"Right now?" Van Helsing asked. "I really don't think there's a bullet in him from the look of his wound..." He knelt and placed Edward on top of one of the blankets in the snow, his back against a small boulder. His head rolled to the side heavily, his hair hanging in his eyes. Van Helsing tore Edward's sleeve back to see the wound. Even he recoiled when he saw the damage done: the tear in Edward's skin was at least two inches thick, almost exposing the bone. The edges of the wound seemed to be cauterized, burned marks and an awful crinkled look displayed, confirming the use of a silver bullet. "It's not that bad," he spoke, and continued quickly when he saw Hannah's incredulous look: "Well, this nasty thing could be his heart instead of his arm, so... look, I don't know how to treat the wound completely," he added to Jinx. "I'm usually glad that werewolves get hit with these things! Anyway... you can tell from the cut of the bullet that it's no longer here. The path went across his arm, deep, and then exited without being completely inside him."
"Okay..." Van Helsing began, looking at Edward. "I can carry him... you two go and try to find something in my saddlebags... or wake Beatrice and ask her if she has anything. And we can leave right away for Rome if we can." He knelt to pick up Edward. "Hannah, dear, you're going to have to let go of him," he said, surprisingly gently, and moved her hands. He gathered Edward in his arms, sinking inches into the snow under the man's weight. "Go," he said now, starting to trudge up the hill.
"Treat it the same as a normal wound for now," Van Helsing said, hearing the question from Jinx as he ran up to the group in the snow. "When we get to Rome I can get something to treat him."
"What?" Van Helsing began, shaking the sleep from his head, but Jinx had already run off. He sighed, stood up, and ran after her.
"As you wish, darling," Van Helsing sighed, and shifted onto his other side.
"So you are dirtier than I thought," Van Helsing mumbled, and then spoke up, "I know. It's a figure of speeh in your case, dear."
"You'll need more sleep than me," Van Helsing muttered.
"Let them be, Jinx," Van Helsing muttered. "Stop listening in... nosy..."
"No," Van Helsing muttered, his eyes still shut. "He's fine. You get him, Hannah, dear."
"What the hell just happened?" Van Helsing said, waking up and sitting up with a start.
"I don't even care anymore," Van Helsing sighed, and shut his eyes. "Goodnight. Wake me up if anything or anyone needs shooting."
"Good," said Van Helsing. "Just in case you have anyone you'd like to let know... hey, where are those two? They should be back."
Van Helsing mocked a gasp. "I never said you were," he replied.
Wow, she didn't get that one, he thought, still grinning. "You're still innocent. I like that," Van Helsing said aloud, putting his gun back in its holster.
Van Helsing laughed as well. "That's not the only thing that works, you know," he shot back, slamming the hammer back into his gun and smiling to himself.
"I can hear you two, you know," Van Helsing said with a grin, not looking up from his gun.
"Edward!" Van Helsing yelled, but the other man didn't come back. "Forget it..." he mumbled, and sat once more, pulling his hat down and getting his gun out of its holster. He pulled out a rag and began to clean it, remembering Edward still had the other one.
"She wanted to 'walk,'" Van Helsing replied. "I told her to come back, but she enjoys being on her own, I guess..."
Van Helsing shrugged and let Hannah leave, assuming she could take care of herself. Time to let everyone get some rest... I don't know how the folks in Rome are going to take to my new friends... this isn't going to be fun, I'm sure... He walked back over to the others building the campfire and sat down next to Lexi.
"Don't be gone too long!" Van Helsing called after her. "It's getting dark and we'd like to together so Beatrice doesn't freak out." He laughed. "Seriously."
