Ne-who back to Van Helsing!
Disclaimer: I own nothing!
Chapter 11
A loud crash and screech from under their feet made the teens jump in alarm and the dog leap up barking madly and dashing for the stairs.
Sarah's eyes grew wide in horror. "Not the TV! Carl!" she yelled rushing out of her door and taking the stairs two at a time.
Her friends hurried behind her bracing themselves for the inevitable scene of destruction and the horrendous image of a large screen TV reduced to glass and wiring.
"Carl if that was the Tv I swear I'm gonna throw you to your fan girls!" the furious blond threatened when she burst through the lounge door.
She glanced automatically towards the Tv startled to find it intact and spotless the Van Helsing menu flashing animatedly from the Frankenstein monster to the raging Velkan werewolf. Her relief was short lived when she found Carl cowering behind her mothers overturned pine trunk the contents scattered across the living room carpet, old baby photos of her and her sister staring up at her in disarray from the rug and the large bowl of popery added splashes of earthy colour to the mess.
Marston pushed through the door behind her and skidded to a halt as he found himself staring down the tip of Anna's newly drawn sword. The Princess was in a rigid battle stance, her eyes wild and frightened.
"It was him! Dracula lives!" the Princess yelled furiously.
Sarah's heart stopped, bile rose in her throat and her chest constricted painfully. Was it possible Dracula had shown himself to the Princess? Had he decided to share his spectral burden with her friends?
Amie drew close to her friend squeezing her trembling hand reassuringly. "What happened?" she asked shakily.
"Dracula!" Carl piped up from his hiding place, his basin cut blond hair peeping over the top of the overturned trunk, baby Velkan squirming irritably in his arms.
"Dracula's dead!" Jory pointed out fiercely though his eyes darted around the room as if he expected the winged beast of the count to pounce at him from behind one of the curtains.
Sarah stepped up to the alert Princess her eyes imploring her to be calm as she gently lowered the tip of her sword towards the carpet a phantom pain slicing through her stomach as she felt the cool metal beneath her fingers and dimly recalled the bite of Valerius steel through her own flesh.
"What…exactly did you see?" she asked hesitantly, half hoping the Princess would tell her that the count had walked into the room…maybe spoken to her and the Friar, something to lift the burden of his visits from her shoulders alone.
Anna met her gaze before her eyes shifted to a spot behind her and she stiffened, Sarah yelped when the Princess retched her sword up out of her grasp and pointed it menacingly. "Look he's there!"
The teens spun in fear and anticipation. Sarah's heart leapt as she pictured them seeing Dracula too, he would tell them what had been going on she wouldn't be alone in this haunting.
"Where? I don't see anyone." Bob exclaimed staring at the tv corner.
The teens squinted comically in that direction for a hint of a cape a cocky grin, anything remotely vampiric. To her annoyance Tony even turned to scrutinise Sarah shrugging sheepishly when she glared at him.
Anna trembled with annoyance still posed to attack, her sword inches from the Tv screen. "Are you all blind! He's mocking us!" she cried.
The teens turned back and took a closer look at the screen, the Van Helsing menu flickered to life once more menacing music echoing from the speakers and the monsters of the film flashing around the digital laboratory. Sudden comprehension dawned when a screen sized shot of Dracula transforming lingered longer than the rest, his features twisted in a devilish smile that began to contort until they were staring at the hell beast that was his true form.
Sarah didn't know whether she was laughing or crying as the others fell about with mirth and relief.
Marston walked up to the Princess and put a comforting arm round her shoulders.
"I don't think we've explained the whole Tv thing too well have we?" he asked apologetically and preceded to sit her calmly on the sofa while Tony and Jory picked Carl up from behind his temporary fort.
Jory laughed settling the Friar down into the arm chair while Amie gently retrieved baby Velkan from his arms and rocked him as she laughed trying to calm him.
"We thought you got the whole movie thing! You watched X-men, Lord of the rings." Jory exclaimed chuckling.
Carl sat nervously in the chair looking for all the world like a startled rabbit. "Yes well…it was rather a shock seeing him just…appear like that."
"Maybe we should have stayed with you for that." Tony said sympathetically grunting as he pulled the truck back up and began to replace the photos that had fallen out.
