Not that Gabriel would have cared about what they were talking about anyways. He was never one for languages or small talk.

Gabriel Van Helsing raised his head and closed his eyes slowly before opening them and watching the sun slowly descend over the horizon. In the middle of the desert, the retreating sun made the air shimmer like water, reminding him of rivers that ran over black rocks from his home. It was almost beautiful.

Gingerly, careful not to harass the wounds that burned his back, Gabriel flexed his shoulder muscles as best he could. His hands were shackled above his head by irons that were warmed by the sun, which caused the metal to burn into his skin, causing fresh skin to be revealed to the harsh elements before it was prepared. His shoulders, and the back of his neck was raw too where the Muslims had flayed him just lightly enough to invite the vermin to come and make their home in his open wounds. It had hurt during those first few days but now was a dull stinging sensation. It was when he felt nothing that worried him.

"Next time, Gadjo. Can I pick the vacation spot?"

Gabriel licked his dry lips and grimaced. For a second, he didn't know what was worst: being imprisoned by ruthless warriors or being rescued by an incredibly self-centered savoir. "You came just in time to see my brilliant escape."

"Oh in that case, should I just sit up here and wait? Better yet, I saw this amazing woman on the way in…she's the Mullah's daughter, but he won't mind will he?"

"Vlad…"

"Tall, built, tanned, with brown eyes and this sort of teasing smile…"

"Vlad…" Gabriel began again, looking up and hearing footsteps on the stairs. That would be the torturer, in for his afternoon session.

"Not to mention, she had the most amazing…"

"Vladislaus!"

"What?"

"Have you come to rescue me or not?"

"Oh, right, sorry."

Out of nowhere it seemed a figure appeared before Van Helsing's feet, kneeling before standing to his full height and flashing a self-assured grin. Even on Gabriel's best days, Vladislaus Dracula outshined him but wasn't that he was anymore attractive then Gabriel, but rather there was nothing Vlad loved more then to parade himself.

He rose slowly to his feet, allowing the retreating sun to shine on his features. He was wearing black pants and a blue coat that hung lazily on his slender, handsome frame. On his thigh hung a short sword, with an axe hanging ominously behind his back. He wore a brown gauntlet on his left arm that had many little silver pins and assorted trinkets tucked into small pinholes. As he kneeled down beside Van Helsing, his brown eyes stared into Gabriel's with mirth and sincerity as he jerked a stray lock of hair out of his eyes. His dark brown hair was pulled into a braid that was tipped with silver at the end.

Gabriel closed his eyes for a moment and inhaled. He could smell the forest on Vlad, the sort of bittersweet scent of old leather mixed with just the tiniest bit of sweet liquor. He opened his eyes, tilting his head and leaning forward to brush his cheek against Vlad's.

He found himself smiling when he heard Vlad chuckle in his ear. "I know, Gadjo." Vlad whispered. "But come now, you didn't really think I'd leave you all alone here, did you?" He rose and removed the irons from about Gabriel's wrists, squatting down long enough to catch Van Helsing as he fell forward. His voice broke once as he eased Gabriel against the wall, to lean back and studied his wounds. Gabriel noticed the look of concern on Dracula's face and noted it disappeared the instant he realized he was being watched. "After all, you have something very important to me AND owe me money."

"That was hardly a fair bet, Vladislaus."

"Ohh, he uses my full name…"

"First off, I was drunk."

"Not my fault." A beat followed as Dracula tried to force Gabriel to his feet. "Okay, not totally my fault."

"And I told you, I would never fight a lady."

"It wasn't a lady."

"Yes, but I didn't know that till later that night."

"That's a story you're going to have to finish else where, Gadjo. Up we go!"

Gabriel felt Vlad hoist him up the rafters where he forced the last reserves of his strength to grab the wooden bar and lift his whole body unto it. He exhaled, heavily as he slid against the inside of the roof and the exposed rafters, pushing his back against the wall and waiting. He craned his head over and cursed.

