Van

"What is it about y'all and underground?" Van asked with a shiver. "For people all about holiness and light, you sure prefer the opposite direction."

"Us, Van. Not you people and I suppose it's a matter of convenience. Much easier to build basements than towers in the sky."

The tunnel he led her down was like the one at the Holy Asylum of Light. All damp stone and gloomy light, only this time she had a relatively clear understanding of what awaited for her at the end. Rather than ease the anticipation, it made it worse, and she jumped at every drip and shadow.

Abe kept his attention on her, his feet familiar with the path, but she didn't dare look him in the eye, too afraid he would see her mounting fear. He couldn't mean they were on their way to meet Elizabeth Bathory, the Blood Countess? The evidence on the flash drive pointed toward a yes, but her presence here made little sense. Her father would have destroyed the woman on the off chance that it would end any vampire linked to her.

"So, this Countess... Is she a relative?"

Van strove for a flippant tone, not wanting her father to think she knew anything, which is why she was shocked when he stumbled at her words.

He remained silent as he unlocked a massive door. At the Asylum, the metal doors leading into the lab looked out of place against the stone, but this door looked as if the tunnel had sprung up around it. The strap hinges were ornate but rusted, and silver lines covered the black oak. It took her a minute to understand that she was looking at the Asylum's labyrinth symbol.

Her instincts told her to remain in the hallway, but curiosity drove her through the doorway. Putting pressure on the wound at her side to ease a sudden surge of pain, she paused only a few steps inside and inhaled sharply.

Though they were below ground, the walls were covered in mosaics of stained glass windows back-lit by an unnatural luminescence. Gothic rib vaulting covered the gigantic room, and a procession of lit candelabra stands drew the eye down an aisle ending at a massive altar. The mosaic motif continued on the floor. Burgundy and white diamonds made a border around larger heptagon shaped tiles, and on each of the bigger tiles, names were etched in gold.

"Gabriel Van Helsing," her father said as he bent over to brush his fingers over a tile. It was newer than the others, the gold still bright and glimmering. "Your grandfather. I don't suppose you ever put it together that your mother gave you my family's name?"

No, she hadn't, but his revelation left her cold. "And yet you still insist on calling me Vanessa."

"I think it suits you. We haven't had many daughters born into the Helsing line." His eyes flickered to the altar. "None survived for long. I suppose in an odd way, saying your full name reminds me of what's at stake if I cannot keep you safe."

"Why because you don't have a son to carry on the family name?" She limped down the aisle, taking in all the details. The wooden pews and strange, metallic scent in the air. Flecks of something dark stained a set of silver chalices resting at the foot of a large, gold plated vault that rested atop the altar.

"All these tiles," she began, swallowing hard as she circled the vault, "is this where the family is buried?"

"Yes, because this is our actual mission." Abe rested his hand on the vault, his head bowed as he spoke. "We guard against her awakening even in our death. With every Helsing body that is laid to rest, the surrounding wards strengthen."

"Her?" Van stepped back. "The Countess? How can she wake if she's dead?"

"She's not dead. Only sleeping."

"If she's so dangerous, why don't you kill her?"

Abe dropped to his knees, his face lifting to the ceiling as if in prayer. She waited- too afraid to hear what he had to say and too desperate for answers to run away.

"Elizabeth Bathory chose the dark path to immortality. She defied the laws of nature to become an unnatural creature of blood."

Van fought off a wave of nausea as any hope that this Countess and the Blood Countess were not the the same vanished.

"When Haimon came to her with a promise of immortality, she didn't hesitate to do what he asked. They performed a ritual of black magic, one of blood and sex that opened her eyes to the powers of the Proteans. But the power in Haimon's blood was not the only thing that she gained from their illicit union. A child was conceived- one in whose veins ran all the wicked powers conjured by the ritual. Strength. Speed. Long life. Unaware the child was affected by the ritual, she gave it over to a peasant woman to hide her sins from her future husband."

"I-I don't understand," Van whispered, understanding all too well where this story was going.

"Don't you?" Abe asked, turning to look at his daughter. All of his earlier warmth was gone, and the pools of candlelight reflected in his irises flickered like hell fire. "You already know most of what I just told you because it was on the file you stole."

"F-file? What file?"

"Oh, Vanessa," Abe said, cupping her cheek, "do us both a favor and don't lie. I didn't find you because I chipped you. That's something I let that stupid boy believe because it suited my purposes. He burst into my office with the news of your unfortunate kidnapping. Only I already knew that to be a lie. Not only do I have cameras hidden in my office, but the files contain tracers. The moment they're opened, a program is downloaded onto the computer that allows me to pinpoint its location. Our family has guarded this secret for centuries. Surely you don't think I would protect it with nothing more than a little encryption?"

She slapped his hand away. The move earned a chuckle, but there was no humor in his expression.

"Why don't we make a deal? I'll tell you what was in the encrypted files, and you tell me who told you the file existed."

"Rot in hell."

"Oh, I'm sure we will both end up in hell. Our souls are damned because of what we are. The offspring of a monster." His voice boomed across the nave. "The Countess did one good thing in her life, and that was to give up her child. It allowed young Abraham Balaz as he was known in childhood to grow up away from her evil influences, and in his formative years, he met a man, Gyorgy Helsing, who would show him the true power of the gods. Gyorgy was a direct descendant of Proteus, and because he'd never seen such abilities as Abraham possessed, he thought they were Blessings from the Lord, given to fight against those who were using dark magic to defile his father's power."

"Because it would never occur to him to think he was a demon himself."

