VAN HELSING 2: THE DEMON'S RISING

Gabriel remained in Anna's room as people came by to see them. Carl came first, with a few tears in his eyes and a tight hug. "I thought I would never see you again!" he cried.

"Yes, I missed you too, Carl." Gabriel said, trying to gently shove him off.

Next came Millie and Tom, who smiled with relief that he was alright, but had an odd question for him. "Did you have an out-of-body experience?" Tom asked.

"What?" Gabriel raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Oh, never mind." Tom said. Then lastly came his family, or at least the family who adopted him. Collin had on a smile, as did his mother. His father appeared to be crying.

"I want the truth. I want to know as much as I can." Gabriel said to them. If his past had a small fragment of happiness in it, he wanted to know. His mother sighed softly.

"We found you once in the woods. You were weak, barely conscious, and dying. The only thing we knew your name from was the chain you had. We took you in and raised you as our own. We had no idea we were raising the Left Hand of God. After a few years, we managed to have Collin, then Victoria." she said.

Something tells me that this probably won't end as happy as it sounds. Gabriel thought.

"You had a connection between Victoria." the woman continued. "You two couldn't be separated. You played in the woods all the time with her. For some reason, you two always manged to fall in the pond." she laughed at the memory. Her face then returned to one of sadness and grief. "Then the raids came. Demons came to our city and burned it to ashes. You left us, trying to fend them off along with some other men from the village. You gave Victoria your chain and left. You were never seen again." the last part wasn't finished without a small tear or two. Anna looked like she would cry herself.

"Need I ask about Victoria?" Gabriel sighed, looking out the window. The world was a snowy landscape, covered with woods. The pond was frozen over. No wonder I recognized the woods. I used to come here with Victoria. he thought. Or Furie. he added.

His mother opened her mouth to speak, but his father stopped him. "I'll tell the story, Evangeline." he said. He turned to Gabriel, who returned the gaze.

"After you left, the raids got worse. The demons soon began to turn us into them. Then they found Victoria..." he trailed off, as if pained by the memory. "They took her and changed her into an archdemon. They returned her to us, now a monster. The villagers feared losing their lives. They feared it so much...I let them take her. My own daughter. She was then banished from the city, leaving Amelia and William to care for her. Then they kidnapped us all." his father said.

Gabriel couldn't believe it. Anna seemed to follow his belief. "You just let them take her away?" Gabriel asked.

"Yes. I saw her as nothing more than a mere monster, until I realized she was more than that. I have been in mourning ever since." his father said. Gabriel shook his head in disbelief. Anna put a hand on his shoulder. She gave him a look.

"Do you think we should tell her?" she asked. Gabriel nodded. He walked out of the room, Anna following. When he made it to Furie's room, all was still. No one was in the bed, or anywhere else.

"Where'd she go?" Gabriel asked. Collin saw the room and let out a sigh.

"She was never good at being in one place at a time."

"Do you think she's-"

"No." he then saw her window opened. He had to smile. "It's too bad she doesn't remember today."

"Why not?" Gabriel asked.

"Well she's thirteen today." Collin said.

Only a few minutes before did Furie sat upright when she awoke, only to be greeted by a shot of pain through her shoulder and stomach. She turned to see her shoulder had a bandage wrapped around it. She also noticed that she wore a sliver nightgown with practically no sleeves at all. They were mere straps, no longer than her fingernail. Her first thought was to take it off, but for some reason, she felt surprisingly comfortable in it. Fine, I'll leave it on for now. she thought. As she struggled to her feet she felt another pang in her stomach. She lifted up the skirt to see the wound, and her eyes widened.

Three large, parallel claw marks had taken their place upon her. What surprised her more was that they had been stitched together. She ran her finger over one, feeling the bumps. She shuddered softly. She than saw her hand and brought it up to her face.

Not a marking was left upon it. She was free...again. Furie wanted to scream, to whoop for joy, but she then remembered that she had no idea where she was. She turned and saw a window, leading to the outside. She made her way slowly to the window, so as not to disturb her stitches. She opened it, letting in a gush of wind and snow. It nearly froze her! She then made another discovery.

Ever since she was made an archdemon, the world had become just an area to explore. She could not feel anything around her. No cold, warmth, or pain disturbed her thoughts. She felt the cold air rush past her, and it was thrilling! She jumped out of the window into the world around her.

The world was filled with falling snow. The small pond nearby had ice covering it. She then turned to see that she had escaped a small house, located in the woods. Two windows had been placed on the house. Furie, forgetting everything about privacy, peered inside the other window. Her eyes widened when she saw Anna and Gabriel.

She tried to hold back a yell, but it was impossible. She jumped about, laughing the whole way. She couldn't help but feeling extreme happiness for them. All had finally ended well! She twirled about, she danced and sang, she rolled about in the snow. She then stumbled and fell onto the frozen lake. She rolled over to see her reflection, and her sudden rush of joy stopped.

She looked like a regular girl. She felt like a regular girl, but deep inside, she knew she was still feeling guilt. She thought that if she returned to normal, so would everything else, but in her heart, she knew it wasn't. The memories of those she killed rushed back to her, so did all that she went through.

Gabriel wouldn't understand, would he? She felt another pang of reality come to her. He would probably leave her here, going off to fight monsters. What if he didn't come back from an assignment? What if he forgot her? What if she was destined to rot here in this place?

She got up and saw a small tree nearby. She slowly approached it and made her way into one of its branches. She looked up into the night sky, watching stars flicker. She remained entranced until a voice broke her thoughts.

"Do you think this branch can hold one more?" it said. Furie turned to see Gabriel mounting the tree. She reached out and hugged him tightly.

"Don't ever scare me like that again!" she said, promising herself not to cry.

"I won't." he said. He then saw Furie's face. "You seem happy, but I can sense something's wrong." he said. Furie sighed. He did notice.

She explained her burdens to him. He returned the thoughts with a small laugh. He hugged her tightly. "Just because you're human doesn't mean you can't try to make up for what you've done. Personally, I think you've done enough for killing Amelia. But if you feel like you still need to make up for your sins, I won't say no to your help." he said. Furie smiled. "And don't think you're alone in feeling this way." Gabriel added. "How do you think I felt when I killed Anna?" he said. "I also have something to tell you."

His mind swirled about when he told Furie of her past. After he finished, Furie seemed to be considering something. "My name is Victoria Van Helsing." she tried. She shrugged. "I suppose it will do." Gabriel laughed softly.

"Can I ask you something?" he asked.

"What is it?" Victoria replied.

"What do you think of me proposing to Anna?" he asked. He showed her a small, silver ring. Furie's eyes went wide.

"That's great!" she said.

"Do you think she'll like it?"

"I know she will!" Victoria remembered something. " Speaking of gifts I think this belongs to you." she said. She fumbled around her neck and soon held out something in her hand. She reached out for Van Helsing's hand and placed it in his palm and closed it.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I have family to visit." she said. She got out of the tree and walked inside the house. Gabriel opened his hand to see the chain and smiled.

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