Double Trouble

(for Dracula anyway)

Prolog

Anna ran at the werewolf that used to be Van Helsing. She lodged the antidote in him before the final stroke. The wolf pushed her down on the couch. Anna saw Carl run in with the silver stake. "No Carl!" she told him. The frightened friar stopped in his tracks. The wolf began to shrink and the hair fell away. Van Helsing stood there looking into Anna's loving eyes. He smiled at her and helped her up. He hugged her and gently kissed her. "It's over, we won." he whispered.

Fifteen years later.

Bell sensed something was wrong. She was born fourteen years earlier with her father's sense of alertness, hearing and sight. However, she had her mother's beauty except for her dark straight hair, which she acquired from her father. She put on her black boots, pants, shirt and black leather trench coat which looked like her father's. She put her hair under her wide rimed black hat. She looked in the mirror at herself. "I am definitely my father's child." she said and ran out the door.

The streets were deserted as the full moon sent it's soft glow down on her face. She closed her coat against the chilly Transylvanian night air and began walking where her senses told her. She turned right down an alley and then left. She heard a howl and began to run. It was to her left of somewhere. It was a howl of victory. Bell lost where it was from. Bell sent up a realistic howl and waited for the wolf to return it. He did and she followed it.

She turned down an alley with her pistols out. Carl was under the foot of a werewolf and Van Helsing was knocked out cold on the side wall. She held them up in front of her and fired. She kept firing till the wolf got off Carl and sunk back dead. "Carl!" she said and rushed over. The friar was pure white from fear and shaking. "It's alright Carl, I'm here. You are alive." Bell told him helping him up. Then she rushed over to Van Helsing. His face had lost it's color and he was growing cold. "C'mon, don't die on me. Hang in there, dad." she said seeing a huge scratch on his arm, which was bleeding freely. Bell couldn't lose her father. They already lost her mother in a werewolf attack when she was only six. "Carl, help me get him to the inn." Bell said trying to lift him up. Carl rushed over and helped her. "How did you know we were in trouble?" Carl asked. "Hunch." Bell moaned through gritted teeth. He father was heavier than he looked.

They finally got him to the inn. Bell began to work on her father's cuts and scrapes. Carl was ringing his hands nervously. "Bell, there's another werewolf out there. I heard it." Carl said. "That was me. I had to get the werewolf to respond to me if I was to find you in time." she said as she finished bandaging Van Helsing's arm.

Van Helsing moaned and held his head. Things were blurry and he saw a girl in front of him. "Anna?" he asked. Then things cleared up and he only saw Bell. He smiled. "You look so much like your mother." he said. "What happened this time?" Bell asked him. "We got out numbered. Clearly, someone was waiting for us." he said. "Who would that be?" Bell asked. Van Helsing had some idea but he wasn't going to tell his only child that.

The next day, they saddled up their horses and rode to Rome. For Van Helsing, it all seemed….different but the same. He hadn't gone to Rome since the adventure with Dracula. He stayed in Transylvania. He and Anna got married and had Bell. After Anna was killed by a werewolf six years later, he stayed in Transylvania to raise his daughter. Now, the Order wants him to return even though he resigned fifteen years ago. He didn't want to, of course, till they sent Carl to come and get him. He had told Bell about his days in the Order, but not about the adventure with Dracula and the information it contained. Bell told him he should go because it was his duty. So, with Carl and Bell at his side, he returned to Rome.

Naturally, Carl wouldn't stop talking. "So you haven't told her?" Van Helsing rolled his eyes. "No Carl."

"Why not?"

"I don't want to her to know about that little detail."

"Why?"

"She already has enough to worry about. I don't want her to worry about becoming me. I don't want her to worry about living forever like I do."

"She'll live forever?"

"Just like me."

"Honestly, you two take more than I do!" Bell said riding up to their side. The rest of the journey was fairly silent with each person occupied with their own thoughts.

When they got there, the three squeezed inside the confessional. Bell gripped the rim of her hat. "Bless me father for I have sinned." Van Helsing said. The door drew back to show the Cardinal in his red robes. He glanced at Van Helsing. "Well, not yet." he said smiling. "Nice to see you back Van Helsing." his gazed traveled past Carl to Bell. "Cardinal, this is my daughter, Bell." Van Helsing said. He nodded. He hit a switch and the walls rose to reveal a stair case. Bell smiled. Just like dad said. she thought.

"Dracula has returned. The Devil gave him a second chance. You must return to Transylvania and destroy him." the Cardinal said. Van Helsing momentarily forgot his daughter was with him. "Last time it took a werewolf to kill him. Currently, we don't have one." Van Helsing said as Carl ran off to play with his toys. "What do you mean by last time?" Bell asked him. Van Helsing turned to his daughter. After all these years, he let something slip. "I'll tell you later." he said. "Wait here." the Cardinal told her. She stood there as he and Van Helsing walked off.

Soon he returned to her. "From what Carl is told me, you are experienced." he said. Bell nodded. "How would you like an assignment?" the Cardinal asked. "What is it?" she asked not sure if she should say yes or not. "There is a monster in Paris that I need you to take care of." he said. "What about my father?" she asked. "He is going to Transylvania, to track down this Dracula character." the Cardinal replied. "What would I need?" she asked. "The usual, guns, grappling hook, sword, daggers. It's not like going after a vampire." he said. Bell thought about it a moment. "When do I leave?"

Bell walked through the streets of Paris. She was dressed in her usual black coat and wide rimmed hat. She had her hair up in her hat. It never would stay and always fell out to her shoulder and turn back up. She just learned to ignore it. This was when she looked exactly like her father. You had to get close to her to figure out she wasn't, and she didn't plan to let the monster get that close. She heard a horrified scream. "Finally," she said and rushed off toward where it came from.

