(Chapter 3: Welcome Back)
Van Helsing, Carl, and Father Valentino had sailed across the Adriatic Sea under dark and stormy weather and had traveled deep inland to reach a familiar country that they had marched into two years ago (Minus Father Valentino that is), and now they were crossing the snow peaked mountains, getting closer to their location. A smile came to Van Helsing's face as he looked towards Carl who was less than enthusiastic about the journey with a blank stare on his face, but fear and concern behind his eyes.
"Ahh, this brings back memories, doesn't it Carl?" Van Helsing asked with a smug grin.
"Yes…yes it does." Carl said with a shaky nod of his head and worry trembling in his voice, having sense of Déjà vu wash over him as they practically retraced old hoof prints from the horses they were riding on, it would have been a trip if they used the same ones, they rode in 1888.
"Why didn't you invite me?" Father Valentino asked. "I would have loved to go out in the field."
"I guess Cardinal Jinette saw something else in you that the Pope didn't, I bet it would have made taking Dracula out a whole lot smoother than how it turned out." Van Helsing replied as the three men began to descend the mountain on their horses now before rounding the corner, getting closer and closer to their village of Vaseria. Valentino checked the map and saw that the black dot was within reach, only one more hour of travel and they should reach their destination.
"We're close, Van Helsing. If I was to take a guess, it would be about another hour before we get them." Father Valentino revealed as he slid his special compass back into his waistcoat pocket, he had since changed from his black Cossack and black skull cap to a dark grey trench coat with a flat cap atop his head. Under his unbuttoned trench coat was a sea green waist coat with black damask designs adorning it with two front pockets. The waist coat itself was buttoned up and had two pockets at the front, one with his compass, and the other with a firearm inside of it. Under the waistcoat was a long sleeve white pin striped shirt. On his legs were black pants with a box of stake ammunition in one pocket and in the other pocket, a crucifix was contained inside, barely sticking out of it. On his feet were dark brown boots.
"I hope you got a plan." Carl said over to Van Helsing.
"Oh, I do—" Van Helsing replied. "We're going to Vaseria, where I slain one of the brides, the blonde. That must be where Lord Ruthven is located now, we'll stop him there."
"With all those werewolves!?" Carl gasped.
"Relax, Carl, night hasn't fallen, and besides, the moon won't be full tonight."
"Well, if the moon isn't full, how does that explain how the ones at the Vatican Archive was able to transform despite not being under a source of moonlight? Even more so, how were they able to transform if the moon isn't full yet?"
Now Van Helsing fell silent and thought about what those naked men had on them that could have allowed them to transform in circumstances where they shouldn't be able to. He remembered the one that Father Valentino tracked had a collar around his neck with strange green devices attached to the collar, and during the midst of battle, he would see that all those naked men had collars on. It had to be the collars, right? However, how would it explain the green devices that had a mysterious glow to them? Surely one couldn't harvest a source of moon light! Even though the Vatican Archive had many monumental and groundbreaking inventions, devices, and weaponry, a source of actual moon light was hard to believe. Did the Vatican have some sort of rocket somewhere? Were the monks and mullahs that trained him ancient astronauts? Truly these were questions that would need to be answered for another time, but all danced through his head as the monster-slayer pondered how those men could transform.
"Well, we'll find out when we get there…YAH!" Van Helsing said before crackling the reins across the ass of his horse, speeding it up and forcing his two partners to catch up with him.
By the time they arrived, it would be noon, and just like the last time Van Helsing and Carl entered Vaseria, it was cloudy, and fog hung in the air as if the sky had collapsed on top of them. A grand majority of the village is shrouded by fog. They approached the gates, and a that cheesy smile and comforting sensation took over Van Helsing as his mind harkened back to when he and Carl entered the village. The villagers mean-mugging them, that weird Top Hat undertaker sizing them up for coffins as if he had some sort of freaky fetish of burying the dead, meeting Anna Valerious, and lastly, the fight against the brides.
However, those pleasant feelings wouldn't last long.
