Note: ok this is my attempt on the van helsing story from the game so sorry if it doesn't quite add up.
Disclaimer: I don't own Van Helsing nor anything associated with it, it is the property of Universal and the brain child of Steven Summers
Chapter 31
Carl paced nervously in front of the fireplace in the hall beyond the foyer. Van Helsing watched him while Anna sat on the stone floor sharpening her sword.
Sarah watched them for a moment before entering the room.
"Everyone's asleep," she reported curling up on the sofa opposite Van Helsing.
"They need it," said Anna "They have hardly slept since you were taken."
She looked into the fire for a moment and Sarah wondered if she was remembering the loss of her family, and suddenly it struck her how lonely and sad Anna must be.
But then she saw the princess steal a glance at the hunter on the other sofa and smiled, maybe not so lonely anymore she thought.
Van Helsing gestured towards Sarah's necklace "Never thought Tony would ever willingly give that up." He said smirking.
Sarah blushed and grinned at him.
"Are your shoulders alright?" she asked the princess concerned, Anna nodded moving the material of her shirt aside to reveal the gauze and stitches Carl had used to close the fresh wounds.
"I'll live." She muttered.
"I can't believe you took the lads to confront Dracula tonight!" Sarah exclaimed in disbelief.
"Did you really think they were ready? After just four days?"
Van Helsing sighed rubbing the stubble on his chin thoughtfully.
"I've given up telling them not to come along when you're involved" he said in amusement.
"You try telling that lot that they can't beat back at the man who took their friend away, I'd prefer them to come with me where I can see them, than leave them to sneak into the battle alone."
Anna smirked at the Hunter. "What Mr Van Helsing means is that he didn't have enough powder to drug them all." She said her accent thickening with resentment at the hunter's favourite choice of negotiations.
Sarah giggled as the princess and the hunter glared at each other. She exchanged a knowing glance with Carl, who smirked childishly and averted his gaze to stare neutrally into the fire.
"I still can't believe you let them have swords!" she exclaimed grinning.
Anna smiled and raised an eyebrow "I seem to recall your sword lesson was less than smooth."
Sarah blushed sheepishly, recalling the many bumps and bruises she had accumulated that morning…her last morning.
Van Helsing was watching her closely now and she sighed.
"What did you want to know?"
He hesitated for a minute "How does Dracula know me? Why do I have this ring?" he held up his hand so she could see the ring with the Valerius Dragon emblem in the metal.
"How am I connected to all of this?"
Carl wandered over to sit beside Van Helsing while Anna laid her sword over her knees giving Sarah her full attention. The room fell silent as they waited for her to begin.
"I'm guessing you know the story of Dracula already? How he became a monster and how Anna's family pledged to destroy him?" she asked.
Anna nodded "Dracula was the son of my ancestor, Valerius the Elder. He was murdered in 1462."
"Who murdered him?" Van Helsing asked immediately.
Anna shrugged "that has never been discussed, all I remember from my fathers stories was that he was the left hand of God. When Dracula died he made a pact with the devil…and was given new life."
"Some life." Muttered Sarah "the only way he can keep it is by drinking the blood of others."
Anna nodded and continued. "My ancestor, having sired this evil creature, went to Rome to seek forgiveness from God, promising that he would kill Dracula in return for the eternal salvation of his entire family…my family. But he couldn't bring himself to kill his own son and so the bargain remains unfulfilled." She finished her eyes clouded with sadness over the fate of those that had come before her, the burden of being her family's only hope clearer than it had been in many months.
"But where do I figure into all of this?" asked Van Helsing his cool gaze falling on the fledgling vampiress.
"Well the Valerius story is mainly the same as what Anna just said but there was another part, the events leading up to Dracula's murder." Sarah sighed "I don't know how much is fact and how much was changed to fit the movie but I was told that, four hundred years ago the knights of the Holy order were at war against evil, Anna's ancestor Valerius the elder was the leader."
Anna nodded in conformation.
"Within the order there was one knight who devoted his life to the cause…his name was…" she locked gazes with Van Helsing. "Gabriel Van Helsing."
"But that's impossible!" said Carl cutting her off, Van Helsing held up a hand for him to be silent and nodded to Sarah to continue.
She was giving him answers; the jumbled pieces of his lost memory were beginning to fall into place after years of confusion. Sarah cleared her throat.
"Another knight who was just as dedicated to the order as Van Helsing was his best friend…Vladislaus Dracula, Valerius's eldest son."
"We were comrades in arms…" Van Helsing whispered silently as the memory fit into place and he saw himself clad in fine armour sword in hand back to back with Dracula who was similarly dressed fighting for their lives against uncountable foes.
Sarah swallowed hard uncomfortable with the rest of the tale.
"Go on," prompted Carl excitedly.
Sarah looked towards Anna and the hunter. "Are you sure you want to hear this? From here on in the lines between the good guys and the bad guys go a little fuzzy."
Anna nodded and Van Helsing mimicked her, his eyes shinning with excitement.
"The two knights were the champions of the order, but as Van Helsing knows the order supposedly doesn't exist and they would like to keep it that way." Van Helsing nodded scowling bitterly at the reason he was regarded throughout the world as a murderer.
"Love outside of the order was strictly forbidden, but Vladislaus had fallen in love. The knights saw it as a dangerous act of treachery and condemned his lover to be executed. They killed her, and Vladislaus turned his back on the order to delve into the occult. He raised his love from the dead in a dark ritual, and Valerius was forced to command the death of his son, placing the task on the head of his most trusted knight…Gabriel."
"But all that was four hundred years ago!" the princess exclaimed in shock staring at Van Helsing. "Why are you still alive?"
He shrugged "Good living, I suppose." He answered evasively.
Van Helsing stared unseeingly in to the fire, as the memories appeared one after the other in tune with Sarah's words.
Anna watched him with regret and concern on her face; she crossed to him and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder nodding at Sarah to continue.
"Gabriel had no choice but to murder his friend, but with his last breath Dracula made his pact with the devil. Gabriel destroyed the weapon that had killed his friend out of guilt. He cried out to god, asking him to lift the torment from his soul and his prayers were answered."
"God removed his memories." Carl gasped in comprehension.
"What about the ring?" Asked Anna suddenly.
"In the struggle…I cut off his finger." Van Helsing muttered his eyes shadowed with long forgotten pain. "The ring fell to the ground…when it was over I found it and put it on, in honour of his memory as the knight I once knew."