Word had spread quickly throughout the Lab that Carl had left Van Helsing. This had left everyone particularly nervous, as now there was no one to keep Van Helsing's other side in check. Whispered conferences were held in dark corners as to what to do next. Cardinal Jinette tried to order Carl back to Van Helsing and was stunned when Carl stubbornly refused. "I'll go back when he starts treating me like his partner rather then his personal love slave" That last bit rather disturbed Jinette (who had brought denial to a whole new level) and so he quickly dropped the subject. He instead demanded that the other members of the Order to "talk some sense" into Carl. But all attempts (and some shameless pleading in one or two cases) to get Carl to reconsider failed miserably. Carl was settling for nothing less then a first class romantic gesture from Van Helsing.
Meanwhile, Van Helsing was agonizing over what to do. He missed Carl terribly and spent his nights curled up with Carl's pillow which at least smelled of his absent lover. He knew that he had really screwed up with Carl but was at a loss for what to do next. If he didn't do this right, he could kiss goodbye any chance of saving their relationship. And that was an unacceptable situation to him and the Wolf.
He had tried visiting Carl in the Lab but that had been a dismal failure. The Wolf – at seeing his mate for the first time since the breakup – got terribly overexcited and tried to jump on him. Carl firmly smacked him down and when the Wolf whined, told him to stop it and, grabbing him by the scruff of the neck, tossed him out of the Lab. After that, Van Helsing tried to corner him in the hallway, shamelessly pleading for a second chance. This had even less of an affect on the Friar who told him that unless Van Helsing could make him believe that their relationship was more then just "animal husbandry" that he should just bugger off.
The situation was looking dire and everyone was starting to get seriously worried. Van Helsing's mood was deteriorating rapidly and everyone knew it was just a matter of time before he started biting. He had already begun growling again and Father Olaf in particular had gotten some rather nasty looks. It was time for drastic measures.
A committee was formed to deal with the situation. Dubbed Operation Amore, its purpose was to help Van Helsing win back Carl. The committee consisted of monks and other Order members from as many cultures as possible. The idea was that surely between all of them, they could coach Van Helsing on how to be the romantic man of Carl's dreams – at least for one night.
In the library, page after page of romantic writing was poured over with copious notes being taken. Poetry was especially noted as love poems were a time honored way of winning someone's affections. Once studied, a plan of attack was formulated. Now they just had to approach Van Helsing…
It was an extremely nervous bunch of religious men who cornered Van Helsing in the gardens. The Hunter looked extremely edgy and eyed all of them with undisguised hostility. More then a few of them gulped and debated the wisdom of what they were doing. Still, if they didn't help the Hunter, then he was never going to get back with Carl and that was too frightening a thought to contemplate. They huddled among themselves and finally pushed Father Michael forward as spokesman claiming that as a Franciscan he had a natural affinity with animals. Father Michael was less then happy about this but seeing he had no choice walked slowly forward. He cleared his throat nervously and the Hunter glared at him. "What do you want?" Growled Van Helsing. "Ah… we're here to help you" "Help me with what?" snarled Van Helsing. "I'm not interested in religious guidance". Father Michael gulped but bravely soldiered on. "Actually, we're here to help you win back Carl." Seeing the rather ugly look that entered the Hunter's eyes at the sound of his beloved's name, Father Michael quickly spilled the rest. "We're here to help you convince Carl that you think of him as more then just a pretty face… or whatever it is that you think of him. Actually, I really don't want to know what you think of him… In fact I'm really quite positive I don't want to know…" He received a sharp poke in the back from another monk and he pulled himself back together. "Right. Anyway, we've done lots of research and we can help you." The other monks all nodded reassuringly at the Hunter who looked at them with confusion and just a little suspicion.
"Why help me? I would think you would be on Carl's side – him being a fellow monk and all." "Yeah well, he's just a friar, isn't he?" muttered one monk This earned the speaker a particularly nasty look and another monk quickly dived in to save the situation before it turned ugly. "Actually we think that you two are meant to be together. Soul mates really. Wouldn't you agree with me?" The monk looked around at his fellow Order members who quickly nodded and murmured agreeing statements. This only slightly mollified the Hunter but realizing that he had no ideas of his own, decided to see what these guys could come up with. They were Carl's peers so maybe they had insights into things that Van Helsing did not. Relieved the committee began to outline all that they had come up with.
Will Van Helsing be able to win Carl back? Or is he destined to stay in the doghouse??? Stay tuned for more