Through the fog, an orange haze was seen in the center of the town. Carl was the first one to notice as Van Helsing's mind had briefly wandered off while Father Valentino surveyed their surroundings with a cautious eye, looking for any suspicious movement and keeping his ears open for any sounds like darting feet in dark corners or alley ways between buildings or houses.
"Uhhh, Van Helsing?" Carl asked, his voice overcome with worry as well as his thoughts. Right after he tried to alert his partner, a foul odor assaulted his nostrils and caused his face to recoil and scrunch up with disgust. A god-awful stench of burning and rotting human remains, mixed with the metallic scent of blood.
"Yeah. I smell that too." Van Helsing growled, Carl was trying his best to control the horse with both reins in his hand while pinching his nose shut, Father Valentino had a scowl on his face and so did the monster-slayer to an extent, but Gabriel remained focused on the task.
As the three men approached the gate, they hitched their horses and climbed down from them before advancing into Vaseira on foot. Father Valentino felt the compass vibrate in his pocket as the faint ticking noise was heard, he dug into his waistcoat pocket and pulled it out to see that the black dot was right there with them.
"The werewolf is here, stay sharp."
The three continued to approach the center of the town where the spire was with the well, but they would then lay their eyes upon the source of the stench. Several bodies all bunched together around the spire, it was like a large creature made from rotting corpses was slowly devouring the obelisk from the ground up, as only the top half of the monument was seen emerging from the heap of bodies. Men, women, boys, girls, young and old, all shared the same fate and crowded together like sardines.
"Dear God…" Van Helsing said to himself as he wielded his automatic crossbow, aiming down every alley and in the windows. "Stay close."
"V-Van Helsing?" A worried female voice asked from an alleyway, Van Helsing and his two allies turned towards the source of the voice and got ready, two aiming for their respective weapons while Carl dug into his robe to pull out a circular device, a device that seemed to have the power of the sun contained inside of it.
"Don't throw that thing, Carl." Van Helsing requested with a stern voice as a young woman emerged from the fog, dressed in rags with her hands raised in surrender.
"Are you alright?" Van Helsing asked as he gently laid his crossbow down and approached the young lady before looking over his shoulder at his friends. "Hold your fire."
"Yes, we've come from Frankenstein's Castle. This entire village was slaughtered, and it's already been going through terrible times. It's as if God has abandoned us." The young woman spoke, her voice shaky and breaking as if she was on the verge of tears.
"God has never abandoned you, madam. We are proof of that." Van Helsing said as he pulled her into a gentle embrace, but it did little to calm her down, but it at least managed to stifle her tears for now.
"This village has suffered, it should have been a time of joy after Dracula's death, but it has been a time of sorrow, anger, and confusion for us all." The woman whimpered.
Van Helsing looked towards the ground and sighed as he listened to Carl and Valentino chatting and trying to get answers from the villagers.
"I'm sorry, madam. We'll make things better, we promise." The monster-slayer said as he hugged the woman slightly tighter before releasing her, a weak smile came to her lips.
"Thanks, we trust that you'll do your best."
"We always do." Van Helsing said with a smile spreading across his face before he heard his name called out by Carl, getting his attention as he turned around and approached the monk who was speaking to a guy who appeared to be wore down from the attack of Lord Ruthven's monstrous gang.
"This guy says that he has some information that we can use." Carl announced as Van Helsing approached, the man had a shaggy beard, his Caucasian skin was covered in ash and soot, and so were his clothes, which was ripped and torn in some locations, strange markings were around his neck as if he had put up some sort of struggle.
"I do, I know who attacked us. I assume that's who you're looking for." The man said, stretching his arm out for a handshake that Van Helsing gladly accepted.
"Clint Shadows." The man said as he shook the monster-slayer's hand, keeping his eyes locked with his every movement.
"It's a pleasure to meet the great Van Helsing." Clint said with an unnerving smile as he would lead Gabriel inside the tavern through the hole in the wall.
