Disclaimer: The characters and concepts pertaining to the movie Van Helsing in this story are the property of Stephen Sommers. This is an amateur effort and no intention of infringing on copyright laws was intended. There was no money made off the thinking, writing, and or posting of this story.
Chapter 15: The Faerie Circle
Carl could feel the carriage come to a slow stop. Morgan smiled at him, hearing the door open as her supernatural footman held out his hand. The tall creature was humanoid from first glance, but Carl noted several differences. He was tall and lean and much more graceful than any human male could claim to be. His hair was long and silver, pulled back from his pleasant pale face and hung down over his shoulders. He said nothing and simply held out his hand for Morgan to take as she stepped down. The sorceress looked at Carl again as she stood and walked to the door.
"Come. I wish to show you something." She said, picking up the heavy folds of her skirt before stepping outside. He took one look after her, unable to say anything as he swallowed the lump in his throat and hesitantly followed, nearly tripping on the step.
The sun had set, but Carl didn't know if it was the same night or a night far off in the distant reaches of time. The sky was a beautiful navy colour at the horizon and the sun could not have been out o the sky for very long. It was twilight and every star was shining across the heavens. Carl took a deep breath of the cold night air and shivered, more from the demonic sight of Morgan than the chill in the wind. She walked away from the carriage, over the stretched of flatland until she was surrounded by nothing for about twenty feet. He could make out trees in the distance and rocky cliffs even further, but his eyes were drawn to the dazzling white beauty that dropped her cloak and spoke to him.
"Only a scholar could appreciate this place." She said, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. "Where do you think you are, human? Are you standing in just another simple lace to stand and think about all that doesn't make sense in the world? Yes, I suppose that would be your answer. That is the most mortal answer I can think of."
Carl was speechless, and all the while Morgan's back was to him. Her eyes looked over and over the plains of Great Britain, losing herself in a memory that she alone knew about. She sighed deeply, holding out the cloak to the wind before releasing it, sending the black cascades of fabric back to the carriage. She spread her arms out to the wind, the breeze rustling her skirt and making the long pieces of hanging fabric fly backwards and away from her slender body.
"You stand on the ground that was marked by Saxons, the Romans, the Celts, the Vikings…" She smiled wistfully, her arms still open to the sky. "You stand on the ground of the mighty Merlin. Well where is Merlin now? He lies under the earth, rotting and festering, the corpse I made him centuries ago." Carl noticed that the wind had begun to pick up, swirling around Morgan in a perfect circle. The grass was thrown wildly as the wind continued to gain speed. Her dress was twisted around her legs and her perfectly white calves were shown to the wind. But she didn't move. She opened her hands wider and the wind continued until the grass had worn away. It didn't take long for the circle to be completed. The grass was worn down to dirt as the flowers began to blossom and the mushrooms grew from the ground. Carl's mouth opened wide as millions of tiny lights danced inside it, thanking their mistress for the gift of the circle as they began twirling and singing.
"A faerie ring…" Carl said in disbelief. Morgan's hands lowered and she lowered to her knees, murmuring something under her breath. It was a blessing, and he heard the words clear as day but couldn't understand them. They were carried by the wind itself, whispered by all the subjects and servants around them until he was surrounded by her incantation. The circle glowed with a supernatural light as her hands moved across the earth, starting from the left corner, moving across in a straight line before stopping, and continuing without taking her hand from the earth. It moved into a diagonal, into the bottom left hand corner, before moving back up and into a point at the top. The last two lines moved to the bottom right corner and back to the left where she had begun. It was the invoking pentagram, the star of water. Carl recognized it almost immediately when she stood again and continued her spell. Her arms stretched out again to embrace the sky, and she closed her eyes once more. Carl heard the words for circle again, but her Fey was so quick and her tongue curled around the language so quickly that it melded together into an odd sort of song.
Fey was a sharp sounding language that annunciated the consonants and held long on the vowels so it was very much like a song. While many singers were taught to avoid extreme annunciation of the vowels, Fey dialect was like this so the many spells sounds like modern day Morse code when listened to correctly. Carl was in awe at how quickly it ended, and how fast the wind sped away with her commands. She turned back to him and beckoned for him to join her.
