A/N: Sorry for being so late with the 3rd chapter, folks! It's been done for a while, it's just that my editor/proofreader didn't have the time to edit and proofread until recently. Hopefully the chapter length will make up for the late update:D I give you, CHAPTER 3!
Tara stiffened up, her entire body rigid and her eyes wide in fear. She managed to make sure that the blanket was still held tightly against her body. She felt two deathly cold hands move her purple hair away from her neck and tilt her head. She didn't know what was going on, or what was going to happen, but she could guess that it wasn't good.
No matter how hard she willed, her body would not move. Fear had paralyzed her. She culd feel something sharp against her neck, digging into her flesh slowly. Just as she felt a prick of pain, the door burst open.
"Stop right there!" Helsing stated sternly, aiming a pistol at the man behind Tara. Carl peeked out from behind him, quickly shutting his eyes.
"AH!" Tara shouted, movement returning to her limbs. She managed to stand up on wobbly legs, running into the closet. "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?" cam the muffled demand.
"Dracula has risen again." Helsing explained, keeping his eyes on the naked man. "You MUST leave and hide in a safter place."
"There is NO way I'm going anywhere without Courtney! No way in the Nine Circles of Christian Hell!" she shouted from the closet.
"You have to, or you'll be his first meal! Besides," the monster hunter paused, "Courtney's gone."
"Gone! What do you mean 'gone'? She was right here when I fell asleep. There is no way that she's gone!"
Van Helsing sighed, "She is. The reason we've gome to this town was to find your beloved girlfriend and kill her before her twentieth birthday. We obviously failed on that account, as Dracula is now here. We didn't think that he would emerge at the time she was born and that you would have gotten a deadbolt for your apartment door!" he took a slight breath, calming himself. "Now, Courtney's soul is eternally damned." he finished, watching as Dracula stood up.
"Carl, you know where to take her."
The friar nodded, opening his eyes just long enough to see the closet and quickly making his way over.
"Please, miss. Come with me." carl said, glancing to his side, seeing that Dracula had started to make his way over. Helsing's finger started to pull the trigger, keeping his aim on the vampire.
"I'd hurry up if I were you!"
"One minute!" Tara yelled.
"You don't have a minute!"
"Well excuse me for trying to get dressed!" came the annoyed reply.
"You're in great peril and all you can think about is FASHION?" Helsing yelled, angrily.
"Wrong! I don't think about fashion! It doesn't even enter my mind!"
The closet door slid open with a slam, startling Carl. Tara took ahold of the friar's wrist, slightly yelling at the monster hunter, "And I definitely don't want to go running around the town of Bridgewater NAKED!"
With that said, Tara and Carl ran past Helsing and into the hall. In the bedroom, Dracula smirked at his old friend. He now had the blanket and was wrapping it around himself.
"It seems that you have failed again, Van Helsing. Although, I am quite surprised that you found out about my..." he paused, "odd reincarnation."
Helsing didn't reply, opting to glare at the vampire, pistol at the ready even more so. Dracula laughed.
"Do you honestly think that you can vanquish me from his Earth? That you can 'kill' me, as it were?" he asked politely.
"I may not be able to kll you personally, but I can at least put you out of commission for a while." Helsing replied.
"With what? You have no werewolves to bite me, nor do your weapons have any effect except to simply agitate." the vampire lord stated as he walked over to a cardboard box, opening it.
"Where on Earth are we going to go in order to hide from a...a...thing like that?"
"The only place that I can think of," Carl replied breathlessly, "A church."
"A church? Are you flippin' mad--" Tara was drowned out by a loud smash of sorts. She jumped, getting scared outo f her wits.
"Well, there goes your livingroom window." the friar commented.
"Aw damn! How the Hell are we going to--"
"You. Courtney's gone." Carl interuptted.
"WE! I do NOT believe that at five a.am. Courtney suddenly got blinked out of existence!" she said forcefully.
"CARL!" Helsing yelled, getting up off the glass-scattered pavement, "Get her to safety! NOW! He's on the loose!"
"On it!"
The friar took ahold of Tara's wrist, dragging her along with him to the nearest church. He pulled on the door, but to no avail did it open.
"What kind of church has its doors LOCKED?"
"Apparently, one that doesn't want to be robbed or vandalized." Tara replied, sarcastically.
"But curches are supposed to be SANTUARIES!"
"Only if you're a few centuries old! How old are you, anyway?" Tara asked.
"A true man never tells his age."
"Ah-huh...Whoever said you were a 'true man'?" she asked, with a smirk.
Just before Carl could retort, the church doors opened and tara was yanked into its intereior. Carl tried to get in, only to find the doors locked once more. Helsing ran up to him.
"Where is she?"
"In there." the friar said, worriedly.
"Ah, good." Van Helsing replied, glad that she was safe inside the Lord's house.
"No, not good.."
"Yes, because she's in a church."
Carl shook his head, "No, because HE yanked her inside!"
"Then why didn't you go in after her?" Helsing demanded.
"It happened all so fast that I couldn't do anything and besides," Carl added, "the doors are locked."
