Disclaimer: I don't own Van Helsing or any of the characters therein. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed this story so far and been so kind. It does wonders for my ego which is so very tiny and needs all the nourishment it can get. Chapters will be getting longer I swear and the reward for Velkan still stands. It is now raised to a whole shiny dollar.

Edited 09/13/07

Chapter 3:

Sunlight cut through the trees and warmed his face. He was tired as anything and felt like falling onto the bed of leaves but he would not. Not until he got some answers. The young woman perched in front of him on the rock looked at him warily. She looks like she half expects me to pounce and eat her. He smiled grimly to himself. In another month that would not be far from the truth.

"Who are you?" He asked, getting right down to the questions. She tilted her head at him quizzically and spoke again in that alien musical language. He swore colorfully in frustration and pointed to himself. "Velkan." He said slowly and pointed his finger at her and tilted his head questioningly.

The girl stared at him for a moment, considering, then pointed to her own chest. "Mara." She said and then sat back on her heals and stared at him. He stared back at her, trying to think of a way to communicate to her the questions swirling in his head, and studied her as intently as she stared at him with wide gold green eyes that seemed both innocent and predatory.

He took in the tanned, dear hide leggings she was wearing, and the matching tunic that came to midway down her thighs. The outfit was completed by a belt that was no more than a simple strap of leather that bore the silver head of a jungle cat as the buckle. She looked odd and out of place in this dead and haunted Transylvanian forest.

Dark copper curls twisted gently down and ended just beneath her chin, framing a face with delicate bones and hiding her ears. Her skin was a pale cream complexion that was marred only by a scar running down across one eye. The scar tissue was smooth but still an angry shade of pink. She must have gotten it within the last year. He noticed her glaring at him he realized he had been staring too long.

The girl, Mara. He corrected himself, stood and glowered down at him. She spoke again and he felt another wave of frustration at being unable to understand her, followed quickly by a hot flow of anger. He didn't have time for this! Judging from the way Mara was speaking and gesturing from him to the forest in sharp agitated movements, she felt the same way.

He stood and took her hands in his, halting her movements. Though they were a small fit in his he was not foolish enough to think that his hold on her was anything other than something she allowed for the moment. As if to reinforce this he heard a low guttural growl coming from beside them and saw a giant tawny mountain cat, the size of a small horse, settling back on it's haunches.

"Call it off." He said, his voice soft but commanding. To his annoyance she only glanced at the creature before smiling back condescendingly at him. "I meant it." He growled. "This is no time for games!" She looked over her shoulder and he followed her gaze. The great cat had sat down and was calmly washing his face as if he had not just threatened to rip Velkan's throat out a few moments ago. His eyes darted back to Mara's face to see her grinning and he growled. She was playing with him. He released her hands and stepped back. This is getting us no where.

"Parley vous france?" He asked her. She tilted her head to one side. I guess that means she can't and that's probably for the best. That's the only thing I know how to say in the language.. He tried again. "Hablas Espanol?" She blinked at him. Guess not that one either. He exhaled sharply and tried once more. "Do you speak English?"

Her head slowly straitened as she stared him in the eye. "I speak English." She said clearly. He almost collapsed in relief. This would make things much easier.

"Your name is Mara?" He asked. She nodded but said nothing. "Where are you from?"

"Not here." She answered casually. Her voice kept the accent from her own language giving the words a curious rolling sound.

Velkan fought down the uncharacteristic surge of rage that came with her answer. He would not give the curse anymore ground than he had to. "I gathered that." He said sardonically. "Can you give me something more specific? Or do you have something to hide?" His eyes narrowed and he grabbed her arm again, hard. "Do you work for the monster?"

"Paranoid, are you not?" She asked, casually yanking her arm out of his grip. "I just arrived here so I could hardly be working for anyone. "

"We don't trust strangers around here." He bit out.

"What a coincidence." She said amicably with steel in her eyes. "I don't trust anyone."

"One of us will have to start trusting the other if we are to get any answers."

"Why don't you start?"

He growled, she smiled and he realized that she would not give. If he were to get answers then he would have to be the first to give them.

"Alright." He said, releasing his grip. "I'll go first. What's your question?"

"Where am I?" She asked instantly, taking him slightly by surprise.