"It's a pleasure to meet you too…Clint."
Van Helsing's eyes narrowed as Clint turned his back to him and headed into the tavern, hopping over the bar counter and grabbing a shot glass to slide it towards the unsuspecting monster-slayer.
"Thirsty?" Clint asked with a chuckle trailing his question, Van Helsing grabbed the shot glass and slid it over the counter, a second later the sound of shattering glass was heard as well as the tinkling of the shards scattering across the dirty floor.
"I don't drink."
"Oh, sure you don't. We do it all the time…" Clint taunted, Van Helsing reached into his pocket, preparing to grab one of his Tojo blades, his glare scanning the room to make sure there wasn't anyone else in the shadows waiting for the perfect moment to spring into action.
"Oh, come on, Van Helsing. I'm only picking with you!" Clint laughed as he leaned against the wall, arms crossed, his eyes seemed to have a gleaming green glow in the darkness of the dimly lit tavern.
"I don't like being picked with." Van Helsing said sternly, his hand reaching closer and closer to the Tojo blade in his pocket, his fingers curling, ready to activate it.
"You're no fun then…" Clint growled; his voice seemed to be getting deeper.
"For someone who just lost everything you sure seem to be one jolly fellow…" Van Helsing said, he could feel the steel of one of his signature weapons against his skin.
"It's better to be optimistic when you still have things you can hold on to…" Clint replied, his voice rougher and growly.
"Oh, you're one of the most strangest men I've ever encountered…what am I going to do with you?"
"No, Van Helsing…" Clint began before a fleshy tearing sound was heard from the darkness, the green lights of his eyes ascended until they almost touched the ceiling before a canid growl was heard coming from him. "What are you going to do?"
With a bark, a jet black werewolf leapt upon Van Helsing, but the monster-hunter had anticipated this and quickly blocked a blow from the beast, but the impact still sent him flying through the hole in the wall and smashing through the railing with a loud bang, causing his hat to fall from his head and his body meeting the ash-coated Vaseria street. He rolled backwards and stood into a vertical base, brandishing his Tojo blades.
"I knew it was you…" Van Helsing growled as Clint emerged from the tavern, standing on the deck. In his werewolf form, he stood at a height of seven feet three inches tall and was built like Velkan when he was in his werewolf form. The ears pointed straight up, and his eyes lacked any pupils or iris, but glowing green sclera. His fur appeared to be black but with jagged edges, almost looking like his own hair could cut someone.
"Have you found what you're looking for!?" The dark werewolf barked, Carl gasped and took several steps back as Valentino opened fire with his flintlock pistol, the beast bounded away and ran into another building.
"Did that dog just talk!?" Carl screamed.
"Seems like he did." Valentino replied as everything went silent for a moment before Clint burst from the building he was inside, charging upon the three. He lunged upon Van Helsing, who jumped out of the way from the attack.
I can't afford to get scratched or bitten by that thing and with how aggressive Clint is, this could be a challenge…Van Helsing thought to himself as he looked around, searching for a spot where he could strategically take shots at the monster.
"Get this dog off me!" Father Valentino was heard crying out, Van Helsing turned to face the direction of the cry for help and would see Clint gaining on the priest as he ran for the well at the center of Vaseria.
Putting his Tojo blades away, Gabriel would wield his dual revolvers, each loaded with silver coated bullets, and would start to dump round after round towards the back of the beast which caused it to stumble forward and smash into the ground on impact with a growl of pain.
"Van Helsing, lend me one of those!" The priest called out as he ran for cover again now that the enemy had been temporarily immobilized.
"I can't throw it that far!" Van Helsing called out before seeing that Carl was relatively close by, rushing towards his partner, the monster-slayer launched it towards him. "Carl, catch!"
"Wha-what am I supposed to do with thi—" Carl went to ask but then would see Clint coming at him, full speed with his mouth frothing.
"To Valentino!" Van Helsing cried out as he managed to stun Clint again with his revolver, Carl jumped out of the way in time as Clint's large body went smashing through a wall of a building that was behind the friar.
