It has been brought to my attention that in a previous chapeter I have displayed animal abuse by saying "kicked her horse in to a canter" when I should have said "nudged". Kay. Whatever. The fictional hosre was not under any fictional abuse, alright, Lizzy? tree hugger.

New chapter! Okay, the diolaoge is sappy, and so is the end, but I like it anyway. Oh, Elfperson, THANK YOU FOR FOLLOWING MY WRITING!!!!! Please R & R!

Is Eternity What You Want?

The youth led everyone inside and the crowd dispersed, not a little disappointed. "My name is Thomas Eilkans. I inherited this castle when my cousin, Anna, died two years ago. As you can see I've made various repairs, but other than me and a few servants, the castle is completely devoid of life." As he navigated the winding halls he pointed to restored items, rooms, and a couple of other things no cared about. At least Ashian tried to act interested; after all, she'd never been here before. But both Carl and Van Helsing were visibly bored.

Finally, Thomas led the trio to a pair of rooms. "These two rooms are the only ones other than my own that don't have leaky roofs, broken shutters, or a vermin problem of some sort. One has a large couch that may be used as a bed, so no one will be forced into uncomfortable sleeping arrangements. I, personally, suggest that the two gentlemen lodge together so the lady may have her own room; unless the lady would wish to join me in my own quarters?" Ashian had been inspecting the larger of the two rooms when Thomas made his final suggestion. Her head turned so fast that Carl swore he heard a snap of some sort.

"EXCUSE ME?!" Van Helsing and Ashian shouted in unison. Van Helsing just left it at that, but Ashian continued (like he knew she was wont to do). "Listen, kiddo, despite all the theatrics it took to get us in here, the only thing you and I are going to share is the same hundred yard breathing radius, alright?"

Thomas looked exceptionally mischievously at Ashian. "All right, if you're sure you want nothing between us. It was just a suggestion."

Ashian's nostrils began to flare (even though it hurt incredibly because of the fact her nose had been broken); a sign Van Helsing knew from experience meant that despite everything you might have thought previously, you'd want nothing more than to take back whatever you just said. "You know what, shorty? I do want something between us."

Thomas's eyebrows shot up. "Oh? What do you want between us?"

"A whole damn planet." Ashian picked up the bag she had dropped and whirled around. Before anyone could say anything else she slammed the door to the room she had claimed for herself.

Carl recovered quicker than Thomas did and scurried off to the tower, leaving Van Helsing with their host. Van Helsing finally stopped staring at the door Ashian had disappeared behind and looked over at the gangly youth. He shook his head and picked up his own bag while muttering, "Thomas, never in my life have I seen a womanizer like you crash and burn so quickly."

He threw his bag in the room that Ashian hadn't taken and followed Carl up to the tower and left Thomas to his ponderings. Eventually he went to down to the kitchens, but seeing as he's a boring know-it-all, I'd rather follow Van Helsing. So I will.

Van Helsing stalked up to the tower where Carl had already buried himself in a mountain of books. In fact, he was so engrossed that he didn't hear Van Helsing come up the stairs and jumped significantly when Van Helsing tapped him on the shoulder. When Carl finally settled down he realized it was Van Helsing who had tapped him, and it was also Van Helsing that was bent over double in laughter.

"Oh, Carl. Do you have any idea how boring the world would be without you?" Van Helsing said as he straitened up.

"If you consider being dangerously overrun with all sorts of evil boring, than yes I have an inkling."

"Dangerously overrun with all sorts of evil? Please, Carl, you've left the abbey a whole of what, twice?" Van Helsing had picked up an old tome and began flipping through it. It was, ironically, about werewolves, so Van Helsing put it down.

"No, not twice! It has actually been four times." Carl snatched the ancient book from Van Helsing's hands.

"Four times? How do you figure?" Van Helsing crossed his arms, finally interested in what Carl was going to say.

"Well, I'm out of the abbey right now, I came with you last time you were here, and then there's that time I went with you to London." ((Van Helsing: The London Assignment)) Carl was looking about as smug as the poor friar could get.

"Carl," There was a tone of amusement in Van Helsing's voice.

"Yes, Van Helsing?"

"That was three times. You said four. You are either telling me there's something I haven't heard or that you can engineer crossbows to fire fifty bolts a minute, but you can't count past three." Van Helsing was following Carl around the room with inquisitive eyes. Carl's only response was to grin impishly and grunt in satisfaction that he had finally found something Van Helsing hadn't tried to pry into. He and Ashian were more alike than they realized.

Speaking of Ashian, she finally walked into the room, but it was obvious that she had been listening to the whole conversation. Twenty-one years ago she would have barged strait in, and Van Helsing had taken extreme pains to teach her otherwise. "Carl, despite my insatiable curiosity, I'm going to avoid the dangerous topic and ask you about London. When did you and Van Helsing go to London?"

Ashian settled down a blue couch (bet you can recognize it from the movie) and listened while Carl told the story of when he and Van Helsing had gone to London to track down Mr. Hyde. Carl soon became very animated, playing up his role significantly only to be shot down by Van Helsing's raised eyebrows and curt head shakes to disprove Carl's exaggeration. By the time Carl had finished Ashian was howling in mirth.