Carl was paralyzed. He knew better than to go prancing around inside of a faerie ring. While it looked so inviting and beautiful faerie rings were a method of enslavement for the kingdom of Fey. The person would be invited to dance with the supernatural beings. Even though their time within felt like a few short moments, the bondage lasted for years. As if this was not bad enough, often times a person inside a faerie ring could be whisked away to the land of Fey and kept as a prisoner to do God Knows what to.
"Come forward." She commanded him. Her voice left little room for argument. Carl was pushed forward by the pale manservant and found that his feet were moving without his consent. They were drawing him closer to the borders of the ring and then slowly, he was yanked inside.
His eyes shut tight. Oh God, I don't want to dance!
But Morgan did not make him dance. Instead, she stood in the middle of the circle and just stared out at her kingdom.
"You did not dance because I did not wish it." She said to him, though did not look at him at all. She stared straight ahead. "Your friends will dance, though. They will dance until my bond on this circle is broken. They will dance until they are rotting corpses." Carl's throat was dry and he swallowed the lump in his throat once again. His mouth tasted like vomit. He looked back at the forest they had ridden through and saw the fog start and work its way through, ending once it reached the tree-line. His heart pounded. Morgan smiled coyly.
"And the fog will consume them." She still stared out over the land and smiled wider.
"Come in, Van Helsing, and prepare for the kill. For the forest obeys only my will…"
Gabriel thought for a moment he was alone again in the darkness, awakening to the small room in the Vatican and finding that he was as alone as when he awoke with some sense of consciousness. He dreamed of that moment when he awoke as if it was taunting at him, laughing at him, chanting nasty things about how he could remember everything except his name. It spoke of forgetting, how it stole everything from him like any memories of family and friends and any sense of belonging to anyone but himself or the church. He fought against the voices and became suddenly and acutely aware that he couldn't feel Mina breathing anymore, and that she was no longer within an arm's length of him. His eyes shot open and he sought to see through the harsh firelight that blazed below him, and he discovered when he turned his head why he could no longer feel Mina.
She was seated upright, drinking from a mug, swallowing down large amounts of animal blood with every drink. She still hadn't noticed that he was awake yet, and drank like a fat alcoholic man whose only joy in life was to escape into his flask and never return. Gabriel gave no indication that he was watching her and Mina didn't notice until she wiped the red liquid from her lips and set the cup aside, breathing deeply to get her vampire self back under control. Finally, her green eyes turned to him and she blushed before wiping her lips again, making sure there was no more blood to be seen.
"Sorry." She said, apologizing once more. "I just went looking for something other than humans. I found a few rats lurking around the ale supply." Gabriel sat up, groaning a little from his sore joints that had no time to heal themselves. His arm was throbbing and his thigh burned. Mina could see his face was contorted in obvious physical pain and approached him, pulling the blanket off his shoulders and peeling the flap of his shirt from the wound.
Gabriel saw that the blanket on his was the one he had draped over Mina, but he wasn't able to say anything before Mina untied the small piece of cloth from his bicep and checked the knife wound over, prodding it with her expert fingers. He winced and hissed.
"This should be painful. It's infected." He brushed her hands away.
"You're not helping." He said. His eyelids tightened as she rolled her eyes.
"Men." She said flippantly and reached for the bucket of water Fallon had left for her before returning to the fires with his family. Mina had watched him as he told stories with the others, unaware that she was awake.
He had two sons, she knew that much. The younger one was Francis, a brilliant and bubbly five year old who trotted around the fire with his older brother, chasing him with a wooden stick that imitated a sword blade. His brother who was eight was Alan, who although very tall for his age and very strong was tender and gentle with his sibling, allowing his brother to win in most of their 'fights'. Mina had seen his wife was a blonde woman with her hair in braids who he called 'Aingeal'. She smiled lightly as she picked up the rat with vampire speed and brought three of them back to the fire.
"You seem to be a magnet for trouble." Mina said, pulling the water bucket over and ripping a strip of cloth from the blanket. The wound was inflamed, swollen up a size that was easy to see as being unhealthy. He groaned loudly and bit his teeth as she ran the water over it. Mina was quiet, running her fingers over his cheek and placing her palm flat on his forehead as she closed her eyes and pulled her hand away.
"Goodness, you're temperature's up." She picked up his hand and pressed it against the cloth on his shoulder rather heavily, making him grunt again. Her hands flew down to the blood stained cloth on his thigh.
