A/N: Happy Friday everyone!! The weekend is here, woo-hoo. -ahem- Anyways, had the last few day to dedicate myself to the story. So much homework and a science project kept me occupied for quite some time. Well, here's the fourth chapter. Enjoy!!

Chapter 4: Behind the Black Mask

After helping Gabriel taking Anna to her bedchamber, he had given Nathalia the weapons Anna had with to put them away. "And what of you?" she had asked him. "To get a drink." he had responded.

So here she was, back in the armory, replacing the weapons back where they belonged. The room was empty, the friar had probably gone to the tower to look through the archives as Gabriel had told him. When she was done, she walked around all the torches in the room and blew them out and placed a few lanterns to light the halls.

Walking down a hall, she walked past the bar to find Gabriel drinking alone. Nathalia was hesitant, but she wasn't sure of herself. "Ahem." she coughed softly. He looked at her. "Do you mind if I join you?" she asked him. She expected rejection or maybe nothing at all, but instead he gave her a warm smile. "Not at all." he said.

The bar was fairly spacious with a counter, a row of stools in front of it, chairs and round tables, along with the different varieties of brands of drinks. She sat next to him as he offered her a drink of mead. "No, thank you." she gently rejected. "You don't drink?" he asked her. "I never did approve of it." she replied.

Nathalia made little eye contact with him. Being with him after so many years seemed almost awkward. "How long have you known Anna and her family?" he asked, wanting to make some small talk.

"Um... about ten years. I met Anna out of those two." she responded. "I... actually came seeking for their help." she confessed.

He looked at her, but she did not look at him. "I was a threat to Dracula. He had sent his 'pet' werewolf to hunt me down and kill me. That's how I ended up meeting with Velkan, Anna's brother..." she trailed off, her mind drifting off to that fateful meeting with the only human being who had ever accepted her and had not tried to kill her"Before... having been with Dracula I cannot remember." she said, shaking the thought away.

"Do you mind if I ask how long you've been with Dracula?"

This time she did look at him. "You were his bride, were you not?" he asked her gently, not wanting to make her feel any worse than she did. Perhaps he had already did. She looked away. "For as long as I remember." she whispered, almost inaudible for Gabriel to hear. "After.. after being 'transformed' I couldn't remember anything before, and as I had said before, after I left him I can't remember my past sins." she said.

"Why do you hate him so much?" he asked.

She smiled. "You really do ask a lot of questions." she said. He returned the smile and took one last sip of his drink. She sighed. "I know he has taken everything from me. My dreams and hope. Who knows, he probably even took away my family. That is, if I ever had a family." she responded.

Nathalia looked at him. He had been the first person she had confided with her past. Anna and Velkan knew nothing about her except for the fact that Dracula wanted her dead and she was a vampire. Why did she provide him with so much information about herself?

ooo

Van Helsing was thoughtful for a moment. Nathalia was a vampire. A rogue vampire. And how is it that she gained so much respect from Anna, her family, and the villagers of Vaseria?

"I'm not like them?" she said, as though answering his question, referring them as Dracula and his brides. "I'am just as old and dead as they are, but I'am not as cold-hearted as you thought I should be."

He couldn't protest he thought of her as a warm-hearted person. At first realization at what she was, he was nearly about to kill her just as he killed her kind before her. Hesitant at first, but wanting to do, he took her hand into his. She looked at him with surprise written all over her face. Her hand was icy and lifeless, but he knew that deep down was warmth. Deep down she was human.

Suddenly, she pulled her hand away. She placed both her hands on her lap, keeping them to herself. He couldn't blame her. "Pardon, it's just that-"

"No need to explain yourself. I understand." he assured her with a smile, the only thing he could offer. She repaid him with the same smile as she stood up and departed from the room without another word to him.

ooo

Anna came back into conscious as the power of sleep was losing its spell over her. The faint pitter, patter of the rain against the window was the only thing she heard. She found herself in her room, her jacket placed neatly on a nearby chair and her shirt loosened. When she realized what had happened to her before, she was infuriated. "Van Helsing." she said almost menacingly. She stormed out her room and into the hall. She was heading for the bar when she heard a cling of glass that seemed to have come from the armory room.

Her direction was diverted to the the room as she pushed the doors angrily. "Van Helsing?" Her voice echoed off the walls, making it sound as though she had yelled his name out. The room was empty and dark. The sound came from here, this very room, she thought to herself. Having her suspicions, she walked out the room and grabbed the lantern on a nearby table.

She walked inside the darkened room, the only sound was the light pitter-patter of the rain outside just like in her room. Walking past a table, she picked up to what felt to her like a metal rod. She didn't care what it was, just as long as she had something in her possession to fend herself before.. whatever lurked inside the room.

Anna walked cautiously toward the source of a faint tap.. tap. She stood beside a pillar, catching her breath and trying to slow her thumping heart. One... two... three..!

She stepped out, letting a faint gasp escape her mouth when she realized it was just an open window making the strange noise. Her hands fell beside her as she thought to herself in an almost scolding manner, What were thinking, Anna? A werewolf was waiting for you?

When the window was finally closed, fear gripped her once more when she caught something in the corner of her eye. On the floor were wet and muddy footprints on the floor. And not just any footprints, they belonged to a werewolf. Following it's trail and grabbing a revolver in the display rack, she was prepared for whatever was going to attack. What she wasn't prepared for was the truth of all what was about to occur...

A/N: So, what'd ya think? At last, I got this chapter up after so long (though it's only been like 2 days.) I just wanna thank my friends for reading my story and telling how good it's going. Thanks you guys. Lots of love! Well, time for critics.

With much love,

Luna

Next Chapter: Brother Dearest, What Have You Become?