A/N All I can say is... yall are probably gonna end up hating Analiese after this chapter.
Samara Morgan-ring: Your review.. um... inspired me to keep writing (and I'll get reading your fic as soon as possible!)
Irish QT: Wow, I haven't heard from you in a while! Technically, Analiese isn't evil... but after this chapter you probably will think she is! And I can't believe what they did to poor Van Helsing in the movie! Keep him for the day, he needs all the snuggles he can get!
Chapter 8:
It's All Fun and Games...
Even Carl, who had been brooding and sulking for the past few days, was in a cheery mood the next morning. As usual, Analiese sat in-between Vlad and Gabriel, but she and Van Helsing didn't seem particularly interested in conversation. They almost seemed to be ignoring each other, until at last Van Helsing, who had been talking weapons with William and Carl, spoke to Analiese.
"So, why did your brother and sister not join us?" He asked nonchalantly.
"Because only they had the good sense not to come." She said icily. Van Helsing was taken aback for a moment, until he glanced at her and saw that she was watching his reaction from under her eyelashes.
Are we to play games then? He thought mischievously.
"The first step to fixing our faults is admitting to them." He replied lightly.
"What are you implying by that?" Analiese cried angrily, throwing down her knife. Yet, behind her veil of anger, Van Helsing could see she was enjoying this.
"How could you speak so to Analiese?" Dracula asked, outraged.
"Thank you Vlad." Analiese said sweetly, giving Dracula a look of adoration. "Perhaps we should take leave of their barbaric company. You and I always have so much fun when it's just the two of us." Dracula blinked slowly, seeming almost confused. Then a slow smile spread across his face.
"You're right." He beamed. He stood and offered his arm to Analiese. She did not take it; instead, she took his hand.
"It is much more comfortable this way." She whispered to him. Another smile was goaded from Vlad. This was an unexpected turn.
"Wait, Vlad!" Gabriel called. Dracula turned.
"What is it?" He asked.
"You might want to take your napkin with you to wipe your hand when she at last releases it." He called out, waving the cloth napkin from Dracula's place at the table. With a choked cry of outrage, Analiese fled the room. Dracula glared at Van Helsing for a moment, then chased after her.
"Gabriel! What drove you to be so insensitive?" Carl hissed in outrage.
"What are you at?" The others murmured generally at once. To their supreme shock, Van Helsing merely smiled.
"I am playing along." He said smoothly, turning back to his breakfast.
Analiese paced the garden outside the castle furiously, a few tears slipping down her cheeks. She wasn't crying because of what Van Helsing had said, she was crying because she actually cared that he might have meant it. She actually CARED made her feel sick with pain.
"Analiese?" called Dracula gently. She turned to look at him, his face full of loving concern, then looked away. "Are you all right?" He asked in the same tone, standing behind her.
"Yes. I'm... quite fine." She muttered thickly, drying her tears as fast as she could.
"No you're not." Dracula said as he turned her. "I wouldn't wash my hands after holding hands with you, no matter what Gabriel says! Rather, I'd want to keep your touch there for as long as possible."
"Thank you for saying that, Vlad." She said with a soft smile.
"Why not thank me for meaning it?" He asked quietly, taking both of her hands and giving them a squeeze. Analiese watched him for a minute. Despite Van Helsing's slight, real or imagined, her feelings towards her cousin had not changed. But, she thought, If Gabriel does care for me, he'll have to come and get me first. That's the only way I'll know for sure that he wants me... And, regardless of her thoughts, here was the place he could chase her to. She squeezed Dracula's hands back.
"I thank you." She whispered, hugging him. He returned the embrace warmly, then drew back.
"What else can I do to make those tears go away?" He asked with a smile, wiping a few tears still clinging to her cheeks away.
"A party." She said brightly. "We haven't had some real merrymaking here in ages!"
"A party it is then!" Dracula laughed. "Let us go back inside and tell everyone." Arm in arm, they reentered the castle and the hall. "Gentlemen, Analiese and I have decided that we are well overdue for a merrymaking on these premises! We shall have a party this night!"
