Disclaimer: The characters and concepts pertaining to the movie Van Helsing are the property of Stephen Sommers. This is an amateur effort with no intention of infringing on copyright laws. This story is for entertainment purposes only.


Chapter 12: Killing Those Who Cannot Be Killed

"It makes sense. I couldn't understand what kind of metal could be melted and forged into a blade that couldn't break, no matter what conditions it was placed under." Carl said, still running his fingers along the core of visibly different metal. He struck the pommel, the blade fanning out from the centre once again to give him a better look at the blade itself as his eyes shone. He looked like a child who had just received a new toy for Christmas. "But it makes perfect sense."

Gabriel and Mina waited for him to elaborate. They didn't have to wait long. He continued as he moved the blade through his hands dangerously. Gabriel took a step back as he flipped the blade around in his hands and Mina was forced to duck when he slashed it at her carelessly, so quickly it nearly caused her to lose some blood. Carl glanced at her as she stood back up and watched him, still waiting for him to continue.

"Walker must have sent his shard of Excalibur to a place where it could be protected." He said.

"The Vatican would be the best place for that." Gabriel added, finally drawing the same conclusions. Harold Walker most likely never kept the blade from his grandfather. He was more than likely just a decoy to leave Morgan without the twentieth blade. What Harold probably did do (or one of his family members before him) was sent the blade to the Vatican where it was misplaced and re-forged by Carl into the dagger he had brought with him to Van Helsing in London. The shard was probably extracted and stretched into the core of the blade by Carl who had been none the wiser at the time.

"Morgan will not be happy to have discovered that the blade in her possession is not hers." Mina added, entranced by the blade.

"That would explain her small temper tantrum a moment ago." Gabriel mentioned. Carl re-sheathed the blade and handed it back to Van Helsing. He took it from Carl quickly and tightened his fingers around it until his knuckles were white. Mina looked at the still struggling shape of the faerie in the bottom of the glass container and crossed her arms.

"What are we going to do with him?" She asked.

"We could just leave him there." Carl replied. Gabriel was surprised at his response. Carl was not often so quick to insinuate the killing of a creature. He was often the one who was lecturing Gabriel about doing so.

"Now, now Carl. I think I have a few more uses for him before that happens." He walked over to the glass container and pulled the small creature out from under the bloodied water. Some of his blood still floated around in swirling clouds around the faerie. Mina looked away quickly. The movement went unnoticed by Carl as she broke out in a small sweat before turning back and looking at the small moving object on the table, coughing and hacking the water from his lungs.

He gave weak cries but they were nowhere near the volume they had reached minutes before. Mina winced whenever he opened his mouth and her fists tightened until her tendons were white in her knuckles and well defined in the light. The faerie saw this and gave a sadistic grin, opening his mouth wide before taking a deep breath.

Mina had lost all her patience when he almost cried out this time. Before he could utter a syllable she had grabbed him round the midriff and pelted him so hard against the wall the clump of iron was embedded into the wall. The faerie gave a small squawk before he fell, stopping a few feet from the floor from the rope about his legs attached to the ball of iron. She received odd looks from both Carl and Van Helsing's (Carl's eyes seemed to shine with glee, but this went unnoticed). She took a deep breath and regained her usual stoic composure with her shoulder back and spine straightened.

"It was a moment of weakness." She said. "Sorry."

Gabriel got up and moved to the swinging form of the faerie hanging against the wall. He took out his pistol and cocked it, the faerie's large eyes staring blankly into the wide abyss of the barrel. He blinked and cringed, growling like a small dog before lashing out like a rabid one. He bounced against the wall, back and forth, his mouth moving a hundred miles a minute with inane growls and shouts of obscenities. Gabriel pushed him against the wall with his gun and remained very still.

"Let me go you whoreson!" The faerie shouted angrily, still growling with his sharpened teeth bared in anger and frustration. "I'll never tell you anything else! You'll have to boil me in oil and rip out my eyes!"

"I can arrange for that." Carl said. Mina's eyes narrowed and she glanced at him in confusion, as did Gabriel. He shrunk back a little and pretended he hadn't said anything. Gabriel turned his attention back to the faerie.

