Last chappie!!!! Ahhhhh! dances around I will be posting the trailer for my next fic! go me! Many thanks to all who reviewed! Thank you, I love you! On with the fic!
Gabriel was floating, that was the only way to describe it, he was up in the clouds absolutely ecstatic. He hurried about the Vatican with a wide grin, which only further petrified the monks. He had to find Anna and Carl and tell them the news, he felt fit to burst at the thought of his gypsy as he'd come to think of her.
He swept down the hall to the library, knowing Carl as he did he knew that's where he'd find his friend. Throwing open the library door, he almost danced into the room. The mousy little man behind the desk, glared at him from behind his glasses.
"Mr. Van Helsing, please be quiet" he scolded, pushing his glasses back up on his nose. Gabriel stopped in his tracks, 'did the little man just tell me what to do? and more importantly, did I almost listen?'. He growled at the thought and whirled on the librarian, who squeaked and disappeared in a mountain of books.
"That's what I thought" Gabriel mumbled, returning to his search, he listened intently, straining his ears.
"Now you see here Anna is the section of the library you'll never find Van Helsing in. The language section of course, I tried to teach him some Latin once a while ago. I don't think brother Timothy will ever stop mourning the loss of that book. I still think Van Helsing over-reacted, he didn't have to burn the book, he'd already stomped on it and sliced it with those Tojo blades he's so found of."
He heard Anna giggle and followed the sound, finding Carl pointing out various books that meant something to the Friar. Gabriel decided to rescue her,
"As I recall Carl, you're the one who so incensed me that I had no choice other than to destroy that bane of my existence" he said announcing his presence. Anna's face lit up with a bright smile, Carl scowled at the monster slayer,
"How is it my fault? I was trying to help!" he cried tossing his hands up. Gabriel laughed and approached Anna with a broad grin, he pulled her into his embrace. She laughed as he whispered something about Carl and his teaching strategies to her. She shoved him away, while Carl looked at the two suspiciously, Gabriel gave him an innocent look. The Friar shook his head,
"So what did the Cardinal have to say?" he asked eagerly. Anna turned to him with a hopeful look, Gabriel's face dropped into a somber expression.
"Well, he said that," he paused and swallowed hard, looking up at Anna sadly,
"he said that Carl and I- are officially allowed to move in with you. Which is horrible news for you, I'm afraid, you've yet to see Carls lab or room." He finished with an enormous smile that probably would've sent the monks fleeing for their lives. Carl grinned and clapped his hands,
"wonderful! I must go an pack!" he cried. Anna's gleeful laugh was soon smothered by Gabriel's mouth crashing down onto hers. She pulled away, looking delighted,
"Come on, let's go help Carl pack up his lab. The sooner you two are packed the sooner we can leave, and do you know where we are going love?" Anna whispered conspiratorially. Wrapping her arms around his neck she stood on her tiptoes to whisper in his ear.
"We're going home, Gabriel, I'm taking you home" that mischievous glance was back in his dark eyes as she pulled away from his ear. His arms snaked around her waist, holding her firmly against him, with a now familiar impish glint in his eye.
"Do you realize what you've just done?" he sighed, arching an eyebrow, she looked up at him quizzically.
"What?" she inquired, playfully tugging at his dark hair,
"You've just doomed Transylvania. Not to mention your house!" he laughed. Anna shook her head,
"I'm afraid, Mr. Van Helsing, that I don't understand what you mean." That infectious smile was back on his face, and she couldn't help but return it.
"Well I guess I'll just have to show you, won't I?"
They couple made it down to the lab, just in time for an explosion to rock the facility.
"What was that?" Anna shouted over the din, Gabriel grinned,
"Carl!" he shouted back. Taking her hand, he pulled her along behind him as they walked past all the various weapons being built and tested.
"This is amazing" Anna breathed, looking about the cavern with wide eyes, and she'd thought the armory in her home was impressive.
"Hello you two, come to help me pack?" Carl asked, rounding the corner, Anna put a hand to her mouth to keep from laughing, Van Helsing did not. Carl was covered in soot, from head to toe, his entire body was black.
"Carl! What happened to you?" Anna asked, still madly trying to keep from laughing, Gabriel was shaking with mirth. Carl sighed and wiped futilely at his robes,
"I accidentally dropped one of my new explosive devices while trying to pack." He glanced at Van Helsing, who was wiping tears from his eyes, and shook his head.
"It's really not all that funny" Carl sniffed, turning around and swishing off, leaving a trail of black powder in his wake.
"Okay, do we pack my room or your room next Van Helsing?" Carl asked, as he wiped sweat from his brow, leaving a spot of skin showing in his otherwise black face. Gabriel tried hard not to stare at it, he didn't succeed, but he did try.
"You've probably got more stuff then I do, so let's go get all your toys packed away." He finally decided, glancing around as he found that he'd lost Anna somewhere along the way. He spotted her with the sword smith, slicing the air a couple of times with a petite looking saber. Carl was chatting with some of the others, probably trying to convince them to carry the boxes to the coach for him.
