Chapter 19-

A/N: SORRY! Chappy!

"Shit, shit, shit, shit!" Kate muttered under her breath as she looked at the quickly written note. "They must have seen all this mess…. oh god, oh god, I'm dead, sooooo dead!"

"What's wrong?" Rachel said, looking over her friend's shoulder. "Oh god…. wait…isn't that the address to the church?" She pointed to the given address and arched an eyebrow, Kate looked at it confused.

"It…. is…"

"Why would your parents want to meet at church?" Velkan spoke up, from looking curiously at a lamp.

"Got me…" Kate said, folding the note and diving for her hat she landed softly on some pillows that had been thrown about in the previous chaos.

Van Helsing regarded her curiously, not unlike the look he first gave her when they crossed paths not a year ago. "What exactly do you parent do, Kate?"

She looked up from the pillows thoughtfully and still confused. The rest watched on in curiosity, as none of them really knew the answer to that one ever-plaguing question.

"I already told you, don't you remember?"

"Refresh my memory…."

"Ok…I think they work for some international real-estate company…but I don't really believe it…they are gone far too much for it…and every time I ask them about it, they change the topic."

"Hmm…perhaps it will be best if Anna, Carl, Velkan and I stay in the shadows whilst you meet with your parents…" Van Helsing said, thoughtfully scratching his chin.

"What's in your head, Helsing?" Marcum said, studying him.

"Think about it, why else would Kate's parents say to meet at a church? Unless they knew something." Van Helsing replied, his eyes shining with this new revelation. Suddenly Carl chimed in.

"Of course! They could have known about the Hourglass somehow….but, unless they were members of the Order or dabbled in the dark arts then…how would they know its true purpose?"

Kate looked sharply at Carl. "Hey, hey, watch it there."

"Sorry, I just…the possibility of it is there…." He mumbled.

"Hold on there, how da we even know the Holy Order is even around anymore? I mean, this is our time….it coulda have crumbled!" Kevin said, yes he was still, even after all the seemly impossible things he's seen over this short time, thinking logically.

"Only one way to find out." Libby said setting a table right and picking up a squashed Snicker's bar.

Kate, Kevin, Libby, James and Alice along with Van Helsing and the others kept to the shadows of the walking path, which led to the park and also was a quicker route to the church than the road ever could be. Kate remained stonily silent through out most of the walk, only looking back to check and see if everyone was still there; she breathed not a word since Marcum and Rachel had parted ways with the rest of the group, no doubt to face hell from their parents for not checking in, finally she stopped and turned, quite abruptly, causing James to stumble over himself and fall forward, Van Helsing and Anna both reached out and caught him by his jacket, pulling back up to his feet. Kate looked at him for only a moment.

"Carl, you said you had a theory about how Gabriel and I are alive again." Her voice was low, near a whisper, yet, still just as loud. The small friar looked up and nodded.

"Well, actually, the reason your alive is the same reason we were in our costumes when we returned to this time." He paused for a moment before continuing. "We are restored to our original conditions from when we left. Think of it as a loop."

"A loop?" Kevin asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Like a time loop?" James said, blinking in utter confusion.

"Somewhat, James. What happened when you came back the first time?" Posed Carl.

"Our injuries were gone." Kate said, still having that same far off look in her eyes

"Exactly! Now, Kate, when you came back for the second time, after your schools started, what happened?"

"I was normal, but I don't see what this has to do with anything." She said, her voice still just above a whisper.

"It has everything to do with anything." Carl said, stopping for a moment to consider what he had just said, and if it many any sense what so ever. "You were away for the rest of the summer, in your time and in ours the seasons changed and time marched on. So, as the human body tends to do wherever one happens to be on the time line, it healed and your wounds became non-existent in our realm. That is why you weren't injured, because you waited long enough so that your injuries would heal in our time."

Libby blinked in a confused manner. "So…say if in some horrible and wrong accident Gabriel lost an arm in this time, he could go back in time and it would be there?"

