CHAPTER 7

After Van Helsing had spoken, Cardinal Jinette began frowning. "Are you thinking of going with the Princess on this quest?" he questioned though he already knew the answer.

"Yes Father, of course I am," Gabriel replied, surprised the questioned was even asked. What did the cardinal think he was going to do? Stay behind at the abbey until he was needed to kill some random creature of evil while Anna went off on her own after something she had just heard about moments before? No. He had just gotten her back and there was simply no way that he would leave her now, let alone abandon her in a time of great need.

"You have duties here at the Order," the Cardinal began, "but...given the fact that Princess Anna needs both protection and aid, and that you'll probably destroy more evil while with her, I will allow you and Carl to journey with her."

"What? Me?" Carl all but exclaimed. "I don't want to go! I've had enough time out in the field to last me a lifetime!" He turned his gaze to look at Anna and Gabriel. "You'll have to forgive me, but I can't do it!" His voice began to shake nervously while simultaneously raising a few octaves. "I-I just-there's the claws...and AHH! And then SQUASH!!! Death, I tell you! DEATH!!!!!"

Jinette narrowed one eye, trying to figure out what Carl was saying. He looked to the others for an answer, but they seemed just as lost as he. "Well, Brother Thorton is willing to go out into the field," he said, knowing full well that Carl and Thorton didn't get along at all. "He's just as smart of Carl so I'm sure he can find the location to the amulet."

Carl's eyes bulged out. "Brother Thorton as smart as me?! HA!" he scoffed. "That man couldn't figure out a problem even if the answer came up and smacked him right in the head!" Gabriel and the Cardinal smirked at each other. "There is absolutely no want I will allow that nitwit to endanger your lives. Van Helsing, Anna, you have yourself a friar!"

Van Helsing quickly hid his smirk and gave Carl the most serious look he could muster. "Carl," he said, pausing dramatically as he stepped forward and grabbed the friar's shoulder. "You might have just saved our lives...AGAIN." He patted Carl's shoulder in a manly gesture of appreciation. He desperately wanted to laugh, but held it inside...barely. "On behalf of Anna and myself, I thank you."

Carl beamed.

"Now hurry, my friend," Gabriel said, "We must leave as soon as possible!"

The young friar nodded earnestly. "Yes, yes of course! I'll go gather my things now!" He quickly turned around, almost falling over for his efforts, and hurried out the door. A moment later, he poked his head back in, saying "I won't let you down!" and then scurried away down the corridor.

Van Helsing chuckled and shook his head. "Good ol' Carl." He looked over at Jinette who had a small smirk on his lips, and said, "We really must go soon, Father."

The Cardinal nodded, his expression becoming serious again. "Yes." He turned his attention to Anna. "I wish you the best on your journey, Princess, and I shall pray for your success in locating the amulet."

She smiled slightly. "Thank you, Father."

With that, Cardinal Jinette gave one more nod to Gabriel and shook his hand before heading out of the room with the other men following close behind.

"We really need to buy a few things at the market before we leave," Van Helsing said as he turned to face Anna. "You will definitely need some more suitable clothes." As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he suddenly noticed a large darkened patch of something spread across the dark fabric of Anna's shirt. Most of the large stain was directly over her stomach. He frowned deeply. "Anna?" he questioned, unable to disguise the fear and concern in his voice. He took a step toward her, noticing how pale she had become and how her eyes seemed to be glazed over slightly. "Anna?" he said again.

She gazed at him a moment, blinking a couple of times as she tried to clear her vision, before softly saying, "I do not feel so well." And then her eyes rolled back and her knees gave out.

Van Helsing quickly lunged forward, catching her before she fell and then scooped her up into his arms. Moving to the bed, he gently laid her down and brushed an errant curl out of her face before he looked down at her shirt. It was only then that he noticed the four parallel holes that started on one side of the shirt and went across horizontally to the other side.

Slowly and carefully, he lifted the shirt just enough to reveal four long and seemingly deep gashes across her stomach that were bleeding quite heavily. Cursing, he immediately pressed his hands against them in attempt to stem the flow of blood. He turned his head to look at the chest where he kept his small travel bag of medical supplies. He needed to get it, but at the same time didn't want to remove his hands from Anna's stomach in fear that she might lose a lot more blood. Letting out a shaky breath, he was about to pray to the Lord for help when suddenly Carl stumbled into the room carrying all of his gear.