"Well you could wait for us to do that or you could tell me something without my friend having to do anything unnatural to you." Gabriel said. "Of course the choice is yours. Personally a bullet seems much more of a relief since it's quicker." The faerie's body went rigid as he thought of a bullet going into him. Gabriel seemed serious enough to do it. His mouth tightened.

"So will you start talking or do I have to start boiling some oil?"

The faerie seemed to think this over very carefully. He knew screaming would not get him out of this mess. Sighing deeply he finally nodded, hoping the gun would be taken from his face. Gabriel didn't move.

"First: What does Morgan want the swords for?"
"I don't know."

The faerie saw Gabriel's finger tense on the weapon. He finally frantically changed his answer.

"She keeps talking about some kind of ritual." He said with a small sob. "That's all I know. She wouldn't say anything else."

"Are you sure?" Gabriel asked him, pushing the gun against his face until his head was inside the barrel of the gun. Had Gabriel fired the bullet would have gone straight through the wall and into the floor in the living room on the other side. When he removed it, there would be nothing left of the faerie except a headless corpse. The faerie nodded and shouted a yes.

"Second: How do you kill her?"
"I don't know."

"Tell me!" He shouted now, irritated with this frivolous interrogation. The faerie quivered. He shut his eyes tightly.

"I honestly don't. She never told us how to kill Mab either." He said finally, still trembling in fear. Gabriel groaned and stood up finally, pulling the gun away and turned to Mina and Carl.

"I need to know how to kill her." He said finally.

"I'll wire the Vatican and see if they found anything else." Carl said.

"I had several books on the subject that needed translating. My study of Ancient Runes never went far enough to decipher anything." She told them.

"I can start there then. I don't imagine going outside is a particularly good idea after what happened this morning." He said, leaving the kitchen for the living room. He hesitated a moment, glancing at their prisoner with an 'evil eye', his brow furrowed over his left eye in anger. Gabriel grabbed the clump of iron off the wall and held the faerie up, spinning by his legs in the air.

"What should we do with him now?" Mina asked. Gabriel looked at him, still cursing at Van Helsing with a tongue fouler than most he had ever heard.

"I'm not sure." Gabriel said. "He's not quite evil is he?"

"That's a matter of opinion!" Carl shouted from the living room, digging through the hundreds of books Mina had in her possession. They could hear him picking up volumes of ancient books that were filled with documents Jonathan had bought for her.

"He isn't very useful." Mina pointed out.

"No, he isn't."

"LET ME GO!" He shrieked so loudly that Mina's ears were ringing again. Gabriel quickly tossed him back into the water, silencing him. Mina grabbed her ears in pain, her eyes closing so tightly crocodile tears started to seep between her lids. He came closer to her, as he had in the attic, so close that the voices in his head ordered him to slow slightly and just stand there, watching her, mesmerized with the woman he couldn't remember but the feelings he couldn't forget.

It wasn't love. It went deeper than that. It was a friendship that had aged over time and lain dormant inside him, never acted upon. He placed a hand on her shoulder, a movement that caused her to open her eyes and pull her hands from her ears and stare at him.

She wanted so much for it to be Jonathan again with his short, cleanly cut hair and soft, charming blue eyes. She wanted him there in his pressed shirt, placing his hand on her shoulder as they stood in silence and allowed the world simply to exist around them.

But when she opened her eyes it wasn't Jonathan. It wasn't the man she had come to sleep and wake with. It was the hunter she had been astounded with years ago. It was just Gabriel Van Helsing with his long dark curls and dark brown eyes, staring at her just as intently as they had in the alley when he had been questioning her about her vampirism.

Mina sighed deeply, staring at him, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. She placed a hand on his cheek, feeling his skin tense when she laid her cold palm on him.

His hand slid from her shoulder. She hung her head in some kind of shame and pulled her hand from him before nodding slowly in melancholic understanding. He couldn't have her. And if he could, why would he want her? She was a vampire. There was no happiness for a creature such as her. No sunlight and no joy for one as damned as she. Gabriel Van Helsing could never have such a thing: immortal but damned.

"Excuse me." Mina said, flustered and embarrassed. She fled from the kitchen with her skirt in her hands. Gabriel closed his eyes, feeling the weight of the situation crashing down on him as Mina's feet pounded their way up the stairs to her bedroom. He breathed deeply, finally opening his eyelids and looking up at the ceiling. He heard a door slam shut, not as hard as he thought Mina meant for it to be, but he heard it slam just as the same. The sky was falling down on him and starting to crush him under the weight.