Van Helsing looked alarmed at Libby who only shrugged and sheepishly scooted behind Kevin, who gave her an odd look.

"Well…no Van Helsing would be dead." Carl winced inwardly, yet visibly at saying those words. "Death is, irreversible."

"So you're saying Gabriel can never go back." Kate said, her voice sounding as though she was holding back tears. "He's stuck in the future…"

"Unfortunately…. yes."

With this grim realization weighing heavily upon the teens were all lost in their respective thoughts as they finished up their long walk to the church. Gabriel, Anna, Valken and Carl kept safely within the cover of the ever-dissipating shadows as the sun rose over the far off horizon. Kate had, ever since this grim truth was revealed, been stonily silent as she walked farther ahead. Van Helsing remained deafly mute, his eyes fixed only on the ground, and clearly he was contemplating the grave situation with a fervent intensity. As they turned on to Blaine Avenue the large church loomed up in front of them, the rising sun had not yet cleared the ancient building's large steeple and bell tower; thus it was bathed in a golden glow that made it seem like the earthly gates to heaven. Kate stopped and looked up at the stained glass window, squinting against the sun and motioning for Helsing crew to stay where they were safely tucked away in shadow.

Kate's P.O.V.-

As I glanced back at the Helsing and the others I could barely keep back a sob, Gabriel could never return home because of an error I made, a stupid childish error and now…I have to face my parents…and explain this stuff. I laid my hand on the solid wood of the large door.

"Kate!" A voice rang out from behind me, turning my face fell as I spotted my father standing just beside a car and my mother, looking very concerned, she was next to him. Mom began to walk forward quickly, as she reached us I could see that there were signs of worry etched in her face…not your ordinary worry either, an intense worry.

"Mom…I'm sorry, we left the house like that-" I was about to continue on with an apology and ready to receive whatever punishments were ready to be dealt out, but what came next, shocked me.

Mom took me into a great hug, well, more or less a giant crushing bear hug than a normal happy your back hug! I hugged her back, a little surprised, as I was half expecting to get chewed out for wrecking the house; she pulled back and looked up at me, she was a foot or so shorter than I.

"Dear, I'm so happy your safe." She said, it seemed that something had scared her deeply.

"Mom, I'm sorry about the house, we never meant to scare you…we-"

"Dear…perhaps it would be best if you and your friends explained a few things."

She took me by my hands and led me over to the black Mercedes Bends, dad motioned for the others to follow, which they did with confusion and a little hesitance. My father stood over both my mother and I by a great deal, he was also very muscular yet still somehow very lean, his normally laughing, kind face was set in lines of worry and annoyance.

"I think it would be best if all your friends came forward, Katherine." I cringed, I always knew when I was in deep crap, and dad would never fail to use my full and much despised name.

"W-what do you mean…dad?" I stuttered out, how could they know about Gabriel and the others!

"I think you know, what I mean." His voice was a solid as stone, and was full of command and authority; also it held no doubt as to my worst fears of this moment.

Turning slowly and almost mechanically I brought my hand up to the level of my eyes and waved just enough for one of them to catch the movement and come forth; it was Gabriel. He stepped from the shadows, looking at dad with suspicion, followed by Velkan, Anna and Carl. Gabriel held his hand just at his hip, over the holster of his gun, I guess old habits die-hard, Velkan's eyes flamed a dangerous and feral amber while Anna looked just as suspicious as Gabriel did, Carl looked meekly at my father, slightly weary for his life.

"Come now, you have nothing to worry about. We won't bite, we're Katherine's parents, Gabriel, Princess Anna, Carl…Prince Velkan." Dad extended his hand out in gesture of peace to the group.

Anna looked sharply and at dad with eyes full of suspicion, I myself was too surprised to say anything. Velkan regarded my parents with something a-kin to an odd mix between curiosity and suspicion.

"How do you know about us?" Anna said, looking at dad's hand.

