HyperCaz- I only killed Carl to show that Van Helsing's actions in RIT would have consequences. He had to overcome that in order to have his friend back insome way. Hope you enjoy this chapter!
Lady Sirinial- Cathy: Awwww, I'm looooved!
Me: She just said she didn't hate you. That doesn't mean she loves you.
Cathy: Damn.
Me: Oh, and don't worry! There is still much Gabriel/Anna fluff to come!
The Princess Anna Valerious- Yes, dear, I probably told you Cathy was a vampire at COR. And I did email you!
Irish Anor- Cathy: SHELOB?! I take offense to that!
Me: You'll be over it in like two minutes. Thanks for the review, anyways!
Cathy: Oh, and I'm glad you don't hate me!
Lady sernna Valerious- I'm glad you're happy about Cathy being a vampire! It is a nice twist, no?
Cathy: If you don't say so yourself.
Me: I did say so myself.
kydasam- I've done that before on your stories like twice! Isn't it a pain!
Thanks for your well-worded review. As always, it was an inspiration. Hopefully you'll be able to put up with all the dialogue inthis chapter... --twitch--
Chapter Eight:
The Chaos Curriculum
"I know who she is!"
"Don't jump out of your dress." Anna said dryly.
"And don't wet it for that matter. Who d'you mean?" Cathy's voice was unexpectedly sharp, her face drawn with apprehension.
"She!" Carl cried again, his eyes still eager, as though he expected the two women to understand who 'she' was.
"Me?" Cathy asked slowly. Her heart stopped briefly.
"No, not you! She! She who is coming!" Carl's face fell as they seemed to be failing to understand what was going on. Really, must they take the fun out of everything by making him spell it out?
"The inscription we found." Anna blurted suddenly.
"Yes! That she!"
"Well why didn't you just say so?" Cathy said, her crossed arms fitting her cross tone.
"Forgive me for being carried away with excitement." The Friar replied indignantly.
"Yea, all schoolgirls can be forgiven for their behavior when they're a-twitter with excitement." She muttered.
"Are you calling me a girl?" Carl gaped.
"Hey, lighten up. That's probably the biggest compliment you've ever gotten in your life." Cathy grinned wickedly.
"I agree." Anna smiled smugly. "After all, she is elevating you to our level."
"Well, you two aren't at her level." Carl grumbled.
"Out with it Carl, it's going to get confusing if you keep calling her her and she!" Anna snapped.
"We must find Van Helsing." Carl determined. "I don't want to repeat this twice."
"Okay schoolgirl Carl, what has your research turned up?" Cathy was receiving a cornucopia of looks from the room's occupants: a withering stare from ghostly Carl, a smile from Anna and a confused look from Van Helsing. She smirked and took another drink from her canteen, dirty boots propped up on the table before Carl and back slouched against the chair. She appeared perfectly at ease and in a devilishly good mood.
The Friar practically snarled at her, picking up her boots by the toe and dropping them on the floor, which they hit with a resounding thump. Anna sniggered again.
"Well? The class is waiting for your presentation." The vampiress teased.
"We've all heard of a time, long ago, when-"
"Oh, Carl, don't start with 'long ago,'" Anna whined. "The things that start long ago never turn out to be fun. They always turn out to be boring."
"Not to mention dangerous." Gabriel supplemented.
"But I didn't start with 'long ago!' It was in the middle of the sentence!" The flustered Friar cried.
"Yea, yea, yea. Get on with it!" Cathy balled up a blank piece of paper and tossed it through Carl. Had he been solid, it would have hit him smack in the forehead and the knowledge of this was obviously angering.
"Quite some time ago," He enunciated carefully. "Mystical life began: demons and vampires. Hell's spawn. I suppose therewere humans about because there was said to be a young woman who was bitten by the night. The first vampire."
"But I thought Dracula was the original vampire? The son of the devil? The most powerful vampire?" Anna asked, her brows knitting.
"In this world, perhaps. A more accurate description would be the most powerful child, I guess, but I'll get to that. Anyway, she was known as Dark Anarchy and eventually, Chaos. She had other names too, but most people wouldn't say them. She could only sustain life by drinking the blood of others, but each time she drank the whites of her eyes filled in with red. She was also a powerful sorceress, and with every spell she cast her pupil consumed her iris, until her eyes were said to be black-on-red, with the purest blood-red where whites should have been and naught but black where there would be a pupil and an iris. That's how you'll know who she is, the eyes are unmistakable. She was also said to be very slight of build and height, with ebony hair streaked with white."
"Why don't you just give us her bra size while you were at it?" Cathy smirked. This time she earned herself arched eyebrows and confused eyes. "I am so not explaining that one." She said fervently.
"Might I trouble you with your attention?" Cathy let out a gusty sigh.
"If you really must be such a nuisance..."
"Thank you." Carl seethed. It didn't take him long to bounce back into his storytelling voice, though. "She began to turn other humans into creatures like herself, but none ever became quite so powerful as she."
"How powerful?" Van Helsing asked critically.
"She could fly. Cross into other worlds. Kill just by thinking. Take all the abilities of any vampire and multiply it, take it to the extreme, and she had it. It only makes sense, because she was their mother and they revered her for it. She was a god."
