(Sorry I was going to put this chapter up yesterday, but my computer
wouldn't behave.)
The monks brought Carl and Van Helsing into the Vatican, and left them in a room where Cardinal Jinette could come see them. They were laid down on cots in the medical section of the Vatican, and they had cooled, moist cloths set upon their foreheads. The cloths seemed to do more good for Carl than for Van Helsing. All the monks were worried that their monster slayer was not going to pull through, so they rushed to Cardinal Jinette's office.
"Do you think he will make it," one of the monks asked the rest.
"I don't know," another answered. "He looks pretty bad, and he isn't reacting to anything. He didn't react to being carried or to the moist cloths. Carl responded well to both."
"It's odd, our monster slayer, who has seen about all there is to see in terms of evil, cannot shake something that Carl can." A third monk said.
Cardinal Jinette was busy, but he looked up at the monks when they entered. "What is the meaning of this," he asked.
"Carl and Van Helsing, your Eminence. We found them left out by the St. Peter's Basilica." A monk told Jinette. "It appears they have been drugged."
Cardinal Jinette rose to his feet. "What?"
"Yes, and it seems that Van Helsing is not pulling through. Carl started to wake up, and he spoke to us for a short moment. But, Van Helsing has given us no sign like that. In fact, we only know he is alive because of his breathing."
Cardinal Jinette told the monks, "Take me to them, and send for help."
One of the monks nodded and left to find the monks in charge of herbs and all plants that have healing powers. The other monks led Jinette to the room where Carl and Van Helsing lay. Jinette couldn't believe that Van Helsing was deathly pale, and he had only seen Van Helsing like that when they found him on the church steps, half-dead. 'This can't be the end of Van Helsing," the cardinal thought. 'He is far too stubborn to give up now. Even if he was weakened mentally from the death of Anna Valerious.'
Carl heard people walk in, and he opened his eyes. He saw Cardinal Jinette, and he sat upright on the cot. "You Eminence," he muttered. Carl was a little weak, but he knew he would be all right. He looked over at Van Helsing and wondered how he was.
Cardinal Jinette watched Carl stare over to Van Helsing and asked, "Do you know what happened?"
Carl swallowed hard. "I can tell you what I saw," he told the cardinal.
"Then, go ahead, boy." Jinette replied a little hysterically.
"Van Helsing and I found Anna's body was no longer at her pyre, and a woman lay dead there. We went to Anna's village and headed for her manor. Before we went in, a witch grabbed me and took me around to the back of the manor. Van Helsing started to catch up, so she used her magic to run faster." Carl noticed Jinette's face darken at the mention of witches and magic. "I could barely keep up, so Van Helsing told me to stop running. I stopped and angered the witch. So, she threw me into a wall of the manor. I blacked out and came to in the tower." He started to tell Jinette about Madeline, but Jinette appeared to be impatient, so he cut that part out. "When I was led downstairs, I saw Van Helsing lying on the floor with several witches standing over him. I didn't know if he was dead, so I ran over there. But, the head witch blew some sort of powder in my face, and I fell unconscious."
Jinette took a deep breath and shut his eyes. When he opened his eyes, he stared down at Van Helsing. "Even if we are battling witchery, we can only use the remedies we have to wake up those in an unconscious state. We have nothing to counteract the magic of witches."
Carl stared over at Van Helsing's face and found he had little hope. 'Come on, Van Helsing. We've seen too much for you to quit now.'
Van Helsing appeared to be near dead to everyone, but he was far from dead in him mind. His dreams would not end. It was still the continuous flashes of everything he had been through. Adam, Madeline, Victoria, and Anna. His mind didn't want to wake just in case he woke to find himself alone and without Anna. His heart was too wounded from the loss of her, but to learn that his mind had created her in a dream that felt so real would finish him off. So as his mind battled whether it had all been real, his health was steadily declining.
He saw Anna lying in his arms, and he wanted to wake up with her still in his arms. He wanted that so badly, but he was afraid that would not be what he woke to. 'It was real, it had to be,' his mind told him. 'You had followed that witch to save Carl, then were forced into the manor for a meeting with Adam. That vampire who was sneaky. There was also that Victoria, who brought that drink. They told you that Anna was there, so you signed a document to prove you'd do anything to have Anna back. But, what was that document. What did it say? Did you even read it? No, you didn't. So, how do you know that they had to show you to Anna at all?'
