A day after following her heroic rescue of a girl from being raped and killed by a group of vampires, Anna Van Helsing moves on trying to put the incident behind her, fearing that she has exposed a side of her no other humans should have seen. She also sets out to find a member of Peter Craig's group Lance of Dusk named "Hal". Along the way she would soon have a motive for hunting the Bride of Dracula; a motive she never had before.

Chapter 18

Oh Christ, these fucking headaches again! I haven't slept for some days now. Looking for Mina Harker, a.k.a. The Bride of Dracula was starting to take its toll. The flu came with it too. I laid in bed hoping that nobody would call me for rent or a mission. At the same time I had my gun under my pillow. I was afraid that as I exposed myself to many possibly dangerous vampire leaders and that they would be coming for my ass. I became more paranoid. I tried my best to keep my eyes open every night because those assholes would be bursting through the door or the window the moment I laid my guard down. I would lie in bed on my stomach with my hand holding the gun under my pillow. The more I thought about the perceived danger the worst my headaches got. One time in particular I was awake at around 4:15 a.m. in the morning. I heard pattering outside the window next to my bed. The pattering suddenly grew louder and more intense. It was just the rain. As I laid there listening to the rain I tried my best not to think about Mina Harker. What is it about this girl that's drawing me closer to her? Why can't I just stop this shit right now? There's nothing to gain from it. Yeah, that's it why don't I just stop? I'm through with this shit from now on. Mina Harker could just kiss my ass.

It was around 6:20 a.m. when I suddenly heard beeping on the top of my chest drawer. I got up and walked over to the chest drawer to listen into headset in which I communicate with Danny. God, it's so good to hear his voice. Even though he could be a real dick sometimes, he was the only family I had. A few nights ago he was all over my ass for not answering his calls when he needed me on the missions we were supposed to do. He even told me that he had to do one mission without me. "I'm afraid I've got some bad news for you, Annie," he said. I was stunned. What bad news he could be giving me this hour. "Alan and Lex are dead,"

"Dead? How?" I said totally shocked.

"Meet me at Steve's place. I'll tell you all about it." I quickly threw on some clothes, ran down stairs, jumped on my bike and drove off to Steve's house. Riding through the streets of L.A. the raindrops were hitting my face due to speed at which I was riding. I wore a baseball cap hoping it would help me from keeping my head wet. All that rushing apparently made the flu worst than before and I was now fucked by rain. I screwed my face trying to keep my eyes on the road in the heavy rainfall and at the same time I began to ponder on the unbelievable news I got. Alan Hamill and Alexis Foster were close comrades of mine. Alan was the one who taught me how to fire a gun when I first started hunting vampires. He was about seven years older than I was and the kind of patience he had with me during my early days was second to none. He was such a good mentor I actually wished he was my brother. I remembered clearly a mission I was on with him no more than a month prior to that time. It was the first time we've ever seen each other for two years. Alexis who we called Lex was Alan's long time girlfriend. She was the kind who provided the on-the-job training. She was about nineteen when Alan first introduced me to her the night I first started to hunt those blood-sucking pricks. As far as I was concerned she was more of a pro than Alan was when it came to doing what she did. I got to see her a lot and there was never a year that went by when I never went on missions with Lex. That's how we got so close. She saved my ass so many times and I would end up returning the favour. On our first night together, shooting a gun would scare me shitless. Lex pointed out one thing I'll never forget: never shoot with your eyes closed because they (the vampires) will always get away or get you. While Alan was the quiet and serious one, Lex always talked her ass off and always seemed to shed a light on dark moments. By looks of those two I thought they were invincible because they'd cheat death so many times. How come they weren't so lucky this time?

Steve O'Brian's house was a mile west of Los Angeles. He was a devout Roman Catholic and a close friend of Danny's and often provided the state-of-the art technology that was used in our missions. It took me forty minutes when I finally reached his house. I ran to the front door trying to escape the rain. I knocked on the door and heard the locks unlocking. Danny answered the door and on his face was clearly an expression something really bad had happened. His nose was also patched up with a huge bandage. I found that strange He took me by the shoulder and led me into the living room where I found Steve and about three members of his group Divine Punishment sitting on the couches. Steve gave me a seat and he and Danny began their story. Alan and Lex had joined up with them two nights before to take out the leader of the vampire group The Brotherhood of Doom, Rich Troy. They got info from a captured member who revealed to them that Troy was with this woman who The Brotherhood called the Girl of Steel at this crack house just south of L.A. The Girl of Steel was said to be a trusted member of The Brotherhood of Doom and Troy was probably there to offer her another assignment.

