CHAPTER 14
After their meal, the trio was lead upstairs to their rooms by a young girl by the name of Mirella. She couldn't have been more than seven by Anna's guess. She was quite lovely even if a bit dirty.
"Mirella, eh?" Carl said conversationally. "I'm surprised you weren't named Bogna or Dana, or something of the sort." Anna and Gabriel had told him of all they had experienced while he had been tending to Blacky, Vesper, and Bruin, their three horses.
The girl looked up at him with her bright green eyes and shyly replied, "Those are my sisters…"
There was an awkward pause. "Ah," was all Carl could think of to say after that.
The rest of the walk to the rooms was done in silence, but once they reached them, the girl suddenly perked up. "Mother sent Bogdan to prepare your rooms, but he is not very good at it." She smiled. "So, I told him that Petre and Ilie needed help in the fields so I could prepare them for you myself."
"Petre and Ilie are…your brothers?" Carl ventured a guess.
She nodded. "Two of them, yes."
The small friar couldn't help but wonder how many siblings this child had, but decided not to ask.
The rooms were directly across from each other. The child opened one door and then the other, smiling a bit as she did so. "This one is for the princess," she directed, pointed to the door on the left.
There was another pause. Anna smiled curiously down at the girl for a moment before she looked back and forth between the rooms. She saw little difference until she finally noticed the small handpicked bouquet of wild flowers in an old clay pitcher on the worn beside table.
Once the two men had wandered into the room on the right, Bella took Anna by the hand and led her into the other. Smiling, Anna gingerly crouched down beside the girl and then asked, "Did you pick those for me?"
Mirella smiled back and nodded, looking a little bashful again.
"They are very beautiful, Mirella," Anna told her genuinely. "Thank you."
The girl beamed. "Father says princesses like pretty things, so I thought you might like them," she explained.
Anna tilted her head to the side just a bit in an inquisitive manner. "And how do you know I am a princess?" she questioned, keeping her tone light.
"Because you're pretty," the girl stated.
"But so are many other people," Anna told her. "You're very pretty." Mirella blushed at that and ducked her head just a bit, but her eyes never left Anna's. "So, how do you know that I am really a princess?"
The girl stared at her for a long moment before leaning in a little closer and whispering, "You glow…"
Before Anna could ask the girl what she meant by that, a bellow from their rather raucous hostess beckoned the child. Mirella did not wait. She flashed a quick smile and then dashed out of the room. Anna was left crouching in the middle of the room with a confused frown on her face.
It was at that moment that Van Helsing decided to stride in, closing the door behind him as he did. He paused when he saw his gypsy's face. "What is it?" he asked as he moved over to help her stand.
The frown remained. "That girl…"
"What did she say?"
Anna finally brought her eyes up to meet his instead of just staring at the door. "I asked her how she knew that I was a princess and she-she said that I glowed…"
Now Van Helsing looked equally as confused. "Glowed?"
Nodding, Anna let out a breath and then closed her eyes. She didn't know what the girl meant. It could have meant something completely innocent, but with their luck, it probably didn't. She just hoped that whatever was undoubtedly after them would at least wait until they had had a bit of a rest. She was so exhausted.
Gabriel stepped forward and gently wrapped his arms around the princess, pulling her to him. With a soft sigh, she hid her face in his chest while he buried his in her hair. They stood like that for a while, just supporting each other, before finally breaking apart.
Tucking a curl behind her ear, Gabriel smiled lovingly down at Anna for a moment before telling her, "Carl has already fallen asleep across the hall. I would suggest that you get some rest as well." He kissed her on the forehead and then, not knowing if she'd want him there or not, made a move for the door.
"Stay."
He smiled at the word. "Are you sure?" he questioned, ever the gentleman.
She playfully narrowed her eyes at him. "Of course I am," she replied. "I need your help."
"Well, if it's only my services you require…" Van Helsing started, grinning cheekily.
The gypsy gave him a look. "Do not make something of nothing, Mr. Van Helsing, or I'll send you to go rest with our snoring friar."
Gabriel's grin grew. "Very well," he replied, trying his best to sound serious. "What need have you of me?"
There was a slight pause before she turned her back to him and gingerly reached back with one arm to pull her hair over her shoulder. "I need you to unlace me."
With the unexpected request, Gabriel suddenly sobered quite a bit. Was Anna asking him to do what he thought she was asking him to do?
"No, Gabriel, I am not asking you to undress me," Anna said with a repressed sigh when Van Helsing hesitated.
He blinked. Was she reading his mind?
