Carl stood cowering before the sphinx, and it told him, "You are
correct. You may pass along with your company." Carl heard what the
sphinx said, and he stood up straight. He turned to Van Helsing and ran.
Van Helsing grabbed hold of Carl's shoulders. "I knew you could solve the
riddle." Van Helsing said. Carl laughed trying to shy away from the fact
that he had really believed he was wrong when the sphinx did not reply to
his answer.
Carl looked over to Madeline, who smiled half-heartedly to congratulate him as she climbed into her carriage. Carl sighed and walked over to his horse, which was cowering far away from where everything had happened. Van Helsing followed to retrieve his own horse and said to Carl, "So, you know who Madeline really is. Or what, I should say."
Carl nodded then realized something, "You knew," he shouted.
Van Helsing sighed after his mistake. "Yes, I knew she was a vampire because I had met her the night that we arrived back at Vaseria. The night that Tabitha dragged you with her."
"You knew and never told me." Carl said flatly.
"I didn't know you were attracted to her until today, Carl. Besides, I've been through a lot. Madeline's true life was not a big issue on my list."
Carl sighed. "I don't know what to do, Van Helsing. I am still in love with her, but it's wrong to love her. She is a creature that we hunt down, and kill."
"Yes, Carl, I know because I'm usually the one doing the killing." Van Helsing replied. "But, I can sense evil. There is not evil in her. I have no idea why she cares about what happens to Anna, or me but she does. Her father does not care because he is behind all of this. He hired Victoria to help him...bring back Anna. Then, they started to torture Anna and me."
"Be that as it may, Madeline's still having a child, one that could not be as loving towards humans. Even if it will be half-human." Carl said and noticed that Van Helsing did not reply or show any signs of surprise. "You knew about that too!"
Van Helsing nodded, and Carl was outraged. "What else do you know that I don't, Van Helsing?" Van Helsing wasn't about to tell Carl about Anna being pregnant because that did not concern Carl so much at the current time. He just sighed and told Carl, "Nothing. That is it."
Carl took a deep breath and rode ahead of Van Helsing. He didn't need to be around anyone while he was angry. 'Madeline told Van Helsing before she told me? Why? I'm the one the news concerns, not him. It is my child she carries, not Van Helsing's, so why did she tell him before telling me?'
Madeline sat quiet in the silence of the carriage. 'Carl did not take the news well,' she thought. 'I fear that Van Helsing is not correct. I do not think Carl will accept this in a few days. I do not suspect he will ever accept it.'
Due to horrid winter weather, the trip to Transylvania was delayed for several months until spring came and melted the snow and the ice. Even in that time, Carl had not accepted that Madeline was a vampire and that he had fathered a half-bred child. Van Helsing found that having Carl quiet was worse that when he was constantly spouting knowledge about anything and everything. They were on a ship heading across the sea that joined Italy and the mainland at its right. Madeline stood on the deck during the night and breathed in the fresh night air. She was still guilty over how she handled her situation with Carl. The guilt was not going away anytime soon either because she was already nearing the third trimester of her pregnancy. Every time she felt her baby move, she was riddled with guilt.
Van Helsing walked up behind Madeline and said, "It's a clear night."
Madeline looked over at him. "You said that Carl would accept everything after he realized all the good I have done."
Van Helsing sighed and said, "I guess I do not know Carl as well as I thought."
Neither one knew that Carl was standing in the shadows watching them. He had his arms crossed in front of his chest while he leaned against the ship's railing. He sighed and stared up at the crescent moon and wondered why everything was so messed up. 'I should have gone back to the Vatican,' he thought. 'Everything would have been better then."
Madeline sank down to the deck, and Van Helsing stooped down beside her. He saw tears built up in her eyes. "I did not want things to be like this. I just wanted to help Anna," she said as a few tears slipped out of her eyes. "I did not mean to fall in love with Carl, it's just my father sent me out of the room when he was talking to you." Madeline told Van Helsing. "I came back later, and he told me to go check on Carl. So, I did and found his tales fascinating. When I saw him again, I could not help but want to be with him."
Carl saw Madeline crying, and he turned away. He didn't want to see her show pain because he was still torn between loving her and hating her for being a vampire, something she had no control over. Carl sighed and walked to other side of the ship just so he was alone with his thoughts while Van Helsing and Madeline talked.
Van Helsing said to Madeline, "When you spoke earlier of being afraid of having a half vampire child, I thought about it. There are advantages to a dhampir child."
