Author's note: This is a fanfiction I have spent several years of my life contemplating, as weird as that sounds, and I finally have it the way I always hoped it would be. I plan on updating this once to twice a month! With any luck you all will enjoy this story as much as I do.
Chapter 1: Beginnings
Lucy Christine Knight is not what we would call "a normal well-adjusted woman". Perhaps, I should explain why. Most stories are best explained from the beginning, not halfway through and going back to the beginning, so we'll do that. Lucy was born in 1864 in Perth, Scotland into the legacy of the Knight family from her father Alan Knight. From an early age she was taught she would inherit her father's legacy of continuing the Parliament of Scotland, although it never truly interested her. Lucy seemed to take more after her mother and her side of the family. Lucy's mother, Charlotte, was born in Amsterdam along with her older brother, Abraham who adored the family despite the short time he got to spend with his wedded sister and her husband and daughter. Lucy had started writing her uncle letters since she was small, and was encouraged to do so as it would keep her penmanship in excellent practice. This day we will start our story in the month of November in the year of our Lord in 1889 when she got a letter in the mail announcing she would be spending the summer with her uncle in Amsterdam, completing her studies abroad.
"Father! Mother! Did uncle tell you?" She announced excitedly. Charlotte smiled and nodded.
"Abraham was very insistent you spend your last year of studies with him since he is a professor of law."
"Law? More like everything you could hope to get your hands upon" Alan chuckled to himself. "How many advanced degrees does your brother have now? Seven? Eight? Ah, he doesn't send me any letters." Charlotte tittered at Alan's dry comment. "Perhaps if you kept up with your letters he would reply." Alan huffed in response. Lucy however amongst the slight grousing in her home began pacing back and forth.
"Perhaps I will find someone who could be a suitable leader along me, or find a few close advisors… oh I am speechless you both managed to keep this a secret! I do wish you gave me a warning, the 21rst is only a fortnight away!" Lucy shot an accusatory look towards her father who simply shrugged in response.
"We wanted to make sure everything would go accordingly without any problems." Of course. The parliament meeting was the day before she left. Tensions were high as some nobles from England would be in Scotland and as of that time it wasn't the best for Brits and Scots to be around each other. Throwing her momentary nervousness aside she returned to her state of anticipation.
"I suppose I should start packing then." She phrased it more like a question but made tracks for her room anyways.
The days leading up to her departure were a bit too long for Lucy but when the day arrived finally, she would often contemplate how different her life would have been if she had not gone. Lucy's parents insisted on riding with her in the carriage to the train station which she was not opposed to and happily obliged.
"Oh! Father, I almost forgot, how did the meeting go yesterday?" Alan's face suddenly reddened and he looked down, not meeting his daughter's gaze.
"It could not have gone worse." He barely spoke above a whisper. "The British noble insisted I was too incompetent to be a member of the Parliament. Before I knew what happened everyone was questioning my credentials, my education, even my beliefs." Charlotte looked disturbed as her husband revealed these accusations to their daughter. He lifted his face and attempted to smile to reassure Lucy. "But, thank God this Parliament is hereditary and not by vote or else we would be having a very different discussion about your studies." Lucy offered a small smile in return. Clouds began to roll over the sun, covering their path in darkness.
"Goodness! It looks as if nightfall really is coming early today! Winter surely can't be far behind!" Lucy chimed looking to her mother for a change in tone, but quickly fell hushed. Her mother's face was that of pure fear. "Mother? What is it?" Silence. Only the horses' hoof falls were heard. "Father! What's wrong with.." She stopped speaking. Alan's face matched her mother's perfectly. A twisted two sharing the same terror filled visage. The clopping of hoofs only seemed to become louder and louder like a fear struck heart beat threatening to give out at any second. Sweat began to trail down her body as the sudden fear hit her as well. A feeling as if this would be her last second alive. Just then she heard it, footfalls, right next to the carriage, and they were keeping up with the horse at full speed. No, they were faster, gaining speed. Faster and faster. Something was chasing them, and it was about to get them. Charlotte all of a sudden let out a blood chilling scream and Alan began pounding his fists on the roof.
"Dear god! Kill me, but let my wife and daughter live!" The sound of wood snapping and horses screaming rang sharp through Lucy's ears before hitting the side of the carriage. It had jerked to a stop, no, something stopped it. Broke the horses free from it. Or so Lucy was hoping. She wasn't sure what she thought. Her head was pounding from where it came in contact with the corner of wood paneling. Someone was screaming. That she became certain of, who was it? A loud wailing followed the scream, someone else's voice was crying. Fear overcame her immediately. She realized her father was the second voice, but why wasn't her mother screaming anymore?
