Dracula's Lost Treasure Map
Title Page
Prologue
Part I
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Epilogue
Dracula’s Lost Treasure Map
V Bertolaccini
This edition published 2017 by CB
This is a Smashwords edition 2017
Copyright Victor Bertolaccini
ISBN: 978-1-3708-6071-5
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission of the copyright owner. Nor can it be circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without similar condition including this condition being imposed on a subsequent purchaser.
All characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Prologue
Dracula’s Lost Treasure
Over centuries old Transylvanian folklore gave descriptions of lost treasures being buried away at the ancient Transylvanian castle.
Out of the ordinary accounts of events that led to the castle’s construction and extraordinary wars by great gallant and evil counts, distinguished noblemen, and later of the dormant castle buried away in the woods, lost in time, like a deadly ghost castle, and of the desolate estate, inundated people with alarming accounts of evil, unexplained magic, and malicious creatures, dwelling in its boundaries.
Inhabitants in villages gave meticulous accounts and warnings of unexplained occurrences in its province.
Of the worst, travelers on horseback escaped encounters and encountered the remains of gypsies and other ancient travelers, found in the deep dark depths of forests, surrounding the castle, with signs of being attacked and chased by deadly things with horrendous sounds, coming out the night, shifting wildly through thick vegetation and down from trees.
Investigations, and most by regional authorities, habitually concealed and disregarded findings and claims of supernatural phenomena, and newspapers concluded it was Transylvanian superstitions, ghost stories, and the desolate region and castle’s hideous presence and evil history.
Early explorers searching for lost treasures, mentioned in the old folklore, died carrying out investigations and treasure quests, and few survived, and some told of hideous occurrences and sounds of malicious demons and elementals tormenting the woods and confines of the ancient castle.
II
The King of the Vampires
Out of the blackness of night a vampire creature shot through the dark clouds like the Grim Reaper and swooped down and landed on a pointed mountain peak high over the world.
Amidst awesome darkness its black formation formed into a humanoid creature as it visualized its first appearance thousands of years ago, and it realized it had forgotten its supernatural origins, and it was mysterious and obscure, and it had memories of the Carpathian Mountains, where it believed something occurred.
For the first time in its existence it saw its obliteration and violently shuddered and its shape altered as it almost lost control.
The world still seemed unrecognizable and it was staggered by the hidden dangers to it and it monitored its formation and considered how recent occurrences could possibly have occurred, and the humans, which it fed on, had ways of destroying it, and they had destroyed most of its vampire creatures, and they had been turned into ashes after hideously being destroyed.
It instantaneously changed into a bat formation and leapt up into the air, and raced away towards its castle, buried away in an immense wood, hidden away from discovery, and it entered the trees at an unknown unexplored region, and it shifted into its long black shadows like a strange black ghost formation.
It contemplated the real dangers to its survival and eternal life and it began to contemplate how it could survive.
Its supernatural species was so ancient it could not believe it had a beginning.
Memories of the strange human creatures swirled through its thoughts, and their villages and armies it had destroyed in wars, and their strange folklore and rituals mystified it, and it recalled what they had altered into, and the ways they used to destroy the other vampires creatures.
It had been contacted by unknown humans by an unknown form, of supernatural origins, and it had chosen not to make contact, and it had not entirely grasped their extraordinary powers, with an unknown extraordinary technology, and it had been lucky as its castle was barely visited by them and it knew they feared it.
It had always had vague memories of it being trapped on the world, as a strange celestial object lost out in space, and it realized it had to fight to survive further than it had done before, and it wondered if it could, and it thought of escaping from the vicinity and discovering somewhere else.
The moon shifted overhead above the treetops as it formed a monster shape creature as it flew through the trees, and it watched the castle emerge through the trees ahead, and it suddenly sensed something, and it took comfort in the moon’s existence with its familiarity, and it resembled a stellar sight it never grasped.
Its strange shadows shifted about the lower trees below in the moonlight, probing out everywhere, and it studied everything in its surroundings, expecting hideous encounters, and it thought of all the ancient wars and deadly encounters it had won.
In the trees at the front of the castle it landed hard and instantly formed into the most deadly hideous supernatural monster it had ever contrived and propelled itself forward and smashed through the trees and its body adapted to its new form and formed more powerful legs and razor-sharp claws.
