The inn where Van Helsing and Marianne stopped was clean and, in the way of the country, decorated with garlic. They chose borsch, coffee and wine and sat on the free table.
Marianne, dressed in beautiful red walking-gown and cape, tasted her borsch. "Delicious!" she said.
Van Helsing poured rich ruby-red wine to the glasses. "I would like to ask something." he said softly.
"What?"
"Do you miss him? You two were engaged."
Marianne looked at her soup. "I am quite a serial engagist, am I?" She sighed. "He wasn´t what I thought him to be. I let him free from his mother´s chains and he killed all those people, even his own mother!"
"He used your purity and innocence of his own advantage," Van Helsing said.
"I thought he was innocent, too!" Marianne said with such passion that it made Van Helsing to smile. "At first I thought he was ill of his mind and then that her mother wanted to stole his property..."
"Seeing a human being in chains SHOULD cause alarm," Van Helsing said. "Marianne, Meinster desires revenge, badly. Never forget your cross. We can spend a night in this inn, and I can prepare our rooms. Tomorrow we will continue to Klausenburg and my home." He smiled to her over her coffee-cup. "There will be lot of good works for you to do, if you want.
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AN: Sorry for short chapter, I have bit of a writing block!