Chapter 4: Re-entering Another
Van Helsing opened his eyes to see a very gray sky. He was lying on a cold steel bench and his head hurt. It took him a while to realize what had happened. He had gone through time to the future. He was in the Vatican when he left, though. Was the Vatican somehow destroyed during 1889 and now?
The monster slayer looked around his surroundings for answers. That was when he realized that he was being looked at in a strange way. He noticed that the times have definitely changed since the late eighteen hundreds…
"Um, sir, I don't think you should be sleeping here. Find a bedroom, you'll feel better there." A woman suggested nervously. She had a thick accent that resembled Anna's but she was definitely not his Anna.
Van Helsing nodded and got up from the bench. "Miss, where are we?" he asked. He needed answers.
"Romania, where else?" she replied. She probably thought that he had a hangover. It just dawned on him that Carl's machine sent him to the place where he'd most likely find the woman.
"Okay, thanks. Um, what about the Vatican?" He asked. "What about it?" was her response. "I mean, is it still standing?" he inquired more clearly. She nodded and gave him a look that told him he was probably drunk and then she left. Van Helsing was relieved when he heard that the Vatican was still of existence and wasn't just a bunch of rubble and ruin.
Afterwards, he set off to find a way to change his clothing. The people of this time wore nothing like what he wore and he didn't want to attract too much attention. He grabbed a random passerby and asked them where he could find a clothing store. "Over there." The person pointed to a building to his left and scurried away probably intimidated by the Old Age monster hunter. Van Helsing noticed that most of the people here had the same accent as Anna.
He strolled over to the building and entered it. The customers in the store and the store's employees stared at him with a nervous look as he walked over to the counter.
"I need attire for…" He paused. What should he need attire for, anyway? "I need it for… just going out into public." He finished.
The employee at the counter nodded and gave him a nervous smile. Van Helsing towered over the short Romanian girl. She seemed to be in her late teens. She gestured for Van Helsing to follow her to a clothes rack.
"What size are you?" she asked. He gave her a quizzical look. 'I don't think he's from anywhere near normal society…' she thought to herself. She then explained to him that she needed to give him clothes that actually fit him and that won't fall off. Afterwards, she circled him a few times to estimate his pant size and then started checking the jeans on the rack. She picked out a pair of dark blue boot cut jeans.
"Do you like these?" she asked Van Helsing. He looked at the article of clothing with distaste. "I'll take that as a no…" she muttered before placing the jeans on the rack again. For ten minutes, the employee pulled out different styles of pants that Van Helsing really disliked. Finally, she pulled out a pair of midnight black jeans that were boot cut. He nodded. The girl was relieved, but then she'd have to find the right size. She pulled out three pairs and gave them to the towering man before her.
"Go try these on in one of those rooms. Go ask Marissa, that girl over there, to help you." She explained. Van Helsing nodded and walked over to the girl known as Marissa. He just showed her the jeans and she understood. She led the monster hunter to one of the many change-rooms and let him in.
For hours the employee and Marissa helped Van Helsing out with choosing his new clothes. They went through almost the whole store before the tall suspicious man finally had a suit. He looked very similar to his past suit, but it wasn't as loose and old fashioned as it.
"Thank you ladies for your help today." Van Helsing said dryly. The two teenagers looked exhausted and annoyed, but proud of their work on the newcomer. He wondered how anyone could where all that "junk" in there. His new attire consisted of a black turtleneck, the bony jeans from the beginning of his shopping experience, a dark brown tinted black trench coat and black leather gloves. His shoes were also black. He still looked pretty suspicious, but he hated all the other garments inside that store and didn't want anything else.
He was about to leave the store when he asked, "How am I to pay for this?" The teenage girls, too exhausted to negotiate with him, just said that they'll pay for it. How surprised they'd be to find out that the suit cost more than $150.
Gabriel thanked them once again and departed from the clothing store. He walked across the street and to the park he had awoken in. He sat on a bench and began to think of ways and places to find Anna.
"Welcome to our home." Vaughn said to Selene and he and his comrades led her into a very large building much like the one she used to live in with the previous vampire clan. Selene looked around and observed the other vampires' behavior. They lazed around and held conversations while drinking different sorts of alcoholic beverages. It reminded her immensely of the clan before, but she just guessed that was how most vampires acted nowadays.
"Vaughn, you do know that you must tell Diane about newcomers!" a lady vampire said strictly.
"I know, Veronica. That's what I'm doing!" Vaughn shot back at her. The vampire known as Veronica just shrunk back into her seat and glared at him.
Selene took a good look at Veronica. The vampire was very pale, much like herself, but she wore a lot of makeup. Red lipstick, major amount of mascara and eyeliner. The only cosmetic not put on was the blush and stuff. Veronica's hair was blond and wavy and a few strands were pulled to the back of her head. Selene noticed that Veronica shifted her gaze from Vaughn to her. Was she looking at her suspiciously, welcomingly, curiously…? Selene didn't know.