Dracula was squatting beside a huge gorilla of an Arab who would have happily killed him in the name of his God any other day, and Vlad was making himself busy by picking his locks as well. Gabriel tilted his head and watched, anger growing within him, as Dracula moved quickly down the line of chained inmates, freeing each in turn and apparently paying no attention to the Torturer pushing the heavy door out of the way.

"Vlad, we need to get out of here!" Gabriel shouted, reaching down and trying to swat at Dracula's ponytail.

"Just a moment, God. I'll be with you in a second!" Vlad hissed as he worked on the last few prisoners' shackles.

"What are you doing? I know Gypsy minds are a little slower then German ones, but they're the enemy."

"What, God? I didn't catch that last part." Dracula fell back as the last prisoner jumped to his feet in a rage. "What was that about Germans being the enemy?"

Gabriel inhaled and reached down, grabbing at Dracula as Vladislaus stood. He grabbed hold of the first thing he could find and yanked on it. He heard Dracula wince and jerked away, grabbing at his ponytail and looking up, furiously.

"I get the picture, Gadjo." He hissed. "We're leaving!" He exhaled and braced himself, before throwing himself into a powerful jump unto the rafter. He spread out both his arms, and stuck one foot out, folding the other one under him as he landed to brace himself but in doing so, invoking the image of a bird of prey swooping down on an enemy as he landed. Gabriel sucked air in between his teeth, watching Dracula and would have sworn he flew.

Then again, this wasn't a new revelation. Vladislaus Dracula often seemed beyond human. Dracula turned slightly on the narrow catwalk, one hand over his heart and the other raised above his head as he danced slightly in place, parading his victory. Gabriel just laughed at him. Dracula looked up and waved an admonishing finger at him. "Now, now Gadjo. I've done a good deed. I freed the captives."

"Captives that will one day come right back and hunt us down." Van Helsing said as he stood. Dracula walked towards him and slid into Gabriel's arms, allowing the injured man's full weight on him. Vlad snaked his arm around Van Helsing's back as they crawled out of the roof through the hole Dracula had made.

"It is true what you say." Vlad deadpanned as they walked over the rooftops, sometimes stumbling, sometimes running to get away from noises, real or imagined. There was one earth-shattering scream behind them that caused Gabriel to shrink in terror from the noise. It took him a moment to realize it was the Torturer's voice as the inmates overtook him. Vlad was staring into the distance, and then turned back to him. "But for now, they make a great diversion."

"Why did you come for me?" He asked, staring into those brown eyes. He noticed that when sincerity showed its head, Vlad began to act like a child, unwilling to accept the truth. Gabriel smiled at this disclosure but pressed on. "You should have been half way back to Hungary by now."

"What? And deal with your aunt all by myself? How would I explain to her that I lost you?"

"It's war, people lose things in war."

"I don't." Vlad said, shortly. He had stood by now, walking towards the edge of the roof and looking down. He turned his back at Gabriel, smiled weakly, and looked back down. "Aha, here my lovely Saracen comes."

"Intessar?" Gabriel asked, as he stood. He limped towards the edge of the roof. "You brought Intessar into this? You ought to be ashamed of yourself."

"Yeah, yeah, just don't bring up the Mullah's daughter, alright?" Vlad grabbed his hand and threw them both off the roof unto the awaiting coverless wagon.

Gabriel sat up first, spitting out bits of straw and hay from his mouth as he shook off grime he felt his whole body was covered in. He sucked in air instead of screaming as he flexed his raw back again, and was startled when he felt cool linen touch his wounds. He looked up and saw Vlad pulling his coat back over his shirtless frame before crawling to the front of the wagon to lean over and kiss the driver.

Intessar turned her head, and craned it as Vladislaus reached in, pushing away the edge of her veil to reveal the full, maroon lips underneath. Gabriel looked away, for a moment, then returning his gaze to Intessar long enough to see her almond shaped brown eyes smiling at him from the gap in her head covering. He had never seen Intesser or her beauty and wondered what about this woman had made Vlad fall so completely in love for her. She was a devout Muslim, a Moor Vlad had brought with him from Spain when his father called him home. Although they were not, nor could ever be married, Gabriel knew they loved each other beyond all reason.

