(A/N: Yay, my first review. Even one means something to me. )

Chapter 5: Resurrection

After wandering around for over an hour or so, Van Helsing was sure that it was safe to say that they were lost. Carl didn't take the news that well.

"Why couldn't greeny at least show us how to get out of here?" Carl complained.

Van Helsing didn't care. They would only be lost for so long. He just focused on one thing. Anna. They were going to bring her back. They could be together again.

"Just let me work on getting us out of here." said Van Helsing. "You just find the passage to bring Anna back."

Carl glared at Van Helsing. "I'm trying. This isn't very day reading material you know. And they're so many different spells. There's one to turn a person's body into a zombie, one to reincarnate a person, one to bring the dead back as a vampire, one to allow another soul to enter another body. I have to find one that will bring Anna back as a human mortal, exactly the way she was when she died. So excuse me if this takes awhile."

Van Helsing was surprised by Carl's outburst. Perhaps he was putting too much pressure on his friend. He was just so happy that he would see Anna again. They walked in silence for several more minutes before Carl cried out.

"HEY!!! I think found… oh, no wait. That's not going to work. Sorry. Sorry."

Van Helsing gave Carl a weird look. "Why, what's wrong?"

Carl sighed. "Well, I found a spell that restore the soul with the body, but we burned Anna's body, so that won't work."

Van Helsing growled in irritation. Carl had gone and gotten his hopes up. But it would only be a matter of time before they found the right passage. But that didn't make the wait any better.

"Wait a minute!" Carl exclaimed. "Wait a minute. I think I found something else."

Van Helsing eyed Carl hopefully, waiting for the friar to confirm that he had found the passage that they were searching for.

"Yes! Yes, I found it!" Carl cried happily. "A way to restore a body completely and reunite the body with the soul."

Van Helsing ran to Carl's side. He looked at the book. There was a blood red picture of what looked like a person with missing limbs being created by a mist and a spirit hovering over the body. Underneath the picture was the same ancient text found throughout the rest of the book.

Carl pointed to the picture. "It explains here, that if a body has become to damaged to put the soul back into it, that this spell will recreate the body, then summon the spirit from the afterlife, weather it's Heaven or Hell."

Van Helsing wasn't interested in learning the spell; not as long as Carl understood it and it would resurrect Anna. "Alright, let's give it a try."

Carl smiled and nodded, but continued to just stare at the book. Van Helsing gave him a weird look at Carl's smile faded a bit. "Now?"

Van Helsing cut his eyes. "Yes now!"

"Oh… um, right."

They moved to a more open and less wet area. Carl continued going through the passage. Then he came across a bit of a problem. "Um, Van Helsing. There's something that poses a bit of a problem."

Of course there would be. It could be as simple as reading a passage. "What is it?"

"Well, for this spell, the book demands the blood of a virgin." Carl explained.

Van Helsing gave Carl a curious look. It didn't sound that bad. Unless… "Does it mean we have to kill them?" he asked worriedly.

Carl shook his head. "No, we just need a small sample of blood. The donor must willingly give their blood. Now we need to find a willing virgin." Van Helsing raised an eyebrow. Carl caught the look in his eyes and immediately knew what the monster hunter was thinking. "Well don't look at me!"

This seemed to surprise Van Helsing. "You mean, you…"

Carl looked irritated. "I'm still just a friar."

Van Helsing rolled his eyes. He reached into his coat and took out a knife. "How much blood does it need?"

This time Carl looked surprised. "You mean, you're a…"

"Carl!" Van Helsing growled.

"Oh, right. Um, just rub some on the cover… You're seriously-"

"Carl!"

"Right, right. Sorry. Sorry."

Van Helsing made a small cut on his left index finger. He rubbed the blood on the cover. He would graciously give ever drop of his blood for Anna.

Something happened that neither Van Helsing or Carl could have predicated. The skin like cover of the book seemed to grab at Van Helsing's finger. The book began absorbing his blood like a leech, and it didn't seem like it was going to let go anytime soon.

"Carl, what is this?" Van Helsing cried, trying to tear his hand away.

"I don't know!" Carl cried in panic. "It didn't say it was going to do this."

Van Helsing was loosing blood fast. Very fast. He already felt light headed. He took his knife and cut around his finger. He ripped it away, taking a piece of the cover with it. It seemed to do the trick. The piece stuck to Van Helsing's finger fell off and rotted away. The rip in the cover healed, making it look good as new.

"Little devil!" Van Helsing seethed. He felt weak, having lost a lot of blood. "Is that all, or should I just slit my wrist?"

Carl looked apologetically at his friend. "That should be good. I'm sorry, I didn't know that was going to happen."

"There's always a catch." thought Van Helsing.

"Yes, that seemed to do the trick." Carl announced. "The spell has appeared."

