Time passed slowly for Gabriel. Every day he fought new creatures, keeping busy to avoid the scene of Anna's sobbing face flashing through his mind. It pained him that he wasn't there with her. The Cardinal asked about her when he returned and he had bluntly told him what he thought of returning.

"Ah, Van Helsing, Nice journey?" The Cardinal had greeted when he entered his office as soon as they had arrived at the Vatican City. Gabriel's face was sombre and his eyes showed pain and also, amazingly, love.

"Why? Why did you have to bring be back here?" He demanded. The monster hunter looked like he was about to cry if he didn't stop himself constantly by reminding himself it was not the time.

"You are needed here Van Helsing."

"I was needed in Romania."

"And you did your job, it is time to return now." The Cardinal said, "What happened Van Helsing? What changed you in Transylvania?" So Gabriel told him everything, the fights, the battle of emotions, Frankenstein, Anna....

"I love her Cardinal! I love her so much that it hurts, and you dragged me away from her! I had to watch her tears as she ran into her home crying when we left. It was me who saw the side to her that she never let the villagers see, it was me she opened up to. And more importantly it was me who never left her side when she was injured and needed me!" Gabriel realised there was tears burning in his eyes as he screamed his emotions at his father figure. "And now, she's all alone. Again. Because of this job."

"When you regain you memory you will be thankful for this." The Cardinal said, not reacting to Van Helsing's bitter mood.

"The past is over. She is my future."

"Not any more."

So that was it. For Gabriel, he was never allowed to see her again. So the hunting continued. Day after day he watched a sunset, wondering if somewhere across the Adriatic Sea, an Eastern European princess by the name of Anna Valerious might be doing the same thing, holding the same longing in her heart as she though about the little 'what-ifs' that crossed his mind whenever he was confronted by a memory of her.

He had been called into the Cardinal's office for some unknown reason. He remembered the day well. January 6th. It was during a week when he was supposed to have been not working, but instead he was helping around the church, because otherwise he found himself lying on his bed staring at the ceiling, thinking of Anna yet again.

The Cardinal sat opposite him at his large oak wood desk. "A letter arrived for you this morning Van Helsing." Gabriel looked up at Jinette. He had never received a letter from anyone in his memory. "A letter from Romania." The Cardinal showed him the piece of paper that he had found on the steps of Rome that morning. Gabriel took it from him and read it aloud.

"Mr Van Helsing.

My name is Rachel Weaver, I am handmaiden to Princess Anna. I have raised her from the age of birth after her mother's passing and I write to you in the understanding that she needs you more than ever. Since you left, she has fallen apart. I have never seen her so careless about every thing she does, I have to force her to eat a meal once a day, for that is all she can manage in her weakened state. A week before I wrote this letter, the Princess collapsed in exhaustion after a painful fit of coughing, which she could not stop. Since then, she has not had the strength to get out of bed, not from injury as not so long ago, but from an unknown illness that our doctor cannot treat. She sleeps mostly, and when she wakes it is because of uncontrollable nightmares, in which she arises screaming and sobbing, every time calling out your name. In her sleep, she begs for you to come to her. I know not of your whereabouts, but she keeps repeating 'Vatican' in her sleep. I hope this letter reaches you. I fear she will not live through the month without you beside her, for without you; she has no reason to hold onto life. Please return to her, Mr Van Helsing. She needs you, and I need her. I cannot bear to see her in such a state. She has deprived herself of love and happiness since she lost her mother and family. Yet, I believe in you, she may finally find the strength and security she needs to rebuild her life.

Rachel Weaver."

Gabriel's face was streaming with silent tears when he finished reading the letter. The Cardinal looked sympathetically at him. Gabriel's mind was in shreds, and his heart shattered.

"Van Helsing I – "

"Now do you see?" Gabriel said, not wiping the tears from his face, half from sadness, half from anger. "If I hadn't left, she would be fine! She could be dying, and if I had stayed there this never would have happened. This is why I have to go back. I need her, but right now she needs me a lot more. I'll leave immediately." He started walking to the door but the Cardinal stopped him at the doorway.

"Wait, Van Helsing." The younger man looked up at his surrogate father. "Take Carl with you, and as much medical supplies as you wish. I hope you can make her as happy as you have made me proud. I shall pray for her safety until you arrive."

Van Helsing nodded a thanks and then left, collecting a confused Carl from the armoury and towards the stables where he mounted his faithful stallion, Lyca, and together they rode of into the distance to save Anna before it was too late.