About an hour into the train ride Anna finally started to stir. She slowly brought her head off of my shoulder, rubbing her eyes as she opened them. Upon fully opening them, she gasped with fear.

"W-what?!" She exclaimed. "Where am I?!" Her head whirled over to me. "Jack?!"

"It's okay." I said, placing a hand on her her own. "We're on the train to the Dark Empire."

"O-oh..." Anna muttered, blushing with embarrassment as she calmed down. With a small growl she suddenly clutched her head, rubbing away a headache. "What happened? I don't remember..."

"You...did some sort of telekinesis thing like Madam Webb." I told her. "It was really awesome. Well, until you fainted afterwards."

"I don't remember that..." She stated. "This is so weird..."

The door to the train car suddenly slammed open as two vampires walked in from the train car behind us. One of them had a large scar which went down one of his eyes, and overall the both of them just looked like they came from an intimidating biker gang.

"Hello...Prince." One slowly grunted. "Hope you don't mind, but we're going to have to take you out."

"What?" Anna growled, narrowing her eyes at them.

"The Princess was a fool to choose you." The other stated. "And look where that has gotten us. Our future Prince is a criminal."

"Shut up." Anna gave them a fierce glare, attempting to stand up before she fell back down, her legs wobbly.

"Hah! This will be easy!" The first one laughed, walking over.

Boo jumped off my lap, covering his eyes.

"What the hell?!" He screamed. "Get off of me!"

"Hey!" The other yelled, running towards me. [Danger Sense] activated as he got closer and sent a punch. Slightly tilting my head, the fist slammed into the wall right next to my head.a

"Give me a moment." I glanced towards Anna. I gripped the fist before he could move it, yanking him forwards and slamming my foot into his stomach.

He flew backwards, slamming into the wall as the other vampire desperately clawed at Boo. Boo finally jumped off, giving me an easy opening to send a strong punch to his head and send him reeling to the ground.

"There was a reason she chose me." I spat at him. "Now go and take your friend before I change my mind."

The vampire looked at me afraid, before grabbing his companion and moving back to the other train car, leaving me, Anna, and Boo alone once more. Taking a deep sigh, I sat back down next to Anna.

"This is so annoying." Anna stated. "I couldn't do anything."

"You're still probably feeling the effects of whatever that was earlier." I told her. "Just rest."

"...fine." She sighed. "But I just wish I could have helped. I wanted to punch those two faces in."

"I appreciate it." I smiled.

We looked at each other, before slowly leaning into an intimate kiss. Boo jumped back onto my lap, nuzzling against my hand as I made out with Anna.

For the rest of the train ride we were in undisturbed, allowing us to take a moment to relax from everything that happened today. I wanted to fall asleep and forget it all, but I could do that when we arrived. It was too dangerous now.

Once the train stopped at The Dark Empire, we exited the train with many other vampires which avoided us. As we walked through the kingdom to the castle, I could feel the judging stares of all of the vampires on me.

Anna's hand tightened around my own, giving me an angry handhold. "They don't know what happened..." She angrily muttered.

"It's alright." I stated. "Just ignore them."

Boo seemed upset too, but it was hard to tell the emotions of a slime when they didn't have any facial features. The rapid jumping could be it being excited or it being upset, and I was leaning towards the latter.

As we approached the doors of the castle, I took a deep breath. I would be meeting with Dawn's parents once more, and I was not excited to encounter Dracula. Not after these recent events. And who knows how Dawn's Mother reacted to this.

Before I could even knock on the door it slammed open as Dawn crashed into me, tightly hugging onto me as tears ran from her eyes and onto my shirt.

"I was so worried!" She cried. "What we're you thinking?!"

"Sorry." I sheepishly replied, lightly rubbing her back.

"Jack! Thank god!" John appeared in the doorway, along with the others.

They all collided with me, leaving me in the middle of a giant group hug. Even the shy Brutus and (tsundere?) Sapphire had joined in.

"Are you okay?!" Krytal worriedly asked.

"You idiot..." Sapphire muttered.

"I-I'm glad you're okay." Brutus stuttered.

"Stupid brother!" Lilia shouted.

"Please, next time let me help." Angela begged.

"Thanks." I smiled at them as we all separated.

The sound of footsteps sounded out as Dracula and Carmilla appeared in the doorway. Carmilla looked neutral, which I didn't think was a good thing, and Dracula had quite the scary face.

"Alright punk. We're having a talk." He growled, grabbing my head.

"Dad!" Dawn yelled.

"Not right now!" Dracula replied. "I'm sorry honey, but we have to have a talk."

"Let me talk with him." I told Dawn. I looked to the others. "I need to explain everything."

"...okay." Anna sighed. "I hate how you keep doing everything by yourself though."

"I'll work on it." I sheepishly laughed, before Dracula dragged me away by the head. Oh boy.

As the others unwillingly went into their rooms, I was sat at the table across from Dracula and Carmilla.

"Explain. Now." Dracula demanded, Carmilla giving a small nod.