"Father, catch!" Carl called as he launched the revolver towards the priest, who ran towards it in order to have an easier time catching it like a wide receiver running to catch a football.
Clint happened to be running towards Van Helsing, but when he went for a swipe with his claws, the monster-slayer had already put significant distance between him and the beast via his grappling hook gun which had allowed him to rappel to the top of the church from afar.
Clint went to leap to the top of the building, but a shot to the back would halt him in his tracks. The dark werewolf turned around, baring his teeth towards Valentino who stood near the well at the center of town. Carl stood on a nearby deck, overlooking the fight just like Gabriel was. The friar looked down at his bag of weapons that he had slung over his shoulder like some sort of purse, within it was that strange device that he had crafted, a device with the sun's light contained within it. Although it took him over a decade to create the first one, he had done loads of research in the downtime between Dracula's defeat and the return of Lord Ruthven in order to craft a second one with a much more suitable timeframe.
"I know what you're thinking, Carl, don't use it!" Van Helsing called from afar, but due to him being across the entire village, his voice was only heard through echoes as it bounced off the many buildings, but by the time they reached Carl, it was but quiet whisper in the wind.
"What!?" Carl asked aloud.
"Don't use it!" Van Helsing cried out, but still his message didn't get across to the friar who pulled the device out of the bag and looked down towards the street where Clint was seen charging towards Valentino.
Oh, for Pete's sake… Van Helsing thought to himself before motioning his arms in a wild and erratic motion in a desperate effort to get the point across, but then the monster-slayer would see a strange figure emerging behind Carl, and then he began to point at the threat which would only confuse the friar even further than he already was.
"He's saying don't use it, idiot…" A rough voice belonging to that of what sounded like a young man, said from behind. Carl jumped as his heart jolted inside of his chest, turning around just to receive a backhanded strike from the unseen enemy, the impact was enough to knock the friar through a railing and to the ground below with a thud, the device still clutched in his hands.
Great, now a warlock joins the fight… Van Helsing thought to himself with a sigh and a roll of his eyes, the only features Gabriel could make out of the warlock from afar was that he had long white hair and wore dark brown clothing from his torso down to his feet, the most distinct of his clothing being a large brown robe like Carl's monk robe.
Van Helsing's gaze now bounced from the warlock and to Clint, who was within ten yards of Valentino, who kept backing up and firing towards the beast, the silver bullets only slowing the werewolf down by so much, a normal werewolf should have died by now!
Father Valentino tried to jump backwards to clear the hole in the ground where the well is located just to get nailed by Clint's furry arm which slammed against his throat with unfathomable force! The clothesline courtesy of the werewolf sent him into an unintended backflip that resulted in the priest's feet meeting the pavement, he tried to get into a run, but the lack of balance made it turn into a stumble that would force him to leap across the well again.
Meanwhile, Van Helsing would feel that the air around him had grown heavier, it was as if it was a hot humid day when it was supposed to be a chilly day free of humidity or fog, the only fog that hung over the village now was lingering, foul-smelling smoke that didn't create any perspiration. During this time, strange blue embers would flutter from behind him and into his field of view, both the heavy sensation and the blue sparks wouldn't last long. They would cause him to look back to where the warlock was once standing just to see that he wasn't there anymore, the monster-slayer's eyes widened at the sudden realization that…
*WHAM! *
Van Helsing turned around just to get backhanded by the warlock, sending him into a freefall. However, his swift reaction time would allow him to fire the grappling gun towards the werewolf, the hook pierced through the body of the beast which stunned it for a moment, when he looked up again, his canid face would be met with the bottom of Gabriel's boot!
The impact knocked a few sharp teeth out of Clint's mouth, and even forced him to collapse against the spire near the well, knocking the small structure over with a massive thud that shook the ground. Van Helsing himself would go falling into the well, holding his grappling hook gun tightly as a splash was heard within the well.
