(A/N: New chapter. After this is the epilog and I'm done!! Reviews…
Artemis 1860: Wow, you're fast. Don't worry, it's not ending there. I'm not evil…if I was evil then I wouldn't write anymore of the story.
Melancholy Taco: Wow! Your review was long! But confusion understood. It was the Undertaker. The whole eye thing, yeah. One of my friends has light green eyes that are pale. I meant to type 'light' but it came out 'bright' because I was talking to my friend on the phone and not paying attention to what I was doing. The whole reason Mara is good at that will be explained soon, so hold your horses! She is only really good with a sword or pistol. I will take your suggestions. Thanks!
Sugar-crystal-101: You'll see what happens.
Elwin 16: Talk about poor Veta. (Do commentaries. Very funny)
I don't own Van Helsing.)
Budapest
Mara woke up coughing up water. She was lying on one of the stone floors of the catacombs. Mara sat up and looked at Van Helsing, who was kneeling next to her, and Anna. The look on the girl's face asked 'Did we save them? Are they away from Dracula?'
Anna looked down in reply. Mara bit her lower lip, determined not to cry. Van Helsing picked her up and they left, their number down by two.
Mara slept all the way back to Vaseria. She was exhausted and knew she would need her rest for the up coming battle. They had to find Dracula. They just had to. They had to save Veta. The first place they looked was Frankenstein's castle.
The four burst into the laboratory (each back in their old clothes) and found…nothing.
"They must have taken all the equipment to Dracula's lab." Van Helsing said. Mara sunk down on a crate.
"Then we've lost." Anna said.
"Dracula cannot bring his children to life till the sun sets. We still have time." Carl said.
"Really? I thought vampires hated the night." Mara said sarcastically, a touch of anger in her voice. She put her head back in her hands. "Veta, where are you?" she whispered.
"Time! The sun sets in two hours and we've been searching for him for more than four hundred years." Anna pointed out rather loudly.
"At least it's something." Mara said raising her head. She tried to sound optimistic, but instead only sadness came through.
"Well, I wasn't around for those four hundred years, now was I?" Carl said.
Back at Valerious Manor, Mara had the small piece of cloth in her hand as she looked at the map of Transylvania. Van Helsing, Anna and Carl were beside her. She placed the cloth in the area where it was torn out of.
"In the name of God, open this door." she said. To her astonishment, it worked. The rivers turned to ice and the painting vanished, leaving a mirror.
"A mirror." Carl said.
"But Dracula has no reflection in a mirror."
"Maybe, maybe to Dracula it isn't a mirror at all." Van Helsing pointed out.
Mara tried to touch her hand to the mirror. To her surprise, her hand went through.
"Well, that answers that question." she said pulling her hand out, seeing it covered in snow.
Van Helsing grabbed a torch and stood in front of the mirror.
"See you on the other side." he said.
"There is no way you are going without me. Veta needs me. The sooner I get there the better." Mara said buttoning her coat and she slipped on her gloves as she put on her hat. She grabbed a torch and stood next to the monster hunter. Van Helsing looked at the girl. Amazing. Here we are, the mission we may not come back from, but she is not concerned for her life but her friend's. Van Helsing thought.
He took her hand and they stepped through the portal together.
Castle Dracula was a frozen wasteland covered in frozen corpses and was built to strike fear in the hearts of all who beheld it. Soon, Anna was next to them.
"Castle Dracula." she said. The group began to move forward till they heard Carl coming through. They all turned to see him come though, arms held out and eyes closed. When he opened his eyes, he turned right around to ran into the mirror. He hit the glass and fell flat on his rear.
In spite of herself, Mara smiled and laughed slightly. The friar quickly stood and ran over to them.
"Do we have a plan? It doesn't have to be Wellington's at Waterloo but some sort of plan would be nice." Carl asked.
"We are going in there and stop Dracula." Anna said.
"And kill anything that gets in our way." Van Helsing finished.
"Let me know how that goes." Carl said and began to try and run away.
"Oh no you don't." Mara said grabbing his collar and yanking him back. "It's all for one and one for all on this mission."
Van Helsing dropped the torch and grabbed Carl and Anna's collars. Mara realized what was going on and grabbed onto his neck. Van Helsing jumped straight up to the transom on top of the door. He then jumped down into the foyer. Van Helsing then crouched on the ground. Mara bent down, trying to see if he was alright. He looked as if he was in a lot of pain.
"Well, as grateful as I am to be out of the cold, that doesn't seem like a good thing." Carl said, sounding near panicked. Van Helsing stood, after a moment of pain.
Mara looked around. The place a covered in cocoons, each with a wire attached.
"Oh my God…" she whispered. There were thousands of sacks, maybe near a million of them.
"If he brings all these to life," Anna started.
