Disclaimer: Never have and never will own Van Helsing or anything to do with the merchandise or actors (lip trembles) Stop smirking Marston or I'll kill you off! I mean it!

Chapter 4

Marston felt his way forward through the trees, heading towards the light that flickered warmly beyond them. He was terrified, the slightest sound made his heart rate quicken, his only comfort came from the warm hand within his. Glancing back he gave Amie a small smile, which she hesitantly returned. Beyond her he could just make out Bob and then the others stretching out in a line of joined bodies each clasping on to the one in front so as not to be separated.

No one spoke and by silent agreement, made as little noise as possible for fear of attracting unwanted attention. Chris was the last of the group and Marston didn't envy him the position, even if he was the one leading the way.

Suddenly the wood around them shone in an eerie silvery light, the full moon had emerged from a cloud and was lighting the way forward. "Thank God" Marston sighed with relief and pressed on, taking advantage of the new light.

Before long the trees began to thin out and they could make out buildings in the distance. Bob appeared beside Marston "is it a town?" he asked hope in his voice. Marston nodded "looks like, maybe someone can tell us where the hell we are". They started towards the town eager to get out of the woods.

Jory kept close to Sarah and Chris as they neared the town; ahead he saw Amie, Bob, Marston and Tony slip finally out of the woods. He grinned at the thought of a warm meal, but then something made him stop…a mournful howl echoed through the trees.

It was a sound he'd heard only in movies or on television, then it had been chilling enough but now his blood ran cold. "Wolves" he whispered.

Sarah had heard it too; her eyes were wide darting from left to right; only Chris thought to move. In one leap he had grabbed their arms and begun to run for the town.

In less than a minute they had cleared the trees and found themselves surrounded by houses on all sides, foot prints in the newly fallen snow told them where the others had gone, and they raced for them.

Tony was stood beside a huge well in what appeared to be a town centre, he scanned the houses around them, "what the hell kinda town is this?" he exclaimed raising his arms dramatically "there's what fifty houses at most? That's not even a village! And the street lamps aren't electric, they've got oil in, we've entered the bloody middle ages!"

Amie clutched Bobs hand, "hunskull" she said using his pet name "Where are all the cars? And the people?" she asked. Bob shook his head and looked up.

"No wires either, I don't think we're gonna find a phone here"

The sound of running feet alerted them to the arrival of their friends. "We heard wolves!" Sarah yelled climbing on to the platform.

"They were howling in the woods, we could have died in there!!" Jory added sitting down on a step, suddenly he burst into wild peels of laughter; his panic quickly replaced with amusement, Chris joined him collapsing on to the cobbled street.

Sarah gazed at them in amazement, five minutes ago they had been terrified! She gave Amie a questioning glance. "Adrenaline" came the simple answer, Sarah grinned.

Amie felt like she was about to cry "Wolves?" she stammered moving closer to her boyfriend. "It's ok" Tony announced "wolves never come near urban areas, we'll be fine here and anyway they only attack if threatened…they probably saw Sarah and ran the other way!" he laughed Sarah grinned at him "either that or they smelt Tony and fainted" Tony regarded her for a minute as he thought of a suitable come back but Chris brought them back to reality. "Er why do I think we're in a bad horror movie?" he asked looking around.

Van Helsing silently crept through the trees; moonlight glinted off the sword at his side and the huge crossbow on his shoulder. Silver darts were dotted around his belt ready to replace those already loaded into the bow.

He bent to examine some foliage, moving it gently aside to expose the huge clawed footprint. A young woman appeared next to him similarly armed but with twin pistols at each thigh, she bent to examine another paw print a few feet away.

"Fresh, the beast is close" she whispered. Anna Valerius constantly surprised Van Helsing she was almost as skilled at the hunt as he was, but then, he reasoned, it was what she had been trained for all her life.

Werewolf hunting was almost second nature to them by now; over a month had been spent tracking this particular beast. Anna had kept her emotions in check and had tracked the beast telling herself that what they hunted was no longer Velkan, her handsome brother and the last of her relatives, but a bloodthirsty animal in the service of her families most hated enemy; Vladislaus Draculia, Count Dracula.