He turned back to the doorway and walked into the living room. Carl was neatly arranging books in alphabetical order and sorting them into different piles. Science was being placed in a neat stack on the right of the room while philosophy went on the left. On the couch was a growing pile of ancient Runes, namely the ones Mina had been talking about. He was mumbling to himself about the nuisance of faeries, reminding Gabriel of the one in the kitchen. He quickly went there and took the faerie from the water, placing him on the kitchen table. It took him seconds to spill the container of water into the lane behind Mina's house before tipping it over the faerie again, holding him inside. Gabriel, his work finished, returned to the living room. Carl was still sorting books.

"I would love to get my hands on some of these books." Carl said, shifting through the sea of fallen books to continue sorting.

"You've lived in the Vatican, Carl. There has to be a good enough selection there." Gabriel leaned against the door frame.

"Yes, however it does have its limits. You don't often find books commemorating the Pagan Goddess in the Vatican." Carl said, picking up a stack of five or six books and placing them over to the left. He waded back through them and picked up a book with hieroglyphics on the front.
"You also don't find volumes about Egyptian tombs either." He said, opening up to the first page and flipping through it. Gabriel smiled wistfully at the curious friar, always searching through things that just made him think of bigger and better things. He had been working on a flying machine for years, according to the monks and friars at the Vatican. Gabriel furrowed his brow as a thought dawned upon him. Carl didn't often mention his inventions personally to Van Helsing. He normally allowed Gabriel to discover them through other people.

Come to think of it, I don't know almost anything about Carl.

Carl picked up another couple of books and placed them neatly in the science area of the room. Gabriel breathed deeply, thinking back to the kitchen with a sigh as he remembered Mina's face just inches from his, her hand on his cheek before it slid from his face and her cheeks became pink with her feelings of unworthiness.

The friar stopped and looked at Van Helsing.

"You're not feeling entirely well are you?" He asked with no explanation. Carl had that ability to sense Gabriel's moments of weakness. He had the uncanny ability to read Van Helsing whenever he was sick or tired. Often he stayed quiet, but if he knew the threat was minimal he mentioned it. Gabriel shook his head.

"I'm fine Carl." He replied.

"Well you're certainly not that." Carl retorted with a small laugh, placing another book in the philosophy pile. "How badly were you wounded?" He asked. Mina had told him when he first arrived but Gabriel had assured him he was fine over and over again until Carl finally left the issue. Now he was ignoring the wound. It seemed to be working unless someone mentioned it, and then the pain just started to flare to life again. He shook his head again to clear it.

"It's just a scratch Carl. It's nothing."

"When was the last time you changed the bandages?" He asked with the air of a mother. He was starting to get irritated with that tone of voice. Mina had used it on him while she was stitching up his wounds and changing his bandages. Now Carl was using it. He was not some kind of child! He was Gabriel Van Helsing, expert monster hunter and protector of the innocent. He was not afraid of any confrontation and could wield almost any weapon imaginable…

And he found himself sitting on the couch as Carl changed his bandages a moment later.


The voices surrounded the house like a thick blanket within seconds, joining the other members of her council and her other subjects with frightened voices that were shrieking and crying. Some were weeping so hard she could barely make out those who were in their right state of mind and ready to speak to her.

She was outside in the back yard, standing on the mosaic tiles by the fountain that was erected by the form occupants of the house. She was close to her kingdom here with the wind in her hair and the leaves surrounding her from the various trees. The blossoms had long since fallen and the leaves were hanging off the branches with their last strength. The wind whispered frustrations as it tried hard to blow them off and make way for the snow she knew was eventually coming.

Surrounded by her Goddess, she listened intently. They were explaining as calmly as they could that Gabriel would not let them take the sword and that it was virtually impossible to grab it from them. Morgan kept some composure during their long explanation, attempting to tell her why they were returning empty handed. She cursed at them reminding them that they could have taken it had they really wanted to. She marched back into the house and up the stairs to her room.

Morgan was dressed in black again. She took up her sword from the chest at the foot of the bed, folding back the red cloth from around the sharp broad sword before picking it up. It was a magnificent weapon, forged by the Gods and gifted to her brother from the Lady of the Lake. She remembered how she felt when she had gifted it to Accolon. It felt like success was finally hers.

