Author's note: Hi everybody! Missed ya! Sorry I didn't update earlier, but life's cruel, you know… Anyway, here's the chapter where you'll read about this freaking little shadow! Hope you like what I wrote, but if you don't, please don't kill me!
Celtic AuroraElwyndraShoysrock and AnnaVanHelsing1887, my beloved faithful reviewers, thank you a hundred times for your reviews! You give me strength to go on! I wouldn't have made it so far without you!
Summary: This story takes place right after the movie, only Anna was not hurt by Van Helsing and furthermore is not dead lol. The basic idea is that we'll follow their journey to Rome with all of its events, and finally we'll get to learn something about who he really is. All the way, there will be an exploration of his relationship with her.
Warning: The story contains explicit sex scenes, so please don't read through if you are under legal age or otherwise feel uncomfortable with such stuff. To everyone else, enjoy yourselves! ;-p
Disclaimer: No, I don't own Van Helsing or anything related to the movie and you know that. I only own my own characters and plot.
A Journey Home, And A Journey Of Sentiments
Chapter 21
Everyone in the cabin was sleeping quietly, each lost in their own world of dreams- or nightmares. The ship was still sailing in the Mediterranean sea, cutting graciously and steadily through the waves, and everything seemed to be in place and order.
However, there was one thing that escaped this general rule. It also escaped everyone's attention, and now it was moving on the wooden wall and towards the lovers' bed. The mysterious abnormality was a shadow, a shadow with no material source to be created of, a shadow that moved on its own will, a shadow that would exist even under no light's presence…
Just like everybody else, Gabriel and Anna were sleeping, not the least aware of the unnatural presence so near to them now. Or, at least, the shadow thought that they were not aware.
But the hunter was no inexperienced amateur so tat a creepy shadow could escape his notice totally. Moreover, his keen sense of evil always proved of great help in such situations when the enemy was difficult to be seen. As a matter of fact, Van Helsing's eyes snapped open when the creeping shadow started moving towards his bed.
Not wanting to alert Anna, he remained at his place, not moving a finger. Only his eyes were now narrowed and scanning the room for the source of evil that he felt so clearly. Van Helsing observed his friends; they were sleeping quietly in their beds. Everything surrounding them was normal, and the shadows on the wooden walls continued their creepy dance at the rhythm of the candlelight's flickering.
The shadows… suddenly a thought crossed Gabriel's mind. Could it be that the enemy was hiding in the shadows? He lifted his head a bit to observe them more carefully. The creeping shadow took notice of the hunter's slight move and slowly slid under his bed, blending perfectly with the darkness.
Gabriel felt that the source of evil was too close now, but still he couldn't place it. Not having any advantage on his enemy this time, he decided to stay still and pretend to be sleeping. He would wait for the enemy to make his move first and reveal himself. Van Helsing cast one last short glance to the pistol and the knife he had placed on a chair beside his bed and then closed his eyes. He was now counting on deceiving the enemy so that he would come out with the thought that the field was ready for him to take his evil action.
Much time passed by, perhaps even hours, and nothing seemed to change. There was nothing to be heard in the cabin; a deadly silence reigned. The shadow was patiently waiting for the right time to move. And when at last it decided to move, Gabriel was on the verge of falling asleep. The shadow started to slowly slide out from under the bed, hoping that the hunter had fallen asleep. But he had not. The sudden movement of the source of evil alerted him again, and this time he understood where it was. Moving like a thunder, he reached for the knife on the chair, grabbed it and then with a leap he was on the floor, stabbing it fiercely. But it was not actually the floor that he stabbed. A horrible shriek was heard from the wounded shadow that woke everyone up. Everybody jumped from their beds with their hearts pounding like drums.
"Oh my God what happened?", cried Anna.
"Van Helsing? What are you doing down there?", Carl yelled.
"Stabbing an enemy!", the hunter shouted in response.
"Oh, Carl, I'm scared!", cried Francesca and jumped over to Carl's bed and into his hug.
"Don't panic, please…", the doctor tried to calm the others down.
"Gabriel are you alright? What is this…black thing under you?", Anna asked him in a worried voice and quickly reached for her sword.
"It's the enemy! I stabbed it!", he answered her.
"En-enemy? Is it… dead now?", Carl asked frightened and Francesca shrank in his hug.
Before Gabriel had the time to answer his friend, the shadow dissolved from under his body and disappeared for a moment, leaving everybody to wonder what had just happened. But soon enough, a reddish solid figure started to form right where the shadow had disappeared. Gabriel was on his knees on the floor while this weird sight was taking place in front of his eyes. The figure grew larger and larger and started to take form. Then it suddenly spread its wings open, knocking the hunter backwards so that he fell on his back. Blood was now streaming down from the scratches on his face and naked chest. The figure now floated above the floor in all of its demonic glory. He was reddish, had devilish wings with thorns and a long tail instead of legs, and his eyes were blacker than the night itself.
"Oh my God…! It's Vandul! The sea demon! That black shadow was you!", Anna exclaimed in fear and awe.
"Indeed. Blood of Dracula, I see we meet again. How unpleasant. You should have died by now, but the Nomad was a fool! Mark my words, this is the last time we meet", he said in his imposing voice. Vandul looked exactly the same way they remembered him, only he had chosen to lower the scale of his body's size so that he would fit in the cabin.
"But that's impossible!", Carl cried. "You are supposed to appear only once a year, when the January moon is full!"
"Rules are to be broken", the demon answered coldly.
"You violated the laws of your confinement…", Gabriel growled in a steady low voice that sounded very threatening, and stood up, ignoring his bleeding wounds.
"You have no power over me, Avenger. You and Dracula's Blood shall die! My allies failed to do so, but now you will die of my hand!", Vandul yelled at the hunter.
