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Chapter II
Van Helsing was not surprised to find that he was expected.
"You held out longer than I thought you would, Gabriel."
He sounded tired. The vampire moved into the light of the torches and Van Helsing could tell by the extreme pallor of his skin and lips that he had not fed during the past three weeks. He hand closed over his gun instinctively.
"Of course, I'm sure you were busy with the funeral but I would have thought your curiosity would have driven you here sooner. I was beginning to think that you were not coming."
"I wasn't planning on coming, believe me."
"Then why did you?"
Van Helsing opened his mouth as if to say something but then averted his eyes, feeling slightly foolish.
"Ah, you have no idea...Am I right?"
Van Helsing had no choice but to nod.
"Would you prefer to come inside? I think you would be more comfortable inside than out here."
He didn't wait for an answer but opened the doors.
"The dining room is this way."
"Dining room? What would you want with a dining room?"
"It was a joke of sorts. My father designed this castle to be my prison when he could not bring himself to kill me. When I first walked into this room, I found it set for a feast. There were plates, forks, knives, a lace table cloth, crystal goblets...but the only food was wafers and wine. Communion fare. And instead of a centerpiece, there was a cross and below it rested a large Bible. On the wall was a painting of Christ and the Devil in the desert and on the bottom of the frame was a verse painted in gold lettering; 'Get thee behind me, Satan!' I removed everything except for the painting and the Bible from the room and buried it outside."
"What did you do with the painting and the Bible?"
"They are both in my room. I read the Bible sometimes out of spite."
"You can read the Bible?"
"Yes."
"Why do you keep them?"
"They remind me."
"Remind you of what?
"Of...of many things. Don't pry, Gabriel, it isn't good manners."
"It's called conversation. And you were the one who brought it up."
"True."
They entered a large dining hall. Dracula offered him a chair and then sat down himself.
"What did the friar say about you coming here?"
"He doesn't know."
"Good."
Van Helsing was uncomfortably aware of how the vampire's eyes kept wandering to his throat. And how he would occasionally wet his lips with his tongue. The silence was just beginning to grow awkward when Dracula propped his elbow up on the table and rested his chin on his hand. He smiled at him
"So, Gabriel, what is it that you want to know?"
"First off, why haven't you fed since, well, since Anna's death?"
The vampire made a choking sound and then began to laugh uncontrollably.
"You think...you think I invited you here to...to feed on you?"
"Well, why else haven't you fed? You keep giving me the same looks that a starving man gives to a roast chicken."
"Gabriel, my sweet, let me explain. I knew you were coming back but I didn't know when. The villagers would probably have killed you if they knew you failed...You didn't return to the village, did you?"
"No."
"Alright. And say I did catch dinner and brought it back here-I always bring them back here, I don't like being attacked while I feed-and you walked in? Your job would demand that you try and rescue whoever it was and I wanted to talk with you, not fight with you. And I am weaker when I haven't fed and thought it would be a sign of temporary neutrality with you. I think I gave you the wrong idea. I apologize."
Van Helsing simply shook his head. Three weeks ago I tried to kill him. Yet here I am, chatting with him and for some reason, completely at ease with his presence.
"How do you know me?"
"You lived Romania for some time. The Catholic church sent you to help put down resistance."
"Then why doesn't the Church doesn't have record of this?"
"I'm sure that they have the records; they simply did not make the connection. You must remember that most men do not live for hundreds of years. They probably thought you were named after him."
"How long was I in Romania?"
"I don't know exactly. You had already gained a reputation before we met. I had been out on a hunting expedition with several of my servants and acquaintances. We came across you and your soldiers and while we were exchanging pleasantries, our men began to argue over who would win in a duel; the Transylvanian prince or the Christian Crusader? We found the idea amusing and drew our swords in the clearing. I was the best of a family of duelists but you, Gabriel, you were the best I had ever seen. You were the only person skilled enough to toy with me during a fight. And one of the only ones to ever have beaten me. It turned out you were heading to the castle to discuss something with my father so I abandoned the hunt and accompanied you."
He stood up and continued the narration while pacing across the room.
"The resistance to the Christian religion was still very strong in parts of our country and there were rumors that my father was helping secret groups to burn missions and spread fear of foreign influence. Not true, of course. My father practiced the Christian faith and tried to help it spread but changing old traditions is a very long and difficult process. The Church sent you to help us destroy organized resistance."
