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 and no infringement on copyright laws was intended.
Chapter 14: Merlin's Land
Gabriel could never have verbalized how he knew where he was going. Somehow he could follow the trail by the residual energies left behind. Morgan had a very distinct energy that he had never felt before now that she had everything she needed for her spell. In the beginning it was the power and arrogance that were intoxicating. Now it was some sadistic joy that was permeating the air around him, leading him to her without a doubt.
Mina hadn't moved since London. Her arms were still tightly binding them together but he was sure she was sleeping. She hadn't said a word or moved a muscle since London. It was strange to feel her so close to him, almost locked to him by the little space between them. Her chest was pressed against his back while her legs were curled up under the coat. Her arms were bound around his upper chest, just under his arms and the hands were balled into loose fists on his ribs. He couldn't hear her breathing but he could feel it happening almost in unison with his own. It shocked him at first when he couldn't feel her heart beat they were so close, but he remembered that she wasn't precisely alive at that moment and his fears subsided.
It was strange to be so close to a vampire. All his life (the few years that he could remember anyways) he had killed them in the name of God and all his creation. He had always been able to sense them and their heartless presences leaving behind a cold and dead feeling that made him shiver with fear and run faster from adrenaline. They were his prey, and he was the hunter, a man without a past with hardly a hope for a future given the gifts to destroy such things.
The Cardinal would not recognize him here, riding on horseback with a vampire woman attached to him, clinging to him like a lifeline. He would probably deny the image, given that Gabriel was not one who pitied such creatures. Gabriel knew and understood that one could not pity vampires or werewolves. There was no humanity left inside them to pity them.
And yet here was Mina Harker, an unknown-aged woman who had rescued him without question from death at the hands of Morgan. Who had created a substitute for blood simply because she scorned what she was and because she had enough humanity left to resent the vampire inside. It conflicted with everything Gabriel believed. True, he believed in forgiveness and he often believed in mercy to those who deserved it, but a vampire that showed any signs of humanity was unnatural. He had never once seen it before, until now.
They had been riding for the whole day with small rests. Gabriel was rooted to the saddle by Mina's hands. He apologized to the horse for this of course, but the stallion did not seem to mind at all. He moved slowly to a walk as they reached the flatter regions of England.
Normally, Gabriel would not have slowed, but it was a necessity not only to his horse but to keeping up with the trail of Morgan. He could not afford to lose her in England. Not while she was holding Carl prisoner.
The idea of her taking Carl was bothering him. Mina's silence had given him plenty of time to think, and he was doing well. He had considered the fact once again that Morgan wanted him to follow her. He knew she enjoyed the attention. Of course, he could be all wrong and Morgan simply wanted Carl to torture and kill as punishment for Gabriel. She could have done that back at the house, he determined, and decided that the one that fit the best was option 1.
The rolling countryside yielded to vast forests of bony and gangly trees as he head further north and found they were in much more hilly country than he remembered. It was mainly flatland up until that point with small patches of forest and heavy thickets of pine and cedar before reaching the outskirts of the tightly packed trees they had reached. He closed his eyes a moment and took a deep breath of the sharp pine scent before picking up on the trail of the faeries again. He stopped breathing and heard the faintest of sounds coming from the horses, but the second his heart beat again they were lost. He followed the trail of her power, the sound of the Fey singing in his ears as he moved in slowly to the thick trees that nearly blocked out the sunset completely. The trees were high above him and twisted against the pink and indigo sky. Their silhouettes were menacing and deadly. He kept his eyes ahead of him and pressed forward.
The sun was nearly out of the sky when Mina's arms jerked back to life. He heard a small gasp of air from behind him as she came back into the land of the living. Her head was pushed from the neck of the jacket, her hair pasted to her face with sweat and tears. She looked like death itself had touched her, sliding his cold hand over her face and draining all life from her. Her eyes were sunken and drawn inside her head and her eyelids were half closed with weariness. Her skin was deathly pale and almost a faint blue-gray colour if Gabriel allowed his eyes to fade from focus for a moment. Blue veins ran under her flesh and were easily found by her weakened skin. He was happy to see that the wound in her chest was fully healed, even though it was still badly bruised.
Mina seemed to panic for a moment as she shook violently. Gabriel's eyes went wide before she stopped and closed her eyes, breathing deeply. She finally spoke.
"Mr. Van Helsing it appears as if my arms are completely frozen to your body from lack of circulation." She said, unable to command her limbs in any way from the elevated position she had found them in when she regained consciousness. It was extremely awkward to awake and find her body in such a 'needy' position as to have grabbed on and never let him go. It was one thing to be in a state of shock and blood loss on the street and at the mercy of the sun. But it was another thing entirely to be fully aware of her actions and still be in such a vulnerable pose.
