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It was almost as if he was floating. That was the only way Carl could
describe the feeling he was having. He was floating in a sea of nothingness. No, not nothingness, darkness. He was surrounded
by a void of black. He felt as if he should know where he was yet he didn't have the faintest idea, his thoughts were all
muddled up. He wasn't sure how long he had been floating but he had the feeling it had been a long time since he was last
conscious. He was pretty sure that he was unconscious anyway, there was nothing in the physical world that was like this…place.
The last thing he clearly remembered was that "chat" with Van Helsing and then working on his current project at the lab.
He realized a long time had passed between the two events but he couldn't seem to grasp the other memories. Whatever had landed
him in this void had happened because of those two events. Now if only he could remember what had taken place…
'Carl…you've got to wake up.' A voice filtered through the darkness. Carl looked around frantically, it was a voice
he recognized. It was Van Helsing. W hy would Van Helsing care if he woke up or not? It made no sense. 'Please Carl, listen
to me, you have to survive. If you die before I can apologize, I'll never forgive myself. If you die now, I'll live with your
death on my head for the rest of my life. Please Carl, wake up.'
Van Helsing was rambling on about something, about forgiveness. At first the meaning of his words was lost on the friar. His
mind was still foggy, actually it was getting foggier by the second. He was drifting down, further into the black sea that
surrounded him. Van Helsing's voice was fading away and soon he lost it altogether. Carl knew that he had to get back to the
voice, back to Van Helsing. What the hunter was saying was important. If he lost the voice he felt that he would never get
out of this abyss. He began kicking and clawing, slowly swimming his way upward. Van Helsing's voice faded back into a dull
drone.
'…I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I love you Carl. Not in the way I loved Anna, but the way Anna loved her
brother.' Van Helsing's words stopped the friar in his place, and if there had been a discernable ground, he would've sat
down on it, hard. Van Helsing thought of him as a brother? That was news to him. He worked his jaw a few times in shock, before
he had sufficiently recovered his wits.
"Van…Helsing!" He shouted only to have his voice thrown back at him he recoiled in shock at how demonic he sounded.
What was going on here? Was he in Purgatory? Or perhaps this was Hell. Where he could float for all eternity and hear Van
Helsing say things he never would.
'Please Carl, you've got to pull through this.' Pull through what? What was it that had happened to him? Was he dead? Well
that would certainly go with the Hell/Purgatory scenario. He knew for sure that he wasn't in Heaven. Heaven wouldn't torment
him like this.
"Van Helsing…?" Carl whispered pulling his knees to his chest. They felt, wrong, somehow and when he glanced down and
found a widening patch of grey scales forming on them he knew why. Dracula and his brides had scales like these. He was becoming
a demon, it was one of his worst fears. He cried helplessly, unable to find a bright spot on the dismal horizon. "Help! Van
Helsing!"
'He can't help you now.' A new voice joined Van Helsing's tear-filled voice. It was a feminine voice that he could have sworn
he recognized, yet he could place it. 'He can only provide you a focal point with which to save yourself.'
"Wh-what must I d-do?" Carl stuttered through the demonic voice he had acquired almost timidly, tears streaked his rapidly
changing face. The voice laughed, it was an uplifting sound, surely this new voice couldn't be a demon.
'Forgive yourself.' Carl sputtered flailing his arms as he began his rapid downward descent again. This wasn't getting him
anywhere, maybe this voice was a demon. They were known for their trickery after all, why couldn't one pose as an angel to
make you drop your guard. He cried out in pain as two monstrous batwings sprouted from his backside in an eruption of blood.
'Carl, you must forgive yourself. M-Anna's death wasn't your fault. It was her descision, her sacrifice. I thought you understood
that.'
"I do! I did!" Carl replied frantically, flapping the newly sprouted wings to keep himself from sinking any farther into the
abysmal depths. His newfound vampiric strength did little to aid him. "Am I in Hell?"
Van Helsing's voice cut through before the new voice had a chance to reply. 'Don't die on me now, you're my last link to humanity,
you're my friend. You're what keeps me sane, Carl. If you die, I might just lose it completely. Please Carl, don't die. Please.'
Carl's eyes widened. Van Helsing, it was the real Van Helsing that had been talking to him all this time. Carl began kicking
for all his was worth, if he reached the bottom of this endless darkness, he knew there'd never be a chance to see Anna, or
Van Helsing again. So he struggled for all he was worth, kicking and clawing his way upward, out of the blackness that surrounded
him. A bright light appeared above him, and he made his way towards it.
