Ragweed: So…here we are again, time for more chapters.
Gabriel/Dracula/Carl: (run and hide)
Ragweed: Damn muses, oh well, they'll be back, I've got the food. Damn, I got this chapter up quick…in wait, three, four days? That's a new record for me. And it's a looong one. 'Round 6000 words I think, all the others are only around 5000. Yeah me! Ah, reviews. Verona: Glad so much you like the flashbacks, they're the most fun to write. There are more flashbacks in this chapter, so enjoy them! MSJ, yay! I have a new reader! Thank you so much for the reviews! The more motivation the better. Um, I've got nothing else special to say so continue reading…


Crimson-Stained Shards of Memory

Chapter 9: Let the Darkness Slip Away

'For had it been this way, the story would be much shorter,'--Fire Bringer, David Clement-Davis

'Defence is paper-thin,
One touch and I begin to,
Melt within and,
Ever swim, against the current,
So let me slip away,'--Vindicated, Dashboard Confessional

.:I:.

A throbbing burn ripped through Gabriel's mind as a lightning bolt of pain coursed around his body, make him gasp. He opened his mouth to scream but instead felt sweet fresh air swell into his empty lungs, and his body reacted instantly to the new air pouring into his body. Adrenalin was released into his veins, rushing through is body and Gabriel closed his hands around the snowy ground beneath him in a desperate attempt to cling to some form of life. Eyes snapped open, unseeing, met only by swirling, grey, unrecognizable shapes.

"Van Helsing?!"

Gabriel bolted upright, blood rushing through his veins, his heart hammering in his chest. Gabriel blinked a few times as the world around him came back into focus. It was night and a cloudy, starless night veiled the world in indigo darkness. A fire flared up in the snow that covered the ground. Snow. The ground was covered in it. He looked around; he seemed to be outside somewhere, a wilderness of some type. Not far off, two horses slept upright, their reins tied to a wooden stake driven into the ground. Gabriel shook his head again as he struggled to take in everything at once.

"Van Helsing?" croaked a soft voice.

Gabriel turned his head again, eyes still readjusting to sight. Over on his left, a small figure crouched, staring at him with wide, disbelieving eyes. There was silence for a moment, and it grew thick and heavy in the air as silence does when left untouched for too long. The small form crouched ahead of Gabriel didn't move, as if too shocked to even think for the time being. The Hunter tried to focus on who or what was in front of him. It seemed, somehow, familiar. Silence stretched out longer as Gabriel search the very edges of his mind to try and find something he'd buried in the Darkness long ago and now he needed to find it. He needed something, something to hold on to, something to keep him from succumbing to the Darkness again, something that who remind him….

A bolt of realization tore through him and Gabriel's whole body tensed. Memories all flooded back to him at once as if they'd never left him. He blinked, not trusting his eyes. Finally, Gabriel opened his mouth to speak, but the figure in front of him spoke first.

"Van Helsing?"

"Carl?" Gabriel finally got the words unstuck in his throat.

"Van Helsing! Oh, Heaven be blessed, you're alive!" The little friar sprang to his feet and rush to Gabriel's side, kneeing beside him in the snow, throwing his arms around Gabriel's shoulders, squeeze all air from his lungs in a joyful embrace.

"Van Helsing, I can't believe your alive! I thought you were dead!"

"Carl!"

The little friar instantly released Gabriel from his tight grip, "Sorry. I can't just believe you're alive. You died, I saw you! I mean, I thought, but…I didn't, I mean, you went so cold and still and you stopped breathing. And then suddenly, you just snapped awake."

"Carl," said Gabriel as calmly as he could putting a finger to his lips to silence his frantic friend. The friar nodded, a small smile upon his face. Carl was surprised to find tears of sheer joy building on the edges of his eyes and he wiped them quickly away with the edges of his robes. Far too amazed at everything to structure a complete thought.

Exhaling deeply, Gabriel leaned back on his palms, running one had through his hair, "How did you find me?"

Carl dropped his eyes almost in shame, "I followed you up the side of the Carpathian's. I found you knock senseless here."

The Hunter dropped his eyes to the snow and nodded. In reality, he was not surprised Carl had followed him. He should be, it had been Carl who'd found him and more then likely saved his life. After a brief moment of silence, Gabriel looked back up at his friend, "I guess we should get some sleep. It must be well into the night. Many hours to morning. We'll figure out what to do from there."