Gabriel seemed to smile at that, and tucked the reigns under his thigh before helping her pry her limbs off him. She hung them at her sides and winced as the blood brought a feeling of pins and needles through them. Her eyes opened when they had regained a suitable amount of feeling and she looked down and discovered that she was still on the back of the horse.
"It seems as if our place in this small game of hers hasn't changed much." She said, making a reference more to the horse than to their metaphorical position in Morgan's setup. Gabriel seemed to think it was more the latter of the two, but he could sense her discomfort as they rode ahead, moving slowly over the jagged rocks and sharp sticks that lined the forest path. The horse had found it, following a trail of his own. Gabriel would have turned him in the other direction, but they were keeping up. It seemed Morgan had slowed as well, most likely to hang herself like a carrot in front of their noses, willing them forward. He kept up with the slow pace to not injure the animal he was riding.
"How long have I been asleep?" She asked.
"Since this morning." He replied simply, holding back some sharp pine branches so they wouldn't touch her. Mina resumed her position of pressing against his back for warmth. He couldn't blame her. She was barely clothed, wearing nothing but a practically sheer robe and a white dressing gown. Even her neck wasn't covered, although she had found some relief in having Gabriel's jacket. She had rolled up the collar and held it tightly about her slender throat to hide the scars.
"Goodness, you should not have allowed me to sleep so long." She said, exhaling heavily as she shivered slightly from the dropping temperature. Gabriel suppressed a shiver himself. He stopped short on the path, listening hard and taking advantage of Mina's silence to come to a dreaded conclusion: He had lost Morgan.
The forest was growing darker by the minute. Gabriel turned the horse to face in another direction. Mina looked around in confusion.
"Mr. Van Helsing?" He hushed her by raising his finger, turning the horse again and hoping to feel Morgan's magick inside him again. He prayed that he would pick up on something other than the crickets singing and the leaves rustling in the wind. The horse whinnied and jumped slightly as it was turned in another direction and faced the other way. Gabriel allowed it to take a few steps forward before he stopped again.
The path was gone.
Mina started breathing heavily as the fog settled in, starting gradually from the forest floor and rising up and past the horse's black legs and torso until it consumed them completely. Gabriel felt her hands come to rest on his shoulders as her breath started to quicken again. He could feel Morgan surrounding him in the fog, making him blind, keeping him lost in her forest in a labyrinth of dying trees suspended in their demonic forms. The horse was pulled to a halt as Gabriel yanked on the reigns. Mina finally found her voice.
"What's happening?" She asked in a barely audible whisper. Gabriel jerked a slight bit when he realized how close she was. Her mouth was right next to his ear and her breath was moving over his face. He breathed deeply.
"I think Morgan has found us." He said, equally as quiet.
Mina didn't like the sound of that. She pulled the coat tighter around her.
"It's gotten colder." She said, overstating the obvious. The temperature had dropped suddenly, steeping to a point that their breath came out as clouds and mixed with the fog. The thick white fog that surrounded them was impenetrable, and even the trees were slowly fading into it and sealing them in a world of white.
"I know." He replied quickly.
"What are we going to do?" She asked him, hoping that he had a plan. As quick-minded as she was at times, Mina was not coming up with anything they could possibly do but wait for the fog to lift or keep moving and hope that it was in the right direction. Gabriel seemed to have the same two thoughts in mind. He couldn't decide which was better. On the one hand, they could wait and see what happened, but Morgan was without a doubt the cause of their weather conditions in hopes to mask her location. There was little chance the fog would eventually lift, and by then, Carl could be dead. On the other hand, wandering through an unknown forest with no map was no hope either, especially in the thickening fog. Even if they did manage to find the trail, there was no telling how much time they had wasted going in circles. Either way, it was hopeless.
"We don't have much of a choice. Either way we're stuck here."
Mina looked up into the sky and into the trees. Their tall branches were lost in the fog of course but she could see light from above her. A smile moved over her lips and her breathing calmed.
"Mr. Van Helsing." She said, and pointed up towards the heavens. He followed her finger. "When was the last time you ever climbed a tree?"
Mina could not climb a tree in her dress. But Gabriel had tried and found that he was much too big for the trees to support his weight. After breaking two branches and landing heavily on the ground (this did nothing for his wounded thigh and mending ribs) he finally allowed Mina a try. She stripped down to nothing but her undergarments. These were not store bought but rather consisted of white cloth bound across her breast and some of her waist and a loose hanging pair of trousers that Gabriel had managed to find in his saddle bag. She had tied them on with some shredded fabric from her robe and was scaling the tree slowly, testing branches with all her strength before climbing up another.
