They walked silently for the most part back to the town. Van Helsing could see that the young woman was still very suspicious of the two men. The feeling was mutual. There was no good reason for her to be walking out alone in the middle of the night, in the middle of nowhere, while a dangerous creature was out. Granted she knew how to defend herself and she did save their lives, but there was something about her that made Van Helsing very uneasy. It wasn't evil he sensed, but something else that seemed off.
They had reached the town and passed the stables that were just outside the town. Van Helsing could see that their horses had safely found their way and were resting comfortably inside. He made a mental note to see if they couldn't trade their horses for braver ones, it would be very inconvenient if every time they went out their horses ran away in fear.
Carl had also noticed their horse had made it back, "I'm going to gather our things from the horses and return to the inn. Now that I know its weakness I'll be able to come up with something to kill it." He turned and headed off towards the stables.
Van Helsing turned to woman, Kathleen. He still couldn't get a good look at her since she still wore her long cloak with the hood up and it was dark out with most of the lights in the town were off.
"And this is where I leave you Mr. Van Helsing. You should have someone take a look at you, the doctor is in that building over there." She quickly said and started to turn to leave.
Van Helsing couldn't let his one opportunity for information leave, "Wait. I would very much like to speak with you. You seem to be one of the few people that can be of any help here and whatever you can tell me about the Dullahan would be useful." She stared at him, considering what he had said. When it seemed that she would decline, he added, "When the Dullahan is killed, no one in you town would have to fear any longer." This seemed to drive it home. He could tell by her body language that she wanted nothing more than to have the Dullahan disposed of, like everyone else in the town.
"How 'bout a drink. The pub is still open, we can talk there." She offered.
Van Helsing nodded in agreement, "Lead the way."
They walked a short distance to one of the few lit buildings. Inside, several of the townspeople had gathered. It seemed that there was a lot of commotion going on inside and it would make anyone passing by believe that nothing was wrong. Van Helsing opened the door and let Kathleen enter first. As they entered, they were greeted by silence as the patrons watched him with suspicious eyes.
"And what are you starein' at?" she demanded of one of the nearby men.
"Sorry Kathleen, we're just not comfortable with him around. He's a murderer you know, you'd be best to take care of yourself." the man replied.
"It seems to me that you've go your hands on the wrong information. I've walked over here with him from the fields and obviously I'm still alive. Now you better be goin' about your own business and stop worrin' about him. We have bigger problems out there than mortal men." She turned away from the other men and directed Van Helsing to one of the empty tables on the other side. The noise began to grow as the rest of the people began to mind their own business.
Van Helsing finally got his first real look at Kathleen. She removed the cloak and placed it on a hanger nearby. She was quite short, no taller than five four. Her light red hair hung just below her shoulders and was clipped back, but there was still a disorderly look to it. Her eyes were a dark green and her skin was pale, too many cloudy days and not enough sunny ones. Her clothing was simple; a white blouse, a black buttoned vest, and a long, dark blue skirt. It was the look of someone from the country. What really struck him was how young she was. She looked to be in her early to mid twenties, twenty-four at the most.
"Would you like anything to drink, Mr. Van Helsing?" she asked.
"Whatever you suggest would be fine with me." He said as he sat down.
Kathleen turned towards the bartender, "Michael, two whiskeys." Van Helsing was quite impressed with her choice of drink. She took the seat across from him, taking a position that would allow her to quickly jump out of her seat if need be. They said nothing to each other for awhile until after the barmaid brought their drinks.
After taking a sip her drink, Kathleen finally spoke, "So, what would you like to know?"
"Why is the Dullahan attacking your town?"
"I don't know." she replied.
"Is there any connection between those that have been taken? Any you can think of?"
She thought about it for a moment, "There seemed to have been one before the latest attack. The first six victims didn't live within the town walls, but in cottages further out and they were taken straight from their homes. That's why we didn't know what it was until this latest attack when he actually came into the town. We were so unprepared…" she trailed off in her thought. He watched as tears began to well up in her eyes, then her brows crossed and she looked directly at him, "Which brings me to wonder how you knew what it was and got here so quickly when we ourselves didn't find out until just a few days ago. Care to explain that?"
"When it comes to evil, word reaches my ears quite fast." It was the only answer he was going to give her. It would be too complicated to explain to her about the Holy Order and besides, as Cardinal Jinette said himself, "We do not exist."
She didn't seem too pleased with that explanation but the expression on his face indicated that he wouldn't go into detail. Van Helsing looked up past Kathleen towards the door where Connor had entered. Kathleen turned around, he watched as her body tensed up as she quickly turned back. The look on her face read that Connor was the last person in the world she wanted to see. Unfortunately for her, Connor had spotted them and was approaching.
