Disclaimer: still don't own nothing.

I'm sooooooo sorry it took so long for me to update! I'm in gr. 8 now and there is so much more homework! I got 3 tests on the first week! Holy! Anyway, here's the chapter you've all been waiting for…..

Chapter 10:

"NO!" Vixen screamed, suddenly jolting up from bed. Sweat poured down her forehead, and her heart pounded like crazy. Where was she? Was she still at Dratama's lair? she scanned her surroundings and noticed that she was sitting on soft, cushiony bed with transparent blue curtains surrounding it. Wiping the sweat off her forehead, she tried to get off the bed but the pain in her wrists and ankles stopped her. Great, now she couldn't even attempt to escape. Just when she thought things couldn't get any worse, her head started pounding.

"Great, a headache," she muttered, "with how my luck's going, Dratama's probably going to come in right now." As if on cue, she heard a door suddenly creak open. Vixen cursed under her breath and reached down for the dagger in her high-heeled boots to find that he wasn't wearing them. In fact, all the clothes she was wearing before were replaced with a large man's shirt and a pair of loose brown pants. Someone changed her clothes while she was unconscious! That bastard! Vixen searched around the bed for any weapon to defend against the approaching footsteps. Touching her hair, she took a steel clip. This would have to do. She raised the weapon, just as the silk curtains open…

"Whoa!" the man exclaimed, grabbing her wrist before the clip landed in his eye. Vixen blinked.

"Gabriel?"

"And Carl too!" Carl piped up from behind. To everyone's surprise, the first thing she did was pinch Gabriel's cheeks as hard as she could.

"Ouch! What was that for?" he moaned, rubbing his sore cheek.

"Oh my god! It isn't as dream! I'm so glad to see you!" Vixen squealed, jumping into Van Helsing's arms. Gabriel looked surprised for a moment, but he slowly smiled and patted her back softly.

"Me too," he whispered, burying his face in her hair. Without noticing it, Vixen sighed contently and closed her eyes. Her large white shirt made her feel even safer and warmer. Wait a second! Large white shirt? Vixen wiggled out of Gabriel's arms and looked down at her clothes. If Dratama wasn't the one that changed her clothes…

"What's the matter?" Gabriel asked worriedly as Vixen's face suddenly turned red.

"Um…where are my…uh…clothes?" Vixen asked, tugging at her sleeve nervously. Carl could have sworn that he saw the tiniest hints of a blush crawling up Van Helsing's face.

"Oh…um…about that, your clothes were very dirty and we had to tend to your wounds so I…but don't worry! I didn't see anything," - Vixen blushed at this - "I had a blindfold on."

"He couldn't see anything, but he did touch…" Carl said out loud without thinking. Gasping as if she never thought of that before, Vixen suddenly pulled the curtains closed. Wincing, Gabriel turned slowly around to look at Carl. The poor friar smiled weakly. Gabriel pointed to the door and made a slashing motion near his neck, clearly stating his message to him; get out or you're dead. Carl nodded and rushed out of the door, relieved that he wasn't getting pummelled.

When the friar had gone, Gabriel turned back to the bed and ran a hand through his hair. How should he explain this? Then again, how could he explain to a woman that he had undressed her while she was unconscious? Behind the curtains, Vixen watched Gabriel's shadow pacing nervously back and forth across the room. He seemed tense…he couldn't possibly…there was no way…he did! She suddenly had the urge to laugh out loud, and automatically slapped her hands on her lips. Unfortunately, a small sound escaped and Vixen prayed that Gabriel didn't figure out that she wasn't mad. Seeing him all nervous was just too funny. Fortunately for Vixen, when Gabriel heard the sound, he had no idea that Vixen was trying not to laugh. He thought that she was actually crying. Hitting his forehead, he felt even guiltier. Why didn't he just tell her that he hired a maid to undress her? That would be lying, but at least she would feel better. Now look what he did, he made her cry. That was enough to make his heart break. Not knowing what to say, he peered into the curtain and saw her huddled in a corner, her form shaking. He heard another sound coming from the young woman. Thinking that she was sniffling, he took a deep breath and took a step closer to the bed. He had to say something.

"I'm really sorry, Vixen. I know that innocence is the most important thing to a woman but you had many wounds and I was afraid that they might get infected with the dirt on your clothes. I swear to God that I never did anything that was inappropriate to your body," he was starting to blabber now, the words coming out of his mouth before he could even think about what he was saying, "I would never even think about doing that to your body. Not that you're not beautiful. I mean, you're gorgeous and - " He stopped abruptly when he heard laughter coming from behind the curtains. Frowning, he flung open the curtains to find Vixen rolling on the bed, clutching her stomach from laughter.

"Vixen?" he said hesitantly. Vixen took a deep breath and sat up on the bed, brushing a lock out of her face. She strained to put on a straight face but couldn't help stopping a wide smile from spreading across her face.

"It's okay, Gabriel, you don't have to apologize," she said, "I know you just wanted to help me and didn't mean anything by it."

