Author's Note: I'm sorry! I'm sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry! School was ending and we're getting a pool installed and all this hectic-ness was going on and this that and the other. Sorry I'm like… FOREVER late. Well, for all of you Van Helsing fans. Here he is! And so is Carl! Carl is funny…
Disclaimer: I do not own any original Van Helsing characters. All original characters belong to Stephen Sommers and Universal Pictures and Universal Studios.
Dracula's Symphony
Chapter Five: Enter Van Helsing
Vampires swarmed over head. Their screeches pierced the air and split the minds of the villagers. They were plucking the people off of the ground like clovers from a field and devouring the flesh of their necks.
Shots were fired, silver stakes flying through the air, pinning the many vampires in the in the wings, chest, and other appendages of the monsters. Some however, were staked in the heart, or whatever was left of it, and shriveled up and turned to ash.
Van Helsing, the brave and most renowned monster hunter, accompanied by Carl, the scientific friar, were there, killing the vampires that had been tormenting the small town for what seemed like forever. Slaying vampires was a simple task, but slaying them at night, was just a bit tougher. Thankfully to Carl's genius, he had invented goggles that allowed them to see at night. The town people had been running around like chickens being terrorized by a fox, although it was practically the case.
"Why are there so many of them?!"
"Their leader must be injured or something. Vengeance maybe," Carl replied. He jumped out of the way of a vampire, landing right in front of a pile of horse manure. "That was rather close."
"Well I still don't get it," Gabriel continued to fire the stakes, "they should all be dead anyway. Or alive… Or whatever! We killed Dracula!" At the name the vampires all swooped down towards Van Helsing.
"You stupid mortal!" One of the man vampires yelled, "Dracula lives. How else would we still be able to sustain life?" The vampire was shot down and disintegrated, while the others flew around it. About five more were killed before the rest flew off.
The town was covered in the vampires' remains. As, what of was left, of the people cheered, Van Helsing gave the crossbow to Carl, who put it away in the large sack he brought everywhere. It had his belongings and some of Van Helsing's weapons.
"Did that vampire say Dracula lives?" Van Helsing looked down at Carl who was looking up at Van Helsing. They both knew the next place they'd be going.
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"Well. I don't know. It is possible, since you didn't bring him alive here," the Cardinal gave Van Helsing a small dirty look, "And someone did come in here a couple of days ago… to discuss a large vampire who had murdered nearly a fourth of the people in her village." The two of them walked through the room of the Holy Order. Carl was back at his miniature lab table, fiddling with liquid nitrate.
"I told her not to do anything; that the Holy Order would take care of it. I didn't tell her you were involved," Van Helsing sighed under his breath, "but I want you to go and check it out."
"And where might this 'little village' be?" Van Helsing asked. The Cardinal was right about to answer before Carl interrupted.
"Aha! Aha! I've got it!" he turned from his lab table, the goggles that made it look like he has ridiculously large eyes, still over his eyes. Carl removed them seeing the looks on everyone's faces.
"I'm sorry. I didn't interrupt anything did I?" Carl's naivety had the whole Order sighing or chuckling to themselves. Continuing on with what they were doing, the room was filled with the noises of creation and discovery once more.
"No Carl," the Cardinal said in a deep tone. Carl shrugged and went back to his table, grinning like a fool.
"The village is Katorez. It's a tiny little place in Transylvania. Go there, talk to Adriana Samdioes. She will tell you what happened and anything else she knows. If she refuses, tell her it is a direct order from the Cardinal," Van Helsing was about to go get Carl but the Cardinal pulled him back, "and do not let her go with you. No matter how much she begs or wants to."
Van Helsing pulled his arm back, a little freaked out by the Cardinal's more than usual serious tone. "You have my word. C'mon Carl. We're going to Katorez."
"Must I? I'm right in the middle of an experiment," he looked at Van Helsing who was gathering weapons and putting them in the large sack for them, "and why Katorez? It's so small."
Van Helsing looked at Carl, "We've got a few questions to ask."
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A pack of werewolves was on the carriage, tearing it to bits and trying to kill the driver. The horses were running as fast as they could, mostly from fear. With the carriage swaying back and worth from the speed of the horses, and the werewolves, one of them got flown off, back into the forest.
It was raining hard as the smell of wet dog fur filled the air and the nose of Adriana. She couldn't do much, since if she didn't control the horses, they would probably run directly into a tree or off the path into the forest. She pulled out her pistol with silver bullets and shot rapidly, only a few of the bullets actually landing in a werewolf.
More shots were fired and one more was off the carriage, squirming in pain on the road, before it torn off its skin and morphed into its human form.
There was only one or two more left. She put her pistol beside her and steered the horses before they didn't turn to follow the path. Adriana looked behind her to find the werewolves, but there was nothing, and the silence was eerie and unnatural.
"Maybe there was only two or three," she said aloud to herself. She looked back again only to be staring face to face with a werewolf, who was sitting on the top of the carriage. It's massive teeth and growling throat froze Adriana. She had always killed werewolves without a problem or fear, but being this close to one, chilled her blood and sent shivers down her spine.
The werewolf howled and gave Adriana time to grab her pistol and shoot it once. But before she knew it, the werewolf was on top of her, and had scratched her once on the stomach before she shot it plenty more. With the rest of it's strength it grabbed her neck, but Adriana shot it in the stomach, and the monster was flown off her and the carriage, leaving a gash in her shoulder, along with the scratch in her stomach and piercing from the werewolf's claws on her neck.
Time passed and the blood continued to come, her wounds still bleeding.
I'm going to die… I'm going to die of blood loss, she though to herself, vision becoming hazy. The carriage was pulled along by the whim of the horses as Adriana became unconscious by the amount of blood lost. The blinders on the horses blocked all vision, and the horses just continued to go on straight.
Soon the rain stopped but the horses still went, until, like Adriana had predicted, one of them ran into a tree. The three horses remaining neighed and reared up. The one horse that had been the one to actually run into the tree lay dead on the ground, tilting the carriage onto two wheels and leaving the two horses on the left hand side neighing and pawing a little in the air.
The stars shined above and the moon was only several days away from being full. Adriana's clothes were soaked in blood, they're color ruined. It seemed like it wouldn't be long till Adrian died and entered the Gates to Heaven. But, there was one thing unaccounted for.
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Author's End Note: Okay. Okay. Now I am done with this chapter. I've decided from now on, that rather than making each chapter longer than the last, I'm just going to alternate between 2 ½ pages and 3 pages to type. Unless I get really into it and type a whole lot or if I need to write more to fir everything in. This chapter was actually really hard to write, for Adriana's carriage ride part. I know what's going to happen (and some of you might have a hunch too) but it was really hard to word without giving anything away. I hope you liked it. J Please review. Tell me what you think!