"I am just asking that you unlace my corset," she continued, resisting the urge to roll her eyes at the man. "I would do it myself, but as it is, I am a little sore…"
Gabriel's fantasy garbled thoughts instantly cleared. "Of course," he finally replied as he reached for the bottom tie. It took some doing as he was not generally very well-versed in the art of unlacing corsets, but eventually the confining leather came off.
Anna took a deep breath, relieved to have it off. The entire inn was stuffy enough without that adding to it. "Thank you," she said as she turned around to take the corset from him. A beat passed, and then she noticed the sudden, urgently concerned look on Van Helsing's face. She frowned. "What is it?"
"You're bleeding."
Following his gaze down to her stomach, she noticed a rather large blood stain across the front of her blouse. "I think I pulled a stitch…"
Van Helsing raised an eyebrow. "You think?"
Anna looked up at him from under her long dark lashes. "Fine," she conceded. "I did feel something…pop."
"Why didn't you tell me?" he questioned as he ushered her over to the bed and had her sit.
The princess frowned a bit. "Well, you were trying to kill me at the time," she replied dryly.
Van Helsing shook his head and then made a gesture towards the blouse. "May I?" When she nodded in affirmation, he took the bottom hem and slowly lifted the blouse. Despite his efforts to be gentle, a pained hiss was still ripped from Anna's lips as the dried blood tore away from her wounds and fresh blood began to flow anew.
"I'm sorry," he said softly, his own frown deepening. He moved from his knees to his feet and gently coaxed her down onto the bed. "Lie still. I'll be right back." He didn't give her time to protest before he was out the door and across the hall to retrieve the medical supplies they had brought with them.
With a sigh, Anna made herself more comfortable on the pillows and then adjusted herself so that no bits were hanging out that could cause any sort of embarrassment for either of them. Sure, Van Helsing had already seen her in the nude, but that was essentially by accident, and by God, she still had her pride.
A moment, Gabriel reappeared and shut the door. He cast her a soft smile before settling down on his knees beside the bed. "You were right about the snoring," he told her with a smirk. "Carl could wake the dead."
"Please, no," Anna groused good-naturedly. "The dead is the last thing we need chasing us at the moment."
Gabriel snorted. She was definitely right about that. He had a feeling that Opacus Beluas and shapeshifters were going to be the least of their worries and while the walking dead weren't the hardest of creatures to kill, they still wouldn't help matters by being around.
"Right, sorry. I'll try not to jinx us." He smiled at her again and then took her hand in his, kissing her knuckles. "Now just try to relax. I'll have this done before you know it." When she smiled in return and nodded, closing her eyes, Gabriel got to work.
--
"All done."
Anna tiredly opened her eyes and looked down. The popped stitches had been replaced and the gashes across her stomach once again were neatly closed. "You have quite the skill with the needle, Mr. Van Helsing," she said with a cheeky look in her eyes, "Perhaps you were a seamstress in a past life?"
"Ha ha," he deadpanned, rolling her blouse back down before shooting her a smirk. "Were you injured anywhere else?" he asked, thinking he might as well given Anna's track record for not telling him until the last moment.
There was a pause and then, "My arm." The admission had come with quite a bit of reluctance. Growing up, she had learned to be strong and care for herself. She had had to with the reality that she or one of her family members could die at a moments notice. The only way to deal with that truth was to forever steel herself, but having Gabriel here with his tender gaze and gentle touch…well, she was finding it extremely hard to hold to what she had known her entire life.
"Here, sit up" Gabriel said as he carefully coaxed her up into a sitting position. "Now where does it hurt?"
Anna moved her left arm toward him and it was then that he finally noticed the bloody tear in the sleeve of her blouse. "It is only a graze," she tried to tell him.
"Allow me to be the judge of that," was his reply. She sighed, but didn't argue; he smiled. He pushed away the material that was hiding the wound and was relieved to see that it was, in fact, just a graze. "You were right," he told her without thinking.
The gypsy princess made a triumphant "See?" noise and then pulled her arm free from his grasp. She saw he was opening his mouth to protest and immediately cut him off. "Your turn." When he blinked, she smiled wickedly. She really did enjoy revenge.
"But I haven't–"
She cut him off again. "Your shoulder," she supplied, "And The Shapeshifter must have done something to you in order to keep you from killing him right away, or was it that short distance you had to run that kept you so long?" Yes, now she really was being wicked.
Van Helsing playfully narrowed his eyes at her. Now there was some of that Anna Valerious spunk that he knew and loved. "Alright Princess, you win," he replied with a smirk. He took off his coat and tossed it on the bed before pulling the collar of his sweater aside so she could get a look at the wound he had unfortunately procured from the Opacus Belua.
