Chapter Three: Crossing Boundaries
"So the Order gave you this house?" asked Dracula. "They did not make you pay?"
"Nope. It was the least they could do," grunted Van Helsing, throwing himself down on the sofa.
"I suppose if they are sending you out to kill things like me, they would have to provide a great restitution."
Van Helsing smiled slightly and gestured to the large, plush armchair that stood across from it. "Have a seat. Try to relax a little."
"It is appreciated, but…" He gestured vaguely to his wounds.
Van Helsing resisted the urge to slap his forehead. "I forgot about that!"
"I would not want to spoil anything," the vampire said quietly, so quietly that anyone else would not have heard him. Van Helsing had impeccable hearing. He went to rise and fetch some medical supplies to treat the wounds as best he could, but a cold, firm hand on his shoulder forced him back down. He looked up into the fathomless black eyes of his former enemy and was pinned, transfixed like an insect on a pin.
"Tell me, Gabriel," breathed Dracula. "What is the real reason you saved me?"
"I…you were alone…hurt…"
"I hardly think Gabriel Van Helsing, a man I once knew as the Great Enemy, would extend his hand in pity to a creature he twice risked his life to kill." The vampire's voice had lost most of its quiet passivity. Van Helsing could see the tiny glimmer of his former self pulse and brighten. It made him uneasy, but he was still pinned down with those eyes, and being before Dracula at this moment held the same profound solemnity than if he had been before God, awaiting his judgement. When the vampire spoke again he flinched, thinking for a brief wisp of time that it was indeed the voice of God. But no…it was only Dracula, conviction adding a certain thunder and gravity to his voice, though he had not raised it.
"Tell me," he hissed, "about the little plan you mentioned very briefly in the square. You asked of the Devil, and mentioned undertaking a bit of 'God's work'. I have thought about it, Gabriel. I am not stupid. I am part of this 'plan', am I not?"
Van Helsing sighed. "Yes."
"And it has something to do with your current hospitality, yes?"
"Yes. When I learned that the Devil had these great plans for your suffering and torture, and that I was to be included as an unknowing instrument in your punishment, I thought that there was a way to deny Lucifer the pleasure of seeing his plan succeed."
"You wish to do God's work…But you never called yourself a holy man, Gabriel."
"I did not, though some may consider me one. Holy man or not, I would rather do God's work than the Devil's, because it was the Devil who centuries ago got a hold on my best friend, and turned him into a monster."
The silence was profound. Dracula stepped away from Van Helsing, whose body had fully tensed, half-expecting the vampire to become angry at his last statement, and possibly attack.
Yet he did no such thing. Instead, he said softly, "So I am merely an instrument to you, am I, Gabriel?" The gentle sadness in his voice struck Van Helsing as though he had been run through. Those words, that voice, was the testament of a man betrayed, a man who had given up.
Van Helsing could not stop himself from rising and going to Dracula, who flinched away from him. "Listen…"
The vampire cut him off with a flinty laugh, the sadness suddenly gone, or at least well-hidden, and replaced with something very much like how he used to be. "You are quite like I was before you killed me this last time, Gabriel. I remember using a living creature to serve my purpose also…"
Gabriel, who had been of the verge of placing a comforting hand on the vampire's shoulder, instead found himself raising it and viciously punching Dracula in his wounded throat. The vampire gave a choked cry of pain and fell against the wall, eyes glazing over instantly. The wounds bled afresh.
"How dare you compare me to yourself, you evil, monstrous lunatic!" shrieked the hunter. "I have not wantonly slaughtered innocents! I have not enslaved, or taken of life as I pleased! I have not laughed in the face of dying creatures! How dare you compare me to you!"
"Many have suffered or fallen to you, Gabriel," choked the vampire. Van Helsing had to strain to hear him, as he could hardly get the words out. "Many have suffered and fallen, yet you convince yourself that you have not touched nor tainted innocents." He smiled weakly. "What a lovely talent."
"It is my curse," hissed the hunter, and kicked out, striking the vampire in the stomach. Dracula barely flinched, and bared bloody fangs in a rictus of fury, using the wall to haul himself to his feet.
"I will not be part of this farce," he hissed. "I will not be the instrument of Gabriel Van Helsing. I do not have to stay in this accursed city!" He strode furiously out the door, not caring that daylight was in but an hour, and walked out into the night. Moments later Van Helsing, whose anger was rapidly deserting him, heard the heavy flapping of massive leathery wings.
Dracula was gone.