The resounding smack of Abe's palm against the vault echoed through the room, but Van held her chin high. Let him try to scare her. The time for pretending was over, and she would not cower before him.

Chuckling, he drew two fingers down his chin. "You're right, in a way. As Abraham grew older, he came to understand that as much as he loved his dear friend, Gyorgy was also an abomination. He was immortal and not a child of the true god. But I'm getting ahead of myself."

"Why don't you just skip to the part that explains how we ended up keeping Elizabeth Bathory as a family heirloom?"

"Right you are dear. It never settled well with Abraham that the Countess received house arrest as punishment. Especially not when her creatures still roamed the earth, killing innocents and bringing more into the darkness. So, he broke into the castle of Csejte only to find that she had nearly wasted away. Remember the vampire I showed you in the lab?"

She beat away the images of the decaying flesh. "How could I forget?"

"Our ancestor was faced with a tough decision. Deliver swift justice but also mercy or allow Elizabeth to die slowly and in agony. Because without blood, she would grow weaker and weaker until she was nothing but a husk."

Van lowered herself onto a pew. The effort of standing made her legs trembled, and she didn't want to look weak.

"I'm guessing if he's anything like you, he let her suffer."

"It's what she deserved! What she still deserves. Only, she taunted him, telling him she would never die. Eventually, someone would revive her with blood, and she would be free to walk the earth again."

"So, now he wanted to kill her?"

Abe lifted a chalice and ran a finger around its lip. "Her next words stayed his hand. She knew he was of her body. Could hear blood calling to blood, and she told him that had been the true bond that was born that night. Not one between Haimon and herself, but between her body and her child. And that bond would snap upon her death, ridding him of his Blessings. So he took her away, placed her in this tomb, and consulted with the brides of hell- women who call themselves witches. They gave him a spell that would keep her asleep and out of the hands of any followers who might wish to restore her."

She shook her head, her heart hurting. That he could not see the hypocrisy in this story revealed the depths of his madness. But despite herself, Van leaned forward, not wanting to miss the next part. It was the key to everything the Helsings had built over the years. The reason behind the bloodshed, and the enslavement of shifters.

Abe grabbed a candle and held it above the floor, exposing a canal carved in the stone that circled around the altar. "Gyorgy was the first Protean to give his life to the cause. His blood forms the foundation of the spell and hundreds more have followed. It's only fitting that the creatures responsible for Elizabeth's existence are the ones who keep her sealed. Abraham took on his surname to honor his friend's sacrifice. With this spell in place, only someone with Helsing blood could bring her out of her sleep. Even if they bathed her in a vat of it, she would not awaken."

"You could just kill her."

The candle clattered to the floor. The flame extinguished on impact. "We cannot. Without our Blessings, we cannot do the good work. The Slayers need our strength to carry on."

The laugh that escaped her bordered on hysteria. "Do you not hear yourself? Besides, what are you going to do now that you've eradicated the Proteans?"

"During the years that we could not find Proteans to strengthen the wards, we sacrificed ourselves for the cause. My father drank the potion from one of those chalices and slit his throat to keep her asleep. He was not the first, but now we have proof that the Proteans live. You do not have to meet the same fate."

"Me?" she choked out as everything clicked into place. His sudden desire to find her. The lengths he was willing to go to to bring her home. All so he wouldn't have to sacrifice himself or his power.

"The time for the sacrifice is upon us. I have too much to do. It would have hurt to end your life, especially because you remind me so much of your mother, but it would have been for the greater good. But none of that matters now."

He clapped his hand, and the doors swung open. Isaiah and another Slayer entered, dragging two struggling women. Hoods covered their heads, and their clothes were little more than rags. Van leapt to her feet to rush toward them. Abe grabbed her shoulder and slammed her back into the seat.

"I don't understand your affection for these animals," he snarled. "But it doesn't matter. These two will fulfill our needs today. I don't want to use the full Protean until it reveals the location of the others. It's a waste to use two at once, but I don't know if one alone is potent enough."

Isaiah winked at Van as he forced the smaller of the two women to her knees. His hands roamed to inappropriate places as he tightened her bonds, the promise behind the movements obvious as he kept his eyes locked on Van.

"Remove the hoods," Abe said. "They have to drink the elixir from the chalices before we slit their throats."

"You can shove that chalice up your ass," the one Isaiah groped shouted as she bucked against his hold.

A hollowness filled Van's middle. She knew that voice. Had once despised its smooth properness. There was nothing proper about the curses the girl shouted now, but there was no mistaking that it was Livy beneath the hood.

"Where is the elixir?" Abe shouted, his outreached hand remaining empty.

"Slayer Isaiah was supposed to bring it," the other man said.

"I don't care who brings it, but it better be in front of me in five minutes. If we don't do this before midnight, we'll have to call in a witch and use the blood of our full Protean to start the spell over again."

"I'll get it, sire," Isaiah said, jogging to the exit.

Van closed her eyes and retraced the path to the underground chapel. She didn't know where the elixir was housed, but she had seen no other rooms branching off from the tunnel. That meant at the very least, she had about ten minutes before Isaiah returned. She opened her eyes and found Abe watching her, his grin knowing. She hated that he knew what she was thinking.

But none of that mattered. She had ten minutes to save herself, Livy, and the mystery woman.

Luca, if I fail, I'm sorry. She sent out the apology just in case before throwing caution to the wind. She had the same powers as Abe, and with her mother's bloodlines, she was sure she packed an extra punch. If she could hold him off long enough, they might have a chance.

With a scream, she jumped up only to freeze as her vision went white.

Are you kidding me with this? She thought before hitting the floor.