Wanted… Preferably Dead.
By LatanyaDisclaimer: Everything is great. I own nothing by my mind, my laptop and my PDA. Gosh, I do like this new disclaimer… hehehe.
Chapter Eight: Secrets revealed.
"My head…." Tasya sat up, holding a hand to the back of her head.
She could feel a slight bump there and the skin around it was slightly tender. Unable to recall what had happened to cause the headache, Tasya attempted to stand up without remembering that she had not eaten for days and that her body was still weak from loss of blood. All she could think of was the fact that Vladimir had taken Torgny and probably intended to kill him very soon. The other thing that was prominent in her mind was recollection of Gabriel's gentle kiss when he was trying to stop her from running off to rescue Torgny.
Growling in frustration, Tasya managed to get to her feet and swayed in an unstable fashion. Looking around, she grinned thoughtfully at the sight of Anna's bedroom. "Van Helsing, you are still the same even after all these years. Pity you had to go and forget everything on me."
Walking unsteadily over to a mirror, she carefully unlaced her corset and gently removed her silk shirt so that she could get a clear look at the wound on her shoulder. Craning her neck to look at her back in the mirror, Tasya was not very happy to see that the wound she had received from a werewolf slash had bleed again and was looking quite red around the edges. Wishing she had clean, heated water to clean it up, the woman walked to the door of the room and pulled it open – forgetting in the process that she was not wearing a shirt any more.
"CARL!" She yelled out. "CARL!"
If her intuition were correct, the friar would be in the library, which was just down the hall from the room she was in. He would hear her shout and no doubt come running.
She was right.
Carl burst out of the library looking somewhat frightened, "Van Lura? What's the matter? Has the Vampire attacked us again?"
"Friar, I'm over here." Her voice snapped at him, causing Carl to turn around and stare at her in mortification. "Carl, forget what you're seeing right now. More importantly, can you go and get me a bowl of hot water so that I can clean the wound on the back of my shoulder?"
He opened his mouth repeatedly, no sound coming out though his eyes were wide. Finally he managed to get one word out. "W…wat… water…."
"Carl, don't talk about it, just do what I told you to do. Now if at all possible."
Nodding, the friar ran away before he made himself into an even bigger fool in front of Tasya. When he reached a corridor, he stood there scratching his head in confusion, not having any clear idea of where he was meant to go to get a bowl of hot water. Luckily, Van Helsing came towards him in the next moment with a bottle of whisky in his hand.
"Ah ha!" Carl snatched the bottle out of the killer's hand and spun around to rush back the way he came.
"Hey! Where do you think your going with my whisky Carl?" Van Helsing chased after the confused friar.
"You tell me where to find a bowl of hot water and I'll think about giving you back this whisky… though the whisky happens to be better for cleaning wounds than water if I remember correctly." He stopped suddenly and looked around. "Now, did I come this way or was it that other corridor?"
Arching an eyebrow, Gabriel grinned. "Carl, what's gotten you into such a fumbled up mood? You're more confusing than ever. One would have to think that you've seen something surprising that has addled your brilliant brain."
Wondering if he should tell Van Helsing about Tasya's little excursion out of her room without her upper body covered, Carl scratched his head again. "You would have to be right about that Van Helsing. I've just seen something that I'm sure you'd be envious about."
"I suppose then that you're going to tell me so that you can gloat while I'm envious about it? Or are you going to let me stand here and make guesses as to what it was?" He asked.
"You can guess."
"Well, you're a friar and your looking for water to clean a wound. I'm sure that just earlier I heard Tasya's charming voice ring out calling for you. How close would I be if I asked if you'd seen some part of her anatomy that you are ashamed to have seen?" Dark eyes glittered mischievously as he spoke and Van Helsing watched Carl's face for signs that he had guessed correctly.
Carl's face collapsed into a despairing expression and he wiped a hand over his forehead, "I'm sorry Van Helsing, it's not like I purposely intended to see Tasya without a shirt covering her… her… her um… female accessories."
Van Helsing burst out into laughter and had to lean back against a wall in order to support himself. Clapping a hand against his thigh, he shook his head. "Forgive me for laughing at your plight Carl but your expression and way of describing what you saw was hilarious."
"Van Helsing!" He exclaimed in shock. "You could at least have some sympathy."
"We had best get you to a priest because we can't have you walking around with such a sin darkening your soul. Need to have our sins abolished as frequently as we can manage or who knows, we'll probably go to hell."
