Disclaimer: The characters and concepts in this story pertaining to the movie Van Helsing are the property of Stephen Sommers. This is an amateur writing effort. There was no money made for the thinking, writing, and or posting of this story.


Chapter 20: Dark Embrace

Carl shivered again from his position against the wall of the tallest tower in Morgan's palace as his eyes scanned the horizon for any sign of help or rescue. He pulled at the cuffs on his wrists again as the dug painfully into his skin and made his skin bruise.

He hadn't honestly thought Morgan was serious when she ordered to have him hung from the tower. He had thought that she was just joking, that maybe she wasn't actually going to practise an ancient form of torture. But that was when he was being dragged up the thousands of stairs through the tower to the topmost room. And that was before they clamped heavy manacles on his wrists and tossed him through the large open arched windows and down the wall.

But now that he was actually hanging the painful truth set in. Morgan had hung him from the wall. And she had enjoyed doing it.

He groaned and tried to pop his shoulders back into place.

He tried to think of anything but the chilly wind that was pummelling against him and that smooth walls of the tower as he hung there, but he couldn't pull his mind from it. The wind was cold and there were no notches on the wall to dig his feet into to push himself up and into a more comfortable position. He had no idea how the wall was built so smoothly and filed to perfection, but he had a few ideas and most were related to Morgan's ability with Magick.

"How do you like the view, Friar?" Her voice called to him so clearly from the window above, her pale face looking down upon him as her lips moved into the shape of a cocky grin. "A scholar such as yourself would have great respect for such a place of history."

"It's a little hard to pay attention to such things while you're hanging from a tower wall." He called back to her, making her grin widen and her eyes gleam with happiness. "If I had something to stand on I might be able to enjoy the view more."

She could tell he was hinting at being let down from his position on the tower, but Morgan wasn't about to let him tell her what to do. She had worked too hard and come too far to allow him down now.

"Don't flatter yourself Friar. I'll let you down from this atrocious position soon enough. Where you will be let down though will be my choice."

Carl gulped. He didn't like the sound of that at all.

"So enjoy the view from this height while you still can." She said with a laugh, turning around and walking out of the room.


Gabriel pulled the horse to a halt. He stared into the dark abyss of tunnel that stared back at him for a moment, regarding it with the same interest he would have any creature that he hunted. So this is the path to where Morgan lives, he thought to himself, pondering the dangers that lay in the shadows of the only known path to the Palace of Fey.

The tunnel was hidden well enough, planted in the center of a toadstool ring that no one in northern England would dare tread to. It was dug into a hill that protruded from the earth about six feet before swooping back down and disappearing. Vines and long grass hung over the opening, covering it from plain sight, but closer inspection or a map would tell you that it was there. The right side of the hill was covered with a large oak tree with roots that were centuries of years old. The whole side was covered with thick roots that stuck above the ground in knots before stretching up into the thick trunk and the vast branches. The leaves were already beginning to fall and leaves as red as blood tumbled across the ground at the horse's feet, swirling in vortexes playfully before being blown away to God knows where.

Magick was so thick in the air he could smell it. Usually the feelings of a foe could never affect any of his other senses, but the extremely old and powerful ones would affect his sight and his nose, sometimes so thick he could taste them on the air or feel the electricity in his fingertips. When he had been fighting with Dracula he could smell the blood on the air if he stood still and just embraced the darkness. Now, with Morgan, he could smell the sweet scents of the elements and feel the intoxicating embrace of her own darkness. It was like drowning in thick cloud, lost in the mist the clung to him and hugged him like a second skin.

The horse came to a stop without much coaxing. He paced nervously at the very edge of the toadstool ring as Gabriel tried to control him, pulling back on the reigns with a tight grip. "Easy boy..." He soothed, trying to calm the animal. The horse finally di, but his hoof was stopping on the ground nervously and his eyes were moving frantically.

"I take it we've arrived?" Mina asked rhetorically, able to tell from the horse's unusual insecurities that they were in a place of great evil.

"It would appear that way." Gabriel replied. After a day or two of riding (he had lost track of it. The sun was slowly beginning to set and he wasn't sure how long it had been) he was just reaching for a place to stop and get out of the saddle. It was luck that they had found their way to the cave just in time for Gabriel.