And then Accolon decided to start talking. He lips curled into a spiteful curve.

The window opened and a subject appeared, asking quietly for an audience with her. Morgan's lips tightened and without a word, the faerie continued. The words moved directly to her ears. The news made her sardonic scowl curve upward into a cruel smile. Maliciously she took the sword and went to the window, kissing her servant tenderly before taking off on the wind.


"Carl?" He spun around from his work too quickly and caused several glass vials to fall on the floor. The monk seemed to be aware of Carl's magnetic energy that simply called catastrophe to him. He was standing far enough back that the tiny explosions that erupted at Carl's feet did not affect him. There were shouts and screams from startled monks as they did not see the explosions coming.

Carl, with his face now blackened leaned over to the monk who crossed his arms. "The Cardinal wishes to speak with you." He said. Carl nodded and pulled off his strange looking hat, placing it on the appropriate stand. He looked rather ridiculous. His face was blacked in a neat line around his face and around his eyes from where the hat had protected. He walked through the stunned looking men to the office at the back of the vast room.

Jinette was given an office that also served as a bedroom for him. As a man of God, Jinette demanded very little. He lived a life of servitude to God, a difficult position seeing as how he actually ordered the deaths of creatures under his Lord's dominion. Carl had great respect for such a dedicated man.

He didn't even get time to knock, seeing as how Jinette was in the hallway to the bedchambers of the monks and friars. He was outside the door of the stranger, looking still respectable in his red robes and his hand on the door handle, hesitating to go inside.

"Friar Carl." He began. They forgot about the respectful way to greet a person in a position of religious power. Carl would have kissed the ring on Jinette's finger before uttering a word. Jinette disliked this tradition. He was proud but he was not big headed enough to demand monks and friars kiss his ring. He knew everyone's faith in the Knights of the Holy Order was devout enough that they need not prove it. "I need to reassign you temporarily. You have heard of the stranger found on the steps of the Vatican just two nights ago, did you not?" Carl nodded. It was his only response. Jinette continued.

"I am asking that you watch over him for a while." Jinette opened the door a crack to reveal the man in the bed, his bare chest bandaged up to his shoulders. His face and body were covered in sweat as he twisted lifelessly, caught in some kind of nightmare. Carl's jaw dropped but the door was closed again in front of him. Jinette didn't like people staring.

"I thought he was dead." Jinette rolled his eyes. Rumours like that could be passed, even in a place filled with people who were deemed too mature for them.

"He is alive. Perhaps not well, but alive just the same." Jinette replied. "I need you to make sure he stays that way. The physicians have assured me he is fully sedated and will not wake up for hours. They have also assured me that his condition will keep him immobile."

"That's comforting…" Carl didn't sound very comforted.

"You have nothing to fear Carl. He will not wake." Jinette said. Carl nodded and the door was opened again for him.

When the door was opened fully Carl saw a friar in the chair by the bed. He was brown haired and brown eyed, seated nervously and on edge by the injured man. His eyes were glossy with fear. Jinette was very concerned and asked him what was wrong.

The friar spoke quickly and quietly, standing and walking to the door.

"Cardinal, you told me to tell you if anything unusual were to happen." He said. Jinette nodded. "Well for the past few minutes he has been speaking in his sleep."

"What has he said?" Jinette asked. The friar took a deep breath, worriedly recalling what the man had been mumbling incoherently about.

"He speaks about the Holy Wars, Cardinal. He mumbled something about being a Knight in the Crusades and for a moment he seemed as if he was waking up."
Carl's heart rate jumped.

"Impossible…" Jinette said. "Will you go summon the physician?" The friar nodded and took off down the hall. The Cardinal moved to the bed where the man was sleeping almost pleasantly. His face tensed every now and then, an action he was told by the physician would be impossible. The pain killers that he had been injected with would virtually paralyze him. They were created so that if he did awake he would lack the strength to harm anyone.

"Cardinal!" A voice summoned from outside. The friar ran back, breathing heavily. "I cannot find the physician."

Jinette tore his attention from the man in the bed. He got up and walked to the door, telling the friar he was coming, leaving Carl alone in the room.

