Loving A Monster (Van Helsing)

Nine || I Promised

The dakrness had faded into a beautiful colourful landscape, rolling green hills that spread out into many fields that seemed to be filled to the brim with many different crops. The sky was bright and blue, no storm clouds, no birds, just a empty blue nothingness. A small river divided the land, lapping at the bank with lazy touches, a body blocking the water from continuing its nature process.

Taking in a sharp breath, Shade shocked herself into consiousness, the sudden intake of breath forcing her into a coughing fit as she slowly began to pull herself from the place she had been thrown out on. The first thing she did was clutch her lower stomach, looking down in confusion at the sight of nothing but her own flesh, the explosion still raw in her mind yet no wound was present. Looking up, Shade scanned her surroundings, using her hand to shield her eyes from the glaring beams of the sun that was beating down on her. She didn't quite know where she was but she could clearly tell that she was no longer in Transylvania.

Slowly, she edged herself away from the river, taking in the painful picture of this brightly created scenery, catching sight of two figures in the background. Continuing forward, Shade strained her eyes to make out the two people but sadly they had their backs to her.

"Excuse me! Hello? Where am I?" She called as she came even closer to them, coughing once again as she breathed deeply.

The two figures turned around, making the young hunter stop in her tracks, eyes wide open with slight fear and shock. She studied them for the moment, reaching for the image beneath her bracklet, fingers sweeping against nothing, she must have lost it in the river. There, before her were the two people in the photo with her youngerself, the man and woman, her parents.

"H....how? You're dead..." She stuttered, unable to even think of the words that could explain what was going on.

"It's nice to see you too." The man chuckled softly before his face fell into a small frown. "Although, I did not expect to see you so soon into your life."

"What your father means to say is.....we have been waiting for you Shade, my dear little girl." It was the woman who spoke this time, stepping towards the girl so that she could press her hand to Shade's cheek.

"Father? What?" The hunter was far to confused to even try and pull away, looking between the man and woman. "Are you saying....I'm dead?"

The man and woman shared a look, both frowning as they took a step away from her, now looking out towards the otherside of the river. Slowly turning around, Shade followed their gazes, her blue eyes met the pitch black eyes of a creature that stood across from them. The closer Shade looked, the more she began to remember those dark eyes, the eyes of the wolf that was stuck on the otherside of the river.

"It can't be..that's me..." Shade gasped softly, staring deeper into the eyes of the wolf that had been seperated from her body.

And as she reached a hand up to push the hair from her face, she noticed that her once blue hair had now faded to a dark brown. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, as she stared at the strands of her hair, tears beginning to well in her eyes at the realisation that she was dead.

"I can't be dead, I just can't!" She exclaimed suddenly, turning to face the two people standing behind her. "I....I promised Van Helsing that I would come back.....that I would help kill Dracula."

As she began to cry, her father stepped forward and wrapped his arms around his little girl, letting her weep into his shoulder. He felt his heart clench tightly as he listened to her soft sobs, stroking her hair in an attempt to calm her down.

"I am so sorry Shade, this was my fault." He whispered softly to her. "I was a werewolf once...I worked for Dracula but when I met your mother, it was as if the wolf couldn't hurt her, even if both me and the wolf tried. I stole some of the cure to turn myself human but your mother was pregnant before I even became human again. She was the only woman to love and bare the child of a werewolf. Once you were born, once we saw you had special abilities, we tried to hide you but Dracula found us."

Shade pulled away to look up at her fathers face, tears still streaming down her face, as much as she wanted to be angry at him for doing this to her, she just couldn't find it in herself to blame him. Even as she looked over at her mother, all she felt was the overwhelming feeling of relief. She may have found them in death but she understood why they had did what they did, she would have done the same if she and Van Helsing...she had to stop herself from thinking about it, even more tears running down her face.

"You can control light energy, like the moon, your roar is the voice of those that Dracula killed." Her mother piped up as Shade looed back over at the wolf that was trying to cross the river, too afraid to touch the water.

"You were born to kill him." Her father added, following the gaze of his daughter. "That is why you are going back."

That seemed to only make Shade cry even more, her father taking her arm and leading her towards the river, turning her to face him so that he could give her one last hug, her mother joining in only moments later.

"We wish we could have more time with you sweetie, but it just isn't your time to die yet." He mother spoke softly before letting go.

"Just touch the wolf and you may leave, we will still be waiting for you." Her father sighed and pulled away, joining his wife at the edge of the riverbed.

Shade smiled softly, taking small steps into the river, turning away from them. Every step towards the wolf part of herself took more effort than the last, like a force was trying to keep her away from it. Reaching out her hand, she pushed closer, feeling the pull even stronger now as her fingers brushed the fur of the creature in front of her. The world exploded into a bright light, blinding the hunter with the overwhelming flash, everything crumbling away from her.

Bolting up, the hunter groaned at the pain in her stomach, she was on a riverbed this time, covered in mud and blood. Shade looked around at the icy darkness around her, relieved to see the sight of the Transylvanian wilderness. Forcing herself to her knees, she gritted her teeth to push the pain away, crawling towards the edge of the river. Her blue hair was back, yet it seemed to glow beneath the moon that still hung in the black canvas of night. Taking a deep breath, the hunter allowed her fingers to run over the metal that stuck out of her flesh, wrapping her hands tightly around it before mustering up all of her strength to rip it out. It took a few tugs but as soon as the metal slid from her body, the scream of pain she had been trying to hide, suddenly ripped from her vocal box.

"Okay, that was stupid." She spoke to no one in particular as she began to scoop up water, cleaning the wound as best she could.

After a few moment, the hunter was finally about to gather her wits, knowing she didn't have enough time to sit around and ponder the possible infection to her wound. Forcing herself to her feet, using a tree to do so without falling, the young girl finally took in her surroundings. The castle she had come from was not to far from where she was, maybe twenty or so miles north, if she started now then maybe she would be able to catch Van Helsing scent before it disappeared.

Although she knew it was going to hurt, Shade mentally prepared herself for her transformation, almost screaming in pain as her bones cracked and popped beneath her flesh. She could feel the slow drag of them as they moved, feeling the elongation of her face as it morphed into a muzzle and the unmistakable itch of her ears as they lengthened and dragged themselves to the top of her head. Her long claws dug into the earth as her hands began to morph, feet crunching and bending into a new position to make this new body even more comfortable for the wolf that was worming itself out of its cage. Soon, the transformation was complete and the wolf flexed its claws as it threw its head back and howled, the noise echoing among the many trees that surrounded it.

Dropping down onto all fours, the werewolf growled and began forward with a small trot before building enough speed to become a run, dodging the trees as she began her journey back towards the castle, only one thing on her mind.

Her promise.

|| Sorry for a long wait, was more focused on my other story 'Flares'. You guys are mad if you thought I killed this bab off.