"There's no need to get concerned over something like this." He said. "I've had worse, I just…" Gabriel thought about it for a moment as Mina found his hips wound in much the same condition. "I can't really remember any right now."
He was silent until Mina found another piece of wet cloth and dropped it on the raw and burning flesh on his thigh. "Now you're really not helping…"
"Just hold still." She said with a small laugh, trying to make light of the situation. They didn't need any more anxiety, considering Carl was kidnapped and now they were delayed by Morgan's spell. Mina pulled the cloth away and looked through the shadows as if they were daylight, eyeing the wound. She gently pushed on the skin, issuing Gabriel's leg to jerk.
"I don't think you understand how much that hurts." Mina smiled, flinching at the memory of her husband. Jonathan had unfortunately been standing beside the book case, sliding a leather bound book back into the volumes of others when the smallest jerk caused a large pile of encyclopedias to tumble down and strike him directly on the head. She had spent the night nursing her whimpering solicitor spouse for a bruise which apparently hurt more than hell itself. She turned away for but a moment and looked back.
"I thought I saw something in that wound." She said. Gabriel groaned.
"Don't tell me. It's something that will require you to touch it again."
"Well it's probably the cause of the infection, so yes."
Gabriel didn't like the sound of that. His leg wound hurt, it was true, but it was nothing compared to several other injuries he had suffered in the past. Hyde, for example had given him one hell of a concussion when he tossed him through the roof of the Notre Dame. He had no idea how he survived most of what happened to him. But he knew he would survive Mina's removal of whatever was caught in his thigh.
"Alright." He said. Mina brought up a belt from the pile of clothes and folded it for him. Gabriel bit down on it hard and lay back. She continued talking to him as if they were seated comfortably and simply having a visit, but he could feel the difference.
"The first time we met, you were…different…" She said as she dug her fingers into the flesh as gently as she could. Gabriel felt like he was going to lose consciousness but he held onto the waking world by the sound of Mina's voice. He dug his fingers into the ground above him as she tightened her fingers deep in his muscles, running the fingertips over the bone. "You were a doctor, I believe. A fairly successful one if memory serves me correctly." She pulled her fingers out, staring at them longingly for a moment before shaking her head and staring down at the wound. Gabriel was in agony. He felt like he would bite through the belt in his mouth. Mina continued quickly, finding the shimmering object before pushing her hand back in again. "And you were summoned by…a man named…Seward…"
After what had seemed like an eternity of agonizing pain, Mina's hand emerged, covered up to the wrist and splattered to the elbow in blood. In her fingertips she held the tiniest piece of metal, clenched between two fingers. Mina set it aside and pressed the wet cloth against the wound as Van Helsing cried out. He ripped the belt from his mouth.
"THAT DOESN'T HELP!" He said, sitting up immediately. Mina pushed the cloth harder against his leg trying to clot the wound but found it increasingly difficult. Gabriel's face contorted in pain as she held it steady, eyes unmoving from his. Her eyes softened and she closed them, lowering her head a little as she got a hold of herself.
"I'm sorry. After I drink living blood I get slightly sadistic." The look in his eyes seemed to shout out, "SLIGHTLY?!" Mina's whole personality changed and she hushed him slowly, running her hand down his cheek slowly from his hairline to his chin. It actually felt nice to feel her cold fingers on his hot flesh. There was silence for a moment between them, un-interrupted as the singing and dancing continued not far away. The firelight danced across his face, striking every feature from his sunken cheeks to gleaming forehead and brushed across her pale skin and round cheeks.
There were voices in the distant, lost somewhere in the fog. Both sets of darkened eyes turned to the forest, staring into the trees. The pressure of Mina's hand against his thigh lessoned as she sought clarity in the thick and blinding fog. Gabriel was on his feet in a moment, taking the rag from Mina's hand and pushing it against his thigh himself as she stood and took up his sword as well as one of the tojo blades. He neared the edge of the forest.
"Do you hear…?" He began.
"Yes." She replied.
"And do you know…?" He asked.
"No." She answered. "Do you…?"
"No." He shook his head and tossed the rag away, ignoring the pain for the time being. The blood seemed to have slowed greatly anyways and he was a fast healer. Mina looked back at the fire and then to the forest.