"Your in Romania, in a village in Transylvania." He saw her frown and nod thoughtfully. "My turn. Where are you from and how did you get here?"

"That's two." She said simply. "And if you growl at me again I'll bite you myself."

A laugh escaped him despite his best efforts to stop it, though it sounded more like a bark. The ever present tide of anger and rage that had been with him since last night receded and it felt good. "Fair enough." He said at length. "Where are you from?"

"Ireland." She said, her eyes darting to the cat and back to him as she spoke. "My turn. Why were you running alone in the woods at night?" She's hiding something. He thought and countered with another question.

"Do you know where you are?" He held up his hand as she opened her mouth. "Not the location or the name but the place? The stories told about this place?" She shook her head mutely. "None at all?" He was surprised. Legends of vampires and werewolves had all originated from this lands cursed domination by the monster. The girl shook her head. He sighed and tried to think where to begin.

"For the last five hundred years, this land has been terrorized by a creature that hunts the night. He drinks the blood of the villagers to sustain his life which should long ago have ended and he has three brides that he created to amuse him and share in his hunts, his murder of my people." He spat the last words out with a lifetime of righteous anger behind them. When he saw she had absorbed what he had just said he continued. "My family, the family Valerious, have been trying to kill him for all these centuries and the most we have ever been able to do is annoy him and on a good day, kill his minions. The other day…It was not a good day."

He turned away from her then and ran his hands through his hair slowly, his eyes closed tightly as he recounted the rest. "My sister, a few of the braver villagers and myself set a trap to kill his pet werewolf, a trap that went horribly wrong when the lever stuck. My sister rushed into help me and the werewolf chased after her. To save my sister I put myself in it's path and was bitten before being tossed off the cliff."

He turned back to her and looked into her face, knowing that she would soon realize what this meant, what he was to become. "That was why I was wondering in the forest. I can not return home, knowing that at the next full moon I will become a werewolf, and Dracula's slave." He waited to see her back away in terror but she only nodded her understanding. "How did you get here?" He asked, his voice low. "We would have noticed your cat on one of our hunts." She only smiled, this time it seemed to have more warmth and sympathy in it, though he thought that could have been his imagination.

"You wouldn't have." She answered. "We are very practiced at going unseen."

Mara sat back down on the sun warmed rock and watched Velkan turn and pace away from her. Looking at him, she didn't think all of his personality could be blamed on the curse but that was fine by her. The way he moved over as he walked, she could almost see the muscles bunching beneath his clothes, ready to spring. If ever there was a man born to be a wolf it was the one before her. He had the grace and the agility and, the nobility as well. Yes even the nobility was in every line of his body.

"You say you can go unseen." He said suddenly. "That brings me to my next question. What are you?"

Her insides froze. She had foolishly hoped he would not ask this question. "What makes you think I'm anything other than what you see?" She countered.

"I don't." He said smiling wryly. "What I see is something pretending to be human."

"And why don't you see a human?" She challenged, her hand dropping idly by her right thigh.

"Humans don't run with giant cats." He said smoothly. His hand moved almost to quickly to be seen and she felt her wrist pinned to her side as he deftly removed the knife hidden beneath the hem of her tunic. "What are you Mara?"

She sighed and looked away. "I'm not entirely sure. What about you wolf man? What are you now?" She heard him growl and she looked back up at him, for the first time staring into pale green eyes that held such fire, and gasped as she felt an answering spark flare in her. He let go of her hand as quickly as if he had been burned and she knew he did it because he thought he had hurt her. Not because he felt the same. "That's a question you may want to answer for yourself mo cridhe."

He looked at her with a deep sadness and she regretted her words instantly. "A doomed man Mara. That is what I am." He turned away then and walked off into the woods. Mara looked down at the giant cat and jerked her head in the direction Velkan had taken.

Go after him, Kai.

The big cat yawned widely and stretched. And what will you do kitten while I go hunting the wolf?

I'll be finding some more answers. Kai looked at her skeptically, and she patted her left hip lightly. I still have my dagger, Kai. I'll be fine.

The cat snorted but stood and padded off silently after the wolf prince. I'll be back tonight. She said to his departing back, then turned and headed to what her nose told her a human settlement was.