"I'm really, really sorry…"

"It's alright, Gabriel, I'm not mad at you. After everything you've done for me, don't you think I know that I can trust you? It's not as if you're a pervert or anything." Van Helsing smiled; glad she stopped him before his blabbering led him to telling her how he loved the feel of her velvety soft skin against his rough hands. Then he frowned as he thought of something.

"If you were never angry at me, why did you pull close the curtains?"

"A woman gets really embarrassed when she realizes a man undressed her while she was unconscious, you know. I was afraid I would turn as red as a ripe tomato, and I was told by people that red isn't my best colour," she said, with a smile.

"But if you knew that I thought you were mad at me all along, then why didn't you say anything earlier?"

"Seeing you like that was just too damn funny," she giggled. Gabriel couldn't help laughing too.

"Come, sit down," she said, patting the spot next to her on the bed. Gabriel sat down, the bed sinking down a little.

"I was just wondering…how did you find me?" she asked, still smiling, but Van Helsing could see that it didn't quite reach her eyes.

"We found you tied up on a tree in the forest. Why?"

"Oh, no reason," she said, "when's the last time you cleaned this shirt? It kind of smells." Gabriel knew she was just changing the subject, but he went along anyway by laughing.

"Don't remember, but I would be careful if I were you." Vixen wrinkled her nose and tugged at the shirt.

"I think you better get out," she said.

"What? Why?" he frowned, "don't tell me you were lying when you said you weren't mad at me."

"Of course not!" she laughed, patting his knee reassuringly, "I just need you to get out so I can change out of these clothes and take a bath."

"Oh." He nodded and got up to. Just as he reached the door, Vixen called out to him. He turned around to see her smiling shyly at him.

"Thanks." Van Helsing grinned and shrugged.

"No problem. Anyway, I don't know how I'll live without your nagging voice in my ear all the time." He closed the door, Vixen's laughter still echoing in his ears. He walked out onto the hall but was suddenly stopped by Carl. He grinning and leaning against the doorway of the room next to Vixen's.

"What?" Van Helsing asked, crossing his arms against his chest.

"You've got it bad."

"What are you talking about?"

"I've never hear you apologize to anyone besides the almighty God," he said, his grin widening.

"I don't know where you're going with this."

"Don't lie to me," Carl said, waving his finger at him, "I'm not blind, nor deaf. I heard everything." Van Helsing groaned inwardly and decided to play cool.

"I still don't know what you're talking about, Carl."

"Don't play around. In my whole life, I've never heard you apologize to anyone except for the Almighty God. Now here you are, saying sorry to Vixen just because of a small matter."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Gabriel said, "I've apologized to many people."

"Then name them."

"…"

"Can't think of anybody, can you?" Carl said triumphantly.

"It doesn't matter whether I can, or cannot. I still don't know where you're going with this."

"The whole point is that the mighty Van Helsing has a huge weakness."

"Weakness?"

"All we need to do to destroy Van Helsing is get Vixen to say that she was mad at you," Carl laughed. Gabriel scowled and was about to reply when he suddenly heard the a door creak open. He turned around and watched as Vixen staggered slowly out of her room.

"You need some help?" Van Helsing asked, stepping towards her.

"No, I'm fine," she said with a smile.

"Are you sure? Your ankle was twisted really bad." Vixen nodded, but as she took a step forward, she lost her balance and fell into Gabriel's arms.

"Are you alright?" he asked, worriedly. Vixen looked up at him and smiled.

"Of course. I've had much nastier falls," she said, using his hands help her get up straight, "a little fall can't destroy me." As Vixen started taking small steps to the stairway, she kept a tight grip on Van Helsing's hand. He couldn't help but remember how silky smooth her skin was….STOP! Gabriel kicked himself mentally for thinking of things like that. It's wrong, he said to himself, it's wrong.

"Gabriel?" Vixen's voice interrupted his train of thought.

"Sorry," he said with a quick smile, "what did you say?"

"I asked you if you wanted to get something to eat with me," she repeated, her grey eyes twinkling at him.

"Guess I'm not invited, right?" Carl said as he winked at Gabriel. Vixen turned around to face Carl and placed a hand on her hip.

"You can come if you want, Carl. You know that, right?" Carl looked at Van Helsing and grinned.

"I want to go, but someone here might not want me to come," he said, glancing at the evil vanquisher. Gabriel made a slashing motion against his throat with his hands behind Vixen and glared at him. Vixen frowned, not noticing the motions Gabriel was making.

"Who wouldn't want you to go?"

"Um…no one," Carl said innocently.

"So are you coming or not?"

"No, I'll just go read some books at the library. You two go have fun."

"Alright, see you later!" Vixen said, then she turned back to Gabriel and smiled, "guess it's only you and me then."

"Where do you want to go?" he asked.

"You'll find out later," she said playfully and pulled him down the stairs.

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That night, Gabriel strolled outside to the garden and found Vixen lying on her back, staring up at the stars. Smiling, he sat down beside her.

"What are you looking at?"

