Ghost Dance

By Fenestrae

Disclaimer: This is purely a work of fanfiction and no money is made from it. I am merely borrowing the characters for my own amusement.

This is my first effort of fanfiction that I have ever posted and my first Van Helsing fic. Any flames sent WILL be sent through a stargate with no return address. If it makes no sense, tell me. I have a really bad tendency to miss bits and forget that people can't read my mind. Any way, here it is.

Ghost Dance

CHAPTER 1 - BALFOUR

All was quiet in the halls of the order's underground base of operations as cardinal Jinette walked the familiar paths down the halls towards the room of Van Helsing. The hunter, who rarely spent any time at all within the confines of the headquarters, was resting after a particularly trying day hunting down a rather nasty monster that liked to wear human skins. Being close to headquarters, Carl had convinced Van Helsing to take this opportunity to rest at the headquarters and catch up on his reports to the Cardinal and to re-stock up on weaponry. The Cardinal suspected that this was really a ploy for Carl to catch up on the gossip and finish some of his experiments that had been left.

Rounding the corner towards Van Helsing's room, Jinette could hear no sound coming from the hunter's room. This in and of itself was not unusual as the Van Helsing was a light sleeper and slept as quietly as he walked around the abbey. Pausing before the door the Cardinal took a steadying breath, Van Helsing was not going to like this next mission, not after the last time he has been there. Knocking lightly on the door, the Cardinal waited for the soft 'enter' before pushing the door open.

Van Helsing looked alert and ready for action as though he had not just been asleep and was still wearing his usual attire with the exception of his coat and most of his weapons. Even the bruises from the past mission were fading quickly, which Jinette noted to himself, as he watched the hunter rise from his seated position on the bed to reach for his coat.

"I take it you have another mission for me Cardinal and that this is not merely a social call?" Gabriel said as he began placing his weapons in their correct hidden places within his voluminous coat.

"No," Jinette answered looking the hunter up and down. "There is a village under attack from an evil force that is in need of your assistance."

Gabriel paused from attaching his Tojo blades within his coat and turned to the Cardinal. "I'm not going to like this, am I?"

"Knowing your past history with the place, most likely not, no. The village is in the forests of northern England. I had already sent one of our people in to deal with the problem, however we have not received word back from them. Although, we are still receiving reports of the terror continuing." The Cardinal sat in the only chair present within the hunter's room and took a deep breath. "These reports vary from a strange mist to people dying suddenly for no apparent reason. This area is known for strange phenomena occurring."

"Strange phenomena?"

"There are myths of powerful shamans controlling the dead, and using trapped spirits and demons to do their will. They are similar to the voodoo rituals known although these seem more pagan in origin." Jinette looked Van Helsing in the eyes as he said this, watching the hunter think over the possible weapons needed.

"You want me to find the source of the problem and stop it," Gabriel asked as he finished loading up his weapons.

"Yes, but I also want you to discover what has happened to our operative who was sent in before," the Cardinal said.

"Who was it?" Gabriel turned to pick up his hat, placing it on his head.

"I believe you have worked with him before?" Jinette responded. "He was known to us as Nicandro Balfour, however you most likely knew him as simply Balfour?"

Gabriel turned back to face the Cardinal with a look of shock. "Yes I knew him, we worked together to face a clan of gargoyles once in Scotland. He is a good man to have at your back. I also know that he is one of our best. It must truly be serious if Balfour has been taken down, usually he was nagging me to report back."

"I trust you will set off immediately for England. The village is located near the great lakes of the north there. Carl has already been briefed and has no doubt selected the relevant weapons that you will need. A map has already been given to Carl as well, it was the last thing we received from Balfour so it will be accurate." Jinette stood and made for the door. "Be careful Van Helsing, not everything will be as it seems and if Balfour truly has been taken down then you will need all your wits about you. I believe we are dealing with forces greater than those on this mortal plane." With that last Jinette left, leaving Gabriel stood alone.

Balfour is a strong fighter, what could possibly manage to take him down? Van Helsing thought as he walked down the corridors towards the armoury.

Upon reaching the armoury he cast his thoughts to the side as he saw Carl having a discussion with one of the blacksmiths about producing a specific part from metal. When he reached hearing range he could tell that they were arguing over the specifics of the welding and general production of steel.

"Ah, Van Helsing! Just who I was looking for, could you speak to the Cardinal about me going on this trip? I've told everyone a thousand times that I am not a field man, but nobody will listen." Carl walked over to Gabriel, leaving the Blacksmith to his work, blatantly ignoring the mutterings of 'no idea' and 'clueless' coming from the blacksmith.

"I have already seen the Cardinal, Carl. I believe this trip will do you some good and you rather enjoyed our last trip to England. Seeing the Royal palace and meeting Queen Victoria. Besides you can do some more field testing of your new inventions," was Van Helsing's easy reply to the obviously perplexed friar.

"Well, as I recall it was you who got up close and personal with the Queen and obviously enjoyed England far more than I did," was Carl's tart response.

