Chapter 6

Evilyn

The air was cold as I got out of bed. I could tell that Van Helsing and Carl had been up for a while, everything was clean. I thought about last night and smiled. I now knew that Van Helsing felt the same. I wasn't sure if he felt the pull that I had. Something just seamed to be telling me, almost like and animalistic instinct. This is him. This is the one you have been waiting for. I've had many relationships, but only a few lovers. A tear came to my eyes as I remembered my last one. I felt around my neck for the chain that held our cross. I could remember everything. He always wondered why I had chosen him. I grabbed my bag and went behind the makeshift curtain. Luckily I did, for the door opened, the soft footsteps of Van Helsing and the loud shuffle of Carl.

"Evilyn, are you in here?" Van Helsing asked.

"Yes, I'm here. I'm just changing," my voice was on the verge of cracking, and I know Van Helsing heard me, "How is the weather today?"

"The weather's fine. In fact its perfect, unusually sunny. Is everything ok?"

"Yes, I was just thinking. Have they put out anything to eat? Have you gotten any yet?"

"Yes, and no, it appears the captain has asked us to dine with him this morning. He wants to make sure you are well." I just knew what he was going to ask next and was not looking forward to it. I did not want to think about him, "What were you and the captain talking about last night?"

I smiled at the way he talked about the captain. I could tell that he didn't like the fact that I was alone with him and I'm sure he saw what the captain was trying to do.

"Well I was watching the bow cut through the waves and he came over and I thanked him for not throwing me over. I've heard of captains that do that if one of the crew comes in contact with a werewolf, not checking to see if their bitten or not. He said that it would be a waste for someone as beautiful as me to be lost to the curse and then tossed to Poseidon," I could hear Van Helsing's breath hitch as I relayed the captains words, "I'm glad you came when you did though, He had, well, he had asked me if I was attached to someone, not out front through. I told him I was indeed unmarried and unengaged. I didn't dare look at him, but his breathing told me he was happy to hear that. Anyway I didn't want to go any further on the conversation so I pretended to feel dizzy. He then tried to get me to go and rest in his quarters. He had just offered to escort me back to our room when you came, which I am eternally grateful for."

"Did he really try to do that? I would go and tell the captain that you weren't feeling up to it, but one, that's not a good thing to say, especially after being attacked by a werewolf and two, that's why we came. Its all ready and he is waiting for us in his quarters."

I groaned. I really didn't want to be anywhere near the captain. The short walk to the captains quarters would have been quiet, if only Carl would stop muttering to himself. I must admit that I was only thinking of ways to keep the captain as far as possible. Van Helsing was about to knock I quickly stopped him. I needed a minute still. I looked up at him and then glanced at Carl.

"He knows, I told him." Van Helsing.

I looked at Carl and he avoided my eyes, I could swear he was blushing. I was sure he kept out the part of our most intimate moment. I was a little uncomfortable, but I needed his touch. I gave Van Helsing a quick, but meaningful kiss. He seemed pleased, but then I knocked. The door was open a little to soon, the captain was obviously waiting close to it. I placed a smile on and poked Van Helsing to remind him we only had to deal with this for a little while.

The captain lead us to the table, placing me on his right, while Van Helsing sat on his other side, Carl next to him. It was a beautiful breakfast and I had a genuine smile on most of the time we sat and ate. There was cold cuts, fresh eggs, and even some fruit. I had my fill of everything. Carl had seconds and even thirds. Van Helsing mostly picked at his food, occasionally eating a little meat. I reached under the table with my foot and softly kicked him. He got the hint and at least finished everything that had been placed on his plate. The captain was stuffing himself, he was even gobbling down his food faster than Carl, that's saying something. It was a nice change from eating the gruel and days old bread. Van Helsing, Carl, and I had finished, and we sat there in an awkward silence, looking at each other, not needing to look to the captain to know he was still enjoying his food.