"You can try", Van Helsing challenged him bravely. Once more, there wasn't the slightest hint of fear in his voice.
The demon let out an angry roar and flew towards the hunter. But right in time a brilliant blue light appeared and Isetnofret came out of it, holding her sword before her. Vandul stopped his attack.
"Isetnofret! You again! Stay out of this!", the demon yelled.
"No I will not! I tried to stop you once and I didn't succeed. This time I will not fail! I will not let you take the lives of those precious people!", she told him angrily and glared at him.
"Since when do you care about others? I knew you only cared about how to remain eternally young!", Vandul said sarcastically and then let out a horrible laughter.
"You broke the rules that were placed upon you!", she accused him.
"So did you, when you had this man save your soul!", he yelled back and pointed to Gabriel with a claw. "Now move away! You are no match for me. Stand against me and I'll kill you with no remorse!"
"Leave, I beg of you in the name of our ancient sacred love!", she cried and this made the five friends look at each other puzzled.
"There is no love! You betrayed me! You let them take me! So stop talking about love, hypocrite!", Vandul spat his accusations to Isetnofret.
"No!"
"I will kill you before I kill them!", he said and flew forcefully towards Isetnofret. She tried to block his attack with her sword but his claws smashed it to shards. Then he put his clawed hand around her neck, chocking her.
"Let her go, you monster!", Anna yelled and attacked Vandul with her sword. The small cut she managed to do on him enraged the demon and kicked her away with his tail. He would first kill Isetnofret and then the rest as well.
"You're here for us, not for her!", Gabriel shouted at the demon and attacked him with the knife, only to be knocked down again by his wing.
"Shut up, Left Hand. You're next!", Vandul shrieked and was now choking Isetnofret to death.
"Gabriel… His… wrists…", were the last words that Isetnofret managed to utter.
Then Vandul tossed her lifeless body aside and it fell on the floor without a sound. Anna ran to her and kneeled beside her with tears in her eyes.
"Isetnofret, no…please don't die! No!", she cried, but there was no response to come from the divine woman. Soon the blue light around her fainted and disappeared. Her body followed the same path soon, and now there was nothing left of Isetnofret. She may have died many times, but now she had died as a spirit, too, and there was no going back. Anna stayed still, unable to move, while tears were running down her cheeks. She was shocked.
Meanwhile, after killing his ancient lover, Vandul started to approach Gabriel. The hunter took a few steps backwards, always holding the small knife before him.
"Watch the Avenger die, Blood of Dracula!", the demon yelled to Anna and then raised his clawed hands to attack Van Helsing.
Isetnofret's last words suddenly flashed in Gabriel's mind. She had spoken about his wrists… As Vandul was about to bring his hands down and strike the hunter, he quickly reacted and grabbed the demon's wrists, trying to avert his attack with all his strength.
"Aaarghhh!", Vandul shrieked. Isetnofret had betrayed his secret, the secret that made him weaker... But he would not give up. He still was stronger than any human.
Gabriel kept clutching the demon's wrists hard and tried to push him backwards, but to no avail. Everyone was watching the scene speechless, frozen at their places, as Vandul pinned the hunter against the wooden wall, making him hit his head hard on it. Pain shot through his body and brought him dizziness, but he was determined to never surrender. Gabriel felt his elbows bending under the demon's surmounting pressure. Soon Vandul's claws had reached the hunter's neck and face, threatening to sink into his flesh. Gabriel collected every last bit of strength that was left in him and tried to push the demon away.
Then something weird happened. As Van Helsing was applying all of his force against Vandul's pressure, a silver light appeared as if from inside the hunter and washed all over him. Everyone in the cabin felt they would be blinded by the light's brightness, and so did Vandul, who was utterly frightened by what was now happening. Gabriel gave one last shove against the demon and then Vandul fell backwards and broke into millions of reddish pieces, as if he was made of glass. Then the pieces disappeared; they were now scattered forever into the abysmal, oblivious depths of Hell.
After the demon's death, the blinding silver light that had appeared from inside Gabriel disappeared all of a sudden. The hunter turned his eyes upwards for a moment, as if he wanted to look into the heavens. Then he let his eyelids cover his eyes, his knees bend and his consciousness slip into blackness, and collapsed face down on the floor…
Author's note: Well, hope you liked the chappie! Sorry it's not really long… Promise the next one will be longer! Now you know what to do… Press the magic button down there and give me a review:)
There's a special addition to this chapter now… My friend and reviewer Celtic Aurora found this song and thought that its lyrics fit to the story. I agree with you Aurora! They fit Gabriel and Anna nicely! So people, do you agree with us? And don't forget to check Aurora's story! It's great! Now here goes the song:
Rebirthing
I lie here paralytic
Inside this soul
Screaming for you till my throat is numb
I wanna break out I need a way out
I don't believe that it's gotta be this way
The worst is the waiting
In this womb I'm suffocating
Feel your presence filling up my lungs with oxygen
I take you in
I've died
Rebirthing now
I wanna live for love wanna live for you and me
Breathe for the first time now
I come alive somehow
Rebirthing now
I Wanna live my life wanna give you everything
Breathe for the first time now
I come alive somehow
I lie here lifeless
In this cocoon
Shedding my skin cause
I'm ready to
I wanna break out
I found a way out
I don't believe that it's gotta be this way
The worst is the waiting
In this womb I'm suffocating
(Bridge)
Tell me when I'm gonna live again
Tell me when I'm gonna breathe you in
Tell me when I'm gonna feel inside
Tell me when I'm gonna feel alive
Tell me when I'm gonna live again
Tell me when this fear will end
Tell me when I'm gonna feel inside
Tell me when I'll feel alive