Carl snorted and rubbed a hand through his messy red hair, "I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight.

"Well then lie and stare at the stars," laughed Gabriel, already spreading a cotton blanket out for himself, "Maybe you can count them all."

Instantly the little friar's face became his all-too-familiar cheeky smile, "I assure you I can. I did in fact once on our first trip over these mountains?"

Gabriel's features twisted into a disbelieving and humorous smirk as he settled down near the dying fire, "Oh, yeah? And how many were there?"

The little friar thought for a moment then said simply, "I don't remember."

"Of course," said Gabriel shaking his head. What had he expected? Such an answer was befitting of Carl and only Carl.

Gabriel remembered little after that, he became consumed in thought. There seemed to be something else, something he was supposed to remember. Had he had a dream? He seemed to remember something, on the edges of his memory, some nagging long lost thought refused to die. He could remember a young man, two. One was taller then the other and more slender, very frail looking. His skin was pale, almost sickly and he had long, straight, white hair that fell past his waist. The young man wore long silver robes and seemed to be very quite and reserved, not fearless or rowdy. There was another man, this one seemed to come through stronger, more clearly. He had long black hair pulled behind his face, his skin was fair and he wore black from head to toe. But there was something more about this man.

His eyes. His eyes were swimming deep green, flaring with a smirk along his lips. Giving him a very cocky yet friendly look. These two, who were they? Why didn't he recognize them? Was he supposed to? Question circled in Gabriel mind, refusing to leave him peace until finally, he gladly, fell into sleep.

.:I:.

Gabriel woke later that evening, actually it was more like well into the night. The moon and stars were shinning outside, though they were impossible to see for someone had drawn the heavy claret drapes in front of the large window at the other end of the crowded room. Gabriel blinked as the healing ward came into focus in his misty vision. The small, healing room was awash in warm orange light of fire; a warm fire crackled and burned in the small hearth next to his bed as well as several thick, dripping wax candles on Eldan's small desk. The soft flickering fire gave the room a very, warm, cozy feel to it and Gabriel smiled to himself, sitting up and stretched his arms, letting the numbing grip of slumber slip away from his refreshed body. The young man did a double-take when he realized his broken arm was no longer sore and the sling had been removed from around his neck as well so that now his forearm was simply bound tightly in white cloth. The dark-haired man smiled again, Eldan must've undone the sling while he was sleeping.

Letting out a long breath, Gabriel leaned back against the headboard of the bed and rubbed a hand over his face, groggy from whatever Eldan had put in the antitoxic he'd taken. Well now I'm going to be up all night, thought Gabriel, laughing softly. The man shook his head and tried to clear his mind, which for the most part was still asleep with bleary mist. It was always hard to waken from one of Eldan's drug-induced slumbers, for they always put him so deeply in sleep, Gabriel always felt as if he'd been asleep for months, a feeling he did not entirely dislike. Arching his back against the headboard to try and wake his muscles, Gabriel heard someone creak open the wooden door on his left. Eldan poked his white-haired head into the healing ward.

"Glad to see you're awake," said the healer with a smile.

Gabriel shook his head and rubbed his eyes again, "Glad to be awake. Whatever you put in that stuff knocked me out good. What time is it?"

"Well past midnight. I came to check on you at sundown but you were still dead asleep. That sleeping draught really did put you under," answered his friend as he strode into the small, candlelit room, carrying a wooden tray of food in his slender hands. The healer's long white hair shone in the dim candle light, creating a soft golden haze about the young man. Eldan sat next Gabriel on the bed and placed the tray of roasted boar meant and boiled, chopped vegetables in his friend's lap, "Here, eat. It will do you good. You haven't eaten in days."

Seeing the steaming plate of food placed in front of him suddenly made Gabriel realize how hungry he was. It had, indeed, been nearly three days since he had eaten anything other then Eldan's healing drinks he mixed up and his stomach ached for something to eat. The young man inhaled deeply; it smelt wonderful. Ripe meat and fresh onions and turnips. Much more appetizing then the earthy musk that filled the healing ward. Gabriel sat up and took the fork in his hand, spearing a chunk rather juicy looking boar meat and swallowed it in one mouthful, not bothering to take time to taste it; never mind chew.

