Back to the Order

When I finally came out on the other side, I found myself at the Order. There seemed to be something wrong, because everyone was rushing around, leaving their experiments and fires unattended. Instead, their attention turned to me and all weapons were pointed at me. I froze. I hadn't expected this.

'Wait,' said Carl, stepping between me and the weapons. Van Helsing held a protective arm in front of me as Carl attempted to explain, 'she's on our side.'

'No abomination is on our side,' growled a voice in the crowd and there was a murmur of agreement that spread throughout.

'Do you think I wanted to become this?' I asked.

'Be quiet monster,' snapped a monk.

'I will not be quiet,' I growled, 'I came here to help you destroy Dracula and to try to become human again.'

'That's impossible.'

'She lies,' called another.

'First time she attacks a human you can kill her,' offered Van Helsing.

'How do we know she hasn't already?'

'She's been with me ever since her change,' he replied.

'Isn't it your duty to destroy them?'

'To destroy evil,' he corrected, 'she is not evil.' He looked around the mob for a moment before saying, 'all that I ask is that you allow me to train her here. If you are concerned that she will bite one of you, you can create some type of serum to give her nutrition in another way.'

'What is going on here?' said a familiar voice. I looked up to see the Cardinal coming to the front of the crowd. There was no reaction when he saw me; instead he motioned for us to follow him, 'follow me.'

Van Helsing and Carl flanked me as we went through the crowd to follow the Cardinal. We took the familiar route to his office and once we were inside, he closed the door.

'Please, sit,' he offered as he took his own seat. We did as we were told and he leaned back into his chair and threaded his fingers together. 'I am not surprised that this has happened.'

'Why?' I asked, knowing that the other two wouldn't have the guts to ask a high ranking holy man.

'When Carl had suggested finding you when Van Helsing disappeared, I was in agreement. I needed to find him. When I saw you, on the other hand, I had great doubts in Carl's choice. Although you did what your mission required, you are incapable of doing it without injury.'

'You say this because I'm a girl?' I asked. I felt the anger begin to boil deep within. I ignored it, remembering that this was merely the 19th century and women's rights weren't accepted yet.

'Those attributes topped the list,' he admitted, 'but you had no prior training and the training you did receive was inadequate. Your knowledge of the times and the situation were possibly your downfall.'

'This didn't happen in London,' I objected, 'it happened in my own time, the 21st century. I only came back because I needed help getting trained to kill Dracula.' The Cardinal seemed surprised at this and looked at Carl and Van Helsing.

'Is this true?' They nodded. He looked back at me, 'I can only assume that you are at fault.'

My blood began to boil at this accusation. I felt a hand upon my arm and looked to see Van Helsing. His eyes told me to calm down, and I tried to.

'Partially. The other part is Velkan Valerious.'

'He was reported dead,' the Cardinal once again received the truth from Van Helsing.

'He somehow came back to life. He lost his memory and was turned into a vampire by Dracula. He survived until Erica's time and took her back to London. He took Dracula's spot, so Dracula is the one who survived.'

The Cardinal was quiet for a little while as he thought. He looked at me and I suddenly felt really uneasy.

'I suppose that it would be to our advantage to have a vampire to study.'

'What?' my voice wasn't the only one; Van Helsing added his to it.

'It will be of great advantage to our scientists,' he repeated.

'How?' I asked cautiously. A part of me didn't even want to know what he was thinking.

'To study how you react to different tests, your agility, ability to heal. Maybe even take samples to see if we can make a cure.'

'No,' I objected, 'I did not come here to be someone's test rat.'

'It would be for the good of all.'

'For me to become a type of martyr due to the church? What ever happened to the body is a temple and all that stuff?'

'Your body is dead,' he explained, 'it is no longer a temple hosting your soul.'

'So, I'm without a soul now?' my voice raised a little and he nodded. I felt the anger flare up in me as I stood up. I was now shaking, 'I feel exactly the same as before. I still have a conscience, and feelings. The only difference I feel is stronger.'

The Cardinal and Van Helsing quickly stood. Van Helsing tried to put a calming hand on my shoulder. I shook it off.

'That's it, isn't it?' I continued, 'you are afraid of things that are stronger than you. That is why you slay vampires and werewolves and other creatures. It is why you fear God and the devil.' I chuckled.

The Cardinal paled.

'Just be happy that I want to be human again,' I replied, 'and that I still have my soul.' And with this, I turned and walked out of the office, slamming the door. I hurried down the hall and as soon as I turned the corner, I leaned against the wall, feeling suddenly weak. My tirade seemed to have drained me of all my energy, and seeing as I had only fed once (and not that much at that) since my transformation, I could understand why. My knees soon gave out from underneath me and I slid to the floor.

I heard footsteps coming down the hall and when I sniffed the air, I found that it was Van Helsing. My mouth watered at the sound of his heartbeat and the blood running through his veins. I shook these ideas out of my head.

I would not, could not feed on a human.

He turned the corner and spotted me on the floor. I couldn't see his face, but I heard his heart quicken at the sight of me. A rhythm that beat in fear.

