by Matt Shaw
Victor jumped at the sudden change and Jill let out a little scream before running from the room. “We’ll leave now,” continued Van Helsing.
“Okay,” agreed Victor without any hesitation whatsoever.
Van Helsing shook his face from side to side and his expression changed back to a more human look, “What the hell was that?”
He didn’t need an answer. He knew what that was. Victor steered the conversation in another direction, “If we just show up out of the blue Judge Reiger will have us hanging by our necks. We’re going to need a plan.”
There was silence. There was more silence than Victor actually liked. He had hoped that Van Helsing had all of the answers already.
Eventually Van Helsing said, “Judge Reiger can’t start a battle without leading the people to the fight. We just need to get to the crowd before he shows up. If I can show up before he gets there, I may be able to talk them round the fight. I may be able to get them to see that it isn’t the vampires doing this. I just need time.”
‘Time’ – there was that word again. Both Victor and Van Helsing knew there was no time.
Staying positive, Victor said, “What do you need me to do?”
Van Helsing smiled. A plan was formulating in his weary head… along with an undeniable thirst that his hot chocolate couldn’t seem to satisfy.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
HIT THE ROAD JACK AND DON’T YOU COME BACK NO MORE, NO MORE, NO MORE, NO MORE!
Attention: TOWN MEETING
NOVEMBER 5TH
MIDDAY
TO BE HELD BY JUDGE REIGER
-
LIGHT REFRESHMENTS AVAILABLE
VAN HELSING HAD CHANGED BY THE TIME he got back to his own town; into a nice, sharp-looking suit in black. He felt that it would be a prudent move considering his old clothes not only stank but were also caked in his own blood too (and a little custard that had splattered off Victor onto him during their voyage). Victor, on the other hand, hadn’t changed as he was too busy driving the horse-drawn carriage that The Count had loaned them.
As a side note: Van Helsing had also completed his change into a fully-fledged vampire; something that both sickened him and yet also made him feel on top of the world for his reflexes were faster than they had ever been, his sense of smell stronger, his eyesight was a perfect twenty-twenty and he felt as though he had the strength of ten strong men. More importantly, his stomach cramps had stopped, the holes in the side of his neck no longer hurt and, for the first time in some time, he felt as though he was actually going to crack this case.
Victor, still driving the carriage and clutching onto a poster advertising the town meeting, wasn’t as confident as Van Helsing. Van Helsing was an immortal now. Victor, with his frightened heart pumping hard in his chest, was very much mortal and he knew that, where-ever he went in this time period, there weren’t many people that didn’t know him and, of those people, there were even less of them who wanted him alive.
As the carriage roared towards the town hall, it didn’t slow down on its final approach. Instead, Van Helsing simply opened the carriage door and stepped out – landing just as he would have done if the carriage had been stationary; a neat little trick and something that I wouldn’t recommend non-vampires trying.
Van Helsing brushed the dust off his suit, which the carriage threw at him as it sped off into the distance, and stepped into the town hall, via the back entrance, like a man on a mission. The time was eleven-thirty – a full half hour before Judge Reiger was due at the meeting.
Once inside the hall, Van Helsing waited in the wings by the stage. He didn’t want to go on yet. He could hear the early-birds (people who got to the meeting early to get a good seat and not real birds) chirping away to each other as they patiently awaited the arrival of Judge Reiger. He didn’t want them to see him yet. If they knew he was there they’d want to lynch him. If they knew he was there, they’d fetch Judge Reiger and that would make Van Helsing’s job a lot harder – if not impossible.
So he just stood there, lurking in the shadows, listening to what they had to say; listening to conversations ranging from the whereabouts of Van Helsing, pumpkins, Judge Reiger and the upcoming fight that was being organised… but mainly pumpkins.
* * * * *
Victor abruptly stopped the horses outside Judge Reiger’s house, nearly causing the stretched carriage that they were pulling to topple over.
“Judge! Judge!” he screamed at the top of his lungs, although part of him did hope that Judge Reiger still wouldn’t hear him or, better still, he had already left to go to his own meeting.
Unfortunately, he hadn’t already left and he did hear Victor’s shouting. The upstairs bedroom window swung open and Judge Reiger poked his head out from within, “What is all the shouting about?” He looked down and saw the familiar face of Victor, “You?!”
Just like many people from the town, and indeed the world for Victor liked to get around, Judge Reiger knew that Victor was bad news. When he believed Victor had perished in a fire he, along with many others, celebrated his untimely death by setting off explosions in the sky that formed pretty patterns (which ended up being called Fireworks night, for your information).
The rockets that were fired to the Heavens weren’t supposed to be pretty. They were simply supposed to shoot up and go ‘bang’ with a massive explosion – their aim was to knock Victor’s soul down from its flight towards the Heavens. Obviously – a load of old tosh but they still believed it.
