Children of Van Helsing

Chapter Fifty-Three - In the End

Regina

Four years later

I found myself staring out of the window, waiting for cars which would never arrive. It was Christmas, but the family wasn't coming over. They hadn't in four years - too much memories from That One Time.We did still see them, more than we used to, in fact. Now, they just came over when it was Easter, and occasionally when it was somebody's birthday. We had grown a bit closer since we had fought together, won together and lost together. Sometimes, when I thought about it, the sense of grief was mixed with a sense of pride.Nobody knew where Gregory was. He had been too horrified with the loss of his wife and he still blamed us.

He blamed me. And I couldn't blame him.

Martin and Mary never really came over, but they did send us cold, curt birthday cards and Christmas wishes. I didn't mind never seeing them - Mary's empty, bleeding eye sockets still haunted my dreams.Finally, a car came. Lily's brand new retro Volkswagen Beetle drove up the hill to our house. The garage door opened on its own - Jessica was with her and she still had the key, even though she didn't live with us anymore.She had moved out three years ago and lived with Lily, in her little apartment in London. We still saw them at least three times a week, but they now had the privacy and rest they had longed for all these years.In the big house there was never rest - maybe because Ian now lived with us.

He had transformed my sister into a different person altogether. She smiled more, she went out of the house more, and the scars on her arm had disappeared almost completely. He, on the other hand, had calmed down a bit more.A bit more.Susanna had turned him a bit more mature and responsible, but he still was the quirky, enthusiastic man-child he had always been. He acted as if he were my older brother and I didn't mind. Things weren't awkward between us anymore.Susanna and me were still hunters. We still protected the city from that which goes bump in the night. There seemed to be less crime, though. The Royal Family did good for a change.

Since Mickael and Nicholas were both dead, Mickael's adopted 'children' (read: the innocent people he had transformed and raised as his own) now ruled the Underground City.To my great surprise, they hadn't been angry that we had killed their 'father'.

He had turned bitter and cruel, and during the short visit we had made to the City - the last one, if I had anything to say about it - they almost seemed grateful. They had been timid, a bit scared. Apparently he had abused them for years.The bastard.Just the mere thought of him gave me chills and the nightmares still weren't over after all these years. They had reduced, though. All I had to do was stop thinking about him, and all would be fine.

I hoped.

I shivered and moved away from the window. It was Christmas, for crying out loud! It had to be a happy occasion.The sudden hand on my shoulder first startled me, and then soothed me. My sister stood next to me, in silence, and she smiled.

"It's okay." She whispered. "We are okay."

I smiled back, a genuine smile, and lay my head on her shoulder. We just stood there for several minutes, while Ian was cooking food in the kitchen - he had insisted on cooking Christmas dinner this year, and I was kind of worried - until Jessica and Lily arrived in the living room.The first thing I felt was a pair of small arms around my leg, and I heard a child's laughter. A pair of incredible green eyes, identical to mine, stared at me, and Rose laughed again.Three years old and more beautiful than any child in the world. She looked like Jessica when she had been young - I had seen the pictures.

"Hey there, little girl!" I lifted her and took her in my arms. She giggled and hugged me so tight that it became hard to breathe.

Lily's and Jessica's daughter. Technically, she was Jessica's - father: unknown, but who cares, really - but nobody gave a crap about that. Jessica and Lily were her parents, and that was the end of it.