'Erica,' he crouched next to me, 'are you alright?'

'Go away,' I said and I attempted to push him, but my arm barely went up six inches before it fell down next to me, useless.

'You are weak,' he commented, 'you need to feed.' He lifted me bridal style and the hallway began to be fuzzy. I didn't even feel like fighting him because I knew it was futile. My eyelids became heavy and I could barely keep them open. I felt Van Helsing place me on a bed and I heard him unsheathing a knife. Before I could object, he slashed his wrist and held it over my mouth.

'No,' I muttered. I did not want to drink human blood even if it meant my survival. I turned my head as the blood dripped onto my cheek and trickled down to my neck and hair. He grabbed my chin, turned my face back to his and pressed his wrist to my lips. The blood dripped in, seeping down my throat. My strength began to return and I seized the wrist and began to suck on the wound, trying to get as much blood as possible. Once I finally became strong enough to be aware of what I was doing, I pushed Van Helsing's arm away. The blood churned in my stomach and I was soon leaning over the bed, heaving some of it back up. I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand before I buried my face into my hands, crying.

'Erica,' began Van Helsing. I could tell that he didn't know what to say. In fact, I was just as lost for words as he was. I felt so ashamed.

And for the first time since my change, I felt weak. Not physically anymore, mentally weak. I allowed Van Helsing to give me his blood.

Could this cause me to crave human blood? To become the monster that Dracula is?

You don't have to kill your victims. These words of Septimus's echoed in my mind.

Van Helsing placed his hand on my shoulder and raised my face from my hands to look at him.

'I want you to feed off of me until we can get something else for you to eat,' he said. I shook my head.

'I don't want to be a burden. Or get addicted to human blood.'

'You won't be, Erica. I promise.' Our eyes met and I felt like arguing with him. Instead, I decided to change the subject.

'What is our first form of attack against Dracula?' He took his hand away from my shoulder and sat back, thinking.

'I was thinking about trying something safe. Remember when we slayed him the first time? At his ice fortress?' I nodded, but didn't know where this was heading. 'When he dies and turns to ash, why don't we take his ash and toss it into the ocean?' I thought for a moment, trying to see any complication with this idea.

'Sounds good.'

'And, I don't have to have you in any danger,' he added as an after thought. I frowned.

'You should realize by now that I can take care of myself.' He frowned.

'Can you really? Is this how you take care of yourself, by becoming what you are now?'

'That was inevitable,' I growled, 'it was fate.'

'It was stupidity,' he replied. His hand went to his waist where he had a knife. I'm sure this was because my eyes had turned gold.

'It was inevitable,' I repeated, standing. He stood as well. I started for the door and before I exited I paused long enough to say, 'and you would do well, Mr. Van Helsing, to not anger a vampire. You may be Gabriel but you have the limitations of a mortal body.'

I headed down the hallway, unsure of what exactly I was going to do. And then it dawned on me, I would go to Carl, get the potion to go to Dracula's ice castle, steal the ashes, toss them into the ocean there and then return to my time period. No stopping back here or confronting Van Helsing again.

I closed my eyes and focused on finding Carl. I soon found him in lab. I hesitated, did I really want to go down into the lion's den without Van Helsing to protect me? I shook this away. They wouldn't dare attack me under orders of Van Helsing. I headed for the lab, wary of my hostile surroundings.

I made it to Carl's table without being attacked, but everyone watched my every move, some even held weapons in their hands as they watched me walk. I held my head high and acted as though I wasn't bothered by this. Carl was hard at work making the time vials, so he didn't hear me approach him.

'Carl,' I said softly, so that he wouldn't jump. He did anyway. Thankfully he didn't have anything in his hands that he would have spilt everywhere.

'Erica, you frightened me,' he gasped.

'Do you have a couple vials left?' I asked. He thought for a moment and nodded as he searched his table for them. In a small box, he withdrew them, I could see that there was one more in there.

'I'm going to see if I can gather his ashes from the Ice Castle when Van Helsing had killed him. If all works well, I'll head back to my time period with the other. '

'What will you do with the ashes?'

'Throw them into the ocean,' I replied, 'it was Van Helsing's idea.'

'Where is Van Helsing?' I shrugged.

'He's busy.' I took the vials, 'how do you work these things?'

'You have to state exactly when and where you want to go. I haven't ever tried it in anything but Latin. But you should be fine in English.' I nodded and turned to leave, but paused.

'And Carl, thanks for everything. Come visit sometime and I will give you a proper tour of my time.'

'I will,' he replied. I walked away to find an empty room where I could have privacy and wouldn't be followed. I tried to remember what I had seen Carl and Velkan do when they threw the vial, so I stuffed one vial into my pocket and held the other to my chest and whispered, 'Dracula's Ice Castle, as Dracula died.' I closed my eyes, visualizing the place, hoping that this would help.

I opened my eyes and threw the vial at an empty wall and as soon as the smoke cleared, I took in a deep breath and walked into the wall and through the portal.