Team Seven of Heroes Chapter 4

4.

The man was of medium height, strongly built with his shoulders set over a broad chest and the neck was well balanced with the deep sunken face above it and the thick brows that gave him a stern look. The face was thick with the overnight stubble unshaven on the chin. It did not help him when the tight head from the opposing team had charged into him. The right elbow raised to chin level had then formed into a wedge that slammed into him. He reeled back from the impact but he was tougher than many others. His hands went out at waist level and grabbed the other by them to do a body twist that got him to turn onto the attacker’s back then he used his weight to topple the attacker on the side. It was the working of physics to apply force on the adjacent flow to turn its course or shaken lose the initial equilibrium.

It worked.

The other rugby players on the other team groaned on the lost ground that they were to gain and the clock was ticking. The call for the break came and players took to the benches. The man who did the stop picked the towel offered while the friendly pats went on his back. He excused himself and then stepped out of the playing field area. He made his way to the building there and approached to the bath area. He stepped inside and then his real persona took over. He went to the cabinet to retrieve his gears. He took off his shirt and then sat down on the available bench.

The door to the bath area opened and then closed.

“Hello, Van Helsing.” The figure was a monk dressed in the grey frock and with the crown of hair above the ears. “We are to leave now.”

“I need the breather.” The man seated then stood up. “I need a bath first.”

“A bath? Do you think demons needed clean fresh hunters? I have not taken a bath in days.” The monk snapped back. “The demon is here.”

Van Helsing ignored the monk and walked towards the shower chamber. He stripped down and then had his body covered with the warm water. It was refreshing then with the body pores opened up to the warmth feeling and then he leaned forward to let the water covered his body. He then felt the water turning cold and the same feeling crept into his body closing the pores there. He stood upright and with his body tensed from the cold draught he uttered a word of prayers before he stepped out.

It was then he saw the monk was not standing there but lying on the ground in a pool of blood. Next to the monk was a dark huge canine creature that stood at over four feet in height and with a head to tail length of six feet. The canine had its fangs displayed and its eyes were blood shot then staring at him. It was huge for a typical canine

“I wondered which of them were you?” Van Helsing smiled at the dark creature. “I do want to know what name should I place on the grave stone?”

The dark creature let off another growl and then leapt at Van Helsing. The move was swift and would have ended Van Helsing’s life but he was saved by the fast reaction of his own. He held out his right arm and thrust it into the canine’s jaws. Van Helsing right arm was no more organic but one of made of silver plates and inside it the arm was a mechanical one with the components jointed to the nerve points at the shoulder. The silver plate covered from the fingers to the right shoulder blade ending at the neck. Once his hand was inside the jaw, Van Helsing clenched his fingers to form a fist and then punched in past the neck before he twisted the fist into the brain area. The canine yelped in pain and then it pulled back from the silver arm before it slunk back to far corner. The canine with its jaws relocated was coughing then but its red eyes were staring at Van Helsing.

The canine then stopped its coughing and then its head began shaking before it raised itself up into a standing position. The canine evolved then with its body frame changing into a man like frame. Its claws on its limbs then grew longer and the claws curved out to drew screeching lines on the flooring. In its evolution, the canine had lost its cover its former form and it was seen man like with the claws.

“You are a demon.” Van Helsing cursed out. “I like this even better.”

Van Helsing looked to the cabinet holding his gear. His way was blocked by the demonic being then. He flexed his muscles and then bent his right arm. The being charged at Van Helsing but the later had side stepped to avoid the blow. He then turned his body with the right arm moved to the sharp chop on the mechanical being on the right limb at the joint. He heard the crack and then he used his body to elbow the being in the side of the head. Just Van Helsing pushed his way passed the being and reached his cabinet. He did not open the doors but punched his way past it and reached in. He felt the familiar item once more in his hand and pulled out but before he was to pull away his left arm was then. He let himself be pulled out of the cabinet and then turned his body with the right arm aimed at the mechanical being. The blast from the modified double gauge shotgun blew the being across the bath area with the head and part of the chest to the right side while the balance of the being was casted on the left side.

Van Helsing gave out a smile on the destruction of the being. He heard the loud cheers of the audience watching the rugby game but there was one voice he picked up. It was from the bath chamber.

“Bravado!” Van Helsing turned to look at the huge frame covering the bath chamber doorway. He knew the man and disliked the chances that they ever met.

“How did…….Never mind my question.” Van Helsing looked away. “Mycroft, I know you were following me. So what do you want?”

“Van Helsing, I am in need of your ….assistance.” Mycroft swallowed his last word. He disliked it but the man was his one needed recruit. “The Service had been standing aside on your tasks here. We acknowledge the Vatican request but how many were there were your limits then? Nine or nineteen but honestly it did not dampen the killings on my street of the innocence?”

“I got my own and the Vatican have approved my King to call upon you. We could be hunting the same killers.” Mycroft smiled. “And maybe learn from each other.”

“I am not your pawn and not of the Vatican.” Van Helsing replied. “I am in still in my task to destroy the demons. So unless you tell me we are tracking the same demon, I am in or I am out.”

“We are on the same demon. The demon is named by many names but to you he is known as Dracula.” Mycroft smiled. “Dracula did kill your forefathers and your love. So are in the hunt for him.”

“Dracula is dead.” Van Helsing replied. “I saw his grave.”

“Well then, there may be one another that were doing his works. You are keen to see that stopped, I believed? Its in your blood.”

Van Helsing looked to the unmoving being and then nodded.

“And I prefer to be called Arthur.” Van Helsing replied. “And this is my Excalibur.” 

Arthur Van Helsing held up the double gauge shotgun modified to hold the silver shafts that were laced with the explosive chemicals. The gun double shafts were sawn off to arm’s length.

“Well, you better get dressed for I may mistake that for Excalibur. It almost matches mine for length.”