Wanted… Preferably Dead.
By LatanyaDisclaimer: Everything is great. I own nothing by my mind, my laptop and my PDA. I am sooooo sorry that this has taken so long to update but I've been busy with block exams and a huge legal report. Unfortunately, I'm still really busy so this story won't be updated as quickly as I had been before. Thank you all so very much for sticking with me. I really do love you guys heaps for reading.
Chapter Ten: Forgive me Tasya.
She stepped out into the swirling snow and her skin chilled all the way through, which caused her to shiver. Tasya shook her head, clearing her mind of the thoughts that were begging her to turn around and go back through the mirror-like doorway. Vladimir would be waiting for her, she knew, with Torgny at his feet. That the treat of death hung over her long time friend and companion's head angered the woman and she hated it when she was angry.
"Don't worry Vladimir, you won't destroy me this time. No, you will never destroy me." Tasya murmured to herself, walking towards the castle.
Stopping at the open doors, she couldn't help but wonder at how strange the place was. It wasn't somewhere that she had been since her uncle had created it in order to keep his son – her cousin – away from the world to prevent him from doing harm. That was before the Devil gave him wings. She was glad though, that the Devil hadn't allowed Dracula to come back again for she did not think that anyone would have been able to destroy him if that had happened… not even Van Helsing.
The air was crisp and Tasya felt troubled. Her getting in was too easy and she did not think that Vladimir would have let her in with no argument. Not when he knew she was coming to kill him. No, he would have made it as difficult as possible in order to wear her down before she reached him. A tired woman would make for an easy victory, as he would be likely to believe.
"What's going through your mind Vladimir? This isn't like you to make things easy for me. No, you always had to make things harder than they should be. That was one of the reasons why my cousin kept you as his friend. You could think of good ways to make things complicated for others." Her voice was faint and Tasya could see her breath in the air in front of her.
Her footsteps were the only sound that Tasya could hear and she sincerely wished for some other sound to fill the air… so long as it was anything but Vladimir. By God, she would even welcome Carl's chatter at the moment. Sighing, she resolved herself to the silence that surrounded her and prayed that it wouldn't end too soon because as long as it was silent, she knew she wasn't under attack.
Heading up the closest stairs, she headed for where she knew a great hall was to be found. Something told her that she would find what she sought after in that room.
"Well, let's go and find out what Vladimir wants." She murmured to herself but found no reassurement in it.
Van Helsing pushed Carl through the mirror-door and leapt through after him. He hoped that Tasya hadn't gotten herself killed in the time it took them to gather their things together and to head for the tower room.
"Come on Carl, let's hurry up and find that forsaken, foolish woman." He growled, setting off at a fast pace for the castle.
When they reached it, they found the entrance in the same fashion that Tasya had but Van Helsing did not have the insight into Vladimir's nature that she did. He assumed that the Vampire was making it easy for them to get in for some reason. Perhaps to make them let down their guards a little so that he found it easier to kill them.
"Sorry to disappoint you Vladimir, but your plan won't work." He muttered under his breath, noticing the footsteps in front of them.
Carl shot him a look that plainly said 'if we get out of here, I'm never going to leave Rome again,' and shook his head before actually speaking. "How are we going to find Tasya in this place before Vladimir does? Well, how do we know that he doesn't already have her?"
"We don't."
"Oh." The friar shook his head again in confusion. "Then how are we going to save Tasya?"
Van Helsing smiled, "We're going to save that foolish woman by distracting Vladimir's attention away from her and causing him to come after us instead. Hopefully by doing that, we'll be able to kill him before he kills Tasya."
Thinking about if for a moment, Carl cringed at the thought, "You know Van Helsing, I might just sit this one out. Tell me how it goes when you're finished." He stopped following the other man and turned around to walk back.
"A lone friar walking around a Vampire castle, what an interesting meal that would make for Vladimir. It's been nice knowing you Carl and I hope we meet again in Heaven." Helsing spoke calmly, as if he was simply talking about a tea party.
"On the other hand, I think you might need my help killing this monster." Carl returned to his place a few steps behind Van Helsing.
Grinning, Gabriel replied, "Knew you would see it my way. When one is trying to destroy a Vampire, one always needs the help of a certifiable genius."