"Mina?" He asked up into the tree, unable to see her anymore.
"I'm here." She called back down to him, realizing only after she had said this that Gabriel didn't know where 'here' was. "I'm about four branches above you. I can see your hat." She pointed out, suppressing a shiver. Gabriel put his hands on his hips and took a deep breath, exasperated about the situation. He heard a branch snap and Mina give a small cry, but she did not fall and there was no sound of a body striking the ground.
"Are you alright?" He called up to her.
"Yes." She said while eyeing the cut on her palm until it successfully healed. Mina placed her hand on the next branch and pulled again. It too snapped and fell to the ground. She heard it strike Gabriel on the head. "Sorry."
"Can't you simply turn into bats again? It seemed to be fairly effective against Morgan."
"Unfortunately, Mr. Van Helsing…" She began as she went up on tip toes and grabbed the branch above her head. It held as she pulled herself up and onto it, cautiously taking another in her hands when she heard it start to crack. "Due to my current state of blood loss I couldn't do such a thing without driving myself into such exhaustion that I would drink dry everything living thing that came in my way." Mina could see that the fog had lessened and determined that she was nearly at the top. There was no answer from the ground. "Mr. Van Helsing?"
There was no response. Mina was torn. She looked up and saw the dark sky beyond the fog and looked down and only saw the waiting white beneath her. Her breath quickened and every sense heightened as the demonic form of her 'other' self became known. She closed her eyes and tightened her grip on the branch, fighting the growing pain in her stomach by pushing herself forward until she was above the fog and looking out into the clear and cloudless night sky.
It was magnificent to her eyes at that point, having been locked in the fog for much too long in her opinion. Every star seemed to be new, and the full moon that shone down upon her made her feel as if she were standing in the sunshine for a moment. She closed her eyes and lost herself in the night, feeling it feed in through her nearly empty veins and out through her slowed breathing.
Then there was the sound of the branch breaking under her. Mina had enough time to see the carriage on the plains straight ahead of them before it broke under her feet and she fell down the trunk of the tree. She reached out for a branch and caught one, hearing it crack almost immediately. She jumped over and reached out, taking hold of one of the stronger branches that was about sixteen feet off the ground. Her feet hit another branch and she jumped down the rest of the way.
Mina discovered why it had been so silent when a cold blade was pressed against her throat.
"Well now, what have we here?" The man behind her said. His voice sound Irish. He leaned over and looked at Mina's face. She looked over into the corners of her eyes and saw that his left eye was solid white with only a small pin prick of a black pupil in the centre. The other was a faded milky blue with no pupil at all. His skin was lined with scars the made almost a graph over his cheeks while his teeth were rotting inside his mouth. "Two spies for the Queen. This is our lucky day boys."
There was the sound of laughter. Mina could only make out the outlines of four others restraining Gabriel, digging a gag deeper into his mouth and muffling his cries with it. She struggled against her captor, digging her elbows into his chest. He laughed and looked around at the circle of his friends, each wielding rusty knives except for the one in front of Gabriel. He was drawing Van Helsing's sword from its sheath.
"Let me go!" She said loudly, weakening quickly. The man had her arms locked together by their elbows, binding them with the crook of his arm.
"And why should we? So you can go and report to her Highness that she didn't exactly kill all of us on her last visit?"
"We don't work for the Queen." Mina said, issuing a laugh from the men around her. Gabriel was punched in the stomach and dropped to the ground, groaning as he was lifted up by his arms. He was on his knees as a knife was pressed to his Adam's apple. A large tuft of his black hair was grabbed and his head was pulled back, revealing his whole neck. Mina was still, breathing heavily as the world swam around her. She was getting hungrier and hungrier as the necks cried out to her. The scars on their faces were covered in blood and the darkness inside her longed for it. It needed to feast upon it…
She closed her eyes and winced against the growing pain in her stomach. The men were only laughing more. Gabriel recognized it.
"We don't work for Morgan." He said quickly.
"And why are we supposed to believe you?" The man holding Mina asked, ignorant to her face contorted in pain and her eyes staring sightlessly at the hidden sky. Gabriel continued, talking quickly.
"We're here to kill her."
He had caught the attention of the man behind Mina. She was thrown to the ground, landing on her hands as her head hung low and her breathing quickened. Gabriel knew better than to talk slowly about this. He had to get some blood into Mina before she lost her mind.