"Literally?" asked the Hunter.
"Literally." Carl said in all seriousness. "She was a god. The god of vampires. Or goddess, I should say. Impossible to kill. So the humans fought back, waging a terrible, fruitless war for century after century. Sometimes they would fight through to the core of the army and reach Chaos herself, but every champion they sent in there died at her hands.
"So they used magic to imprison her in something, a jewel of some kind." Carl held up a manuscript with a picture of a small woman with dark hair, streaked with white, being sucked screaming into a jewel while vampires around her howled in anger. "It got rather vague there. The vampires were dispersed, slaughtered, and never again were numbers of that kind seen. There used to be millions of them. But still they worship Chaos: if she were to rise, every vampire in the world would have no choice but to be drawn to her siren's call. She could still wield an army."
"That would explain the rise in the vamps you guys said you were seeing." Cathy mused.
"So this 'she's coming business'... she's going to escape her prison?" Van Helsing asked gravely.
"She can't escape. Someone would have to let her out. There was a reference about a vessel of some kind, something or someone that was needed... like a key... but I couldn't find anything else out." Carl finished, a little disappointed.
"But maybe there's another way." Anna replied. "Another way for her to escape."
"We can't take any chances." The Friar added.
"Wooden stake." Cathy said suddenly.
"What?" Gabriel asked, turning to her.
"A wooden stake ought to do the trick. Like in the old movies." She explained.
"Do you understand, Cathy? This is a god. Gods don't die." Carl said, as grave as he ever got.
"Oh, I understand." She said softly. "I understand."
"We should start combing the wild," The gypsy princess spoke up. "And try to keep down as many vampires as we can. If she is indeed 'coming,' we don't want an army already waiting for her."
"I agree. Shall we start out?" Van Helsing said, standing and putting on his hat.
"Down to business right away?" Anna asked, her eyes softening. "We keep missing out on our time to plan the wedding."
"Damn, you really intend to marry me, don't you?" The Hunter winced.
"You asked, you oaf!" She cried, punching him in the ribs. "Why would you asked if you didn't want to marry me?"
"Uhhh, I'm gonna be going." Cathy said. "Y'know, class is over and I was always one to rush out as the bell rang... well, actually, I wouldn't know, I never passed daycare...." She flashed them one of her roguish smiles, golden eyes alight. "Good night."
"Good night, Cathy." Van Helsing grinned, one arm comfortably resting on Anna's shoulder.
"Good night." The princess smiled back.
"Let the bed bugs bite!" Carl spat venomously.
Cathy laughed all the way out of the room, her stride relaxed and confident. The minute the door closed every muscle went slack and she fell against it, sinking to the floor. Every part of her shook. She folded in on herself like a piece of paper and let herself tremble, burying her face in her knees as she fought to regain control of her terror. Eventually, she did. She stood quickly and walked just as fast down the halls to the room Anna had indicated earlier. She shut herself in and lay down. She never found sleep that day.
"Alright. We can plan some. But tonight we leave!" Gabriel conceded, flopping down on the chair. Carl was back in the books, muttering to himself. It was a familiar sound, a relaxing one. Anna flopped down next to him.
"Well, I never thought much about marriage when I was younger." She replied, head rested on his shoulder. "Dracula was the only man in my life besides my father and brother."
"I hope you never had intentions to marry any of the men you just named off." Van Helsing said fervently.
"Well..." She let the sentence hang with a sly grin, then picked up again. "I don't want it to be huge."
"And I was thinking of inviting the whole Vatican too." He sighed.
"Enough with the sarcasm!" Anna cried, slapping his chest hard enough to make him wince and wriggle away. "I was thinking small because neither you nor I have family and not many people in Transylvania like you anyway."
"So callous." He said, hand over his heart. "It almost hurts more than you striking me."
"It's the truth, you know." Carl looked up. "Oh, and don't even think about hiring a priest. I'll be doing the ceremony myself, thank you very much."
"But you'd be invisible if we had it during the day, which we probably will." Anna replied. "We don't need to be inviting monsters for a snack."
"Then you'll deal with me being invisible. I simply will not have anyone else marrying my two friends off when I spent a year praying for them to just get it over with! No, I have to make sure you two thick-headed Monster Hunters go through with this." Carl said firmly. "And that's that."
"Alright then." Anna shrugged it off. "So we've decided on small and informal."
"Paranormal, you mean. What else could you call a wedding with two Monster Hunters and an invisible Friar's blessing?" Gabriel laughed.
"You are hopeless." Anna sighed, resting herself against him once more. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her forehead.
"Not as long as I have you."
That conversation stayed with him over those next days, fighting throughout the countryside, killing vampires and werewolves alike. Always he was watching the moon, waiting for it to wane into a sickle. As long as he had Anna, he still had hope for himself. But soon he might be fighting to keep her.
A/N-- Me: Awww, ya have to admit that part at the end was sweet!
Cathy: --flatly-- It was corny.
Me: Shut up. Anyways, review! Next chapter we get some aaaaction! Which means M&M's!
Cathy: --perking up-- M&M's! M&M's! M&M's!!!
