(Chapter 5: Gathering the remains: Marishka and Verona)
"I hope to God that we don't end up regretting this…because if I'm being honest, if I wasn't teaming up with you; I would have gone back to the Vatican and told everyone." Father Valentino said as he followed Van Helsing, Aidan, and Carl out of the tavern and inn.
"If I knew this would go wrong, I wouldn't be doing it." The monster-hunter replied as he marched towards the church where Marishka was last seen alive.
"If I'm going to be resurrecting these people, I'm going to need their remains, be it ashes, clumps of flesh, blood, anything that proves they once existed." Aidan explained as they rounded a corner, the church was in the distance.
"Too bad the easiest remains to find are right here in front of us." Gabriel said with a grin on his face, nodding his head towards a dark outline where a body was once located at the top of the church.
"Brings back memories, does it?" Carl asked, looking towards his monster-slaying ally while he stared towards the remains of the gorgeous Marishka.
(Two years ago…)
Her playful cackles echoed around Vaseria as she hovered above the buildings, admiring the handiwork and chaos she had caused with her sisters. Giddy with excitement after bringing down such a handsome man, but during that moment of celebration, she hadn't seen that same man rising back to his feet with that strange automatic crossbow weapon of his.
Once she stopped cackling, her heart lurched in her chest, he was rushing for the church! Letting out a gasp that he was somehow still giving a good hustle towards the tiny fountain of holy water. Anger overwhelmed her initial shock and she let out a furious hiss before diving towards the village square once more, claws at the ready, fangs bared.
Carl watched in horror as Marishka closed the distance with frightening speed, the beating of her leathery wings sounding like miniature claps of thunder. Gabriel rushed past him, the friar feeling the woosh of wind brush his robes as his partner was hauling ass for the fountain.
"Here she comes!" The monk cried out, Van Helsing bared his teeth and tried to put an extra pep in his step as the sounds of the blonde's beating wings grew even louder, if he listened close enough, he could probably hear her hard breathing and snake-like hissing.
"You don't have to tell me twice" Gabriel thought to himself as he took the barrel of the crossbow, dipping it into the fountain, as he done so, a dark shadow engulfed the general area. The beating of wings louder than ever before as he whipped around, weapon ready.
Marishka prepared to grapple, feet and hands ready as she let out a shriek. Time seemed to go in slow motion as she readied a strike but was halted at the sight of the holy liquid dripping from the weapon her target held. With a gasp, she tried to retreat, but was all too late, and her rough skin was destroyed by stake after stake being pumped into her body. The wounds they created not regenerating this time around as she spiraled out of control with a shriek of pain, her body slamming against the top of the church.
A loud bang was heard, causing Van Helsing to whip around to face the general direction of where it came from. There they were, Verona and Aleera having burst from the roof of a nearby tavern, flying past the tree line and out of their sight while screaming the name of their dying sister.
When Gabriel faced Marishka again, she was no longer her in her harpy-like form. She was pinned to the church, struggling and writhing. Her eyes wide, her lips trembling, her chest violently heaving up and down as whimpers of dread fell from her lips. Those whimpers became more prominent and louder as cracks began to appear spreading all over her body, as if she was a rock about to crumble into pieces. Finally, with a cry of pain, fear, and sadness, Marishka's body melted into a black gunk before her bones were exposed, and a gust of wind would reduce those bones to ashes. The only evidence that she was there was a dark outline of where her body was once located, the ashes embedding themselves in the wood.
"Yes Carl," Van Helsing began. "Yes, it does."
The priest, the monk, and the monster-slayer all watched as Aidan vanished into thin air and materialized at the top of the church, holding the spire for support as he grabbed a loose sliver of wood from the derelict chapel. With the splinter of wood, he would scrape some ashes from where Marishka's head was laying where she disintegrated. Digging into his pocket, he would reveal a tiny vial where he shook the ashes into before placing a cork in the vial, sliding it back into his pocket.
"Do you know where the other two are located?"
"The raven-haired one died in a forest where we set a trap. As far as the redhead…I'm unsure." Van Helsing answered.
"Well…good luck with us finding their ashes now…" Father Valentino scoffed.
"He's got a point, Van Helsing." Carl added on.
"Well, we've got to try…I'm not one for laying down and giving up. So come on!"
(A few hours later)
The natural canopy of the forest made their surroundings even darker than what it seemed, it was in the afternoon now and the skies had turned cloudy as they left Vaseria. Van Helsing grinned as he thought of how good he and Anna played Verona, the smartest bride? Not so smart anymore.
The stagecoach arrived at the broken bridge, giving the reins a harsh tug, which abruptly stopped their ride.
"Are we there yet!?" Father Valentino called out from within the stagecoach.