He dropped to the ground, loving the feeling of his muscles being put to wrok by walking. Mina slid one leg over the saddle and dropped clumsily to the ground, steadied by Gabriel when he took hold of her hands and helped her get used to walking again.

"Thank you." She said quietly, adjusting quickly without much assitance. He tilted his hat up politely and turned back, eyeing the toadstoll ring with a cocked brow.

Just remember what happened the last time you stepped into one of these...It was Carl talking, not himself. His own mind would have ran right into it again instead of stood there and stared at it, weighing in the chances of success as someone like Carl would have done. He would have told himself (if he were Carl) that the odds of success were stacked against him and that he wasn't going a step closer. But once the pains of solitude set in he would be tight to the heels of Van Helsing once more, afraid for his own life outside and alone more than inside with someone to protect him.

Not that Carl wasn't useful. Carl was the sort of person who always proved themselves at the last minute. They always found the right tool to use and the right way to use it in the times when they were needed most. He didn't just think of the gadget used in Dracula's summer palace. He was thinking of the hundreds of times when Carl, the frightened monk who caused more trouble in the Vatican than Gabriel ever could outside, who jumped at the sight of his fellow friars' shadows as they moved across the walls, could complete the most difficult of tasks as long as he 1) Didn't rationalize or think too hard about what he was doing and 2) Didn't have time to get a good look at what they were up against. If he thought too hard about something he'd choke up. Carl had a brilliant mind, but he had 'Macbeth's Syndrome', according to Cardinal Jinette. The old Cardinal would laugh at the joke only he understood and never explain it to Gabriel, but he assumed it refered to Carl's ability to get overloaded with information and facts.

The second reason was that Carl scared too easily. If he had gotten a good look at the vampires at Dracula's summer palace he would have completely choked up and not been able to perform his duty.

But he pulled through, as usual, the underdog in every situation but so useful, especially near the end (Gabriel smiled as he thought about the'Holy Water Pistol'). Everything Carl did was a stroke of genius.

And now he was facing something for the first time with his help directly. In fact, Gabriel felt strangely alone even with Mina so close to him.

The leaves were blown across the forest floor once more, leaving them with nothing to do but wait. Mina looked over at Gabriel, squinting through the strands of hair that were blown into her face and danced wildly through her vision.

Gabriel couldn't see anything but his duty and his job. And at that point he was pretty much driven by the thought of Carl meeting a nasty end at the hands of his kill. All the other thoughts were driven from his mind and only one remained.

Kill Morgan and save Carl. At ANY cost.

Mina watched him walk forward without a shred of fear in his eyes. He moved into the darkness with her close behind him, leaving behind the blue light of the moon and the light of the stars for the inky darkness that belonged to Morgan le Faye.

He had found the dark side of the moon and was walking on it without fear of the kill any longer.

Morgan inherited three entrances to the kingdom of Fey when she had killed Mab. She had one through the sky, only reached by her powers over the wind as she transformed into the whispering wind and tumbled through the clouds before embarking on a skydive to her castle. The second was by the sea. If one were to trace along the rocky coast in Northern Britain they would find Morgan's cove and a tunnel that led deep underground. One could sail a boat directly down the stream to Morgan's palace.

The third was the hole in the earth that Gabriel had walked into. And she was sure that he would not survive that leg of his journey.

There were several reasons why it was her most hated of all entrances to her castle, the first being the dangers that lay within the first few meters. Although they were called the Sentries of Faerie the creatures were as far from being faerie as they could possibly be. They were insults to the name she had worked so hard to get and achieve, and even though she had intended on killing them within her first week of rule, she had decided that she should just abandon the pass all together rather than trouble herself with the extermination of some pests.

The second leg of the journey was Mab's idea, and it was ingenious to say the least. Mab had the passage tunneled through a mine of sold metal, origins of which were to say the least, Magickal. The smooth surface of the walls was like a mirror. The metal reflected the truth from within those who passed through it and extracted their fears and their memories, manifesting them as physical images. Morgan found that she could control those images from the mirror in her great hall, often times having plenty of fun doing it. Creating Anna was just a minor amusement. It was part of a longer list that Morgan was just waiting to bestow upon Van Helsing, should he make it through the caves.

