CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

Anna paced the room, thinking about what Mori had told her. As much as she hated to admit it, she was right. Jen was the only family she had left. She needed to hold onto it. But Jen was a vampire. Anna had fought against vampires all her life. If anyone knew….her thoughts were suddenly broken by a knock. She turned to see Van Helsing standing in the doorway. He had removed his hat, allowing Anna to see his eyes. They were kind.

"Can we talk, or is this a bad time?" he asked.

"We can talk." Anna said. "Mori was just in here, talking."

Van Helsing just nodded knowingly. He then shut the door. He wanted this discussion to be private and he had a feeling that Anna did too.

"Mori tried the same thing with me."

"When?" Anna asked, slightly shocked. She had never even heard about this.

"When Beth and I were fighting." Van Helsing sighed as he hand his fingers through his hair. "Mori tried to tell me that the fight was exhausting Beth and that it was literally killing her. If the emotional and physical strain didn't kill her, it'd get her killed."

Anna paused for a moment before she quietly spoke.

"She was right, wasn't she?"

"In a painfully obvious way." Van Helsing replied, a tinge of sadness in his voice. "You saw what happened that night she and Mori went out on patrol. I felt terrible that I had put Beth in that situation, even if it was indirectly. I'm her father, for goodness sake. I should be protecting her, not be making her weaker."

Silence hung between the two for a long moment. Van Helsing really wasn't sure what to say or do in a situation like this, so he remained rooted in place. He wished that he could help Anna fix this whole thing, but he knew only she could do that and there was only one way to do it. Unfortunately, that depended on Anna and Anna alone.

"But this…" Anna tried and stopped as she rethought her choice of words. "It's just like Velkan."

"There is one difference though." Van Helsing said moving toward her. He took her hand in his and Anna looked up at him. "Velkan is dead, but Jen is going to be around for an awfully long time. You may have lost your brother, but you shouldn't loose your brother's daughter too."

Anna stood frozen in place, thinking. He was right. She looked up at him and smiled slightly. Anna kissed his cheek and then left the room to go talk to her niece. Van Helsing, his hand over the place where she kissed him, watched her go. He was alone for only moments before he heard something.

"You two are so cute like that."

His daughter then appeared in the doorway, a small smirk on her face. Van Helsing lowered his hand with a smile. Beth just looked at him, her arms crossed.

"I should've known that you'd be slinking around somewhere outside." He told her. Beth shrugged and her smirk turned into a smile. My God! She looked exactly like her mother when she did that!

"Mori's hiding outside Jen's door to see how it goes." Beth replied.

"You two are a well-oiled team, huh?"

"We have to be." Beth answered. "Otherwise there is this terrible and inconvenient problem of getting killed."

Van Helsing smiled widely and nodded. Well, it was the truth. Especially in this line of work.

"Want to go riding?" Van Helsing asked the teen before him rather suddenly.

Beth replied smiling.

"Just try and keep up."

---

The night was clear and calm. Bethany was glad for it. Eclipse galloped through the trees at a good pace, carrying Beth on her back. Van Helsing was slightly behind her on his own dark brown horse, Ashe. Beth was smiling widely, enjoying the freedom of the moment and off the ride. Finally, she slowed Eclipse to a steady walk. The horse deserved a rest…and her father needed to catch up with her. Ashe pulled up even with Eclipse and began to walk as well. Beth turned to her father and smiled.

"You really know how to handle a horse." Van Helsing told her. Beth shrugged slightly.

"I've been riding since I was eight." The girl replied.

"Isn't that when you first came to the Order?" Van Helsing asked.

Beth nodded. "Yes, it was. Carl taught me how."

"Carl?" Van Helsing asked, half laughing at this startling new information.

"Ironic, isn't it?" Beth asked him, her smile wide. Laughter glittered in her green eyes as well. Van Helsing nodded. Come to think of it, he had taught Carl how to ride better. Carl had already known how to ride when Van Helsing arrived, but not well. Van Helsing quickly fixed that.

"Carl was the first person I met when I came to the Order, with the exception of Cardinal Jinette of course." Beth continued.

"You said that you lived with your grandparents until then?"

Beth nodded. "They died three days after I turned eight. Talk about a happy birthday present." The girl mumbled sarcastically before she went on. "I then went to the church for help. My grandparents were definitely loyal to the church. Ever since I was really little, my grandmother told me that the church was a safe haven and that they'd protect you. Well, no bigger church than the Vatican, so naturally I thought no safer place."

"Makes sense to me." Van Helsing replied. "I was found crawling up the steps half dead…and the Cardinal has been kind enough to remind me of that every five minutes."

"Well," Beth said nodding to the side and raising her eyebrows before lowering them quickly. "that's not good, is it?"

