Alright, I'm back with a belated 5th chapter! There might be a few errors here and there, but I wanted it out tonight so I didn't forget about it. Not that I would forget about.

On with the chapter!

Chapter 5: Healing (Again)

"I'm fine, Carl. Really."

Carl snorted, shuffling closer to Van Helsing and inspecting the wounds underneath his light clothing, "No you're not! Look at these! They could get infected!"

"But they aren't," Gabriel stated.

"Yes, but that doesn't mean they won't," Carl replied as he pointed his finger in front of Van Helsing's nose accusingly.

"I'll be fine." The hunter said, swatting the hands away. He winced when pressure was added to his sprained wrist.

"See! You're hurt!" Carl squeaked.

"Of course I'm hurt, Carl. I just fought Dracula, I'm bound to be hurt. The wounds will heal," Gabriel stated flatly, rubbing a bruised rib.

"Oh, I give up!" Carl huffed loudly, shaking his head as he walked off.

"That's quite an accomplishment," Anna stated at Gabriel's side.

The hunter sighed, easing back down onto his blanket. "You learn to deal with him after awhile. Then it comes as a second nature."

Anna only nodded, staring off into the misted mountains. Their camp was small, since they had almost nothing to carry. They had started a small fire, and the flames licked and sizzled against the wood, slowly burning to embers. The night was dark, the clear sky showing every twinkle of every star. The mounains were abruptly cut off by the clouds, their peaks seemingly forever hidden.

Carl had apparently gone off into the woods, most likely off to do some personal business. Van Helsing settled back down onto his blanket, closing his eyes and readying himself to sleep for the night.

Anna looked over at him at last, "How are your wounds? You seem to have a remarkable healing rate."

Gabriel kept his eyes closed, snuggling deeper into the blankets. "They're as good as wounds can be."

An akward silence hung over the two like a heavy mist.

"We should use the antidote," Anna said after several minutes.

This made Van Helsing perk up, and he sat up on his elbow, wincing noticeably as he came up. "Now?"

Without warning, an ear-piercing shriek reverberated throughout the clearing. As Van Helsing pushed himself back to a sitting position he saw Carl sprinting back toward the camp at full speed. "VAN HELSING!" His voice cracked and jumped as he ran, his robe wrapping around his legs and making him plummet to the ground. Carl continued onward, crawling like an injured animal. When he at last made it back to their make-shift camp, he was panting and wheezing. "Van Hel-sing! Th-there's f-fledg-lings in t-the woods!" His clear blue eyes were wide with fear. Then, after catching his breath, he huffed, "I was trying to do some very personal business when those horrible abominations showed up through the trees!"

"Where?" Van Helsing was attempting to stand, but Anna held him down.

"You should stay, I'll bring Carl with me to investigate," Anna said, kissing Gabriel lightly on his cheek.

Too weak to avoid the inevitable and fight to keep his pride, he fell back to the ground gracefully, sighing heavily, "Alright. I'll be right here."

Carl seemed to have settled down some, "I would hope you'd stay there, because if you leave then I'll be the one kicking your arse to get you back in bed!"

Gabriel only rolled his eyes at the overreactive friar.

"Shoot! Shoot!"

"Quiet Carl!" Anna hissed, holding her pistol at the ready, silver bullets included.

"Well I thought I saw something!" Carl hissed back. He jumped two feet in the air when he snapped a twig in two.

"Settle down," she replied softly.

Carl slumped his shoulders, inhaling slowly, and exhaling. His heart calmed to its normal rate. They moved on silently, Anna's ears picking up every sound. For every movement her eyes darted this way and that. Anna held up her hand to signal Carl to stop. The friar failed to notice it and walked right into her hand, smashing his face.

"What the bloody h--"

Anna swiftly slapped her hand to his mouth, quieting him for now. She gave him a stern look that clearly said 'Stay quiet or you might kill both of us'. He nodded shortly, his mouth still covered. Using her eyes, she showed him that there was a ruffling in the trees above them, and that a long, pale tail could be seen through the branches. Drops of some dark, thick liquid fell to the leaves on the forest floor, and when Carl bent to inspect them, he realized that it was blood. His eyes grew wide and he clung to Anna's side.

A single shot rang out seconds later, smoke filling the surrounding area. There was a high-pitched shriek before the beast fell from the tree, its dead weight dropping like a cement block. When the smoke cleared, they found that there was actually two dead creatures at their feet.