"Are you?" He asked, intrigued by Gabriel's choice of words. The men were uneasily silent. "What good spies. They'll tell you anything." He stood up. "Kill him. The woman's mine."
Mina lifted her head. They didn't see her eyes go red.
"NO!" Gabriel shouted, drawing the attention back to him. "We're not spies. We're here to destroy Morgan."
"What the hell are you doing in these woods than?" The man asked. Mina was hyperventilating. Gabriel continued, buying some time for her to get the blood lust back under control.
"We've been following her for a whole day now. She has taken one of our friend's captive. We mean you no harm." Gabriel said, making sure the last sentence was emphasized so they may take the knife away from his neck. The man just grew closer.
"Why are we supposed to believe you?" He asked him, the blade tightening against his throat. Gabriel chose his words wisely.
"I don't know. But we'll be willing to cooperate in any way possible to make you."
The man considered this answer. Gabriel was half anticipating the knife to dig into his flesh and slash his throat before moving over to Mina. She looked as if she was almost gone, gripping her head as he lips started to bleed from her fangs. She wiped it away and her teeth remained very sharp and her eyes were bright red. Gabriel's eyes met hers, willing her silently to hold on for a moment more.
Mina would have loved to change in front of them. She would have loved draining one of them to the point of death. The problem wasn't that she couldn't. The problem was that if she did, she wouldn't stop, and that she may take Gabriel along with them. But she needed it before she dried up and landed herself in a bigger mess than the other vampires she had heard stories about. It was one of the first things she learned, and she learned it the hard way: A vampire must feed or they enter a state of permanent blood lust. And the blood lust experienced is only quenched when the vampire has taken the lives of nearly a dozen good sized adults.
It was in the beginning, when she was just discovering her powers. She had not allowed herself to drink anything for nearly a week and felt much the same as she did then, weak and shaking, her healing powers slowed and her mind a buzz with the need for fresh, human blood and the taste of their flesh on her lips. She had murdered off nearly ten dignitaries without knowledge of it every happening, and awoke in a pile of their corpses with the blood still on her lips and over her chest and breasts, running down her half naked body. She wanted to avoid it again, even though it would have been useful in such a situation.
The man finally smiled and nodded to Gabriel.
"Alright, than we will have a small contest." He said, walking back towards Mina. He grabbed her by the arm and yanked her up from the ground. It took every last shred of Mina's humanity to simply stand up, docile as a woman should be, looking straight at him with clenched teeth. He inspected her, checking her over before finding the two scars on her next.
He laughed but said nothing. Mina simply felt two others take her arms and tie her wrists with rope. Gabriel was yanked to his feet and held tightly. The scar faced man took out two identical daggers from his belt.
"We will have a dual." He said, drawing the blades from the sheaths. "We will determine if you are worthy enough to live if you can best me in a dual with daggers. If you win you have earned safe passage through the forest and you may pursue your friend and the Queen-if that is who you truly pursue. But…if I win, I get to keep your woman. And I get to keep your head."
Gabriel didn't have much of a choice. He looked over at Mina, knowing he was gambling with her body as much as he was gambling with his life. She didn't have a response and was rigid with her attempt at keeping the two parts of herself under control. He looked back at the scar faced man and nodded.
"I accept your challenge." He said. The man smiled. He handed Gabriel a weapon. Just as Van Helsing had it in his hand the man smiled.
"Did I mention that I have never lost a battle?" He said, getting a laugh from his men. Unlike his previous opponents, Gabriel didn't look scared or shocked. He flipped the blade in his hand as he had done in training once, learning how to wield any weapon he could put his hand to. He actually smiled and stopped twisting the blade in his hands.
"Did I mention that my opponents usually don't survive?"
The scar faced man tried not to show how worried he was becoming with his dual. Mina was yanked off to the side, bound with thick rope with a gag in her mouth. Gabriel nodded to her, trying to reassure her. Mina tried to nod back but the scar faced man was already attacking him.
Carl was under the impression he was a dead man the second he was thrown into the carriage. His feeling of anxiety had not been alleviated with Morgan's presence within. She commanded him without speaking to stare at her. She was absolutely beautiful with her black hair hanging over her shoulders in thick and perfect curls. Her ears were holding earrings made of precious stones and her eyes were holding the faeries themselves. Bright orbs of light danced in her irises. Her low dress revealed the deep crevice between her perfect and white breasts, where the necklace holding the pentacle star just barely touched. A long black cloak was draped around her shoulders, showing off her chest and beautiful indigo gown with a turquoise sheen to it. He was awestruck when he had entered the carriage, but kept his wits about him by ignoring her most of the time, trying not to think about her words but reciting poems or paragraphs from books he had read. Eventually he lost himself in a memory: Gabriel's first training.
