Transylvania, 1890
Running. It seemed to him that he was always running from something or another, whether it was gargoyles, escaped madmen, or himself. Chasing. He was, strangely, doing a lot of that, too. He chased monsters all the time but he chased memories in his sleep. Sometimes he wished he hadn't killed Dracula. Then he wouldn't have had to chase his past like a shadow, or run away from the guilt and the memory of the death of the last of the Valerious. It was interesting how he had come so close to burying that fact only to head back to the Vatican in Rome from Germany only to be told he needed to go back to Transylvania to slay a vampire. Another one. It never ended, did it?
And here he was again, in a Transylvanian town. Standing with Carl in the street while a crowd formed a ring around him anxiously, waiting to hear what he had to say. They were almost as broken-hearted concerning the Valerious tragedy as he. Van Helsing inspected the deep, vicious marks on the side of the young man's neck, the angry red gashes where his blood had been drained. He sighed. He wanted as much as they did for the perpetrator to be something, anything other than a vampire. Unfortunately, it wasn't exactly his choice. He bowed his head and crossed himself, then opened his eyes and glanced at the insignificant, barely notisable object beside the man. He had known it would be there. At least there seemed to be only one.
He had been told it would be there. It had been at the site of every victim. He picked the blood-spotted handkerchief up and inspected it. It looked as though it had been used to wipe away the remnants of a meal, which it probably had.
He heaved another sigh and stood up slowly. Addressing the crowd, he said, "I'm afraid it is, indeed, a vampire." The crowd whispered frantically, like trapped rats.
"Is Dracula back?" asked a fearful woman from the left in a loud voice. More voices, growing louder. Van Helsing took a deep voice and raised his voice so as to be heard above the mob.
"It is not Dracula," he said, "nor was it any of his brides." He knew it was true. He would have remembered one of them being so meticulous as to bring around so many lace handkerchiefs for every time they fed. "I promise you I shall find the creature and kill it."
A cheer rose from the gathering. Van Helsing nodded his head as closure of the vow, then turned his attention to Carl. The friar was kneeling before a large cloth bag, looking for the things they would need. He had brought a lot of everything, just to be certain they could kill whatever was there.
"Ah...let me see," he muttered to himself. "Holy Water, crucifix, silver stakes, garlic- lots and lots of garlic- ah, some more silver stakes-"
"Come on, Friar," Van Helsing interrupted. Carl jumped and dropped a flask of Holy Water, then looked up and ruffled his hair. "Oh, Van Helsing, it's you," he said, sounding slightly relieved.
Van Helsing nodded, and held out his hand to the other. "Let's head out. It's daylight, after all."
Carl nodded absent-mindedly. "Oh, yes...er, what does that have to do with anything?"
"We can hunt them down without them hunting us as well," explained Van Helsing with a smile. "I find it preferable to the chance that they'll attack us."
Carl thought, then grinned sheepishly. "Of course! And I have some interesting facts to tell you about the vampire."
Van Helsing slung the sack over his broad shoulder and said, "Well, speak, Carl. We'll need all the help we can get." He began walking down the street.
Carl hurried to catch up with him and said, "Well, we already know that all the attacks happened in this general area, but the earliest ones happened right around..." he pointed to a dark cluster of trees a ways away. "That forest."
Van Helsing groaned. "No surprises there. What else?"
"Well, there is a family- just one- that lives on the edge of that forest. They have two children- a nine year old son, Hertis, and a five year old daughter, Marishka."
Van Helsing looked at Carl. There were pieces of this puzzle, but he wasn't sure how they fit together. "Marishka? But isn't that the name of-?"
"One of Dracula's brides, yes," Carl confirmed. "The one you killed, actually."
Van Helsing nodded thoughtfully. "Go on."
"Well, the children like to play in that forest. They've never notised anything like this before, and you would think they would, which suggests this creature just moved here."
"Or was just created," cut in Van Helsing. "All right then, is that it?"
"The boy and the girl say they have seen a figure walking through the trees lately. The boy was afraid, but the girl stays out late. Her parents say nothing has happened to her."
Van Helsing shook his head, frowning. "It doesn't make sense."
"I'll say it doesn't," Carl agreed. "But at least we know where to look for this beast."
