Tag: Edith Stone

  • Shadows and Echoes – Part III

    When Edith was done, she existed the bathroom feeling very much like herself. Sure, she was a bit of a flour lover, one too liberal with the powder, but that had always been her style.

    On the other side of the door, she saw a map of the city. At the periphery, she found her landing site, surrounded by this neighbourhood. It was a snap to find where she was, considering there was a gold star that served as a point of reference. However, that was not what caught her eye.

    For the first time tonight, she heard whispers, as though they were carried forth on the wind. In the middle of a city of concrete and steel, there was a large expanse of green that took up a huge swath of real estate. Something about that place beckoned and urged Edith to make her way there.

    “Finally,” Edith said.

    Now all that she needed to do was get there. Fortunately, the solution to that particular conundrum had also been solved. Beside the map, there was a phone wired directly to a cab company.

    “Perfect,” Edith said.

    Disclaimer: This chapter is currently in development. There are likely typos, errors, omissions, inconsistencies and so forth. Please do not treat this as a polished and completed work!


  • Shadows and Echoes – Part II

    Edith wandered the city aimlessly. She felt so disconnected from this world. To top it all off, there was no guiding presence nor could she draw from experience to show her the way. Gabriel volunteered nothing that could have helped her to chart a course nor were there any clues offered when asked.

    At least she found some clothes from that shop adjacent to her landing site. It was a bit formal for her tastes, a long flowing evening gown and overcoat, but it was warm and fit in well with her surroundings.

    Edith had been pleasantly surprised by this neighbourhood, the home of a vibrant community nestled within a historical industrial park. She might have felt right at home in better times, but for now, all it did was remind of her absence from Angela and that weighed heavily on her heart.

    Her high heeled stilettos echoed in the empty streets. The shoe’s leather had not stretched so they pinched her toes, and in time, would make walking difficult. Odd how all of these quirks and annoyances were so easily forgotten in the afterlife. Pain, cold, discomfort and hunger had all been a thing of the past, but now she struggled to remember enough of her training to cope.

    It was one thing to think back over her countless lessons back at the Tower. Academic knowledge was easy to recollect, but that did little to remedy the problem at hand. She needed to bring forth all of that experience and push it to the forefront of her conscious mind. People said that one never forgets how to ride a bicycle, but Edith knew that was a gross oversimplification. The concepts remained, but muscle memory and the ability to balance faded over time.

    On her travels, Edith passed a couple of bulls handcuffing a man over the truck’s hood. Whatever his crimes, she wondered what would happen to the vehicle. Unfortunately, Edith missed the answer by turning away. Moments later, the truck slipped into the ether, which sent the driver to the ground with a heavy thump.

    Eventually, Edith came across a store and despite the crescent moon being high in the sky, it was still open. A quick look through the windows showed rows of items, ranging from confections to household goods.

    A wry smile came across her face, as this was exactly the type of distraction she sought. Edith opened the door and was greeted by an electronic chime. The sound was hollow and artificial, and she immediately disliked it.

    To her left, there was a young woman behind the till. The clerk, dressed in filthy oversized clothes, was furiously tapping away on a glass and metal device. The woman appeared mesmerised by this contraption, so much so that it took several attempts to rouse this woman from her stupor.

    “Yeah?” the clerk asked annoyed.

    Edith kept smiling, despite the urge to slap the girl. She could not put a finger on where that desire stemmed from, although it might have been related to the complete lack of civility.

    “Where can I find some munitions?” Edith asked.

    “Huh?” the clerk asked.

    The look this girl’s face was a combination of confusion mixed with the certainly that Edith was all kinds of idiot. The desire to slap some sense into this girl gained momentum, but Edith did her best to keep smiling. A shame that did nothing to disarm the other.

    “Powder, rouge, and lipstick?” Edith clarified.

    The clerk sighed as though she were being asked to give up her life for king and country. To be fair, she did point out an area in the far corner of the store.

    “Thank you,” Edith said.

    “Whatevs,” the clerk replied.

    By then, the temptation was very much front and centre, but a naughty little though brought forth an alternate solution. She headed towards the back of the store and found a cache of cosmetics. A quick glance at the glamour shots did a lot to point out how fashion changed, so much that it made finding the shade of lipstick she wanted difficult.