And then there was the final leg: the catacombs. The final resting place of the heroes and villains of Britain, some too horrible to be named. Morgan was certain that she had seen the great queen Boadicea's body on one of her ventures into the caves, but it was too long ago to be sure. Instead, she forgot about it entirely, convincing herself that even though it might seem important, it wasn't really that vital to her existence.

Morgan wasn't watching the caves though. She was arranging the swords on the table in front of her, lining them up from the first to the last. Her fingers traced over the hilts secutively, her fingertips feeling rough leather or engraved metal. The last one intrigued her, making her grin a little. The friar manages to reforge a sword with Excalibur. Maybe he is useful after all.

The realization wasn't enough to make her let Carl back inside the castle.

She picked up the small locked chest from the table and opened it carefully, finding the vampire flesh and blood still 'living' in a manner. It had not rotted or decomposed and retained the same pale complexion as Mina. The blood seemed to be thick and black though as the formula that Mina had concocted to save herself festured within the vile.

Morgan smiled at it.

The secret to true immortality, she thought with a smile, and spilled the flesh over the swords. The blood, she saved for later.


Gabriel stopped so suddenly that Mina walked right into him and the two were nearly sent to the ground.

"You should warn me before you do that." She said, not truly paying attention. The living blood in her veins gave her unusually good eyesight. It was vision that she could only remember from in the beginning of her transformation, before the antidote. Everything seemed to shine with a misty blue colour. The shadows on the wall were easily identifiable, but she wasn't paying attention. She had been listening to Gabriel's footsteps, a method of walking that was starting to fail.

Gabriel hushed her before she could say another word. He placed his finger to his lips in the darkness, staring directly at her to get her attention. Mina was silent, watching him with widened eyes as he pointed ahead of them and into the darkness.

There was the sound of clicking, a unnatural sound of legs creaking and moving along the floor and some coming - oddly enough - from the ceiling. Mina's eyes widened and Gabriel nodded.

"What do you think...?"

Gabriel shrugged again. He pulled out his sword, the sound of the iron blade on the metallic sheath causing the legs to stop moving and the clicking to stop, and the small screeches of animal communication making Mina go rigid.

He pulled the gun from his coat. With an expert eye his fired one round towards where the noise was coming from.

The bullet exploded in a flash of flame across the floor. Mina could see the creatures with surprising accuracy and their silhouettes were burned into her retinas. They were spiders, much larger than normal, screeching and throwing their bony legs into the air. The fire seemed to frighten them away with high pitched screeches of pain. Her misty blue vision couldn't make them out in the darkness after they scrambled away. They were protected by some ancient Magick, and no matter how much she squinted, they were gone.

"Come on." Gabriel sheathed the sword and grabbed hold of her hand, firing bullets into the darkness by feeling and sound. The bullets would explode and send the creatures back and away from the two. The travelled down the tunnel, moving slowly as they used every last second of the flame to hold back the spiders from doing anything unnatural to them.

There was the sound of hissing as they walked on, taking maybe three or four steps before the bullets could no longer sustain enough flame to continue burning. Once the fire vanished the spiders would move in again, scurrying over the ground and the walls as they moved after their prey. The fire frightened them, Gabriel could tell. He could hear it and sense it in the dark as they moved about him and their dark forces thrived, but were sent aback by the glowing light and growing heat of the flame.

There was the hollow click of an empty gun barrel six bullets later though, and just as Gabriel was about to reload, the final fire of the previous bullet went out, and the two were sealed in darkness.


The sound of Mina's breathing mixed with his own told them nothing had happened yet. Perhaps the spiders were weighing in the chances of success with their attack of two armed humans, both of whom were larger and stronger then themselves. But that was one-on-one fighting and certainly not two-on-God Knows How Many.

Gabriel was fluid as the stillness of the cave set in. It frightened him very little to have the odss stacked against him. Everything had to be instinct now. Impulse and instinct, his own way of life.

"Go!" He ordered Mina, pushing her into the darkness. She spun her back to the wall as she squinted through the darkness, ordering her eyes to work. She could hear the sound of metal against metal and in an instant, Gabriel had his sword drawn and at the ready, just in time as the spiders bounded towards him.