Van Helsing felt his mind stop for a moment as he saw the door to Anna's room open to reveal Anna standing by her window. She was beautiful in that velvet dress, and she didn't see him at first. But, he stood there taking in her beauty and trying to keep from breaking down. She was there in front of him, not dead as he had left her. She was alive, and she turned around to see him. She smiled. 'Her smile, I don't know if I ever paid attention to how beautiful it was.' She ran over to him and hugged him. 'She smelled so wonderful. I can still smell the scent in her hair. That can't be a dream. I've never had dreams so real, even memories I have are not that level of reality.'
The more Van Helsing thought about Anna, the more he could feel he was waking up. It really did scare him to think that Anna wouldn't be there with him when he woke up. So, he fought off waking up because he didn't want his heart to completely break. Finding out that the previous night was all a dream was not how Van Helsing wanted to wake up. 'I can't go on if Anna isn't there when I wake up. I've been hurting from the guilt of being the cause of her death for so long now, and I don't want to know that she is still gone from me forever. It's better that I stay here dead to the world than wake up and die of heartache.'
When everyone had left the room where Carl and Van Helsing were, Carl stared off into space. He was desperately trying to come up with a way to wake Van Helsing up. His thoughts kept coming up to Anna, and he knew that was the only thing that would pull Van Helsing through. 'We still don't know why Anna's body wasn't on the pyre,' he thought. 'Perhaps if I told Van Helsing that, he would realize that Anna could still be alive. Then, he would want to wake up and hunt for her.'
Carl congratulated himself and ran over to where Van Helsing laid. He stooped down so he was level with Van Helsing's left ear. "Van Helsing," he said quietly so he didn't draw anyone back into the room. "Van Helsing, this is important."
Van Helsing could hear someone talking, but it sounded distant. The voice stopped, but he heard it again and realized it was Carl saying his name. "Van Helsing, this is important," he said. So, Van Helsing stopped thinking and focused all his energy on Carl's voice.
"Van Helsing, remember that Anna's body was gone from the pyre. She is still out there. We have to save her, Van Helsing, because witches still have her." Carl saw Van Helsing's face twitch. 'That's a good sign. At least he's listening to me.'
Van Helsing heard what Carl said and felt his heart break for a moment. He didn't like that since Carl was there that his night with Anna had not been real. But, he repeated what Carl said, and he realized that Carl was right. 'We do have to save Anna from those witches. I met two of them, and I don't want her alone with them. But, I especially don't want her there with Adam because vampires are not to be trusted. Except maybe that Madeline because even Adam told me that she was different than he was.'
Carl saw Van Helsing starting to wake up, and he was pleased that his speech had an impact on the solemn monster slayer. "That's good Van Helsing. Wake up, so we can find Anna. She's counting on you, Van Helsing, I'm sure of it."
After hearing that Anna would be counting on him, Van Helsing forced himself to wake up out of the unconscious and lonely world that was evil and full of darkness. He would find no comfort there because his comfort still remained unfound and in hands of enemies. Van Helsing balled up his fists then opened up his hands as far as they would go. He moved his head as he worked on lifting up his eyelids. He couldn't see Carl standing by the wall mentally cheering him on, but he knew that Carl had helped him by shining a light through the darkness he'd fallen victim to. A darkness that Victoria had created, and he was sure that he had been drugged from that drink she gave him. 'There is time to deal with her later.' Van Helsing thought. 'Right now, you have to get up and show Victoria that her powers are not going to work on you.'
Van Helsing finally opened his eyes, and Carl shouted, "Yes!" Van Helsing looked over to his friend, but all he saw was a brown blur from Carl's robes. But, he smirked at his victory. He found the strength to sit up, and he squinted at his friend. "Carl, thank you," he told the friar.
Carl stopped celebrating and stood still to hear what Van Helsing had to say. Van Helsing glanced to the floor then back up at Carl. "I was ready to give up when I thought that there was a chance that I would wake up and find that Anna wasn't with me," he admitted. "But, you showed me that there was a more important situation. Anna is still out there trapped in her manor with witches and vampires."