"The Cardinal still wants you to come along in order to 'keep me alive' again and to use your expertise. We are going up against a powerful unknown evil Carl." Van Helsing said as he was handed a bag, which Carl was already filling with weapons. "Balfour was sent to investigate and has not been heard of since."

"Balfour?" Carl stopped putting weapons in the bag and truly looked at Van Helsing. "Balfour is almost as effective against the 'big bad' as you are!"

"Exactly, Carl. That means that I'm going to need you on this trip. You may be able to figure out what is going on. I know that Balfour trusts you." Van Helsing took the crossbow that Carl was about to load into the bag from Carl's hand and began to stash it in his coat.

A look of slight defeat but determination crossed Carl's face. "Yes, and that is why I believe that I shall have to go. I want to help Balfour in any way possible."

"Good man!" Gabriel slapped Carl on the back and began walking toward he stables. "Now hurry up and get a move on, we're wasting time."

The journey from Rome to England passed fairly rapidly with only one small mishap on the northern coast of England where the ship had docked, or more accurately crashed. A Banshee had ensnared the crew, luring the ship onto sharp rocks along the coastline. Luckily, the rocks were shallow and close to large sandy beaches. Van Helsing had dealt with the Banshee in his usual style of 'it it didn't work, hit it harder' and had eventually prevailed.

Now they were sat underneath a giant oak tree somewhere within the countryside, hiding from the almost ever-present rain that seemed to persist during their journey further north. They were not far from the woodlands that dominated around the lakes, and Gabriel had begun to dwell on the last encounter with Balfour.

They were surrounded; Van Helsing armed only with his Tojo blades. Balfour was similarly armed with a broadsword as his only defence. The Gargoyles were circling them, snarling and hissing in the pale moonlight. They has been caught off guard on their pursuit of the clan by the misconception that they would not be this far from their retreat during the day time. They had settled down for the night, as dawn was only an hour away, which was when they had struck.

Van Helsing began to charge the blades as a particularly large gargoyle made a lunge for him. Ducking beneath it's outstretched claws, Van Helsing swung round and sliced its midsection, eliciting a loud screech from it as it disappeared behind its brethren.

"Nice." Balfour commented, hefting his sword higher. They had been in this stalemate for over half an hour and the Gargoyles had showed no signs of retreat. "Do you think that they know that we have located their retreat?"

"It would appear so," Van Helsing replied, eying the biggest that appeared to be the leader "They know that we will destroy them when daylight arrives and they turn to stone, so they plan on taking us out now."

"So, any ideas on how to get them to buggar off and let us have some sleep?" Van Helsing smiled at Balfour's question.

"What do you expect them to do? Lie down, or more accurately petrify, and go quietly?" Van Helsing asked mock seriously.

"Well my money is on the biggest, if we take him down then the others will turn tail and run regardless. It's almost dawn. If they don't run for it soon then it will really be too easy to kill them" Balfour turned to face the largest, Van Helsing covering his back.

"I trust that you wish to have the honours then?" Van Helsing asked, knowing what the answer would be.

"Naturally. What else would you suggest, I am the faster of the two of us." Balfour grinned and readied his sword.

"Just say when and I'm all for it."

Just as Gabriel was mentioned this the largest Gargoyle lunged for Balfour. "Would NOW be convenient enough?" He asked as he swung his sword high to parry the claws of the beast, and kicking it in the midsection. Behind him, Gabriel fended off a claw swipe by removing the treats arm at the elbow joint, earning him a screech. "Now don't go having all the fun Van Helsing!"

"Well I'm not just going to stand there am I?" Gabriel said, falling into their usual banter when faced with the usual threat of disembowelment and death at the hands of a monster.

Spinning on his left foot, Balfour lined up a perfect upwards slash and through shear momentum and force, almost completely halved the gargoyle. The resulting dead gargoyle caused the others to retreat in a disorganised tangle as their alpha was no longer able to coordinate the group.

"That answers that problem then, doesn't it?" Balfour turned, cleaning his sword on a rag. "One down, the rest to go."

"Well, lets hope that they retreat to their lair, otherwise we'll have to do this all over again." Van Helsing commented as he put his blades away.

"Well it would be more fun that way, wouldn't it?"

Van Helsing wondered if Balfour had got himself into a similar mess and hadn't had someone to watch his back. Carl, waving his hand in front of his face, however cut his musings, short.

"Hello! Didn't you hear a word of what I just said? Honestly I really do not know how you manage to break things this quick. You only had it for two days and you've managed to break it!!" Carl, who was looking slightly perplexed was fidgeting with the cross bow, which had a rather large dent in the handle which was bent at an odd angle.

"Well it wasn't my fault that the banshee happened to land on it, Carl. Besides this is a good test of your on the job field repairs and of how durable it is." Gabriel tried to hide the smile that was threatening to break through his serious demeanour at the slightly annoyed look the friar was giving him.

Night was falling and so they decided to make camp just outside the woods. Van Helsing cast a look towards the woods, and felt a deep foreboding well up inside him. All was not well within and a great evil was present. Gabriel began to truly wonder if he was already too late.


That's it for chapter one. If you want more press the review button, even if it's just to say more. Reviews mean that I will write the next chapter.