Gabriel Van Helsing was barely rehabilitated from the condition he had been found in on the steps of the Vatican. Despite his weakened exterior that looked like he had been dragged through the depths of hell and back again multiple times, he could still take a pistol in his hands and hold it with an accuracy only achieved by years of training. The same thing happened with the dagger, the sword, the cross bow, the long bow, the pistol, the shot gun, and any other weapon one could possibly think of putting in the hands of Gabriel Van Helsing. He could take down a dummy or a target from any distance. He was considered to have to start with basics, but he moved up to the top level of the Order's combat training within that same day.
"You can't remember anything before you woke up here but you can remember how to kill people." Carl had observed when he was walking Gabriel back to his room. He was actually dragging Gabriel back to his room, taking one of Gabriel's arms and slinging it over his shoulder even though he was much shorted that Van Helsing. "Normal people would see that as a bad thing."
"We're both contradictions." Gabriel pointed out in his exhaustion induced stupor. Carl was sure he never remembered saying this. "We're living, breathing, and walking contradictions. The world only keeps us around because our contradictions have uses."
Carl had remained lost within his own world focused on the statement. Carl was a contradiction. He was a man of God, yet he condoned murder by supplying the tools to carry it out. Gabriel was a contradiction. He could not remember faces or names or words from his past but he could remember how to kill. He too was a man of God, but all he could remember how to do was kill.
Neither could exist without the other. Carl could not have his job if Gabriel didn't hunt. And Gabriel couldn't hunt unless Carl made weapons.
Gabriel swung the blade so quickly it was a silver blur in the air and deflected against the scarred man's own. They bent their elbows and leaned in close to each other, so close they could feel each other's muscle trembling under the tremendous amount of strength they were applying. Gabriel could see the man was losing quicker, and the next few movements were blurs, even to him. The scarred man pulled his blade in the direction Gabriel had been pushing it, causing Van Helsing to spin and lose focus. The scarred man brought the dagger down to his shoulder but was met with Gabriel's dagger. He had spun around so quickly and lifted his weapon so fast that he had caught a weapon that would have been nearly impossible for anyone else to avoid.
The man lifted his blade and swiped it across Gabriel's chest, catching nothing but air as his opponent jumped back. Gabriel thrust forward and met his mark, hitting the man's shoulder before recoiling back and slashing his chest from right shoulder to the left side of his rib cage. He was back before the scarred man could do anything to him, and stabbed his knife into the man's shirt, pushing him back and pinning him to a tree. The man jabbed the fell length of the dagger at his arm but just skimmed it, burying half the blade into the bicep and causing blood to gush from the wound. Gabriel twisted around, drawing his body off the blade before kicking the man's armed hand and knocking the dagger from him. With lightning quick reflexes he drew the dagger from the tree and pressed it to his throat.
There was a hushed silence in the circle of men as they watched Gabriel become the victor against their leader, a man who was better with a dagger than most were with any weapon. And yet in less than five minutes, Gabriel had proven he was better and obviously deserving of their trust. Mina seemed pleased, especially to have the gag pulled from her mouth.
He was expecting a death blow. Gabriel didn't deliver it. He dropped the dagger into the ground where the blade sank into the soil at the man's feet. They stood at an impasse, Gabriel bleeding from his right arm and pressing his hand against his newly opened hip wound that Morgan had given him in the morning. He stepped back from the scarred man who took a deep breath and found that Gabriel had no intention of killing him.
"I thought none of your opponents ever lived?" He said, worried that this was some kind of ruse. Gabriel shrugged.
"None of my inhuman opponents ever live. But if you truly feel like dying…"
"No. No more. You have bested me and that will do fine for one day." He snapped his fingers. His mood had changed quickly. "Release the woman." Mina's ropes were untied and she was handed back to Gabriel who pulled her arm over his shoulder and helped her stand. She looked worse than before. Her whole body was dripping with perspiration and her mouth was filled with a small amount of blood that had been carelessly drawn when she had bit her cheek with her fangs. The scarred man picked up his daggers.
"You fight like no one I have ever seen before." He said. "I would love to know where you learned such a skill."
I wish I knew…Gabriel said. Everything in the fight had been instinct. He normally did not live his life on instinct, but everything in the fight had been a feeling. His eyes could have been bound and he still could have won. He changed the topic of the conversation quickly.