"Before we do, I think I'd like to talk to the family, particularly the little girl," Van Helsing said firmly. "We might learn something, we might not, but it's worth a try."
Carl nodded. "Yes. It's worth a try."
"Mama, mama, look," they heard a little girl's voice call from the yard as they approached the small house. "There's two men outside!"
Van Helsing walked up to the gate and set the bag down. A woman came out suspiciously, then saw it was just the monster hunter.
"Oh, Mister Van Helsing," she said in a relieved tone of voice, fanning herself. "I suppose you must search the forest?"
Van Helsing nodded. "Well, yes, I must. But before that..."
"You want to speak to Hertis? He tells all the neighborhood boys the story f his encounter with the frightening thing in the woods. It must have reached your ears." The woman asked.
"No, actually, I would like to talk to your daughter." He looked at the little blonde girl, who was patiently humming to herself.
The woman looked surprised. "Marishka? All right, but...she is only five, you see."
He nodded. "Yes, I know. And, if you don't mind my asking..." he looked at the girl again. "Why did you name her Marishka?"
The woman nodded. "I cannot say I'm surprised. We are asked that question often." She sighed. "She is named after an ancestor, nothing more."
Van Helsing nodded. "And would that ancestor happen to have been bitten by Count Dracula?"
The townswoman nodded. "Well, yes."
Van Helsing scratched his chin reflectively.
The woman shrugged. "But she was still good to our family. In the years after she was bitten, Dracula and his brides never once harmed our home or family. She may have been a vampire, but she showed true loyalty."
Van Helsing contemplated that. "Very well, you've made a point. May I speak with both of your children? They sound as though they have different sides of the same story to tell."
"Of course, I'll go fetch them," said the mother, and called her children over. Van Helsing glanced at Carl. "Did you hear that?"
Carl nodded furiously. "Yes, I did, and it makes perfect sense. And it provides us with an excellent clue. If this vampire was ferocious to the children, as the boy says, it is a stray vampire. One of no importance. On the other hand.."
"If the vampire was kind to the children, as the girl undoubtedly says ," Van Helsing said slowly, "then it is somehow related to Dracula."
"Precisely," Carl said miserably.
They stood for a moment in horrible silence, then the children came running over.
"You wanted to talk to us, sir?" said the boy, his hair unruly and sounding short of breath.
Van Helsing smiled at them and knelt down to their eye level. He didn't remember being so young, so innocent. It was an interesting feeling. "Yes, I did. I need you two to tell me what is living in this forest."
The boy grinned, excited. "Ooh! Can I tell it first?" he asked eagerly.
Van Helsing laughed. "Go ahead."
Hertis' grin grew wider. "Well, it was a couple of nights ago, and me and Marishka were out in there, and it was dark. Suddenly, swoosh, we heard something in the trees. It was coming after us!! So we hid behind a rock to see what it was. And it was the thing!! That was killing people!! And-"
"Excuse me, but how did you know that was what it was?" asked Carl, sitting beside them.
Hertis stared at him and said, "Because of its big bat wings!"
Carl and Van Helsing exchanged a serious look quickly. Dracula had those.
"All right, then. Continue, please," Carl said somberly.
Hertis nodded. "Well, I saw it land and well, I couldn't really see it much 'cause it was all in shadow, and it turned back to normal, and I didn't want it to get me, so I told Marishka to come with me, but she didn't, and I ran home. And that's all." he finished lamely.
Van Helsing thought, then said patiently, "Thank- you, Hertis, you can go."
The boy grinned again, then ran off into the yard. Van Helsing watched him fondly before turning to the girl.
"Marishka? Will you tell me what happened?" he asked the fair-haired child. She was standing, thinking.
"Umm, yes," she said. Hearing the Transylvanian accent in such young a voice made the men smile. "Well, it was dark outside when me and Hertis got out, and we were walking and we heard the wind. And when we looked over, we saw a bat shadow in the trees. And it went to the ground and stretched its wings and turned back. And Hertis was really scared so he went home. But I wasn't scared."
Carl looked at her sort of pensively. "Why not?"
Marishka shrugged. "I don't know. She saw me and-"
"She?" interrupted Van Helsing, startled. "You mean, this vampire with the bat wings is a- is a woman?"