Carl's eyes widened. "Vampires?" He hadn't discovered that little piece of the puzzle on his trip. "Are you sure...but I thought...didn't you... you know...kill them at the death of Dracula?"
Van Helsing let out a weak laugh at his friend trying to get a grasp on the situation. Van Helsing spoke again, sounding like the Van Helsing that Carl knew. "I killed everything that Dracula bit or created when I killed Dracula. But, Dracula did not bite the vampires I met, thus they did not die upon his death."
Carl leaned back against the wall for support. There was too much there that frightened him. "That means there could still be hundreds of vampires left in the world that were not bitten by Dracula but by other vampires that had been bitten by Dracula." Carl stammered.
Van Helsing nodded. "A confusing way to say it, but yes."
"What are we going to do?" Carl cried out.
"What are you going to do about what?" Cardinal Jinette appeared in the doorway. "Ah, Van Helsing, it is good to see you awake. We feared the worst when you did not come to as quickly as Carl."
Van Helsing rolled his eyes. "You were afraid you'd lost your monster slayer, and you'd have to hunt for a new one. It wasn't me you were worried about."
Jinette frowned at Van Helsing. "We did fear that we would have to replace you," he replied getting an 'I told you so' look from Van Helsing. "But, we also feared that if you did not make it, we would never be able to replace your ability to get the job done." This brought a look of confusion to Van Helsing's face. "You do have some unorthodox ways of completing your missions, but you have given us good results none the less."
Van Helsing was at a loss for words for a moment. The Cardinal had never told him that they appreciated him, and he was touched. He did give them trouble when he did not feel like going on a mission, but he never let them down. But, his moment of speechlessness was interrupted when Jinette said, "So, Anna is alive?"
Van Helsing swallowed hard and replied, "I am not sure."
Cardinal Jinette frowned. "You are not sure. Well, you were sure when you sauntered back in here saying that she was dead at your doing." Van Helsing felt a deep sting to his soul at that remark, and Jinette realized he had struck Van Helsing at his heart. He sighed and asked, "How are you not sure?"
"Carl and I found that Anna's body was no longer at her funeral pyre. So, I brought Carl back to Vaseria because I had a feeling that Anna was there. I was correct, and she is being held by a coven of witches and two vampires." Van Helsing replied.
Jinette asked, "How did you not kill all the vampires?"
Van Helsing sighed at having to repeat his answer again. "When I killed Dracula, all that he had bitten or created died with him. But, the vampires that he had bitten had created other vampires in their time, thus creating God-knows how many vampires that were resistant to Dracula's death."
Jinette put his hand to his face. "Van Helsing, what of the witches?"
"I do not know where they are from." Van Helsing replied.
Carl had his hand to his chin and was thinking hard. He had noticed that the witches all had the same accent. It wasn't quite a British accent, but it was close. 'Perhaps they came from America,' he thought. "I think I may know where they are from." Carl chipped in.
"Well, tell us, boy." Cardinal Jinette told him.
Carl took a deep breath and shrugged off the fact that the cardinal referred to him as 'boy' again. "One of the witches talked to me. She was very friendly, but odd." Carl thought back upon Mae and her peculiar behavior, but he shook his head and went on. "Anyway, I believe they might be American."
"Carl, it is amazing how brilliant you are, but even with that lead we are left in the dark as to where they are from." Van Helsing told Carl.
"Yes, but there has been more witch hunts in one place in America. Salem, Massachusetts." Carl replied looking very pleased with himself. "A good place to start, don't you think?"
Cardinal Jinette smiled eagerly. "Well, done, Carl. So, you both rest up today and be ready to leave for Salem tomorrow," he told them.
Van Helsing raised his eyebrows. "You mean you aren't shipping off right away like usual?"
Jinette gave Van Helsing a look that was sympathetic but had an irritated look mixed in. "Usually, you aren't drugged by a witch and unresponsive for so long. But, you will be leaving before dawn tomorrow, be sure of that."
"Yes, your Eminence." Carl and Van Helsing replied in unison.