"A party!" shouted a majority of the friends seated at the table. Even Carl seemed ecstatic, at which Van Helsing raised his eyebrows. His heart had done a small leap when Dracula had first started talking. It sounded like he had been about to say something else about himself and Analiese...
"I am so sorry that you shall have no one to dance with, Gabriel." Analiese smiled softly. "Perhaps I can find someone in town for you?"
"I think that would be quite kind of you." Van Helsing smirked. She expected him to be jealous of her and Dracula, and insulted by her implications of paying someone to attend him. He was neither. She was playing games that he would not allow her to win. "But you might want to save your money to pay Vlad to dace with you."
"I would never need any such thing to dance with my dearest cousin." Dracula insisted, taking Analiese by both her hands. She smiled appreciatively Dracula, casting a 'catch me if you can' grin in Van Helsing's direction. He merely raised his goblet by way of salute and drank. Let the games begin... (A/N A nod to my now deceased fic, These Blood Nights Spent, whose fourth chapter ended thus.)
After some rowdy carousing in the nearby town, a suitable number of guests, including some female companions for those who did not have them and a traveling group of musicians to provide entertainment, were rounded up and ushered back towards the castle. With hearty cheers they converged on the said place, attacking it with decorations. In all the hullabaloo, Dracula and Analiese were swept apart, but Vlad was continually looking for her and for an opportunity to be near her again. What am I doing to myself? He wondered suddenly. I know how this all turns out... But that pang of joy when she smiled at him, almost painful in its bliss, was too hard to resist. This time it was she who sought him out.
"Will you help me hang these wreathes? I am not tall enough." She said pleasantly.
"Certainly." He warmly replied, climbing on top of a chair and taking the wreathes she offered him. When he was done and stood back down beside her, he decided to test her feelings for him.
"Why don't you go help Gabriel with some decorations?" He asked with perfect nonchalance. Analiese looked over her shoulder. Van Helsing was not far away, there was a chance he might hear her if she spoke loud enough...
"I'd loathe to be in his company when the pleasure of yours is so close." She said clearly.
Surely enough, Van Helsing heard. But his reaction was not what Analiese might have expected. He turned to the woman beside him, who was holding up long ribbons to drape the walls in, and spoke laughingly with her. Her shriek of delight filled the hall as he wrapped his strong arms around her waist and lifted her up so she could begin decorating, and the other, similar noise she made when he spun her around before putting her down. Despite the fact that she had been studiously under the pretense of not caring what he did that day, she felt jealousy flare in her stomach. He was beating her at her own game!
If she had been privy to the thoughts of Gabriel Van Helsing, however, she would've known that he was going through similar feelings. What was she doing with Dracula? Just the sight of them was nearly enough to make his blood boil. He was tiring of this game she wanted to play. He hadn't had the chance to tell her what he thought of her... But, he did not want to disappoint her, and so, he kept up their game. Sighing inwardly, he looked up at Carl's cry of distress. He was currently at the top of the ladder with some more decorations.
"GABRIEL! I WANT TO COME DOWN NOW!" He shrieked almost girlishly.
"Come on Carl, just get the decorations put up! Please?" Van Helsing groaned. Carl had been absolutely giddy with excitement at the notion of a party, but not so thrilled about the idea of going up a ladder and actually helping with the decorations. Apparently, he didn't like heights.
"NO! I WANT TO COME DOWN NOW!" He screamed again, clinging to the ladder.
"Carl..." Gabriel said warningly. "If you dare come down here-"
"BLOODY HELL VAN HELSING I DON'T WANT TO DIE!"
"Then don't come down!" Van Helsing shouted back up. This little bit of logic quickly had Carl staying at the top of the ladder... and doing absolutely nothing at all. "Carl this isn't what I meant-"
"You mean I can come down now and you won't kill me?" Asked the whimpering Friar.