"Plumbum mihi ut lux lucis , meus amices." He smiled as he whispered to Van Helsing, knowing the hunter wouldn't hear him,
but comforted by the familiar Latin rolling over his tongue. The closer he came to the light the more he felt the vampire
in him burn away, the changes slowly reverting themselves. His wings were shrinking, Van Helsing's voice getting stronger.
He was climbing out of whatever pit of Hell he had been thrown into. He would see Van Helsing again. He felt himself pass
through the light, then every thing went black.
The world seemed a lot more painful then the last time he had been there. He groaned, moving his head back and forth weakly,
hoping to dispel the sick feeling that lingered there. He felt hot, and uncomfortable, it was as if his entire body was full
of magma. The physical pain seemed centered around his abdomen, for what reason he was still uncertain. His eyes fluttered
uselessly behind their lids, which refused to raise even the slightest inch. His whole body was slow to respond, sluggish.
It was as if he had been lying down for a long time.
"Van Helsing…?" He managed to force out of a constricted throat, swollen, gummy tongue, and parched lips. He felt something
at his side stir and tried to look in that direction, but his eyes wouldn't cooperate.
"Carl!" The voice was as hoarse as his own, it sounded as if the illustrious demon hunter had been doing some crying. Shedding
tears over him? Maybe he was missing something.
"Wh-what happened?" He tried to pry open his eyes again, and was rewarded with a stab of pain as the bright light of the sun
fell directly into his unprepared pupils. He winced in pain, closing his eyes again with a hiss. He felt Van Helsing stand
and move quickly to the other side of his small cell, then he heard the sound of cloth rustling and the warmth on his face,
the external warmth that marked the sun's influence, faded away. He tried opening his eyes again and found the dark light
offered by the candle more than bright enough.
Van Helsing was standing over him looking more haggard than he had even after his defeat of Dracula and the accidental death
of Anna. He didn't realize at first how easy it was for him to think of Anna's death as an accident. He knew now that it wasn't
his fault, that is wasn't anyone's fault.
"Don't you remember?" Carl shook his head slowly, for fear of reigniting the pain that had subsided to a dull ache. "There
was an accident in the lab, you've been unconscious for weeks now."
"And you've been with me the whole time." It wasn't a question, he could tell by the man's appearance and the disheveled blanket
roll he had spied in the corner. Van Helsing could be quite stubborn, he hadn't left his side in…days it looked like.
"When they didn't pry me away for some mission or another." Van Helsing replied with a tired smile. Carl nodded returning
the smile, which then turned into a frown. Van Helsing narrowed his eyes at the friar. "Is something wrong?"
"I…errr…that is I mean…well….ummm.." Carl tried to voice one of the many questions currently running
through his mind, but he couldn't seem to grasp one long enough to force it into words. Van Helsing, used to seeing this,
smiled and eased himself down into the chair, waiting paitently. "…Errr…Don't you hate me?"
That wasn't quite the question the hunter was expecting by the look of shock that quickly crossed his rugged features. "Hate
you?"
Carl looked away guiltily. "Yes, I thought you hated me. Because of…you know…Anna…"
A flash of pain crossed the taller man's features but he quickly softened the look. "No, Carl. I don't hate you. That's why
I've been waiting for you to wake up…to tell you that…"
"…I'm you're last link to sanity?" Carl blurted suddenly Van Helsing's eyes widened as he stared incredulously at the
shorter man, working his jaw like a fish. "I heard you talking…it's what kept me rooted to this reality."
"Really? You heard me?" Van Helsing turned an intresting shade of pink that made the friar chuckle. "Everything?"
"Well…not everything." Carl conceited and the man in the chair let out a sudden breath, a wicked smile suddenly crossed
Carl's face. "So you love me eh?"
The look on Van Helsing's face was priceless. He stammered for a while before he could make a fully coherent sentence. "Well…I
mean….ummm…Not in that way?"
"Oh Van Helsing. I know what you're talking about." Carl smirked his mischievous smirk again before leaning forward to whisper
confidentially into his ear. "I love you too, my friend. I love you too."
When he leaned back he could've sworn he saw a figure standing at the window. There was a brief flash of dark curls and a
familiar smile, then it was gone. Carl stared agape at the spot where he had seen the apparition. Van Helsing seemed to go
on alert and quickly turned to scan the room before looking back at the stunned friar. "Carl? Carl what is it?"
Carl shook himself to clear his head and gave the hunter an innocent. "It was nothing. Nothing. Just…a passing fancy
is all."
The End
*Plumbum mihi ut lux lucis , meus amices means "Lead me to the light, my friend."
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