Chapter Two
"So you are saying you used to be a monster hunter?" Rena asked her father, who was currently explaining his past career choice.
"It was destiny really. You see, I couldn't remember anything about my past. Then, your mother came along while I was sent on an assignment." Van Helsing explained.
"What was it?" Rena asked.
"To kill Dracula." Van Helsing said.
"But Dracula is fictional…and monsters don't exist." Rena argued.
"Not any more. There are still a few around but, yes, Dracula was real. I still have the scares to prove it." her father said.
"Did you kill him?" Rena asked.
"Yes, and in the process, I…I found out who I was. I am the Left hand of God." Van Helsing explained.
"What!?!?" Rena shouted. She almost fell off the bike from shock.
"Your mother and I are well over one hundred years old. God granted her immortality so I wouldn't be alone."
"Dad, are you on any medication that you never told me about?" Rena asked.
"I'm serious. You have to believe me." Van Helsing urged. He pulled over to the side of the road and turned around to face his daughter. "I know this sounds impossible but you have to believe me. Otherwise, you could be in even more danger than you are already in."
"I believe you, I do." Rena replied. Her dad smiled and revved up the bike just before he got back on the road. "But why am I in danger?"
"Dracula has returned. He will want revenge on me for killing him the first two times." her father said.
"Anything else I need to know about Dracula?" Rena asked.
"He has three brides that came back with him. The red head is Aleera, the black haired on is Verona and the blond and Marishka." Van Helsing explained.
"Got it." Rena said and looked at the passing country. She just then wondered what else was going on she didn't know about.
"Dad slow down." Kella said and then saw her mom. "What's going on?" the girl asked.
"Kraven is back." Selene said.
"He just tried to kidnap the entire house!!" Kella blurted out.
"He did what?" Michael asked.
"That settles it, we are getting out of here." Selene said.
"Where are we going?" Kella asked.
"Somewhere other than here." her father said taking her hand and leading the girl through the night.
The next day, Rena, Van Helsing and Anna were in Vatican City, Rome.
"Bless me father for I have sinned." her father said kneeling in the confessional. The curtain raised to show and elderly man in red robes.
"Gabriel and Anna Van Helsing. So good of you to come. I am Cardinal Saxton." he said and then saw Rena.
"Cardinal, this is our daughter, Morena." Van Helsing introduced.
"Nice to meet you." Rena said wanting to be polite. The Cardinal nodded and smiled at her.
"I assume you already know the situation. I will have Max assist you in this mission. Max is the great grandson of a friend of yours." Cardinal Saxton said.
"Carl? Is he Carl's great grandson?" Anna asked.
"Indeed he is." the Cardinal said and then the family saw a man with strawberry blond hair and brown eyes run toward them.
"I take it you are the Van Helsings. Follow me, I have some things to show you." he said.
Rena, being the curious teenager she was, found her way to the weapons table. She saw two guns along with several rounds of bullets. The bullets were either filled with a silver or blue liquid. Rena picked up the black gun loaded with the blue bullets. She felt someone behind her and turned. It was Max.
"You like those, do you? I shouldn't be surprised, knowing you're last name." he said.
"You make these?" Rena asked. Max nodded.
"The blue ones are ultra-violet radiation in a liquid form. Very handy for hunting vampires."
"The sun harnessed as a weapon. Genius." Rena said smiling as her eyes glittered.
"Thank you. I wish your father was as appreciative of my work as you are." Max said.
"What are in these? Silver nitrate?" Rena guessed holding up a round of the silver bullets.
"You catch on fast. Very handy for hunting werewolves."
"Lycans." Rena muttered.
"What was that?" Max asked.
"Oh, my friend always refers to werewolves as lycans and I guess she is sort of rubbing off." Rena said, and image of Kella popping into her head. Then something flashed in her mind.
"Oh, no. You must be mistaken. The name is Rena."
"Well, Lycan, then this is your last day on earth."
The guy who came to Kella's house called her a lycan. Why? What was his name even? Kraven, that was it.
"Hey, know anything on a guy named Kraven?" Rena asked tucking the guns along with about ten of each round in her coat.
"No, why?"
"No reason. He's just a jerk I met once." Rena said.
Suddenly, the building began to shake. Rena ran from the table to try and find her parents.
"Mom! Dad!" she shouted trying to find them.