Danny, Steve, Alan and Lex along with ten members of Divine Punishment stormed the crack house where they search room to room chasing out the human occupants. Danny was with Alan and Lex the whole time so he gave full detail about what happened next. "Al and I heard screaming coming from the last room of the house," said Danny. "Both of us along with Lex went to investigate and we found Joe and Nick dead in a bedroom. It's like they got hacked to death. We then heard gunfire coming from a room next door and got there just in time to see a girl stick a sword in Leo's chest (Joe Duncan, Nick Vance and Leo Rudd were members of Divine Punishment). Alan, Lex and I started to pump shots into her. The bullets were hitting her the way how bullets would hit a human, but all of a sudden, her wounds started closing up and blood was even sucking back in. It was like the bullets weren't to doing shit. This girl took this sword of hers and stabbed Al and then she stabbed Lex, literally sticking her to the fucking wall. I rammed the bitch against the wall and stabbed her in the chest with a stake. Before I knew it she smashed my nose and everything just went black and next thing ya know I woke up in this house the next day."

"I can't tell you how sorry I am about all this," said Steve. "As long as I knew you, you were really close to them."

"The thing about it is, we didn't find Troy in that shit hole. I really think that motherfucker set us up," said Danny

"I don't understand it," Steve continued. "How come there's a vampire out there who's strong against silver nitrate?"

"I don't know, man. I hope to God I don't come across that bitch again. But somebody's gotta get her back some how. I mean, we can't let her kill a bunch of our guys and fucking get away it."

I was thinking the same thing too. I was just too pissed off to shed any tears. I had a good idea who was responsible: Mina Harker. Jesus Christ! This bitch just doesn't fucking care who she shreds to bits. Just thinking about the way Alan and Lex died made me shake with rage. Don't these suck heads have a fucking heart? "Can you remember how this woman looked like, Danny?" I said.

"Well," said Danny. "She's about as tall as you are, jet black hair and wearing a leather suit."

"Do remember the kind of sword she had?"

"Well, if I'm not mistaken, it's probably a katana."

Fuckin' "A" it's Mina. Earlier that morning I was thinking about calling off this little quest of mine to search for Mina; but the moment I got news of Alan and Lex's deaths I found purpose in that search for their murderer. I wasn't about revenge. It was finding a way to launch a pre-emptive strike; getting her before she got us. I was positive more than ever that the search for Mina Harker would bear fruit.

Later that night I stayed up in bed unable to sleep following the sudden tragic deaths of Alan and Lex. At the same time I was thinking of a way to reach my next target: Hal. I looked at the alarm clock which read 12:25 a.m. I was thinking maybe I should go pay him a visit at that motel at West 12th Street. But look at the time and I got the flu. Fuck it. In this world there's no such thing as a holiday. I rode on my bike for thirty minutes until I finally made it to a motel called Daily Inn. It was a two story building that was located at the edge of East Los Angeles. I got off my bike and parked it at the side of the building and then walked to the lobby. Dressed in a black combat uniform and black boots, I walked up to the desk and ordered a room. I wasn't there to spend the night; I was there to look for this "Hal". I was given room 345 and guided to a flight of stairs by an employee who pointed out my room that was at the edge of a long corridor. I walked over to the last door and proceeded to unlock it when I heard a door unlock behind me and I turned around and saw a man step out of a room that was three doors away from me. The employee who showed me to my room said, "How's Hal doing?"