Madeline lowered her eyebrows and asked, "What? A child that is half vampire would need the same living conditions as I do."
Van Helsing shook his head. "Is that why you are afraid. You do not want your child to be a vampire?" Madeline nodded. Van Helsing put his hand on Madeline's shoulder. "Don't worry about that, a dhampir is not a vampire at all. A dhampir can track down vampires and kill them efficiently, which is a helpful trait in my line of work. There is no vampiric behavior to them."
Madeline felt much better knowing that her baby wouldn't be a vampire. "That is good to hear. But, I still fear that Carl has already lost the love he had for me." Van Helsing had no answer for that fear, and he said nothing because he could find nothing suitable to say to Madeline in such a time. Madeline's green eyes stared up at Van Helsing. "Why has he been so distant to you, Van Helsing?"
"Because you told me your secrets before you told him. Even though, I had already met you and your father, thus I knew you were a vampire. I just did not know of your baby."
Madeline took a deep breath. "I wish he would at least forgive you, Van Helsing. You did nothing to hurt him."
Before Madeline spoke again, her eyes began to glow and held still. She sensed something was near, and she pushed herself up off of the deck floor. "Van Helsing," she said quietly. Van Helsing rose beside her and said, "I know I sense it too." The both glanced around and saw nothing but sea and fog, which was not there when Van Helsing started talking to Madeline. Van Helsing's instincts were screaming like they had when the griffins and harpies attacked them. He frantically sprinted around the deck to get a better look at the surroundings.
'This fog has just rolled in.' Van Helsing thought. He spotted Carl and ran over to him. "Carl, when did this fog roll in?"
Carl was very distant as he replied, "Just a moment ago. You must have missed it while talking to your new friend."
Van Helsing lowered his eyebrows. "Carl, I do not know why you are so angry while Madeline is trying to help us."
"No, Van Helsing." Carl said angrily, "She's trying to help you. I'm afraid she does not give a damn about me."
"That is not true, Carl, and you know it." Van Helsing replied getting a cold stare from Carl. "Besides that, there is something wrong. Something's out there in the water."
The look in Carl's eyes went from angry to terrified. "What do you think is out there? Another serpent?"
Van Helsing shuddered. "I hope not, Carl."
Madeline looked out to the waters to see something move. She did not call to Van Helsing because she did not want the creature to move out of her sight. She leaned forward to get a better look, and she saw a Hydra, a nine-headed water snake. Madeline was about to back away from the rail when the Hydra lunged for the boat. Madeline screamed as the creature's nine heads snapped at her with sharp teeth, and she lost her balance. She fell back over the edge and barely grabbed hold of the rail's edge.
Van Helsing and Carl heard Madeline's scream and ran to see what had happened. They saw the Hydra but not Madeline. Van Helsing spotted Madeline's hands clinging to the rail. "She is over the edge," he shouted to Carl. Both men ran for the rail, but the Hydra turned around as fast as lightning strikes. It's heads struck at Van Helsing and Carl, who dodged the attacks.
Van Helsing pulled a sword out of his duster and sliced off one of the Hydra's heads. The creature pulled back for a moment but the neck that had the head that Van Helsing cut off split in two and grew two heads. "Okay, I'm not going to try that again," he said to himself as he stared at the ten heads the Hydra had. He tossed the sword down away from him because it was no use to him.
A Lamia, a creature that had a serpent body, but the torso of a woman, slithered up onto the ship. She immediately slithered over to where Madeline was struggling to pull herself back up onto the deck. Madeline gasped when she saw the creature. "Hello," the Lamia told her in a raspy voice. Madeline hissed at the creature and flashed her fangs. The Lamia drew back then grabbed Madeline's wrists. "Fine, be that way," she told Madeline.
Carl saw the Lamia throw Madeline off of the rail, and he felt a rage well up in him. He wouldn't admit it, but he still loved Madeline and was going to save her. He picked up the sword that Van Helsing threw down, Van Helsing was busy dodging the strikes of the Hydra as he shot the heads off and found that they stayed dead. Carl ran for the Lamia when another creature stood in his way. It was a Nereid, a seawater nymph. Her skin was a pale aqua, and she wore a tattered leather top and skirt. Her hair was silver, and so were her eyes. "Hello," she told Carl as her voice dripped with enchantment.