"I thought, you could trust these children not to say anything." Velkan said, which earned him a hard glare from Kevin and a duel smack from Libby and Alice.

"We are NOT children!" They yelled together, which in turn earned them a stern glare from my father, effectively silencing the lot of them.

"We'll explain everything in the car, including an over due explanation for Katherine…" My father's voice seemed to soften greatly as he opened the door and gestured for everyone to climb inside.

Normal P.O.V-

Once everyone was situated inside the surprisingly spacious car, Kate's father fixed the Helsing crew with a quick gaze before turning to his eye to his daughter, whose questioning eyes only made him think of when she was a child.

"Now, Katherine…I think…that your mother an I owe you a very large explanation." Kate sat as still as stone, waiting what her parents had to tell.

"Now, dear, you must find this all quite strange, us meeting you at a church and all…but there have been reports of several creatures by…our informants." Her mother said, gravely. Kate jumped in her seat and looked at her parents wide eyed.

"Informants!" She echoed loudly. "What do you mean!"

"Little angel…" Her father's voice had softened and he was using her nickname of past days. "Do you remember when we told you that we were international real-estate agents?" He continued. "Well…we lied."

"Dear, we hated to do it, but you were too young to know; we were waiting until you turned 18 to tell you everything but, it seems you have already figured out most of these things." Her mother finished off, looking apologetically at her daughter, who sat dumb founded at this.

"We figured you already knew most of the truth…you are a very cleaver girl, Little angel…but we never thought you would have came across the Hourglass." Mr. Hartford said, still gently.

"Yes, you'll have to explain some things yourself, young lady. About our occupation…you see…we are part of a branch off of a order, I believe you'll recognize the name, the Holy Order." Mrs. Hartford said, knowingly. Kate, along with the rest of the group now had very wide eyes.

"You're kidding me! Snap!" James said, loudly and enthusiastically jumping in his seat, thumping his head soundly off the roof. He came back down into his seat, holding the top of his head, this earned him several odd looks and a glare from Velkan.

"No, James, I am not kidding. We have been in the Order for most of our lives, I, myself am a researcher into the past…certain artifacts and their locations. Little did I know or even think to look into it, that my daughter right under my nose kept one of them safe."

"So that's why you gave me such a hard time with it…" Kate said quietly.

"Yes, dear, we had to, we didn't want you to get hurt or worse, thrown back in time…"

"But, as we can clearly see…you have already been back in time…"

"And thankfully back unscathed. Now, as for me, I am a monster hunter, I help your father when tracking down artifacts; but I must say, that having Gabriel Van Helsing, the Prince and Princess of Versa and Friar Carl right in front of me defies everything that has been archived…"

"What do you mean, Mrs. Hartford?" Kevin asked, politely.

"From what I have read, the records of this group stopped not even a year after Vladislaus Dracula's second fall back to hell." She said, looking intently at the group, this made Carl fidget nervously for one reason or another.

"Whoa! Mom…well, we personally witnessed Dracula's fall back into…um heck." She said, Kate knew she was going to have to explain at one point or another, it might as well be now and she might as well not swear.

"Excuse me?" Mr. Hartford said, very confused.

"We ran into these guys last summer and…well…we went along with them for the ride."

Kate's parents sat in silence for a few moments, they seemed to be deliberating over something suddenly Mr. Hartford spoke up.

"We should ground you for putting yourself in danger…but…it really wouldn't be right, seeing as you were only curious and, well, how can I put this?" He drifted off and Ms. Hartford picked up.

"Kate, you're going to be taking over where we leave off."

A/N: I'm sorry it took ages to update, but yeah, I had competitions and school and I am starting work on my senior project. Plus I don't think a complete lack of energy to write anything along the lines of this fic helped at ALL. Anyways. Thank you to those who reviewed while I was writing this thing. And just a quick question…where O' where have my regular, completely awesome reviewers gone? I miss you guys. T.T