She made a tsking sound, shaking her head. "I'm afraid that will not do, Mr. Van Helsing. You're going to have to remove both vest and sweater."
"You're having far too much fun with this," Gabriel told her, trying his best not to smirk as he did as she requested. "You realize that, right?"
Anna did her best to look innocent. "I haven't the slightest clue what you are talking about," she stated, biting back her own smirk as she leaned forward to carefully peel away the bandages that had been wrapped around his shoulder. She was indeed having quite a bit of fun, but all thoughts about the bare-chested man kneeling between her legs suddenly vanished when she noticed the angry red color of his wounds. "Gabriel…" she breathed.
He immediately noticed the change in her demeanor and frowned in worry. "What?" He followed her gaze to his shoulder and his frown deepened. "It's a bit…red."
"It's infected, Gabriel!" she exclaimed, infinitely concerned. She reached forward with her hand, testing his forehead and cheek for his temperature. "You haven't a fever yet, but it is only a matter of time unless we thoroughly clean out your wounds and care for them as they should have been from the start." She stressed the last three words to emphasize her disapproval of the fact that he hadn't bothered to take proper care of himself from the beginning.
Van Helsing suppressed a sigh. She was of course right, but still... At the time they had been in a bit of a rush to get moving after the first attack. He hadn't thought it that severe, but apparently his lack of concern for his own wellbeing could now potentially be detrimental to his ability to be able to protect Anna, and that, well that much just absolutely inexcusable.
Lost in his self-berating, he hadn't even noticed that Anna had begun to clean his wound until a sharp sting made him bite back a gasp. He shot the woman above him a look, one of which she returned right back.
"Don't give me that look," she ordered, raising a delicate eyebrow that was not to be challenged. And Van Helsing didn't. "And don't move." Satisfied that he wouldn't, Anna gingerly leaned forward and kissed him on the forehead before climbing to her feet and moving around him to retrieve some fresh water.
--
"I'm not quite sure this is what Carl had in mind when he brought this along," Gabriel stated through clenched teeth as Anna poured a little more vodka on his wounds, hoping it would help with the infection. She had found the flask in one of Carl's bags that Van Helsing had brought into the room.
Why the small friar had vodka, Anna didn't know, but for now, if it would help keep Van Helsing's infection under control, that's all that mattered. "Well, I'm quite sure that I don't care," was her prompt reply. "You're no good to us ill or dead."
Anna once again had a very valid point, Van Helsing considered, but by God, it stung!!
"And besides," she continued, her curiosity getting the better of her after all, "Why does Carl have a flask full of vodka? I didn't even think that he drank."
"Nor did I," Gabriel admitted, "But then again, Carl tends to surprise me on a daily basis, so really anything is possible, especially since he's only a friar." He shrugged without thinking and was immediately greeted with a sharp, shooting pain.
"Don't move," Anna demanded sternly, focused solely on her task. She finished caring for his wound and then wrapped his shoulder with clean bandages. Tying it off, she leaned back a bit to inspect her work and after a moments pause, nodded. "I am finished."
Van Helsing turned his head to look at his shoulder for a second before returning his attention to Anna. He smiled at her. "And perhaps you were a nurse in your past life?" he teased.
She narrowed her eyes a bit and swatted him in his good arm.
"What?!" He grinned. "Better than a seamstress."
Rolling her eyes, Anna shook her head at the man, and then suddenly raised her hand to her mouth, biting back a yawn. The past few days had taken a great toll on her and her exhaustion was quickly catching up with her. She wished she could curl up in a ball and just sleep for days, but knew that wasn't possible, not with all the forces of darkness after her.
Gabriel's expression softened and he rose up on his knees, kissing her softly on the lips. "You should rest," he told her.
Anna smiled tiredly at him. "As should you," she replied as she tenderly brushed several errant strands of his hair back into place. She saw the question in his eyes and could tell that he wasn't sure how to ask it. Should he stay or go? Her fingers lovingly trailed down his cheeks to his chiseled jaw and then she leaned her forehead against his. "Would you stay with me?" she asked, her eyes never leaving his.
"Forever," was his whispered reply, and he meant it.
TBC…
(A/N: It's been FOREVER, I know. I suck. Yes. I have several more chapters written and I figured I'd put them up. I get these random bursts of inspiration that compel me to work on stories that had been stuck in neutral for a long time. Anyway, THANK YOU ALL FOR THE REVIEWS!! And I hope you enjoyed this chapter. CLICKY CLICKY!! Luvs! –Emily)