Growling in frustration, Carl managed to get himself back on track and headed back down the right corridor to where Tasya was waiting for him. After having seen the friar's distress when he saw her before, she had put a loose silk shirt on though she hadn't really laced the front up. When she looked up to see Carl coming towards her with a bottle of whisky and Van Helsing at his heels, Tasya rolled her eyes and crossed her arms across her chest.
He lifted his eyes to her and smiled, another memory flooding his mind.
"Van Helsing, what do you think you're doing in here?" Hanne stormed into the armory and stopped short at the sight of the man standing there going through the weapons. "You should not be in here Van Helsing."
"Really? Well, where else should I be? I'm simply looking at all the lovely swords you seem to have collected… among other things." He grinned at her, his eyes trailing down her body.
She was wearing dark green breeches and a white silk shirt – which was soaked through. Her long hair was a mass of dripping black strands and her blue eyes were blazing with unbridled fury. "Don't you dare start with that conversation again!"
"I take it that your horse decided that a little dip would be a good idea? Really, I have to find out where you keep taking these impromptu baths that you've been having."
The next thing he knew, a knife was imbedded in the wall barely an inch from his throat. Closing his mouth, Van Helsing wondered where the knife had come from because Hanne carried no weapons on her that he could see. In her hand, another identical knife was held and the look of annoyance was puzzling.
"Your aim is good Miss Valerious." Van Helsing inclined his head, realizing that there was a spider impaled on the wall.
Her nostrils flared and Hanne growled, "What do you mean my aim is good? I missed my target by an inch or so."
Assuming that it would be better to say nothing at all about the knife, the monster hunter shook his head and turned back to the sword he had been studying. "I take it that you have a lot of problems with werewolves?"
"Why would you ask that Van Helsing?" Her voice was melodious though her accent caused what she said to sound like 'Vhy vould you ask that Van Helsing'.
"Because the larger majority of swords and other weapons in here are forged from a mix of silver and steel. Werewolves don't like silver but it's not the best substance to make a sword out of, which means that by combining the two, you have a perfect weapon for killing them with." He lifted the sword and smiled at how well balanced it was.
Hanne arched an eyebrow, "Be careful, that blade is sharp and I wouldn't want to have to look after you. Please, don't hurt yourself. It would be the greatest inconvenience to me if you did."
Smiling at her again, Gabriel Van Helsing wondered why she was as attractive to him as she seemed to be. "No, we wouldn't want to inconvenience you now, would we Miss Valerious. Any inconvenience to you and I wouldn't ever hear the end of it for at least five hundred years."
"Try eternity. If you cost me this kill, I will kill you and when I die, I will haunt you." She snapped.
"And I thought you Transylvanians liked to look on the bright side of death. Haunting me for eternity doesn't sound very bright to me." He replied, unfazed.
Another knife thudded into the wall beside him, "Trust me, haunting you would be torture but if we do not kill my cousin, haunting you will be the better choice out of the two evils."
"Strange how your better choice out of the two evils turned out to be this way Miss Valerious." Van Helsing grinned at her brightly, hoping she knew what he was talking about.
Tasya frowned for a moment before snatching the bottle of whisky from Carl, "I suppose this will do to clean my shoulder up but I still want some hot water. As for your comment Van Helsing, this turned out to be the better of the three evils."
"Three evils now?"
"Perhaps… but there were many more choices I could have made. Funny that, if you had not murdered my cousin like you did and if he had not become a Vampire, I would not be alive still and perhaps, neither would you. But then again, if I had not been so incredibly stubborn or so in love with you, I would have become a Bride of Dracula and you would have killed me." Her blue eyes filled with tears. "And perhaps my brothers would have grown up and perhaps the Valerious family would still exist."
Carl bit his lip and backed away, murmuring. "I think I might just leave the two of you to talk… got some books that I need to read…. Just, don't kill each other just yet."
Neither noticed him leave but Tasya stepped back into the room and managed to slam the door shut in Van Helsing's face. He pounded his fists on the door, demanding that she let him in so that they could talk.
While he did that, Tasya pulled the shirt off and stood in front of the mirror again. She had found a water bottle in among her things and decided that that would do to clean her shoulder up. The other wounds she needed to clean were the two neat puncture wounds on her neck where Vladimir had bitten her. Because Torgny had been quick to get the ointment on her neck after she'd been bitten, the wounds had remained clean and the Vampire venom had died off… at least, she hoped it had.
