V. Riddles in the Dark

The hooves beat against the ground at a furious pace, their rhythmic pounding disrupting the monotonous whispers of subsiding rain. The horses wove their way through the narrow forest paths, as if sensing their masters' growing urge to race. The conscience of a hunter kept one in place when others took to flee, yet this time, instincts won over hot blood, reason over daredevilry. Both Van Helsing and Leah had no choice but to accept it that the time for them to get even was yet to come.

Leah slurred a curse under her breath, the intent look on her face betraying her fury. Even soaked and cold, she paid it no heed. She knew, by the determined look frozen on his face, that neither did Van Helsing. She glanced at him every so often as they rode; seeing the man handle himself well still had put her mind at ease.

Chilled by more than the cold of the night and the pouring rain, Van Helsing resolved to ignore the dull pain in his injured arm. He looked down only once; all he could see was the torn sleeve of his coat. His mind forced to slowly clear, he tried to suppress the thoughts that rushed through his head at the speed of a waterfall, but to no avail. It struck him how fate repeated its courses, how it had led him to stray again and put his task aside. Recklessness had once been the trait that led him to many troubles along the way; now he knew its cause, and it proved too strong to defeat.

He couldn't help but let his thoughts wander. Times like those, Van Helsing was more grateful than not for not remembering much of what had otherwise haunted him in dreams. The memories he possessed were at times enough to knock him out of focus. Perilous as it was, in the recent days he had learned that there wasn't much he could do about it. As it always was, he chose to wait it out. He often feared those memories would render him mad, one day. Past experience had taught him that it was not unlikely. Daunting nonetheless.

The clack of the hooves seemed muffled now on the muddy ground. The sound seemed distant to him, as though he weren't there, as if he watched himself and the woman beside him from afar, behind the veil of rain. He barely took heed of the soft thumping sound, the rhythmic noise doubling strangely as they pushed on further into the woods. Gradually, as the clatter became more distinct, the intuition of a hunter forced Gabriel back into focus.

A quick look in the bounty hunter's direction proved him right; Leah watched her surroundings warily, her eyes darting from one side to another. Van Helsing's eyes followed the course of the woman's sight. Hardly noticeable shadows moved among the trees, keeping up with the riders' pace in what seemed the easiest task imaginable. Only short ways away, two of them were now to be seen through the thick blanket of gloom, not far ahead. Van Helsing glanced back. Straining his eyes, he could see two others that followed closely behind.

He could see them now; although still at a distance, their shadows drew nearer by the second, both the horse and the rider pushing forth like the whip of the devil urged them into dash. Out of the corner of his eye, Van Helsing noticed a rapid movement and his eyes darted between the approaching foe and his companion. In a split second, the hunter shifted in her saddle, a crossbow in her hand. She struggled to keep her balance as the first bolt she had launched hit nothing but air.

Ahead of her, the rider adjusted his pace to her own, slowing down ever so little. Still turned around and aiming once more at the man behind, Leah took no heed of the danger in the front. Two more bolts sent flying missed their aim. The woman cursed under her breath.

The path narrowed as they rode, making it hard to maneuver in sharp turns and among the sticking out branches of the ancient trees. Van Helsing's urging cry reached Leah's ears, but it dissolved in the dull thumping of six horses' hooves.

Her crossbow creaked as one more bolt broke loose. The rider behind her dodged it at inhuman speed, avoiding the hit by what couldn't have been more than an inch. Leah's eyes shot wide in shock; only then, a hint of recognition sped up her breath. She clung to the horse's sides as tight as she could, her teeth clenched, eyes narrowed, muscles tense to the point of pain. A dire need to focus whispered behind her ear, Take him down. Kill the Ghoul. Leah shrugged as the familiarity of that voice sent shivers down her spine, more distracting than alleviating. She aimed with as much care as the wild ride allowed her.

The rider advanced on her at great speed now, heading straight for a clash. In the last splinter of a second she let the bolt loose, mentally crossing herself and praying that this time it would reach its aim.

Van Helsing turned with a start as a horse's loud cry reached his ears from behind, promptly followed by a hollow sound of its rider falling onto the ground. He glanced at the hunter; Leah turned in her saddle, face forth, sharply pulling the reins to avoid collision with another rider that crossed her path. A cry caught in his throat when, in the very same second, Gabriel lost his stability under the burden of a large man. Before he knew, both of them hit the ground.

Leah noticed the rider ahead of her an instant too late; once within an arm's reach, the man leaned into her with a fluid movement and grabbed her reins. Pulled sharply out of her hands they were no more the source of balance. With nothing to hold to, Leah's body jerked backward. Reaching desperately for something to grasp before she fell, from her left eye's corner she saw the man leap up to a stand on his horse's back, preparing to fly down on his prey. Just as she grabbed hold of the rim of her own saddle, the Ghoul leapt and grabbed her by the coat as he fell.

