Wanted… Preferably Dead.
By LatanyaDisclaimer: I don't own anything to do with Gabriel Van Helsing, etc, etc, etc. However, I do own anything that I created which means that Tasya Van Lura is mine.
Chapter One: The Hunter.
His hand tightened around the grip of the sword in his hand as his eyes swept across the room carefully. If he missed anything, even the slightest movement, his life would probably be forfeit. Ah! There it was – a slight movement in the shadows beside that wall. Hopefully, there wouldn't be enough noise to attract anything because God knew; he was a wanted man in this city… just as he was in nearly every other city.
A man wanted for murder because the world didn't know or understand what he truly did. Nor did they know that he worked for a holy order based in the Vatican City where the Pope lived. Funny that. He was a holy man who committed murder for a living with the blessing of who knows how many priests and bishops and monks.
The creature leapt out at him and Van Helsing swung the sword around to meet it. However, the creature's weight forced him to the ground as the jaws snapped rather too close to his face. Kicking the creature in the gut, he managed to maneuver the sword between his face and the snarling beasts.
Suddenly a bolt impaled itself in the flesh of the back of the creatures left shoulder, causing it to scream out in both pain and anger. Van Helsing was only just able to stand up and to hold the sword in front of him before the creature turned its anger towards him. Another bolt thudded into the creature's back, distracting it long enough for the man to see a cloaked figure standing a few meters away with a crossbow ready to fire again.
"If you could get it to turn towards me, I would really appreciate that." A voice came to him, the tones distinctly female.
"How exactly do you propose I do that without it killing me?" He asked, watching the creature as it once again decided that he was the cause of his pain. "This is thing is very angry."
With what sounded like a sigh, she shot the creature a third time. However, this time the bolt went into the back of its head, causing the creature to swing around enough for Van Helsing to run past it, towards the woman. Howling in anger, the beast turned completely and the woman was able to aim a bolt for one of its eyes. When the bolt pierced its eye, the creature collapsed to the ground, very much dead.
"With trolls you have to shoot them through the eye otherwise any other wounds just make them angry. The eye is the only vulnerable place, which is why is it such a hard target to hit. You need to have a really good shot." She pulled the hood of her cloak forward to cover her face more and inclined her head to Van Helsing. "You are a wanted man, Gabriel Van Helsing, this city is not safe for you to remain for too long."
She spun about on her heel and started off into the shadows but turned back when she remembered her crossbow bolts, which were still imbedded in the troll. Van Helsing watched her place a booted foot on the troll and pull the bolts that could be recovered out of it before anyone stumbled on the dead thing. While she was doing that, her hood fell back, allowing him to see what she looked like. At the sight of her, a faint recognition filled him though Van Helsing couldn't be sure of where he might have met her before, as he couldn't remember her at all.
"Who are you?" He asked, his eyes taking in the slightly below shoulder length black hair and the slender figure that possessed more strength than it showed.
"I am called Tasya Van Lura." The strange woman turned around and he saw her face clearly.
Tasya Van Lura was slightly shorter than Van Helsing and she possessed the most intriguing blue eyes. In fact, she reminded him of Anna in a way… not just because of her confident way of moving or her slight accent that told him she came from Romania.
"The bounty hunter? When did you turn from hunting men to hunting beasts?" Van Helsing knew of her reputation and could finally put a face to the name that his "employers" warned him to stay away from.
She inclined her head, "Rather you should ask when I turned away from hunting beasts to hunt men. Since you started beating me to all the kills, I have been loosing things to do. That is the only reason why I turned to being a bounty hunter."
"I have been hunting beasts for quite some while since the Knights of the Holy Order saved my life. How long have you been a bounty hunter?" His dark eyes met hers, the recognition still there in his mind.
Smiling faintly, she tossed her hair over her shoulder and pulled the hood back over her head, "For as long as you have been Gabriel Van Helsing. For as long as you have though you would not begin to know how long that has been for. Tell me, have you ever received letters sent to you in the Vatican City from an anonymous writer? One telling you that they know your past?"
Van Helsing blinked slowly, thinking carefully before he replied to her, "Indeed I have but what would you know about those letters?"
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Van Lura turned away and started off into the shadows again, the crossbow held over her shoulder. "Leave this city Van Helsing. You are even more wanted than I am."
"You are wanted?" He followed her out of the building into the alleyway.
"Haven't you seen the wanted posters? I'm surprised since they are to be found quite often beside the posters advertising you. Though they want you alive to be tried, they want me dead. Apparently my crimes are so much more heinous than yours since I am a woman." She turned to glance at him, shaking her head.
Taking a deep breath, Gabriel looked around to make sure that there was no one around who might alert the authorities to their presence. "Who are you exactly Tasya Van Lura? Besides being the infamous woman bounty hunter. I have heard of you but I have never met you before. However, something keeps telling me that we have met before."