Carl felt an attraction to her, but he fought it because he knew the nymph was causing him to act irrationally. He tried to run past her, but she held him back with one had. "Forget her," she cooed. Carl's eye twitched as he tried to fight off the nymph's enchantments. The Nereid stroked his cheek, and Carl forgot what he had been doing. The sword dropped from his hands, and the Nereid kicked it away. "Yes, ignore her, she has hurt you. She lied to you. Why would you want to save her?"
Carl's mind tried to answer the question but found it was overwhelmed with the nymph's spell. "Yes, why," he muttered. 'No,' his mind screamed. 'I have to save Madeline!' But, Carl's body wouldn't respond to what his brain told him. He stood in one place staring the Nereid in the eyes feeling lightheaded. The Nereid kissed Carl on the lips, and Carl was too spellbound to fight the kiss. In fact, he welcomed her kiss.
Madeline was struggling to stay afloat in the cold ocean water. She couldn't see the over the ship's rail, and she noticed the ship was getting farther and farther away. She tried to swim after it, but there was not much use. She didn't have a chance of catching up again. She looked up and saw three creatures fly through the fog. They were gorgons, winged female creatures with serpents for hair, but they did not notice Madeline. A tiny wave pushed Madeline underground, but she pushed herself up to the surface again. She screamed as a larger wave sent her under again.
Carl heard Madeline's scream, and his mind gained the ability to think again. He pulled away from the Nereid's kiss and pushed the Nereid over the ship's railing. He raced over to the edge to see that Madeline was gone from sight. 'Where is she,' he thought frantically. Finally, he saw her emerge from the water. "Madeline," he shouted.
Madeline saw him and tried to call out to him, but the water was preventing her from speaking. It kept pulling her under its surface, and she was barely able to breathe. 'Carl, please help me,' she thought as she desperately struggled against the cruel water.
Van Helsing succeeded in killing the Hydra, but was knocked back by the gorgons. He stood up and grabbed his shotgun and fired at the creatures, which were agile and avoided his shots. Van Helsing waited for the creatures to come for him, and one did. He fired and hit the gorgon in the chest. She screamed and fell into the ocean water. The other two gorgons screeched and dived for Van Helsing. He was only able to shoot down one of the two. The third tackled him and began scratching him with her sharp talon-line fingernails. He grabbed her wrists and kicked her hard with his right foot. She was kicked back only a few feet, but that was enough of a distance for Van Helsing to grab his shotgun and finish off the gorgon.
Van Helsing got up from the deck floor to see Madeline struggling to stay above water, and he ran for the edge of the ship. But, he was hit in the stomach by the tail of the Lamia. He looked up and saw the creature. She laughed and grabbed him by the neck. "How does it feel to be on the other end of your job, Gabriel Van Helsing?"
"I have been on the other end before," he breathed. "Dracula was a tough one."
The Lamia squeezed Van Helsing's neck, and Van Helsing scrunched his face up with pain. He heard Madeline scream once more, and he heard Carl cry out for her. Van Helsing tried to pull the Lamia's hands from his neck, but she had a strong grip. She laughed at Van Helsing's attempts to free himself. "It is useless, Van Helsing."
Carl was desperate when he saw Madeline go under the water and not come back up. He grabbed the sword that had been kicked away from him and ran for the Lamia. The sword went straight through her mid-section, and she screamed loudly as she released Van Helsing. She twisted around and tried to pull the sword out of her middle, but she fell to the ground dead before succeeding. Van Helsing regained his breath and looked up at Carl in a thanking way.
"Van Helsing, Madeline did not resurface." Carl said frantically.
Van Helsing jumped up off of the deck and looked over the edge. Madeline was gone from the water's surface, and he grabbed his grappling hook gun from his duster. He jumped over the ship railing and splashed down into the water. He reemerged from the water and aimed the gun at the deck's railing. He fired the gun, and the hook busted through the railing then latched on to it. Van Helsing dived under the water looked under the water. The salt water stung his eyes, and the dark was hard to see by. But, he found Madeline sinking slowly. He swam quickly over to her and grabbed her in his arms.
Van Helsing used a device in his grappling hook gun that pulled the gun up to the barbed steel hook. Van Helsing was glad that the gun was quick to pull Madeline and him out of the water. He held the gun in one hand as tightly as possible while he held Madeline to his body with the other hand. He was dangling from the grappling gun as Carl took Madeline from his grip. Van Helsing climbed over the railing and freed the hook of his gun.