(Okay, sorry for switching back and forth between Carl and Van Helsing's POV's. Also, sorry the chapter is longer than usual)
The monks brought Carl and Van Helsing into the Vatican, and left them in a room where Cardinal Jinette could come see them. They were laid down on cots in the medical section of the Vatican, and they had cooled, moist cloths set upon their foreheads. The cloths seemed to do more good for Carl than for Van Helsing. All the monks were worried that their monster slayer was not going to pull through, so they rushed to Cardinal Jinette's office.
"Do you think he will make it," one of the monks asked the rest.
"I don't know," another answered. "He looks pretty bad, and he isn't reacting to anything. He didn't react to being carried or to the moist cloths. Carl responded well to both."
"It's odd, our monster slayer, who has seen about all there is to see in terms of evil, cannot shake something that Carl can." A third monk said.
Cardinal Jinette was busy, but he looked up at the monks when they entered. "What is the meaning of this," he asked.
"Carl and Van Helsing, your Eminence. We found them left out by the St. Peter's Basilica." A monk told Jinette. "It appears they have been drugged."
Cardinal Jinette rose to his feet. "What?"
"Yes, and it seems that Van Helsing is not pulling through. Carl started to wake up, and he spoke to us for a short moment. But, Van Helsing has given us no sign like that. In fact, we only know he is alive because of his breathing."
Cardinal Jinette told the monks, "Take me to them, and send for help."
One of the monks nodded and left to find the monks in charge of herbs and all plants that have healing powers. The other monks led Jinette to the room where Carl and Van Helsing lay. Jinette couldn't believe that Van Helsing was deathly pale, and he had only seen Van Helsing like that when they found him on the church steps, half-dead. 'This can't be the end of Van Helsing," the cardinal thought. 'He is far too stubborn to give up now. Even if he was weakened mentally from the death of Anna Valerious.'
Carl heard people walk in, and he opened his eyes. He saw Cardinal Jinette, and he sat upright on the cot. "You Eminence," he muttered. Carl was a little weak, but he knew he would be all right. He looked over at Van Helsing and wondered how he was.
Cardinal Jinette watched Carl stare over to Van Helsing and asked, "Do you know what happened?"
Carl swallowed hard. "I can tell you what I saw," he told the cardinal.
"Then, go ahead, boy." Jinette replied a little hysterically.
"Van Helsing and I found Anna's body was no longer at her pyre, and a woman lay dead there. We went to Anna's village and headed for her manor. Before we went in, a witch grabbed me and took me around to the back of the manor. Van Helsing started to catch up, so she used her magic to run faster." Carl noticed Jinette's face darken at the mention of witches and magic. "I could barely keep up, so Van Helsing told me to stop running. I stopped and angered the witch. So, she threw me into a wall of the manor. I blacked out and came to in the tower." He started to tell Jinette about Madeline, but Jinette appeared to be impatient, so he cut that part out. "When I was led downstairs, I saw Van Helsing lying on the floor with several witches standing over him. I didn't know if he was dead, so I ran over there. But, the head witch blew some sort of powder in my face, and I fell unconscious."
Jinette took a deep breath and shut his eyes. When he opened his eyes, he stared down at Van Helsing. "Even if we are battling witchery, we can only use the remedies we have to wake up those in an unconscious state. We have nothing to counteract the magic of witches."
Carl stared over at Van Helsing's face and found he had little hope. 'Come on, Van Helsing. We've seen too much for you to quit now.'
Van Helsing appeared to be near dead to everyone, but he was far from dead in him mind. His dreams would not end. It was still the continuous flashes of everything he had been through. Adam, Madeline, Victoria, and Anna. His mind didn't want to wake just in case he woke to find himself alone and without Anna. His heart was too wounded from the loss of her, but to learn that his mind had created her in a dream that felt so real would finish him off. So as his mind battled whether it had all been real, his health was steadily declining.
He saw Anna lying in his arms, and he wanted to wake up with her still in his arms. He wanted that so badly, but he was afraid that would not be what he woke to. 'It was real, it had to be,' his mind told him. 'You had followed that witch to save Carl, then were forced into the manor for a meeting with Adam. That vampire who was sneaky. There was also that Victoria, who brought that drink. They told you that Anna was there, so you signed a document to prove you'd do anything to have Anna back. But, what was that document. What did it say? Did you even read it? No, you didn't. So, how do you know that they had to show you to Anna at all?'