    “Why was carmine dye no longer a thing?” Edith wondered.

    Nonetheless, she picked up powder, rouge, and lipstick that suited her style. Perhaps she would look out of place with a cupid’s bow. So what? She swiped the items and moved farther back towards the rest rooms.

    “Figures,” Edith said upon discovering that the door was locked.

    She tightened her grip around the knob until her fingers deformed the metal and twisted with enough strength to shear the mechanism. With the door open, it was time to put her face on.

    Disclaimer: This chapter is currently in development. There are likely typos, errors, omissions, inconsistencies and so forth. Please do not treat this as a polished and completed work!


  • Leather and Lipstick – Part I

    A gust of wind blew in from the mouth of the courtyard and turned Clara’s skin turn to gooseflesh. Her training in life taught her how to ignore extremes of heat or cold, all to achieve success. Clara thought back to that time when she was stark naked in the freshly fallen snow. That had been a cold and brutal night, but she nonetheless managed to approach, entice, and dispatch one of them in the process. That dumb bastard was too busy focusing on her tits to wonder why a woman was out in the middle of a battlefield.

    The Van Helsing Resurgence - Saturday Scenes

    This situation was different, ninety-years spent in paradise brought about some skills fade. Clara responded by biting the inside of her cheek and was pleasantly surprised by the taste of her iron-rich blood.

    “At least some things haven’t changed,” Clara muttered.

    From out of the corner of her eye, Clara caught something unexpected. She turned to investigate, and noticed that one of those boarded up doors from earlier, was not anymore.

    As a precaution she stopped, closed her eyes and opened her mouth. While sound carried well at night, doing this honed her senses. Despite her caution, there were no sounds that gave her cause for concern.

    “Curiouser and curiouser,” Clara said under her breath.

    She headed towards the door, to examine the heavy steel frame, and broken lock before she let herself in. Since her eyes were already adjusted to low light conditions, it was a trivial matter to figure out this store was empty.

    This place did have rows of empty racks and shelves that would have been home to garments, shoes, and accessories. Surely a real treasure trove, if it were still open to the public.

    “What a shame,” Clara said and paused to see if those words got some attention.

    “Size twelve?” Edith asked. “How… possibly be a size twelve… two of me.”

    Clara blinked several times in rapid order, all in some misguided attempt to refresh her view. Alas, the place remained deserted, and as judged by a thick layer of dust, it had been for years.

    From the opposing corner of the disturbance, a hanger struck the floor, which resounded throughout the room. She focused all of her senses on that spot, but there were no hangers to be found. There were no other sounds, visual cues, changes in temperature, nor did a chill run down her spine.

    “Edith?” Clara called out.

    Moments later, the sound of foot stomps traversed the room until they came up to the skeleton of an empty change room. Clara then caught the sound of a curtain being drawn, despite there being nothing to move. By now, Clara knew that something was up, although she had to admit the nuances surrounding this situation were entirely new.

    This was not the case of an apparition, and the voice was unmistakably Edith’s, at least that much was certain. Along with her witnessing a friend drop to the mortal realm, a theory coalesced within the depths of her mind.

    By that time, the sounds were gone, and heard nothing more than her breathing. While Clara was not aware of the mechanics that made this possible, she nonetheless accepted this moment as being grounded in reality.

    Of course, that did little to resolve her most pressing problem. A shame there were no curtains left, at least those could have been fashioned into some sort of makeshift robe.

    “No rest for the wicked,” Clara said with a sigh.

    Disclaimer: This chapter is currently in development. There are likely typos, errors, omissions, inconsistencies and so forth. Please do not treat this as a polished and completed work!


  • Bleed Through – Part IV

    “I love you!” Edith shouted before she closed her eyes and fell to earth.

    The Van Helsing Resurgence - Saturday Scenes

    Angela had trouble focusing on the scene. Her vision marred by tears that streamed off her burning cheeks. Even her nose ran like a sieve, and normally that annoyed her, but this time she was too distraught to care.

    “How could she?” Angela wondered even though the answer was obvious.