Carl held Madeline to his body, and he was afraid because she was limp in his arms. Van Helsing, dripping with water, watched Carl closely. Carl looked up at Van Helsing and said nothing, but Van Helsing knew the feeling Carl was having. There were many times he'd felt that way about Anna. Carl pushed Madeline's golden hair away from her face, and he listened closely for sounds of breathing. 'Please, Madeline, don't do this.' Carl thought as he stared at his love's face. 'Don't die.'
When Madeline did not seem to be breathing, Carl gently laid her down on the deck. His eyes filled with tears. "I thought vampires could only be killed by sunlight, crosses, or a stake through the heart," he said to Van Helsing as he tried to mask the pain in his voice. He tilted his head down and tried to hold back the tears that were coming.
Van Helsing walked over and laid his hand down on Carl's shoulder for support. He didn't speak because there was nothing to say that would change anything. But, Van Helsing realized that Carl had still loved Madeline. Carl knew that Van Helsing had been through the very same thing that he was going through. Van Helsing had lost Anna and suffered over it, and Carl knew he was going to suffer over Madeline's death and their child's death.
Madeline saw colors swirl around from underneath her eyelids, and she could hear something. 'Crying,' her mind asked. 'Who is crying?' She realized it was Carl. 'What is going on? Why is Carl crying.' Her mind finally told her that she had drowned, but she knew she wasn't dead. 'Vampires can't die like that. I'm not dead.' Once she realized that she wasn't suppose to be dead, her lungs pushed the water out.
Madeline coughed and got the water out of her lungs. Then, she gasped to fill her lungs with air. Carl and Van Helsing stared bewildered at Madeline. Carl jumped forward and put his hand behind Madeline's head. Her green eyes opened, and she saw Carl's tearstained face. "Carl," she whispered with a coarse voice. She reached up and wiped the tears from Carl's face.
Carl kissed Madeline softly. "I was sure you were gone," he told her as he held her close to him, ignoring that she was soaking wet.
Madeline told him, "My body just had to realize that I was not dead. That I cannot die from drowning."
Carl told Madeline, "I realized how much I still love you when you were lying there on the deck." His voice faltered, and Madeline stroked his cheek. She saw Carl fighting back more tears, and she put her arms around him. "I love you, Carl, and I'm not going anywhere." She looked over at Van Helsing and saw he was soaking wet too. She mouthed, 'Thank You,' to him, and he nodded. He had saved her, and he didn't mind being wet if it meant saving Madeline.
Carl looked over to Madeline, who smiled half-heartedly to congratulate him as she climbed into her carriage. Carl sighed and walked over to his horse, which was cowering far away from where everything had happened. Van Helsing followed to retrieve his own horse and said to Carl, "So, you know who Madeline really is. Or what, I should say."
Carl nodded then realized something, "You knew," he shouted.
Van Helsing sighed after his mistake. "Yes, I knew she was a vampire because I had met her the night that we arrived back at Vaseria. The night that Tabitha dragged you with her."
"You knew and never told me." Carl said flatly.
"I didn't know you were attracted to her until today, Carl. Besides, I've been through a lot. Madeline's true life was not a big issue on my list."
Carl sighed. "I don't know what to do, Van Helsing. I am still in love with her, but it's wrong to love her. She is a creature that we hunt down, and kill."
"Yes, Carl, I know because I'm usually the one doing the killing." Van Helsing replied. "But, I can sense evil. There is not evil in her. I have no idea why she cares about what happens to Anna, or me but she does. Her father does not care because he is behind all of this. He hired Victoria to help him...bring back Anna. Then, they started to torture Anna and me."
"Be that as it may, Madeline's still having a child, one that could not be as loving towards humans. Even if it will be half-human." Carl said and noticed that Van Helsing did not reply or show any signs of surprise. "You knew about that too!"
Van Helsing nodded, and Carl was outraged. "What else do you know that I don't, Van Helsing?" Van Helsing wasn't about to tell Carl about Anna being pregnant because that did not concern Carl so much at the current time. He just sighed and told Carl, "Nothing. That is it."
Carl took a deep breath and rode ahead of Van Helsing. He didn't need to be around anyone while he was angry. 'Madeline told Van Helsing before she told me? Why? I'm the one the news concerns, not him. It is my child she carries, not Van Helsing's, so why did she tell him before telling me?'
Madeline sat quiet in the silence of the carriage. 'Carl did not take the news well,' she thought. 'I fear that Van Helsing is not correct. I do not think Carl will accept this in a few days. I do not suspect he will ever accept it.'