Falling down under his opponent's weight, Van Helsing had but a second to realize how strong the man really was. Blackness shaded his vision as they landed hard on the muddy ground, rolling over each other for what seemed like eternity. Struggling to release his arms from the man's iron hold, Gabriel groaned when at last they were forced into a halt by a large piece of rock. The impact sent the Ghoul flying and forced him to severe his grip on Van Helsing's arms. That split second was enough for the hunter to reach for one of his tojo blades. The weapon, sent spinning at a deadly speed, was ready when the Ghoul advanced once more.

The sharp blade cut its way into the man's chest as easily as a knife went into butter. Face to face with his foe, Van Helsing could now see that the dying creature had once been a man. Yet, the blackened eyes and a fixed blank look on his twisted face told him he was human no more.

Short ways away, the beating of the hooves remained even and loud.

When at last the world around her stopped spinning, Leah found herself laying on her back on top of the man that had brought her down. Wincing in pain, she struggled to break free from his grasp; the Ghoul's strong arms clutched at her upper body, his abnormally even breath cold on the back of her neck. Nearly breathless, she gathered all strength she could spare and concentrated it on wriggling one of her arms out of the enemy's hold. She let out a groan through her gritted teeth as she threw herself left and right, in fading hope to feel the grip slacken if only a little. The instant she sensed the right moment when that could be attempted, she rapidly pulled her hand from the Ghoul's hold and grabbed a short knife strapped to her right thigh.

In a swift turn she shifted her weight on top of him, pinning him to the ground. Her mind screamed at her that her only chance lay in speed; hesitating no more, she stabbed the Ghoul's chest time after time until she felt his body go stiff under her. The man's eyes opened wide; the vampire's blood that had kept him under a spell rushed up through his veins, up and to his eyes. Crimson streaks stained the creature's face, his mouth open in a soundless cry. Scowling, Leah withdrew the knife and issued the final strike.

Struggling for breath, her body shuddered violently. The thought that she did not even know whether it was heaven she'd sent him to, or hell, left her mind uneasy. Ghouls might have been the unwilling servants of the vampires, yet servants of evil nonetheless. Biting her lower lip, Leah lifted her hand to cross herself, when a sudden silence prompted her to turn around.

The sound of the spinning blades shattered the hollow silence of the night. Van Helsing scrambled to his feet. Turning around, he saw Leah issue the lethal strike upon her opponent. Their eyes met for a split second. The woman gave a quick nod, meant to tell him she was faring well. Gabriel nodded back. Just as he did so, he sensed movement short ways to his left and away.

"Behind you!" Leah cried. Leaping to her feet, she drove her blade and rushed to where the last remaining Ghoul advanced on Van Helsing from behind a tree.

His head whipped around just in time to catch a glimpse of a large man. His senses sharpened to an extreme acuteness, he saw his face - cold and expressionless - before the Ghoul spun around and smacked him with great strength. Ground slipped from under him, an instant later Gabriel was scrambling to his feet again a few meters away.

The Ghoul sauntered forth, a long sword in his hand. He bared his teeth, letting out a sound resembling a vicious laugh. He took a swift turn, the bounty hunter's strike was no challenge for his blade. The strength he put into sweeping her blow aside sent Leah off her feet. The moment she hit the ground, the Ghoul paid her no more heed. Strolling towards him, the creature turned to Van Helsing with an eerie hiss.

"What do you want?" the hunter asked, carefully studying the approaching creature. He could see it now; the air about the Ghoul dark with streaks of red. What had once been the whites of his eyes blended with his pupils black as midnight sky.

"When lights go out, the Master's cry says hunters live to swiftly die." His voice more of a whisper, the caricature of a man seemed to mock his rival, in a failed attempt to daunt him. Taking one cat-like step after another at ever decreasing pace, the Ghoul had somehow created an illusion of the whole world around him slowing down at his will.

Breaking the eye contact to shrug off the illusion, Van Helsing scowled at the cryptic words. "Just what I needed," he muttered to himself. As the distance between the two shrunk drastically, Gabriel stepped out of the creature's way. Wavering between the call to slay him and some morbid curiosity at the nature of the man, he asked, "Who are you?"

His question was met by a laugh. Out of the corner of his eye, Gabriel caught a glimpse of Leah struggling back to her feet. Sinking to her knees, the hunter rubbed the back of her head with a quiet groan.