"Do you have a name?"
"Where are my manners?" The man said, and with a bow he introduced himself. "I am Fallon Carroll, leader of the gypsies of Merlin's land and sworn protector of this forest."
"Protector against what?" Mina asked wearily.
"Queen Morgan." He replied. "She feels that these woods belong to her because they rest on land that once belonged to Merlin. She will do anything to take them back from us."
"You're a long way from home." Gabriel pointed out, referencing his accent. Fallon smiled softly and laughed lightly.
"I suppose I am. This is the only home for me though." He put the daggers back on his belt. "You two look as if you could use a place to rest. Come with us and stay the night at our camp."
Mina wouldn't argue with whatever Gabriel wanted. She was too tired to care. Gabriel looked at the thick fog and realized they had no choice. They were damned if they did and damned if they didn't. At least they would have a warm place to sleep.
Fallon and his men had an interesting way of finding their way back to their camp. He and his men had left markers on the way. An arrow meant they turned left. A cut with a sword meant they went straight. And a ribbon meant right. He told them that he would tell them the way out of the woods if he could, but, as he said, "Whenever the fog comes, Morgan changes the woods. The trees move and the paths disappear. It would be foolish to search for a way out, especially if she has tried to slow you down." Gabriel felt useless thinking of Carl at the mercy of Morgan, but he knew he had no other choice. Eventually they would have had to stop. He would have hoped it was when he was gaining on Morgan but it didn't matter at this point.
"Relax, my friend, you can search for your friend in the morning. By then her spell will have cleared and you will find you way without trying to navigate your way through her devilry. Until then, however, it is best if you simply stay." Fallon began to lead the way, turning to the left as the arrow in the tree instructed.
It was a small comfort to have his weapons returned to him. Fallon seemed like a man of honour. He knew he had been bested in battle and he held no hard feelings towards Gabriel. If anything, he seemed honoured and privileged to have fought with him.
Mina was between his arms on the front of the horse, leaning against him limply until the lights of the fires came into view. She was wrapped in his coat and holding her stomach, feeling pain start from there and work its way out and through her body. He bent his shoulders around her to give her more heat as they rode. It was not necessary when they reached Fallon's camp.
He had chosen an ideal spot to set up their caravans and carriages. The camp was filled with maybe fifty or so people in a tiny society that was like a microcosm of a city. Women and children were around the fires, cooking in large cauldrons or telling stories. Large barrels of ale were piled next to one of the caravans and were surrounded with mugs.
The whole camp was surrounded by the forest and they had situated themselves next to a rock face and a small water fall that ran over it and down to the small valley below and out to the ocean. In the firelight Gabriel could see the Wizard's head above the small lake, and next to it was an engraving that he could read from his position riding into the camp: Drink of this and take thy fill for the water falls by the Wizard's will.
"Merlin's land…" She whispered to herself, eyeing the stone face of the bearded man with a passion that Gabriel had never seen. He thought it was just a side effect of her blood lust and her need for it. He looked at his bicep and wondered as they dismounted and were lead to Fallon's caravan. He gave them a fire to work at, including medical supplies and clothing for Mina to replaced her bindings and Gabriel's trousers. The fog could not linger in the circle the gypsies had made. It remained on the edges, unable to penetrate the workings of the people inside. Privately, Mina pulled on the loose shirt and when it covered her top half she worked awkwardly to remove the bindings underneath. It took her twenty minutes before she was finally free. She tossed the linen on the fire in front of Gabriel before looking through the rest of the clothing.
The trousers were next. Gabriel's would certainly not do. They were much too large. One of the younger boys in the camp had given her a pair of his own, and although they still hung off her like heavy bags, they stayed on much better than Van Helsing's. He bandaged his own shoulder while she dressed, finding a corset buried under the coat they had given her as well. She looked it over, the design startling her. Across the front they had stitched two roses with sharpened thorns. She ran her fingers over it longingly before setting it with the coat. She would not sleep with it on.
Gabriel handed her a mug. She looked inside it and felt her lungs crush in on them elves. Inside was blood, and after further examination, she found that it was his. The first sign was the smell, but the second was the feeling it gave her when she held it close to her. It was the feeling of strength and courage, as if she had nothing else to fear. He finished bandaging his bicep and moved to his thigh.
"You're going to need to drink some before we continue." He said. Mina looked from the blood to Gabriel. She swallowed the lump in her throat.
"You bled yourself for me." She said. He nodded, knowing that it was a statement and not a question.
"I cannot have you losing yourself in a village full of people." He said. "If you did, I would be forced to kill you."