So I did. I explained everything, from the attack by Duncan to Madam Webb's death to the journey here.

"So she really is dead..." Carmilla looked away sadly. "I knew you wouldn't have done it...damn that Diabolos family."

"So what now?" Grunted Dracula. "You've successfully run away here after Madam Webb died."

What?

"Dracula..." Carmilla warned.

"I know what I'm doing." Dracula replied, glaring at me. "This kid is hiding here and putting all of us in danger from his own mistake."

I know that.

"Because he failed." He continued.

You don't need to tell me.

"So what are you going to do now?" Dracula asked. "Hide here and be a little wimp?"

I know!

All of the emotions from the day which I had held back had started to rise to the surface. A horrible mixture of fear, hurt, sadness, and burning anger bubbled to my throat as my eyes burned.

"Shut up." I whispered.

"What?" Dracula asked.

"I said shut up!" I screamed, slamming my hand onto the table with a strong thud. Dracula leaned slightly backwards as Carmilla raised an eye.

"I messed up!" I growled. "I know that! I'm responsible for everything! And I know I shouldn't have come here! I would have left everything, but I need to keep them safe! I already lost Madam Webb, and I'm not going to lose them. I could never forgive myself if I left to try to protect them and left them to their death instead."

"We decided that this was a safe place for now, and I'll be where they are." I stated. "I'm not doing this alone, because I can't. I'm sorry that I've put you into this situation, but I ask that you please bear with me."

"...so what's your plan?" Dracula asked.

"I'm going to get stronger. And I'm going to protect them. All of them, because I love them." I stated. "And when I'm ready, I'll take down the Diabolos family and clear my name. And then I'll prove to you and everyone else that I will be a worthy successor to the throne."

I stared at the two, my heart pounding from the strange speech that I just gave. Carmilla stared at me, before a small smile appeared on her face. As for Dracula, he continued to stare at me emotionlessly before letting out a snort and then laughing.

Wait, what? He's laughing? Laughing? I thought for sure he'd berate me or something?

"It seems you've grown some backbone. It's too bad you still need to be provoked to see it." Dracula laughed, standing up. "I challenge you then. Prove to me that you are worthy, and I will fully accept you."

Dracula put out his hand for a handshake.

"Deal." I smiled, grabbing his hand.

His hand suddenly tightened around mine in an attempt to hurt me.

"Oh, and do any funny business with my daughter and you're dead." He scarily smiled.

"Aw, but I want grand-babies soon." Carmilla sighed.

Dracula let go of my hand. "You can use anything in this castle, from the library to the training dummies. You have my full support. However, you realize that if this escalates into a larger conflict you are solely responsible?"

"I completely understand. I take all responsibility." I stated.

"Heh. Good." Dracula nodded. "You know, I hated you when we first met."

Yeah, not surprised.

"But maybe you've got it in you." Dracula stated. "For once, I have a little hope in you. Don't make me lose it."

He pat my shoulder once, before walking off to his own room.

"That's his way of saying he's grown to like you a little." Carmilla smiled. "You're changing Jack, and I think it's for the better. Keep becoming more mature, unlike my baby of a husband."

She giggled to herself, before starting to walk away. "Oh, and you better make a move while you're here!"

"...yeah. I will." I nodded.

Carmilla looked at me, slightly shocked, before giggling to herself once more. "Yes. This is a good change. Goodnight. If you need anything, let me know."

As Carmilla walked away, I headed back over to where my friends were, thinking over what just happened. I was surprised by the turn of events, but I couldn't help the smile that appeared on my face despite all of the bad things this day.

I arrived to the room which Anna last stayed in. Knocking on the door, it opened to reveal Anna in her pajamas. She quickly pulled me in, closing the door behind us.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine." I told her. "I just wanted to let you know that we'll get through this. Now I should let everybody else know I'm ok-"

Anna locked the door.

"Uh...Anna?" I slowly asked.

She grabbed my hand, pulling me over to the bed and sitting me down on it, before sitting next to me and hugging me.

"Let's just stay like this a little while..." She muttered. "I want you to sleep here tonight. After everything today..."

"Can I at least let the others know I wasn't murdered by Dawn's dad?" I asked.

"You can text them." She stated.

"Yeah, I kind of threw my phone out the train window." I told her.

"...you're an idiot." She deadpanned. "I'll text them."

"Okay." I replied.

Looking down at her, I couldn't help myself as I brought my face to hers. She closed her eyes, her arms wrapping around my neck as she pushed herself deeper into the kiss.

I wrapped my arms around her waist as we continued. The kiss started to become more frisky as our tongues started to intertwine. Anna gripped the back of my head as my hand started to trail around her waist.

Separating from each other, I stared into her eyes. We didn't even need to ask. We already knew what each other wanted without saying anything. We would turn this horrible day into a great night.

"Hey Boo." I whispered. "Give us some privacy, please."

Boo tilted it's (head?) at me, before jumping off and going somewhere. Turning towards Anna, I brought my face down to her neck as we started the long night.

A/N: that's right, Jackson development time

And lemon eventually