Something strange paralyzed it, and it could not break free, and it detected a form of energy, an energy formation it never recognized, and it felt it withdrawing energy from it, and it used the remains of its energy to alter into its human formation and saw humans appear from the castle, with a strange technology it never realized existed, and watched as they surrounded it, and it tried to look like one of them, and show it was one of them, and the wood and strange beings vanished, and it went into a dormant state.
Part I
Dracula’s Lost Treasure
Chapter 1
Howard Eisenberg’s Treasure
The lawyer of Howard Eisenberg rushed in the door and the others were left speechless, and John Eisenberg realized how much Howard Eisenberg had influenced and terrified them, and he watched his uncle’s aged lawyer and his peculiar reactions to everything trying to grasp why he was not reacting the way he should be, and he conclusively recalled him from when he was younger, when he visited his uncle.
The lawyer stopped in front of them and nervously hel
d out a document, and Eisenberg instantly realized how valuable it was, and especially to him, and he knew it had something important.
Amusement appeared on the lawyer’s face and Eisenberg realized again he knew something he should know, and the lawyer bent his head close and opened out the document and peered at it.
When he never did anything Eisenberg glanced over at Kurt shifting out his seat to the window behind him, where he looked down the side of the giant building to the New York traffic below, and the city streets glowing in the dying rays of sunlight, and to the sun sinking into the distant skyline.
Eisenberg shivered when a cold breeze blew across the back of his neck from an open window, and he never moved and kept his eyes fixed on the room and lawyer not wishing to miss anything, and watched the room grow silent, with the suspense, and he studied the six remaining members of the Eisenberg family.
After nothing occurred again they began whispering and adjusting their seats and Eisenberg observed the lawyer anxiously leave and go and get an old video with a typed label out a box, which he showed to them, by rotating it in his hand, with a glint of surprise, followed by sadness, and he stopped in front of them, and Kurt rushed back into his seat.
“Your deceased uncle, Howard Eisenberg,” he announced to them all, “requested that you watch the video …”
He went to the door and signaled someone, who arrived with an old video player television and set it up and keenly took the video off him and gently fitted it into it.
The picture surprised Eisenberg as it was really ancient and with signs of deterioration, with the colors making it resemble an old war movie.
The camera showed his uncle in an office by himself, behind a large desk, puffing away at one of his large cigars, and Eisenberg felt sick looking at it, and shifted in his seat, and wondered how much he inhaled it, and if he would suddenly look sick.
The picture flickered to his amusement, and he studied him wondering what he missed about him as some of the things about him in the papers and the rest of media were unbelievable, and some definitely created by him for effect, and he realized he might never grasp what he was altogether like.
Howard Eisenberg sat back cheekily staring straight into their eyes from the screen and they sat silently, not budging, wondering what he intended, and what the eventual outcome would be.
He sat upright, and stared more deeply, and came to a conclusion, and grabbed a bottle of whiskey and unscrewed the cap, and Eisenberg realized how little objects in it were dated, even though the film was clearly old, and he listened to distant vehicle and voice tones absurdly mingling, and he recalled old memories, and silence seemed to engulf the room.
Howard Eisenberg seemed different somehow and doing something and he tried to grasp what, and saw strange reactions from him to things, and he stared straight at them, and as though he was staring directly at him, like he once had done.
He unhurriedly muttered, “Each one of you will get one of my personal estates … But I want the ownership of the businesses, and wealth, to go to one of you, who’ll do as I wish!”
He sat back and looked through documents on his table and Eisenberg sat staggered wondering how much he had profited, and tried to recall his estates and where he stayed, and from what he had heard, and the media, and realized he never even knew where he stayed, but knew he had lived on his own, and had not remarried, and he wondered which of them he intended his businesses and wealth to go to, and why he insisted one person should run them, and why he had never allowed any of them to be involved with them.
Eisenberg thought of his six cousins there – and who was the most experienced, and realized he had to have made a mistake.
Eisenberg realized he should have done what he once intended to do and become experienced in the businesses Howard Eisenberg had, and not just become the private detective that he had become, and he realized how lucky he was that he had actually got one of his estates, and for a few seconds wondered if they were far bigger than he imagined, and that Howard Eisenberg had given them what they wanted, and he never needed to give them the companies.
To his surprise the lawyer left the room and returned and gave each of them an envelope, with their name on it, and kept a large brown envelope.
Eisenberg quickly opened his and glanced at the documents inside and saw he got some form of country mansion, which surely was away out in some desolate rural region, and he was not so sure he had really profited.
