Night had fallen, the moon was shining brightly above and was just a few days from a full moon. Van Helsing could already feel the werewolf's power growing within him. Although he wasn't going to turn into one during the full moon, there were still lingering effects of the bite. His senses were sharper and he felt stronger. This would work to his advantage when it came to battling the evil the Holy Order had sent him after, but there was a down side. When he became extremely aggravated, he could feel the strong desires to lash out and there would be some physical change, usually in his hands. I would take every ounce of his self-control to calm himself and keep himself from hurting anyone.

But this night would be different, he would use the anger against the Dullahan and stop him. There was no doubt in his mind that he couldn't do it.

If I could kill Dracula with this power, how hard could a headless horseman be?

Besides him, Carl was obviously frightened. He didn't like being out in the dark looking for something that would most likely kill him. It seemed he wasn't the only one, their horses were extremely agitated, something was nearby.

"I don't see why we had to come out this very night. Couldn't we have waited at least until morning when we could see where we were going?" Carl said, breaking the silence.

"You heard what they said, the Banshee has seen someone's death. We better kill this thing before it kills its intended victim." Van Helsing was distracted, looking around and listening to something in the distance.

"From what I understand, the Banshee sees an unavoidable death. So no matter what we do, that person is going to die. With that in mind I suggest…" Carl was interrupted when Van Helsing abruptly stopped and dismounted his horse. He looked as if he could hear something in the distance. Carl slowly dismounted his horse and walked over to Van Helsing. "What is it?" Before Van Helsing could answer, the horses reared and took off in the opposite direction. Carl chased after them for a short distance but gave up.

"Well that's a good sign." Carl said as he walked back over to Van Helsing. Carl could see by the look on the hunter's face that something was coming. He continued to look down the road. Carl concentrated his hearing in hopes of hearing something, but he knew that Van Helsing's hearing was many times better than his own.

Carl started to think he heard hoofs when, without warning, Van Helsing drew out his pistols and shoved the friar off the road. Carl landed hard on the ground and yelped out in pain. Van Helsing jumped to the other side of the road as the rider appeared out of nowhere from overthe hill. As the rider passed, Van Helsing fired several rounds. The rider stopped a little ways down the road and turned around. His horse reared and Carl got a good look at him as he struggled to get up.

Although he expected it, the fact that the rider had no head on his shoulders still surprised the friar to no end. To him, in fact to anyone, it was just unnatural and would scare even the bravest of men.

Except Gabriel Van Helsing. He's seen worse than a simple headless horseman.

The Dullahan raised his head high in the air. I had an eerie yellow glow that lit up the area. It seemed to be searching the area and then focused on the two men standing at the sides of the road.

Van Helsing was out of bullets. He quickly drew out his tojo blades which spun with a mechanical whine. The Dullahan charged towards him, faster than any rider he had ever seen before. He released one of the blades and it flew straight at the rider. It shot through the middle of its chest and out the other side. The Dullahan didn't even seem to register it and it certainly didn't slow it down. Van Helsing was about to release the other one, but the Dullahan was already on top of him. The horse kicked Van Helsing in the chest, throwing him far back. Then it turned to Carl

Carl had no weapons except for a bottle of holy water. He struggled to open the bottle but in his haste, he drops it and it bounces out of arm's reach. With nothing to defend himself with, he did what came natural to him.

"Van Helsing! I could use some help!" he cried. There was no sign of him, Carl feared that he had been seriously hurt. Or worse, killed. Carl braced for his own death, he watched as the Dullahan turned the head towards him. It gave him an evil grin and looked as if it was going to speak. It struck Carl how absurd it was that a decapitated head was going to talk to him.

Carl then became aware of someone yelling from somewhere behind him on his right. The Dullahan's face changed to that of surprise and what could be taken as fear. The horse began to back up away from him and was becoming very agitated. He became even more confused as someone stepped between him and the Dullahan.

The newcomer was yelling at the Dullahan in a language that Carl had never heard before and threatening it with simple wooden staff. He could tell by the voice that the newcomer was a woman. Whatever she was doing, it seemed to be working. The Dullahan continued to slowly and fearfully back away. Its horse reared up once more and with a final cry, the Dullahan took off down the road.

Carl didn't know what to make of it. He stared at the cloaked woman standing in front of him, her back towards him. He didn't understand how she was able to ward off the Dullahan with a stick when Van Helsing's own weapons had no affect.

Carl took a step closer to the woman and extended his hand, "Thank you so much for…" Carl was stunned at how fast the woman could move because before he knew it, she had whipped around and knocked his feet out from right under him. He found himself lying on his back as the woman stood over him, her staff pointed right at his face. Although the staff had no point on the end, there was no doubt in his mind that she could do some serious damage to him with it. She yelled at him in the same language that she used against the Dullahan.

"I'm sorry, I don't understand your language." Carl quickly said.

The woman opened her mouth to say something more when another voice came from behind her. "Because he is a man of God and you wouldn't want his death on your head." Carl heard Van Helsing say. Carl could see him slowly walking closer, holding his side and limping slightly. The woman looked at Carl for a moment then stepped back away from him.

She turned to Van Helsing, "Who are you two and what are you doin' out here in the middle of the night?" Suspicion dripped from every word. Like everyone else in the town, she had a very heavy Irish brogue.

"We've been sent here to kill the Dullahan. Unfortunately it seems we were greatly unprepared." He said as he helped Carl to his feet. He sounded only annoyed at the fact, but being unprepared seemed to be a usual problem of his as of late.

She gave a small laugh, "I would have to agree with you, you were very unprepared. Looks to me as if you barely got out alive and your friend here was just about to have the very life of him ripped from his body." She said, quite amused at the situation, "Tell me, what exactly were you tryin' to use to kill the Dullahan?"

"Bullets, blades, if my horse hadn't run off I would've used my crossbow. Nothing seemed to work. What is it that you used, it worked quite well." He said carefully, if he wanted her help, he needed her trust.

She planted her staff in front of her and twisted it around. The side that faced him had a gold colored cross on it, not very ornate and about three inches in length. "The Dullahan fears gold, it's the only defense we have against him, that is now that we know he is the one behind the deaths. You would be wise to carry some around with you."

"We'll be sure to do that. Thank you for helping us." Van Helsing extended his hand towards her, "My name is Gabriel Van Helsing and this is Carl."

The woman looked at his hand for a moment and then hesitantly put her hand in his, "Kathleen O'Reilly."

Van Helsing smiled, this was a good start.