"You picked the deadbolt, but you didn't pick this lock?" the monster hunter asked, angrily.
"No, because that means that I'd be breaking into a CHURCH and as a Man of God, I just can't do that."
Helsing sighed and quickly picked up a large rock.
"What are you doin—Van Helsing, NO!" Carl yelled, grabbing Helsing's wrist, trying to prevent the large hunk of rock from being thrown.
Inside the church, Tara had managed to hop up onto a pew, backing away from the vampire.
"There...m-must be someone ELSE out there you c-could feed from!" she said, hopefully pleading.
Dracula chuckled, "No, your blood is quite delicious..."
The teeen stared at him briefly before hopping down off the pew and into the aisle, glaring at him.
"How on Earth do you know--"
"What your blood tastes like?" he finished for her, "Quite simple, my dear... I have been rsiding in this woman's body since the moment she was born," he explained, watching as Tara backed up toward the altar. In the blink of an eye, he was in front of her, causing her to yell out in sudden fright and tripping over a step before landing on her butt. Dracula smirked down at her, continuing his explanation.
"She knows what your blood tastes like. So in turn, I know what your blood tastes like. I know what hardships she has been through as well as what she has experienced with you." he finished.
Tara stared at him in disbelief, slowly getting up onto her feet.
"You...know everything?" she asked, letting it sink in.
"Yes." Dracula replied, simply.
"EW! YOU PERVER!" she yelled.
"I beg your pardon?" Dracula asked, quite offended.
"If you know EVERY SINGLE THING that Courtney has been through, then that means you KNOW when we've... you've seen us when we've..."
"I have not watched when you and she were making love. I have more self-respect and dignity than that, I assure you." he said in a calm, dignified tone of voice, but it seemed that there was no getting through to Tara. She was freaking out, spitting out words quicker than a cheetah could run. Although, they weren't understandable by any means.
The vampire watched her, seeing her arm shoot out towards something beside her. Whatever she had grabbed, Tara biffed it as hard as she could. Dracula dodged it easily with a side-step. It was at this time that carl had finally picked open the door. Helsing had talked the friar into doing the deed, after convincing him that God would forgive him and that he would not be smited or thrown into the pits of Hell.
Unfortunately, when the friar opened the door, he got hit with what Tara had thrown. Helsing looked down at Carl,
"What was that?" S
till winded, Carl looked at the object, "The Bible..." he said in a slightly stunned manner.
"Ah.." Helsing said as he helped up his friend. It was all he could say, for he didn't know what else could be said.
"GET AWAY FROM ME!"
Both men looked ahead, seeing Tara being cornered by Dracula. Van Helsing started walking down the aisle, getting his pistols out and ready by his sides.
"Dracula!" he shouted, causing the vampire to turn around. Dracula bowed slightly.
"Ah, Gabriel. So nice of you to join me."
"Step away from the girl, Dracula. She doesn't need to be brought into this."
The vampire took a good few steps towards Van Helsing, his pale hands clasped behind his back.
"She's already been brought into this, don't you see Gabriel?" The moment that Courtney and herself met, she was pulled into 'this'."
Tara listened to every word aptly, as she slowly made her way towards the two men. Down below, she saw Carl signaling her. She rose an eyebrow, confused.
Carl sighed, trying with all his might to look inconspicuous and to signal her down to safety.
"Tel me, Van Helsing.." she heard Dracula say as she watched the friar below. Finally understanding what he was trying to convey, Tara nodded and started to slowly make her way down towards him.
"Are you going to try to save her soul as well?" Dracula asked, glancing over at Tara, who was attempting to climb over the rail that seperated the altar from the congregation. She was almost over it when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Her head wh ipped to the side, looking down at the hand. Her eyes didn't need to travel upwards to know to whom it belonged. The hand pulled her back over the rain and kept a firm grip on her shoulder.
"Are you going to send her to an early grave, all to save her soul?" the Prince of Darkness continued, still gripping the petrified female.
Helsing didn't answer.
"For, it seems to me that in order to save a person's soul, you have to kill the person."
Helsing glared.
"Get your damned hand of her." he said through clenched teeth. Dracula smirked, shaking his head.
"No," the vampire replied.
"Let. Her. Go." said the monster hunter, trying to keep his temper down.
"No." replied the vampire again, maintaining his casual, cool and almost friendly demeanor. Tara tried to wriggle out of his grip, but to no avail. He simply looked down at her with a slight smile.
It was then that his eye twitched and his smile faded. At first, it seemed like he wa shrinking and that his clothes were becoming too big for him. His black-brown hair was shortening in his ponytail and turning a reddish colour. His chest was filling out, much to his displeasure and his flesh was gaining life. His eye colour faded to green and soon, it was no longer him standing there, but a very confused Courtney! She looked at Tara.
"Why are we in a church...? And wh..why am I in men's clothing?" she asked, totally confused.
"Uhm... I'll tell you later, but in the mean tim..." Tara replied, suddenly hugging Courtney tightly.
"I'm terribly sorry, ladies.." Van Helsing interrupted, causing the girls to look at him.