Ambling over to where Anna was, he took a step back to avoid being stabbed through the chest. The gypsy smiled at him and flipped the sword expertly,
"This is a beautiful sword, father, you've done an excellent job with it." She complimented, handing it back to the tall burly man. 'Peter' Van Helsing decided was the mans name, a rather sweet fellow despite his fearsome looks. Peter held up his hand,
"No, no, Miss Valerious, you may have that. I can't imagine it being better suited for anyone. Any friend of Van Helsings is a friend of mine, and with him as a friend I can almost guarantee that you're going to need that blade" he finished with a deep chuckle. Anna flashed her most charming smile at him,
"Thank you, father, I will cherish it" she replied. Gabriel stepped foreword and caught her elbow.
"Pardon me, father, I must steal the lovely lady from you" he said with a wink. Peter held up a hand and nodded,
"It was a pleasure to meet you" he added.
"The pleasure was mine, thanks again" Anna said politely, Gabriel looked down at her in wonderment.
"Where were those manners when we first met?" he yelped, she lifted her chin.
"Which would you prefer Mr. Van Helsing? The proper Princess? Or the wild gypsy?" she purred an almost devilish light in her eyes. 'There's a double meaning there' Van Helsing thought with a wolfish grin.
"I believe your highness, that that is a conversation best kept for later. And I'm most certain there will be a later" Gabriel growled, eyeing her suggestively. She smirked and sauntered off towards Carl's quarters, Gabriel continued to stare after her a few moments before following.
"You're in a church Gabriel, try to control those thoughts of yours" she called over her shoulder, he shook his head. 'What have I gotten myself into?' he pondered.
Anna led them to Carls room like she'd been born and raised in the Vatican, Gabriel looked at her inquisitively. She shrugged,
"Carl showed me where his room and your room were before we went to the library." The Friar chose that moment to throw the door open, a bright smile flashing in his soiled face.
"You're just in time! Van Helsing I need you to pull the books off that top shelf, I can't reach them. Miss Anna if you'd be so kind as to put the papers in my desk and on the walls in a box." He chirped, Gabriel mumbled something about 'short people' , while Anna stared wide-eyed at the desk. The walls were covered by designs and his desk was one big pile of paper. Carl shrugged,
"Who am I to hinder inspiration? When it strikes I obey, I don't always have time to make it neat and pretty" he said indignantly. Anna shook her head and started pulling the papers from the wall. Carl was carefully packing away tools and odd looking devices, occasionally mulling over a contraption before remembering that he was packing.
A couple of hours later the trio somehow had the room all packed up, Carl looked around, a bit remorsefully it seemed. Gabriel punched him in the shoulder playfully,
"Hey, wait till you see your room in the manor. This will seem very shabby compared to it," Gabriel said trying to be comforting. Carl looked up at him,
"Of that I have no doubt. I'm sure I will learn to love my new room, almost immediately, but I have lived in this room for most of my life. It's a tad overwhelming, like moving out of your parents home." He looked at whom he was speaking to and blushed. "Never mind" he sighed grabbing a box and heading out the door. Anna shared a look with Van Helsing, they both shrugged and grabbing their respective boxes followed after the Friar.
They managed to load all of his things without blowing up anything, to the relief of everyone helping.
"Now for your room" Carl said with an evil glare, "and I shall prove to Anna that I'm not the messy one!" Gabriel shook his head,
"Keep dreaming Carl" he muttered, heading back up the steps. They went deep into the Vatican, towards the far back of the church. Van Helsings room was, it seemed, as far away as possible from the other quarters. It was even in the corner so a shadow covered the door.
"You're like the Vatican's dirty little secret Van Helsing" Carl commented, Anna and Gabriel turned and stared at him. Carl smiled sheepishly,
"sorry", Gabriel turned around, rolling his eyes he unlocked the door and pushed it open. The room was devoid of furniture save the bed and a chest, Gabriel pointed one finger at Carl then gestured at the chest. Carl blinked and smiled at him,
"Carl?"
"Yes Van Helsing?"
"Take the chest upstairs"
"Oh, right" Carl said quickly, his cheeks turning rosy. Grabbing one of the handles he dragged the chest out of the room. Sighing Gabriel started for the closet, Anna followed along behind, not really sure how to help.
Van Helsing yanked open the closet door, to reveal his own little armory, Anna's eyes widened at the site. Gabriel cleared his throat,
"Could you hand me a box?" he asked politely, reaching for a rather nasty looking knife. He threw all his weapons into the box then reached deep into the back of the closet, pulling out a long, dust covered box. Standing the monster hunter handed the black box reverently to Anna, then bent and picked up the box of "monster killers".
Anna walked out the door with Van Helsing right behind her, he hesitated inside the door frame, pausing for one last look.
"Hollow home no more" he whispered to himself, his lip twitched in a smile, he felt lighter then ever as he walked down the dark hallway, for the last time.
Done! Yay!! I will be posting a trailer for my next fic, stay tuned!
On another note, I am writing another fic along the lines of this one. It's called "Return to me", it was this little idea I had that I thought I'd write down. If you're a fan of the AU universe in which Anna never died, then stick with Home (Home is where the monsters are). If you would rather stick to the movie plot, in which Anna sadly did die, then the next fic is better. Both of these stories lead into my VH series, it simply has two different intro stories. Home and Return. If this is confusing you, send me an email, I'll clarify. Cheers!