Disclaimer: The characters and concepts in this story pertaining to the movie Van Helsing are the property of Stephen Sommers. This is an amateur effort with no intention of infringement of copyright policies. This story is for entertainment purposes only.
Chapter 8: New Information
Mina opened the curtains in the bedroom. Gabriel looked around at the ancient room. It looked as if it hadn't been touched in years. Dust had settled on every surface, regardless of whether or not it was flat or slanted. Books and papers were piled on the desks and the bed while dresses were tossed in a heap at the bottom of the wardrobe along with men's shirts and trousers. She smiled a little embarrassed at the state of her room.
"I don't see the need in cleaning it. I apologize. However, all my husband's clothes are here in the wardrobe and I'm certain you're the same size." She waltzed over to the wardrobe, sneaking around the rays of sunlight carefully before pulling open the dark oak doors of the wardrobe.
He couldn't believe what he saw inside. The state of the room clashed terribly with the wardrobe. Inside the wardrobe hung several suits and dresses, the ones that he could never see a woman like Mina wear. The gowns inside were like Morgan's, beaded with jewels and lace. They hung with corsets that matched them, also ornately decorated with precious stones and metal links. She pushed past them, digging into the back where she found several dress shirts. They were only white, but she yanked out a black one before slamming the wardrobe quickly so he couldn't look inside anymore.
"This one should do." She said, walking to him and handing it to him. Gabriel took it, finding it still soft and starched as if someone still washed them. He looked from it to Mina who watched him, lost in a daze of some kind. She came back to herself a moment later. "Oh, sorry. I'll leave." She walked past him, out of the room and into the hall, closing the door behind her softly.
Gabriel felt odd wearing shirts that belonged to a dead man, and not only that, the dead husband of his hostess while walking around in her house. He pulled off the cut up shirt carefully, barely moving his left arm to avoid aggravating the chest wound. He had started breathing a little easier but it still hurt enough to make him wheeze if he moved too aggressively. He set it on the ground and pulled on the other, sliding it up his arm with his right hand and bringing it to his shoulder.
Mina watched through the crack in the door. She turned away when he had the shirt on and felt her heart pound. It was like having Jonathan back in the house for a few moments, hearing him upstairs at his desk working on paperwork while she whiled away in her living room converted to a science lab. She wiped her eyes on the back of her hand and walked quickly and quietly away from the door.
Carl didn't know how he would find Van Helsing in the bustling city. He was certain he had come to the right place. The fragments of newspaper had rumours of Van Helsing's involvement in a murder of a wealthy businessman the night before. Carl shook his head and rolled hi eyes, mumbling something about how the Knights of the Holy Order were not going to be impressed if Gabriel had killed an innocent bystander. He tossed aside the paper fragments to the street and pressed onward, giving frightened looks around every corner as he walked. He was beginning to wish had simply come on Gabriel's mission from the beginning instead of being defenseless in the alleys of London's White Chapel District.
He led his small pony as quick as he could through the streets, constantly thinking to himself, "If I were a somewhat crazed monster killer where would I hide?" He crossed the Thames River and came across to the 'safer' district, finding the houses around him taller and more elegant than the disgusting mess of residential and industrial area the prostitutes were forced into. He could breathe easily finally, sauntering through the streets as he looked around for Gabriel.
The Vatican hadn't been very specific when they talked about his location. They knew he was in London but could not give Carl an address or a place of meeting. Wiring Van Helsing, they told him, "Was completely impossible once he was out in the field." And often times, Van Helsing would, "Never obey the orders given to him by the Vatican anyways," but that could have been Cardinal Jinette's version of humour. He did walk off with a small smile in his lips, something Carl had never seen on his superior since he began working there.
Carl had given his life to the church before he had the chance to land himself in any more trouble than he had already gotten into. Even as a teenager he was fascinated with inventions. He created strong electrical currents directly to his room through weather vanes and used storms to provide the power for his experiments. He was an avid reader as well, something that didn't work well with his easy access to extremely dangerous chemicals. After the second cat went missing his parents told him to find something useful to do and not to return until he did. What he stumbled across at only 18 was the Vatican and the Knights of the Holy Order who were looking for one who could manipulate potentially dangerous chemicals without injuring anyone. He had at least one part of the criteria down. It was the latter part he always had trouble with.