"So I was a murderer of innocent people?"
"They killed people to justify their views and we killed them to justify ours. You seemed to have no problem with it at the time. Your world was very black and white, Gabriel, nothing grey in it at all. But you were always merciful to your enemies, taking prisoners and many times winning them to your side. You had a talent for winning people over, Gabriel. Most everyone you met loved you. My whole family did. I loved you especially and when I asked for my brother everyone knew I was not referring to my two brothers in blood, but to you. I trusted no one in my family like I trusted you."
At this, he turned and looked directly at Van Helsing.
"So Gabriel, you still remember nothing? Nothing of me or anything of the years we spent together?"
He shook his head. "No, nothing at all."
"Not even the sea? After three years you were called back to Italy. You left on a ship across the sea. It was the only time in my life that I had seen the ocean. I could return now anytime I wish but I refuse to change the memory of how it looked when you left. The waves, the sky, the emptiness," he smiled sadly.
"But I stray from the conversation and perhaps bore you with my poetic nonsense. I went with you to the sea when you had to leave. We didn't know if you were coming back. But two years later, you returned. You just showed up at the castle one day. Everyone was so delighted to see you again that only I noticed how you distanced yourself from everyone else. And how you seemed to avoid me in particular. I went up to your room that night but you had barred your door. I went back to my room, wrote a letter to you, and stuffed it underneath your door. A messenger came to my room the next day with a note in hand. It simply stated that you needed to talk to me in private. So the day after, we went on a walk in the woods outside my home."
Dracula sat down once again in the chair closest to him. Van Helsing waited for him to continue.
"You told me that you had received terribly difficult orders from Rome and these orders were weighing heavily on your mind. You apologized to me for the way you had treated me over the past two days, saying that it was not your intent to upset me. And you embraced me. I was near tears with relief that you were not upset with me, that you were the same Gabriel that left two years ago. And then you knifed me in the ribs."
And it was Van Helsing who continued in a whisper.
"You whispered my name and then blood began to bubble up from your mouth. You were crying and choking on it. I left you lying there. Dead."
"I wasn't dead," the vampire said quietly.
"What?"
"I didn't die then. I blacked out. My father found me and brought me back to the castle. They thought we had been attacked by rebels. I let them think that. A search party was sent out to look for you. I died in my room, alone, that night."
Van Helsing once again waited expectantly.
"And?"
"You have heard the rest of the story. And I will not speak of hell."
"If you were Christian like you claimed to be, why were you sent to hell?"
"I believed that the Church sent you to kill me. I wanted revenge, Gabriel, not against you, but against them. And I hated God for this and for other things as well. I renounced him as I died."
"For what other things?"
"You should remember, Gabriel. You were not a monk but you were still a man of God. And as much as you loved me, you would always love Him more. And you would not allow yourself to love anyone except in the way that brothers love each other. I wanted more of you than you were able to give, because of your God. I loved you Gabriel."
Dracula moved as if he was going to touch his face but pulled his hand back. The two remained silent for what seemed to both of them like an eternity. Then the vampire sighed and lifted Gabriel's chin with his fingertip.
"I am sorry. You would have been happier, I think, if you had never remembered this."
He said nothing in reply and stared down at the floor.
"Did you love Anna?"
"Yes."
A pause. "And did you love me?"
He was silent.
"Do you hate me?"
"No."
The vampire reached out and touched his face.
"I still love you, Gabriel."
He was silent once again and stood up. Dracula stood up as well.
"Do you wish to go?"
"I have to. Carl will be looking for me and we need to get out of this place fast before they know that Anna is dead."
"So you will not return?"
"No."
"Where will you go?"
"I'm not sure. Not back to Rome. Carl might return but I want nothing more to do with it all."
"Then stay here. With me."
"No."
Van Helsing was grateful that for the silence that then fell between them. Dracula escorted him all the way to the mirror.
"Then it is goodbye, Gabriel. At least for now."
"No, for forever. This is our last goodbye, Vladislaus."
The silver peals of Dracula's laughter echoed hollowly in his ears. Van Helsing stiffened as the vampire's mouth closed over his but he did not pull away. His lips were cold, so very cold...And it was Dracula who pulled away, who pushed him towards the portal with a smile.
"That is because, dear Gabriel, next time we will not say goodbye."
Once again, thank you for all your reviews. I really hope you enjoy this chapter and look forward to your comments, compliments, and criticisms!