Gabriel swung downwards and heard the sound of metal against flesh. The darkness inside him was choking him as he swung back and lunged, catching two that were coming down from the ceiling. Blood was dripping off the sword profusely as he pulled back and took down another several spiders on the wall.

The hissing sounds were getting closer and denser as more of the spiders moved in. Their fangs moved and hovered around his calves, only to be thrown back and slashed against the edge of a fast moving blade. The darkness was starting to overpower his own, eating away at each other only the spiders' own was winning.

"Any time you want to help out now Mina..." He called blindly, swinging around and sending more bloody carcasses flying. There was no response to his calls, just the sound of more spiders being killed. "Mina?"

Something bit into his leg. Gabriel growled loudly and kicked the infernal thing away. Another bite came at the back of his leg and he took a step down the hall, trying to get a better fighting position.

The stunned silence of the tunnel made him still. The spiders weren't moving.

Off in the dark recesses of the tunnel there was a third darkness. It bore the sound of flapping wings and it was headed straight for them.

Gabriel wanted to sigh in relief when he heard the onslaught of bats in the tunnel. He wanted to be happy about the situation. However, he saw that being very difficult to do, seeing as how the darkness that welled up in the throat of the cave was pitch, so close to the ultimate embrace of darkness that he was scared Mina wouldn't be able to control herself once the bloodshedding began.

The spiders knew to run back. They was the sounds of their hundreds of legs backing away as Mina's bats struck with such a force Gabriel was nearly knocked off his feet. The bats were everywhere, fluttering about in the tunnel with such a lack of control that Gabriel ducked down and hid his throat from them with the high collars of his coat.

The spiders were splattered against the walls of the cave as the mouths of the bats bit and ripped at their skin. Gabriel felt fiery blood strike his cool face and slide down his cheeks a little as Mina's work finished. There was no more sounds but the fluttering of wings as they slowed and became humanoid again.

Mina was screaming as she became human again, holding her head in pain as she dragged her thoughts back to her. Gabriel stood up once again, hearing her spit out mouthfulls of blood to the floor. Faintly, he could make out her kneeling form on the floor, vomiting up the blood that had found its way into her stomach. Slowly, he approached her, in tune with the darkness that ebbed from her body, dispelled by sheer iron will and her attachment to the human world. As the last of her vampiric mind faded he knelt next to her.

She heaved forward again, bringing up nothing this time. With her hands on the floor supporting her, Mina closed her eyes and started to weep. And even though Gabriel knew he was going against the whole will of the church and everything he stood for, he wrapped his arms about her and held her tightly.


Author's Notes: Okay, it's been three weeks and I'm praying everyone hasn't lost interest. This chapter was, I know, quite a bit shorter than what I'm used to writing, but it sets the stage for the final couple chapters which will be, I can promise that the rest will be updated much more regularly now that I'm home.

Long story short, work was really heavy nearing the end of the month, my friend was getting grounded, I was getting homesick and the my computer got a virus when I got home so I had to use the one without Microsoft Office. So if there's an unnatural amount of spelling mistakes and grammatical errors, I am terribly sorry.

Reviews:

As a quick note, I would just like to say how much I appreciate everyone's reviews! They were the highlights of my day. I would come home from work, open my e-mail account and give this giddy little shriek whenever I found more! I wasn't going to respond on this chapter because I was wanting to post the chapter, but everyone was so great about putting up with my weird posts that I had to do it! Thanks everyone!

Fanfiction Fanatic: The fact that you can swim is awesome! I couldn't imagine not being able to swim. It's all I did over the summer. And I'm happy to say that I didn't explode anything at work (as funny as it would be to look back on it). I got Tim Hortons for breakfast, so it wasn't so terrible. I'm glad to hear that your recovery's going so well. I hope there's more good news for you coming soon!

Grissom: Jinette's an odd one. I just wondered why he felt so strongly about Gabriel being involved with the Vatican's 'War on Evil'. I'm happy that you enjoyed it so much! I liked writing about his past because I loved his character. He's an awesome guy to write about. He's just so...wow. And Hugh Jackman is just so...wow.