Gazing intently into his face, the Ghoul prodded Van Helsing to return his stare. His steps unwavering, he made nearly no sound at all. "The past you fear, the future's lore. Your fortune seals by rocky shore."

Frowning at the riddle, Gabriel narrowed his eyes and set them back upon the Ghoul's face, even though he noticed that merely looking at him, into those black eyes that seemed unseeing, had made him grow weary.

"How do you know me?" he uttered through his gritted teeth. The memory of the last time - still recent, as the full moon blossomed only once on the jet black sky since that day - when he had asked alike question flashed fresh and clear in the back of his mind.

Suddenly, the creature's body jerked and landed heavily on the ground. Van Helsing shrugged off the remnants of the charm and lunged in the Ghoul's direction as he realized what had come to pass.

A fraction of a second and one swift swing of sword later, Leah's blade glimmered in the faint light of the moon that filtered through the trees. She came down on the creature with a deadly strike, slashing him across the chest. Her breath came in gasps as she staggered on her feet; her eyes fixed upon the dying Ghoul. Leah spat in disgust, and wiped her face with the back of her hand.

The words of the vampire servant's riddle still clear in his ears, Gabriel sank onto the ground by the creature's side. As the Ghoul lay, wheezing, gasping for breath, he could see his features turning soft like those of any man, his eyes filled with blood. The hunter tried hard not to think that the rider's message carried a deeper meaning; had it carried one or not was now irrelevant as the man had come to meet his end.

With his last breath, the beast fled from the man's tormented corpse, at last leaving him at peace. Convulsion shuddered the wretched form twice under Van Helsing's hands; what was once a peasant grew quiet and still.

Only Leah's heavy breath disturbed the silence as Gabriel crossed himself over the man that died, perhaps too early, by the hunter's hand. He felt no remorse; only anger, for yet another obstacle revealed itself unexpectedly, keeping him from his assignment. He hadn't even noticed when the rain began to soak all around him once more.

Van Helsing winced as he turned from the blood-soaked corpse. His sight fell on the woman; her form appeared smaller to him than it was. Leaning against a tree trunk, broken in half by a strike of thunder, Leah bowed her head and waited until exhaustion severed its grip on her. Several deep breaths later, she leaned over a dead rider's body, contemplating something with a tilt of her head.

"I haven't seen a Ghoul around here in over twenty years," she spoke in quiet voice with a deep frown.

Van Helsing rose slowly, taking in the aftermath of their fight. "Your friend has wicked allies," he said, searching the ground for his hat. He chose not to let her know the impact the man's words had on him, and hoped she never noticed.

Leah's head snapped up at the remark. Slightly surprised by his choice of words, and not yet sure whether or not such choice was intentional on his part, she pulled herself from the tree and paced in his direction. She wondered what had caused the hunter to put on such a front; yet knowing the nature of his life, not unlike her own, she managed to abstain her distress. Careful not to trip over a dead Ghoul's body, she kicked it aside and halted in front of the man.

Gabriel countered her insolent act with an arched eyebrow, but said nothing as Leah stood before him, staring at him with a questioning look written in her features.

When the implication written in his judging tone became obvious to her, Leah found it hard to disregard the anger welling up in her. "They weren't here by chance, but not by his doing either," she spoke, shaking her head. Ronan. It must have been him Van Helsing had called her friend, though the impious old hunter was farthest from being anyone's friend as he could be. "Ronan may be a prick, but he's a bounty hunter. Not a warlock, or a vampire!" The pitch of her voice rose proportionally to her anger, yet as soon as she looked down, it decreased in an instant. At her feet, the corpse was a reminder of the poor man's ill fate. His death, inevitable as it was, was a sad way for a life to end.

"Only those can do such things to men." Leah swallowed down the bile that rose to her throat before she continued, her voice slightly bitter. "It wasn't Ronan. That old fool is the top icon of sheer futility, but he wouldn't ally himself with something as evil."

Perhaps there was excuse in her words, perhaps there wasn't; Van Helsing shrugged off his doubt, refusing momentarily to try and see all ends. "You're defending him for a reason!" he cried.

"For God's sake, Van Helsing!" Leah shook her head in what at first had been disbelief, now turned into pure frustration. "I'm not defending him! Can't you take a simple explanation just for what it is?"

Almost involuntarily, Gabriel motioned his left hand towards the village, seconds too late realizing that it caused him pain. The only sign of it was a wild look sent the bounty hunter's way. "Well, then why isn't he following us?" he questioned angrily. His voice vibrated unnaturally as he spoke; something that had yet to begin to trouble him. To his own surprise, he yet found himself more worried by this than by his sheer lack of guilt for the deaths of the peasants. Monster, a voice whispered at the back of his mind. Murderer.