His first partnership was with the Vatican's original monster hunter, Malachi Porter. Malachi was not equally as violent as Van Helsing tended to be. Unlike Gabriel most of his subjects were brought back alive and well, kept forever in the prisons within the Vatican for study in the field. Carl had never seen such prisons, but some priests would tell him later that Malachi's beasts ranged from werewolves to vampires, some as powerful as Elizabeth Bathory (although these just turned out to be rumours).
It was a large change to be place with Van Helsing. He was one of the friars who were placed watching the half dead form of Gabriel when he had been found by the Vatican and brought back to life. It was his luck to be violently assaulted by the delirious patient on one of his first watches, a reason for being very cautious around him after that When Gabriel finally did come back to them he forgot the whole incident and Carl never spoke about it.
That was just the first change. The second change came when Gabriel returned from his first mission. He told Carl to give him more bullets this time, a request Malachi had never carried out. The third and largest change was when Carl asked him about his subject Gabriel confessed that it was dead. The second shock came when Gabriel confessed that he was the one responsible for the death.
The shock had been too much for poor Carl. He realized that things would be very different, and he was very right. He became accustomed to Gabriel never returning the weapons he had used due to technical malfunctions they had sustained in the line of duty or another well verbalized but highly trivial reason they were in terrible condition when they were handed back to him. Carl groaned loudly when he discovered the cross bow he had made for Van Helsing was rusted following his mission in Transylvania. It would take him weeks to get rid of the rust.
But Gabriel disappearing had not become a usual occurrence to him by that point in time. He certainly had had a habit of doing so (especially when he was in heaps of trouble for killing off something the Vatican had not necessarily wanted killed at all), but to Carl it was just a part of being Van Helsing, the greatest monster killer the Vatican ever had.
He turned around a corner and looked down the street before stopping, finding his search irritating. He groaned loudly, commenting quietly, "You certainly know how to stay hidden don't you Mr. Van Helsing?"
Carl sauntered down the street, driven by his instinct alone. He never thought it was the best plan to follow his instinct (as it often landed him in heaps of trouble), but he figured it was one of the best ways to track down Van Helsing without shouting his name out continuously.
The tall houses her walked by happened to provide him with some luck however. He stopped short and tightened his grip on his pony's reigns before turning back the other way.
The door opened to his left and a dark haired man looked out in the street.
"Carl?" He asked. The friar smiled. Well, I suppose I'll have to trust my instincts from now on.
"The Vatican asked me to bring you a message." He said, pulling it free from the bags of weapons he had also had the time to cart along. Mina blew out the match she had used to light the oil lamp nearby, watching Gabriel and his short sidekick talking. Van Helsing ripped open the wax seal preventing Carl from looking inside and unfolded the thick parchment paper that was handwritten in Cardinal Jinette's own writing.
"Van Helsing,
"The news of the recent murder in London has just reached the Vatican. I have sent Carl along to assist, even though I am sure that you will not fail. He has brought a new weapon from the Vatican that may help you in your mission. Do not allow her to kill anyone else."
He was the only one in the Vatican who did not sign his letters. He would leave the crest from his ring in a circle of wax at the bottom of the page but nothing more. The symbol of the cross with the x-shape behind it was a sure way to tell whether or not Jinette had sent the message. Gabriel folded the letter up and handed it back to Carl.
"He says you have another weapon for me to try?" Carl's eyes lit up as if he was a child on Christmas and he darted back to his bags saying, "Yes, yes, of course. That was what it was about." He flipped open the thick sack and pulled out a thinly bladed dagger, sheathed in a black leather casing with silver bands surrounding it. Carl handed it to him quickly and giddily waited for Van Helsing to draw it so he could show him more.