"Mr. Van Helsing, I'm not so sure…"
He raised a finger to silence her, and she complied by shutting her mouth quickly. He was listening carefully to the music coming from the forest. There was singing and the sound of wings flapping as a woman's voice hauntingly called his name. He looked back at Mina who didn't seem to hear the chanting of the word, "Gabriel…"
It happened again. Mina could see him moving closer to the trees. She reached up a hand to pull him back when she heard her own name being called. The voice was male, and ne'er as she could tell, Gabriel hadn't heard it. Soon, she had started to move into the forest as well.
Fallon looked up from the fire. He saw them disappear into the fog and fade from sight. He set down his son and grabbed his daggers from his caravan before following.
Gabriel felt Mina's hand on his left shoulder, tightening slowly as they moved. She slid the sword hilt into his hand and he gripped it tightly, testing his strength in his arm as they moved into the fog. It deprived them of their sense of sight almost completely. They could make out the faint outline of trees and looming shadows surrounding them. The fog was cold on Gabriel's bare flesh. It collected in his hair and separated it into dark, damp locks that hung in clumps around his head and in his eyes. He lifted the sword up, wielding it easily with one hand. His right hand was useless. He could feel the knife wound throbbing alongside his heartbeat. He felt Mina's grip loosen on his shoulder a little as she trailed behind him, the tojo blade in her hand as she fumbled with it and tried to discover the mechanics of it. It took her a moment to get it spinning. When it sprang to life she dropped it and jumped back a little.
Van Helsing turned. She picked it up.
"Who created this?" She asked him.
"Carl." He replied. "Here, hold it like this." She held out her hand and he pressed the handle into her palm, pressing her fingers on the handle. "Pull the two levers together to make the blade spin." His hand was under hers, pulling the handle together and causing the blade to revolve, gathering speed as he continued to pump it gradually. Mina was in awe at the creation. Gabriel removed his hand and stepped behind her, reaching out his arm alongside hers. He placed his gloved fingers on the back of her hand and pulled it behind them. Gabriel reached his other hand around her neck and pointed at a place in the distance.
"Aim…" He said. "Now, when I swing forward flip the switch under your finger."
She nodded. Gabriel swung forward so quickly he thought maybe she wouldn't find the switch. Mina performed greatly, allowing the disk to fly off the handle and embed itself in a tree so close she could see it, glittering under the pale moonlight that made the fog so light. She smiled.
"Your friend is a genius." She said, walking and ripping the blade from the tree. The tree gave a small cry, causing Mina to jump back, eyes wide.
"Did you…?"
"Yes." Gabriel said, sword at the ready. Mina held the blade so tightly her fingers were aching. Another cry followed as the tree shook and the bark began to heal.
Then there was a laugh. Out of the trees came a willowy figure who danced between the dark silhouettes, giggling in her high pitched voice as she skipped to another tree. Gabriel waited for a moment, eyeing her carefully as she frolicked through the forest towards the sounds of the music. He and Mina were off and running, chasing down the wispy figure who was drawing them closer to the music.
It became brighter as they neared the music. Gabriel could tell that they were so close to it they should have found the source of it, but there was nothing in sight. He came to a stop, listening to the sounds of the voices laughing and his blood ran cold. Mina came to a stop behind him. Gabriel turned.
"We have to get out of here." He said, taking her by the wrist and pulling her back. Mina stumbled a little, her slipper covered feet bearing very little traction on the moist earth. They were drawn aback by the sound of the earth breaking as a high pitched ring move around them in a wide circle and came to a close just in front of them. Mina's mouth opened.
"Oh no." She said. "It's a faerie ring."
"And that would be?"
"A place of faerie magick and human enslavement."
"That stands to reason." Gabriel said. "Nothing could ever have a friendly purpose in my world."
"Well you're not going to like the rest of the story." Mina said shakily as the circle began to draw in supernatural lights that danced on the edge. "Human enslavement usually lasts about five to seven years."
"And what are the terms of the enslavement?" He asked, wary of the growing numbers of faeries on the outside of the ring. Mina swallowed the lump in her throat.
"That we dance." She replied. Gabriel shrugged.
"I've had worse odds." He said. Mina turned to him and shook her head.
"There's one last part of the folklore." She said as the forest faded away outside the circle. "They like the idea of human thralls and some have said to vanish off the face of the earth complete…"
Mina was cut off by the sounds of millions of faeries shrieking. Their ears burned so terribly that blood dripped down from the interior. A bright light surrounded the circle as the faeries began to take shape and form.
