but they had laid down their arms in recent years. Both had a high standard of living and a lords and gentry aplenty. The Monsterfugue hadn't reached England yet but it wouldn't be longed befire the hordes descended. And Dracula had made her own mark already. If she could control England and Eurelle, the world would be thrown into chaos.

That's why I was here. The King and Queen had requested that I be sent to deal with Dracula. If I cut her off the head of the snake, her grand plans would come undone. The vampires and the other monsters would be leaderless and they would no longer be fuelled by her magical energy reserves. In other words, they would be sitting ducks. Ripe for the taking. I could rescue Harker too, if there was anything left to rescue. I sighed heavily, Henry Murray would only slow me down. He would be a hindrance, rather than a help.