Eldan smirked softly, his pinks eyes glowing his trademark appearance of warmth and kindness, "You look more hungry then Vlad's bloodhounds on fox hunts."

Gabriel felt a warm smile creep across his face. He swallowed another chunk of boar meat, "Well lets starve you for the better part of a week and see how you look with a plate of steaming food in front of you." He glanced up at Eldan to see the same soft grin mirrored in his friend. But Gabriel's light-hearted features quickly contorted into a confused frown as he saw something on Eldan he hadn't noticed before in the dim candlelight. A tender, purple-red bruise bloomed under the healer's pale, transparent skin along his left jawbone. Surrounding the fresh-looking wound, a small amount of dry blood flecked Eldan's otherwise smooth, beautiful, pale skin. The bruise looked fresh, a small amount of wet blood shone in the candlelit as Eldan moved his head slightly to one side.

Suddenly realizing what Gabriel was staring at, the healer's hand instantly shot to behind his ear and he let his long white hair fall along the side of his face, covering the ugly discoloration along his jaw, "I walked into the doorframe of the kitchen when I was getting you something to eat," Eldan explained quickly, letting his eyes fall to the white sheets of the mattress. "You know how clumsy I am." The healer's smile was gone from his face and he folded his hands into the wide sleeves of his silver robes. Instantly the healer's spirits seemed damped, although he tried to hide it.

"Eldan…" Gabriel's tone was filled his sorrow for his friend.

The young healer shook his head and offered a weak smile, "Don't worry. It's nothing. It doesn't even hurt."

Gabriel was obviously unconvinced, "Let me see." He sat up, the tray of food still on his lap. Eldan tried to protest, but a firm, yet kind glance from Gabriel and the young albino healer nodded sadly. Gabriel placed his fork down on the wooden tray and raised a hand to the side of the healer's face, tucking his friend's long white hair back behind his ear, allowing him examine the bruise better. Placing two fingers under Eldan's chin, Gabriel tilted his friend's head sideways, trying to be as gentle as he could for he new how easily Eldan's skin to break. Gabriel traced a fingertip along the mark and Eldan flinched slightly underneath his friend's touch.

"It's probably not as bad as it looks, I haven't gotten a chance to clean it or even look at it yet," said Eldan, trying desperately to convince Gabriel he was fine. Yet it was obvious that his friend was not persuaded by Eldan's attempts.

"Is there something you can put on it?" asked Gabriel still intently examining his friend's marred jawbone. "Something that will help it heal faster?"

Eldan sighed, "I'd have to take a look at it first, but most likely, I'll just have to let it heal."

It wasn't the first time this had happened. In fact it was almost a regular occurrence to the younger healer. Ever since Eldan had come to work at the Manor four years ago, the residents of the Manor and even those who worked in the Manor had treated him poorly. The colour of his skin and slim, sickly appearance made the people very cruel towards the young healer, looking down upon him and didn't hesitate to strike him if he ever stepped out of line. Eldan's fair skin and thin flesh bled and bruised very easily so even a blow that wouldn't make others flinch could send the frail man sprawling. But the young albino healer had become very good and at avoiding such beatings by acting very reserved and quiet in front of anyone except--of course--for Vlad and Gabriel. Though even this wasn't enough to avoid a swift backhand across the face sometimes.

But there was nothing that would protect those people from Vlad when he and Gabriel would find Eldan with a newly-acquired bruise on his face or arms. Then the true fierce loyalty Vlad had to his friends would rise to the surface in an unbridled flame of fury. He would often threaten those who'd struck Eldan, sometimes more then necessary. Gabriel wished he could've done the same, but the people of the Manor would sooner listen to the children of the village then they would a wandering Christian outsider that had shown up half dead at the boarders of their village one night with no memory of where he was from or his past. In fact the only reason Gabriel didn't get struck like Eldan did, was because Gabriel would hit back. He was for more broadly-built then Eldan, and it his stern stare and hard brown eyes intimidated the people in the Manor to leave him alone for the most part, but it didn't protect him from passed whispers and harsh glares.