Sarah watched it all with Bob by the door closing her eyes and sagging against the frame. Bob watched her with concern . "I'm pretty sure they didn't break anything." he tried awkwardly.
Sarah smiled "Glad to hear it…erm…I'm just going to take the dog out into the garden for a bit." she muttered forcing herself to smile and walk out of the room. Bob watched her go worriedly before seizing the remote and starting the Van Helsing movie.
"Anna, Carl this is your life!" he announced grinning.
Sarah wandered into the kitchen in search of her dog who she found cowering under her kitchen table. He hated loud noises, every year her family dreaded the few weeks leading up too and after fireworks night on November the 5th, the endless bangs and explosions were enough to turn her poor dog into a gibbering wreck for months afterwards, he'd only just gained back his confidence after the new years eve festivities six months ago and the crash in the living must have scared the poor creature half to death.
Whispering comfortingly to him she pulled him into her arms and wandered over to the window, she didn't know how she felt about all of this about being haunted by the guy that had murdered her, finding out her hero was probably dead or worse.
"This all used to be fun Toby." she whispered to the trembling dog in her arms.
Sighing she leant her head against the window and looking down into the evening garden. A shadow looked back, standing under the small tree beside the fence. She blinked rubbing her eyes tiredly, it had been a long day.
But sure enough ,when she looked back he was still there lurking in the shadows, beckoning to her. His eyes seemed to drink in the light around him like a cats, reflecting it back at her. She wondered how the others couldn't possibly notice the glowing orbs in the shadowy garden. She carefully placed Toby back on the kitchen floor and made her way into the hall pausing before the back door.
Toby was already there scratching and whining to be let out, to see off the intruder he could sense in his territory.
Sarah smiled as he looked up at her wagging his tail. "Do you think if I ignore him he'll go away?" she asked the dog almost hopefully.
A sudden breeze ruffled her hair, raising goose bumps on her skin. "Don't be coy Sarah." Dracula's voice whispered in amusement.
She gritted her teeth in annoyance at the cocky tone to the voice. "Still an arrogant bastard." she groaned resigning to her fate and opening the door.
Her friend's voices and the sound of the Van Helsing movie faded to a dull murmur as she stepped into the shadows of the garden. She stood silently under the pergola, a wooden structure her mum had put up the previous summer. Ivy vines had made their way up the sides, twisting and turning to make a canopy of leaves in the frame above her.
The overgrown night jasmine beside the backdoor, kept the light from the kitchen windows at bay casting eerie shadows over the lawn and the tree beyond it, the flowers sending a strong bitter fragrance out into the warm evening air.
The house faced the west casting the Garden in premature night around this time every evening when the sun hung low in the sky. She strained to see into the shadows, aided by her superior night sight.
There was no one beneath the tree.
It's branches swayed rhythmically in the breeze, the fairy wind chime chiming sweetly through the clear summer night, in time with its movements. But there was no Vampire, dead or un-dead, lurking in the shadows.
She frowned in confusion walking out in to the centre of the lawn and moving some of the lower branches of the tree away to get a better look.
"Dracula?" she whispered tentatively.
Her only answer was the soft ringing of the chimes. She sighed though she wasn't sure whether it was relief or disappointment. Turning she looked towards the house.
Toby was still standing in the doorway, his head was down to the floor and his ears were flat against his head. Sarah was astonished to see that he was growling and bearing his fangs viciously in her direction. She took in the garden suspiciously and turned to look towards the gate.
She stifled her scream of astonishment, as she came face to face with the grinning count.
"Boo." he whispered, grinning maliciously.
"You know that's really not funny!" she hissed at him trying to hide the slight twitching at the corner of her mouth.
"A ghost's prerogative I was trying out." he smiled "Slightly overrated I think."
Sarah nodded "Possibly." she frowned at his appearance, taking in his loose hair and the knightly armour he wore, more the ancient knight than the aristocratic count. He appeared to her the same way he had as her fevered dream guide, a friendlier appearance. Was he trying to gain her trust by appearing to her as such? More mind games to catch her off her guard perhaps.
Dracula noticed her gaze, he smiled and raised his arms twirling in a lonely waltz around her garden. "I believe you find this appearance a little less unsettling."
