I am SO sorry that this took so long to get up. I have been over loaded w/ homework; I had about two hours of homework given to me on the first day of school. Curse me and my over achiever-ness… Anyway, this is rather short but I needed to get something up.

Thanks to MorganWolfe666 for being my beta (hugs) Lots of love to her!

I am sorry but FFnet has decided that no one can answer reviews in their chapters. (Glares) Or else I would. If anyone knows more about that please e-mail me! Thanks.

Nu ma iei
Van sighed and rolled over, not wanting to wake up. Warm blankets of sun covered the clearing. The fire lay smoldering, embers still warm enough to give off heat to warm Van's chilled bones.

"Dracula?" He asked as his eyes cracked open.

"Yes?" came the questioning reply from somewhere off to his left.

"Where are you?" The man asked as he propped himself up and looked around.

"In a tree."

"… Oh… Why?"

"Avoiding the sun."

Van's eyes searched the trees for said vampire. After a bit he located a figure crouching in one of the lower branches in an ash tree. Van stood and stretched, feeling his back pop as he lifted his arms above his head. Once he was done waking up (as done as one will ever be with waking up), he walked over to Dracula's tree.

"Cramped?" He asked as he surveyed the half-asleep Count. Dracula rolled his eyes.

"Oh no Gabriel, I am perfectly comfortable." He sneered. Van raised an eyebrow but said nothing in response to Dracula's comment.

"We have to go." He said instead. He then turned to go and put out the fire… well the remnants of the fire.

"Um… Gabriel?"

"Yes?"

"Can I borrow your coat?" Van turned and narrowed his eyes, for once noticing Dracula's lack of extra clothing.

"Where's yours?"

"… I left it back at the inn…" His head bowed in an apology. Van sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Fine, you can have mine till we get you a new one… why do you need one anyone, it isn't like it's winter?" He asked as he shrugged it off and handed it to Dracula.

"The more layers between me and the sun the better." He paused and looked up with a grin on his face. "How does it look?" Van snorted as he watched Dracula twirl around while inspecting pockets and such.

"Big." Was his reply. The coat sleeves rode past Dracula's hands and the hem was just scrapping the ground. Amazing how much smaller he is than me. Van mused as they made their way back to the road. Van checked his pocket watch and found it to be 7:30. Not too bad… damn, I'm hungry…He scowled as he swung one of his packs to the front and began rummaging through it. After a bit he recovered an apple. It had a few bruises and looked smushed, but it would do.

"So… do you have any idea where we are going?" Dracula asked after a while of silence.

"Towards Venice." Van said as he chucked the apple core onto the side of the road.

"How do you know?"

"I just saw a sign."

"…Ah." Dracula said in between yawns. He could barely keep his eyes open, and squinting wasn't helping. Suddenly he felt something being plopped onto his head. He looked up quickly and found Van grinning at him.

"You look rather amusing with a hat on. Especially if it's too big." He reached forward and corrected the tilting hat.

"Why thank you for that… compliment." He said while poking Van who just glared back.

They plodded along as the sun stretched itself across the sky. The clouds seemed to yawn as the drifted aimlessly about. Van sighed as he felt the effects of the heat and the lack of a comfortable bed.

I've become soft. He mused as he shifted the weight of his packs. First I get soar after an hour of walking… too used to horses and now I can't sleep well unless I am on a bed. A slight smile slipped onto his lips. Dracula noticed and looked at him with an inquiring eye.

"Nothing…" He murmured. That received a shrug and nothing more. After a while Van heard Dracula humming and inquired as to what he was humming.

"Eh… just an annoying song." Was his answer.

"What are the lyrics?"

"Vrei sa pleci dar nu ma, nu ma iei,
Nu ma, nu ma iei, nu ma, nu ma, nu ma iei.
Chipul tau si dragostea din tei,
Mi-amintesc de ochii tai."

"…" Came Van's oh so inspirational reply which earned him a chuckle.

"Rough translation would be… just a sec…

You want to leave but you don't want don't want to take me,
don't want don't want to take me,
don't want don't want don't want to take me.
Your face and the love from the linden trees,
And I remember your eyes.

…Yes, I believe that's it."

"How sweet." Drawled Van in a mocking voice. Dracula glared at him and pursed his lips.

"It happens to get stuck in my head randomly, I do not choose to have an earworm!"

"That's nice – wait, what was that?" He motioned to the forest behind Dracula. The vampire raised an eyebrow at Van.

"Um… are you joking or not?" He asked skeptically.

"I'm not joking, there was something there."

"You sure it wasn't your imagination?" A shake of the head then Dracula found himself being pulled into the forest. Once in Van scanned the ground quickly before finding a set of paw marks heading in the same direction as them.

"That's not a good thing…" Van said as he followed the print for a few steps.

"We have a thing about running into bad situations don't we?" Dracula drawled as he walked lazily up to Van. He had dragged Van's hat off and was holding it in one hand while resting the other on his hip. It reminded Van amazingly of Anna.

"Let's get back on the path." Murmured Van as he felt a chill go down his back that did not come from the cooler forest temperature.

"Must we? I prefer it in here. Besides, this has gone ahead - gah!" Dracula ducked as Van shot off his gun right above the Count's left shoulder.

"Good aim Helsing, too bad I'm just a bit faster than you." Out of the shadows stepped Michael.

TBC
Hope you enjoyed… It was mainly a filler chapter except for the last sentence… dun dun duuun. (Grins) Please review!

Napoleon: Wow you're cruel.
I know.
Dracula: (reads intro) What? No more bothering, I mean replying to the reviewers? That is a load of –
Mind your language.
Dracula: (Grumbles under breath and stalks out)
Yes, I agree… (Sighs) aw well, we can only hope.

In the mean time, review!