"Wait here." Vaughn ordered her. She nodded and stood outside a pair of large black, forbidding doors.
Once Vaughn entered the room behind those doors, Selene turned around and observed the lazy-looking vampires. Half of them minded their business, but the other half stared at her and examined the details of her face and body. Selene was tranced by their stares somehow. Somehow, visions from the past entered her mind. She saw a tall man with almost shoulder length wavy hair. He was mouthing something to her, but she couldn't hear him properly because there was some sort of buzzing sound.
Suddenly… "Selene. Selene. Snap out of it." Vaughn was snapping his fingers in her face. "Don't make me bite you!" He warned. Selene snapped out of her trance. "Who was that?" she asked.
"Who was who?" Vaughn inquired curiously.
"The man. There was a man telling me something." Selene frantically said. Vaughn immediately laughed. He told her that there was no man and that she was just hallucinating. This made Selene confused, but she shook the thought off. Maybe he was right. Maybe she was hallucinating.
"Anyways, you're accepted here as long as you don't go around killing random people. We only kill what is required and nothing more. And we never kill in the middle of the public eye!" Vaughn informed her. Selene nodded before turning her head to observe her surroundings.
The mansion certainly looked old. This somehow triggered a pang of sadness in her heart and felt something almost wake within her. Romania seemed to have an emotional effect on her. Why? That was the question that gnawed at Selene's mind.
"How old is this mansion?" she finally asked.
"It's actually pretty old, in fact. The first owner was an ancient vampire who you must have heard from all of those stories. He was Dracula. After he left this shelter, a different family moved in. They were the Valerious and this used to be their mansion in Transylvania. In some way, they were related to Dracula, but they despised him and swore to kill him. Afterwards-- Anna, are you okay?" Vaughn asked worriedly as Anna began to cringe and wince in anguish as painful and sorrowful visions flowed through her mind. She held her head from all that rushing pain, then felt an extremely sharp pain that would be strong enough to kill any human… and then she fainted.
Hours later, Selene awoke in a dark room. It seemed to be colored burgundy even in the dark. She noticed that she was lying on a silk sheet bed. She turned around to see Vaughn sleeping in a red armchair by the corner closest to her. Rising from the bed, she quietly dismounted from it. But this roused Vaughn from his sleep and he opened his eyes. He saw Selene and immediately asked her, "What happened to you? You seemed to have some sort of shock."
"I… I don't know. I only remember seeing haunting images of what seemed like memories that I've never had." Selene explained, "I know that it sounds crazy, but it's true. A pain shot through my body as if I was being broken in two and then I lost who I was as if someone had just taken over me…"
Vaughn just stared at her for a while. Selene took the chance to examine his features in the moonlight that spilled though the window. That was when she noticed just how attractive he was. His hair was jet black and short, but not cropped too close to his head. He had very dark and cold eyes and his skin was not too pale or too dark. Selene felt something familiar churn inside her and it certainly wasn't the feelings of sad memories that she previously had. She realized that she was staring and looked away discreetly.
"You should go take a walk." Vaughn finally said. "Do you wish for me to go with you?"
Selene shook her head. "I will be fine on my own, thank you." She sharply said before turning on her heel to go outside. Besides, it was her favorite time of the night. Her destination was a park that she'd seen before entering the manor.
Van Helsing had been searching for the woman for quite a while. He looked in forests, the shops and checked the park multiple times. Throughout his little search, he'd learned about the computer, the television, the automobile/ car and the airplane.
'This thing called technology has changed throughout the years…' he had thought. He went to a weapon store and found a lot of very futuristic-looking pistols. At least, they were futuristic to him.
After searching for his beloved Anna for the whole day, Van Helsing decided to call it a day and rest at the park. He needed time to think of where to go next. He knew Carl's machine sent him to Romania for a reason and he must search here. Since that was the case, he'd probably have to go further than just this town and past the forests.
He found a park bench and lay there. He was exhausted and he really needed to rest even though he's been through more exhausting scenarios. But searching for someone he loved so much so vigorously seemed to drain more energy than fighting just some otherworldly creature.
It was beginning to get dark and he drowsed off for a couple of minutes before getting disturbed.
"Excuse me, but I would appreciate it if I could sit here." The womanly voice stated. Van Helsing opened his eyes in hopes of seeing the woman he so desperately searched for. But his hopes were put down when he saw someone else and replied by saying, "Go find another bench."
The woman's temper seemed to rise quickly and she irritably said, "I'm sorry, but there are no other benches! Just get up, please. I'm not in the mood."
He muttered something incoherent about manners and sat up. The sky was dark except for the half moon illuminating the outlines of the clouds. The woman thanked him but he didn't hear her and he just rose from the bench. Then he strolled off to the other side of the park when he saw someone important. His glum face widened with happiness and he cried out her name.
"Anna!"