1Chapter 22
"Michelle!" exclaimed Catherine in joy. She ran
forwards and hugged her little sister tight. She was crying in joy.
"I was afraid you were dead." continued Catherine.
She held Michelle out at arms length and looked into her blue eyes.
They were paler. "You had a vision." Catherine continued.
"Ya.
It's Amelia, she's going to die." whimpered Michelle. She
didn't know what her oldest sister was at the moment. "Where is
she?" asked Michelle when she looked at the door and Van Helsing
and noticed that Amelia was not in the room. Michelle pulled away
from her sister's grip and hurried to the door. She tried opening
it but it was locked, still.
Van Helsing put his hand on
Michelle's shoulder and shook his handsome head. Catherine looked
out the window on the other side of the room and couldn't see the
moon from this angle.
"Van Helsing, the moon is on its last
quarter, right?" asked Catherine. Van Helsing nodded.
"Why?
What happened to Amelia?" asked Michelle. She was glancing back and
forth between Catherine and Van Helsing.
"Amelia's... a
werewolf now." answered Van Helsing. There was silence in the room,
but from outside it they could here shrieks and roars and thumps and
crashes. Michelle looked at Narumi who was looking up at her. She was
amazed.
Narumi didn't believe that someone would actually come
for the little girl. But people did, and so did a werewolf. Just then
there was a click coming from the door. There was a key in the lock,
and it slowly opened.
Catherine and Van Helsing quickly took out
their pistols. Van Helsing had two and Catherine had only one. They
pointed it at the door and waited for someone to come out the other
side.
Aleera poked her head through the crack in the door. She
smiled and flung it open, off it's hinges. It hit Catherine and she
was flung backwards. Her gun was firing but missed the vampire every
time. Van Helsing was firing his gun, but it did no use. This was not
a deadly threat to the vampire. He pulled out from his cloak a casket
of holy water.
Aleera saw this and flung herself at Van Helsing.
He had opened the casket though and flung it at the oncoming vampire.
Water sprayed everywhere, splashing all over Aleera. Aleera screamed
and put her hands to her face. She began to dry up, and crumble.
Moments later all that was left of her was a heap of ash, like the
one they had found in the forest.
Catherine got up, pushing the
door off her. Van Helsing was standing, the flask opened at his feet,
next to the pile of ash. Pained shrieks of loss came from above.
The werewolf looked around itself. A pile of burnt vampire was settled against the wall. The werewolf listened to the shrieks around it and decided to follow the voices. It turned and fled across the hall and back up the stairs. When it reached the corridor where it's fight first began, it noticed that the door at the end was open, or actually gone. Figures were moving around inside, and gunshots were being fired. A shriek rattled the air and the werewolf took this as a cue to attack.
Narumi's eyes opened in fear.
The vampire was dead but a monstrous creature was catapulting itself
down the corridor towards them. Van Helsing peaked his head around
the door to see what was coming and when he saw the brown werewolf
coming down the hall he ran towards Michelle and lifted her up, just
when the werewolf made the entrance of the door. He carried her and
jumped towards the other side of the room, where they landed heavily
on the ground. The monster ran towards Catherine and her, still lying
on the ground, fired a round of silver bullets from her gun. Her
older sister faltered but still came at Catherine. Catherine kicked
up her legs as the monster came onto her and she kicked it over her
head with her two legs.
As the werewolf was kicked, and losing
strength from the bullets puncturing it, it's mind came back.
Amelia saw her life flash before her eyes. She was flying through the
room, towards a window. She saw a girl crouching on the ground next
another dead girl. Amelia grabbed at this girl for support, a clawed
hand reaching out. The claw latched onto the sleeve of the girls
tunic and the girl also lifted with Amelia.
The werewolf was
flung over Catherine's head and was catapulted through the tall
glass window on the eastern side of the room. The glass shattered and
fell to the ground hundreds of feet below, to the bottom of the
cliffs, with the howling werewolf, and a screaming Narumi along with
it.
Joseline and Verona were shrieking as they came down the
stairs. They felt the death of their master and Aleera. The breaking
of glass was heard echoing through the empty halls. The two Vampires
ran down the corridor towards the red room. The door was gone and the
window could be seen with broken glass scattered everywhere.
Joseline turned into her vampire form and spread her wings that
were not as long as Dracula's, and flew swiftly down the corridor.
Catherine was looking through the window, below into the
jagged rocks a the bottom of the cliffs. She was too far away to see
any persons lying dead at the bottom.
Van Helsing let go of
Michelle and stood up. He had shielded her from the glass that flew
in every direction when the window shattered. He had cuts on his arms
and neck, but other than that he was fine. He helped up a whimpering
Michelle, and she ran over to Catherine who as staring out the
window.
"Amelia! Amelia!" cried out Michelle. She was crying,
hoping for her sister to reappear from the shadows of death. But she
didn't come. Michelle stared down to the bottom of the cliffs
desperately.
"She's not coming back..." answered Catherine.
She had her eyes closed and tears were rolling down her cheeks.
Behind them Joseline was hurriedly flying down the corridor towards
them. Van Helsing noticed and, with the holy water out of reach, took
out a crucifix from the inside of his cloak. He leaped in front of
Catherine and Michelle, and held out the crucifix as Joseline halted
her wings and settled down onto the floor in her human form just in
front of him.
"Van Helsing. You killed my Master." she said,
her thick French accent echoing off the walls.