"Sometimes I wonder if that would be such a bad thing." She looked at the blood when she had finished speaking and without another word raised the mug to her lips and drank it down, wincing when she realized how cold it had become. It moved down her throat and into her body. It was not nearly enough to return her to her normal state, but it kept her sane enough for the time. She would hunt for rats later.
"You wonder about death?" He asked her.
"Once or twice." She said. "When I was first bitten I conducted experiments on myself. I tested how long I could last until I needed blood. I cut myself and measured the length of time it took to heal. I tried every cure that was theorized and even made up some of my own but could not bring about my own demise." She stopped herself before she went any further. Gabriel saw some kind of sadness fill her eyes. Mina looked away and moved the mug back to her lips, licking the rim.
"Pondering death gets you nowhere." He said. Mina could no longer look at him. She closed her eyes, feeling her stomach pains stop. "Have you ever tried to end it?"
Mina turned to look at him, a little afraid at how he simply moved to that part of the conversation. She looked away and curled into a ball, holding her arms around her knees. Her eyes were tightly closed. She didn't know how to answer. She wanted to say never, but finally found herself tell the truth. "Once." She responded. "I once tried it."
"What happened?" He asked. Mina was trying not to cry.
"It was right after I had been bitten." She began, remembering the day clearly. "I woke up on the floor of Jonathan's study and found that I had changed…"
She looked over at the state of the room, finding that it was in pieces. Every piece of furniture was tipped over. Every book and paper were scattered on the floor. Pens and pencils found their way to the corners of the room. Sunlight streamed in through the window, landing right next to Mina's face. She looked away from it because it was too bright.
It took her a long while to pull herself off the floor. She held her head the whole time, caught in a daze of some sort. She felt hungry, but when she thought of any type of real food she felt sick to her stomach. She craved salt of some kind. She craved fluid. She walked to the bath across the hall and splashed some cold water on her face before rising up to meet her reflection.
But there was no reflection in the mirror.
Mina dashed back to the study, looking around the shambles of the office. The sunlight was hurting her eyes to a point that she had to close the curtains and lock it outside. She called for Jonathan but there was no answer.
And then she saw his body under the desk. And there were bite marks on his neck, but he was drained of blood and had not been allowed to drink again.
"So I walked outside." She said, holding herself tightly, remembering how much pain she had been in. She remembered her scream into the sunrise, the sound of birds rushing from the noise. Mina closed her eyes and felt the sun burning her flesh again, eating away at her immortal bone and undying skin and everlasting organs. Her eyes sizzled and nearly melted from her head. She remembered everything as if it were actually happening. The fire that was burning in front of her was the sun in that moment, eating her alive as if she were nothing but meat to be cooked and burned and charred to ash.
Gabriel's hand on her shoulder made her open her eyes. It was just a fire. It was nothing more. She took a deep breath before turning to him.
They said nothing. Mina watched him in the fire light, his dark eyes locked with hers.
"Something pulled me back." She said. "Something wouldn't let the sun finish me. I got back inside before it could kill me. And I hate myself for it."
Gabriel was quiet for a moment, still watching her. She had tears in her eyes again, feeling heartbroken and worthless. He looked down for a moment before moving his eyes back to her.
"I'm sorry." He said. "I'm sorry that I can't remember you."
"I don't want you to remember me." She replied. "It would make you ashamed of me. And I couldn't bear to live with that."
"I don't think I could ever be ashamed of you." He said. Mina looked over at him and felt her whole face go warm as her pale cheeks became flushed. "I don't think that anything I might remember about you might make me think any differently of you."
Mina smiled. She leaned over and without asking permission or stalling she bestowed a small kiss on his cheek. He blinked and suddenly it was gone. Mina was lying down on her side, curled up to keep warm. Gabriel took one of the blankets from near the fire and spread it over her before he took off his hat and lay next to her, a good distance from her, but close enough that he could feel her breathing.
Author's Notes: I don't know Britain's landscape very well. The information about Merlin's Land came from one of my major sources for this story which is I'm not going to try and convince people that I know what places look like, so I will just say up front that this may be geologically inaccurate. I have been to Britain but I was only in London and it was only for three days and it was about 7 years ago, when I was ten, so it's safe to assume that my memory is a little sketchy.
I don't know the likelihood of gypsies in England. Fallon was an idea of mine and I hope people enjoyed the knife fight. It was enjoyable to write. Fallon is an Irish name meaning 'a leader' and Carroll means 'a fierce warrior'. I thought they sounded good together.