Author's Notes: The faerie ring is from Irish folklore I believe, and it's not the nicest place to find you're self. The description is as accurate as I could get, even though my resources were, once again, the Internet. The circumstances in which Mina and Gabriel found the ring are from my own imagination. Faerie rings are previously created as places for faerie magick and faerie dance to take place. They don't 'pop' out of just anywhere to trap people. But I thought it would be interesting to lock the two inside. Also, as you'll see in the following chapter, the events that take place in a faerie circle are from my own creation, but you'll see those later.
Would I really keep Gabriel and Mina inside the ring for seven years? It would make for an interesting twist to the story, but I would have to release them eventually. Three years should do the trick (laughs evilly). I'm kidding. They'll get out somehow.
Reviews:
Verona Dracula: Hope that you were satisfied with the small amount of physical contact when Gabriel teaches her how to fire the tojo blade. It's a little miscellaneous, but I could see it in my head and it made me smile. I hope this was worth the wait!
J: Gypsies, Carl, Mina, and Gabriel…they don't seem to have much of a chance do they? Eventually yes, Fey butt will be kicked and a thrilling conclusion will be reached, but I am having too much fun right now to make the conclusion too close.
Queen Victoria was hilarious! I knew she wasn't going to settle for a kiss on the 'royal cheek'. Could you? We're talking about Hugh Jackman in a fedora that would put most people to shame in your bedroom while you are scantily clad and wearing nothing but your robe. Hell! I wouldn't even offer. I'd just grab him and snog (awesome word) him regardless.
Scholar: I was considering using it in the end of the story, in one of my alternate endings where Mina follows Gabriel back to Italy and they get caught by Jinette in the Vatican. Sorry, I couldn't resist the idea. I don't know where the line will show up, although Carl saying it is equally as funny (gets mental image of David Wenham saying 'scantily' and cracks up laughing).
Shadowsage Hopesong: Silly Fanfiction. I hope you can log in soon!
Grissom: I went looking through your Fanfiction the other night as I was writing. It's really well written and some of them were really good! I especially like the one where Sara gets attacked at the crime scene, and it was all made even better with the line at the end of the story regarding Grissom's painkillers. Lol. Amazing. You're very talented!
Fallon will most definitely have to come in later. I'm having a lot of fun with his character and the events regarding his past and how he came to be in England. He'll definitely come up later in the future chapters.
Forensics is an awesome choice for a career. I was considering going into it, and I have plenty of time to change my mind. Good luck with whatever you choose to do!
I tried to play the Van Helsing game. I'm planning to buy it. How on earth do you get out of Frankenstein's Castle? I can make it into the main foyer and the library but I can't open the door on the other side of the room! Any help would be great. And the hints about being murdered for love fit in perfectly with my story, although, the woman I created has light hair. I've said too much!
HyperCaz: I hope 'self' was equally as pleased with this chapter. Have a good one!
Doodily Doo: The knife fight was fun. I figured I couldn't make it too easy from Gabriel. He doesn't exactly have the best luck, does he? And now a faerie ring. Imagine what he would be like in therapy?
Twaga: I'm glad you're enjoying this!
Vampire Princess, Morwinda: I saw that you posted a story on Fanfiction! I'm sorry I didn't get around to reading it. I was delayed this week with friends since I'm going away in about a week. No worries about the story though, I'll have a computer where I'm going. I will read it when I can, unless you've taken it down. I hope not.
Smirking is hard to avoid while watching either X-Men movie. I saw the first one in theatres and was in shock. I LOVED it.
Ouch! An iron lamp? That's going to leave a mark. I'm not surprised about multiple aspirins. I once took Gravol because I was feeling nauseous. I didn't exactly read the packet to see if there was anything in it. I was knocked out within a half an hour because Gravol has codeine in it. I've never taken a lamp to the head though. Hope its okay!
I couldn't help but have several injuries inflicted on Gabriel. He seems to have a magnetic field for trouble, doesn't he? Being bitten by Velkan, thrown through the roof of Notre Dame, tossed around by Hyde, bitten at by Dracula, whipped around by the brides…at the same time it's so enjoyable!
Kanaloas Wrath: Here's more!