"Rena!" she heard and found Anna looking for her.
"Mom!" she shouted running over. "Where is dad?"
"Anna!" came her father's voice.
"Dad! Over here." Rena shouted. Van Helsing ran over them. Van Helsing guided his family under a work table as dust and stones fell from the ceiling. Rena could hear and see men running around, bottles breaking, fires starting and a variety of other things falling to the floor.
All of a sudden, all was still and silent. The shaking had stopped. Rena poked her head out from under the table as her father and mother stood. Van Helsing helped his daughter up and the three looked at the mess before them. No one was seen except Max, who was curled up under a table.
"What was that?" Rena asked.
"I don't know." Anna said holding her daughter against her.
"Gabriel, glad you are still alive." came a voice. The three whirled around to see a pale man dressed all in black. His hair was black pulled back in a ponytail and he had a gold loop earring.
Van Helsing pulled Rena behind him.
"And Princess Anna Valerious has returned. Oh, is it Van Helsing now? I guess I shouldn't be surprised." the man said. "Tell me Gabriel, how did you get God to grant you your wish? Did you pray?" he asked as is taunting Van Helsing.
"You never were very fond of praying, Dracula." Van Helsing said.
CRAP!! How did he get in a church?!?!?! Rena thought to herself.
Dracula tilted his head and saw Rena.
"And who might this beautiful young one be?" he asked. Rena remained silent.
"Is she your daughter Gabriel? Judging by her coat and hat, I can see where she gets her fashion sense." Dracula said.
"She has her father's heartbeat as well." a voice hissed behind Rena. Rena whirled around to see a red haired woman behind her. Rena flick out her tojo blade and cut her across the face.
The woman screamed and ran over to Dracula.
"Aleera?" Rena asked her mother. Anna nodded.
"Now, I'd like you to meet my friends from he coven." Dracula said and motioned for the to turn.
They did and saw about twenty to thirty men behind them. Some had guns others had swords. Anna had a hand on the hilt of her sword and Van Helsing was about ready to whip out his tojo blades. Rena had a hand inside her coat holding the black gun.
"Gentlemen, I leave them to you." Dracula said smiling and the men began to move in. "Gabriel, I'll be waiting." With that, Dracula and his bride flew off into the night.
Rena sighed. "I assume they are all vampires?"
"That would be correct." Van Helsing said.
"Good." Rena said and pulled out the gun. She began to fire and the all heck broke lose. Anna drew her sword and Van Helsing took out his tojo blades. Rena first went for the twelve men with guns. Bullets began flying through the air as Rena ducked behind a table. She struck down three men already. She sat behind the table, shooting through a small hole in it.
A man jumped over the table and Rena shot him. The man fell to the floor and hissed, fangs bared. Light poured from his mouth as be turned to ash.
"Whoa." Rena said actually seeing what the bullets did.
"Rena, get out of here!" her father ordered.
"But what about you and mom?" Rena asked.
"We'll be fine, get yourself out of here." he shouted gutting another vampire. Rena ran over to Max (who was still under the table) and grabbed his arm.
"We are getting out of here." she told him and drug him up the steps and out of the church. As she ran through, she saw that all the crosses had either been broken or shattered from the shaking earlier. That is how the vampires got in. Rena tossed Max on the front steps of the church and turned to run back in.
She then saw five vampires coming her way. Rena took out a second cartrage and re-loaded her gun. She turned and fired, hitting one on the first shot. Another vampire shot at her. Rena moved to the side as the bullet grazed her left arm. Rena hit the ground and fired her gun. The bullet went into the one that had shot at her. Rena kept firing till all the vampires were dead.
The night was silent as she stood in the dark square, gun at the ready. She was breathing hard and her hot blood coursed through her veins. She slowly backed up. Then she realized something. It was silent. She couldn't hear the battle down in the church like she could before.
Rena took of running into the church and then down the stairs into the Order. What she found was nothing but the piles of dust that used to be vampires. Her parents were gone. Their bodies were not on the floor, which meant they weren't dead. However, they weren't there meaning they lost the battle.
Rena roared in aggravation and slammed her fist on a table. The wood broke and splinters flew everywhere. Rena pulled her fist out of the hole and found it unscratched. At that point she was to angry to care. Rena kicked a table and it flipped over, glass shattering everywhere.
Rena sank to her knees.