“You’re supposed to be dead!” screamed Judge Reiger.
“I know you don’t like me, and we can deal with that later, but you have to come with me now. I know who the real killer is.”
“Me too, it’s the vampires! It has always been the blood drinkers,” yelled Judge Reiger.
“No. It’s Van Helsing!” protested Victor.
“What?”
Judge Reiger slammed the bedroom window closed and, like a shot, appeared at the front door to his house. After quickly locking up he jumped up to the driver’s seat of the horse drawn carriage.
“Where is he now?” asked Judge Reiger.
Part of Judge Reiger knew that Van Helsing wasn’t the killer. Part of Judge Reiger knew that the vampires weren’t responsible either but managing to frame anyone would make him look like a leader. If he could frame Van Helsing to secure Van Helsing’s place at the end of the Hangman’s Noose then that would be even better than starting a war between the townspeople and the vampires. At the end of the day – Judge Reiger knew that the vampires, and other things, brought the tourist trade into their town and was the ingredient to keeping the delicate Peace Treaty ticking along.
With Van Helsing in the frame, not only would Judge Reiger look good for solving the crimes. He would also avoid the war that would, and he knew this, destroy the town. He would also get rid of the one person that always stood in his way of getting made Mayor. The people listened to Van Helsing. If it turned out he was a killer, they’d stop listening and start listening to Judge Reiger. He had already seen this when the locals learnt that Van Helsing had actually helped Victor to escape from his own crimes. Most of them were quick to turn against Van Helsing then.
This would change the minds of the people who still wanted to believe Judge Reiger was wrong and Van Helsing was right. It would change the minds of even his most loyal followers.
“Before I take you to him, you promise me…” bargained Victor.
“Promise you what?” asked Judge Reiger impatiently. “Promise I won’t hurt your friend? Promise I’ll be lenient towards him? Sorry, that’s one promise I can’t keep. As Judge of this town I have a job to do and punishing those who do wrong is a big part of it!”
“No,” said Victor, “promise you’ll give me a head start before you come after me.”
Judge Reiger stopped. Was it that obvious that he was going to kill Victor too? He smiled, “I’ll give you the head start that you desire if you help me catch Van Helsing by the end of
the day.”
Victor knew that Judge Reiger’s word didn’t mean a whole lot. He just hoped that Van Helsing could put everything right in time.
“I saw the posters up in town, did you need to stop off at the town hall?” asked Victor. It was a safe question to ask. He knew Judge Reiger would be only too happy to let the townspeople down in his quest to get rid of Van Helsing.
“They’ll wait for me. I want to go to them with Van Helsing’s head on a stick…”
Victor turned to Judge Reiger. For a brief moment, Victor could see the monster in Judge Reiger that was so apparent in the future version of him.
“What are you waiting for? Go!”
Victor smiled a nervous smile and whipped the horses into action before the two of them sped off into the distance – not that Victor knew where they were speeding to. He hadn’t thought that far ahead. He just needed to keep going for as long as he thought Van Helsing needed him to, whilst he spoke to the townspeople.
* * * * *
The hall was near the full capacity now with most of the townspeople gathered, awaiting the arrival of Judge Reiger.
Just as Victor hadn’t thought about where he was going to take Judge Reiger for a ride, Van Helsing hadn’t thought about how he was going to make his grand entrance. He knew what he needed to do; talk to the people, let them know the truth, buy some time. He also knew that it wasn’t going to be easy now Judge Reiger had poisoned their minds against him. Still, whatever way Van Helsing was to make his big entrance… it would have been better than…
“VAN HELSING!” one of the townspeople (an unpleasant little oik who smelt of cabbages) bellowed at the top of their lungs, rudely interrupting me from my role of narrator.
Van Helsing slowly turned round to see who had yelled. He was so busy listening to the people in the hall; he hadn’t noticed two late-comers entered the hall via the back entrance. As they approached him, with a look of hate in their eyes, he backed onto the stage – instantly silencing the rest of the crowd.
“You’ve got a cheek, haven’t you?” asked the man (whom I still haven’t forgiven for interrupting me). Van Helsing didn’t answer him. He was pretty sure that it was a rhetorical question that needed no answer.
Van Helsing stopped center stage. The two late-comers didn’t step any closer. The members of the congregation also didn’t step forward. They all just simply stopped and stared at him.
“Is it true?” asked one of the townsfolk, eventually breaking the long, uncomfortable silence. “Did you really help Victor Frankenstein escape?”
Van Helsing didn’t answer straight away. He didn’t know how. It was true that he helped Victor (but then, you already know that so there’s no point in us going through all that again). It was true that he helped Victor but it was also true that they probably wouldn’t understand why.
“Well?” the lone voice from the crowd continued. “Did you?”
Van Helsing took a deep breathe before, “I did.” His body tensed up, ready for the sudden, hostile advancement of the lynch mob and yet they didn’t surge forward. They remained still – seemingly giving Van Helsing his chance to speak.