"NO, I meant that I want you to STAY up there and actually put up decorations!" Van Helsing retorted. "It's not like you're doing anything otherwise!"
"Dammit, isn't praying important?"
"Well, with your language, it is going to be very important!"
"That was very mean of you."
"Your rules, not mine."
"It was still mean."
"JUST PUT THE DAMN DECORATIONS UP!"
Analiese, sitting with Dracula, David and Daniel at one of the festive tables they had dragged into the hall, couldn't help but giggle at the scene. While sometimes a dark and brooding man, Gabriel could be filled with so much light... In comparison to him, Vlad seemed dark as night although he tended to have a sense of humor. She couldn't accurately describe the difference between the two without calling one evil and the other good... and in her eyes, both were good.
After much squabbling, Carl had at last begun to timidly hang up some wreathes and drape some ribbons. Van Helsing was still holding the ladder securely below as the Friar began his timid descent.
"I'm going to fall, I know it." Carl squeaked about halfway down, clinging fiercely to the ladder.
"Then stop being a smart aleck and pretend you don't know that." Van Helsing quipped.
"But... I do know it."
"You really aren't listening to me, are you?"
"Not especially."
"You know what, maybe I should just leave you up there." cried the Hunter, exasperated. He let go of the ladder and began to walk away.
"VAN HELSING!" Came the shriek from behind him. In instants, Van Helsing was where he had been before to catch his friend as he fell. Both tumbled to the ground, Carl landing squarely on top of his friend. Everyone had gasped and frozen at the loud sound that had been made as they crashed.
"Are you all right?" Van Helsing asked Carl, breathing harshly. The Friar nodded slowly. Tears almost seemed to be forming in his eyes.
"Please don't make me go up there again." He whispered.
"I won't." Said his friend reassuringly as they stood.
Immediately, Dracula and his friends began to make lewd jokes about Van Helsing and Carl. Analiese ignored them, she was lost in her own thoughts about the man. He was such a paradox, so light and so dark. At times he could have such an ego... but he was never afraid to admit when he was wrong. He never belittled a person's faults and fears, since he had so many of his own. And it had been he who had taken most of the damage from the fall, but he had asked Carl if he was okay first before even considering his injuries. That was his way: be the first to take injuries for his friends, and be the last to worry about them afterwards. The more she realized how deeply she felt for him, the more she wondered what the hell she was doing over here with Dracula. But she had to know if he loved her enough to chase her...
At last all the drama of the decorating was over and all the food was prepared, and it was time for the merrymaking to begin. Some sat and feasted, while others did lively capers to the jaunty tunes the musicians played. Analiese was among those out on the floor. But as Dracula whirled her around and around on the floor, she concentrated less on their conversation and the placement of her feet and more on Gabriel. He had done nothing yet in the way of pursuit! All he did was match her every move blow for blow! When she had allowed Dracula to spoon feed her at dinner, he had simply handfed the woman who was accompanying him. She was a light-haired, flirty person who giggled at his every word. Analiese immediately took to hating her.
As the night progressed, (for it had taken them all day to get everything prepared) the musicians took to sadder songs that were for the more elegant dances. While Dracula was dancing her through one of these, Analiese found herself once more watching Van Helsing. He was completely oblivious to her, dancing with his little golden-haired angel. She sighed, depressed.
"What thoughts make you so sad?" Dracula asked, dipping her suddenly. A gasp escaped her mouth as she tried to think of an excuse.
"The future." She whispered after a bit.
"Does it depress you that much?" He asked, surprised, as they continued to dance.
"It's just that it is... so much to think about." Analiese watched as they danced closer and closer to Van Helsing, and began to choose her words carefully.
"Perhaps it would help if... we could speak of it? Make sense of its tangled knots?" Dracula said, for once timid. Analiese almost could kiss him; he had played directly into her hand.