"Van Helsing, I—" He stopped short when he noticed Gabriel leaning over Anna who happened to be lying on the bed with her shirt rolled up. "Honestly, you two, couldn't you have left the snogging until after we left the Order?"

Gabriel snapped his head around in the direction of Carl's voice and looked at him, saying, "We aren't snog—" He stopped and shook his head. "Just go to my chest and get out the small leather bag with the medical supplies in it."

Not being able to see Anna's wounds from where he was, Carl just stood there wondering why Van Helsing would want medical supplies. The reason then came to him. "I commend you for your creativity, but why waste bandages to tie each other down with? There's other stuff around here I'm sure. You just have to look for it."

An unrecognizable expression passed over Gabriel's face before he finally yelled, "Get me the bag!" Carl still remained where he was as if he hadn't heard the other man. "NOW CARL!!" He would have smacked Carl if he hadn't thought keeping pressure on Anna's wounds was more important.

The friar blinked and then quickly nodded. "Oh!" He shook his head, coming to his senses. He noticed the scowl Van Helsing was directing at him. "Alright, alright, I'm going!" he huffed as he walked over to the chest and bending over, shuffled through the contents inside looking for the bag. "Black or brown leather, Van Helsing?" he questioned.

Gabriel looked over his shoulder, a thoroughly exasperated expression on his face. "Brow— the one in your left hand."

Carl looked at his left hand and smiled. "Oh, jolly good!" He placed the bag on the ground and began straightening up everything in the chest.

Van Helsing glanced at Carl for a second and then looked back down at Anna, but as soon as his brain registered what the friar was doing, he immediately snapped his head back around to the younger man. "Carl!! Forget the bloody chest and give me the bag!"

Carl stopped what he was doing and looked at Gabriel. "The brown one, right?"

"YES!!!!"

The friar frowned. "Alright, alright," he said as he picked up the back and moved over toward Gabriel and Anna, "No need to ye—" He stopped speaking as soon as he saw Anna's stomach and all the blood that was seeping out from between Van Helsing's fingers. "What did you do to her, Van Helsing?!"

"I didn't—" Gabriel glared at him. "Oh, never mind! Just get me a cloth so I can wipe all the blood away and see how extensive her injuries are."

Dropping the medical bag on the floor, Carl immediately did as he was told. He went back to the chest, pulled out a shirt, and ripped it in half, figuring it would work just as well as anything else. He stepped back over to Van Helsing, saying, "I hope you didn't like this shirt because—" but stopped speaking when Gabriel removed his hands from Anna's stomach to take the torn shirt from him. "I-is that ALL b-blood?" he stammered, his face turning pale.

Oblivious to Carl's reaction to the blood, Gabriel nodded as he began wiping around the gashes across Anna's stomach. "Yes, that's why I needed—" Before he could finish his sentence, he heard Carl let out a somewhat strangled squeak and then heard a loud thud. Gabriel looked over and let out an exasperated huff when he saw that the young friar had fainted.

Shaking his head and then turning back to Anna, he wiped away as much blood as he could before he began examining the wounds. He stared at the four long and deep gashes in astonishment. He had always admired Anna for being strong, but this was more than that. Most men would have fallen over immediately if they had received such severe wounds, but Anna had managed to stay standing, and held a conversation no less, without even exhibiting the least bit of weakness.

Looking through the small medical bag, Van Helsing pulled out a sharp needle and thread. He knew that he was going to have to stitch up the wounds if they were ever going to stop bleeding. He disinfected the needle by placing it in the flame of the candle that sat on the small table at the head of the bed. That done, he threaded the needle and began the tedious job of stitching up the wounds.

TO BE CONTINUED...

(A/N: Hey y'all! Sorry it took me so long to get this chapter up!! Major life mayhem going on lately. I'm sure y'all know what I mean. LOL! This was just kind of a filler chapter. It didn't have much to it and was rather boring, but I promise the chapters to come will be better! I've got chapter 8 and some of 9 written. I just need type it all up. Hehehe! Thanks so much for all the reviews and the support! It means a lot! Remember to REVIEW! –hugs- Emily)