"Kella," she whispered. "help."
Kella sat in Rena's dark room as she thought of what had just taken place.
"Kella, leave get help." Michael shouted at her. Kraven had surprised them in an ambush and Selene, Kella an Michael were fight against the vampires.
"I won't leave. I can do this." Kella argued as she kicked a vampire away.
"Leave! Kella, NOW!" Michael said shoving her forward into a run.
Kella didn't know where to go but here. Once again, her attempts to find Lucien had failed. She knew after the adventure her mom and dad had that Lucien was just injured and not dead. He was there when Kella was born and made her Godfather. Kella knew he was the only one who could help, but Lucien could never be found.
Kella sunk down on the floor. "Rena, where are you?"
The next night, Rena arrived at her own house once again. She unlocked the door and went in, careful to put the iron cross her family had in the center of the door first before locking it again. She new that only ancient vampires, like Dracula, were affected by crosses and the modern day ones were not (she did a lot of reading on the plane ride back). However, better safe than sorry.
Rena went into her parents room and found a video tape on her mom's dresser. She picked it up and read it. Play me it said. Rena put it in the VCR and pressed 'play'.
A picture of Anna and Van Helsing appeared on the screen.
"Hello Morena. If you are wondering why this tape was out, well, we knew this mission would be hard and knew things might not go according to plan. So if you are watching this, something has probably happened." her mother explained.
"We think it is time you knew the whole story." her father said. "It all started when I lost my memory seven years prior to the mission I'm about to tell you about…" Van Helsing told the story of his adventure over again. Carl, the brides, Frankenstein, Dracula's children, and Velkan were all there. Even the part about how he killed Anna.
"Well, God knew I could never live with myself so he granted Anna a second life and eternal life with me so I would be lonely. Then you came along and you know the rest." he finished.
"Listen, sweetheart, if something has happened to us, we want you to find your Godfather. It would have been Carl except he died a while ago. So your Godfather is Frankenstein. He is in downtown New York, sixty miles from here. Find him and he will take care of you. Be careful and remember, no matter what happens, we love you." Anna said. Rena bit her lip. The screen went blank and changed to static.
Rena leaned back and felt a tear roll down her cheek. She whipped it away and went up to her room. When she got there, she found the window open and a figure in the darkest corner.
"Rena?" it asked.
"Kella?" Rena asked hopefully. The figured stepped forward into the moon light. It was Kella. The hugged each other and then gave each other their own rings back.
"Where have you been?" Kella asked.
"Rome. You'll never believe what happened. My dad used to be a monster hunter. He killed Dracula! Twice! He's the Left Hand of God! He's over a hundred years old and so is my mom! My Godfather is Frankenstein!" Rena started to rant.
"But Kella, Dracula's returned! He kidnapped my parents! He's after me now!"
"Rena, breathe! Breathe!" Kella said grabbing her shoulders and shaking. Rena took deep breaths.
"How about you? Anything like that happen to you?" Rena asked expecting to hear a 'no'.
"Yeah. You remember that guy, Kraven? He kidnapped my parents and I can't find my Godfather and Kraven is after me too." Kella asked.
"Well, at least you don't have to deal with vampires." Rena pointed out.
"Right, yeah…vampires." Kella said getting softer. "Well, where do we go now?"
"Downtown New York."
(A/N: Chapter two is done. Reviews:
Samara Morgan-Ring : Fluffy steel pillows shaped like top hats??? Interesting. Glad to know you like it.
Elwin 16: Nope, don't get tired of it (though I do have several unfinished stories.) I'm working on Life Force but I HATE WRITERS BLOCK!!! GRRRR!!
Countess Jackman: Glad to know I'm not alone. Thanks for letting me know what you think of my idea.
R.S. Logan: Rae is annoyed already. Trust me smile evilly. Kella is a mix of Rae and Lycan (another friend) and Rena is a mix of me (but nowhere near that brave, however I give her the sarcasm I have) and Sorceress (another friend). Don't worry. Kella will trip! Tee hee! Thanks!
Artemis1860: Thanks! Yes, she still was wearing her crosses. Her parents brought her up that way. I'll check out your page right now…OMG!!!!!! I'M SO HAPPY FOR YOU!!!!! Didn't I tell you that story was good? What place did you get? Wow, I wish I got a free DVD. Congrats!!