VAN HELSING 3: SOUL HUNTERS
(disclaimers on pages 1-6) Chapter 15: Swept away Anna gripped desperately onto the log, finding supports for her already soaking hands. Whenever she felt like she was about to slip, someone's hand would drag her back up. She turned to Victoria, who seemed to be dazed and confused. Had she hit her head? Was she passing out? What was wrong with her? Vladimir! He must be putting a spell on her! Anna quickly realized. She turned to see that Van Helsing had noticed it too. He took her hand tightly and looked in her blue eyes, which her beginning to roll up to the back of her head. "Hang in there! We'll get out of this soon!" he said. He turned to the shore and saw that they were being pursued. Vladimir was running along the bank with soul-hunters following. Van Helsing pulled out his revolvers and fired at anything that moved. Soul-hunters went down left and right, dissolving into nothing. Soon, the remaining creatures pulled out their weapons. "Watch out!" Antonio cried. Everyone ducked as dark energy flew over their heads. One landed to close for comfort by Carl, causing him to slip and fall into the waters below. Victoria watched and let out a gasp. She took a deep breath and plunged in. It wasn't long until she found the friar, swimming against the current. She rolled her eyes and took Carl's hand. The two waited for the log to pass by. As soon as it was over their heads, the girl broke from the water. She plunged her sword into the side of the old tree and helped the others heave Carl up as she clung desperately to her blade. Everyone's eyes widened at her. "What?" she asked, clearly annoyed. She followed their gaze to where part of her shirt had ridden up, revealing the dark blood, which was halfway through her forearm. "Gabriel, it's not what you think-" Victoria started, but Gabriel cut her off. "Is that what I think it is?" he shouted at her. It all made sense now, from the small vial he found with Carl's belongings and why Victoria was being so secretive. "Do you think it's the blood of Amelia and William, and it's slowly eating me inside out?" "Yes!" "Then no, it's not." "Why didn't you tell me?" Gabriel shouted, flailing his arms. "Because I knew you'd react this way, and don't you give me that anyway! We all know that you'd do the same!" she snapped at him. Gabriel was caught. She did make a point. He would do the same if it was him. "Besides, I know what can cure it." she said. "What do you mean?" Carl asked. "Vladimir houses a part of Sabrina's soul within him. He can transmit it to someone through a bite. However, because I still have my soul within me, he has to take something out." "Wait, so you have to be bitten to get the curse out, then what?" Antonio asked. "Then I think I'm locked in some sort of sleep state where me and Sabrina fight for whoever has dominance over my body." "And what if Sabrina wins?" Gabriel didn't like where this was going one bit. "She won't. If she comes close to my angelic side will come out, giving them the chance to kill me." "This is great!" Antonio said. He put a hand on his forehead, feeling either water or sweat roll down it." "Oh, and by the way Antonio," Victoria suddenly remembered. "Two things:One, I did some research about you being bitten. Apparently you were bitten by a shape-shifter, not an actual werewolf, so it'll only last for an hour. Two, You're forgiven." she said. She took Antonio's hand and gave it a tight squeeze. Before anything else could be said, more orbs of dark energy came by. Everyone ducked low and huddled together. Victoria was still half-submerged, the only thing keeping her on the log was her sword, which was beginning to slip. She turned to see other hunters on the far side of the river. Victoria seemed to know what was going to happen next of she stayed. Everyone's soul would be taken. But what if she let go? Maybe the other would live. "Gabriel." she called. Her brother turned to her. She looked up into his eyes. "Get them out of here, and keep them safe. I know you'll find me. And if you're late, run like mad." she said. "What do you mean?" he asked as he watched her shove something into her pocket. "Don't be late." she said. And with a smirk, she slipped out of her cloak. It wasn't long until she felt herself under the water. She heard her brother's voice, crying for her. He gripped to her hood tightly. She wasn't dead, at least. He watched her head come out of the water. She began to paddle towards a small rock that came jutting out of the water and wrapped her arms about it. She turned towards her friends, who couldn't stop staring at her. They watched as her hand flew to her mouth to silence her scream and her eyes grow wide with terror. "Look out!" she cried, praying that they would be able to hear her. Everyone turned around, but it was too late. The last thing they all thought they would her Victoria say was her scream as they fell. "NO!" Victoria cried. Her scream felt like it lasted forever. Tears began to fall freely down her face. She felt herself being tugged by a piece of rope, no doubt from Vladimir. Wordlessly, she climbed to the shore. Her eyesight was beginning to blur, and she felt like everything was spinning. She looked up to see Vladimir's dark eyes. "Hello, Sabrina." he said. He picked up Victoria like a parent would a child. Too weak, tired, confused, and distraught to fight back, Victoria closed her eyes and let the darkness swallow her. Gabriel scrambled up to his feet, looking up at the waterfall. It wasn't even that high up, but it was enough. He could still hear his sister's screams ringing in his ears. He wanted to fall to his knees and scream back to her, tell her that they were alive, and they would find her. He turned to Antonio, who was shouting at the top of his lungs. "VICTORIA!" Gabriel walked towards him. "She's gone." was all he could manage to say to the boy, who looked up at him with pure hatred in his eyes. "I hope he finds us. When he does, I'm going to kill him!" he shouted. "We all feel that way." Anna said as she helped Carl to his feet. Gabriel looked at Victoria's cloak, the only thing that he had left of her. His grip upon it was making his knuckles turn white. Causally, he let it go, only to see something fall from the hood. "What's that?" Antonio asked. Gabriel bent down and picked it up, showing it was a folded piece of paper. He opened it gingerly, scared that if he did it too fast it would tear. Upon lay a woman's neat handwriting. It read: Dear friends, I kind of had a feeling that this would happen, so I decided to be prepared for the worst. Gabriel, I decided to find out more about us. It turns out that we can talk to each other through far distances. Pretty neat, huh? However, I wouldn't recommend doing it, Vladimir could use it to track you down. I'm not scared of being taken, the only thing I'm scared about is losing you. On the back of this is a map that shows the three places where the soul-hunters might be. Good luck! With as much care as I can give, V.D.V P.S I also found out something about dragons. It turns out not all of them are evil, and some of them actually talk! You can tell when they're on your side when they hate your enemies. P.P.S I don't regret not telling you anything. "Victoria knew all along." he whispered. He turned the note around, revealing a map exactly like the one they were looking at earlier. However, the three places they were looking at were circled in ink. "She would've wanted us to go on without her." Anna said. "We should honor her wish." Antonio turned to her and smiled. Gabriel placed the map in his pocket. "Let's get my sister back." he said.
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