"No, it's not." Van Helsing answered. "When I woke up, I couldn't remember anything, well, except for my name. Carl was in the room when I woke up. He was absolutely petrified of me."

"Did you look scruffy?" Beth asked him with a slight smile. For some reason, it wasn't that hard to picture Carl afraid of Van Helsing. Heck, Carl was afraid of Mori! Then again, most sane people were afraid of Mori.

"That would be a huge understatement." Van Helsing replied as he smiled. Beth laughed slightly as she stopped Eclipse and jumped off her back. Gabriel stopped his own horse and dismounted as well. Bethany lead Eclipse to the river so the horse could drink and rest. Van Helsing did the same with his own steed. As he did so, the monster hunter continued to explain his appearance to his daughter.

"I had a beard that I hadn't shaved in at least three days and all my clothes were torn and bloody."

"You must have looked like something the cat spit up." Beth guessed.

"As a matter of fact, I did. Carl thought that I was some sort of brainless, man-destroying Neanderthal."

"I bet." Beth said, a small smile on her lips. She then turned to him as she picked up a few stones in her hand. "Remember when we first met?"

Van Helsing smiled. "I do."

As he watched Beth throw stones in the river, the monster hunter was thrown back into the past. It was eight years ago, four years after he had joined the Order. Van Helsing had gone into the lab to see if Carl wanted him to save the little friar any lunch. The monster hunter knew that Carl was involved with something and would probably forget to eat if Van Helsing didn't remind him. As he made his way toward the lab, he could hear Carl shouting.

"Faster! Faster please!"

Van Helsing saw that he was trying to put two things together with sparks…again. There was a man behind him that looked like he was riding a bicycle only it was attacked to a few more machines. The man on the contraption was strapped in pretty well and was on a raised platform. Van Helsing just shook his head. Typical Carl. Gabriel then saw an eight year old girl standing next to the friar. Her dark hair was pulled back and her green eyes easily reflected the torch light in the room. This was young Bethany.

"Carl, I don't think…" the girl jumped when she heard the man who had been running the machine scream in pain and fear. She whirled around to see that the contraption had caught fire!

"Oh my…hold still!" Beth screamed as she ran up the stairs to the platform so she could help the man, who was feverously working to free himself from the straps. In either a feat of bravery or stupidity, Bethany managed to un-strap the man from the machine. The man scrambled away only seconds before the device sent out a large burst of flame. The girl jumped back with a shriek and missed the edge of the platform. She fell from the stand and landed gently in Van Helsing's waiting arms. The monster hunter looked at the girl and then at Carl as he laughed slightly.

"Hey Carl! Look what I caught!" Van Helsing told the friar as she showed off his prize.

"Van Helsing, that is my assistant." Carl told him as he walked over toward the two. Van Helsing looked at her and raised one eyebrow playfully.

"She seems a little young for you, Carl." Van Helsing teased his friend.

"Ewww! Gross!" Beth squeaked as Van Helsing gently set her on her feet. Her reaction got a laugh from Van Helsing.

"Beth," Carl began. "This us Gabriel Van Helsing. Van Helsing, this is Bethany Monroe. She arrived here last week."

Van Helsing tipped the brim of his hat toward the girl.

"A pleasure."

Van Helsing then returned to the present. Beth noticed that he was looking at her oddly and raised her eyebrows at her father.

"What?" she asked him.

"You were cuter then."

Beth shook her head and laughed at his reply. "I was innocent then."

"You were eight then."

"I'm sixteen now."

"Really?" Van Helsing asked her teasingly. "When did that happen? I thought you were nine."

Beth glared at her father. "And I thought you were thirteen."

"That's a really bad…"

"Yeah, I know."

The two laughed slightly at each other. There were definitely loosing it. Beth sighed quietly and then sat on the bank in order to watch the water gently roll over the stones. Van Helsing sunk down on the ground next to her. The monster hunter put an arm around the girl. Beth smiled at him.

"Do you remember mom at all?" Beth asked him suddenly. The question kind of caught Van Helsing off guard. After a moment of thought, he nodded.

"Yes. Once I remembered that you were my daughter, the memories flooded back to me." Van Helsing turned to he and smiled warmly. "You have her eyes. You look almost exactly like her in fact. Except for one thing, Eli's hair was black and your's isn't."

"Eli?" Beth asked him, a little confused.

"It was my pet name for your mom…midget." Gabriel replied with a slight smirk.

"Oh." Beth replied as she returned his smile. "Got it…Gabe."

Van Helsing's smirk grew into a large smile.

"How did I ever get stuck with you?" he asked.

"Where have you been?" Beth answered in a question.

Gabriel just gave her a quick squeeze around her shoulders.

"Gone for far too long."