Carl's heart was pounding a million miles a minute. Come on Carl, he thought to himself. The door's open and the Cardinal is only a few steps away. What could possibly go wrong?

He looked from the door back to the bed and was suddenly grabbed a mysterious force that knocked him back and into the wall. The man from the bed groaned loudly and keeled over onto his knees, his arms just barely holding him up. Carl was on the ground gasping for breath, making a grab for his throat. His movements on the floor issued the attention of the man on the bed. His dark hair hung around his shoulders and stuck to the small amount of stubble on his chin. His wild eyes looked up under a layer of dark hair at the man on the floor. He tried to get up and get to Carl, his breathing raspy and his mind reeling. There were rushed footsteps in the hall and a quick, airy sound before the man was on his back on the bed, reaching limply for the dart that stuck out of his ribs.

Carl felt his throat start to swell. So much for the paralyzing effect of the drug, he thought to himself as he sat up.


"Carl?" Gabriel asked. He looked over his shoulder. The friar had tugged the bandage too tightly and breathing was becoming a chore. The shorter man shook himself awake from his vigil and looked over at Van Helsing. He coughed to show that Carl's bandage was cutting into his air supply.

"Oh." Carl said in surprise, pulling his fingers at Gabriel's back to loosen the bandage. Gabriel winced and groaned softly but stubbornly refused to cry out at all. As usual, Carl thought and tied the bandage off to keep it on.

There was the sound of glass breaking upstairs. Gabriel's head shot up quickly. He grabbed the shirt off the couch and stood up, pulling it over his shoulders.

He stopped in the middle of his movement and felt the undeniable presence of Morgan upstairs. Her power and her immortality were moving through his veins like some kind of drug. He dashed to the stairs with Carl hot on his heels, running up with his mind racing with thoughts while his fingers buttoned up the shirt.

The first time he had been upstairs they only went into one room. He had assumed it was Mina's bedroom but he found that the room was empty when he opened the door and inspected it. The dust reached his nostrils but he suppressed the cough as he ran to the other side of the wooden hall and whipped open the door.

Mina's bedroom (as he assumed it was) was nothing but blankets laid out on the floor thick enough that it was a sufficient mattress. The window was shattered and small glass shards were on the floor of the room, scattered in all directions as Morgan stood with her sword drawn and at the ready. Gabriel blinked, unsure of why he saw blood dripping from the blade.

His eyes were drawn to a body on the floor. Mina pushed herself up on her arms as the wound on her chest healed almost immediately.

Morgan's eyes gleamed.

"I thought at first they were lying Mina. But it appears as if you will have a purpose after all." She said, reaching out her right hand. Gabriel reached for his belt and found only the Excalibur dagger there. His hand was filled with a pistol that Carl was carrying around, and he fired quickly at Morgan.

She turned her hand on him, stopping the bullets in midair and reaching her power into him. His limbs felt as if they were on fire but he maintained composure and dropped, tripping Carl to take him down as well. Mina was on her feet a moment later, gripping the wall for support as she breathed heavily, choking on her own breath.

Her eyes opened. And electric blue glow radiated from her pupil. Her canines elongated and became elegantly pointed as she hissed. Gabriel felt the darkness inside her take over entirely.

Morgan grinned and made the sword levitate out of reach of Carl and Gabriel. She attacked with her hands. Mina made the first advance however, punching Morgan straight across the face. Her sharpened fingernails left a long scratch mark that healed almost instantly.

"This is hopeless." She said sassily and held out her right hand.

The silver stake flew through the air, and caught her straight in the wrist. Morgan pulled it from her forearm. It gave Mina enough time to kick her across the face, grabbing her as she flew towards the wall and bit into her neck.

There was the sound of metal striking flesh just as Morgan vanished from the room, only this time she wasn't alone. Mina vanished with her.


Author's Note: This chapter is pretty long. It is much longer than I expected (8 PAGES in counting). I found time in my busy life to write it because I am getting so many reviews! I would like to congratulate J who was reviewer #100 (I think. I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure it was J) and everyone after that. This is my first story that has exceeded 100 reviews and I am so happy! DRINKS ALL AROUND!

Reviews:

J: I agree. Hugh Jack as a werewolf was pretty hot. Or maybe I'm just referring to the transformation phase when he is half naked. (Ponders this for a moment) Or maybe I am just attracted to men who look half conscious. It must explain my obsession with Wolverine.

