Night Warriors

Two weeks later

Carl, Catherine, and Van Helsing were crowded around a small table in the back corner of Strenotia's small library. The old table was rather rickety, and currently, it looked in danger of collapsing under the weight of all the books on it.

"How much longer are we going to do this?" Carl whined, setting aside a book.

Van Helsing looked up from the book in his hands. "As long as it takes, Carl," he said patiently.

"Well, I mean it's not like I have an objection to the books..." Carl said, waving his hand vaguely at the stacks of books. "But I thought looking through the books was my job. I mean...shouldn't you be out there, actually fighting werewolves? Or, at the very least, looking for them?"

"It wouldn't do me much good to look," Van Helsing commented, closing the book he had been holding, frustrated by its lack of information. "The moon won't be full for another two weeks. They're all going to be human if I look for them now..."

"I don't know why we're even bothering with researching them..." Carl continued, placing another book on top of a teetering stack. "You I and both know plenty about werewolves, Van Helsing, especially after the Dracula assign-"

"Carl..." Van Helsing growled, warning Carl that he was crossing into dangerous territory.

"What?" the friar whined.

"Drop. It..."

"It's nothing to be ashamed of!" Carl said. "What happened to you could've happened to anyone, you know, and I fail to see why you take it so hard! I mean, you weren't in control, you weren't responsible for your actions-"

"Carl..." Van Helsing growled, sounding threatening." Just...drop...it..."

"All right, all right, I'll drop it!" Carl said, holding his hands up defensively. "God, no need to get your trench coat in a bunch..." he added in an undertone.

Suddenly, Catherine shut her book with a loud snap. "Would you two stop arguing?!" she snapped in annoyance. "Carl, if Van Helsing doesn't want to talk about it, leave him the hell alone!"

Carl cowered in his chair as though he was in danger of Catherine lunging forward and killing him. Van Helsing himself was a little shocked. Catherine always seemed so peaceful, but she had obviously reached her limits, to have snapped like that.

A moment passed, and Catherine slumped against the back of her chair, rubbing her temples with her hand.

"Are you all right?" Van Helsing asked.

Catherine nodded. "I'm sorry I snapped like that...I haven't really been sleeping well on that bed...and the two of your arguing was giving me a headache..."

She gave him a small apologetic smile, then picked up her book and opened it again. Van Helsing closed the book in his hand, set it aside, then reached for another book on top of a pile that had been put on the floor due to a lack of space on the table. As he reached down, however, something fell from his pocket and landed on the wooden floor rather loudly.

To his surprise, it was the pendant he had found on the cliffs in South France. He picked it up, then sat back up and examined it.

It hadn't changed...though he hadn't expected it to. It still had the same insignia as his ring...but that was all he really knew about it. He couldn't prove it was connected to Dracula...though he was sure it was...He couldn't even prove it really belonged to Catherine...

"Where did you find that?" Catherine asked, pointing at the pendant.

"I found it in South France..." Van Helsing said. He wasn't sure if he should mention that he had seen her there shortly before he had found the pendant. "Why?"

"It belongs to me," Catherine said. She held out her hand. "I was wondering where it had gone. May I have it back?"

Van Helsing nodded, then placed the pendant back into Catherine's hand. She grinned happily, then fastened the pendant around her neck.

Van Helsing noticed that Carl, who had been watching the entire thing from over the edge of his book, was now staring curiously at the pendant.

"What? What is it?" Van Helsing mouthed to Carl.

Carl glanced nervously at Catherine." Later..." he mouthed.

---

Later on that evening, Van Helsing and Carl sat in a darkened, secluded corner in the crowded tavern of the Vampyre Inn. They leaned in close, partially to hear each other and partially so they wouldn't be overheard. Luckily for them, Catherine had left about an hour ago to, as she told Van Helsing, "go on a stroll", so they wouldn't have to worry about her overhearing.

"You wanted to talk?" Van Helsing murmured.

Carl nodded, causing his turned-up-at-the-ends blonde hair to bob slightly. "Yes...about that pendant...didn't you notice? That insignia on the pendant...it's the same as the one on your ring..."

"I know," Van Helsing said, glancing at his right hand, where the ring was. "And that insignia was on the missing piece of the map Valerious the Elder left at the Order."

"Hmm? Oh, right, I suppose it was, wasn't it?" Carl asked, seeming slightly surprised. The fact that Carl hadn't noticed didn't surprise Van Helsing, though. Carl had a habit of often being so wrapped up in his work, he didn't notice things like that.

Of course, he's not the only one who can get wrapped up in his work... Van Helsing thought to himself. "It was, yes. And Carl...I never told you this, but...back when I was...fighting
Dracula...he told me...that the ring was...his ring..."

Carl gave a loud squeak of shock and toppled out of his chair. Several people close by stared curiously as Carl climbed back into his chair. He gave them a quick, reassuring smile, then turned his attention back to Van Helsing.

"What? Dracula's ring? Are you positive?"

Van Helsing shot him a look that clearly said "do I look as though I'm lying?"

"Oh, um...right..." Carl stammered. "But, if the ring belonged to Dracula, and the ring and the pendant have the same insignia, then doesn't that mean that-?"

"-That the pendant may have once belonged to Dracula?" Van Helsing finished. "It's entirely possible..."

"But, but...but wouldn't that mean that if Catherine has Dracula's pendant that she works for him?" Carl's naturally high-pitched voice had risen to a panicked squeak by now.

Van Helsing sighed and shook his head. "I don't know, Carl. I have Dracula's ring, but I never worked for him, did I?"

"Not as far as we know, but yes..." Carl murmured as he thought about that.

"Carl, Dracula's been dead for almost eight months now," Van Helsing said. "And Catherine has yet to say one word about her past. There's no way to tell if she ever did or still does work for him..."

He sighed again, then watched as the flame on the candle in the middle of the table danced wildly. "For all we know...she just might work for him..."