"They hide out in a Cabaret?"
Erised looked behind her, and smiled at Gabriel's dumbstruck look. She decided he was very handsome in the pale moonlight. He never seemed to frown in displeasure but rather only when he was somewhat begrudgingly admitting he had done something foolish and worthy of ridicule. He met her in the eyes when he spoke to her, and always had a coy comeback from her biting commentary on the Human race. She hadn't liked someone this quickly since…
She looked down and turned back to the Looking Glass. "Yes, the Looking Glass is a favorite haunt of the Dark Lord's armies."
"They're hiding in a Cabaret." Van Helsing repeated. He leaned over and nudged her shoulder slightly, grinning childishly. "Is it times like these you think you're on the wrong side?"
"Not really. I don't have a side."
"What do you mean? Gabriel asked as he leaned closer and caught a scent of Jasmine on the air. Since they were entering a bar, he decided that it would safer if they appeared as a couple and to that end, he slipped one arm comfortably around her waist. Admittedly, he was a little nervous about such a bold move because of the distinct gut feeling that she could break him in two if she wanted. He was surprised when he felt her mold against him, either getting the same idea about appearances, or enjoying his touch.
"I'm a Kaga Companion. We don't have right and wrong. We find a Charge, and we do whatever is in our power to ensure their interests are protected."
"Even if his interests involve cost people their lives."
"From what I understand, you consider yourself murderer as well as a man of God. Judging me on my lack of human morality makes you somewhat hypocritical, doesn't it?"
"I fight because in the end, it's for the greater good."
"So to save a city, you would burn it to the ground?"
"I never thought about it like that, but yes."
"I was right then." Ari smiled softly as she found a table and slid into a chair. Her hand began to trace the rim of the cup, as some memory took hold of her. "You remind me of a man I knew once."
"Happy memories I hope."
"For the most part." She looked up again, her face back to the clear exterior. "And as for my morality, if you are so concerned about it, perhaps you shouldn't trust me."
"Nonsense, I trust you with my life."
"I warned you. Remember that." Erised said slowly, then smiled again. She turned and looked over across the crowd. She leaned in, and began motion with her eyes to a various members of the group. "Alright, the group of women hanging out on the stage is the Valkyries. The dark haired one in the middle playing with the knife, that's their unofficial leader. She's called Jack the Ripper."
"I knew Jack the Ripper." Gabriel mused. "He wasn't anywhere near as cute."
"Still think you're on the wrong side?" Erised chided, and looked away, angrily. Subconsciously, she touched the scar around her neck and tried to suppress the feelings of intense jealousy and unbridled hate she felt for Jackie. Now usually, (and this was a great source of pride) Erised was a calm, unemotional person. She knew war, however brutal, however harsh, was not a personal experience. It was something that aided to the natural order of things like the seasons and the cycles of life. War was a uniquely human invention and while she was not Human, she knew she- liked everything else in this great big world- was subjugated to the whims and foolishness of the species. She only had her missions to accomplish and as long as the war didn't interfere with her completing her missions, the humans could do whatever the hell they wanted too. But Jack the Ripper had broken that rule. She had come into Erised's life and changed the game. She had taken something that was very important to Erised, and had destroyed it.
And Ari was powerless against her. Closing her eyes, Ari motioned for a waiter to bring her a drink, then jumped when she felt Gabriel touch her shoulder.
"This might sound sappy." The human was smiling at her. "But I'm on your side. That's the only place I want to be right now."
"You're right. That is sappy."
"But it got you smiling!" Gabriel chirped. He watched her blush and touched her cheek. "See! I see dimples!"
Ari looked across the room, ready to bring the attention away from her. "That's Silas Malfoy, the owner of the club. The couple making out behind him is his wife and brother."
"Who's the boy he's flirting with?"
"…I don't know. Probably a Muggle he picked up. Silas likes to slum sometimes. He'll find an attractive Muggle or mixed blood and bring them here. He'll flirt, have some fun and then the Death Eaters will have fun killing him slowly."
Gabriel's hand flew to his pistol.
"Not yet," Ari hissed, "He's not your concern, but Dracula is!"
"So you want me to let that boy be killed?"
"I want you to keep your mission in mind."
"My mission is to fight evil." Gabriel answered; he met Ari's eyes defiantly. "And that man is evil."
"No one in this room knows that better then me." She answered coldly. There was a look in her eyes that showed real fear and passion that made her voice shake. "But right now, we're here to fight Dracula."
"You've fought him before." It was not a question. Erised sipped her drink and looked away from him to study the room again. There was such pain hidden behind her eyes that Gabriel's heart shifted in his chest. She reminded him so much of Anna that he longed to comfort her even as he despised her for calling back those painful memories. He inhaled and looked away, fiercely telling his brain to take control again and end this foolishness. He had a mission to complete like she said. He could not be compromised with manners of the heart again, like he had those years ago. It had cost Anna her life and he would not risk Ari.
But tell that to his heart when he saw her stumble as Silas turned carelessly and glanced in their direction. He squeezed her arm. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be." She answered, simply. There was a touch of grim humor to her voice now. "Look on his left hand, he's missing fingers. I did that to him."
Gabriel smiled, as his hand curled around a ring on the opposite hand. He traced the dragon crest with this finger, already knowing the grooves and rises by heart. He bowed his head for a moment in pain. Maybe she wasn't like Anna, he thought, maybe Erised was already just like him: dead inside with only a seemingly fleeting faith to cling too.
And as he continued on his quest and the monsters became less clear cut, and more human, Gabriel was beginning to feel that he was no longer some hero or holy-man and more like the murderer and trash collector he always feared he'd become.