I'm glad you're still guessing about the villain. I have written up a trailer for the sequel but I'm not posting it until the last chapter of Shards, just to be difficult. I can't wait to start on the sequel either, but I'm having too much fun with story to drop it so soon either. Plus I couldn't just drop it off and leave everyone hanging. That would be cruel and unusual.

Harry Potter is awesome, there's no doubt, but the fifth book was a major disappointment (for reasons I won't reveal online. There's still people who don't know the truth). I loved that character! It was the first time I ever cried while reading a book (except when Boromir dies in LotR. I couldn't help myself). And as for John Grisham, the man is just too addictive. I have to find something else to read sigh.

I am sadly in Canada, so it comes out on the same day shakes fist. I guess I'll just be reading the novelization over and over until I see the movie. By the time it comes out I'll probably be sitting in my room twitching and murmuring the whole novel from memory. That's how it was for Kill Bill Vol. 2, but now it's out so I can focus all my attention on Van Helsing.

Nasty Little Morgan....oh I still haven't thought of a good death, although there are SO many possibilities.

J: It's weird how the weirdest information can be retained by the mind, how when you're writing an exam the silliest little memories can pop into your mind. One minute you're focusing on the slope of the tangent at x=2 or something and the next minute you're humming the theme song from the Care Bears. I love all the info and appreciate it though! It's helping me get all my facts straight for the story so the ending isn't that confusing.

Celtic Cross has many variations. In some books there are fifteen cards used including the Querant, the original ten, and an additional four to represent the elements. It's a little above and beyond, but that's me. There's also a planetary spread that I'm learning how to do, but that's for the sequel (lol, kidding).

Ah yes, I have employed lot's of overused ideas for the story. It's just that I wanted him to confront Anna one last time (whether she be a Faerie in disguise or a ghost) because I wasn't planning on having another one. I don't agree with the idea that he and Anna were meant to be. It's a little too Hollywood for me. I liked the chemistry, but I wouldn't bring her back for real for all the copies of Van Helsing in the world (for Hugh Jackman or a sequel to the movie though...well, anybody can change their minds).

I agree with you about long bows. It's unfortunate you don't see more of the Samurai weaponry in everday life. I loved The Last Samurai and you're right, when you compare the look of the Samurai drawing a bow so elegantly and perfectly you start to hate the Saxons for thinking they could ever achieve the same grace (their warfare and artillery are very plain indeed. It gets the job done, but it is fairly plain).

Verona Dracula: I wouldn't feel too bad about being late to read a chapter. Look at how long it took me to update. And I wouldn't worry too much. I have every intention of bringing back Fallon and 'Aingeal'.

I kind of figured everyone would catch onto the cards and their meanings. It was pretty self explanitory. Nice to know that it was enjoyed! I love the cards and how they can be employed to give more meaning to Van Helsing's life.

And I can't be the best author on the site, but it made my day to read it. Thank you very much!

Trinity Van Helsing: I'm glad my work has helped you with yours! Good luck with your own story.

HyperCaz: I completely agree. Thingymabob should be a word in this English language. So should firstly as well as funner (I use both in everday speech and always get corrected. And as a note to my mother, defribrilation is how it should be said. Sorry, long story short, she always corrects me on that word). I would have thought of actors, but I feel really weird writing their names in. If I had to choose actors to play my characters, I would say that Mina would be played by Peta Wilson. I really liked her portrayal in League, but that's just my preference. As for Morgan, I liked Julianna Marguiles in Mists, so I would probably get her back to play her again.

Becky Greenleaf: I am so happy you're enjoying the story that much! It's nice to know how much people are enjoying the updates. Thank you!

Scholar: Poor Carl! I'm sorry. I'll let him down and off the wall soon enough. And maybe I'll just make a line up of people ready to get a few hits in on Morgan. Like Fallon and his entire extended family, and Carl too, because Lord knows Carl would love to do something highly intelligent yet extremely immature to her (lol).

SirTiddywinkle: I love your name. You do not know how many positive feelings one gets when they read a word like 'Tiddywinkle'.

I think I'll finish with my first Van Helsing story and then move onto others. There are so many ideas and so few have been tapped into just yet! Thanks very much!

Sirhcevoli: Yay! Thanks very much. And there will be another chapter soon!

THANKS AGAIN!