Sarah folded her arms watching him in guarded amusement. "Not when you do that I don't."
He stopped obligingly, finishing with an elegant sweep of his hand across his chest in a knightly salute. 'Damn if he were anyone else.' Sarah thought wistfully.
"Are you disappointed they can't see me?" he asked in amusement inclining his head in the direction of the house and the murmur of voices drifting out of the door.
Sarah ignored him irritated that he seemed to be able to read her mind. "Where's Van Helsing?" she asked aloud.
The count sighed in deep disappointment. "Must it always be business my dear Sarah?"
"It's why you're here isn't it? To give me answers…you said you were my guide, so guide me. Tell me how you knew Anna and Carl needed us, explain to me why I have them in my house, in my world… without Van Helsing!" she hissed conscious of being overheard by her friends.
"I'm afraid dear Gabriel has been…detained." the count said cryptically making a show of examining the bird table with great interest.
Sarah frowned. "Detained…where?"
Dracula sighed as if the subject bored him "I believe the Vatican had wished to sen him on a mission to Germany to deal with some rogue Vladleany."
"Vladleany?" Sarah asked in shock. "As in naked evil forest women Vladleany? He left Anna about to drop a baby for that!"
Dracula chuckled "Perhaps we should not dwell on the purpose of the mission?"
"I can't believe him!" Sarah continued ignoring him "Typical guy, first prospect of evil naked women and he's gone!"
"He did not get the chance to hear, let alone accept the mission. You know Gabriel, he is a law unto himself I believe he left the Cardinal quite speechless when he refused to even listen to the latest mission for God."
Sarah glared at him "But he still left Anna to go to Rome! Why couldn't he refuse the mission over…telegraph or whatever the hell they use back there?"
Dracula leant casually against the pergola shooting an amused glance at the agitated dog growling softly at him from the doorway. "I believe Rome put considerable pressure on him to go and no matter how much he may love Anna, his loyalties still lie there. It is a hard thing to be torn between love and duty." he said staring off into a distant past she couldn't share.
Sarah gave him a strange look "You really have changed haven't you." she whispered.
He glanced up sharply "I am not the creature you remember Sarah." he said huskily. Shadows played across his features giving his eyes a deeper intensity that sent a shudder through her body. He stepped towards her and she backed away warily.
"Maybe not." she said swallowing "But that doesn't' mean you don't look like him or talk like he did. It'll take a lot for me to trust you if I ever do. You didn't actually start off well invading my circle yesterday morning."
He gave her a sneering grin, brushing his hair back with an elegant sweep of his hand. "I must say your defences are harder to breach now…it was simpler when we first met, but I see my little novice Wiccan has learnt a few new tricks."
Sarah raised her chin proudly. "I've been studying psychic protection, no one will ever control me like you did, no one."
His eyes darkened "Perhaps they will be less forwards in their manipulations than I was, I always did have a certain flair for the dramatic."
He stood a few feet away from her now, his expression unreadable and the girl shuddered as she noticed that the breeze tugging at her hair and clothes had no effect on him. Once again she was reminded that she was talking to a dead man.
"Gabriel's return was compromised, he currently resides in a cell, powerless, weapon less awaiting his execution as a wanted murderer." he informed her coldly.
"Execution!…they can't, they wouldn't!" she stammered in horror.
Dracula held her gaze "To those people he is a cold hearted murderer, the most hunted man in Europe…Rome will not aid him…"
"They don't exist." Sarah whispered "They'd let him die to keep their secrecy."
Dracula nodded "Throughout their existence the Holy Order has kept it's secrecy through bloodshed, they don't look kindly on deserters, Van Helsing will be no different." he looked towards the house "Unless you and your friends are willing to help him that is."
Sarah swallowed finding her throat dry and painful. "What about the dead that are rising, their Master, what does he want?"
The count grinned at her "A man who can raise and enslave the dead, you know the name of such a creature."
Sarah nodded "A Necromancer." she whispered.
Dracula took a step closer to her backing her against the gate, his formless hand caressed the air above her cheek. "He is a dangerous man my love, Transylvania is in danger once more…perhaps Anna's whole world. They can not hope to survive without the left hand of God to guide and protect them."