The origin of Gabriel's scars will be spoken of in later chapters, seeing as how many people have caught onto my ideas about them. I did know that Gabriel was an angel of God, but I did not know that he was actually the Left Hand of God. I was not taught a lot about religion growing up. I received the basic, general knowledge but not a lot more.

I can see why Sommers used the younger brother idea. Rights to 'old Abe' can't be easy to get nowadays.

Blood actually has a lot of iron in it, despite the coppery taste. It gives it some of its red colouring, aside from the hemoglobin and the oxygen in it. Iron is used to make red blood cells to carry oxygen. And don't feel bad about making your cuts worse. I have a terrible habit with black heads that I don't want to get into online.

Congratulations for leaving the 100th review! And your prize is a stuffed keychain of Carl!

Saerry Snape: Enjoy the Van Helsing novelization whilst I ponder various way of obtaining such a book. Unfortunately I haven't been able to be into the bookstore for a while to order it.

Vampire Princess, Morwinda: This chapter still has a ways to go yet! Don't think it's over so quickly! There are still a few things that I have to put it just yet. I have seen The Mists of Avalon around and was intending on reading it but I just started a new series by Jack Whyte that's also about Arthur. It's a different twist to the story. It takes all the events that happened in King Arthur and it makes the story completely plausible. It's a series of seven books but it's very good! Thank you for all your hints by the way!

Fanfiction Fanatic: Ah, but were you expecting Mina to be stabbed at the end of this chapter and taken away? I think not. And if you were, stop looking through my thoughts! I am glad you can wait since school is getting pretty ugly. Silly exams and end of the year essays. It's a right load of rubbish if you ask me.

Grissom: Thanks for pointing that out. Often times I simply upload a chapter without properly proofreading it (shame on me) and I didn't notice that until you pointed it out. I appreciate that! It speaks volumes about the reviewer when they notice just as many faults with a writer as just as many good things about them.

I have read the HP books as matter of fact. I love them all, but the Prisoner of Azkaban is my favourite by far. The movie is great! It ticked me off that all through that book there were all these little clues to the werewolf and then they finally tell you at the end! I was so amazed at how fluid some stories are.

I like long reviews, so if you have the time to write them do so! This chapter will makeup for it though, since it is fairly longer than my others.

Shadowsage Hopesong: You're going to advertise this!? Wow! That's awesome! I'd be honoured and delighted if you did. If the Van Helsing RPG board pops up tell me immediately!

HyperCaz: Thank you for the comment about the faeries! I wanted him to be a little bugger just to piss off Carl a little more. He'll come in more in the following chapters and be equally as irritating. I'm sure your faerie was cool! All faeries are cool! Even Disney ones, although they are more annoying than other faeries.

Verona Dracula: I hope you enjoyed the small amount of tension they had in the kitchen earlier in the chapter. I was enjoying it! I wanted to make them kiss but opted against it. I'm going to save that for later.

Doodily Doo: Bugger is a very humourous word. My favourite statement with bugger in it is one my mother used to say: Shit Bugger Damn. It was funny because she'd get frustrated and just say those three little words in rapid succession and everything would be hilarious.

EvilspoofauthorSven: I'm happy that you wouldn't want anything changed. I'd be worried if you did. I hope the next installment was worth the wait.

Talyn-John: That is a great thing to read! The fact that anyone would want this to be Van Helsing 2 is flattering. Thank you! I hope you like this chapter! There's not a lot of history in it but I hope it's exciting.

Scholar: When I saw the movie for the third time I turned over and whispered, "It's a little bit funny, this feeling inside…" in my friend's ear in the ballroom scene. She burst out laughing. It was hilarious! He's such a weird actor. He went from playing 'The Duke' to playing James Moriarty in the League and then he plays Dracula. The same could be said about David Wenham. I mean, he went from playing the practical transvestite Audrey to playing the noble Faramir to playing the sauntering Carl. What strange people…

Trinety: I would not kill Mina without good reason. You'll have to wait until the next chapter to figure out what happened to her!

BlackFireDragonK: And I have! Now review!

WOW! This chapter is the longest yet! I hope this tides people over! It has a mixture of excitement (the end), tension between Gabriel and Mina, and a flashback! Now review please! I need to know what everyone thinks!