Hey All!  I hope you're all enjoying my story, I haven't received many
comments on it so I'm kinda wondering.  Anyway, here's part five!  Two
more parts to go!
- Jules
 
Part Five
 
Recap: Upon request of a young rat sent by his father, Van Helsing Von
Furret heads off to Transylvania to rid the town of a mysterious phantom
that is wreaking havoc on the town.  As they journey to Romania they camp
on the side of the road or stay in taverns or inns along the way.  When
they stay in a town, Van Helsing tells stories in exchange for room and
board.  His stories are captivating but their travels are long and hard.
Along the way Van and Ioan (the rat) finally become friends.  After two
months of walking, they come to Transylvania just before dawn.  As they
walk through the town something attacks them.  As they run for their
lives they stumble over each other in the dark and their packs become
entangled, just as their attacker closes in for another attack.  We
rejoin the story with their frantic effort to get back on their feet.
 
"Ioan, take your pack off!  Leave it!" Van shouted as he shed his pack
and clambered to his feet.  The thing swooped over his head, he ducked
but not soon enough.  He felt its claws graze over his forehead.
Grabbing Ioan's paws he hauled him to his feet.
 
"Which way?" Van asked frantically, as the creature circled.  Ioan looked
around and then pointed.
 
"That way!  My house is at the end of this street!"
 
"Okay then, run!"
 
They ran again, leaving their possessions behind.  The thing screamed at
them in fury and prepared to dive and deliver a deathblow.  It dropped
into a stoop just as Ioan and Van reached the house.
 
"Father!  Open the door it's Ioan!" cried the rat as both he and Van
pounded on the door.  No one answered their cries, but then a glimmer
of light shone through the trees behind the house.  The sun was rising!
Van turned and stared at the creature that was approaching them.  The
glimmer of light turned into a ray and the thing gave a blood-curdling
scream as it veered off course to avoid the sunlight.  It circled and
stared back at Van, but the sun was growing brighter.  Finally it gave
one last scream and then raced off towards the other end of town,
disappearing over a hill.  Van and Ioan each heaved a great sigh of
relief just as the front door cracked open.
 
"Ioan?  Is that you?"
 
"Father!"
 
Van stood aside as Ioan was reunited with his very large family.  It
seemed as if the rat's whole extended family also lived in the roomy
house.  Uncles, aunts, cousins, brothers, sisters, grandparents all were
overjoyed at Ioan's return.  They were also overjoyed to see him.  They
welcomed him and all but had a celebration at their arrival.  Ioan's
mother also nearly babied him to death while she dressed his head wound
all the while Ioan gave him sheepish grins.  Van was greatly reminded of
a band of gypsies.  They spent the rest of the day getting settled in the
house and finally getting some much needed rest.  Someone had gathered
their belongings from the street and amazingly there was only minor
damage.  Van took account of everything then repaired anything that was
broken.  Reaching into his shirt, he took off the pouch that hung around
his neck.  He untied it and reviewed its contents.  Three vials of the
purple liquid that Carlos had given him, he was pleased to find that none
of them had cracked or chipped.  He retied them and then drifted off to
sleep.
 
Van and Ioan, who was determined to help Van in his quest, spent the next
few days going from door to door visiting anyone who had an encounter
with the phantom, was missing a pet or beast, or had the weird marks.
Van Helsing also met with an old professor friend who had moved to
Transylvania years ago.  The professor was able to give Van more detailed
accounts of the phantom.  He told Van, that it never came out during the
day, which was why everyone went into their houses at dusk and didn't
come out until dawn.  No one dared leave lamp on either for the phantom
had been attracted by the movement it revealed.  He also said that it
seemed to live in or around the Church's Cemetery on 113th street.  The
professor suspected that it lived in the bell free in the steeple, but
no one wanted to check.  Van was quite puzzled by all this.  He was sure
that the creature was a vampire, but no one and no creature that had been
bit, for that is what he thought the strange marks had come from, was
turning into a vampire themselves.  He was not sure how this was possible
and turned to the town library in search of answers.  After he and Ioan
spent long hours looking for anything that might help them, they finally
found their answer.  The creature was indeed a vampire, but it wasn't a
true vampire.  It was a vampire bat!  Vampire bat's had all the
characteristics of regular vampires, except that they were less inclined
to kill.  When they did kill, the victim was rarely a creature of
intelligence.  Their victims also did not themselves turn into vampires.
Now that Van knew what he was after, he was ready to set a trap and on
the next day, that's just what they did.
 
Van and Ioan stood in the cemetery.  Ioan was nervous, but Van had
assured him that the vampire would not venture out of hiding in broad
daylight.
 
"Ioan, I need you and your brothers to go to the beast farmers and buy
three strong looking animals.  Bring one here and have your brothers
take two back to the house.  Here's some coin."
 
Van dropped a few silver coins into Ioan's paws.  Ioan had long gotten
over the surprise that Van had money.  Ever since they got to
Transylvania it was as if Van suddenly became rich, he bought everything
they needed and even bribed some reluctant farmers for information.
 
"Should I bring anything else?" he asked, pocketing the money.
 
"Yes, bring some rope and a stake to tether the best to.  Oh, and some
fodder for it."
 
"Yes sir!" Ioan turned and raced off towards the outskirts of town to
where the farmers were, calling to his brothers along the way.  When he
returned with the requested supplies, Van had already constructed the
beginnings of the trap.
 
"Okay Ioan, I want you to tether the beast in the clearing over there.
Give it a little slack to walk around and a sack of feed.  Tie this bell
around its neck."
 
Ioan did as he was told then watched as Van took a large black piece
of canvas out of his pack on the ground.  He spread it over some
gravestones, creating a shelter underneath.  He crawled under and a few
minutes later something that looked like a giant crossbow poked out, but
instead of an arrow it held a huge capsule.
 
"What in the world is that?" Ioan asked incredulously.
 
"This is a net launcher, dear lad!"
 
"Oh" Ioan still wondered what exactly it did.
 
"Hand me that rope there, will you?"
 
An hour later Van had the trap all set up.
 
"Tell me how this thing works again?" Ioan stared at the strange looking
contraptions under the canvas.
 
"We leave the beast out tonight, and then switch it with another
tomorrow.  I doubt that the vampire will kill such a large animal.  Then
after tomorrow night, we switch to the third beast.  That way the vampire
will come to expect to find it here.  The third night, we wait under the
canvas, and when it is happily sucking away on the beast we fire the net.
When it's tangled in the net, we inject it with Carlos' potion.  If all
goes as planned, it should be rendered unconscious and turned into a
veggie sucker, if not we put the thing out of it's misery."
 
Ioan shuttered and gulped at the same time.  He was very glad that the
poor beasts had no intelligence what so ever, and probably wouldn't even
notice a vampire hanging off its neck.  He also dearly hoped that Van
knew what he was doing.
 
"It's almost sunset.  Double tie the beast and let's head back to the
house," Van said interrupting Ioan's thoughts.
 
Will Van's Idea work?  Will the vampire find them under the canvas or
will they be able to trap it?  Will Carlos' potion work?
 
            Find out in the Second to last installment of:
Van Helsing Von Furret In: The Phantom of the 113th Street Cemetery
[Posted in FML issue 4681]