Van Helsing felt his mind stop for a moment as he saw the door to Anna's room open to reveal Anna standing by her window. She was beautiful in that velvet dress, and she didn't see him at first. But, he stood there taking in her beauty and trying to keep from breaking down. She was there in front of him, not dead as he had left her. She was alive, and she turned around to see him. She smiled. 'Her smile, I don't know if I ever paid attention to how beautiful it was.' She ran over to him and hugged him. 'She smelled so wonderful. I can still smell the scent in her hair. That can't be a dream. I've never had dreams so real, even memories I have are not that level of reality.'
The more Van Helsing thought about Anna, the more he could feel he was waking up. It really did scare him to think that Anna wouldn't be there with him when he woke up. So, he fought off waking up because he didn't want his heart to completely break. Finding out that the previous night was all a dream was not how Van Helsing wanted to wake up. 'I can't go on if Anna isn't there when I wake up. I've been hurting from the guilt of being the cause of her death for so long now, and I don't want to know that she is still gone from me forever. It's better that I stay here dead to the world than wake up and die of heartache.'
When everyone had left the room where Carl and Van Helsing were, Carl stared off into space. He was desperately trying to come up with a way to wake Van Helsing up. His thoughts kept coming up to Anna, and he knew that was the only thing that would pull Van Helsing through. 'We still don't know why Anna's body wasn't on the pyre,' he thought. 'Perhaps if I told Van Helsing that, he would realize that Anna could still be alive. Then, he would want to wake up and hunt for her.'
Carl congratulated himself and ran over to where Van Helsing laid. He stooped down so he was level with Van Helsing's left ear. "Van Helsing," he said quietly so he didn't draw anyone back into the room. "Van Helsing, this is important."
Van Helsing could hear someone talking, but it sounded distant. The voice stopped, but he heard it again and realized it was Carl saying his name. "Van Helsing, this is important," he said. So, Van Helsing stopped thinking and focused all his energy on Carl's voice.
"Van Helsing, remember that Anna's body was gone from the pyre. She is still out there. We have to save her, Van Helsing, because witches still have her." Carl saw Van Helsing's face twitch. 'That's a good sign. At least he's listening to me.'
Van Helsing heard what Carl said and felt his heart break for a moment. He didn't like that since Carl was there that his night with Anna had not been real. But, he repeated what Carl said, and he realized that Carl was right. 'We do have to save Anna from those witches. I met two of them, and I don't want her alone with them. But, I especially don't want her there with Adam because vampires are not to be trusted. Except maybe that Madeline because even Adam told me that she was different than he was.'
Carl saw Van Helsing starting to wake up, and he was pleased that his speech had an impact on the solemn monster slayer. "That's good Van Helsing. Wake up, so we can find Anna. She's counting on you, Van Helsing, I'm sure of it."
After hearing that Anna would be counting on him, Van Helsing forced himself to wake up out of the unconscious and lonely world that was evil and full of darkness. He would find no comfort there because his comfort still remained unfound and in hands of enemies. Van Helsing balled up his fists then opened up his hands as far as they would go. He moved his head as he worked on lifting up his eyelids. He couldn't see Carl standing by the wall mentally cheering him on, but he knew that Carl had helped him by shining a light through the darkness he'd fallen victim to. A darkness that Victoria had created, and he was sure that he had been drugged from that drink she gave him. 'There is time to deal with her later.' Van Helsing thought. 'Right now, you have to get up and show Victoria that her powers are not going to work on you.'
Van Helsing finally opened his eyes, and Carl shouted, "Yes!" Van Helsing looked over to his friend, but all he saw was a brown blur from Carl's robes. But, he smirked at his victory. He found the strength to sit up, and he squinted at his friend. "Carl, thank you," he told the friar.
Carl stopped celebrating and stood still to hear what Van Helsing had to say. Van Helsing glanced to the floor then back up at Carl. "I was ready to give up when I thought that there was a chance that I would wake up and find that Anna wasn't with me," he admitted. "But, you showed me that there was a more important situation. Anna is still out there trapped in her manor with witches and vampires."