"Van Helsing!" Carl cried out as he watched as Father Valentino rushed towards an unsuspecting warlock, managing to tackle the sorcerer to the ground and landing a couple of blows before the enemy vanished into a mass of blue sparks.
Van Helsing, at the bottom of the well, looked up to see Clint looming over the drop zone, his mouth still frothing and his glowing green eyes still burning with rage.
"Is this the same Van Helsing that brought down Dracula!?" Clint howled with cruel laughter, and while some would be offended and be triggered by the witty taunt, it only brought a grin to Gabriel's face who fired his grappling hook gun right through the left pectoral of the beast, the hook again pierced the werewolf's body, but this time Clint was ready as he grabbed the cable with a grin.
"My turn!" Clint growled in a sing-song style of voice as he jerked the cable up, launching Van Helsing out of the well.
This brings back memories… Gabriel thought to himself as he went airborne, his body hung fifteen feet in the air before he decided to release the gun and launch a Tojo blade down towards Clint, the spinning blade lodged itself into the werewolf's shoulder, forcing it to howl in pain and stamp his paws furiously as the monster-slayer landed on his back.
Van Helsing wrapped a single arm around Clint's beefy throat while activating his signature weapon again with his other arm, driving it deeper into the shoulder, he could feel the weapon vibrating as it struck the bone under Clint's flesh, watching as blood spattered and flew into the air until the left arm was severed from the torso, falling into the well with a splash at the bottom!
Fighting for his life at this point, Clint reached up and back to grab Van Helsing by his long, layered hair before throwing him to his front in a slam akin to that of a Judo throw, when the werewolf descended upon the monster-slayer, Van Helsing kicked his boots against Clint's hips to keep him at bay before taking out his revolver and firing a silver bullet right through Clint's right eye, the werewolf dropped dead next to him, his body shrinking until he was back to his naked human frame.
Van Helsing stood back up and shook off the cobwebs of being slammed into the ground, dusting off all the ashes and soot that had coated his gear.
"The church! They're in the church!" Carl called out, pointing towards the church, Van Helsing would see that the double doors had been bashed open and he rushed towards it.
On the inside, Father Valentino had been cornered against a pedestal. The forearm of the warlock being dug into his jugular, the priest choked and coughed as he tried to pry the arm away with one hand while defend himself against the blade of a dagger which was slowly closing in on his right eye.
"You come too far this time, priest…" The warlock growled as he tried to wrestle the dagger into the eye of his enemy, but Valentino's strength created a stalemate.
"It isn't me who you need t-to worry about…" The priest growled back through his gritted teeth, this caused the warlock to raise a brow and he would hear footsteps pounding behind him. He would turn around to receive a brutal blow to the face that knocked him against the pedestal as Father Valentino stepped out of the way. The pedestal collapsed with a loud crash that echoed down the chapel and through the opened front doors of the church.
The warlock tried for a punch, but Van Helsing deflected it and mounted his opponent. With one hand, he snagged his enemy by the collar of his coat and pulled out one of his Tojo blades with the other hand.
The warlock started to chant something in an unknown language which Gabriel couldn't identify, blue embers started to surround both the monster-slayer and the warlock.
"Teleporting will do you no good if I'm with you." Van Helsing attested as he brought the spinning blade towards the throat of his enemy.
"You have a choice, warlock. Join us or join the werewolf in death, personally I'd kill you and call it a day, but you could be of some use." He continued as the warlock raised his hands in surrender.
"Okay, I'll do whatever you ask. For the love of all things holy don't kill me." He growled, sounding embarrassed to even be submitting.
Van Helsing dismounted the enemy and allowed him to stand, at this point Carl had entered the church as well to investigate who this new enemy was.
"My name is Aidan, Aidan Cain, not warlock…"
"Van Helsing, Lord Ruthven must have anticipated our arrival. We don't know his location, he must have known that the werewolf had a tracking device inside of him." Father Valentino informed the monster-slayer who looked towards Aidan with a smirk.
"Fret not, Father Valentino, we will now."