Van Helsing and Carl walked through the mirror. "Looks like much hasn't changed." Van Helsing said as the continued on. No one was there. The entire castle was empty. "Where is Dracula?" he wondered out loud.

Finally, Bell was on the track of the monster she was after. She saw it turn into one of the deserted streets and followed it, pistols out. It was big and had a gimp in his leg. There was a glowing green orb where his heart should have been. The alley was empty. She closed her eyes and concentrated. She could hear water trickling down out of somewhere. There it was, breathing to her right. She turned and the creature rushed forward. He held her up against the wall by her neck. Her pistols were knocked away, but she didn't know where.

"Why?" he asked her and bent closer to her face. His eyes widened. "You're not Van Helsing." he said. This time, Bell was shocked. Not from the news, but what she was sensing. She could usually sense evil, but it wasn't in him. "You're not evil, are you?" she asked. "No." he said and let her feet touch the ground as he let go of her.

"What are you?" she asked. "I am the creation of my father, Dr. Victor Frankenstein. You may call me by his name." he said. "You said you knew Van Helsing. How?" she asked. "Why do you ask?" Frankenstein asked. "I know him. I know him very well." Bell didn't want to let it all out. Something was near and she could feel it, as well as hear it. "He saved me from Dracula." the monster responded. "He never told me that story." she mumbled. She looked over his shoulder and saw a great white bat swooping down toward him. "Get down!" she said. He did and the bat ended up lifting her up into the air. "Van Helsing, we meet again." the bat hissed. Bell kept quiet. She drew her dagger and made a wide gash in the thing's foot. It screamed in pain as she fell. Frankenstein caught her and set her down. "Thank you." she said. She saw her pistols and picked them up. "Get out of here!" she told him. The creature ran off and Bell was left with the bat thing. It landed in front of her in human form. It was a woman with blond hair in a revealing outfit.

Vampire! her mind screamed. "Van Helsing, you shrunk since the last time you killed me." she hissed. Something was going on that Bell didn't know about. What hadn't her father told her? Why do they think she is Van Helsing? Well, she looked a lot like him from the vampire's angle. Bell ran at her and flipped over her head. She sprinted down the street with her mind racing. She saw two more white bats trying to get to Frankenstein. She shot at both of them but knew it wouldn't do any good. It would just distract them long enough for Frankenstein to get away. The bats looked at her and came at her. Frankenstein took refuge in a nearby sewer. He would be safe there. Finally, Bell heard something, a growl. She let out another one of her loudest howls. There werewolf appeared and jumped at her. She ducked but it tackled the brides down. She put her fingers to her lips as she ran and whistled. Her horse came galloping down the road. "Nothing faster than Transylvanian horses." she breathed as she jumped on and they sprinted out of the city back to Rome.

The brides wailed as they went up to the roof top where Dracula was. "Van Helsing! He stopped us!" they wailed over and over again. "I know, I know. I saw it. But he will pay. Yes, he will pay." Dracula said soothing them. Oh yes, Van Helsing will pay in the worst way.

When Bell returned to Rome, she went to the confessional. "Bless me father for I have sinned." she said. The Cardinal opened the door and looked at her. "Did you destroy it?" he asked. "I'm sorry sir but I couldn't. He wasn't evil, but the vampires who followed it were." she added quickly. "We are not pleased." he said. "The monster hasn't hurt anyone, just scared them. He is not evil and so I could not kill it. It had done nothing wrong except it was created." she said. "And that is not wrong, just only to you and the Order. Either way you look at it, he is still one of God's children and was created for a reason, besides the one of evil." Bell said. The Cardinal looked at her. "You are so much like your father, only more persuasive." he said. Bell heard someone walking down the corridor. The door opened to show Van Helsing and Carl. Bell could tell her father was mad. "Dracula wasn't there." he said.

"Is Dracula a vampire?" Bell asked. "Yes." her father replied. "Does he have brides, or henchmen?" she asked. Her father nodded not seeing where this was going. "The reason he wasn't there was because he was in Paris. He was after the Frankenstein monster. At least, those three lady vampires were." she said. Van Helsing's eyes widened. "How do you know that?" Carl asked. "That's were I was. They thought I was dad. For some reason, they don't seem to like him very much." she said. "I'm not surprised." Carl mumbled. Bell turned to her father. "The monster knew you. He said you saved him from Dracula. Why did you never tell me? And you still haven't told me why you said last time when killing Dracula." she said. "This is going to take a while." Van Helsing said and grabbed his daughter's arm. He gently guided her to his room. He shut the door and began.

"Your mother and I met on one of my adventures. I was sent to protect her and kill Dracula. Well, it wasn't easy. As you know, I don't remember my past very well. On a clue we had here, my ring matched a symbol on the clue. Naturally, I couldn't refuse. I took Carl with me. Your mother and I met in the town square. That's where Dracula's brides attacked us….." and he continued to tell the tale of Dracula. He left out the part about him being the left hand of God and killing Dracula for the first time about four hundred years ago. "That's why we both have strong senses, it's some of the werewolf venom that never wore off." Bell said. "Why didn't you tell me before?" she asked. "I never wanted to remember or relive becoming a werewolf. It was more painful than you'd think." he said. "Now that that's cleared up, how do we kill him again?" Bell asked. "I don't know." he said, which was very true. "Next time, I'm going with you." she said.

"No you are not." he said. "Yes I am." she said. "Last time I went after Dracula, your mother almost died." Van Helsing said. "We all have to die sometime." Bell argued back. "Not you." he mumbled. "What?" Bell asked. "Nothing. Listen, you are not going after Dracula and that's final." he said.

Van Helsing left tow days later with Bell at his side.