"The world would be a smorgasbord." Van Helsing finished.
"And we all know how fun that would be." Mara said sarcastically.
They heard mumbling near them. It was Igor.
"How did you…" Impossible." he said. Mara immediately pulled out her dagger and threw it at him. The dagger went through his sleeve and cut into the stone behind him, pinning Igor to the wall. Mara pulled out her pistol as they all gathered around their catch.
"Please don't kill me." he pleaded.
"And why not?" Mara said putting the barrel to his head. She was clearly angry at him for helping to take Frankenstein and Veta. Her thoughts of rage were interrupted by a cry. Van Helsing glanced through a window with metal bars next to Igor, who was definitely stuck to the wall.
"You got lucky." Mara told him and removed her pistol. She returned it to it's resting place on her hip as she looked down through the window. There was Frankenstein, frozen in a block of ice. All of a sudden, there was a roar above them. Mara's head jerked upward.
"My master has awakened." Igor said.
The chain that was connected to Frankenstein's frozen prison began to move upward. Van Helsing began to pull the bars apart, but the opening was to small.
"Move over." Mara said as Frankenstein began to wail below them.
"There is a cure." Frankenstein suddenly said.
"What?" Van Helsing asked.
"Dracula has a cure to lift the curse of the werewolf." Frankenstein said. Mara then lunged out and tried to grab him. Van Helsing grabbed her other hand so she wouldn't fall. Mara touched the ice a second before the monster was out of reach and she began to fall.
"Go, find the cure. Save yourself." Frankenstein said and was gone.
Van Helsing held tight to her hand as Mara placed her free hand on his. To fall would be very bad. Van Helsing pulled her up and set her on the ground.
"That wasn't one of my best ideas." the girl mumbled. "So what do we do now?"
"You heard him. C'mon, let's find it." Anna told him.
"Why? Why does Dracula have a cure?" Van Helsing asked.
"I don't care." Anna said.
"I do.
"Because…" the friar spoke up. "the only thing that can kill him is a werewolf. The painting, that's what it meant." Carl said.
That was all Mara needed to know. With that, the girl silently slipped away to find the nearest set of stairs. Dracula could be defeated. There was a small ray of hope. It wasn't much, but it was something. That was all she needed. Mara got to the end of the hall and turned back. Van Helsing and Anna were kissing.
"So he is human." she smiled and raced up the stairs. Her flight up them was uneventful, thankfully. Then she found the lab.
"Let the hunt begin." she whispered. They already had Frankenstein strapped to the table of sorts. Her eyes moved past them and found Veta. The hem of her dress was now torn and her hair was a mess. She looked like she had not slept since she was taken. Frankly, Mara didn't blame her. Then, Mara spotted the chain around Veta's ankle. The chain was long and it was attached to one of the machines to ensure her probability of escape was slim to none.
Mara ducked down as a Dwerger walked past her. Dracula grabbed Veta by the back of the neck. Mara froze. What was he going to do?
"Work the generator." he told her. Veta didn't move. "If you value your life, I suggest you do as I say." the vampire said and tossed her to the ground. Mara looked across the room and saw a bit of a muddy black coat quickly disappear behind a column.
"Van Helsing." she whispered. Then she saw it, Dracula was getting dangerously close to the monster hunter's hiding place. Mara had to distract him, but still give Veta the chance to get out. Her mind was racing and time was running out. Mara pulled out her trusty pistol.
"I'm going to get myself killed tonight." she whispered as she stood. She ran out into the lab and shot at Veta's chain. The chain broke as Dracula turned and saw her.
"Veta, run!" Mara shouted running towards her friend. Mara pushed Veta in front of her as the two ran like heck. Suddenly, Mara was caught by her coat. Dracula had her. She slipped it off and ran as hard as she could. Then Dracula was in front of her.
"Keep running Veta!!" Mara shouted before she was knocked back by the vampire. Mara grabbed her coat as she scrambled back into the lab. She slipped it on as she tried to lose Dracula in the maze of machines. Suddenly, there was a loud roar and the lab shook. Sparks flew everywhere as Mara screamed and fell to the ground.
"Give me LIFE!" Dracula roared, his attention turning to the monster above him as the first bolt almost woke his children. Then he saw him. Van Helsing was freeing Frankenstein. Dracula transformed with a roar of fury. Next thing Mara knew, he was gone.
The girl stayed in her hiding spot, till Van Helsing landed three feet in front of her.
"Oh my God, are you alright?" she said bending over him. His shirt was torn and he was soaking wet. She helped him to his feet as another lightning bolt shook the lab. Mara screamed as she fell to the ground once more.
Mara was back up first and helped Van Helsing to do the same once more. The two walked out into the lab to see it almost destroyed from the two bolts. Two Dwergers passed them that were on fire.