"You kissed Queen Victoria?! But she's seventy years old!" Oh, this was very amusing.

"Well, she wasn't seventy years old when the kiss began, and really the whole affair was her doing." Van Helsing was exceptionally uncomfortable with this line of conversation. He and Ashian had both done some pretty embarrassing things in front of each other, and he only had to say a couple of words to remind her that he had enough leverage over her to shut her up. He decided to do so after five solid minutes of laughter. "Ashian, need I remind you of Robert Fanny?" The words had the desired effects, leaving Ashian white and rigid.

"Robert Fanny? What kind of person has a last name like 'Fanny'?" Now it was Carl's turn to be curious.

Ashian got of the couch, gave Van Helsing a particularly icy glare, and stalked out of the library muttering, "It was a pet name." This got Carl's attention and he ran out behind her shouting questions.

Van Helsing gave the pair a head started and began to follow them when he heard footsteps around the corner. He knew it wasn't Ashian because she wasn't near so clumsy and it wasn't Carl because he had a tendency to shuffle. That left only three options: one, it was one of the household servants; two, it was Thomas; or three, it was an intruder. It turned out to be Thomas, to Van Helsing's great disappointment.

"Umm, Mr. Van Helsing, would I be able to get a word in before Miss Valcon comes back?" Normally Van Helsing would have said later with no intention of coming back, but the boy was their host and something pinched in the youth's face told Van Helsing he had better listen.

"Of course, Mr. Elkins. What's wrong?"

"Please, call me Thomas. Now, I gathered by the condition of your party that perhaps you ran into trouble shortly before entering the town, trouble that most likely came in the form of Dracula's brides." Thomas already seemed to know what happened.

"Correct. They attacked us about two miles out." Van Helsing had slowly backed into the library. Whatever Thomas had to say, he obviously didn't want Ashian to hear it. By going back into the library, Van Helsing practically told her with a big neon ((neon hasn't been discovered yet, but who really cares?)) sign that she needed to listen in.

"Did anything unusual or, umm, potentially dangerous happen to Miss Valcon?" Thomas was hoping desperately that he wouldn't get the answer that he knew would come.

Van Helsing was leaning on the tower desk and crossed his arms to say that Thomas really needed to stop rambling. "Well, let's see. Ashian was attacked by two of the three brides, nearly kidnapped, dropped twenty feet from the air to the ground, broke her nose, and was fed on. Yes, I believe that something potentially dangerous happened to her."

Ignoring the sarcastic tone in Van Helsing's voice, Thomas became visibly worried. "Oh dear. You said she was fed on?"

"I did." Van Helsing didn't get worried often, but Thomas was beginning to draw him closer to that emotion than he'd gotten in a long while. "So what?"

"How many times has that ever happened to her?" Thomas was wringing his hands in an attempt to act calm.

"Once by all the original brides, once by both the new ones, and once by Dracula himself." Ouch. Just saying that brought back painful memories.

"Six times?!" Thomas couldn't keep the surprise out of his voice.

"Yes. What's the problem?" Okay, now Van Helsing was worried.

"There's venom in the vampirc saliva that will begin to work on the victim, whether or not the vampire dies. However, the saliva can be controlled so that a victim need not become a vampire." Thomas was speaking very rapidly.

Van Helsing was now worried and completely out of patience. "I know that already! What, you think the Order – What do you mean 'whether the vampire dies or not.'? The Order told me that if I killed Dracula that everything bitten or created by him would die!"

"It's that way only for Dracula. Because he is so powerful, most vampires latch onto that strength on the condition that if he dies, they will as well. For any other vampire this rule doesn't apply. So even if you do manage to kill Dracula, Ashian should survive." Thomas was wringing his hands so hard that they were white blotched with red.

"What on earth are you talking about?" Van Helsing felt like shaking the answers out of Thomas, but he'd done that to Carl once and almost sent him in to a coma.

"All the venom from being fed on in Ashian's blood has been working on her. After each feeding there's more venom, and after each feeding it's worked a little bit faster. The change has been gradual, and she probably hasn't noticed it at all, but she most likely has two or three more years - if not months – to live as a human. That is, assuming she isn't bitten again." Thomas hands were beginning to swell with all the abuse.

This news hit Van Helsing harder than a brick wall (pardon me for being cliché). "And if she does get bitten again?"

"Probably about a week, if not less." Thomas felt overwhelming pity for Van Helsing as he said. He wished he didn't have to be the one to tell him, but he had to know.

Ashian a vampire? It just couldn't be right; he'd have noticed. But, looking back, he realized the signs were all there. Her dark clothes, avoiding sunlight, hardly eating or sleeping. And the fight with the brides… he had thought that she had been practicing, but that wouldn't account for her enhanced hearing and sight, or that the only thing she had broken after her fall was her nose, or how the swelling and blood beneath her eyes had already gone down, or how agile she was when she jumped and moved about on the rooftops. How could he have been so stupid! Ashian was well on her way to vampirism and there was nothing he could do to stop it.