"What happened?" asked Gabriel releasing Eldan from his gently grip and dropping his hand back to the wooden tray. After he'd done so, and Eldan cast his gaze downward, tried to catch his friend's pink eyed gaze but the healer refused to look at him. Eldan simply stared at the sheets and toyed with he edges of his silver robes, not liking how weak all this was making him seem. He was silent for a moment, trying to think of the best way to word the story and after a swift moment of silence relayed to Gabriel what had happened.

"I was in the kitchen waiting for Nicolé to get you something to eat and I knocked over a drying rack of clay plates." muttered Eldan, his soft voice not nearly above a whisper though he tried to word it as if it were nothing. "It was no big deal. Nicolé had every right to bad angry, I should have noticed it. It was my mistake. I just am no good to any of them here. It doesn't matter. It's over now."

"Oh Eldan, don't say that. You know that's untrue."

The young healer clamped his jaw in an attempt to fight back tears, but it simply made his jawbone throb more. He hated himself for being so weak, but desperately tried to hide it in his words, "Not entirely. Many more healers have come to work at the Manor since I've been here and I really have no other purpose here other than as a healer. Maybe, I should leave. Perhaps it would do everyone here some good. Even me."

Gabriel couldn't believe his friend was serious. He knew Eldan had a hard time with the people in the Manor, but had never known how much the young healer detested himself for it, "And what would I tell Vlad when he comes back? I would be left to explain your absence. I've explained away many things for you but even I can't explain away your complete disappearance." He couldn't tell in the flickering, dim candlelight, but Gabriel could've sworn he could see tears building on the edge of the young albino healer's eyes.

"I'm sure he'd know why I left," Eldan seemed to be tossing the idea of leaving around in his head, testing the sharpness of its edges. "I'm sure he'd understand."

"This is Vlad," said Gabriel with a light laugh, "He doesn't understand himself."

Eldan smiled through tearing eyes but said nothing.

Seeing no change in the healer's eyes Gabriel clasped his friend's hand in his own, giving it a tight squeeze. Eldan reluctantly looked up at his friend's eyes, his own pink ones on the verge of tears he wish he could be strong enough to hold back, "I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you and Vlad," said Gabriel softly. "I was half-dead when Vlad found me and you brought me back. You've done me good, my friend. You and Vlad saved my life." He was silent for moment, "So don't leave. If for no other reason, don't leave so that Vlad doesn't kill me when he returns. I could just imagine what that scenario would turn out to be."

The young healer smiled sorrowfully and more tears spilt from his eyes. Eldan, not wanting Gabriel see him as the frail, defenceless, mistake he was, instantly took the edge of his silver robes and wiped the crystal droplets from his cheek. He hated it when others took pity on him just because he was so weak. He hated when other treated him differently because he could not work as well of the other servants in the Manor did. He hated it when he was not able to defend and protect his friends as they so often did for him. He didn't deserve such good friend as Gabriel and Vlad, for they would always protect and defend him, and yet their was never anything they could do in their times of need, and he hated himself for it, "Eat." the healer whispered, nodding at the tray of food in Gabriel's lap. It was beginning to cool and the healer very much wanted Gabriel to have some strength.

"So is that a yes then?" asked Gabriel taking up his fork again, a cocky smile smeared on his face. "You'll stay?"

If it is the one thing I can do for the both of you, thought the healer to himself as he stood up, straightening his silky, silver robes, "Yes," he said wiping more tears from his eyes. Strangely, he found himself smiling, "I'll stay. Even I couldn't leave you to the wrath of Vlad. My conscious as a healer wouldn't let me." His smile grew wider and Gabriel rolled his eyes.

"Eat," Eldan repeated, sitting down at his desk, "it'll make you feel better. You'd probably be well enough to leave the ward in a day or two." The healer began to look through some the pilled books and writings that had lain stacked on his desk in not particular order, his fine features resuming their calm, kind appearance. Opening one of the drawers, Eldan pulled a scrolled of blank of parchment and laid across an area not occupied with stacked book or dripping lit candles. Taking a quail-feather pen from a small ink pot that was placed atop a random stack of old dusty books, Eldan began to write in long, elegant, looping words in Romania, often glancing back at several references he had opened on various unused areas of the small writing table.