    Edith wasn’t the kind of person to stand back and let others risk their lives. Even if doing so risked her own life on several occasions. That was Edith’s greatest strength, one shared by many saints.

    “How can I hate her for that?” Angela asked herself.

    She closed her eyes and then used some of her limited training from the Tower to focus. As her self-control began to reassert itself, the wave of anguish and anxiety began to wane.

    “I’m good now” Angela said as her eyes opened.

    Edith was no longer visible by then, gone along with that shockwave originating from the mortal realm. Her heart sank to the bottom of her stomach, but she did her best to remain centred. What good was she to anyone as an emotional wreck?

    From the corner of her eye, Angela caught the glimpse of a pale brunette hovering over the mortal realm. Despite the woman being roughly thirty years older than she remembered, Angela knew exactly who this was.

    “Clara!” Angela exclaimed.

    The woman did not respond, instead she closed her eyes, and just like Edith before her, dropped like a rock.

    “What’s going on?” Angela yelled out.

    “Is there a problem, child?” Gabriel asked.

    Angela turned around to find the archangel Gabriel facing her, which immediately explained why he referred to her as a child. Only those who came into existence as angels were capable of seeing a soul’s true form.

    “Did you come back for something?” Angela asked while dispensing with any civility.

    “Child?” Gabriel asked.

    “You left the moment Edith dropped to Earth,” Angela replied.

    Gabriel was like an immutable statue, a trait that was common among the natives. It was so frustrating to bare your soul, and see no empathy reflected in the recipient. Her frustration with their kind provided an unexpected reprieve, so Angela channelled this emotion to gain some focus.

    “Edith?” Gabriel asked. “Edith was never here.”

    That statement almost threw Angela for a loop, but a part of her was expecting to hear such a response. The appearance of Clara from out of the ether did much to lay the groundwork for a working theory. Clearly there was something wrong, but she had no way of proving it.

    “Apologies,” Angela said. “I meant to say Clara.”

    Gabriel did not respond, although a hiccup in his movement caught her eye. For a fraction of a second, Gabriel had been facing away from her. The movement had been so fast that any ill-timed blink would have meant missing the clue.

    “Edith will… shortly… I’m sure,” Gabriel said, even though his lips never moved.

    The words appeared to have reverberated from off of some invisible structure. While uncertain of the source, she knew it did not originate from the depths of her mind. Angels were not known to have that ability, besides that sort of communication was experienced differently.

    After the hiccup ended Gabriel said, “Clara will be back shortly.”

    “I’m sure,” they said in unison.

    While Gabriel remained unperturbed by her guess, it did little to help Angela’s state of mind. At this very moment, her heart was migrating from the pit of her stomach to the very tips of her toes. Perhaps she should have been more studious back at the Tower. If only Edith had not been so beautiful.

    “Please come back to me,” Angela pleaded before rhyming off a quick prayer that she hoped was heard.

    Disclaimer: This chapter is currently in development. There are likely typos, errors, omissions, inconsistencies and so forth. Please do not treat this as a polished and completed work!


  • Bleed Through – Part III

    “I love you,” Edith said as her thoughts faded back into reality.

    The Van Helsing Resurgence - Saturday Scenes

    “I’ve always known,” Angela replied. “How else could you summon me from beyond the grave to warn a friend?”

    “I could have joined you that day,” Edith said. She took Angela’s hand and pressed it against her chest, “We could have been in each other’s arms far sooner.”

    “It wasn’t your time,” Angela said just as reality began to reassert itself.

    Angela giggled before she grabbed Edith by the hand, and dragged her through the park until they reached a series of steps.

    “Why are you taking me here?” Edith asked.

    Angela turned back for a moment, careful with her steps to avoid tripping and said, “I know you love it there.”

    “Why would you think that?” Edith asked out of curiosity.

    Angela did not say another word until they reached the top of the steps. From there, it opened up to an observation deck, where someone could see the mortal realm.

    “I’ve seen you here before,” Angela said.

    Edith looked around, and saw that they were alone. That in itself was not unusual, there was something to be said about seeing the world that contained both the beauty, and pain of life. It was simultaneously a reminder on how sweet the fruit of life had been, and that one would never again partake. Very few chose to go through that torment, although she often felt compelled to do so.