"Pretty much!" Gabriel replied aloud, his voice reverberating off the trees. "Just got to find a way to the bottom of the trench."
His eyes scanned for a potential passage down to the bottom of the trench, but this thing stretched for miles, and the more he looked, the more he failed to see a way down to the bottom. He thought for a moment as he didn't want to sacrifice the coach, remembering that they had a warlock on their team, his eyes lit up.
"Aidan…how are you with portal magic?" The monster-slayer questioned.
"I'm decent at it, why do you ask?"
"See if you can create a portal from this broken bridge to the bottom of the trench, that's where I presume her ashes to be."
"Will do!"
"Using more and more devil magic to get what we want, huh!?" Father Valentino called out from the inside of the coach as Aidan walked a few yards to the front of the coach, blue embers danced in the air and swirled around themselves before spreading apart, forming a large circle. Looking through this circle provided a view of a large clearing at the bottom of a rocky slope, pieces of rubble lay scattered about.
"Excellent, Aidan!" Van Helsing applauded before guiding the stagecoach through the portal with Aidan jumping in behind it, closing it off.
As the stagecoach approached the rubble of the destroyed one, Aidan knelt to grab a stake, it had since been rusted over, and laying close by was a second one.
"Van Helsing, I think we're…" Aidan's sentence slowly grinded to a halt as he noticed large toe-less footprints imprinted into the ground, his eyes following the track to their South, where they would lead up a hill and into a wooded area.
To their North was a gentle flowing river, too deep for the stagecoach to cross, the river winded into the forest which is where Aidan's eyes lingered. The heart of the warlock began to beat just a little harder as he heard some snapping sounds within the shadows.
"Van Helsing, I think now would be a good time to get those ashes…" Aidan warned.
"Agreed. Let's all start looking, they could be anywhere. Look under and around the rubble, leave no stone untur—"
A loud snapping sound would pull Van Helsing from his commands, causing him to turn with a jerk towards the direction of the sound, noticing that Aidan had his eyes locked to the forest behind them as Friar Carl and Father Valentino exited the stagecoach.
"What's going on?" Carl asked as he approached Van Helsing, looking towards where the monster-slayer and the warlock were facing.
"We're not alone." Aidan warned, his hands slowly curling into fists.
"He's set us up!" Father Valentino yelled towards Gabriel.
"Oh please, will you sit down and shut your self-righteous mouth!?" Aidan boomed, turning towards Father Valentino, his brows furrowed, and teeth bared before nodding his head towards Van Helsing. "He's the one who wanted me to make the portal, and I assumed nothing would be here waiting for us!"
"Don't play coy with me, warlock! The Knights of the Holy Order know all about your abomination magic! We all know you can see into the future, so quit trying to deflect!" The priest continued to argue.
"Watch out…" Aidan muttered, his angry glare not leaving the priest.
"Come again…?" Father Valentino asked, digging into the pocket of his trench coat, pulling out a crucifix.
"I said…" Another loud snapping sound was heard followed by a thud as a tree was seen getting dragged into the darkness of the forest. "WATCH OUT!"
Aidan vanished into thin air, confusing Valentino who would take a step back before a strong force would launch him five yards back. When the priest would sit up, he would witness a massive tree slamming into their stagecoach, reducing it to a pile of rubble as the horses neighed in a manic frenzy, taking off into the woods.
"What the hell is going on!?" Carl asked as he rushed behind a large chunk of debris from the older stagecoach, peeping out of cover to see a towering golem marching towards them from fifty yards away.
"It's Birsha, get ready!" Van Helsing warned, pumping one of his Tojo blades to life in one hand while pulling out his grappling revolver with the other. "Aidan, Carl, find those ashes as quick as you can! Father Valentino, you and I can fend this thing off!"
"We can't hurt hi—" The priest went to protest, but Van Helsing was already sailing towards the enemy with a war cry, throwing the activated Tojo blade towards the golem that continued his march towards them. Birsha went to block but the speed of the Tojo blade was too quick, and it zoomed through his hands as they went to grab it, smashing him in the face, causing him to wobble back with a grunt. The blade would fall to the ground at the feet of the man-made monster, and before he had time to retaliate, Van Helsing's boot would meet the star on his chest, knocking him back once more!
Birsha shown no physical signs of damage, and judging by the enraged expression, Van Helsing could tell that it cared not for how it had been knocked around. The monster-slayer anticipated the wild overhand strike the golem would attempt, his large hand smashed into the ground with an explosive thud, like if a shot-put sphere weighed two hundred pounds and came smashing down into creation with thunderous fury. The impact would even generate a minor tremor beneath their feet, but Van Helsing took advantage of the missed attack, grabbing the Tojo blade from the ground and trying to cut into the arm just to see sparks fly upon impact, not even a scratch!
