This chapter was pretty hard to write, I hate it when they fight, and yet, it is kinda fiery when it does happen.
From the years 1455 to 1461, Vladislaus and Verishka had seven years of an extremely happy marriage. Although they had no children, this was not from an inability to do so, but because they were extremely happy with it just being the two of them.
The day after their wedding, they moved to Vaseria. Verishka was introduced to Lord Valerious, Vladislaus' father. Verishka and he got along very well, and Valerious was very proud of the wife his son had taken.
However, as happy as Verishka was, married life was slightly more lonely than Verishka had anticipated. There were many instances when Vladislaus would have to speak with other Romanian noblemen, and Verishka was not allowed to accompany him. Still, she was grateful for the time they had and she knew she could not have him every moment. There was a magnificent library at Valerious manor, and so Verishka spent much of her time there. Pouring over countless books in both english and romanian greatly improved her education, which came in handy during her many hours of doing nothing.
The year was 1462. On a day when her father and Van Helsing were visiting, Verishka was in the library and was surprised to see Van Helsing come in.
"Hello Verishka," he said walking over to her. She immediately stood up and said, "Hello Gabriel. You'll have to excuse me, but I was just leaving."
"Verishka wait, please," he said. She turned around to face him.
"What?"
"Was it your choice to marry Vladislaus?" he asked.
"It was arranged, if that was what you meant. Did he never tell you it was arranged?" she asked, confused.
"So it wasn't for love," he said.
"Why are you asking this?"
"I... I love you. From the moment I met you, I loved you. Everything about you, and there is something about Vladislaus that you should know. He has a darker side on the battlefield, one that he hides from you here. He does things that no God fearing man would do," he said, reaching out for her, but she backed away.
"Please Gabriel, I don't want to here lies," she moaned.
"I could never lie to you, but look at how lonely you are. I would never allow that to happen. For seven years I've kept that inside, but now..." he said. He then pulled her close and kissed her on the lips violently. He was a big man, so her attempts to struggle against him were futile. Just as she was going to step on him with all of her weight, (which wasn't much) Vladislaus walked by, but his heart was immediately broken by what he saw. Seeing his friend out of the corner of his eye, Gabriel stopped kissing Verishka and let her go. She stumbled backward and caught her balance with a small table behind her. She and Gabriel watched in fear as Vladislaus' face changed from shocked, to sad, to furious.
"Vladislaus, this isn't what it seems," she started to say.
"THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT IT SEEMS! I find my wife in my best friend's arms and you tell me it's not what it seems!" he yelled, with rage burning in his eyes.
"Please Vladislaus, let me explain," Gabriel said, stepping between Verishka and Vladislaus. But Vladislaus did not allow him to finish. He struck Van Helsing across he face with his fist. With that force, Gabriel fell to the floor with blood running down his face, and his eyes filled with sorrow.
"Tomorrow at dawn, you and I Gabriel. We shall see who is the better man, and who deserves to die!" Dracula said, eyes glaring.
"Fine, I shall consider it an honor to fight for love," Gabriel said.
"Darling please no, don't do this, don't fight I beg of you," Verishka cried frantically, throwing herself at his feet, tears rolling down her face.
"Come my sweet, I feel you and I need a moment alone," he snapped, tightly gripping her arm and yanking her upward.
As they left Van Helsing kneeling there in the library, Verishka glared back at him, her eyes burning with hatred that ran deep within her. If her marriage was over, it was all his fault.
While he dragged her back to the chamber, he could see the fear in her eyes. He now regretted having yelled at her. However had she not been the one who had just shattered his heart? Once they were in the chamber, Dracula slammed the door shut, and spoke,
"Why Verishka? All I want to know is why?"
"Vladislaus please believe me, I wanted nothing to do with him. I..." she began to say, still crying.
"You love him, don't you?" he asked.
"WHAT! No, of course not. You're the only one I love," she said.
"You never loved me. I was always just your arranged match, wasn't I? Just know this, you can have the love of two men, which I know you do, but you can only love one, who is it?" he asked sternly.
"Please, you have my love, it is not worth you possibly dying for. I'm not worth dying for!" she cried.
"You are worth dying for," he said, placing a gentle hand on her cheek.
"Why are you fighting for something you already have?" she asked.
"This isn't a battle over who gets you, I won that seven years ago. This is over who gets your heart," he said, staring at her. He imagined his steel blue eyes looked rather cold to her at the moment, but became surprised when he saw her dark, rich brown eyes go from tragically shattered, to filled with anger.
"YOU HAVE MY HEART! HAVEN'T YOU BEEN LISTENING! I love you, not Van Helsing, not the prince, not the king of the world, not ANYONE!. Has every time I told you I love you, gone unheard?" she screamed, firmly standing her ground, but flailing her arms around in the air.
There was a long pause between them. The room was lit only by the fire place as night fell across all of Romania. As their anger died down, so did the flames of the fire.
"You shall sleep in your own chamber tonight, my love. I need to be well rested for tomorrow," he said.
Verishka walked into the next room, hanging her head down. She quickly put on her white silk night gown and went to bed. However sleep was not something she found. In seven years, that was her first night alone. Starring at the ceiling for several hours had Verishka about ready to pull her hair out. She guessed it was about one in the morning. This wasn't going to work, she needed sleep as well, and she knew where she could get it.
She got out of bed and wrapped herself in a white robe. Immediately, she started walking down the hall and into the chambers where Vladislaus slept. For a few moments she just stood at the bedside. However she knew that he would wake up in a few minutes. If one of them was awake in a room, than soon the other would be as well. Her theory was proven correct and in a moment his eyes fluttered open.
"Emmm, Verishka, I told you I---"
"I know, but I need to sleep too. I'm not asking for love that would keep you up all night, only to spend what could be my last night with you," she said, fairly coldly, until the last part.
"Come here, darling," he said, holding out his arms for her. She slipped off the robe and got into the bed. Within moments, she was in a comfortable position in his arms. To the relief of both of them, sleep found them quickly. However, Verishka's mind was still full of fear about how tomorrow would play out.
Van Helsing lovers please don't hate me, but I don't like the guy that much! He killed the hottest man in the universe at the end of the movie!