    “I know that you come here,” Angela added.

    “You’ve been following me?” Edith asked with a smile.

    “Of course!” Angela exclaimed before she kissed her lovers cheek.

    “Good girl,” Edith replied with reddened cheeks.

    Edith did come here on a regular basis to stare down at the world. At first, she did not know what compelled her, but in time she came to understand the reasons. While Angela had been her first love, there were others who had awoken similar affections, including another hunter of great renown.

    “Clara Grey was it?” Angela asked.

    That name brought a smile to her lips, the mere mention of that name was like casting a spell that let loose, all those cherished memories. Edith would have gone through hell and back for her, and to this day had no clue what had happened to her.

    “How—How did you—,” Edith tried to ask.

    “Know?” Angela asked. “She was the one you summoned me to find. The one who saved your life that day.”

    “I’m impressed,” Edith repeated with a grin.

    Edith kissed Angela with such passion that her lover’s legs nearly gave out. For a moment, nothing else in existence mattered, save those lips. Oh how she longed to stop time, and make this moment last an eternity.

    Alas even in this realm, time moved at a predictable rate. When she opened her eyes, Edith gazed inadvertently towards the mortal realm. There was a certain beauty to God’s creation, even though atrocities happened daily. That notion alone was enough to make someone wonder if free will had been a good idea.

    At this moment, the North-American continent featured prominently. In her search for Clara, she would peer down through the clouds, searching for clues on her friend’s passage. Every attempt proved fruitless, Clara would have been over one-hundred-and-twenty years old by now. There was no chance that she was still alive at that age. Or was there?

    Then from the Eastern seaboard, she witnessed a shockwave that expanded outward until it enveloped the Earth. The disturbance caught her eye, and broke from the kiss to focus on the event.

    Confused, Edith said, “That’s odd.”

    Disclaimer: This chapter is currently in development. There are likely typos, errors, omissions, inconsistencies and so forth. Please do not treat this as a polished and completed work!


  • Bleed Through – Part I

    Edith Stone stood near a bench that overlooked a park that seemed to stretch out forever. This area was a popular place to spot some of the greatest minds in history. They would often congregate here, in a meeting of the minds, one that attracted a slew of onlookers.

    The Van Helsing Resurgence - Saturday Scenes

    She was a woman in her early forties, and had this shine in her hazelnut eyes that never dulled. Her raven black hair and sunburned skin gave her an exotic look, but that was a byproduct of where she lived for the last years of her life.

    Her feminine curves, fit physique and the sharp features served only to enhance her beauty. Unlike many who frequented this place, she opted to maintain her true form, flaws and all. Because, in her mind, it made her all the more human, even if she was anything but.

    She was even proud of those deep scars that ran down her back. These were reminders of the hard life she endured, just like any hunter of her calibre.

    While many of the patrons loved nothing more than to find Einstein and Newton indulging in their love of mathematics, Edith had no such interests. There was one person, and one person only she sought in this bazaar of human history’s finest.

    “Did you know that you keep better time than a clock?” Angela asked from a distance.

    Edith turned around and beamed a warm smile. Before her, stood that red headed child, she fell in love with over a century ago. Her pale skin, red hair and green eyes were ever-present, no matter what age she chose to appear as.

    “You know, I prefer it when you come as you are,” Edith said.

    This version of Angela was a young woman of immense beauty. At this age, her freckles had paled, while her figure had fully formed into the sultry body of a dancer. She had lips that beckoned, forever moist, and yearned for that intimate touch only her true love could provide.

    Edith let a soft gasp escape her lips, the shock of seeing Angela in this form never failed to stir intense desire. Although to hear this one talk, one would think that her nose was her only redeeming feature. An opinion that Edith contested every time that subject came up.

    The radiant redhead closed the distance between them, and embraced Edith who was both older and taller. For a second they stared longingly into each other’s eyes, while Angela traced her lover’s lips with a finger.

    She then nibbled on her lower lip, feeling parts of her grow moist, compelling her to move closer, until their lips made contact. It was as though the ground trembled whenever they kissed, every time, a moment of pure bliss.