"Of you've gotta be kid—" Van Helsing was promptly knocked back a few yards by a monstrous backhand from Birsha, he would smash into the ground and roll backwards, getting to his feet, his vision dancing as he stumbled back, nearly losing his footing as he wiped some blood from the corner of his mouth.
"Holy water!" Father Valentino cried out as Van Helsing heard pouding footfalls behind him, turning to see the priest launch the bottle towards the golem which was within five yards from them already.
The bottle shattered on Birsha's arm, causing him to grunt in annoyance. Van Helsing would try again with his Tojo blades, pumping it alive before hurling it towards the dampened arm of the enemy, surprisingly…it worked!
The blade was lodged into the arm, causing the golem to bare his teeth with a display of slight pain. Birsha would grab the blade and hurl it back towards the monster-slayer, who jumped away just in time.
"Hey, how's it coming along back there!" Van Helsing called out, looking towards Aidan and Carl.
"We're trying, that's all I can say!"
"Well, you need to hurry!" Father Valentino suggested as he dodged a kick from the golem before blasting a round into the dampened arm, creating another wound on Birsha.
Aidan dug under a wooden board from the damaged old stagecoach, no avail, no sign of ashes on the bottom or top.
"Did you find anything?" Carl asked just to get no response as the warlock looked underneath a damaged wheel. "Dammit, did you find anything!?"
"Carl, I'm trying!"
"Well try harder! Or…something."
Aidan stood up and brushed his hands through his hair, glancing towards the struggling Van Helsing and Father Valentino.
"They can't hold him off forever!" Carl cried.
"How did Verona die?" The warlock asked.
"Wh-what?"
"I didn't stutter, Carl, how did she die!?"
"We loaded up a stagecoach with stakes and blew it up."
"That's it!" Aidan exclaimed. "The stakes!"
The two scrambled for the dirty stakes on the ground, frantically scrubbing dirt and sediment off until they found anything that resembled the ashes of Verona. At the same time, Van Helsing got a running start on Birsha before going into a slide, sliding under the golem and leaping to grab the grappling gun from the tree behind the beast. Birsha would turn around before his arm would be shot by the grappling gun, with a mighty pull, Van Helsing was able to drag the golem to his knees, allowing Valentino to unload two more rounds into the side of the golem's head.
With an enraged growl, Birsha grabbed the cable and swung his arm back and around, slinging Van Helsing right into Valentino, bowling the two of them over as the gun was torn from his arm. The two men peeled themselves up and looked towards each other, losing ideas of how to keep the big beast away.
"We've found them! We've got her ashes!" Carl cried out.
"Well done, Carl!" Van Helsing complimented his ally before he rushed towards them with Father Valentino at his side.
"Hold on." Van Helsing muttered, facing the priest, who wrapped a single arm around the monster-slayer's waist as he fired his grappling gun across the raging rapid, the hook pierced through a tree limb, allowing him and Father Valentino to swing across. Aidan would use portal magic to get across the rapids.
"V-Van Helsing! Where are you going!?" Carl whimpered loudly before turning around to see that Birsha was within fifteen yards and closing fast.
"Hold on!" Van Helsing cried out as he fired the grappling gun across the rapid to the closest tree. The monster hunter sailed over the water and scooped the worried monk into his arm.
"Aidan!" Gabriel called as he released the grappling hook gun, the cable pulling itself back into the barrel of the weapon like a tape measure, as he and Carl flew towards Birsha, a blue portal opened, and once the two entered it, they were across the rapids.
"Well, what now? We don't have horses to travel with anymore…" Father Valentino complained as Van Helsing stared down the golem from across the river, watching as Birsha approached the edge of the water before coming to a stop.
"Aidan, make us a portal for the Valerious Castle." Van Helsing said, facing the warlock now.
"Are you kidding me!? We can expect heavy resistance from Ruthven's forces…" Father Valentino gasped, looking appalled.
"As long as we've got Aidan, we're nigh unstoppable." Van Helsing replied as an electrical thrumming was heard. Yet another portal appeared, within the portal and in the distance was Castle Valerious. "Now come on, let's move."
"Well, the good news is that we're halfway there." Carl said as the gang passed through the portal, watching it close behind them.
"I still have my doubts about this, Van Helsing. I apologize for being such a pessimistic coward, but you killed Dracula and his women not even five years ago, and now you expect them to join us?"
"Trust me, Father…I believe that this will work out in the end." Van Helsing replied, hoping to God that he could somehow reassure the hesitant priest.
"You believe or you know?" Father Valentino questioned as they walked up the hill, approaching the castle.
"I know so."
"Oh brother…we've got a long road ahead of us, don't we?"