Silence settled in the healing ward as Gabriel finished off the meat and vegetables and Eldan continued to write on the stained parchment. Time passed and Gabriel must have fallen asleep because the next thing he remembered, he woke to see Eldan gone and the tray of food missing as well. Gabriel wasn't as groggy as he had been earlier and found waking up much easier. Even though the heavy claret drapes were still drawn in front of the window, Gabriel could tell it was still night time, but he did not know how long he'd slept.

Feeling much of his energy restored, Gabriel threw of the heavy duvet off of himself and swung his legs off the edge of the bed sitting there for a moment. Wrapping an arm around his neck the young man massaged his shoulder through the thin, white, linen sleeping gown he wore; his muscles were sore from two weeks of lying in bed and his body readjusted to normal movement. After a moment, Gabriel stood, the cold wooden floor moaning underneath his feet as he did so. Candlelight dancing around the dim room Gabriel paused and looked around for a moment, as if something was not quite right with the air around him, something was out of place. Whatever it was caused him to visible shiver and the hair on the nape of his neck stand. But almost as soon as it had come, the odd feeling passed and Gabriel's body automatically relaxed.

Shrugging off the unusual felling, Gabriel turned his attention to Eldan's small, crowded desk where he'd been writing earlier. Several candles still burned on all corners of the desk, some atop piled books and papers crammed on top of each other. But what caught the young man's eye was what Eldan had been writing earlier. Brushing some parchments out of the way, Gabriel sat down at the writing-table awash in flickering candlelit. He had only just begun to learn to read Romanian, even though he could speak it very fluently, and Eldan's smooth, connected, elegant handwriting did not make it any easier by causing it difficult to determine were one letter ended and another began. All he could make out of the long passage of looping, ink, words was, 'upon the coming of a full moon…tears off…revealing a wolfish hybrid…shows animal-like behaviour…no memory…. Is believed to become infected…bitten…deathly allergic to silver.'

Gabriel frowned in confusion. What was this? It sounded like some form of terrible creature. One he had certainly never heard of. Resembling a wolf? Confused, Gabriel glance at one of the opened books beside the parchment. On one page was a block of printed Romanian words of which he could only make out a few, on the other, was a full-page picture of a painting depicting a scene of a winter forest at night, the only light emanating from a full moon in a cloudless night sky. A figure was frozen in the moment, weaving in-between the majestic, snow-laden birch trees. It was the figure of a massive, shaggy grey wolf, eyes as yellow as goldenrod and fangs as white as the moon. Underneath the picture a small caption read, 'Large grey wolves were said to have often been spotted near the locations where the victims were found.'

"Up again?"

All in an instant, the young, dark-haired man jumped straight up, knocking the chair down behind him, heart suddenly pounding so hard he could hear it. To find it was only Eldan again came as a wave of relief and sighed, a smile forming on his face.

"Don't do that!" he half laughed, half sighed, "You scared me."

"No kidding," answered Eldan, moving around Gabriel, picking up the chair he knocked over. "What are you doing out of bed?"

Gabriel shrugged, "I felt better so I thought I should move around a bit."

Eldan tucked the chair back underneath the desk and straightened some of the parchments into a pile.

"Why aren't you asleep?" asked Gabriel, "You must be tired."

Noticing some of the candles had flickered out, Eldan walked around the foot of the bed to the small hearth near his jars of herbs. He dipped the tip of a candle in the glowing fire and walked back around over to Gabriel, shielding the little flame with his hand as he did so, "I couldn't too much going on. And I don't like even more now that Vlad's gone." The albino healer touched tip the burning candle in his hand to the wick of one that had died, relighting it.

"What do you mean?"

"Don't tell me you haven't felt it, Gabriel."

Gabriel thought for a moment, remembering the feeling that had come over him when he'd first gotten out of bed, "Yes, I have felt something uneasy lately. But I don't know what it is. It could just be the winter."

"That's what I keep telling myself, but there's something inside me telling me that it's more," whispered Eldan, placing the candle down on the desk.

There was a moment of silence that passed between the two and Eldan tucked his long white hair behind his ear, revealing the ugly bruise that bloomed underneath his skin. The healer folded his hands into the wide sleeves of his robes as he so often did and sighed, as if trying to force some unwanted thought from his mind. His face looked tired, not physically, but tired of something. Something he wanted to go away. But Gabriel shook the thought away suddenly remembered what he'd read, "Eldan, what were you writing earlier?"

