CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Mori walked into Bethany's room and saw that she was packing.
"What are you doing?" Mori asked, confused as ever. Was Beth leaving them? Why? Was something wrong? If so, what?
"The cardinal just sent for me. I'm leaving on the next boat out of here." Beth replied calmly as she put the last thing she needed in her large, black bag.
"You can't leave now!" Mori urged her. "You've had barely even had a day to heal. We still have to kill Dracula."
"I know Mori." Beth responded sounding tired and defeated. The girl was tired of everything. She was tired of the wins, the loses, the missions, the mysteries and the fighting. Beth was tired of this never-ending war. Lord knows she needed a vacation or she might just loose her sanity.
"Don't worry, Mori. I'm coming back."
"What does he want?" Mori asked her as she followed Beth out the door. Beth had her bag flung over her shoulder with her hat low over her large green orbs. She didn't want Mori to see her eyes. Beth felt terrible about leaving them. She didn't want to, but she had no choice. The girl knew this new mission would lead to another and another one after that and then another. In all probability, she wouldn't return here at all.
"I don't know." Beth replied softly.
"Well, be careful. We need you back here." Mori told the girl and then smirked evilly. "I want you to assist me in my father's murder."
Beth smiled at Mori as the two girls left her room and headed down the hallway. She would never change.
"I'm no good to you dead, huh?"
"Nope. You're absolutely useless to me dead." Mori said and looked at Bethany. Mori could have done a double take. For a moment, she could have sworn that Beth was another certain dark monster hunter who was also in the manor.
"Don't kill Jen while I'm gone, alright?" Beth said teasingly.
"I shall resist the urge." Mori replied with almost a smile on her pale lips. The two girls were now at the door. They just looked at each other for a moment before Mori decided to break the silence that hung between them.
"Return as quickly as you can, dear Bethany."
Beth smiled at her.
"Good-bye Mori."
- - -
Beth rode into the Vatican just as the sun rose over the horizon. The journey had been hard and she was relieved to see her destination so close. A boy ran out to greet her. He was seventeen with deep sapphire blue eyes and dark sandy blonde hair that was pulled into a pony tail. He wore brown pants and brown boots with a white poet shirt and a brown coat that fell to his knees.
"Welcome back Beth." he said with a radiant smile after Bethany had jumped off Eclipse and handed the reins to a stable boy.
"Hello Will." Beth replied returning his smile. "Did you miss me much?"
"Terribly."
"Good. Now don't tell me you were out here all night waiting on little old me, now were you?" Beth asked her old friend as the two walked up the steps to the church.
"You wish. I was just testing out a new bullet we developed." he replied holding up a revolver. "It's supposed to leave a clean but gigantic wound in your opponent, therefore weakening them faster."
"Does it work?"
"The gigantic wound part does, but other than that…no."
Beth rolled her eyes at Carl's nephew. Always the scientific book worm. He was also a junior field agent. Unlike his uncle, he went into the field occasionally. In Will's entire career, he had only been out six times. Like his uncle, he preferred to stay at the Vatican with his nice safe books and tinker with the weapons…which were not so safe.
"Did the cardinal send for you?" Will asked as the two entered the church side by side.
"Is there any other reason I'd been here, Will?" Beth asked as she slipped off her black riding gloves and shoved them in her coat. "If he didn't, believe me, I'd still be back in Transylvania."
"Just checking, angel." Will replied using his pet name for Bethany. "I'll meet up with you in the workshop later."
Beth nodded at the boy and then watched him run off down the hall. The girl sighed at him. Same old Will. Always clever and sweet. The teen just hoped he'd stay that way. Even though she didn't want to be here, it was nice to have something…or in this case, someone…who brought her back to a time before she even knew about Dracula. For a moment, things were almost as they were before Beth had left for that godforsaken mission. The youth shook her head and then stepped into her regular confessional before closing the door.
"You called?"
The curtain rose to reveal Cardinal Jinette's face. He almost smiled when he saw the young lady in the confessional next to him.
"How was Transylvania?"
"Terrible, thank you." Beth replied.
"You thought I was kidding when I said we were sending you into Hell?"
"No, that part didn't surprise me one bit." Beth answered. "We still haven't won yet, however."
"Don't worry my child." the cardinal said as he stood up and hit the lever for the wall to rise. "You will destroy him soon."
"What do you have for me?" Beth asked as she followed the man clad in red through the dark halls under the church. She wanted to get straight to the point. The less time she spent here, the sooner she could get back to Transylvania, if she ever would go back.
"It's not like you to call me off a mission." Beth pointed out.
"We found something."
This caught Beth's attention. What did they find? Why was it important? Why did it involve her? The cardinal must have found something pretty dang important to drag her off a mission for it.
"What?" Beth finally asked, curiosity getting the better of her. "What did you find?"
"I will not be able to tell you till tomorrow." Cardinal Jinette replied. "You arrived earlier than we anticipated. Now, go get some food, child. I'm sure you are hungry from your long and tiring journey."
Beth sighed angrily as she watched him walk off. Why did he always have to pick the least convenient times to make her wait? It was so aggravating!