"Hello Van Helsing." Van Helsing returned the greeting. Connor then turned towards Kathleen. They looked at each other for a moment, Connor became stone-faced. "Kathleen." he said stoically.
"Hello, Connor." She replied just as stoically.
"Kathleen was just providing me with some information about the Dullahan's attacks." The air was becoming unbearably uncomfortable and it was making Van Helsing very agitated.
"Well you're in luck. Kathleen can answer almost any question you have pertaining to the attacks," Kathleen's eyes flashed in anger, Connor ignored the look and turned to Van Helsing, "you just need to ask the right questions."
"I will provide him with all the information I know, I would like to see this end as much as you do." Van Helsing could hear the anger rise in her voice. There was defiantly something more to this than they were letting on and he planned on finding out what it was.
Connor seemed to be ignoring Kathleen and continued to focus his attention on Van Helsing. "Word has gotten around that you've encountered the Dullahan and that you failed in disposing of him."
"I didn't have the necessary information. He won't be so lucky the next time."
"Unfortunately, someone is still going to die today." Connor glanced at Kathleen one last time then turned back to Van Helsing. "May you be more victorious in your next hunt and prevent any further deaths at the hands of the creature." And with that, Connor left them.
Van Helsing turned his attention back to Kathleen who was hanging her head, slightly propped up by her hands. He could see a tear run down her face. He wasn't sure what to say to her, there was obviously some history between them that was very painful. This wasn't the sort of thing he normal had to deal with.
Looking over at Van Helsing, Kathleen straightened up and composed herself. "I'm sorry about that."
"There's no need to apologize, things are very stressful for all of you. It's understandable that even the best of friends can become angry with each other," he offered, "It just seems strange that he would be under the impression that you know more about the attacks then everyone else." He wasn't sure if this was the right time to start pressing the issue, but his gut feelings were too strong to be ignored. He could see her tense up at his implication. She didn't seem to have a response for him, he could see her mind racing as she thought of something to say.
"He's just uh…angry, looking for someone to blame for all of this. His best friend was the latest victim and he feels like it should've been him that was taken and not Liam." She finally said, "The Dullahan had charged to Connor but was stopped by something, then Liam came and attacked but knocked down then dragged off. It was the only attack in the town itself."
Van Helsing could see that there was no lie in what she was saying, but she was still holding something back and was about to press on further when a there was a scream coming from outside. He quickly jumped out and ran for the door, followed by everyone else in the pub.
He was prepared for an attack and looked around to see where the Dullahan would be coming from. Instead, all he could see was a woman running and crying hysterically through the town. He watched as someone ran up to her and grabbed her, wrapping his arms around her. The woman collapse into the man's arms and began to sob uncontrollably. The rest of the people gathered around to see what the commotion was all about.
"Sarah, what happened? Tell me what this is all about." said the man holding the woman identified as Sarah. She couldn't make coherent words but the man holding her seemed to understand what she was saying. He looked up at everyone with a grave face.
"The Dullahan has taken Brian, he was outside chasin' one of the dogs when it came and took him away." The entire town became silent except for Sarah's loud weeping. A few slowly turned to Van Helsing and gave him accusing looks. He could feel his anger rising, he did feel responsible for Brian's death. His being unprepared that night had allowed the Dullahan to take another life.
"Return to your homes, and pray that the Banshee sees no more deaths tonight." The man holding Sarah said. The group of people slowly started to disperse, the woman Sarah was being led away.
Carl had heard the screaming from in his room and came running to Van Helsing. He was scared out of his mind, thinking the Dullahan had attacked, but he was relieved to see everyone was just simply walking away. "What was that all about? Sounded like someone was dying out here." he said.
Van Helsing wasn't paying any attention to him. Instead, he watched as a cloaked figure walked quickly away to the edge of the town.
Van Helsing was surprised as to how fast Kathleen could walk but he was able to catch up to her very quickly. Carl followed as fast as he could but he wasn't build for sprinting. They had reached her just outside the town walls.
"Why have you done nothing to prevent those deaths?" he yelled at her.
"I don't know what you're talkin' about?" she said quickly, Van Helsing could hear the fear in her voice.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about, don't play innocent with me." Van Helsing ran and blocked her path and grabbed her by the shoulders, forcing her to look him directly in the eyes, "You have foreseen each one of those deaths and have done nothing to stop them." He could feel the anger rise through his blood. Kathleen looked away from him, unable to look at him in the face any longer.
"Why would she be able predict the deaths of those people? The only one that we know of so far that could do that is…the…" At that moment, Carl realized what Van Helsing was implying.
"…Banshee." Van Helsing finished.