Dear God, they're going to kill us all. Some invisible enemy…? The British? No, but could it be? Lucy's mind raced where her body could not. Her father had stopped howling. He had stopped making any noise. Whether broken limbs or fear kept her from moving, she no longer knew. She heard footsteps approaching her. Tears pricked at her eyes.
Do I fight them? How do I fight them? Oh God. God in Heaven, I don't want to die. Someone grabbed the collar of her dress and yanked her around, forcing her to face the attacker. It was a man, or at least it looked like a man. He was dressed fairly normally but something gave him the most frightening aura around him, he made Lucy want to claw her eyes out so as to not look at him any longer. The man sneered at her, revealing sharp teeth. Lucy came to the conclusion the man was a demon come to send her to Hell. It was the only thing she could even fathom that made any semblance of reason. It began wrapping its hands around her neck, choking her.
No. I don't want to die. Tears began spilling over as she desperately looked around for something to help. She only met the empty gaze of two corpses. Mother? Father? The demon cackled.
"Ah, yes cry like the stupid human you are. Aww you miss them don't you? Don't worry, you'll be seeing them soon enough." Barely holding on Lucy began to let the blackness drift over her.
I can't die, I have so much life left, I promised I would… I would become so much more… I can't die, I can't… The monster must have decided she was sufficiently incapacitated enough to not fight as it slowly released its grip on her neck. Lucy, waiting, remembering what her uncle had told her about surviving in life or death situations. It grabbed her high collar of her dress and tore it open, fear washing over her. She managed to get in a deep breath of air and rammed her forehead into the monster knocking it back for a moment. Lucy sat bolt upright and twisted out underneath it and began to run. Her feet carrying her faster than she thought possible, perhaps now she was running as fast as the monster. Just when her lungs began convulsing and her legs wobbling with the extreme stress she put on them, she heard a train whistle in the distance.
Uncle Abraham is there waiting, the police are there, I can make it, I know I will. I won't die. I won't die here. I won't! Pushing her body even further she lunged towards the noise, the train whistle blowing louder and louder. So loud she didn't hear the monster catching up to her. As she could see the station come into view she felt an arm reach around her shoulder and a stabbing pain in her neck. She let out a scream as they came tumbling down. The monster laughed at her, blood dripping down its face.
"You know, I was going to let you off easy. Drain you dry and let you rot with those other humans. But you had to make it tough for me didn't you? I bet you won't be running now." It sliced its hand open and rubbed the wound across her lips, blood seeping into her mouth. Lucy tried to scream, but the monster bit into her throat again, silencing her. Her vision started to fade out, she began clawing at the monster's head in a last attempt to get it away.
No. I won't die. I won't die. I won't die. I won't die. I won't die. I can't. She kept repeating it in her head over and over until she passed out.
Abraham was a patient man. He could wait out an entire storm just to pass the time, but waiting for his younger sister's family to get to the train station was taking much too long. It made him nervous. He never did stay nervous long, because he would search out his reasons for being nervous and demolish them. He let out a heavy sigh as he stared towards the horizon, the rising moon casting long shadows. Twisting and turning in the moonlight, he began to amuse himself by seeing things in them. Some looked like birds, others like dancers, one he noted looked strikingly like his niece.
Wait It was no shadow, it was Lucy. Lying face up in the darkness, clothes torn, and covered in blood. Abraham sprinted towards her, shoving passengers out of the way.
"LUCY!" Men and women turned their heads to see the tall man running towards the edge of the station and then leaping off the platform to his niece. He dropped to his knees before her, teeth marks deep and plentiful across her jugular making savage wounds. The sting of losing another family member struck him deeply as he picked her up and began dashing back to the station, searching for a medical ward, anything he could use to help her.
Please God, don't let her die too. Don't let her wind up like my girl.
"Sir! What are you doing with that woman?" A train worker attempted to stop him, Abraham balked at the man, resisting the urge to snap back too harshly.
"As you can obviously tell, she is gravely injured and as a doctor I am her only chance of living through the hour! Do you have any medical kits around this forsaken station? The worker simply blinked and pointed him in the direction of a small blue building. Abraham kicked the door and began yelling.
"Open the door if you don't want a young woman to die tonight!" The door swung open revealing an irritated aging man who was getting quite red in the face. Abraham pushed past him laying Lucy's bloodied body on a table, threw his red duster on the floor and began rolling up his sleeves.
"My God man, do you have any decency? Just who the hell are you?" The man yelled at Abraham, who swiftly turned around.
"I am Doctor Abraham Van Hellsing, and I am attempting to save my niece's life. If you have a problem with that, I suggest heading to the Lord's Mass to get a proper education on the value of human life." He grabbed the medical kit behind the flustered aging man and began muttering to himself. "God you Brits are disrespectful like I wouldn't believe."