It seems a little unlikely that Gabriel would actually camp out for a night while Carl was in the hands of Morgan. I know this because he does not give up ever. I wanted to make it almost impossible for them to get out of the forest at the time because I was inspired by the scene in Ever After when Danielle and Henry are sitting with the gypsies and they're talking (although they're a lot more happy). So I know that this is the extremes of the situation but please don't kill me for doing it! It was those silly plot bunnies fault! If people really have a problem with this, just write it in the review and if more people say change it, I'll rewrite the chapter with a better twist.
THIS IS THE LONGEST CHAPTER TO DATE! The actual chapter itself is ten pages and it took me about 5 hours to write. This was split between writing and surfing the Internet, but it was still a long haul. It's about 2 o'clock in the morning, so I'll respond to reviews and then I'm off to bed!
Reviews:
Verona Dracula: I hope this chapter was worth the wait. Thank you very much!
J: Hmmm…I must think of a better prize. How about an unlimited supply of Oreos? I just watched London Assignment about five times this weekend. It is safe to say that Van Helsing is NEVER leaving my brain. I thought the 'Holy Water Pistol' was priceless but I thought the best part was the ending with Queen Victoria. I could NOT stop laughing.
I read that Gabriel became the Angel of Communications when he delivered the message to Mary. I've been reading up on it a little bit and actually, Gabriel is one of the only angels to ever have been considered as potentially a female. Still, it'd be pretty awesome to be the Angel of the Internet, although your other Angel friends might mock you nicely.
Mrs. Mina Harker: Interesting idea! I like that actually a lot. If I can work it into the story I will try.
Scholar: Just for you I will now try and work that line into the plot because it is one of the best lines from Moulin Rouge besides, "Oh look my dear a little frog!" and when the Duke says, "It's a little bit funny, this feeling inside." Unfortunately, I'm not sure either of those would work in this.
Thanks for the luck! It should be a fun exam week. There are only three full days left and then four exams and then I'm done. Until I have to go and work for the summer. Oh well, money is always nice.
Fanfiction Fanatic: Surgery? What for? I hope it all goes well. Get well soon! You're a mind reader? I read Tarot cards. That's as close as I get to reading minds.
HyperCaz: Disney faeries are not even half as scary as real faeries. They are spiteful and mischievous and Carl is perfectly justified in his hatred for them.
Shadowsage Hopesong: THANK YOU! I would love it and appreciate it!
Grissom: Everybody seems to be out of school already. College huh? What are you going to study? I graduate next year and I'm applying to study Biology at University. It will be fun I hope. It's either Bio to become a Doctor or English to become a University Professor. I'm still not sure.
My knowledge of Arthurian Myth comes from movies like Merlin, books like King Arthur and his Knights and The Once and Future King, and a lot of web sites which ALWAYS have conflicting information. It is very hard to find two sources with consistent information. Morgan le Fey (or Faye or Fay or Morgan of Fate) is sometimes evil or sometimes good or sometimes an illusive force that seeks to embarrass her brother (Sir Gawain). I actually really want to see King Arthur because it seems so unlike what the real story was about. I'm also starting a new series called The Sky Stone which brings all the events into truth. The only problem is that there's no Morgan (my favourite).
The scars on his back were pretty much a kick in the ass in the movie. When Carl says 'some vague references to the Left Hand of God' I think everyone in the audience wanted to point and shout, 'IT'S HIM!' I don't know how Sommers is going to explain them but I've already got an idea of how the scars on his back were created in my story.
Morning All: I did know that Morgan was mortal. Although she had power she was also mortal. I made her immortal to correspond with my storyline that she has inherited the throne of the faeries and that she isn't really even human anymore. In some Pagan myths la Fey is linked with faerie magick. In fact some covens actually invoke her spirit when using a faerie ring instead of a magick circle. It's just an interesting piece of information I thought was pretty cool. I like your idea about her being a descendant. It could work. (Thinks) I could probably use that if you wouldn't mind.
Vampire Princess, Morwinda: It's not a big kiss, but she does kiss him on the cheek. I hope that satisfies you for a while, until they get their big kiss.
Nice job on corrupting your friend! I've done that before to my friends. When we went to go see Hellboy I got two of my friends seriously into the really cute Agent Myers in the movies. Hugh Jackman is absolutely gorgeous. I saw X-Men and I was in complete shock. He was ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS.
Sirhcvuli: I could never kill of Carl! Play with his mind, psychologically and physically torture him and toy with him yes, but kill him? Now way. If I kill Carl I would kill Mina too, which I'm probably not going to do.