Despite their fight, Van Helsing began to grow a little worried as dawn came and the day bloomed bright. He wondered despite himself whether the vampire had really fled the city and had found shelter before the sun's rays could find him. What startled Van Helsing the most was that he found himself hoping that he had.
Why did he hope for that creature's safety? After all that he said, all that he was…His words had been harsh, cutting as deeply as words can cut. It was, after all, his specialty. But beneath the surface of those words Gabriel found a haunting truth; those words had addressed the questions that hounded him day and night, questions and emotions that had led him to refer to his life as my curse. He knew, now that his anger had abated, that Dracula had not said the things he'd said merely as vicious retaliation for the revelation of his part in Gabriel's plan. It had spurred him to bring it up, yes, but it was as though Dracula was urging Van Helsing to bring these woes to light, not store them away to fester. Perhaps, had the vampire not gotten angry, he would have offered to help his former enemy, perhaps would have given Van Helsing a coveted piece of his knowledge of their past together.
But that chance was gone, now. Van Helsing would never know of Dracula's true intentions, he would never be able to apologise to the vampire for his words, and for striking him the way he had. His insides twisted painfully when he remembered how he had struck and reopened the horrible wound, how he had kicked the creature when he was on the floor and helpless. It was unlike him, very unlike him. Or so he hoped.
The day passed without event. Van Helsing made to trip to the Vatican to see Cardinal Jinette and report that he had seen no sign of the creature they hunted, but that he was keeping a whether eye out. Jinette was displeased, but not overly so. Even he had to admit that whatever they were looking for was extremely wily, and had a fantastic hiding spot. Van Helsing agreed, and vowed that he would flush it out and kill it, and that Jinette should not worry. He was rising to leave when Jinette stopped him.
"Gabrielle," he said, and his face was very grave, "something is troubling you. What is the matter, child?"
He had not referred to Van Helsing as child since his very first days in the Holy Order. Startled, Van Helsing faced him, and said, "I must admit, my usual woes are weighing more heavily on me these past couple of days, Father. I have no idea why, and there is nothing else, so I have resigned myself to hoping that these troubles might recede soon."
The Cardinal studied him. "You are sure that is all? That nothing can be done?"
"I am. And I thank you for your concern, Father."
Jinette nodded slowly, clearly still unsatisfied, but only watched, wordless, as Van Helsing left the confessional and exited the building.
Odd, thought the Cardinal, that he would not even visit his friend in the armoury.
Van Helsing returned home just as the sun was setting. He knew he should go look for the creature, and he wanted nothing more than to eradicate it as soon as possible, but for now he seemed so impossibly distracted that he decided to take the first part of the night off, to sit alone on his sofa and sip whiskey from a small glass tumbler. Edgar Allen Poe was in his hands, and the small fire burned industriously in the fireplace, and soon he found himself nodding off when all of a sudden there came a faint scratching at the door.
He thought immediately of The Raven, and laughed at the perfect timing of whatever his guest might be. Setting down the book and the tumbler, he went to the door and opened it, peering out into the night. Oddly, there was nothing there but darkness and the rasping of crickets in the window-boxes, and the occasional far-off bark of a dog. Puzzled, he placed a hand on the door to shut it, when something clawed at his leg.
Van Helsing jumped back and looked down, and gasped at the sight before him.
Dracula lay on the doorstep, bathed in blood and whiter than even a vampire should be. The skin of his hands was burned in places, likely from the sun, and there were deep raking slashes through the cloth of his coat, right into his chest and side. Van Helsing thought he saw the gleam of exposed bone.
"He has barred me in," gasped the vampire, clutching at Van Helsing ankle. "I tried to fly away, but as soon as I hit the limits of the city it was like I ran into an invisible wall. It surrounds the town." His voice grew suddenly very sad, and was thick with defeat. "So far his plan is working. I…had no choice but to come back here."
Van Helsing leaned down and wordlessly placed a hand on the vampire's cold, smooth cheek. He held it there for a moment, the vampire seeming to take hesitant comfort in the gesture, and then he scooped the vampire up and brought him inside. He looked down at Dracula's handsome face as he made his way to the couch, and smiled. "We have much to discuss when you're feeling better," he said softly. "I have several things I want to ask you."
Dracula returned the smile and nodded. His eyes began to close, but before they shut altogether he looked at Van Helsing and said, "By the way, Gabriel…I had a little run-in with this creature you are hunting. When we talk again I shall tell you how to find him."
With that, the vampire closed his eyes.