CHAPTER 11
Anna wasn't sure how long they had been riding, but with every jolt of the horse and every sharp pain that shot up her torso as a result, she wished they would just stop.
As if her thoughts had been heard, Van Helsing quickly slowed his horse to a halt and jumped down to the ground with an almost inhuman-like grace. Neither Carl nor Anna's horses needed to be told what to do and immediately followed suit.
Van Helsing moved around, scanning the trees around them for anything out of place. He turned in the direction they had come from and tilted his head to the side, listening. He could hear nothing, thankfully.
Anna watched him for a moment before slowly slipping off of her horse. As her feet hit the ground, another sharp pain shot up her stomach and she couldn't help but gasp in pain. She was sure she had pulled a stitch or two, and that was not good. She watched Gabriel turn toward her and expected him to ask if she was all right, but he didn't. He just stared at her with an almost stony expression.
Something wasn't right…
"We really mustn't push the horses so hard, Van Helsing," Carl commented absentmindedly as he stroked his panting horse.
"Would you prefer you or the horse to die?" Van Helsing asked the friar in a dark tone.
Anna blinked and continued to stare at Gabriel as he stalked over toward the friar.
"Well, neither…I'm just trying to say that we won't make it anywhere if our horses die." Carl replied before standing on his tiptoes so he could whisper into his horse's ear. "Don't worry, Blacky, he'll come around. He's just being a grump."
There was something animalistic about the way Van Helsing moved toward Carl. His steps were silent and his eyes were locked solely on the young friar. He was acting like a beast about to make a kill.
Something was very, very wrong. Anna could feel it. "Um, Gabriel?" she said rather tentatively. She wanted to draw his attention from Carl.
Van Helsing didn't seem to notice her calling his name.
She frowned. "Gabriel," she said a little more forcefully.
Still nothing.
"VAN HELSING!"
The man suddenly stopped in his tracks and slowly turned toward her, his expression almost sinister. His jaw was clenched along with his fists and his eyes were dark, too dark. "Yes?" he snarled.
And it was at that moment that she knew it wasn't him. "Carl!" she said in alarm.
The friar whipped his head around and met Anna's gaze. He immediately noted her distressed expression and then looked at Van Helsing. If there was one thing Carl knew better chemicals, weaponry, and demons, it was his friend and the man standing before him was not his friend. He gave Anna a nervous look.
If Carl noticed it too and the man now with them was not their Van Helsing, where was the real one? Anna pulled her sword from its sheath and held it out in front of her. "Who are you?" she finally asked.
"Whatever do you mean, Princess?" the man replied sneeringly. "I'm Van Helsing."
"N-no, you're not," Carl countered, his voice wavering.
'Van Helsing' turned his head toward the friar and shot him a look that sent a wave of shivers down the little man's spine. "Oh, but I am."
"Oh, but you're not," the friar argued. He watched as Anna took a few tentative steps toward the imposter and figured the least he could do was distract the guy while the gypsy moved in.
"You dare to question me, Monk? I am the great Van Helsing!"
"He's a friar, not a monk!" Anna said rapidly as she swiftly closed the distance between her and the man, and swung a dangerous right hook at his head. The imposter had no time to really react before her fist slammed into his skull. The action sent a jarring pain through her hand, but she quickly shook it off before taking a step back and readying her sword.
Recovering from the blow, the man straightened up and shot Anna a very dangerous look. "You shouldn't have done that," he hissed.
"And you should learn to get your facts straight if you are going to go around impersonating people!" Anna shot back, taking another step away from the man.
Carl nodded. "She's right, you know," he stated. "I mean, how could have possibly thought that you would be able to get away with pretending to be Van Helsing, especially when you don't know all the facts?" He shook his head. "Honestly. You've done a terrible job so far. I, personally, would suggest practicing some more-"
"Carl-"
"Some role playing, perhaps," the friar continued. "I've heard that helps when it comes to learning how to impersonate people."
"CARL-"
"Or maybe-"
"CARL!"
The young man finally snapped out of it and turned his attention to Anna.
She gave him a look and then said, "I don't think our imposter friend here is worried too much about his performance."
It took a few moments for what the woman was saying to click. "Oh!" Carl exclaimed. "He only wanted to be believable long enough to kill us!" He smiled, quite proud of himself for figuring it out so quickly…And then he frowned. "Oh…" He shot a glare the man's way. "Well, that isn't very nice."
"You're very intuitive, Princess," the fake said as he began stalking around the woman in wide circles, once again acting as if he were an animal deciding the best way to attack its prey. "Very few discover who I truly am so quickly." He smiled wickedly. "And usually it's right before I take their lives."
"And you have quite an impressive vocabulary for a nothing more than a pathetic shapeshifter," Anna shot back. She was really just trying to buy time in order to think about what she was going to do next, in order to prepare herself for the fight she knew was about to happen.
"Tsk tsk, Princess," the imposter sniggered, "I am not just a shapeshifter. I am the shapeshifter."
Anna couldn't help but roll her eyes. If there was one thing she hated more than when creatures tried to kill her, it was when those creatures launched into long, self-aggrandizing monologues before trying to kill her. Even though it did often buy her the time to come up with the life-saving plan that would enable her to be victorious over the haughty and long-winded creatures, sometimes she just wished they'd get to the point and attack her.
"Forgive me, The Shapeshifter," Anna interrupted before the creature could reveal his ultimately interminable life story. "I did not know." Her sword was starting to feel heavy, but she continued to hold it out in front of her, keeping it between her and The Shapeshifter. "But now that I do, how about Your Shapeshiftiness tells me where the real Van Helsing is?"
The imposter, seemingly annoyed at being interrupted before he could tell the tale of how he happened to be the shapeshifter, narrowed his eyes at the woman. "He is dead," he hissed.
Anna's heart dropped, but her expression remained impassive. "I find that," she began, "hard to believe."
"Me, too!" Carl chimed in. He hadn't said anything in what he considered to be a long time and felt that it had been a good a moment as any to say something.
"Van Helsing has killed many demons, monsters, and evil creatures far more powerful than yourself," Anna said slowly, taking a moment to wish that Van Helsing was there now. "How do you expect us to believe that you could have killed him?"
It was at that moment that the shapeshifter got this certain look in his eyes, a look that was so smug and so evil that it make Anna's heart drop all the way down to her feet. He curled his lips in a cruel smile. "I merely pretended to be you."
TBC…
(A/N: Yeeeeeeeee-eah, it's been a long while since I updated, but I figured that I'd put the chapter up anyway since I have it. LOL! Love to all! – Emily)