Her anger subsiding slowly, Leah let out a small sigh. "Because he's never gone about business the fair way. If I know Ronan, which I do, he won't appear until I've taken you to Dublin." Arching an eyebrow, she pointed the torn leather of Gabriel's sleeve. "Besides," she added, "I believe he did it on purpose."

Van Helsing's brow furred, his eyes opening wide in what appeared to be mild surprise; in fact, try as he might, in her reasoning he could find no logic. "You mean he missed deliberately?" he voiced his doubt, scowling inwardly at the detail that the old hunter had not completely missed his aim.

Sighing, Leah turned from him and took a few tentative steps away. She squatted, her back turned on Gabriel as she gathered her thoughts. Crossing her arms on her chest, she shrugged off the cold and discomfort, and said, "He's done that before. He thinks it will be easier for me to escort you if you can't defend yourself as well as while unharmed."

Van Helsing's eyebrows shot up. "Favors among hunters are news to me," he said.

Leah couldn't help but roll her eyes at those words. "Favors?" She let out a short, bitter laugh. "That man will sooner die than do me a favor, save when out of ill will. His favors are only to serve himself. If I take you to Dublin, it will be easier for him to take over and claim the reward. That's an old trick. To ones like Ronan honor has no value."

Somehow, but a part of what she said had grabbed his attention. Perhaps it was the sudden faltering in her voice, perhaps the look on her face from which anger was long gone. "If?" Gabriel asked, his eyes fixed on the hunter's hunched form.

She felt his eyes on her back, and turned around hesitantly. Had the hint of delay shown in her eyes as she returned his stare, Leah hoped Van Helsing hadn't noticed. "That depends," she said carefully.

Gabriel cocked his head. "On what?"

"On whether what you told me about your assignment… task… whatever it is you've come here to do… is true."

Trust, more often that not, offers profit incomparable to loss, Gabriel mused. He said only, "You have but my word for it."

"How can I trust you?"

If his eyes remained serious, they were the only part of him that did. A smirk painted his features, slightly blurring the look of worry that furred his brow and drew the corners of his lips ever down. "You can't," he said.

Slowly shaking her head, the woman at last resolved to stop suppressing a smile. "That helps," she chuckled, irony juicy in her voice, but none in the way she looked at the weatherworn man. She studied him for a while; dripping water, he looked feeble and yet still strong. "Ronan's going to make such a tale out of this." She wrinkled her nose, grotesquely imitating the man's posture and the low timbre of his voice, "I shot the great Van Helsing," she bellowed, dissolving into choking laughter. "Now he's going to have something new to top his list of achievements."

Gabriel gave a half-hearted smirk, sucking in a quick breath as a strain of muscles reminded him of his wounds. "Leah Connor isn't exactly bulletproof either, now is she?"

"I have yet to check that." The woman looked up at him with a wry smile as Van Helsing extended his arm to help her off the ground. "Come on. You're asking to be a vampire's fare, running around at night bleeding like this."


Author's Notes:

I decided that some minor details in this story will be changed; I'll list the changes in the next chapter, so that no one who's still with me gets confused. Changes aren't big, but rather important, so don't imagine my head on your silver platter just yet - they're all for the better. ;)

Yes. "Riddles in the Dark" is a very obvious LotR reference. I use those, though not extensively. There's one more reference to another movie in this chapter; if you catch it, you score 10 brownie points ;)

Before my response to reviews, I'd like to write a little thank you to my betas: Andy, Wonda, Tasar and Shan. I love you guys. You rock. And thanks to Ith for helping me with the favors line ;)

m31: Honey, your reviews are honestly doing wonders, I swear they do =) A big, big thank you for your help with previous chapters as well as with this one. I hope you're enjoying it still.

Tigris T Draconis: You know, you're one of very few people who actually paid attention to the dynamics between Gabriel and Leah. In this chapter, there's some more of it - I hope it shows how their relations are changing. And, of course, thank you for your kind review =) Little angst in this one, more action, but fear not - there's more than action to this fic =)

LadyKayoss, Jade Riddle, Lady Lestat: Thank you for your reviews =) I'm glad you're enjoying my work.

SSJ-Alhazred: Well, well, well, Al my dear, I think I have to mark this date red in my calendar - you actually logged in AND wrote me a review. Gods that must mean something. Probably that I'm a hell of a pest ::snicker:: Thank you =)

Verona Dracula: Another long chapter for you [and others =)] Originally, it was twice as long - but since my betas said it was better to break it up, so I did. This means you can probably expect an update sooner this time ;)

ElvenPirate41: You rock. That's pretty much all I have to say. You and your writing both.