A NEW THREAT
Prologue
Author's note – This fic is in no way meant to be harmful to anyone, especially Mr. Jackman. Any reference to Mr. Jackman was written to be fun and I hope delight would be taken in the story.
He traveled the lands fighting off creatures of unbelievable type and power – creatures with a lust for blood, hunting under the protection of night, wanting to destroy mankind and seed the world with only inhabitants like their own – to rid the world of humanity and all it stood for – to take over the world like a virus without any remorse or care for those they destroyed. There was no desire to live in harmony - no desire to even try.
The worst of these was the horrid Count Dracula – a master vampire assisted by the devil himself. The battle proved terrible, and with the supposed destruction of the count and his offspring was the loss of a woman Gabriel had come to love. His only solace was that she and the nine generations of her family residing in Purgatory found eternal rest through the brightly lit gates of Heaven. He would forever remember seeing visions of their spirits during his funeral for Anna. She was the last of the family and atop the edge of the cliff overlooking the sea, they found each other and Anna led the way to eternal salvation.
God had gifted Van Helsing with immortality – or maybe it was a curse, for the burden of constantly taking life had worn on him. It showed in his eyes – windows into a soul pained by being judge and executioner for so many centuries. He didn’t age – still looking like the solid man who brought peace to the far reaches of Carpathia and the distant land of Transylvania. He went on to fight other demons - evil spirits who plagued the innocent - in other lands and with his trustworthy friend, Carl by his side, they shared many adventures together.
But the good friar saw such pain in Van Helsing. Never could he settle down and just relax – to live the life of a normal man – to maybe marry and have children. Immortality had its price – he couldn’t have children and taking a spouse would only result in the heartache of her eventual demise when life had been lived to the fullest and unavoidable end. And, he had a job to do – to keep the world free from evil whenever evil reared its ugly head.
The years drifted by and as mankind drifted away from the myths and curses of the ancient years, they so drifted away from God. Then, mankind began to evolve again. Mutants posed a whole new set of dilemmas before him – they were neither monsters nor normal – but they were different - and Van Helsing wondered if this would again become a new fight he would have to champion. He debated with himself on how mutants would be handled. Vanquish those with evil tendencies and protect those who proved good of heart? Again, he would be the judge on whether or not a life would be taken or allowed to live.
He held back for many years, remaining in the shadows of others trying to handle this dilemma without his intervention. He was weary of fighting the battle on his own. He wished God would allow him to die and rest eternally. Van Helsing had certainly done his share and he wished to pass the torch to a new warrior - a new champion.
On the eve of the release of yet another motion picture featuring his triumph over the master vampire, he learned the great Count Dracula had somehow risen from the grave yet again. It was unknown as to how this could be, for only a werewolf could destroy the master vampire and it was in the jaws of a werewolf – Van Helsing himself after being bitten by one – that the undead demon seemed to be extinguished forever. So this proved to not be after all...