The day went by slowly for Bethany. Every moment here was another moment that she and the others could be discovering how to kill Dracula. That was all she could think about. What was his plan? What did he want to do? How did he expect to gain power? Not knowing any of these answers almost drove the girl to the point of insanity! Also, the fact that she could do nothing about it didn't help much either.
To keep Beth's troubled mind occupied with something else, she spent most of the day with Will and helped him build some new kind of bullet. It was filled with a liquid, but Will refused to tell her what it was. He said it was a secret and that she would find out soon enough.
When the two broke for dinner, they sat together in a large dinning area. The Order had two of these large rooms just for the hunters alone. There were so many people at the Vatican that these dinning area were quite common. Otherwise, one large dinning room that would house everyone would have been bigger than a farm. Beth and Will knew the locations of all the kitchens. This was very handy for midnight snacks, especially when Beth couldn't sleep because of her nightmares.
Beth had grabbed two rolls, and apple and some chicken for her dinner. Will, on the other hand, had piled on the chicken and mashed potatoes. He had so much food that it threatened to come off the plate. He topped his portions off with an apple, which he put on Beth's plate because there was simply no more room on his.
Beth was halfway through her apple when Will said something that almost made her loose her appetite.
"You never did say why the cardinal wanted to see you." Will told her.
"I still don't know, Will." Beth sighed. "He just told me that he found something and that I couldn't see it till tomorrow."
The girl bit into her apple once again as her mind ran through the same questions that she had been holding back all day. Leave it up to Will to bring up something she was trying not to think about.
"How was the last mission?"
And he did it again. Beth responded by glaring at him. Since Will received the glare and had no response from Beth, he tried another subject.
"How are Jen and Mori?"
Again, no reply and an evil glare was shot his way.
"Are you alright, angel?" Will asked her. "You aren't saying much and that glare is beginning to scare me."
"Good." Beth said and then softened. "I'm fine Will. I just…"
The girl stopped when a boy walked up behind Will. The boy was dressed in all black and had dark hair pulled back into a long ponytail. He had on a hat that was pulled down low, hiding his face from sight.
"Will, I need to speak with you." he said. His voice was as smooth as glass and held an accent that was difficult to place.
"Can it wait, Keeran?" Will asked turning to the boy. "Oh, I forgot. Bethany this is Keeran. He joined the Order last week."
"A pleasure, mademoiselle." Keeran said as he took Beth's hand in his own gloved one. The boy gently brushed his lips against the back of her hand. Beth felt very awkward because of this. Will seemed a bit bothered by the motion as well, but his expression of disapproval soon vanished.
"Where are you from Keeran?" Beth asked the new arrival.
"France, Paris to be exact."
"I've had had history with the French. They never liked me much." Beth replied.
"You wanted to see me." Will interrupted the two. "What about?"
"Ah, yes." Keeran said as he remembered his original purpose for seeking out the boy. "Forgive me. I was distracted by your beautiful friend. Would you kindly show me the workshop, Will? I seem to have forgotten where it is."
"Yeah. Do you mind Beth?" Will asked as he turned to the girl.
"Not at all."
Will quickly left with Keeran at his side. Beth had a funny feeling about his new boy. She didn't know why, but something about him just gave the girl shivers.
- - -
Beth tossed and turned in her bed. Her nightmares were ruling her dreams once again. Cold sweat poured down her face. She woke up sitting up in bed and gasping for air. She had just relived the night that Dracula had bitten her. She looked at the clock on her bedside table. It read two thirty in the morning.
A knock on the door caused the girl to jump. Who in their right mind was up at two thirty in the morning…besides Mori?
"One moment." Beth called jumping out of bed. She quickly washed the cold sweat from her face and replaced her thin nightgown with black pants, her black boots, a deep crimson long-sleeved peasant top with a black corset. She ran a brush through her hair and then grabbed the sapphire necklace with the angel on it in her hand before she answered the door.
"Hello, Bethany." Keeran said once she opened the door.
"Is that why you got me up at two thirty in the morning, Keeran? To say hello?" Beth asked throwing on her coat and then stuffed her jewel in one of the outside pockets.
"The cardinal has asked to see you." Keeran told her.
"Thanks." Beth said and quickly pushed past the boy after she shut her door.
Cardinal Jinette was sitting behind his desk when Beth entered the room. He looked up when she entered.
"You called?" Beth asked.
"Beth, what we found…" the cardinal said he stood and came around the desk. "…it's hard for me to say."
"What is it?" the girl asked.
"It's about your past. We found your birth certificate."
Beth froze. Her birth certificate? That would say who her parents were. After years of wondering and dreaming, could she really find out who they were? Was it really that simple? After so long, could the answer finally be in her grasp.
The cardinal handed her an envelope off the desk. It was labeled 'The birth certificate of Bethany V.' Beth looked at it a moment. She pulled the top flap open and then paused. The girl looked back up at the Cardinal.
"Has anyone else seen this?"
Cardinal Jinette shook his head no. Beth then pulled out the precious piece of paper. It said the usual things like name, weight, date of birth, and the things like that. Then is said 'parents'. Beth's green orbs grew wide before she put the piece of paper back in the envelope.
"I have to go." Beth said as she headed for the door, envelope in hand.
"What is it?" the cardinal asked but Beth was already out the door.