The young healer looked over his shoulder at Gabriel with a raised eyebrow. Gabriel rolled his eyes, "Yes, I looked, but I couldn't read half of it. Something about a giant wolf? And a full moon? What was all of that?"

Eldan leaned on his palms over the desk, his white hair spilling over it's surface. He gently re-read what he had written down earlier, "When those Messengers from Rome came a few weeks ago, I heard them speaking encountering a massive dog-like creature on the mountains when they had first come. They said it snuck up on them when they were camped for one night and killed one of their horses. They fled of the remaining animals but the creature gave chase. One of the them tossed was able to toss a silver throwing dagger at the creature, hitting it in the shoulder. All it took was one hit and this massive dog went down. They didn't risk going back to find the corpse, but they never encountered such a thing again."

"How did you hear all that?!" Gabriel asked, amazed his friend would've been allowed in the same room as such important visitors as the Romans.

But simply Eldan tilted his head back, eyebrows raised and sly smirk on his lips and his arms folded in his sleeves in front of him, "I am ghost-like in more ways then just my appearance, Gabriel."

Gabriel laughed and Eldan continued.

"Anyway, I had heard tales of such creatures when I was young and still living in the village. But I had always thought they were simple fairytales told to children at night during thunderstorms. That fact that someone had actually seen and been attacked by one of these creatures; it sparked my interest." Gabriel snorted, that could lead to many thing, "I went into the Archives and found every writing I could on it. What I found, is that throughout history, their have been cases where someone will disappear, sometime straight from their beds. Giant wolf print were found sometimes. But then, later, during the next full moon, sometimes a giant, wolf-human hybrid-like creature will emerge and basically attack anything that moves. They are gone by morning and are never seen again."

"That's quite the story," Gabriel raised an eyebrow, not entirely sure what to make of this. "So you think one of these thing attacked the Romans?"

"I think one did, but…" his voice trailed off and then suddenly an idea hit him. "Gabriel! What was the name of that merchant in the village who went missing about a month ago?!"

Gabriel thought for a moment, "Um, Sulaam was his first name…"

"And that was a week before the Romans came?"

"Yeah…"

"And what day in the Lunar Cycle was that?"

"I don't know, Eldan!? What are you talking about, you sound like you're going mad!"

The healer was silent for a moment, "It would've been a week into it, on the first-quarter phase," he muttered to himself. His pink eyes lightened and turned to Gabriel, seizing his friend's shoulder in a surprisingly firm grip. He leaned down and looked Gabriel right in the eye, "That means that it would've been about a full moon when just before the Romans arrived right?!"

"Eldan what are you--"

"Right!?"

"Yes, but what has this got to do with anything. You sound crazy."

The healer's eyes were filled with fire and he sank down onto the bed, panting, his heart beating with thrill, "Great Goddess," he whispered in delight, "we either have the biggest coincidence in all of history on our hands, our everything they say is true."

Frustrated and confused, Gabriel sat down next Eldan and--as lightly as he could--tapped the healer on his bruised jawbone. Eldan snapped his head on Gabriel, rubbing his bruise softly, "What was that for?"

"Will you tell me what this is all about?!" Gabriel pleaded, feeling very confused.

The younger took a minute to calm himself them, in his soft voice said, "I'll explain everything tomorrow. For now, we both need to sleep. But we shouldn't do anything until Vlad returns. Damn it, he couldn't have picked a worse time to leave. But we'll wait for now. I'm going to sleep, you should do the same, the sun rises in six hours." Eldan rose gracefully to his feet and leaned over the desk, blowing out each of the candles save one he took in his hand. He went around to the small hearth and tipped the small bowl of boiling water above the fire over, steaming out the flame. Suddenly, the only light in the room was the flickering candle Eldan was holding in his hands.

"Sleep," he repeated to his friend as the healer made he way 'round to the door. "I need to see you in the morn." And with no more, Eldan disappeared down the hall, closing the door behind him leaving Gabriel in total blackness.

Gabriel sat for a moment, not sure what had just happened. There were the rare times when Eldan would completely forget his burden-role of weak servant the true, vibrant, limitless Eldan would appear. And when he did, Gabriel was often left in the wreckage of the whirlwind, not having a clue to what was going on.