Carl's eyes widened. "Vampires?" He hadn't discovered that little piece of the puzzle on his trip. "Are you sure...but I thought...didn't you... you know...kill them at the death of Dracula?"
Van Helsing let out a weak laugh at his friend trying to get a grasp on the situation. Van Helsing spoke again, sounding like the Van Helsing that Carl knew. "I killed everything that Dracula bit or created when I killed Dracula. But, Dracula did not bite the vampires I met, thus they did not die upon his death."
Carl leaned back against the wall for support. There was too much there that frightened him. "That means there could still be hundreds of vampires left in the world that were not bitten by Dracula but by other vampires that had been bitten by Dracula." Carl stammered.
Van Helsing nodded. "A confusing way to say it, but yes."
"What are we going to do?" Carl cried out.
"What are you going to do about what?" Cardinal Jinette appeared in the doorway. "Ah, Van Helsing, it is good to see you awake. We feared the worst when you did not come to as quickly as Carl."
Van Helsing rolled his eyes. "You were afraid you'd lost your monster slayer, and you'd have to hunt for a new one. It wasn't me you were worried about."
Jinette frowned at Van Helsing. "We did fear that we would have to replace you," he replied getting an 'I told you so' look from Van Helsing. "But, we also feared that if you did not make it, we would never be able to replace your ability to get the job done." This brought a look of confusion to Van Helsing's face. "You do have some unorthodox ways of completing your missions, but you have given us good results none the less."
Van Helsing was at a loss for words for a moment. The Cardinal had never told him that they appreciated him, and he was touched. He did give them trouble when he did not feel like going on a mission, but he never let them down. But, his moment of speechlessness was interrupted when Jinette said, "So, Anna is alive?"
Van Helsing swallowed hard and replied, "I am not sure."
Cardinal Jinette frowned. "You are not sure. Well, you were sure when you sauntered back in here saying that she was dead at your doing." Van Helsing felt a deep sting to his soul at that remark, and Jinette realized he had struck Van Helsing at his heart. He sighed and asked, "How are you not sure?"
"Carl and I found that Anna's body was no longer at her funeral pyre. So, I brought Carl back to Vaseria because I had a feeling that Anna was there. I was correct, and she is being held by a coven of witches and two vampires." Van Helsing replied.
Jinette asked, "How did you not kill all the vampires?"
Van Helsing sighed at having to repeat his answer again. "When I killed Dracula, all that he had bitten or created died with him. But, the vampires that he had bitten had created other vampires in their time, thus creating God-knows how many vampires that were resistant to Dracula's death."
Jinette put his hand to his face. "Van Helsing, what of the witches?"
"I do not know where they are from." Van Helsing replied.
Carl had his hand to his chin and was thinking hard. He had noticed that the witches all had the same accent. It wasn't quite a British accent, but it was close. 'Perhaps they came from America,' he thought. "I think I may know where they are from." Carl chipped in.
"Well, tell us, boy." Cardinal Jinette told him.
Carl took a deep breath and shrugged off the fact that the cardinal referred to him as 'boy' again. "One of the witches talked to me. She was very friendly, but odd." Carl thought back upon Mae and her peculiar behavior, but he shook his head and went on. "Anyway, I believe they might be American."
"Carl, it is amazing how brilliant you are, but even with that lead we are left in the dark as to where they are from." Van Helsing told Carl.
"Yes, but there has been more witch hunts in one place in America. Salem, Massachusetts." Carl replied looking very pleased with himself. "A good place to start, don't you think?"
Cardinal Jinette smiled eagerly. "Well, done, Carl. So, you both rest up today and be ready to leave for Salem tomorrow," he told them.
Van Helsing raised his eyebrows. "You mean you aren't shipping off right away like usual?"
Jinette gave Van Helsing a look that was sympathetic but had an irritated look mixed in. "Usually, you aren't drugged by a witch and unresponsive for so long. But, you will be leaving before dawn tomorrow, be sure of that."
"Yes, your Eminence." Carl and Van Helsing replied in unison.
(Okay, sorry for switching back and forth between Carl and Van Helsing's POV's. Also, sorry the chapter is longer than usual)