    The immaculate park and its patrons faded into a fog, until only they remained. Their passion, this act of intimacy, did not need to be shared with every soul in proximity. Besides, their love for one another was never meant to be shared with the public. Even here, they were taboos that were not meant to be broken.

    “Alone at last,” Edith said with a contented sigh.

    “That’s why I chose this age,” Angela said. “How can I indulge in the sweet lips of an angel as a child?”

    “True,” Edit answered while she subconsciously ruffled her white feathered wings.

    Angela, despite her name, did not have a pair of her own. Her death may have been slow and excruciating at the hands of a ghoul, one that sensed the cancer consuming her from within, that had not been enough to warrant ascension.

    Edith on the other hand, had dedicated the bulk of her life to hunting things that preyed on humanity. Or at least that was true, until she found a better cause to fight for.

    She joined a band of women who were fighting for the right to practice their faith. A group that was being systematically hunted down by the government. Her original intent had been to gather intelligence, trying to root out the cause of this aggression. Was this nothing more than a tug of war between church and state? Or was there someone, or something pulling the strings in the background?

    What she found was a sense of belonging that never materialised at the Tower, a secret order of hunters loosely aligned with the Church. The fact that she met a breathtakingly beautiful soul while infiltrating the group sealed the deal. Of course, as with most cases of love during a war, tragedy struck and took her away. Killed by a creature she had sworn to eradicate from the face of the earth.

    That death had not only been traumatic, but it set something within the depths of her psyche. Edith had never been known for risk taking. She was the source of strength for the girls; a trait many rallied to in times of crisis, but that was also her greatest weakness.

    Her heart torn, she ventured out to recover her lover’s body, but ended up getting captured by the local militia. Edith put up one hell of a fight, but what could a lone woman do against the combined force of an army? She did what many of her compatriots had done in her situation, pray for strength, even as they raped and tortured her. Despite weeks of brutal interrogation she held firm, and kept her wits about her, waiting for an opportunity to present itself.

    One of her captors had taken a liking to Edith’s body, and often claimed dominion over it. Since she was known to put up a fight, they normally secured her to a table as a precaution, forced to adopt a position that made her more cooperative. That time, he forgot to check the knots.

    She choked the life out of him with the ropes used to bind her. For a moment Edith stared at this so-called man, whose trousers were puddled around his legs, and spat on his corpse in disgust. That man somehow managed to ejaculate just as his life became forfeit, effectively being rewarded for all of those sick and depraved acts carried out in life.

    That night, Edith showed the world just how brutal a hunter could be, when pushed beyond the breaking point. A platoon of men were based at the compound where Edith had been held. Once the sun shone on her for the first time in months, there was not a single man left breathing. Those killed in their sleep, were the lucky few. Others had been hung, shot, electrocuted, burned, skinned alive, or disembowelled.

    When reinforcements arrived later that week, most chose to drop their weapons and run, while others chose the cowards way out. After all, being charged with desertion was preferable to the chance encounter with an avenging spirit, or as she became known, the Ángel de la muerte.

    These atrocities did little satiate her bloodlust. While these men wholeheartedly deserved their fate, there was someone else equally deserving, the one who masterminded the attack that killed her love. That thing, a traitor to the Tower, was a powerful vampire hell bent on destroying all those who opposed her.

    It took weeks, but the vampire named Drusilla was found at a place called the Grand. A luxury hotel nestled in the mountains that turned out to be a haven for their kind.

    Fortunately, this hotel was a couple of hours away from an army training base. It took little more than charm to get access to their munitions cache, and take what she needed to exact her revenge. Once at the hotel she found her target, lured Drusilla to her room, and set off a series of charges. The fiery inferno she unleashed in that explosion claimed a lot of lives that night.

    That’s how Edith ended up at the Pearly gates. She soon learned that her self-sacrifice had earned her a set of wings. While Edith did not see her elevation as a blessing, she nonetheless embraced the opportunity to cross the threshold and be reunited with her first love.

    Disclaimer: This chapter is currently in development. There are likely typos, errors, omissions, inconsistencies and so forth. Please do not treat this as a polished and completed work!


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