Van Helsing lifted his head from his hands at the sound of movement. Ashian had been listening at the door and bolted into the room when Thomas was done. "How long did you say I had?" Van Helsing noticed that he voice was hardly louder than a whisper – she was scared.

"Two or three years at best. As long you aren't bitten a seventh time, there might even be a way to extract the venom." Van Helsing knew there wasn't, but part of him was hopeful anyway.

"No, what did you say after that?" Ashian had her hands up on Thomas's shoulders, serching his eyes as if the answer was there.

"If you are bitten a seventh time you'll have roughly a week to live." Ashian's eyes filled with terror at his words. She stumbled back as though Thomas had hit her.

Van Helsing stood up and turned Ashian toward him, struggling to keep his voice level. "Ashian, what's wrong?"

Ashian looked up at him a dazed look in her eyes. "Dracula bit me. He's bitten me twice. I've been bitten seven times." Somehow saying it told her that it was really happening. She threw Van Helsing's hands off her shoulders and ran down the hall. Van Helsing made no move to stop her, just as shocked as Thomas and Carl (who had been listening as well, but stayed near the door of the library).

After about half an hour, Van Helsing left the quiet room where Carl still sat on a chair he had sunk into not long after Ashian left. Thomas had left quietly to wherever he went; Van Helsing didn't particularly care. Instead he went down to the stables and led his own mount out into the cool night air. Ashian's mare was already gone, and finding her was just a matter of following the set of prints left behind in the wet earth. It wasn't too hard to follow her; she had made no move to cover her tracks and the night was lit well with the full moon.

After a while, Ashian's trail led into the forest and along a small deer trail. Van Helsing had to dismount after a while, and soon came upon where Ashian had tied her own horse and then continued on foot. He followed suit, tying his mount next to hers, using a quick-release knot the two used when ever they had snuck out of school. Moving slowly, Van Helsing followed her path of snapped twigs and scattered leaves to a clearing on a hill. Van Helsing considered chewing her out for being so careless in the woods, but one look at her drove out all thoughts of being coarse with her.

Ashian had evidently heard him climb up the hill, but paid him no heed. She just continued to stare up at the clouded night sky, knees bent, arms crossed over them, and her head resting mournfully on the whole arrangement. Instead of breaking the silence, Van Helsing sat next to her, his coat fanning out behind him. Heaven knows how long they sat there, one contemplating the easiest way to fall on the stake, the other hoping she wouldn't ask him to do it for her.

"What are you looking at?" It was Van Helsing who spoke first. He was leaning back on his hands, watching Ashian's silhouette.

"A blank, dismal, night sky. Not unlike my future." Ashian voice was completely devoid emotion.

"Ashian, as odd as it is coming from me, are you sure you're not being overly dismal? After all, you don't work for the Order, and even if you did, I don't think they'd…" Van Helsing trailed off, not sure if he should say it or not.

"Don't think they'd have you kill me?" Ashian's voice had gone from flat to icy. Well, at least it was a start. "Van Helsing, what am I going to do? For the past twenty years life has just been kill or be killed. I never once stopped to question if I was killing evil demons or misunderstood beings. Now, I'm going to be that which I have hunted so passionately." Van Helsing grinned a little. For a moment she had sounded like the Frankenstein monster when he had discovered that Van Helsing had been bitten.

"Alright, now you're just being dramatic. I've been in your shoes before, I know what you're going through, remember?" Van Helsing sat up and began to play with his hat.

"But there's a cure for being a werewolf. There is no possible way for me to stop being a vampire." Ashian finally stopped examining the skies and looked to Van Helsing.

"True, but in all technicality, being a werewolf is considered a disease. Vampirism isn't." Van Helsing playfully put his hat on Ashian's head, just like he had done to Anna two years ago. "You have the strongest will I've ever encountered, non-humans included. You'll be just fine."

Ashian grinned at this uncharacteristic show of optimism. She liked this lighter side of Van Helsing, dirty hat and all. "Wow, I must have sunk pretty low if I needed you to point out the sliver lining."

Van Helsing returned her smile. "Yes, you did. Don't do it again."

Ashian's grin was pained, and didn't reach her eyes. She was just acting for Van Helsing's sake. "You really think it will turn out all right?"

Van Helsing looked Ashian up and down before answering. "Yes, I really do. I don't know why or how, but I think you'll be just fine."

Just as he said it, the clouds began to clear up, and within fifteen minutes, the beautiful night sky was showing through. "Thank you, Van Helsing. For everything."

"Not a problem." Van Helsing laid down to get to get a better view of the stars. On an impulse, he reached out for Ashian's arm and pulled her alongside him. At first she was reluctant, but soon nestled in to his warm side, her head on his outstretched arm, listening to his heartbeat. Before long, Van Helsing's breathing became slow and steady, his eye's closed, and his head leaned against Ashian's. She lay there thinking about her new life, and decided it wouldn't be so bad as long as Van Helsing was there to chase the clouds away.