Disclaimer: I don't own Van Helsing it is the property of Steven Summers and universal studios.
Chapter 52
Valerius manor was buzzing with preparations as everyone followed Van Helsing's orders, loading the large travelling coach with clothes and weapons for the journey to nearby Budapest.
Bob stood by the horses supported on either side by his wooden crutches.
"I'm going to be left behind aren't I?" he asked Van Helsing bitterly.
The hunter was sat in the driver's seat adjusting the reins, which were fastened securely to six black Transylvanian stallions.
"Nope." he answered shortly, not looking away from his task.
Bob blinked in surprise. "But my leg…" he started.
Van Helsing looked at him and grinned "Are your arms ok?" he asked.
The boy nodded confused. Van Helsing's eyes shone "You ever driven a carriage?" he asked.
"Er shockingly no" Bob answered sarcastically.
The hunter bent and grasped the startled boy by his collar, hauling him into the seat next to him. "You'd better learn fast then." He said handing him the reins.
Sarah stood in the armoury carefully handling the tiger Katana Anna had promised her what seemed like a lifetime ago. Lovingly she ran her fingers the length of the blade and balanced the shining metal between her hands.
Jory watched her from the doorway "Cool sword." He said walking towards her and admiring it over her shoulder.
She grinned and nodded "Yeah, I like it. The morning after we got here, Anna promised me this sword…if I could learn to use it."
Jory nodded "I remember you learning" he laughed "she said you kept trying to spin and jump over the blades, but always messed up and landed arse over tit on the floor." He said laughing.
Sarah grinned "Kill Bill and star wars have spoilt me for ever!" she stated re-sheathing the blade and placing it back in its glass case.
They both turned as Carl entered the room, a large bag slung over his back. "Ready?" he asked them.
Sarah nodded "As we'll ever be."
"Good, good" muttered the friar fiddling with a strange brown object in his hands.
"What's that thing?" asked Jory walking over and taking it off him.
"Careful with that!" he said desperately "I've been working on that for twelve years!"
"Cool, what's it for?" asked the boy turning it this way and that trying to figure it out.
"Its, compressed magma from Mount Vesuvius, with pure Alkali from the Gobi Desert. It's one of a kind." Carl stated proudly.
Jory blinked looking at him blankly. "O…kay…but what does it do?" Carl opened his mouth to answer but Sarah got there first.
"When the two chemicals interact they produce a light equal to the intensity of the sun." she stated grinning.
Carl blinked "Exactly."
Jory looked amused. "Let me get this straight…you've had this all along? Through all the vampire attacks?" Carl nodded looking confused.
"And you've never used it?" Jory continued.
Sarah grinned "He hasn't quite figured out how yet." She said.
Carl looked rather sulky "I know how to use it!" he said furiously "I just don't know …what to use it for." Jory laughed and handed the object over.
Sarah grinned, "Don't worry Carl you'll figure it out. Just do me a favour, don't set it off near me ok?"
The Friar looked even more confused now "Why not?" Sarah and Jory grinned at each other, and walked past him, Jory stopping briefly to pat him on the shoulder.
"Think about it" he said cryptically and then as an after thought. "And bring it with you ok?"
Less than an hour later, the large Valerius carriage was on it's way to Budapest, Bob sat confidently in the driver's seat controlling the horses while Carl gave him directions.
The sun was out, forcing Sarah to stay in the heavily curtained carriage, hissing now and again when a small patch of light escaped the heavy material.
"You ok?" Tony asked in concern when the coach jolted violently and Sarah had to leap to the ceiling to avoid a fatal shaft of light.
"Great." She hissed through gritted teeth as the newly burnt flesh on her arms began to heal itself.
"Can't we pin them down with something?" Asked Chris trying to hold the edge of the material closed.
Van Helsing produced a box out of his coat opening it to reveal a set of alarmingly sharp wooden stakes with metal points. Sarah visibly winced at the sight lowering herself back on to her seat next to Tony, before being forced once again to lie on the ceiling when sunlight escaped the curtains, covering the coaches' interior in a net of crisscrossed rays.
"What ever you're going to do, do it!" she yelled at the hunter. Remembering a particular scene in Resident Evil, involving a laser net that looked suspiciously like the predicament she found herself in right now.
Van Helsing grinned and expertly hammered several of the stakes through the edge of the curtains and into the wood of the window, ensuring that no amount of turbulence would allow the material to shift. Sarah sighed with relief and gratefully slumped in to her seat.
Amie gave her a pitying look "Maybe on the way back we should make it a night trip." She suggested, Sarah grinned and nodded her approval as Marston and Jory watched her healing burns in fascination.
"That is so cool." Marston muttered prodding the new skin and earning himself a frown from Sarah in the process.
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Note: sorry another short chapter.