Old Scars
By MyNameIsCAB
Van Helsing is not my own character. I claim no credit for him being created and this story builds off the movie Van Helsing, which I also take no credit for. Please make suggestions and comments and critique nicely. I'm a beginner. Thanks!
1888-One Year After Princess Anna's Death, Vatican City, Rome
Van Helsing sat in his quarters outside of Vatican City, Rome. It was the anniversery of Princess Anna's death. He prayed to God for her sake. She was safe in heaven. He knew that. But the pain that came from thinking about her was almost unbearable. He had killed her. Gabriel Van Helsing, the left hand of God, had killed the only woman he thought he could love. It was tragic. Very tragic. Like the burden he carried to help the Vatican vanquish all evil. That was Van Helsing's job. More like a curse, but he was the man who killed for God. If only people outside of the Knights of the Holy Order knew that he wasn't a murderer for Satan.
He stood up now and faced himself in the mirror. Unbuttoning his shirt, Van Helsing ran his fingers over the scars from where a werewolf had bitten him. Because of Anna, he was not a werewolf. He was not dead...but she was. Like everyday, Van Helsing stared at teh scars for a moment and wished he had died instead of Anna. The last kiss they had shared still lingered on his lips like a sad little reminder of what a murderer he really was. No, he no longer believed he was a holy man anymore. That's what old scars do, he thought.
As soon as the sun rose, Van Helsing would have to be at the Vatican. It was best he made his journey in the dark hours to avoid the authorities. Policia! Van Helsing smiled to himself cruelly. Perhaps that wasn't Italian, but it brought sour humor to his morning. Now he pulled a new shirt on, trying not to look at his scars. He pulled his pants on and the vest that held a cross chained on it. His boots came next, black and heavy. Good for crushing bones, he told himself. Then he pulled on the cloak. The same cloak he had from the time he had killed Anna. Perhaps it was time for a new one, but he couldn't bare to part with it. Heading to the door, he picked up his wide brimmed hat and placed it on his head. It was time to ride. Locking the door to his quarters hidden the woods, he got on his steed and travelled forward. It seemed forward was the best way to go.
His horse's hooves echoed through the forest. It made him feel lonely like many reminders of having no one. Then again, he had Carl. That quirky short friar who was...an inventor. That's what Van Helsing decided to call his only friend. Carl had saved his butt during the Dracula Assignment, as they now named it. Dracula was dead...gone forever at least. Like Anna. Van Helsing begged his mind to stop thinking of Anna, tracing everything to her like some negative force attracting a positive and then destroying all hope.
Carl was a friar in the Vatican. He invented weapons that Van Helsing used in numerous assignments from the organization he belonged to called the Knights of the Holy Order, which tried to vanquish all the evil in the world. Some things were in practical, others were...simply genius. And yet, Van Helsing was never let down by his short friend to be amazed. Something new everyday. That's what he needed right now. Enlightenment. Perhaps Carl would take his mind off of things for a while. Van Helsing actually felt a longing for a new assignment.
Upon arriving at the Vatican, a friar, Micheal, thought Van Helsing, took his horse. He entered the gates and the two guards dressed in black barely gave him a second look. He wondered what went through their minds every time he entered. Like many of the days before, Van Helsing answered the confessional box and kneeled before the grated covering where Cardinal Jinette sat. Slowly, Van Helsing spoke. "Forgive me father, for I have sinned..."
The cardinal cut him off. "Enough Van Helsing, what could you have possibly done since yesterday's confessional?"
"I don't know..." Van Helsing trailed off and heard Cardinal Jinette pull the lever that made the grated wall between them shoot up. He entered through the doorway and followed the cardinal down the steps to the underground armory beneath the Vatican itself.
It was large and circular. It was early and many of the men that included friars and men the the title "Father" were still coming in slowly. As always, Carl was tucked away in the corner tinkering with some item. Cardinal Jinette led Van Helsing over to the projector first. Like a year agoe when he first showed Van Helsing Princess Anna. It was like something sliced through Van Helsing's heart every time a thought of Anna came into view.
"Okay, Van Helsing," the cardinal clapped his hands together. " We are sending you back to Transylvania. A man named Ryan Jacob Johnson. He needs help with transporting important items from the Anna's family's archives. There is also a growing werewolf problem. Perhaps you can take care ofit."
"Why me?" Van Helsing asked.
"Beacuse you know the area the best and the rest of our men are trying to deal with the increasing population of Devil Worshipping. You know some of them have betrayed us," Cardinal Jinette frowned.
"Yes, Cardinal," Van Helsing answered defeatedly. He no longer felt like fighting anyone. He no longer wanted to protest anything. It was better just to give in. It made everything easier.
"Is there something wrong?" the cardinal asked.
Van Helsing never told Cardinal Jinette about how he felt for Anna. It had no importance to whatever he was being sent to do. There was nothing the cardinal could do anyway. Even Carl had kept his mouth shut. Every once in a while, Van Helsing lay awake in bed and wondered what would the cardinal do if he did spill his story. Every time he decided against it. "There's nothing wrong. Do I get to take Carl?"
"Yes, you do," the cardinal nodded. "Be careful. You'll be steering a carriage. It'll be waiting outside for you in an hour."
Van Helsing turned on his heel and headed over to Carl's corner. Carl was tinkering with some chemicals today. When Van Helsing approached, he looked up. "So am I coming with you?"
"Yes," Van Helsing answered.
"I wish we could go elsewhere..." Van Helsing could sense Carl was not happy about going back to Transylvania again. He had not taken Anna's death easy either.
"I'd rather drive a stake through my heart," Van Helsing muttered. "Pack whatever you'll need. We leave in an hour."
Carl nodded. "I've got no new weapons for you. Pick whatever you'd like out of the closet."
Van Helsing ventured over to the closet filled with Carl's inventions or weapons and odds and ends. He opened the door, lit the torch, and looked around at all the past weapons that he had used. Carl must have been really busy that he did not make anything new. Sitting in the corner of the tiny closet was the crossbow he had fought with during an attack from Dracula's brides. He had killed one of them with it. It was a weapon he carried when he was with Anna. Instead of picking up the improved pistols, he chose the same ones as the ones from the Dracula assignment. If he was going back to Transylvania, he was going back the way he left with all the same weapons. It only seemed right.
Yet the thought of going back hurt still. He couldn't let his emotions get in the way, but then they were there.
Standing in the closet, Van Helsing began to cry...