"Some of my best work yet, under short notice." He said, Gabriel pulling it from the sheath. The blade started humming a high pitched song, resonating in Van Helsing's ears. Carl proceeded to reach for it, pointing out new features. "The blade has a new core made of some of the strongest metal ever found. It is completely unbreakable." Gabriel looked a little unimpressed. "That's the problem with you. Nothing ever surprises you. But there is one new feature I know will make you happy. If you push the pommel…" Carl tapped the end of the hilt and the blade split into three parts, fanning out wildly. Gabriel nearly had his wrist cut off, and Mina stood up quickly, shocked by the sound the blades made when they broke apart. Carl didn't seem to mind.
"It's also light weight and easy to carry around." He said as he hit the pommel again which drew the blades back together. He took it from Gabriel and sheathed it once more.
"Also…" Carl began, digging through the bag. "I brought along a few things which explain some things about Morgan's conviction with swords."
"Do you know where she's heading next?" Mina asked, suddenly interested.
"Well I didn't say that it was that specific." He replied, pulling some books and heavy texts out of the bag. "But I do know a little more about what we're looking for."
"Go ahead Carl." He said.
"Very well." Carl replied. "It all started in the thirteenth century when Morgan killed off Merlin to achieve her role as most powerful sorceress in the world." He opened the heavy leather bound book and pointed to a picture hand drawn by a monk in the fourteenth century that depicted Merlin being impaled upon a glowing sword with a black haired woman behind the hilt and controlling the blade. Mina stared at it, furrowing her brow a little as Gabriel stared in wonder. Carl continued. "You see, Merlin was the most powerful at the time, even though she was the Queen of the Faeries. He was the only one who could make the claim that he could possibly bring people back from the dead-which is a feat that no others during the time and after could make." Carl flipped the pages back to the portrait of Morgan in a glade as Faerie wings sprouted from her back. In front of her was a man standing as if in a trance by her beauty.
"Now, Morgan had power of sorcery before hand. Her family lineage can be traced back to some of the greatest sorceresses in England before Arthur." Carl moved his fingers up the family tree he had flipped to, the name at the top being names Gabriel could only assume were simply theory. They were old Celtic names and all of the birthed children were females. He stopped at the bottom at Morgan's name, next to the name Morgause.
"Now, pressing on…" He said, flipping forward. "Morgan was nearly killed in her attack upon Merlin, but she had assumed all of his power."
"Hold on for a second Carl." Gabriel said. "How did she kill the most powerful magician in the world?"
"Honestly Mr. Van Helsing I was getting to that. She used the sword Excalibur if you must know." Carl said, grabbing another book and flipping through it, not finding the page the first time and having to do it an additional three times before he finally found what he was looking for. Mina looked over at Van Helsing, lost for a moment in her husband's shirt before Carl opened to the picture of the sword Excalibur.
"There we are." He said. His fingers moved to the Latin inscription around the side. "It seems that Excalibur's power rested in the sheath, however, a power which Morgan sought to reclaim when she became the Queen of the Faeries."
"What sort of power?" Gabriel asked.
"Wounds would never bleed." Mina added quickly before Carl could do so. He turned and glared at her. "I apologize. Continue."
"Anyways…" Carl said, pressing on pleasantly. "The sword Excalibur lost all its power and was assimilated by Morgan. But the power over the sheath was lost forever."
"How?"
"I was getting to that Mr. Van Helsing." He grabbed the large volume to Celtic history again and opened it up to a two page sketch that was done in black ink. The woman with black hair stood on the shoreline, her face covered in a dark cloak but long curls fell out and over her shoulders. She looked as if she were reaching for something, namely the flying object floating over the lake she was standing next to.
No, Gabriel corrected himself. She was throwing something.
He noted the shape of the object and nodded.
"She disposed of the sheath?"
"To prevent her brother's use of it she stole it in the night and threw it into the lake for the Lady of the Lake to reclaim." Carl said. "Sort of ironic, really, since now she wishes for it to be hers."
"But Morgan is already immortal. She would have no use for the sheath." Mina interjected, drawing the attention back to her.
"No, she wouldn't." Carl added, emphasizing the word 'she'. "But there are many advantages to having such a tool. If it were broken into pieces the metal it's self could grant great power to the bearer. She could create an army of humans that could not bleed."
"So she wants to create a war?"
"Goodness no, Gabriel, where did you get an idea like that?"