“So, er, why did you do that?” asked the lone voice again in a tone of voice that suggested he was genuinely interested to know the reasons; not a hint of anger in his voice.
Van Helsing turned to the two late-comers. They weren’t coming any closer to him to try and grab him from behind. They were just standing perfectly still. One of them motioned for Van Helsing to speak.
Not wishing to anger the crowd before he got to have his say, Van Helsing spoke up, “He’s not a bad man. He’s just misunderstood. You all know that some of his inventions were good…”
“He’s right,” agreed the lone-voice, “I got my mother-in-law the stair-lift for Christmas and she bloody loves it.”
Van Helsing relaxed his body a little, “I got rid of Victor. I sent him to another place.”
“What like the Isle of Wight?” asked a lady in the front row. “Proper shit hole.”
“No. He invented a potion that could take him from our time and put him into another time. Both Victor and his creation went to the future where he hoped that he would be accepted by the people.”
A fat man (with a comical high-pitched squeaky voice) spoke up from the back of the room, “You expect us to believe that?”
“Victor left me with some of the potion, he left his old butler with a vial of it and he had some spare with him incase he ever needed to come back.”
“Prove it – show us yours!” shouted another voice.
“I don’t have my vial anymore…”
“Bloody convenient,” said the same voice.
Van Helsing ignored the heckler, “I had to use it to go and get Victor. The real killer of Herr Monika and Jeremiah Simpkins also killed Victor’s old butler, Igor. He killed Igor to steal his potion.”
“I wonder why he didn’t just ask Igor for the potion,” said the village idiot – who was promptly ignored.
“It’s the vampires! They’re the killers,” shouted a voice from within the center of the crowd. “We need to kill them!”
“If you go to war with the vampires you will lose!” said Van Helsing. “In the future the vampires took over the World…”
The woman in the front row piped up again, “Even the Isle of Wight? What a shit hole.”
“Victor said the Isle of Wight was a prison for humans…”
“The bastards!” said the woman again (please don’t ask me why she hates the Isle of Wight so much, I honestly have no idea. I, myself, am quite fond of the Isle of Wight. I love it; especially when I leave.)
“In the future the vampires own the World and they are ruled by Judge Reiger…”
“He isn’t a vampire!”
“Not now – but in the future. During the battle, he is turned by The Count!”
“So, we kill The Count then!”
“No,” said Van Helsing as he struggled with the crowd, “we leave The Count alone. Look, listen to me, the vampires aren’t responsible for the killings but, if we fight them, they will fight back…”
“Wait a minute! What’s that?!” bellowed the same person that bellowed earlier when he give away Van Helsing’s position. He was referring to the two bite marks on Van Helsing’s neck.
Van Helsing spun around on the spot, to face the bellowing man – giving everyone else in the hall a perfect opportunity to see what all the shouting about.
Scarily, in unison, they all screamed, “VAMPIRE!”
* * * * *
“May I just remind you that, at the end of the day, my more than generous offer expires and I will see you dance at the end of the hangman’s rope!” said Judge Reiger. By himself, Judge Reiger was (in human form) not very frightening but his title gave him the backing of the town people and Victor, still speeding in the opposite direction from the Town Hall, knew that Judge Reiger wouldn’t need to spend too much time convincing the people of the town that Victor was better off dead.
“I’m sorry. I was sure that this was the right direction…”
“I don’t know how an inventor, such as yourself, can be such an idiot!” shouted Judge Reiger. “Turn this thing around and get me back to the Town Hall!”
“Just a bit further around this corner, I’m sure of it,” Victor tried to stall.
Judge Reiger pulled a knife from his coat pocket and held it to Victor’s throat, “I said you will turn this carriage around now.”
“Well,” gulped Victor, “since you put it like that – maybe it would be best to go to the Town Hall first.”
Judge Reiger put the knife away and Victor let out an audible sigh of relief. He just hoped that Van Helsing had done all that he needed to.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
THE HOTEL GUEST
WHEN A VAMPIRE FEELS THREATENED their face contorts to that of the monster that lies within. This doesn’t necessarily mean they are about to bite you (although I certainly wouldn’t
get too close to their teeth) it’s just a show of strength on their part in a hope of putting the attacker off long enough to get a quick blow in or, better still, making the attackers turn and run, thus avoiding conflict altogether. Normally it’s a neat little trick that has a ninety percent success rate.
Unfortunately, when you are stood in front of an angry mob trying to point out vampires aren’t the monsters that people believe them to be and that the killer is someone else entirely – the worst thing that you can do is contort your face to that of a vampires’ true self. Yet that is exactly what happened to Van Helsing.
“Judge Reiger was right! Van Helsing is the killer!” screamed an anonymous voice from deep within the slow-advancing audience.