Due to horrid winter weather, the trip to Transylvania was delayed for several months until spring came and melted the snow and the ice. Even in that time, Carl had not accepted that Madeline was a vampire and that he had fathered a half-bred child. Van Helsing found that having Carl quiet was worse that when he was constantly spouting knowledge about anything and everything. They were on a ship heading across the sea that joined Italy and the mainland at its right. Madeline stood on the deck during the night and breathed in the fresh night air. She was still guilty over how she handled her situation with Carl. The guilt was not going away anytime soon either because she was already nearing the third trimester of her pregnancy. Every time she felt her baby move, she was riddled with guilt.
Van Helsing walked up behind Madeline and said, "It's a clear night."
Madeline looked over at him. "You said that Carl would accept everything after he realized all the good I have done."
Van Helsing sighed and said, "I guess I do not know Carl as well as I thought."
Neither one knew that Carl was standing in the shadows watching them. He had his arms crossed in front of his chest while he leaned against the ship's railing. He sighed and stared up at the crescent moon and wondered why everything was so messed up. 'I should have gone back to the Vatican,' he thought. 'Everything would have been better then."
Madeline sank down to the deck, and Van Helsing stooped down beside her. He saw tears built up in her eyes. "I did not want things to be like this. I just wanted to help Anna," she said as a few tears slipped out of her eyes. "I did not mean to fall in love with Carl, it's just my father sent me out of the room when he was talking to you." Madeline told Van Helsing. "I came back later, and he told me to go check on Carl. So, I did and found his tales fascinating. When I saw him again, I could not help but want to be with him."
Carl saw Madeline crying, and he turned away. He didn't want to see her show pain because he was still torn between loving her and hating her for being a vampire, something she had no control over. Carl sighed and walked to other side of the ship just so he was alone with his thoughts while Van Helsing and Madeline talked.
Van Helsing said to Madeline, "When you spoke earlier of being afraid of having a half vampire child, I thought about it. There are advantages to a dhampir child."
Madeline lowered her eyebrows and asked, "What? A child that is half vampire would need the same living conditions as I do."
Van Helsing shook his head. "Is that why you are afraid. You do not want your child to be a vampire?" Madeline nodded. Van Helsing put his hand on Madeline's shoulder. "Don't worry about that, a dhampir is not a vampire at all. A dhampir can track down vampires and kill them efficiently, which is a helpful trait in my line of work. There is no vampiric behavior to them."
Madeline felt much better knowing that her baby wouldn't be a vampire. "That is good to hear. But, I still fear that Carl has already lost the love he had for me." Van Helsing had no answer for that fear, and he said nothing because he could find nothing suitable to say to Madeline in such a time. Madeline's green eyes stared up at Van Helsing. "Why has he been so distant to you, Van Helsing?"
"Because you told me your secrets before you told him. Even though, I had already met you and your father, thus I knew you were a vampire. I just did not know of your baby."
Madeline took a deep breath. "I wish he would at least forgive you, Van Helsing. You did nothing to hurt him."
Before Madeline spoke again, her eyes began to glow and held still. She sensed something was near, and she pushed herself up off of the deck floor. "Van Helsing," she said quietly. Van Helsing rose beside her and said, "I know I sense it too." The both glanced around and saw nothing but sea and fog, which was not there when Van Helsing started talking to Madeline. Van Helsing's instincts were screaming like they had when the griffins and harpies attacked them. He frantically sprinted around the deck to get a better look at the surroundings.
'This fog has just rolled in.' Van Helsing thought. He spotted Carl and ran over to him. "Carl, when did this fog roll in?"
Carl was very distant as he replied, "Just a moment ago. You must have missed it while talking to your new friend."
Van Helsing lowered his eyebrows. "Carl, I do not know why you are so angry while Madeline is trying to help us."
"No, Van Helsing." Carl said angrily, "She's trying to help you. I'm afraid she does not give a damn about me."
"That is not true, Carl, and you know it." Van Helsing replied getting a cold stare from Carl. "Besides that, there is something wrong. Something's out there in the water."
The look in Carl's eyes went from angry to terrified. "What do you think is out there? Another serpent?"
Van Helsing shuddered. "I hope not, Carl."