"You said it, not me."
"No, I didn't. I said that she could, not that she was going to." Carl corrected him. "She already has an army of immortals. Bloody faeries…"
There was silence for a moment, Carl's last outburst making the two listeners fall silent. He shook his head and looked between the two. "Sorry about that. So…" He was back in the spirit of explaining things. "I assume both of you are wondering what this had to do with the stolen swords?"
"The thought crossed my mind once or twice." Gabriel added. Carl dropped the heavy leather volume down and reached into the bag, pulling out a faded bundle of papers marked with the symbol of the Pentacle.
"Where did you get those?" Gabriel asked, well aware that the church did not exactly support the honouring of animal deities any longer.
"The Vatican library." Carl replied. "It's amazing what you can find in there. These just happened to be sorted in the private section for the monks only."
"You went into the private section? Carl you're only a friar."
"Well no actually, I'm quite close to being a monk." Carl said causing Gabriel's brow to furrow in confusion. "These are ancient spells from Wales that were rewritten by the monks in the Vatican to be kept for future generations. Inside there is a spell originally written by Morgan." He set the others down, pieces through the bundle before pulling out a piece of paper written in swirled inscription, one that Carl seemed to be able to read quite well. Mina seemed to decipher that language too.
"That's the language of the Fey." She said in shock at the whole matter. "These papers were originally written before the tenth century."
"And not just any spell. This spell just so happens to bring people back from the dead."
Author's Notes: It's a little shorter than I intended. I have a lot of work to do so my next post will probably not be until the weekend. In the mean time, please talk to me about anything you find wrong with the story or that you are confused about. I tend to forget to write my reasoning behind things at the end of a chapter. Thank you!
Reviews:
Mandolin: It's unfortunate as well, but I too am waiting to get Volume 2. I have ordered it from Coles but it's on back order (we need a better book store in this town). I have seen the pictures on line and have decided whether or not Mina is still a vampire, but cannot release it at this time because I want for it to be a surprise. It's nice to hear that I made you wince, not because I'm sadistic or masochistic but just because I like hearing that my writing immerses people into the storyline.
Fanfiction Fanatic: The information about Gabriel's back will be revealed at another time. I hope you can wait!
J: Oops. I'm sorry I gave you the impression he was from London. I knew he wasn't English but I had no idea he was Dutch. Thank you for that information. I'll correct my writing to accommodate it. I better read Bram Stoker's novel too.
Tamako: I would never want to change Van Helsing! Thank you for commenting on his character. He doesn't trust many people and I felt that maybe he was revealing too much to Mina too quickly.
Shadowsage Hopesong: Yes, it is Mina Harker from LXG, originally in Bram Stoker's Dracula as Mina Murray (before she married Jonathan Harker who is mentioned ever so briefly at the beginning of this chapter). She may be a vampire, she may not be. I've left subtle hints along the way though. If you squint really hard you might find a few.
Celebfinwen: I wasn't sure how to spell Morgan le Fay(e). There's so many ways people spell it in books and in movies. I think that some even spell it Fey. It all depends on the writer. I'm used to spelling it Faye, but I'll take a look into the spelling before I change anything. Thank you for the hint though! Where did you get that spelling from, if I may ask?
In a response to your second review, I hope there is a second Van Helsing movie! And I hope that Van Helsing's past is revealed!
Scholar: I hope Carl's return was well received. He is adorable isn't he?
Doodily Doo: I am happy that I made your day! It sucks to have bad days. I've been having a bad week with this huge Biology test tomorrow and a Calculus mark that is dwindling. Hope your days are better! I know you asked for a long chapter, but will this one do? It does have Carl in it after all.
HyperCaz: Thank you for your input on the Gabriel Mina pairing. I'm still working out the end of the story anyways, so they may get separated in the end just as Gabriel and Anna did in the first. If you have any major problems with it then please tell me!
Gambit: More Mina and Gabriel in the following chapters! I hope the slight sexual tension in the beginning of this chapter made you happy. I'm really looking forward to the next few chapters and you'll see why when I post them.
THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR YOUR REVIEWS! Now, if you'll be so kind as to review!
