A/N: Yes! I returned! Haha, one more chapter and it'll be longer than "The Project." I should continue that one, it had potential. Anyway… I don't own anything I obviously don't own. Like Van Helsing. Unfortunately. Or The Phantom of the Opera, which is mentioned a few times in here. But Scarlette and the rest of my obviously original characters are obviously mine. Got it? Okay, good.
Chapter Two"Must I wear this?" Scarlette half-whined, poking her head out from behind a wall.
Van Helsing sighed, in annoyance. It had taken them hours upon hours to find clothes that the woman would even consider wearing, and now she was complaining about the ones she picked. He wondered if all women from the future were this insane. "Yes," he said, "If you want to look relatively normal here, you probably should."
Carl and Van Helsing heard Scarlette groan in frustration. She stepped out from behind the wall. "There, are you happy?"
The sight took their breath away. Not because she was overly beautiful, because she wasn't. But she looked a bit… familiar to them.
Scarlette noticed their staring. "What?" she snapped.
Van Helsing shook his head, never taking his eyes off of her. "N-nothing. It's nothing."
Scarlette nodded, skeptical.
In all honesty, Van Helsing was, indeed lying. The woman had let her hair down, out of its braid, which left it cascading down her back in a wavy, black mess. Her violet lock of hair, in turn, had been braided. She was now wearing a light-tan silk shirt, and over that was a light-brown vest that laced up in the front, similar to a corset. Her pants were now black, and under them were dark brown lace-up boots.
If it wasn't for the lock of purple hair, and striking violet eyes, she easily could have been mistaken for the deceased Anna Valerious.
"Well, if it's nothing, then why don't you stop staring? Did I lace up this corset-vest thing wrong, or something?"
"No, no, it's fine." Van Helsing and Carl said in unison.
She gave them 'a look.'
"Really! It is!" Van Helsing replied.
Shaking her head, Scarlette began walking toward a group of three horses, which stood around lazily, grazing on grass and such. She mounted one. "Well, if you don't mind, I'd really like to be going. Getting back to my time A.S.A.P sounds excellent, don't you think?."
Carl and Van Helsing walked over. "A.S.A.P.?" Carl asked, confused.
"Oh, I forgot. As soon as possible."
"Oh, alright. In that case, I suppose we should be going." Van Helsing kicked his horse into movement, and they were off.
---
"You know, Scarlette, I was lying, earlier, actually." Van Helsing said. The sun had set on the trio of travelers, and the moon was full, the stars sparkling.
"I never would have guessed," the woman replied, glancing over at him.
"You do remind me a great deal of someone I used to know," he continued.
"Hm, I wonder. Anna Valerious."
Van Helsing looked shocked. "Wait… What? How would you know that?!"
Scarlette rolled her eyes. "I guessed."
The monster slayer raised an eyebrow, so she continued, "Well, it helps a little that, as you were explaining to me missions that you've been on, you kept throwing in nostalgic bits concerning her. A lot of nostalgic bits."
Van Helsing laughed inwardly. "I'm sorry."
Scarlette shook her head, "No, no. I understand. It's so easy to talk about someone you care deeply for when they're gone. In fact, I'm shocked I'm not talking about Bryce a lot."
"Is Bryce your fiancée?" Van Helsing asked.
She nodded, "Yes, how did you know?"
"You mentioned him earlier."
Scarlette smiled. "I guess I did, didn't I?"
Suddenly, a chilling wind blew across the travelers. Scarlette looked behind herself several times, but saw nothing, save for one time. The first time, she thought she had seen a small child dart into the trees.
Gabriel kept looking back, as she did. "Scarlette, are you alright?"
Scarlette quickly glanced up. "What? Me? Oh yes! I'm fine! Why?"
"I don't know, you just keep glancing behind you."
The woman smiled and rode ahead a little bit, singing. "And though you turn from me to glance behind, the Phantom of the Opera is there—inside your mind!"
"Oh, please, no!" Carl yelled.
"What?" Scarlette said, "You don't like 'Phantom of the Opera?'"
Van Helsing answered, "Whatever this 'Phantom of the Opera' is, I really think he was referring to the fact that you sing off key. Which you do."
Scarlette took mock offense. "Oh, thanks!" then she laughed, "It's alright. Bryce sometimes says the same—wait! If you don't know what 'Phantom' is, then how would you know if I'm singing off key or not?!"
Carl shrugged. "I don't know. Possibly the fact that no one is really ever on key. Ever."
"Uh-huh… Whatever. Look, it's getting late. Did either of you have any intentions of camping out for the night?"
"You do have a point," Van Helsing said. He jumped off of his horse. "Here would be fine, I suppose."
Scarlette came to a stop and slid off, glad to hit the ground. "This is going to be an experience… I've never camped out before."
Carl and Van Helsing stared at her. "What?"
"Well, I'm sorry! It's not exactly my fault that all vampire slayers in my group stay in a huge mansion, now is it?!"
The other two shook their heads, and the trio began gathering wood for a fire.
"So, really, Scarlette. Where are you from?" Van Helsing asked later. He and Scarlette were sitting near the fire, and Carl had already gone to sleep.
"I told you, I'm from the year 2005." The woman wrung her hands around one another, a habit she had when she was scared, or aggravated, or frustrated. "But, if you're asking, specifically, where I'm from, it's America."
"Really?" Gabriel was interested, "And you said every vampire slayer lives in a mansion?"
Scarlette nodded. "Yes, every one in the area. There are mansions similar to the one I live in, and they are called Group Houses. My group house is the Sacred Ashes House, as that's the name of my group. But, not just vampire slayers live there. Exorcists and soul collectors, werewolf hunters and vampire slayers, among others, live in Group Houses as well. You're merely designated to one of these subgroups depending on your specialty, shall we say."
"I see. So, obviously, your specialty is killing vampires."
"Yes, of course. I came there when I was maybe fifteen. I remember, I had gotten lost; my mind draws a blank of most things that happened before then, I and entered an alleyway for shelter, but there was vampire there. Of course, I was a rich girl, and I had never been taught anything about what to do in these situations. My family wasn't as smart as others, they and believed that vampires were merely bedtime stories for children. Someone from the mansion had been called there, but when they got there, they were too late. As instinct, I tore my cross necklace out from under my shirt, and shoved it in the vampire's face. When the person finally got there, they were shocked to see this. So, they took me to the mansion, and that's where I've lived."
Van Helsing nodded, then his eyes flickered over to the braid of purple hair. "Why is some of your hair purple."
Scarlette smiled. "It's a bit of rebellious nature in me, I guess. Actually, I don't even remember when I dyed it. As far as I remember, it was always like that. But I must have dyed it. But, I do have violet eyes as well, and that's definitely not the most common thing in the world." She crossed her arms in front of her. "So, now about you. You're Gabriel Van Helsing, and just a myth in my time. This interests me…"
"You don't want to hear about me."
"Of course I do!"
"Alright, then…" Van Helsing thought for a moment. "I kill monsters for no pay, I live at the Vatican, and I can't remember anything from the past twelve years. The end." He got up to leave.
"Wait!" Scarlette called, "That doesn't tell me anything!"
"It tells you everything," he replied, "Good night."
"Hmph." Scarlette sat up straight, annoyed. "Whatever you say."