Van Helsing cleared his throat, "I uh…thank you, for this…it was very gracious of you. If you don't mind, we have much work to do, Friar Carl and I are trying to get ready for our journey ahead of us. Evilyn has been the most help, If it weren't for her we wouldn't know where everything is. If you would excuse us, we do only have a day to get ready. Again we all thank you for how well you've treated us, especially how you've cared for Evilyn. We will leave you to finish."

We all started to leave when the captain spoke, "Oh, yes of course. Nothing worse than being unprepared, though I would like to speak to you, Van Helsing, for a moment if I might. Say in about an hour?" I saw that he kept glancing at me even though he was supposed to be talking to Van Helsing.

Van Helsing replied, "I believe that will be no problem. See you in an hour, captain."

As soon as we were sure we were out of ear shot we picked up our pace and all of us just about squeezed through the door. Once it was shut we all breathed a sigh of release. I didn't want him to go in an hour. I wanted to just sit with him, holding me, I've never felt safer than in his hold. Almost knowing my thoughts, he picked me up and sat on his bed. He gathered the pillows I had taken off of his and used them to soften the wall. He brought over my journal. I wasn't sure if I liked what he was going to ask. His face looked darken, like he wasn't sure about something, I quickly looked into his mind and I heard the date November 9th, 1889 run over and over. I thought about why it was familiar and I remembered. That was the day Dracula died. That was the day I came close to death. That was the day I met Jean (it's actually pronounced like John, I'm listening to Les Miserables, shut up everyone!) He sat down next to me, searched for a page and opened it to November 9th, 1889. He looked at me and I already knew what he was going to ask.

"Who is Jean?"

I didn't know what to say. I wanted to tell him, but I didn't want him to get mad. This was not the time when I wanted to let Van Helsing know about my past relationships. Especially not Jean, he was not only the last one, but he accepted me for who I was.

"How much have you read?"

"I've only glanced through it, what caught my eye was you kept mentioning his name."

"You have to go see the captain in an hour and I was going to go down and see Rogue again. Please?"

"I want to know what happened. I looked ahead at the dates and noticed that there was a gap of about six-seven months. I saw that his name did not appear after that. I want to know what happened, why did you stop writing, why you don't mention Jean, why your face, your whole attitude goes into a depression at the mention of him. After I come back, I want you to tell me, don't leave out a single detail. I've found that it does help to let it out, confide in someone, no matter how hard it hurts to relive it."

By this time, I was crying. I had my legs pulled to me and I had my face buried into his shoulder. He held me. I didn't make a noise, but when I pulled away his entire sleeve was soaked in my tears. It's been years since I'd allowed myself to weep for Jean. I looked up at Van Helsing and said, "When you come back."

He understood. He got up to leave and when he closed the door I got up and ran to it. I was about to open the door, but thought better of it. It would not be good to run after him now. I only hoped that the whatever it was the captain wanted to talk about didn't take long. I needed to confess to Van Helsing. I wanted to tell him everything. Every sight, every smell, every sound, every taste and every touch. He deserved that. I sat back down and looked over at Carl. He was staring at me, his eyes locked on mine, realizing that I was staring back he broke contact and went back to reading five books at once.

I sat on my bed and with nothing better to do I grabbed my book and started to write down what was going through my head:

My mind is at a crossroad. Behind me I have Jean, in front of me I have a black void, to my right is the life I have been living, and to my left is Van Helsing holding my hand. I need to let him know. I must tell him everything.

I must have fallen asleep for Van Helsing was shaking me. Softly ordering to get up and get everything packed. I looked around and saw he and Carl were rushing trying to gather everything together.

"What's going on?"

"No time, pack!" Van Helsing yelled at me.

I understand that this is short and I'm sorry for how late it is, but I had major writers block and lost interest...so I waited a while and let my brain mellow out and it all came back to me....even though this one sucks, it's mainly a filler...again...sorry about that.