"So read it." Van Helsing ordered. He felt dizzy.

Carl began reading the passage. It sounded like mindless gibberish. As long as it worked, Van Helsing didn't care what it sounded like.

Carl finished the reading and looked to Van Helsing. At first nothing happened, but the a powerful wind took up. The Necronomicon was vibrating and glowing an angry red. Whatever the spell did, it seemed to be working.

With the wind came a golden mist that seemed to come from out of nowhere. It surrounded Van Helsing and Carl like a golden tornado. The sky over them seemed to open and a blinding bright light shined down. Van Helsing had to squint to see. Something was coming down. It looked like a ghost, only it wasn't colorless. Van Helsing immediately recognized who it was.

"Anna." he whispered.

Anna floated down from the heavens and settled in front of Carl and Van Helsing, who watched in amazement. The golden mist surrounded Anna, hiding her from Van Helsing's vision. The mist began taking form, shifting from a shapeless cloud to the shape of a person. Then it became solid, glowing faintly.

The wind died down and the glowing light faded. Anna lay on the ground in a deep sleep. Her chest rose and fell as she breathed for the first time in 2 months.

Van Helsing couldn't believe it. Anna was here! Alive! It had worked! He didn't even care that the Necronomicon had nearly drained him completely of blood. There was no doubt that he defiantly got the better part of the deal.

"Anna!" Van Helsing cried, lifting her up. "Anna, can you here me? Wake up. Please wake up." He looked at Carl. "Why won't she wake?"

Carl blinked and shook his head, coming out of his trance. "Well... she was just brought back to life. Give her some time to recover from death."

Time? How much time would it take. Van Helsing would wait forever if that was what it took, but he wanted Anna to wake up now. He had missed her so much. She was just the way he remembered her. He stroked her cheek lovingly.

Both Van Helsing and Carl were so focused on Anna that they did not see the creature behind them rise from the murky water and slowly approach them. The creature grabbed Carl and pulled him back, under the water.

"Carl!" Van Helsing cried. He didn't want to leave Anna's side, especially when she was in this vulnerable state, but Carl was in trouble. The poor friar was thrashing around in the water as his captor pulled him into deeper waters. "Hold on Carl!"

He whipped out his guns. Taking careful aim, he fired at the creature. It cried out as the bullet hit it in the arm. It released Carl, who quickly scurried back onto dry land.

"Who are you trying to kill?" he exclaimed, running over to the monster hunter.

"Whatever that thing is." Van Helsing replied.

The creature literally jumped out of the water and landed a few feet away from Van Helsing. It looked like some sort of humanoid amphibian. It had green scaly skin, fins, and claws on its webbed hands. Carl jumped at the sight of the Creature from the Black Lagoon.

Van Helsing open fired on the creature. It cried out in pain as the bullets penetrated its slimy wet skin. With surprising speed, the creature jumped over Van Helsing. It landed right between Carl and Van Helsing. With strength, just as surprising as its speed, it pushed Carl. The friar flew backwards, crashing into a tree, and hitting his head rather hard.

He stumbled forward, a trail of blood coming from his head. He reached up and touched his head, feeling the blood. "Oh dear," he said sounding very dazed. "I think I have a concussion."

Then he collapsed, falling into unconsciousness. While this was happening, the creature had attacked Van Helsing immediately after it knocked Carl back. It slashed out at him with its razor sharp claws. Van Helsing was still weak from the loss of blood. Not having the strength to dodge the attack, he held up his arms to shield himself. The creature's five razor claws dug into Van Helsing's arms.

Crying out in pain, Van Helsing dropped the gun. The creature picked him up and through him. He fell face first into the murky water. The creature pounced on Van Helsing, slashing at his back. Van Helsing cried out in pain and elbowed the creature in the face. The creature let out an inhuman cry as Van Helsing crawled out from under the creature.

It recovered quickly though, and was once again standing over Van Helsing. The monster hunter was weak. From the loss of blood, the wandering around in the swamp all day, and the fight with Alec, Van Helsing had reached his limit. He may be a legendary monster hunter, but he was still human. He could only take so much.

He looked up into the hungry eyes of the creature. It looked ready to go in for the kill, and Van Helsing was too weak to defend himself.

"Am I gonna die just when I got Anna back?" Van Helsing thought.

Suddenly the creature cried out in pain as a sword burst through its chest. At first Van Helsing thought that Carl had regained consciousness and saved him, but what he saw made his heart leap for joy. Anna was standing behind the creature, having been the one that stabbed the creature from behind.

She pulled the sword from the creature and in one quick motion, cut off its head. It stood still for a moment before falling in the water dead.

Van Helsing pulled himself to his feet, staring at Anna in disbelief. She was looking back at him with equal shock.

"Anna."

"Gabriel."

Then she collapsed.