"That would be good. But there is so much of it to discuss..." Now she was back to back with Van Helsing. It was the moment of truth, and she rose to the challenge. "The night is yet young. Perhaps... we can discuss it tonight in your room?" Her smile was equal parts coquettish and shy. Now van Helsing would have to do something, if he cared for her at all.
Behind Analiese, Van Helsing's blood ran cold. What had she just said to Dracula? Something about his room? He felt his heart began to beat a little more slowly, as though in defeat. Perhaps this is what Carl had meant. Perhaps she had now fallen in love with Dracula, and he would kill the man in a jealous rage... He didn't let his defeat show on his face, however. He smiled a little more broadly at the woman, Catherine was her name, that he was dancing with. As soon as the song was over, he made his excuses to her and went outside to the garden to cope with his feeling of emptiness. This was like losing Anna all over again only worse, because she wasn't dead, she was right within his grasp but he could not have her!
The merrymaking had begun to move outside at this time, and not feeling in the mood to join in once more, Van Helsing began to quietly slip off. On Dracula's arm, Analiese noticed this and decided to cease her games and take this into her own two, capable hands.
"Vlad, will you excuse me for a moment? There is something I would speak of with Gabriel." She made sure to add a slight note of contempt to his name so that Dracula would think she was going to tell him off or taunt him.
"But of course." He said with a cavalier bow. "I shall see you in my room then?" He asked as she began to walk away. She froze for a moment, remembering what she had said. Then she turned and smiled.
"Yes. Later." She then continued on her way. Dracula felt suspicion arise in his gut and walked swiftly back into the house, intending to go up one flight of stairs in the tower he stayed in. There was a window there that overlooked the gardens Van Helsing and Analiese had been headed too...
Analiese approached Van Helsing. His back was turned to her, and he made no sound or move that showed he knew of her presence.
"Gabriel?" She asked timidly. Van Helsing turned suddenly, a look of surprise on his face. He truly had not known she was there. "There is something I'd like to ask you. A promise I have to keep." Her voice slowed a little as she moved to stand directly in front of him.
"What promise?" He frowned.
"What do you think of me?" She asked softly, her heart thudding in her chest with fear and hope. Van Helsing gave no answer... He bent swiftly and kissed her on the lips instead.
Time stopped entirely for Analiese Valerious as she stepped closer to him, allowing him to wrap an arm around her waist and sliding her hand up through his silken hair to pull him even closer. This is what she had waited all day for- no, all her life for- to know that he loved her.
Time went to a very specific place for Gabriel Van Helsing. The cold spring breeze that stirred sullenly around them just might have been the one off of the ice in Castle Dracula. He had found himself there again as his lips connected with Analiese's; she sent him spiraling back in time, to Anna's arms, to that first, and last, desperate kiss they had shared on the brink of battle. Oh, Anna... His mind whispered. For all he knew, it could've been her again. Because Analiese gave him the same sensation that Anna had given him; he felt alive once more.
Dracula reached his destination, the broad window overlooking part of the gardens, just as Van Helsing and Analiese kissed. He had frozen, his hands gripping the windowsill. No, it couldn't be... Analiese, she had been his all day.... Why didn't she pull back from the kiss? Why did she deepen it? Then the terrible answer flashed in his head. She had used him. Used him to slight Gabriel and to see if he truly cared enough for her to go against his best friend... Rage replaced the mounting sorrow.
"I'll teach you to play games with me, you whores!" He screamed at the window. "It's all fun and games until someone looses their life! And I will have you, Analiese, no matter the costs!"
The howl of utter anguish that rent the still night air was lost on the ears of Analiese and Gabriel, still locked in their kiss of now deadly passion.
A/N- Hmm, that ending reminds me of the end of Act 1 of the Phantom of the Opera ('You will curse the day you did not do/All that the Phantom asked of you!') Anyways, I think Dracula and Analiese were both slightly to moderately OOC in that chapter (almost all the characters were, I think), but I needed them to be so for the conflict. I'm actually not very happy with this chapter... but it had to be written. Please review! I already have the next chapter written, but I need your reviews to post it!