Well he wasn't going to waste any more energy on it tonight. Feeling his was to the head of the bed, Gabriel climbed in, the warm duvet much more welcoming then the unheated rooms of the Manor and he laid his head down. He lay awake for a while, not sure what to make of all that Eldan had told him, but soon, sleep reached up long fingers and pulled him down into a deep, dreamless slumber.

.:I:.

Gabriel woke to the sound of Carl scuttling around the camp. The little friar was always up at seemingly ungodly early hours. Sometime Gabriel questioned if he slept at all. After a moment of pretending to sleep, Gabriel opened his eyes and sat up, stretching him arms out.

"Good morning, Van Helsing," Carl said in a rather chipper voice given the very cold temperature of the air. "Lovely day is it not?"

"Damn you and your un-damp-able spirits, Carl," murmured Gabriel. "I'm tired."

"Aren't we all," Carl said as he finished tacking one of the horses. Gabriel noticed that everything was packed and strapped to the two horse. Breakfast was also cooking over a fire, a strip or two of deer meat and mixed nuts and berries. Gabriel shook his head as he pulled himself up and stretched again. Wherever the little friar found all this energy God only knows. Gabriel took his trench coat and slipped it on, hoping to block out some of the cold. He could see his breath on the air as Carl came up to him offering him a strip of deer meant.

"Here eat," said the friar, "We should be going off soon." Carl turned back and began to pack the last of the blankets back into sacks.

"Going?"

Carl turned back to look at Gabriel over his shoulder, "Yeah, going home."

Gabriel dropped his gaze to the snow and shook his head, "I'm still going Carl."

The little friar had expected this, but he wasn't about to let Gabriel ride off to his death. The little friar turned back on his friend, "Are you mad? You're chasing nothing, you'll die out here. There's nothing out there"

"I'm still going."

"And what will I tell the Cardinal?" asked the little friar, folding his arms.

"The truth," Gabriel shrugged.

Carl let out an agitated sigh; he hated logic.

"I've been having dreams," said Gabriel, his voice lower now.

Carl raised his eyebrows, "About what? More nightmares?"

Gabriel shook his head, "It's different. I have dreams, but then I can't remember them. But, I know they happened. Like, I can tell they occurred, but don't remember what they were about. In fact, they don't really seem like dreams, they seem more like…memories." Gabriel sighed and looked out over the small cypress grove. "But then I wake up, and I only have vague recollections of them. Like I remembered they happened, but I don't remember what happen."

Carl frowned, "How long has that been going on for?"

Gabriel shrugged again, "Since I left." he suddenly realized, "How long have we been out here? What's the date?"

"It is January the 17th, 1889," recited Carl, it was a question he was asked often. "But back to the these dreams, you say they are like memories? Are you sure?"

"I don't know," Gabriel shook his head, a little at a loss, "but they feel real. Like I've lived them before. Different then dreams."

Carl nodded thoughtfully and was silent for a moment, "They could be memories," he said after a moment.

The Hunter felt his heart leap at the words. He hadn't expected it, but he felt a huge wave of rekindled hope sweep over him. But even knowing that these dreams could be his memories returned to him made his heart beat faster and his spine tingle.

"I'm going, Carl."

The little friar was about to protest but a stern gaze from Gabriel told him their was no stopping him. Van Helsing was stubborn that way, once he made up his mind, you could not change it.

"Then I'm coming with you," said Carl firmly and he folded his arms across his chest.

"You? To Transylvania?" Gabriel chuckled.

"I've done it once and I'll do it again. If it is that important then I suppose it's worth some of my time here on Earth," the friar rolled his eyes and sighed for effect.

Gabriel smiled, "You remind me so much of Eldan."

"Who?"

Gabriel froze. Eldan? Who was that? It sounded familiar…like he had heard it long ago and never bothered to remember it. Where had he heard that name before? It was so familiar and yet, he couldn't place it within his mind. "No one," he answered finally, not really paying much attention anymore, "just someone I thought I knew."


Whew that was a long one, 6145 words exactly! Ow my wrists hurt.
Ahh! I feel so terrible for writing the flashback cause I'm torturing a person with a genetic defect. I feel so evil. I'm sorry Eldan!
Also, BIG foreshowing [that's my new word for the day =)] in the flashback as well. Well, we check in with Dracula in the next chapt' and hopefully get a few questions answered. Until then….