"You are to late my friend. My children LIVE!!"
They turned to see Dracula.
"Then the only way to kill them, is to kill you." Mara said just before Van Helsing pushed her behind him.
"Correct." Dracula said with almost a smirk on his face.
"So be it." Van Helsing said and turned to look at the clock, which began to toll midnight. "One." he said and roared. Mara knew what was happening. He was transforming.
She quickly backed away from him.
"No, this can't be right." Dracula said as Van Helsing grew in size. Next thing Mara knew, Van Helsing was a huge black wolf with very sharp teeth.
"We are part of the same game, Gabriel. Let us not find ourselves on the opposite side of the board." Dracula said. Was that a trace of nervousness in his voice?
"You can't talk your way out of this one." Mara said. Dracula took flight toward the skylight. The wolf jumped up and grabbed him as Mara shot holes in the bat's wings. The two monsters crashed onto the machines. Fire and sparks flew everywhere. Mara screamed and ducked behind the nearest thing she could find, her hat falling off her head.
Dracula was human again. "You are being used Gabriel, as was I. But I escaped and so can you."
"You are just going to use him, instead!" Mara shouted no longer in her hiding place.
"We could be friends, partners, brothers in art." Dracula tried to convince him. The wolf pounced and Dracula changed again. Dracula fled, but accidentally flew through a blue spark of electricity and crashed on the catwalk. He was back in human form, blood covering the scratches on his face and it looked like his left arm was bleeding.
"I can give you your memories, Gabriel. I can give you your life back." Dracula said. The wolf jumped up on the catwalk. Dracula took his bat form and tried to fly away but the wolf caught him by the neck. The wolf growled and Dracula roared.
Suddenly the wolf began to shrink and was Van Helsing once more. Van Helsing jumped down from the catwalk and staggered backward as Dracula changed into human form. Mara ran over to him and grabbed his arm.
The girl stood in front of him. She knew he was weak, and that Dracula knew he was weak.
"Did I mention, it was you who murdered me?" Dracula stated more than asked. "It must be such a burden, to be the Left hand of God."
Suddenly, Dracula was behind them. The two whirled around and Mara put herself between Van Helsing and Dracula.
"I also, would like the return of my ring." Dracula said showing his left hand. His ring finger was missing. Van Helsing looked at the ring on his hand as the two began to back away from the approaching vampire. Suddenly, Dracula's tone changed.
"You used to have a family, Gabriel. About seven or eight years ago, I believe. You were so happy, you and your wife. Her blood was so rich and sweet. However, I did miss your daughter. Funny you should return with her at your side." Dracula said glaring at Mara.
Van Helsing and Mara looked at each other with surprise. He's my father!! she thought. But she couldn't think of that now. Now, she had to deal with Dracula. Mara pulled out her pistol and fired at him. All of a sudden, Dracula had shoved her onto the floor with her pistol gone flying. Now, there was nothing between Van Helsing and Dracula.
"Don't be afraid Gabriel. I will give you your life back, your memories." Dracula said fangs growing.
"Some things are better left forgotten." Van Helsing said as the clouds cleared outside. The wolf had returned. Dracula changed into his bat form and the wolf pounced. Mara scrambled up and ran toward the door. She turned back to see the wolf bite the vampire. He screamed at clawed at the wound as black blood oozed out of it. Dracula's body shrank until only the bones were left. Then the bones themselves turned into dust and the wind blew them away.
Anna and Veta ran up next to Mara. She had a needle with a red serum in her hand.
"Give me that." Mara said and took it. She pulled out her rifle and put it in the barrel. The wolf saw her and began to charge. God help us if this doesn't work. Mara prayed. Mara fired and the needle flew through the air and landed squarely in the wolf's stomach as it pounced on Mara. The girl let out a scream.
The wolf looked up and roared at Anna, then straightened. He pulled the empty needle out and looked at it. The hair began to fall off as the wolf was now Van Helsing once again. Carl rushed in but Van Helsing didn't notice since he was looking at the girl on the floor. Her eyes were closed and she was motionless.
"Is she…dead?" Veta asked Anna.
"I…I think so."
Van Helsing sat on the ground and cradled the girl against his chest, sadness filling his eyes. Veta began to ball.
"I…can't believe it." Carl said.
"She tried to protect…me." Van Helsing whispered as he began stroking her hair.
"She was a little annoying at times but…I still thought of her as my own." Carl said.
"I heard that." came a weak voice. Van Helsing looked down to see that Mara was awake, and alive.
"Hi. Don't ever do that again. It hurts…a lot." Mara said. Van Helsing only laughed and kissed her forehead.
"I was worried about you." The monster hunter told her.
"You are my dad after all." Mara said.
"He's your what!?!" Veta shouted bending down to her.
"I'll explain later."