Howard Eisenberg looked up from what he had been doing and stared straight at them again, and the others stopped discussing what they got, and Eisenberg realized two had got large city buildings, and that they might have profited far more.
“After considerable thought,” Howard Eisenberg continued nervously, “I’ve been unable to come to a conclusion on who should get the businesses …”
Eisenberg gasped and sat looking confused, wondering what he wanted, and what he wanted the person to do, and if he was given it if he could carry it out and he considered getting someone else to run it for him and he wondered why he never did that himself, and what the hell he was up to, and he sat watching him, and studying him, and saw how mysterious he was, and wondered how he had managed to accumulate his wealth, and recalled stuff about his accomplishments.
Howard Eisenberg searched through his documents and threw them over at his side, and shouted, “I’ve decided to choose the person I want with a little game I’ve come up with, giving you a little adventure ... I’ll give you a clue that’ll lead to a harder one, followed by other clues, which will take you to a treasure chest, and the person who returns with the contents shall win ... The first clue is: A lake I’d avoid. In a giant skull.”
Chapter 2
The Search
At the edge of his vision Eisenberg watched the traffic getting thicker as the taxi rushed on, and the driver give quicker glances, and he listened to the loud voices and horns mingle with engines, and he opened his laptop and watched the news.
Beside him he glanced over at Kurt as he continued checking information, and he realized how much he had changed since he had seen him in Howard Eisenberg’s lawyer’s office, and he realized that he had been working far more than he had thought and had surely been losing sleep.
It was crazy! He himself had searched everywhere he could for the answer to the clue, and every lake he could discover with anything like a skull, and had even started dreaming of finding it, just for the sensation of it. They all intended to get it somehow!
He pulled out a small flask and downed some whisky and relaxed against the back of the seat and watched cars going by.
He now could not grasp what Howard Eisenberg was talking about, even though it sounded simple, and he wondered if what was there still existed, and why it would not be damaged if it was buried outside.
He had to have checked every lake! He had even been dreaming of lakes, and he considered if the skull was something else than he thought it was, and he realized the entire search would have been useless if it was, and he recalled Howard Eisenberg liked playing games and he became sure it was his main motivation.
Although he kept realizing the first clue had been mentioned as it being easy to get, and he realized they were just not checking something. He recalled the lawyer’s reactions when he questioned him on the phone on the previous morning, and that he was actually scared of something that might occur, and he was sure he could be sacked or something for doing something.
While he shifted near the window he heard a car door open and instantaneously recognized a black car along the road. The car belonged to another private investigator he knew and he watched him wave over at him when he spotted him, and he realized why! It was surely the fact that some of the occurrences got in the news. Though it was not really about the treasure quest and about Howard Eisenberg and his death.
He had no idea what the outcome would be, and he considered using all the investigators he had ever met to get to the source of what they were looking for. H
e attempted to comprehend what he had suggested, from the insignificant message.
Kurt glared over at him for a moment with some urgency, and swiftly returned to what he was doing.
He had chosen to join up with Kurt for a reason, and that he could help him greatly get what he wanted.
Both had searched libraries everywhere for clues, and for unknown lakes, and anything resembling one, and he started to realize that one of the others could find it first after all, and he wondered what would happen if they found the clue first and they never got to see the next clue, and if the person who found it never got the next clue, and he was sure that if nobody found the treasure chest he had left that he had an alternative plan and he wondered if his uncle was ludicrous enough to give it away to someone else.
The whole event was unbelievable, and he could hardly get any sleep, and he could hardly believe anyone could do such a thing, with so much a stake, and realized how dangerous things could become, and he even started checking files and information on his other five relatives, checking what they were like, and if they could become dangerous, and in the end left it, as he realized the information the other investigators gathered gave little on them, and little that he never already knew.
Suddenly he spotted Kurt sitting upright with his eyes wide, staring at something on his laptop, and Eisenberg listened to something he could barely hear that Kurt was listening to, and he even tried to block out the outer sounds of loud vehicles with his hands about his ears.
He was sure he was listening to the news, about something, and rushed over beside him, and straightaway realized it was not major news and insignificant regional occurrences, and was about to return to his seat when he spotted a lake where there were birds flying about everywhere, and to his surprise were attacking people and he examined it closely trying to get what they were doing, but he could not grasp what was happening or why Kurt now insisted something was occurring that he should see.
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