Marishka nodded. "Yes."
Van Helsing and Carl looked at eachother again, this time confused. Dracula had bat wings, but he was a man. His three brides looked nothing like bats.
"What else?" Carl asked quickly.
Marishka went on: "She saw me and came over, and asked me my name. I told her, and she smiled at me and sat on the rock next to me. She was nice, and she was pretty. She talked to me, and asked me how my family was, and my brother. I liked her."
Marishka looked up. "I like to go and talk to the beautiful lady. She's nice to me." She lowered her voice. "She gave me this and told me to keep it." The young girl held out her hand and in it was a gold earring. It was too fine a thing for any peasant to own.
"What did she look like?" Van Helsing asked.
"She was in a pretty dress and shoes, and she had a kind face," Marishka answered. "Her hair was long and black, and her eyes were brown, and her skin was olive. Like she was from...from China. But her eyes weren't like that." She pulled the corners of her eyes out to demonstrate the appearance of Oriental eyes. "Her eyes were normal, like mine."
"I see." said Van Helsing, then stood up briskly. "Well, Carl, let's head out to the forest. We need to find this vampire, and find her quickly."
He nodded politely at the girl. "Thank you, Marishka, I feel much better now that I know that."
The girl smiled at him, then dashed away, humming.
Carl watched her, then murmured, "I don't understand it, Van Helsing. A female vampire with wings like a bat...obviously not Dracula or a bride. Yet kind only to the family of Marishka. Who was it?"
Van Helsing shrugged. "I wish I knew. Now, come on, Carl; let's find and kill her."
Carl shuddered. "Quite right. I'm coming!"
Van Helsing lifted once more the bag of tricks for their foe and trudged on towards the shade of the forest, Carl at his heels, nervous.
It was evening by the time they reached the centre of the forest. Van Helsing walked over to a huge tree and leaned against it.
"We've been walking for a while. What do you say we take a break?" he asked Carl, who nodded wearily. He wasn't as physically inclined as Van Helsing was.
"Now, where do you suppose she could be?" he asked, reaching for a jug of water and popping open the lid.
"Well, if my theory is correct, there's no way we'll be able to find it until nightfall," replied Carl. Van Helsing rolled his eyes and took a long drink, then handed the canteen to his friend.
"You don't say. I was thinking that, since this is the area Marishka claimed to see her, she'd be around here." Van Helsing replied, gesturing at the environment.
"That, too," Carl agreed, taking a gulp. "Would you like to check now, before the sun sets completely?"
Van Helsing nodded and stood, stretching, then motioned for Carl to follow. Carl sighed and got to his feet, proceeding him.
Van Helsing walked around the tree. There was a large pile of rocks beyond it, large enough to be a cave. He began walking around it cautiously, peering into the space carefully. The sun had almost set.
Suddenly, he stopped. Carl nearly ran into him.
"What is it?" he asked urgently.
"Come here, Carl," he said, and Carl moved to see what he saw.
"Oh, my God," Carl breathed. "Is it...what is it?"
Van Helsing shook his head wonderingly. "I'm not sure."
Before them was an odd mist, almost an earthbound cloud, shimmering. As they stared upon it, the sun went below the horizon and night fell. The glitter became a mist that seemed to harden into a sparkling mirror. Van Helsing had seen something similar to that only once; the entrance to Dracula's castle.
"Where does it lead?" Carl asked fearfully.
"I don't know." Van Helsing replied, then stiffened in his resolve. "But I do know how to find out." And he stretched out his hand and walked through.
Terrified, Carl called after him. There was no response, and he bit his lip and ran after him.
Behind them, the ominous fog twinkled in the moonlight, then slowly faded into nothing and the forest grew deathly quiet.
The term 'beautiful lady', used by Marishka for describing the vampire she met in the woods, was actually taken from Bram Stoker's Dracula. In the story, Lucy Westenra becomes a vampire after dying and begins to feed upon the children of her town. They are all found sick, lacking blood, and with two small red marks on their throats. Oddest of all, every child afflicted tells those at the hospital they want to go out and play with the 'bloofer lady', who has supposedly been affecting them. Obviously, 'bloofer' is how the little children say 'beautiful'.