"Worse than before," said the man. "I don't thing he's gonna make it, man." The tall green-eyed, brown-hair man pulled out a huge bunch of keys and locked the door. He and the employee then walked down the corridor and disappeared down the stairs. I thought, Hal huh? Let's check out what's behind door number 1. I walked up to the door and discovered it was room 342. I unzipped my black track suit what I was wearing over my top, pulled out a pair of black gloves out of my back pack and a black ski mask. After putting them all on, I pulled out my H&K USP pistol and cocked it. I then pulled out a card I had with me and slipped it through the small crease of the door. I held on tight on the doorknob as I quietly tried to unlock it. After five seconds the lock went CLICK. I slowly turned the knob and the door pooped open. I opened the door slowly and crept in. As I entered the room and I suddenly became horrified by the sight of an odd looking man lying on a bed at right end corner next to an opened window. I closed the door behind me gently and barricaded myself in the room by sticking the top of a chair under the doorknob. I slowly approached the man who had a syringe stuck to his vain along with a cannula which was connected with what appeared to be a huge pack filled with blood. The man was deathly pale and so skinny I could count the bones in his rib cage. If I had my way I could've literally break him like a twig. His stomach was sunken in and his skin was wrinkled. He had a smooth bald spot with a patch of red hair in the back of his head. His mouth was slightly opened exposing two long fangs and he had hoarse breathing. The guy was just a dry prune; he could almost past for an anorexic. Come to think of it, Gabriel Heinrich was just like this. The only difference was that there wasn't an inch of life left in him.

I crept up to him slowly. Suddenly I was startled when he raised his head and was looking at me eyeball to eyeball with those yellow eyes that almost came out of his skull. "Who are you?" he said in a slow, raspy voice. I rushed up to him, placed my left hand over his mouth, pulled out my gun with my right hand and stuck it to the centre of his temple. "Are you Hal?" I said removing my hand from his mouth still sticking my gun to his head. I could tell by the look in his cocked eyes that he was scared shitless. "Hal Pollock," he said with a slight nod. "Who needs to know?"

"Look, pal," I said. "If you don't wanna make things harder than they really are, it's best you let me ask the questions. Do you know anybody by the name of Peter Craig?" Hal paused for a second, then shook his head slightly and said "No." I shoved my gun to his head violently. He finally confessed saying "I worked for him once, in Lance of Dusk. I was his second in command."

"Interesting. And what is sole purpose of the Lance of Dusk?"

"To wipe out the human race of course."

"Mm hmm. Does the Bride of Dracula ring a bell?" Hall paused for a second. "I never heard her before in my life." He said shaking his head

"Don't fuck with me, shit head," I said shoving the gun to his head again. "Don't ever try to fuck with me. Do you know the Bride of Dracula?"

"Yes," he said with a trembling voice. "Yes, Mina Harker. The Lance of Dusk has been tracking her down for thirty years. Peter Craig is particularly fixed on her."

"Why?"

"240 years ago while Craig was still a young pureblood, his entire clan was wiped out by the humans. None survived but him. As years gone by Craig found out that the attack was ordered by Lord Dracula."

"What?"

"Lord Dracula and Craig's father were fierce rivals so the humans' fear and hatred of our race was essential to his plan of destroying The Seal of the Phoenix in which Craig's father was the clan's head. Craig lost his father, his mother, three brothers and two sisters in the attack. Craig tried to kill Dracula for years but with no success. He found out that Dracula was finally killed by the very humans he used against his family years earlier. And then Mina Harker came along. Craig was infuriated by the fact there was a woman with the traits of his sworn enemy."

"So Mina Harker isn't working for your old boss?"

"Never! Why would she?"

"A little bird told me that your former place of employment had a new member and that many vampire hunters never had any luck in killing this guy. Care to tell me what the name of Craig's new talent is?"

"You're crazy. I don't know what you're talking about."

"Spill it!"

"His name is Jamie Summers. He works hit and run for free."

"Okay. Do you anything else about Harker?"

"All I know is that she was first trained by this group called the Crimson Sun; nothing else."

"What about Craig? Where do I find him?"

"I don't know."

"Where does he live, goddamn it?!"

"He's mostly around the business areas in Los Angeles. You'll most likely find him in the apartment complex just west of here. I swear."

Suddenly I heard the twisting of the door behind me and then there was banging. There were men outside calling Hal and trying to break there way in. "Where can I find Harker?" I said frantically.

"I don't know," Hal said shaking his head.

"Tell me!" Suddenly I heard the door breaking behind me I turned around and saw two guys armed with Sig-Sauer Pro 2340 pistols and one with a Mac 10 breaking their way through the door. I rushed to the window and climbed out. I ended up on the balcony and frantically looked down and saw a parked car at the bottom. I climbed on the railing and jumped down. I landed on top of the car and then jumped off landed on the ground. As I started to run the three men appeared on the balcony and opened fire on me. I pulled off my mask and started to pick up pace as I heard the loud gunfire and the bullets hitting the ground behind me. I ran to the other side of the building where my bike was parked, jumped on, started the engines and sped off, barely escaping with my life.