She snorted back laughter and walked along the side of the street, remaining wherever possible, as much in the shadows as she could. "I suppose you could say that."
"Say what?"
"That we have met before. However, your dear Knights of the Holy Order have made me swear never to tell you where we knew each other… or how… or when. Now, I am sworn to silence on that matter and will only tell you that we did know each other at some point in time." Her blue eyes glittered sadly though Van Helsing missed the expression in the dark.
"They swore you to silence? Why do they want you to remain silent when you know things about my past that I do not remember? Things that you could tell me." His voice was filled with anger, directed at the strange woman.
Remaining silent, she knocked on a door and murmured in Latin for the door to be opened. The sound of a bolt being pulled back and the door opening enough to allow Tasya to slip through caused her to tilt her head slightly to grin at Gabriel.
"Perhaps we shall meet again Van Helsing though I hope that we do not for you could never know how much pain the sight of you causes me. If you ever regain your memories, remember me." She slipped through the door and it was slammed shut behind her with the sound of the bolt sliding home.
He stood there staring at the door for a few moments before spinning on his heel to run down the street towards where he kept his horse… and where Carl was hiding himself while Van Helsing did the dirty work. If anyone could tell him anything about Tasya Van Lura, it would be that bumbling friar.
Tasya stood at the window and watched the hunter disappear down the street before she turned to her companion. "Torgny, I made a terrible mistake in tracking him down. I should have known that the Knights spoke the truth when they told me that he did not remember his past from before. He has forgotten me completely."
The man shook his head, "You had to find out the real truth for yourself Tasya but perhaps you should have done it a little more discreetly. God only knows what the Knights might have done to you if they find out that you alerted Van Helsing to the fact that you know his past."
"It is so entwined with my own that I should have known without asking."
"Is he greatly changed from how he was when you were younger?" Torgny queried thoughtfully.
She nodded, "A great deal. I believe that he has changed greatly due to his fight with Dracula and his becoming a werewolf. His heart was broken by Anna Valerious' death though if he knew his past, it would not have greatly affected him so."
"Could it have been for the best that he did not remember you Tasya? Your fight with Vladimir is your own and not his." Her companion did not sound convinced with his statement and Tasya smiled faintly.
"I felt his fight with Dracula and the pain he suffered while he was a werewolf. Would he not feel my pain?"
Turning away, Torgny couldn't bare to see the hurt reflected in the woman's eyes. His job was to keep her safe, to make sure she stayed alive. The Knights had charged him with that duty many years ago though the hunter had grown quite distant from the holy order since they refused to allow her to tell Van Helsing about his past.
"I leave in three hours Torgny. You do not have to come with me this time for I fear that I will not be coming back." She called to him as she curled up in a warm rug at the window.
"I will come with you as far as the Carpathian's. Then I will ride to the Vatican City to inform them of your intention." He replied. "Forgive me Tasya, but it is my duty to do so."
Tasya grinned, "Indeed it is and I would not expect anything less from you my friend. Do not forget to give Van Helsing that letter I wrote for him. You must place it in his hand yourself."
"I do not think the Order would like that."
"Do it for me as a friend Torgny. That is all I ask of you. Consider it my last wish…." Her voice wavered and the man could tell she was thinking again.
"Carl!" Van Helsing snapped at the friar angrily, "Do not delay any longer. We must ride to the Vatican City at once."
The Friar shook his head, "I don't know why you're in such a hurry Van Helsing. It isn't like the city is going to disappear before we get there."
"There is something I must find out and I will not be denied by those meddling priests!"
Swinging up onto his horses' back, Van Helsing waited for Carl to finish before they could leave. He was impatient to get away, to find out who Tasya Van Lura was and why she was forbidden to tell him about his past. She had obviously sought him out with the intention of finding out what he knew about her and about his past but why was the question. If she had been told to remain silent on the matter of his history, why would she go against those orders and seek him out like that?
"What's on your mind Van Helsing, that has put you in such a hurry to return to Vatican City? You cannot be surely excited to be giving your next mission… can you?" Carl asked in a worry. This was quite unlike his companion.
Van Helsing glanced at him, "What do you know about Tasya Van Lura?"
"The bounty hunter? Not much besides the fact that she used to work for the Knights of the Holy Order doing the same job as you do but then she split away from the Order and started taking on jobs as a bounty hunter." The friar murmured.
"Is that all you know about her?"
"I heard that the reason she went off was because she came to blows with the Order over a matter that was quite serious. Wasn't long after you had arrived, I believe."
The hunter paused in his thoughts for a moment before shaking his head. "It could all be just a coincidence but I don't think it is."
He arched an eyebrow, "What could be a coincidence Van Helsing? What aren't you telling me?"
"I don't actually know just yet Carl. I don't know but it could be something that will lead me to another key to my past."
"Tasya Van Lura might know something about your past? How could that be?"
Helsing grinned, "I was hoping that the Order could tell me that."