"I know those eyes." Ari said, bringing his attention away from his musings and back to her.
"Do you?"
"Yes, those are the eyes of a man who has a story." She started in an overly dramatic way that told Gabriel she was spoofing someone. She narrowed her eyes and smirked at him. "Jaron use to say, 'if you want a man's journey, take a look at his scars but if you want the true story, look at his eyes.'"
"Who's Jaron?" Gabriel asked; laughing from the husky Arabic voice she took on to repeat the quote. "Sounds like…"
"A man with a lot of hot air." Ari supplied with a laugh. "He was my mentor, and the closest thing I've had to a father outside of Albus." Her eyes dimmed slightly in memory. "He was a good man."
"What happened to him?"
"He died. A long time ago." She slapped her leg and looked back up. "But you've already found out enough about me tonight. What about you? What's your story?"
"…I'm afraid I don't really have a interesting story." Gabriel began uneasily and looked down to his as-of-yet-untouched drink. He took two consecutive drinks from it and winced as it burned his throat. Erised smirked and took another drink of hers. He thought idly she must be Irish. "I've been a Knight of the Holy Order for as long as I can remember, and they're as old as organized religion."
"I didn't ask about your bosses. I want to know you. Where were you born?"
"I don't know."
"Do you have family?"
"I hope so."
"How old are you?"
"Old."
"Where did you get your ring?"
"What?"
Erised motioned for his hand. "You play with it a lot. It seems to have meaning to you even if your past doesn't seem too. I'm trying to understand you, Van Helsing."
"What's there to understand?"
"How a man with such sad eyes came to be that way."
Now it was Gabriel's turn to blush and look away. Taking a deep inhale, he took another shot of his drink before reciting to her what he had pieced together from his past. He felt odd about sharing this with someone, considering it had always been a very personal struggle but it was something about the way she was so quiet and unassuming that made him trust her. Maybe it was that she claimed to not be human but still retained just enough her humanity to appear gentle and comforting: like an Angel.
"My oldest memories are waking up in a room inside the Vatican Church. I had been there for sometime they said, for years. The Cardinal told me I had crawled into the church grounds bleeding and beaten within an inch of life. I was able to tell them my name and ask for asylum before collapsing into a coma. When I woke, the church took care of me. They kept fed, clothed, and well and I helped where I could. We discovered that I had military training one day and that's when they recruited for the Knights of the Holy Order. Now, I'm a little fuzzy on the dates but I'm pretty sure that was about ninety years ago." He swallowed and debated on looking into her eyes before deciding he probably wasn't going to like what he saw there. "And I haven't aged a day since. The Knights don't know if I'm cursed or blessed, and I have no memory of how I became this way…only that I am. They say I am sent by God to protect the world against evil. They say I was sent by heaven to fight monsters. I don't know if that's true but I do it, not because it's right but because it's all I know. I've fought legends and blasphemies and at times, I'm sure I've even battled the Devil himself…and I just do it because I'm told to." Now, he looked up to her eyes. She was watching him intently and with the tiniest bit of awe. "And that's why I trust you…because I understand you."
There was a silence between them before she spoke again. "So, who have you fought?"
"Oh," Van Helsing said, now on more familiar ground, he was able to lean back and boast. "I've fought Frankenstein's monster, the wolf man…a couple of them, a monster called Mr. Hyde, a mad Doctor called Moreau. Lots of Dark Wizards, and banshees and creatures from lagoons, and deserts and crypts…and of course there's…"
"Dracula."
"Yes, there's Dracula."
"No…he's here." Erised said, motioning behind Van Helsing.
Gabriel turned and stared at the three men who had just entered the Looking Glass. Normally, he would have kept such behavior in check, knowing it would cause attention to be brought to himself, but everyone in the room seemed absolutely fixated on the newcomers as well so there was no need.
The first man to enter was dressed in a simple black suit that was perfectly cut to his body. His gray eyes ran over the room quickly and for a brief second they met Gabriel's before this man stepped aside. The second man was also in black, this time long robes and a Cossack, with the hood laying over his shoulders immaculately. Long black hair was pulled into a tail behind him but two strands of hair escape to fall over what was by far the most arresting piece of his uniform. Sitting on his face, perfectly formed and fashioned was a bone white mask, that was marred only by three slender scars that sliced through the left eye as if a cat that taken a swipe at him. Finally, bringing up the rear was a man in black and gold robes that knew exactly to attract and keep attention. His eyes scanned over the crowd with a look of hunger and arrogance that seemed to annoy his masked companion.
Gabriel heard Ari whisper into his ear. "The first one is Eoin Malone, the Dark Lord's personal attendant. The mask is the Dark Prince, his second in command, and lastly, Count Dracula."
"That's not Dracula."
"What?"
"That's not Dracula." He repeated. "He has the pomp down but that's not Vladislaus." Gabriel heard Erised release a breath and chuckle happily in relief. "Good." She whispered. "We can go and tell Dumbledore and we can find a way to fix this."
"Why wait?"
"What?" There was a sort of unease in her tone that amused Gabriel to no end. For a ready and willing warrior, Erised seemed very unnerved by the idea of open combat.
"We have your Prince and the fake Count along with some of the highest ranking big bads in this room. Why wait for backup? Let's try and end this war now."
"You can't be serious…" Ari started with a look of utter bewilderment on her face. But Gabriel had already pulled his crossbow and stood. Taking only a moment to mutter a quick prayer under his breath, he took aim and fired.
And all hell broke lose.