That comment pleased Carl to no end, "When you put it that way Van Helsing, I guess I had better come along. You probably won't kill him without my help."
"Let's just hope that Vladimir doesn't need to be killed by a werewolf like Dracula did… seeing how we're fresh out of werewolves and the cure for them."
Saying that brought another memory up out of his mind and Van Helsing had to stop short before he fell down with the intensity of it.
"There is a cure for werewolves Van Helsing." Hanne looked at him across the table laden with scrolls. "It is a secret that my cousin told me when we were younger… after he made his first pact with the Devil, when he first decided to try and make me his wife."
Gabriel Van Helsing frowned at her, "But if there is a cure, why are there so many werewolves in Transylvania? Wouldn't you be out there trying to save some of the poor innocents who have become werewolves?"
"It is most unlucky for them that the cure will not work after their first full moon. Besides, the cure is made from the blood of a Vampire mixed in with the blood of a pure soul. I do not know what a pure soul is exactly, if it means clean of sin or not. But it does not matter for there are no Vampires in Transylvania that I know of… yet." She replied.
"But surely you could find one and try to make a cure?"
"What would be the point? The person trying to give the werewolf the cure would surely die in the attempt even if they were successful! No, the existence of such a cure is something I will take to my grave and I hope that you do not ever try to make one yourself." Her clear blue eyes met his brown ones darkly.
He arched an eyebrow, "You claim that you want to help your land into the light and yet you will not find a way to make the cure that will save the innocents who are turned into werewolves? A contradiction of your soul Hanne."
Hanne shrugged, "Gabriel, sometimes we have to make hard choices and this is one of them. If people knew that there was a way to save their loved ones from becoming a werewolf, they would try to hunt down every werewolf in existence and change them back. I have already told you that it will not work after the werewolves' first full moon. Do you have any idea how many werewolves there are in Transylvania? Hundreds of them."
"But what about those poor people who might yet become werewolves?" Van Helsing asked.
"I will try and kill the werewolves that already exist in order to stop that from happening. There is nothing else that I can do."
"Don't you at least want to try? If you don't try and help those poor people who are trapped in the forms of werewolves, you will never know if they can be helped. Your cousin told you that the cure only works on a werewolf before their first full moon is complete, but how do you know that he was telling you the truth?" He implored her to consider the option.
She shook her head sadly, "I believe him because after a werewolves first full moon, there is no humanity left in them. They are no longer the innocent humans that they might once have been. The change does not only change their form, it changes their soul as well. There is nothing to be done about it Gabriel Van Helsing, and I advise you to forget the idea. We must concentrate on destroying my cousin, not trying to rescue all the werewolves in Translyvania."
His eyes snapped open and met Carl's worried ones. "I know how to make the cure. At least, I know what it is made from."
The friar looked excited, "But how do you know that? Doesn't matter. How is it done? What is it made from?"
"Hanne told me a long time ago. It is made from the blood of a Vampire mixed in with the blood of a pure soul. She wasn't sure what exactly a pure soul was but I'm betting I know who's blood was mixed with Dracula's to make the cure that changed me back." He started walking again, quicker than he had before the memory resurfaced in his mind.
"Whose blood? Whose blood do you think was used to make the cure?"
"Hers."
"But her soul is blackened with sin! She has murdered countless numbers of innocent people." Carl exclaimed.
Turning his head to look at him, Van Helsing smiled, "Besides that fact, can you think of anyone with a purer soul than Hanne Valerious?"
"Well… I'm not sure."
"I think it's a Valerious trait. If Anna was still alive, I would have said that her soul was just as pure."
"Are you still in love with Anna?"
He paused for a moment, thinking about it before replying, "Carl, I can't answer that. I'm beginning to wonder if perhaps I fell in love with Anna because deep down in my soul, I recognized her as one on the same par as Hanne. They were very much the same. In a way, I believe that I loved her as well and I guess I still do. Don't ever fall in love with a woman Carl, they bring nothing but pain."
Carl nodded, "I wasn't intending to."
"Good idea."
Tasya looked around cautiously. She was sure that Vladimir wasn't here but something wasn't right… not that she knew what she thought wasn't right. Her mind was a whirl of thoughts and she could feel a headache coming on, one of those blinding pains that she had been getting ever since Vladimir had bitten her. It was disturbing and Tasya didn't like the idea that he might have done something to her that she did not know of.