"Actually, it
was your daughter who did that." he replied. Michelle and Catherine
opened their eyes astonished. Amelia's mother. The one who was
kidnapped by Dracula all those years ago.
Joseline shrieked and
lunged at him. She flung his arm out so that the crucifix was not in
the way. She bared her teeth and grabbed him. Her attack was cut
short though when a stake cut through her back, piercing her all the
way through so that the tip was visible through the front of her blue
silk dress.
Joseline shrieked and fell to the ground. Behind her
was heard another shriek. Verona was also pierced through the heart.
The attackers stood tall. The murderer of Joseline was a girl,
perhaps a little older than Catherine. She had long brown hair that
matched her eyes. She was dressed in a white dress gown that was torn
in places.
Verona's murderer was Chipeº. He stood with his
brown hair brushed back and his green eyes glistening in the
torchlight. Michelle supposed that the girl was probably Dragoste,
his lost lover. Van Helsing straightened himself and rubbed his arm.
He placed the crucifix back in his cloak. It would no longer be of
use, all five of the vampires were dead.
"Princess Dragoste."
said Van Helsing. He bowed to her and she smiled. Catherine, seeing
Van Helsing do this, decided it was a good idea. She bowed down too
and Michelle followed. Chipeº came forwards and past Princess
Dragoste. He bent down over Chelsea and closed her eyes. The empty,
glazed eyes had been opened the whole time.
"Princess? I didn't
hear them say you were a princess." said Michelle. Van Helsing
stood from his bow and looked at Michelle. He wasn't smiling.
"This was the reason we came here. Princess Dragoste had
disappeared for a while and I was sent to find her with the help of
your sister." said Van Helsing. Catherine and Michelle looked at
him in shock. This was the reason their sister is dead. To save
someone that never had any impact on her life. To save someone she
never knew.
"But... Why?" asked Michelle. It was a silly
question. Amelia was a monster hunter. And a monster is what sent
them on this journey.
"Amelia died after accomplishing a task
people struggled with for hundreds of years. She died honourably,
despite her condition." said Dragoste. She had her hands folded
together in front of her and she looked at the three foreigners with
sorrow.
Van Helsing, Catherine and Michelle bowed their heads. It
struck all of them again that Amelia was dead. Van Helsing dropped to
his knees, staring into space. A single tear rolled down his cheek.
And he didn't swipe it away.
A few moments later he rose and
left the room, bowing to Dragoste on his way out. He descended the
many staircases that filled the house until he was back at the main
entrance. He flung open the doors and they boomed loudly. He found
his horse tied to a tree not far off. He untied the steed and
mounted. He hurried it back down around cliff the same way he came
up. He crossed the rushing river that was in between him and the base
of the cliffs. The water went up to his horse's chest and several
times the horse almost toppled over because of the strong current.
But at last he made the shore and dismounted and he let his horse go
graze freely.
He couldn't see clearly or far in the darkness
that enveloped the night. He scanned around for any sign of where
Amelia could be. He knew she was dead, and so was the other girl. It
was a shame she had to go as well. He wandered around, looking for
the bodies.
His foot bumped up against something. He looked down
to see the head of the girl he never knew. She was lying there, eyes
wide open. Van Helsing took out a light from his pocket and sparked
it. It came alight and he saw the girl's body was twisted in ways
he though impossible. One leg was bent backwards, an arm reached out
that was twisted around twice. It was gruesome, but he was thankful
she hadn't fallen to pieces on impact. With his lighter he held it
up high to scan the rest of the ground. He saw a limp form not far
away, in the midst of shattered glass that glistened in his dim
light.
He ran over to Amelia and bent down over her. He lifted
her head off the glass covered ground. Her eyes were closed. Her
clothes were torn everywhere. She had blood stains everywhere, and
several bullets wounds on her chest. She wasn't bleeding anymore,
her heart had stopped, ending the flow of blood. Amazingly her body
wasn't mangled like he thought she would be.
He swiped some of
her long brown hair from her face. Her expression was calm, he could
almost say she was smiling. He held her close and sat there for a
moment. Van Helsing picked her up and carried her to his horse. He
wrapped her in a blanket from one of his saddlebags and gently slung
her over the horse in between the saddle and the horse's neck. He
would come back himself or send somebody else to retrieve the other
girl. Van Helsing made his way back across the water and followed the
trail at the cliff's base. He followed it up to the castle. The
body stayed put, the blanket wrapping it billowing in the light wind.
Catherine sat in the train with her head pressed against the
window. She was watching the landscape rush by. The smoke from the
train engine rushed by her window. She looked beside her to see
Michelle asleep in her seat. Van Helsing was seated alone across the
aisle. He was staring ahead at something, Catherine knew not.
They
were in the last passenger car. But she didn't believe that. In the
car behind her was the cargo car, and that's where Amelia rested
peacefully, locked up in her coffin.
It had been three days since
that terrible night. The day after they had to attend a banquet in
their honour and in Amelia's honour for saving Princess Dragoste.
They then had to find a way back home, and the Princess provided them
with passage on a train headed for Rome. They had left the next day,
with Amelia safely tucked away in a fancy coffin. Her funeral was
going to be held in the small village where the sisters grew up
together. Catherine had a black dress ready to go, with a black veil
and handkerchief too. Michelle said she recognised the outfit from
somewhere, but she didn't give any details.
Story is done, finally! hope you enjoyed it as much as i did writing it.