Madeline looked out to the waters to see something move. She did not call to Van Helsing because she did not want the creature to move out of her sight. She leaned forward to get a better look, and she saw a Hydra, a nine-headed water snake. Madeline was about to back away from the rail when the Hydra lunged for the boat. Madeline screamed as the creature's nine heads snapped at her with sharp teeth, and she lost her balance. She fell back over the edge and barely grabbed hold of the rail's edge.
Van Helsing and Carl heard Madeline's scream and ran to see what had happened. They saw the Hydra but not Madeline. Van Helsing spotted Madeline's hands clinging to the rail. "She is over the edge," he shouted to Carl. Both men ran for the rail, but the Hydra turned around as fast as lightning strikes. It's heads struck at Van Helsing and Carl, who dodged the attacks.
Van Helsing pulled a sword out of his duster and sliced off one of the Hydra's heads. The creature pulled back for a moment but the neck that had the head that Van Helsing cut off split in two and grew two heads. "Okay, I'm not going to try that again," he said to himself as he stared at the ten heads the Hydra had. He tossed the sword down away from him because it was no use to him.
A Lamia, a creature that had a serpent body, but the torso of a woman, slithered up onto the ship. She immediately slithered over to where Madeline was struggling to pull herself back up onto the deck. Madeline gasped when she saw the creature. "Hello," the Lamia told her in a raspy voice. Madeline hissed at the creature and flashed her fangs. The Lamia drew back then grabbed Madeline's wrists. "Fine, be that way," she told Madeline.
Carl saw the Lamia throw Madeline off of the rail, and he felt a rage well up in him. He wouldn't admit it, but he still loved Madeline and was going to save her. He picked up the sword that Van Helsing threw down, Van Helsing was busy dodging the strikes of the Hydra as he shot the heads off and found that they stayed dead. Carl ran for the Lamia when another creature stood in his way. It was a Nereid, a seawater nymph. Her skin was a pale aqua, and she wore a tattered leather top and skirt. Her hair was silver, and so were her eyes. "Hello," she told Carl as her voice dripped with enchantment.
Carl felt an attraction to her, but he fought it because he knew the nymph was causing him to act irrationally. He tried to run past her, but she held him back with one had. "Forget her," she cooed. Carl's eye twitched as he tried to fight off the nymph's enchantments. The Nereid stroked his cheek, and Carl forgot what he had been doing. The sword dropped from his hands, and the Nereid kicked it away. "Yes, ignore her, she has hurt you. She lied to you. Why would you want to save her?"
Carl's mind tried to answer the question but found it was overwhelmed with the nymph's spell. "Yes, why," he muttered. 'No,' his mind screamed. 'I have to save Madeline!' But, Carl's body wouldn't respond to what his brain told him. He stood in one place staring the Nereid in the eyes feeling lightheaded. The Nereid kissed Carl on the lips, and Carl was too spellbound to fight the kiss. In fact, he welcomed her kiss.
Madeline was struggling to stay afloat in the cold ocean water. She couldn't see the over the ship's rail, and she noticed the ship was getting farther and farther away. She tried to swim after it, but there was not much use. She didn't have a chance of catching up again. She looked up and saw three creatures fly through the fog. They were gorgons, winged female creatures with serpents for hair, but they did not notice Madeline. A tiny wave pushed Madeline underground, but she pushed herself up to the surface again. She screamed as a larger wave sent her under again.
Carl heard Madeline's scream, and his mind gained the ability to think again. He pulled away from the Nereid's kiss and pushed the Nereid over the ship's railing. He raced over to the edge to see that Madeline was gone from sight. 'Where is she,' he thought frantically. Finally, he saw her emerge from the water. "Madeline," he shouted.
Madeline saw him and tried to call out to him, but the water was preventing her from speaking. It kept pulling her under its surface, and she was barely able to breathe. 'Carl, please help me,' she thought as she desperately struggled against the cruel water.
Van Helsing succeeded in killing the Hydra, but was knocked back by the gorgons. He stood up and grabbed his shotgun and fired at the creatures, which were agile and avoided his shots. Van Helsing waited for the creatures to come for him, and one did. He fired and hit the gorgon in the chest. She screamed and fell into the ocean water. The other two gorgons screeched and dived for Van Helsing. He was only able to shoot down one of the two. The third tackled him and began scratching him with her sharp talon-line fingernails. He grabbed her wrists and kicked her hard with his right foot. She was kicked back only a few feet, but that was enough of a distance for Van Helsing to grab his shotgun and finish off the gorgon.