"Have you ever looked at the stars? They're always there, but yet, we hardly ever stop to just look at them," she said softly. Van Helsing stared intently at her face as she said this, the moonlight giving her face a light glow. Her chest rose up and down as she breathed, one of her hands resting on her stomach. She was beautiful…more beautiful than anything Gabriel has ever seen. It was strange how just few weeks go, he had hated to even be in the same room that she was in. Now, he couldn't get enough of her. He noticed every little thing that she did…the way her hair swept gently over her shoulder as she leaned forward. The way she bit her lip when she was nervous. The way her eyes would widen a little when she discovered something…

Vixen turned her a head a little to look at Gabriel, blushing when she noticed that he was staring at her. Gabriel tore his eyes away from the beautiful woman lying before him and laid down beside her, pretending to be fascinated with the stars.

"They're beautiful, aren't they?" Vixen said softly. Gabriel nodded.

"Second most beautiful thing on earth," he replied without thinking. Vixen turned onto her side to face Van Helsing, her hand propping up her head.

"Second most beautiful thing? Then what's the first?" she asked, a note of laughter in her voice. Gabriel gulped.

"Uh…flowers."

"Oh." She knew he was hiding something, but she decided to drop the matter. Instead, she laid back down and pointed to a shooting star.

"When I was little, Thunder told me that a shooting star appears every time someone dies. The more good the person does, the brighter the star will be," she said. Van Helsing sighed heavily.

"Then I guess my star will be pretty dim." Hearing this, Vixen sat up abruptly and turned to him.

"Why would you say that?" she asked, cocking her head to the side. Her jet-black hair tumbled down one side of her shoulder. Gabriel resisted the urge to touch her hair and sat up too.

"I've killed more than fifty people in my life. I would think that would officially make me a bad person, don't you think?" he chuckled softly to lighten the mood. Vixen frowned and shook her head. She took his hand in hers and squeezed it softly.

"I'm positive your shooting star will be the brightest of them all, Gabriel," she said softly, "because no matter how many people you've killed, I know that inside, your heart is pure." Vixen placed her other hand on his heart to prove her point. Gabriel's heartbeat quickened. He prayed to God that Vixen didn't notice. Suddenly, she laughed softly.

"What?" he asked.

"I just said the most mushy thing," she laughed. Van Helsing shook his head and looked deep into her eyes.

"Thank you."

"For…for what?" she whispered, finding that for some reason, her heart was thumping like crazy.

"For just being alive," he said. He caressed her cheek softly and continued, "Ever since I killed Anna, I thought that I would never be happy again. But then you came into my life."

"Who's Anna?"

"Do you really want to know? It's kind of a long story…"

"Tell me," she said eagerly, "I have all the time in the world."

"Alright then, it all started when I found out I had a mission…" Then Van Helsing told his story of how everything happened. When he finished the story, he found Vixen rubbing her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt.

"Vixen? Are you okay?" he asked, leaning down to look at her face.

"Of course, I'm fine," she sniffed, "and I know what you're thinking and the answer is no. I'm not crying." Gabriel smiled.

"Of course you're not crying, but…if you're cold or anything, I can always…uh…lend you a shoulder," he offered. Sniffing, Vixen leaned into his arms and he embraced her gently.

"It's alright," he whispered, "I was much sadder than this when I found out Anna had died. But do you know what was the most surprising of them all?"

"What?" she asked, looking up at him.

"I actually find someone that I loved more than Anna," Gabriel said. This was the moment. The perfect time to tell her…

"Who's that?" Vixen asked softly, staring deep into his eyes.

"You," he whispered. Then he leaned down and kissed her. When he leaned back for air, Vixen surprised him by not slapping him and running away.

"That was our second kiss," she smiled, her eyes flickering open.

"I'm sorry, I…" he started.

"It's alright," she interrupted, kissing his forehead, "I kissed you back." Van Helsing cocked his head to the side and smiled.

"You know, I never did finish my story."

"You didn't?"

"No."

"Then finish it."

"You sure you want to know?"

"I want to know everything about you, Gabriel Van Helsing," she said, making him smile.

"That day, I found out that I'm actually the left hand man of God…."

"What!?" she suddenly jolted out of his arm, her eyes widening.

"I'm the left hand man of God," he repeated hesitantly. Vixen got up and shook her head in disbelief.

"This can't be happening," she muttered, "this just can't be happening." Suddenly, she turned around and ran back to the castle.

"Vixen!" Gabriel shouted, chasing after her. Vixen ran into her room and slammed the door shut. She closed her eyes and sank to the floor, her back leaning on the door. Van Helsing pounded on the door, his voice filled with worry.

"Let me in, Vixen! Please! Talk to me!" He shouted.

"Go away!" she yelled back.

"Not until you tell me what's going on!"

"Why are you so nosey!? It's none of your business!"

"Please Vixen! You can't just run away! I…I care about you!" He shouted. Vixen closed her eyes in pain.

"I care about you too, Gabriel," she whispered softly, "I care about you too."

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