"Tasya Van Lura let me in this room! NOW!" Van Helsing pounded on the door again, wondering if it was worth kicking it open.
Using a ripped up cloth, she wiped the dried and caked blood off her shoulder and gently cleaned the wound. Each little movement hurt and Tasya wondered how long it would be before she could use her arm fully without it hurting. If she were extremely careful for the next few days, the wound would start to heal and if for the next few weeks after that, she did not manage to aggravate it, the wound would heal over completely. Ripping another bit of material off an old shirt, Tasya pulled the cork out of the bottle of whisky and poured some of the liquid out onto the cloth.
"Right, bite your tongue Tas and be quick." She muttered to herself as she strained her other arm around to clean the slash wound with the whisky.
When Van Helsing heard a moan of pain come from inside the room, he stood back and kicked the door open. "Tasya!" He shouted, storming into the room.
He came to a sudden halt when he saw that she was all right and that she was standing in front of a mirror trying to clean the wound on her shoulder. Tasya glared at him, her blue eyes dark with annoyance.
"I hope you didn't break that door Van Helsing." Her voice was like a lash – cold and unforgiving.
"I'm sorry Tasya but when I heard your moan of pain, I thought something was wrong." Gabriel stared at her, noticing that she wasn't wearing a shirt.
Tasya shook her head and went back to cleaning her wound with some difficulty. Walking over to her, Van Helsing took the cloth and the bottle of whisky from her hands and gently wiped the angry looking wound. Closing her eyes, Tasya wondered when the last time was that someone had cleaned her wounds for her. It wasn't something that Torgny did because he was scared of women and because of how wanted she was, Tasya very rarely went anywhere near a doctor. The gentleness of Van Helsing's administrations was a welcome relief to the quick clean up she would normally do.
"Why are you so hard on yourself Tasya? So unforgiving with your own soul?" He asked quietly, letting his hands fall away from her warm skin.
Tasya's eyes opened and she growled, "I have to be hard on myself otherwise the pain of what I have done, what I have caused will destroy me. No matter how hard I try, I can never wash the blood of my family from my hands and that is a sin, a crime, which I must atone for."
"And that is why you throw yourself into dangerous situations trying to get yourself killed? Where is the reason in that?"
"I'm surprised you did not ask what I had done that I must atone for."
He shook his head, "I don't need to be told because I understand completely. Do you know how many people I have killed Tasya? I have the blood of hundreds on my hands and that is an evil for which I will always be cursed for."
"Your curse is the same as mine. Perhaps if we had never met, you would be the only one with that curse. But what is the greater evil Gabriel, your killing of evil monsters which plague mankind or my being the reason why my brothers were killed… among other members of my family." Tasya's voice was barely audible and Van Helsing could feel the pain in her soul radiating out through her skin.
Lifting a hand, Van Helsing ran a fingertip up along her spine until it reached the back of her neck. Walking around to stand in front of her, he pulled her against him and lowered his head to gently kiss her lips, holding the back of her head with his hand. Breaking off the kiss, he spoke softly, "You did not cause their deaths Hanne, your cousin did but Dracula is dead now and we have to work together to destroy Vladimir because if we do not, he will kill countless numbers of innocent people."
Her blue eyes were dilated and Tasya swallowed, "But their deaths are my fault Gabriel, just like Torgny's death will be my fault. I should have killed Vladimir before he was able to join Dracula in his evil plan. Her death was my fault and I have to live with that. You could never understand."
"Her death? Who do you mean?"
"Bellona."
His breath caught in his throat, "Who was Bellona, Tasya?"
"My daughter. She was only a year and a half when Dracula killed her along with my two younger brothers. He wanted revenge but he refused to kill me as well. Said that he wanted me to live my life suffering from the memory of having to watch him drain my child dry before tearing her limb from limb. My poor little brothers suffered the same fate. That was when I resolved myself to be just like you." Tears fell from her eyes and Tasya appeared distant.
Van Helsing kissed her forehead, "Who was the father? Did he know what had happened?"
"No, he did not know what had happened because he had disappeared. But he knows now." He felt her still against him, her breathing slowing down.
"What do you mean?"
Tasya pulled away and looked up at him with her large blue eyes, "You were the father Gabriel Van Helsing. You were the father of my little daughter Bellona."