Night Warriors

Turns out, the village being terrorized by the vampire was a small village on a cliff beside the sea in South France. The sky overhead was a dark grey, and the streets were empty.

Van Helsing pulled his hat low over his face. Even if the streets were completely empty, he still didn't want to risk anyone recognizing him. The French police still hadn't quite forgiven him for the Hyde incident at Notre Dame...

A scream came from near the cliffs. Van Helsing perked his head up, then turned and immediately headed for the cliffs. Only a few minutes later, he found the source of the scream: a now-dead young woman lying at the feet of a vampire.

The vampire looked up at Van Helsing and smirked. "And who might you be? The main course?"

"No," Van Helsing said. "I was sent by the Knights of the Holy Order-"

The vampire’s eyes flashed ice-blue. "Them! What do those busybodies want now?"

Three guesses...Van Helsing thought. But he held his tongue. The last thing he wanted to do was enrage the vampire.

"They want you to stop terrorizing the village," Van Helsing said, stating the obvious. "They also hope you will come without a struggle, but-"

The vampire lunged forward and backhanded Van Helsing. He flew ten feet, then skidded at least another five. He came to a stop, then, as calm as if he wasn't facing possible death, he wiped a small bit of blood from his mouth.

"I'll take that as a no..." he muttered quietly.

That was when the fight began. The vampire tackled Van Helsing, knocking his revolver out of his grip. However, he still had the bag slung over his shoulder...

He reached into the bag and pulled out the first thing he touched: a crucifix. He pushed the vampire's fangs away from his neck, then pressed the crucifix into the side of the vampire's face.

There was a loud sizzling, and the vampire gave a shriek of agony. Van Helsing shoved the vampire off of him, then scrambled to get his revolver. Meanwhile, the vampire was rolling around on the ground, clutching his face and screaming. After a minute, he lowered his hands to reveal a huge cross-shaped burn on his cheek. The areas the crucifix had touched were now burned black and past the point of healing. And the vampire looked angry beyond belief.

Now, Van Helsing was a little nervous. He had faced angry vampires before...a whole ballroom of them. And he'd even faced an angry Dracula before! But then, he’d been a werewolf, had the power of the werewolf venom on his side. Now, he was only a well-armed mortal man...

"You're MINE!!!" the vampire screamed, lunging again. But this time, Van Helsing was ready. The vampire expected him to use his revolver, but he knew better. Instead, he grabbed his crossbow and fired a rapid stream of arrows at the oncoming vampire.

But the vampire had other tricks up his sleeve, too. He vanished from Van Helsing's sight, but then, two seconds later, someone tackled him from behind. He could smell the scent of rotting flesh and could feel the vampire's icy breath on his neck.

"This should convince those busybodies at the Order to mind their own business!" the vampire hissed as threw back his head, preparing to sink his teeth into Van Helsing's throat...

At the last second, Van Helsing twisted aside, so the vampire's fangs sunk deeply into the dirt instead of into his throat. Van Helsing shoved himself out from under the vampire, then dug into his bag. While the vampire struggled to tug his jaws from the ground, Van Helsing pulled two things from his bag: a silver stake and a bottle of holy water.

"And now for the grand finale..." he muttered, ripping the stopper out of the bottle of holy water. He dipped the tip of the stake into the bottle, and then, as the vampire charged
towards him, he drove the stake straight through the vampire's heart.

The vampire's already-pale face became even paler, and he stumbled away from Van Helsing, clutching the stake in his chest. Black blood poured from the wound, and the vampire's eyes grew wide. He tried to choke out a word or two, but instead, he stumbled even further backwards and stumbled right over the edge of the cliff.

Van Helsing crossed himself and sighed. Cardinal Jinette had only told him to apprehend the vampire...he never actually said anything about killing the vampire. He was going to be very angry with Van Helsing.

"This is going to be another Hyde incident all over again..." he murmured as he packed a few things back in his bag.

Suddenly, there came a slow, steady clapping from the woods nearby. He snapped his head up, looking around...And that's when a girl suddenly appeared from the woods.

"Very well done, Gabriel," she said with a voice that carried a beautiful English accent, much like his. "Very well done..."

She was clapping her hands in a slow, steady manner, and her deep blue eyes were locked onto his. Her dark-brown hair fell over her shoulders like a waterfall, and she was wearing a black dress that was cut to expose her slender shoulders.

She was beautiful.

She was mysterious.

She looks so familiar, Van Helsing thought to himself. And that's when it dawned on him.

She was the girl from his dreams.