As the last of the Valerius Anna was desperate to fulfil her families legacy and free the world from Dracula's evil, only then would her family be free from purgatory and enter the gates of heaven. If she was killed before this was accomplished…she shuddered to think of the consequences.

Tonight they did not hunt to kill; the weapons were for protection to be used only in self-defence. They needed Velkan alive, by watching the beast and stalking it on its monthly hunts they could monitor Dracula's movements and motives. There was also the small possibility that the beast would eventually lead them to the vampires long sought after lair.

Van Helsing signalled to continue and they crept forward into a small clearing, Anna watched him scan the ground for markings and made her way over when he suddenly froze. "Damn it" he whispered scraping the ground with his hand.

"What is it Mr Van Helsing?" she asked concerned. He gestured to the patch of dirt in front of him "the tracks have been corrupted, see here and here human foot prints. 6 maybe seven people came through here after the beast, I can't distinguish it's tracks from theirs…who ever they are they headed towards the village" he went to the other side of the clearing and studied other marks, he stood straight, suddenly tense "the beast followed them" he stated. Anna took a deep breath to calm herself.

"They wouldn't stand a chance, whoever they are," she whispered sadly, every victim her brother took added to the deep pit of guilt in her heart, she had the chance to stop him and she had failed. 'Velkan would not have failed' she told herself.

They began to track the group towards the village, relying on broken branches and plants to lead their way. "Strange" muttered Van Helsing checking again the footprints on the ground.

"What's strange?" Anna asked concerned.

"He's not hunting them," he whispered glancing at her.

Anna frowned "but he has to be. Why else would he be following them like this?"

"He's just stalking them, like we stalk him. If he was hunting he wouldn't have followed them so far, they should have been dead already…but their not"

Anna considered this "Maybe he is gathering intelligence for Dracula?" she pondered "Books based on the werewolf curse say that the count can enter the mind of his servant and see through its eyes" Van Helsing frowned and continued on, eventually leaving the trees behind.

"Four went ahead here" he stated gesturing around the clearing edge "Three lagged behind and then stopped before running" he looked back at her "I'm guessing they realized they weren't alone"

"Yet the werewolf did not attack? He just followed?" this was very unusual behaviour; running prey was usually irresistible to the beasts, with or without Dracula's interference.

Van Helsing glanced around him into the trees and suddenly dropped to the ground, crossbow out and ready, Anna was soon beside him a pistol drawn. They had both heard the scrap of claws as something moved across a nearby roof.

In the shadows of the trees and down wind of the beast they watched it sniff once at the air before leaping into the wood and disappearing.

Van Helsing released the breath he was holding and allowed himself to relax. The hunt was over, for tonight at least but now he had questions, which needed to be answered, and the answers lay in the village square where he could hear distant laughter.

Van Helsing and Anna silently made there way towards the voices, two of which seemed to be arguing while others continued to laugh. He raised his eyebrows at that, astonished that anyone in this part of the world would be so loud on the night of the full moon. It would usually be a very suicidal thing to do and it seemed that only circumstance had saved the group this night.

Finally he came to the opening of the alleyway. Anna remained hidden in the shadows behind him. Cautiously she drew her sword ready for any surprise attacks from the figures on the well platform.

He could see them now seven people, two woman, and five men all in their late teens. One of the girls playfully insulted the nearest boy who appeared to be considering his come back carefully. The other girl was clinging to a boy who looked like he hadn't been eating well recently.

The laughter came from the two boys at the base of the platform, and the last boy was looking over it all with and expression of amusement on his face.

Van Helsing looked at Anna beside him who watched with a confused look on her face. "Their just children" she whispered "but they must be foreign their voices and speech are strange" he was about to reply when he heard the laughter subside and a voice say "Er why do I think we're in a bad horror movie?"

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Reviewers:

Random-Battlecry :- Yeh you were my first review ever! Thanx for the encouragement, Lol my friends will be thrilled that someone finds them interesting … mite not tell Tony his ego's too big already. What was your first fic so I can go and read it.