More was Vlad's sin. Gabriel knew, at least in some part of his soul he rarely visited, that Vlad was not as true a Christian as he should be. But it was not his fault; Gabriel countered himself as he always did when this battle came to mind. Vladislaus had been raised in Muslim-controlled Spain by his Gypsy mother's family, not by his converted father. Vlad had been 12 when his father, Valerious Dracul had married Catherine, a Catholic Hungarian aristocrat, and Gabriel's aunt. To say Vlad and his new stepmother didn't get along was to put it lightly and rather then promote strife within his father's house, Vlad traveled to Spain.

He returned twelve years later, with Intessar, when his father's boarders of Transylvania were threatened by the Ottomans. It was then Gabriel met him; after Catherine had exercised her will on her financially dependant nephew and calling him to help in the defense of her new lands. Gabriel had barely begun his studies to become a priest and had been less then pleased with the prospect of years of war and savagery on this, the most bloodiest, of fronts.

There had been the nightmares after all…

But, luckily for Gabriel, Vlad had been there from almost the beginning to teach, instruct and when needed, protect him from the war. Dracula relished war, and commanding troops and he was good at it too. His men loved him for his courage, leadership and sheer iron will. Vlad was as quick with a sword as he was with a joke, and the people loved him for it.

His skills had made him legendary in his own times, almost invincible and there were times Gabriel wondered if Dracula had made a pact with God, the Devil, or some other thing to become so successful.

After all, for all of Dracula's life and strength, there had always been that darkness that loomed just behind Dracula's eyes like a fog. That connection to something deeper, and darker then anything Gabriel, even with all his biblical knowledge, could decipher.

It was that part of Gypsy in Dracula that civilization and Christianity hadn't driven from him just yet. It was that connection to the old gods and shrouded rites and rituals that the missionaries of old had tried so long to kill in the Gypsy people. That vestige of trickster, witch and thief that was the inheritance of all Gypsy that Valerious had thankfully forsaken in lieu of the true God, and that Gabriel prayed every night Dracula would be protected from as well.

For when such darkness runs in a people for so long, salvation from it usually comes at a high price and Gabriel wished to spare Vlad from this.

A loud slap brought Gabriel from his foreboding back to the moment.

Vlad was lying on the hay, holding his cheek with one hand and laughing. Intesser was smiling smugly at Gabriel before turning to face ahead and start the horses. He fell back into the hay as the wagon took off towards the border. Not wanting to sit up again, he turned and asked Vlad why Intesser had slapped him.

"She heard me talking about the Mullah's daughter." Vlad mused.

"Allah forgive me for loving an infidel." Intessar quipped from her place.

Vlad just rolled his eyes in a playful symbol. He laughed again and rolled closer to Gabriel. "When we get home, everything will be better."

"Is that where we're going? Home?" Gabriel asked, his spirits rising.

His friend nodded, "Yes, my father is ill and there is something wrong at home."

"What's happened?"

"I don't know. Anne wrote but didn't say much. Only for us to hurry and return home."

"Are you worried?"

"Why should I be? I have a good sword, trustworthy friends and my wits to protect me." Vlad's voice dropped the humor for a moment. "Get some rest, Gabriel. It'll be a while before I can have those wounds looked at properly."

"Yes sir."

"Oh wait, I almost forgot!" Vlad said as once more as he pushed himself up on one arm to reach over and Gabriel's left hand into his. Pulling off a silver ring that bore the emblem of a Dragon on it from Gabriel's hand, Vlad exhaled, and looked at him, tapping his chest lightly and smiling. "And now, I have my ring back."

"And now I'm going to have to steal it back from you." Gabriel hissed, playfully as he closed his eyes to slumber.

"You can try, Gadjo." Dracula playfully rejoined, himself drifting into rest. "You can try."