"Who's... Wait-a-minute! Mr. Helsing? Carl? What are you doing here?" the red head asked, now more confused than ever.
"W-well," Carl stuttered, looking down at the floor. "We, well not 'we', more like him." Carl pointed to Helsing. "He's here to kill you."
"What?" the twenty-year-old shouted. "Why?"
"Because," the monster hunter replied, causing Courtney's bewildered stare to fall upon him again. "Dracula has risen."
Courtney just stared, "You are insane." she stated and pointed at Carl. "And YOU! You're worse than insane! You'er psychotic for even going along with him!"
At that, Carl gringed slightly, simply listening to Courtney go on.
"That still doesn't explain how I got here, or why I'm wearing men's clothing or why you're trying to kill me!"
"Actually, it does. You're here because Dracula was here. You're in those clothes because he was wearing them." Helsing explained. Courtney still looked confused. She took a closer look at the clothes that she was wearing. Apparently, who she had supposedly been, loved black. Black frockcoat that had a military air, black shirt, black pants...black everything!
"Wait...Ter? Where did these clothes come from?" she asked, slightly tugging at the frockcoat.
"It's the package from Dane from when he was in Romania, remember? Since we're both into odd stuff, he figured that we'd like something historical." Tara replied with a shrug.
Helsing was taking this conversation as a good enough distraction for him to take aim at Courtney's head with his pistol. Unfortunately for him, Tara looked over and quickly grabbed Courtney's wrist and ran for it, yanking her along. The monster hunger fired. The twenty year old gave out a cry of pain; the bullet had knicked her arm.
"Courtney, GET DOWN!" Tara yelled.
"Don't have to tell me twice!" she cried out, dropping to the wooden floor.
The two girls crawled, trying to use the pews for cover from the bullets. Everytime a bullet was fired and missed its target, it hit the wood of the pew, causing it to splinter this way and that. They dented the floor, getting dangerously close to its intended targed. He stopped, watching for the two girls; waiting for an opening to fire through.
Silence filled the church like the frightening quiet following the explosion of a nucliar bomb. Van helsing's eyes flittered to the left, having seen some movement. He listened about, eyes narrowing. That's when he heard it, a sound that he hadn't heard for ages. A sharlish growl that had a slightly humanish quality to its animalistic tendancy. As soon as he saw the shape of the werewolf he fired, the bullet lodging in its leg.
Courtney yelled out in fear, trying to scamper away, hoping to Bast that she wouldn't be see, that she would be safe.
The Left Hand of God continued to fire at the beast as it limped, leapt and dodged as best it could. It wasn't before long that it was charging at Van Helsing. He rolled to the side, quickly dropping his pistols and grabbing his faithful tojos. Spinning its blades quickly, the monster hunter slashed across. Bright crimson blood splattered through the air. The wolf creature howled in pain, falling back onto it's rump. It's right cheek had been cut cleanly; the bright red-pink colour of muscle and flesh could be seen through the dark-brown fur. Blood seeped out of the woud, trickling slowly down the wolf's face.
It growled, then stood and barked. Heavy bipedal hind paws walking towards the monster hunter, who back away carefully, keeping a close eye on the werewolf.
Tojos spinning, Helsing readied his aim as the beast leapt at him, deadly claws reaching out towards him, canine teeth bared and saliva dripping down in long, stringly lines. Just as it was about to land on him, Van Helsing rolled out of the way, slashing the spinning blades of the tojo horizontally. Bits of of fur fell onto the church floor, but not damage had really been done.
The monster hunger glared slightly, thoroughly frusterated. He was supposed to be saving the soul of a twenty year old woman, not battling a werewolf that decided to randomly show up!
As this unscripted batter went on, Carl had found Courtney and was keeping an eye on her. She was fine, a bit shaken up, but fine. That was until he noticed that a certain vampire was making another appearance. He friar gave a frightened gulp and proceeded to get the Holy Order Knight's attention.
"Helsing! Van Helsing!"
"I'm a bit busy right now, or are you blind to that fact?" Helsing replied, dodging a swip from his opponent.
"It's--" Carl was cut off by the screams of police sirens. Someone obviously had heard the ruckus and reported the going ons.
"It's the police! I know that we had our target, but in the interest of the mission, I suggest a hasty retreat. You can't do much from behind bars!" the friar said quickly. Helsign didn't like the idea of retreat, but Carl did have a point. If caught, the definitely wouldn't be able to do what he had to. Perhaps for quite a long time. He sighed,
"I see your point, Carl." Van Helsing said, dodging another swipe. He quickly punched the wolf's head to make it stumble back a bit in order to make his way to the smashed in window. It worked. After the deft punch, the wolf had become slightly disoriented. The monster hunter ran towards Carl, grabbing hold of his arm and made for the window. Helsing pushed the friar through, who landed with a thud on the grass. Van Helsing followed.
The two men ran off down the street. By the time the gops had arrived, Helsing and Carl were gone. What the did see, however was a large bat-like creature burst through the roof of the church and fly off into the night and a canine beast shatter the doors as it leapt out and run off. One of the policemen rubbed his eyes in disbelief.
"That's in, no more confiscated weed for me."