Van Helsing sighed heavily, quickly getting extremely irritated with himself. He couldn't get comfortable. Chucking small pepples out from under his makeshift bed, he plopped back down on his back. Gabriel blew his hair from his face roughly, the tangled locks falling back in place over his eyes. Growling, he manually threw them to the side with his fingers. He whimpered pitifully when he hit the finger where his nail was completely torn off. His bruised ribs ached with every breath. Every movement sent fire throughout his sprained wrist. The hunter's head throbbed with every beating of blood to his brain. He was a bloody mess.

He knew he had an amazing healing rate. He always had, and he thanked God for it everytime he thought about it.

Still, though, he wished just this once that he could heal faster.

Tilting his head to the side, Van Helsing stared blankly at the fire, watching it slowly burn itself to nothing.

Something moved to his right, and he perked up. His hazel eyes quickly adjusted to the eternal darkness, and a lone creature stood at the wood's edge.

A lone wolf.

The hunter continued to stare at the beast, sniffing the air to see if he could sense anything. Gabriel could sense nothing evil of this creature, but even so he was wary. The wolf's blazing eyes were an electrifying yellow, and they pierced the hunter to his soul. Its hide was a ragged light grey, and in places patches of fur were missing altogether. It lowered its head submissively, and it stepped forward a few paces.

Van Helsing's shoulder muscles contracted and the hairs on his neck rose.

The wolf immediately sensed the distress and halted. It stayed stock still for a minute or so and then continued forward silently. Gabriel stared right into the wolf's eyes as it continued, but this time the beast didn't stop or hesitate. Inside Van Helsing, the werewolf growled deeply, and the hunter could feel its shackles rise as the creature before him came ever closer. It finally halted about two feet away, its tail between its legs. The wolf lowered itself submissively, its head still down as far as it could go.

Gabriel snarled viciously as the werewolf attempted to take over. Reacting instantaneously the gray wolf bounded away, but stopped a few seconds later, staring at the hunter.

Clutching his chest, Van Helsing roared at the wolf inside him, somehow keeping it in check. Panting, he sank again on his blanket, officially worn out.

The near-white wolf continued to stare, and after many minutes decided to sit down.

Gabriel glared at the beast, "You sure don't make this predicament any easier."

Its thick tail wagged and it tilted its head at the weird human speech.

"I don't have any food," Van Helsing said flatly.

The wolf lowered itself, balancing its head between its forepaws and resting its belly on the frosted ground.

"Fine, stay there." Gabriel replied, "It's not like I'm going to do anything about it." He returned to staring at the fire, which had burned down and was now only glowing embers.

"...what is it?"

"It's a hare. Its throat was torn out."

Carl had to cover his mouth to keep from retching over the forest floor as he saw the massive pool of blood forming around the dead lump of flesh in front of them. When Anna had suddenly shot into the trees, Carl truly wasn't expecting her to hit anything. He mentally chastised himself, how else had she survived this long? She must have an amazing shooting accuracy, that with the sword belted at her waist, she seemed impregnable.

Picking up the tail of of fledgling, Anna swiftly picked the beast up, holding it for both of them to see clearly. Her shot was clean through the tiny heart. Carl gaped, producing no sound, acting like a fish out of water. How in the world had she shot so accurately? How could she even see the retched thing through the leaves and branches? Carl doubted even Van Helsing could do that. He mentally kicked himself again; Van Helsing could master any gun or weapon with fatal accuracy just as good, if not better, than Anna.

"What do we do with the body?" Carl asked, coming out of hiding from Anna's side.

"We leave it here. Since it is technically a vampire, it will eventually turn to ashes. It will take a little longer, I'm afraid, since it's so young." Anna discarded the fledgling with disgust.

"And what about the hare?" Carl inquired.

Anna grinned for the first time that night, "We eat it."

Once Anna and Carl had successfully re-built the fire, the hare was soon being roasted over the fiery flames. Its naked skin sizzled and popped as delicious juices ran down its sides and into the smoldering flames. By the time the food was ready, all of their stomachs were begging to be fed. They ate in silence, savoring the sweet taste of an easy, and wonderful, meal.

By the time that Anna and Carl had returned to the camp, the wolf had moved on. Van Helsing spoke to neither of the incident, finding it a good secret to keep. He was surprised the creature hadn't returned with the smell of fresh meat, but he didn't think too hard on it.

Before they would leave in the morning, he would have to remember to leave a few scraps for the poor beast.

...tbc.

What do you think? I had major writer's block for this chapter. Give me ideas with your reviews!

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