The girl gasped as the air froze around her so close to his ghostly presence, her breath escaped in white mist.
Dracula gazed into her eyes, inhaling her scent into his ghostly lungs. "Gabriel needs allies."
Her eyes flashed defiantly, taking a deep breath she stepped through the apparition, shivering as an intense cold made her limbs grow numb and her lips blue. She turned to face him none the less as he turned to regard her with amazement and a wide grin.
"Yes I have definitely missed this!" he laughed aloud.
The warmth of the night began to clear the biting cold from her body and she shivered in relief, careful to hide it from the beaming count. "Allies…we barely survived last time…I didn't survive…I don't know if I can face all that again."
"So you would leave him to die…leave Anna and Carl against an army they can not hope to defeat?" he asked furiously. "Why must you be so difficult!"
"Why must you be so demanding! You think you can just turn up and tell me to do whatever you want and I'll do it? I didn't obey you in life what makes you being dead any different other than this time if I disobey you, you can't torture me!" she froze after her outburst but was relieved to hear the Van Helsing music echoing loudly throughout the house helping to drown out her conversation, the last thing she needed right now were awkward questions.
Taking a deep breath to calm herself she looked up at the count. He gazed at her an expression of sincere regret on his features, an expression that made him seem softer, an expression she thought she'd never see on such a cold face. The sight nearly made her burst into tears.
He sighed "I understand you will never forgive me for that and I make no excuses…but this is beyond the history we share, a world is in jeopardy, you have taken your own life for your friends before… do you not hold Van Helsing in that high esteem? Is he nothing but a fictional hero too you now, in all these months of watching that poor imitation of the truth you call his movie, have you forgotten the man behind the legend?"
She turned away walking forlornly into the house. Toby whimpered as she passed, backing away fearfully from the shadow that followed. The music grew louder as she approached the lounge, the theme blaring out of the speakers stirring her heart with excitement and anticipation as it always did.
She leant against the door frame smiling to see Carl staring open mouthed, transfixed at the depiction of himself on the screen. Her friends were gathered around him laughing and joking amused and excited to share Anna and Carl's wonder.
The princess smiling wistfully as Van Helsing placed his hat on her head beneath the broken windmill.
Sarah watched the characters on the screen, dripping wet Van Helsing placed the hat on Anna's head to keep off the rain and she smiled at him sadly.
"Do you have any family mister Van Helsing?"
Van Helsing smiled almost shyly glancing around at the blackened structure. "I don't know, I hope to find out someday it's what keeps me going."
Sarah closed her eyes at Anna's sorrowful expression. The Princess sighed and clutched baby Velkan close.
They were Van Helsings family, he should be with them…they deserved to be happy together. She couldn't turn her back on them.
Slowly she turned to Dracula, he met her gaze a smile of gratitude and excitement on his face.
"Alright." she whispered "I'll go…I won't force my friends they can make their own choice."
He bowed low and vanished . Silently she walked into the room and was met with cheerful greetings and crude comments from Marston and Jory in regards to the movie so far.
Settling down among them she watched the rest of the film unfold and announced at the end when Van Helsing and Carl rode off into the sunset.
"Carl, Anna I'm coming back with you. What ever happens I'm not going to let you face it alone." she stated proudly.
She laughed when Anna hugged her with gratitude and Carl beamed at her from the chair. The trio turned and regarded the rest of the teens hopefully.
Tony was the first to stand, he sighed dramatically and placed a casual arm round the blond girls shoulder. "I suppose I'll have to come then since your begging me."
Amie stood then pulling Bob to his feet. "Me and Bob are coming!" she announced much to everyone's surprise.
"I'm driving!" Marston announced.
"Yeh we can see if stump's still there." Jory laughed.
Sarah frowned in confusion "Stumpy?"
Jory grinned "The Zombie guy whose arms you chopped off when he was on Anna, he's stumpy."
The group laughed nervously, in a few hours they would be entering a war.
Note: ok im hopping this chapter was a little bit more entertaining than my last and im finally getting the ball rolling we're off to Vaseria and zombie ville! Yay!
Read and review flames always welcome makes me work harder. In regards to the last chapter I think I could have done better so I might go back and add to it sometime in the future and I will let you all no when I do!