Van Helsing got up from the deck floor to see Madeline struggling to stay above water, and he ran for the edge of the ship. But, he was hit in the stomach by the tail of the Lamia. He looked up and saw the creature. She laughed and grabbed him by the neck. "How does it feel to be on the other end of your job, Gabriel Van Helsing?"
"I have been on the other end before," he breathed. "Dracula was a tough one."
The Lamia squeezed Van Helsing's neck, and Van Helsing scrunched his face up with pain. He heard Madeline scream once more, and he heard Carl cry out for her. Van Helsing tried to pull the Lamia's hands from his neck, but she had a strong grip. She laughed at Van Helsing's attempts to free himself. "It is useless, Van Helsing."
Carl was desperate when he saw Madeline go under the water and not come back up. He grabbed the sword that had been kicked away from him and ran for the Lamia. The sword went straight through her mid-section, and she screamed loudly as she released Van Helsing. She twisted around and tried to pull the sword out of her middle, but she fell to the ground dead before succeeding. Van Helsing regained his breath and looked up at Carl in a thanking way.
"Van Helsing, Madeline did not resurface." Carl said frantically.
Van Helsing jumped up off of the deck and looked over the edge. Madeline was gone from the water's surface, and he grabbed his grappling hook gun from his duster. He jumped over the ship railing and splashed down into the water. He reemerged from the water and aimed the gun at the deck's railing. He fired the gun, and the hook busted through the railing then latched on to it. Van Helsing dived under the water looked under the water. The salt water stung his eyes, and the dark was hard to see by. But, he found Madeline sinking slowly. He swam quickly over to her and grabbed her in his arms.
Van Helsing used a device in his grappling hook gun that pulled the gun up to the barbed steel hook. Van Helsing was glad that the gun was quick to pull Madeline and him out of the water. He held the gun in one hand as tightly as possible while he held Madeline to his body with the other hand. He was dangling from the grappling gun as Carl took Madeline from his grip. Van Helsing climbed over the railing and freed the hook of his gun.
Carl held Madeline to his body, and he was afraid because she was limp in his arms. Van Helsing, dripping with water, watched Carl closely. Carl looked up at Van Helsing and said nothing, but Van Helsing knew the feeling Carl was having. There were many times he'd felt that way about Anna. Carl pushed Madeline's golden hair away from her face, and he listened closely for sounds of breathing. 'Please, Madeline, don't do this.' Carl thought as he stared at his love's face. 'Don't die.'
When Madeline did not seem to be breathing, Carl gently laid her down on the deck. His eyes filled with tears. "I thought vampires could only be killed by sunlight, crosses, or a stake through the heart," he said to Van Helsing as he tried to mask the pain in his voice. He tilted his head down and tried to hold back the tears that were coming.
Van Helsing walked over and laid his hand down on Carl's shoulder for support. He didn't speak because there was nothing to say that would change anything. But, Van Helsing realized that Carl had still loved Madeline. Carl knew that Van Helsing had been through the very same thing that he was going through. Van Helsing had lost Anna and suffered over it, and Carl knew he was going to suffer over Madeline's death and their child's death.
Madeline saw colors swirl around from underneath her eyelids, and she could hear something. 'Crying,' her mind asked. 'Who is crying?' She realized it was Carl. 'What is going on? Why is Carl crying.' Her mind finally told her that she had drowned, but she knew she wasn't dead. 'Vampires can't die like that. I'm not dead.' Once she realized that she wasn't suppose to be dead, her lungs pushed the water out.
Madeline coughed and got the water out of her lungs. Then, she gasped to fill her lungs with air. Carl and Van Helsing stared bewildered at Madeline. Carl jumped forward and put his hand behind Madeline's head. Her green eyes opened, and she saw Carl's tearstained face. "Carl," she whispered with a coarse voice. She reached up and wiped the tears from Carl's face.
Carl kissed Madeline softly. "I was sure you were gone," he told her as he held her close to him, ignoring that she was soaking wet.
Madeline told him, "My body just had to realize that I was not dead. That I cannot die from drowning."
Carl told Madeline, "I realized how much I still love you when you were lying there on the deck." His voice faltered, and Madeline stroked his cheek. She saw Carl fighting back more tears, and she put her arms around him. "I love you, Carl, and I'm not going anywhere." She looked over at Van Helsing and saw he was soaking wet too. She mouthed, 'Thank You,' to him, and he nodded. He had saved her, and he didn't mind being wet if it meant saving Madeline.