"What will happen will happen and there is nothing I can do to stop it." She murmured to herself, keeping her eyes open wide.
If only she could smell the scents around her, Tasya would have been a happy woman. She at least would have been able to tell when Vladimir had been here last. Suddenly a noise caused her to spin around, the crossbow in her hand held ready.
"Come on Vladimir, show yourself and let me kill you."
There was laughter and Vladimir walked out of the shadows, dragging Torgny's limp body behind him. He dropped the priest at her feet before stepping back and smiling maliciously. But before Tasya could do anything, he had changed into his winged form and flown off.
Dropping to her knees beside Torgny, Tasya checked him for life. To her distress, there was blood on his face but she could not find any other wounds. His pulse was barely there and was slowly ceasing to be. For all she could tell, Torgny was dying and she did not know why. However, her downfall would be the fact that she had not checked his neck….
"I am sorry Torgny. Please forgive me. You should never have followed me to Transylvania. I should have made you go back to Rome like I had planned to do." Tears formed in her eyes and dropped onto his face, making trails in the blood that covered his features.
Covering her face with her hands, Tasya burst into tears, sobbing uncontrollably. She had lost so much to these Vampires that cursed her family. She had lost her family completely to the curse that followed them. Even her infant daughter, the result of her one night of love with her betrothed before he went out to kill her cousin, had been killed in this.
Why was she cursed to have to live through all of this? Through the years when by all rights, she should have aged and died like any other normal human? Was it because of her love of Gabriel Van Helsing who was the Left Hand of God? That was the only reasonable explanation that she could come up with and even that seemed a little far-fetched. But it had to be the reason; God must want her to be with his servant always.
Torgny's eyes flickered open but Tasya was too wrapped up in her grief to notice. He smiled hungrily, revealing the long fangs that were there now and sat up, inhaling the rich scent that came from Tasya. She smelt of roses and pine, an unusual combination. Before either could realize what was happening, Torgny had sunk his teeth into the soft flesh of Tasya's neck, drinking the rich blood that would sustain his life. But fighting back, she managed to cut him in a few places.
Van Helsing and Carl burst into the room just in time to see it happen and Van Helsing responded by letting loose a hail of bolts from his crossbow. Dropping her with a howl, Torgny turned to face his attackers. But no one noticed the blood dripping from the wounds that she had caused onto Tasya's face and into her mouth.
Moaning, Tasya covered her neck with a hand and struggled to her feet. She was weak from blood loss and close to fainting but she had to stop Van Helsing from killing Torgny even though he was a Vampire now. Carl rushed over to her, supporting her weight as best he could.
"No!" She cried, seeing Van Helsing preparing himself to shoot at Torgny again. "Don't kill him Gabriel."
Carl frowned, "But Van Lura, he's a Vampire now! He tried to kill you and yet you don't want to kill him?"
"He can't help it Carl. That isn't Torgny anymore."
"If it isn't Torgny anymore, why do you want him to stay alive?" The friar asked as they watched Van Helsing fire more bolts into the advancing Vampire.
Torgny turned to look at them, the last bit of his lucid mind prevailing on him. When he had realized that it was Tasya who he had fed from, his mind had changed but what remained of him wanted him to beg forgiveness from the woman who had helped him so much. "Tasya, forgive me." He whispered.
She turned to Carl and asked him to pick up her crossbow. "I am sorry to Torgny. You were like a little brother to me and I hate the fact that things have had to end this way. May we meet again at the Gates of Heaven when all things are come to an end."
"I must tell you Tasya, Vladimir plans to go the America's where no one will know of Vampires. You must stop him when he reaches the coast where a ship has been arranged to wait for him." Torgny walked towards her, accepting the fact that she was going to destroy him.
Lifting the crossbow in a weak and trembling hand, Tasya aimed at his heart, "Forgive me Torgny for having to do this. But thank you for the information because we will stop him before he can cause any more hurt."
"You need a werewolf to kill him like a werewolf was needed to kill Count Dracula. They are of the same ilk."
Pulling the trigger on the crossbow, Tasya shot him full of bolts, killing him before she collapsed.