Funny Then That I Chose Not to Kill and Eat You Belmont

*CAW, CAW*

As the raven crows, a new day dawns, admittedly a little more bright than the previous mornings.
Sypha hugs her grandfather and she and Belmont bid farewell to the Speakers.
The Speakers help Elder Codrii into the horse-drawn cart and away they go to a safer place.

"They're going to be fine, you know." Trevor assures.

"I know. And I know they have to do it. Other towns need their aid and to have their stories be saved. I'm not worried about them."

"You're worried about yourself, Sypha. You've always been with your family. You never traveled alone."

"Never. Isn't it silly? They're heading into who knows what danger, and I'm standing here sad and angry because they're together and I'm alone."

"Hmmm..."

"...This is where you're supposed to tell me that I'm not alone, Belmont."

He looks away.

"You are really not very good at this."

"I.. learned to travel alone early in life. Maybe I got too used to it."

"You had a family, though."

"Not much of one, and not for long. ...Ok, look. I know a little bit about what you're feeling. I'm sorry, but we have a thing to do now. All I can do is try and make sure it doesn't get you killed so you can see you're family again."

"That's your encouraging talk?"

He shrugs. "Or you get killed and they get eaten in the forest so none of you have to be sad. How's that?"

"I was right about you the first time. You are rude."

"Eh, I've been called worse."

"Oh trust me, I'm just getting started."
---------------------

-Back at the Speaker's House-

"Alucard, they called me. The opposite of you."

The vampire drags a stick through the sand, drawing out his father's portrait.

"Mother never liked that. Did you know that? She hated the idea that I might define myself by you. Even in opposition to you. She loved both of us."

He moved on to drawing out his mother's portrait.

"Enough that she wanted us to be our own people. Living our own lives. Making our own choices. And so here I am. Choosing to honor my mother by killing my father."

He scores the stick through his father's image, creating a small cloud of sand.

"No longer Adrian Tepes. Choosing to be Alucard of Wallachia, the name of my mother's people. ...I'm sorry, Mother."

A tear lands in the sand, obstructing his mother's portrait.

A paw is placed on his back. "...You ok?"

Alucard turns his head quickly. "Oh. I forgot you were sitting there as well."

"I'm very quiet, I know." The blue jackal speaks. "But honestly, are you ok?"

"...I just really miss her."

"And that's ok, I know how you feel Alucard. I miss my Grandma sometimes as well."

"She must've been a great person."

"The best."

"...I have to wonder why you still feel the need to look like a wild dog."

"This is how I normally look, but I'm not that comfortable yet... and not that trusting yet."

"Understandable, but do you at least feel trusting enough to give a name. We can't just keep calling you Belmont's pet this whole time."

"...Blythe."

"Is that your real name?"

"No." Her ears twitch, hearing the other two musketeers fading in conversation.

"I know how to be nice."

"No, you don't."

"I do, I'm... nice to everybody."

"Then why are most of these stories you've told me for the last few minutes about you arriving somewhere and then getting punched in the face?"

"That's because... Everyone else is a horrible piece of sh*t." Trevor poorly explains.

"See?"

"What?"

He and Sypha enter the ruined house they left Alucard and the jackal in, the dust swirling around their feet.

"And so we begin again..." Alucard scores a line through his mother's image. "Have the Speakers left?"

"Yeah..."

"I'm sorry. In success, you will see them again soon in far happier circumstances."

"See?" Sypha gestures to the vampire, "He knows how to be nice. ...Is it true, then? The castle can travel somehow? We know the stories, but sometimes it's hard to separate myth from truth."

"Tell her about Dracula's Castle, Alucard. Her day can't get any more ruined." Belmont grumbles as he rifles through some old boxes.

"Dracula's Castle moves. How to describe it... it travels without moving. It appears in locations as... well, as if by magic."

(I raise an eyebrow.) "So... you're saying it can teleport."

"If you choose to look at it that way, then yes."

"There has to be some way to trap it," Sypha muses. "How do we start?"

*huff* "I want to go home..."

(Real rude of you, Trevor.)

"Have you been drinking again?"

"Some chance. But no, I want to go home. The old Belmont Estate."

Alucard leans on his fist. "I was under the impression it was destroyed; villagers, pitchforks, and torches, that sort of thing."

"It was. But the value of the old house wasn't the house itself. It was what was underneath it. The Belmont Hold, our family library and trove."

"The collecting knowledge and material of generations of Belmonts that fought the creatures of the night. That sounds interesting, if it survives."

"If there are solutions to the problem of finding and killing Dracula, they are in the Hold."

"You're guessing though."

"I am guessing. I can't read or understand magic, but my family stored everything they found. Including books of magic and whatever weird stuff they came across. I just can't do anything with it, but you two can."

"Fortunate indeed that I chose not to kill you and eat you, Belmont."

"And that I decided against gutting you, flaying you, and turning you into shoes, Alucard."

"Such a merry band, we are." Sypha huffs. "I will find us a covered wagon and some horses if you two can go without killing each other."

"Oh please, we're not children." The vampire snides.

(But not even ten seconds after the magic Speaker leaves...)

Trevor: "Eat sh*t and die."

Alucard: "Yes, f*ck you."

But, they at least chuckle about it and Belmont slinks to the floor and leans up against a crate.

(I snicker. You know you're friends when you can insult each other and laugh about it.)

"Do you really believe we'll find the tools to kill my father at your old home?"

"I'll be honest with you, I really don't have a better idea. I just know that right here, right now, we are under-equipped for the job."

"Especially when Dracula has hired two necromancers to build his demon army from dead humans."

"How did you come across that sort of information, Blythe?" asks the vampire.

"Blythe? Is that her name?"

"No. It's just the name she chose to give out because she doesn't yet trust us."

"To answer your question, I have been listening in to your father's schemes. I have excellent hearing when I want to. And for the fact, I am quick to trust those who don't harm me, too quick. I just don't choose to dole out my real name."

"Likewise, I am choosing to trust you, Belmont. Don't make me regret it."

"Hm. Everybody regrets it in the end, Alucard."

(It becomes late in the evening by the time Sypha arrives back with the horses and we gather up what supplies we can.)

The sun sets as the gate closes behind the horse-drawn wagon, as the group of four will never see the desolate town of Gresit ever again. Sypha steers the reins with Trevor up front, whilst Alucard and the jackal sit in the actual wagon part.

The vampire casts a final glance at the cross of the church before it falls into shadow.

"So, what's your story, then?"

"Hm?" (I snap out of a daze, vaguely aware that the half-breed Prince is talking to me.)

"You seemed rather "bonded" to Belmont when you encountered me, now it seems quite the opposite and I've garnered your attention."

"If you want to get technical, I actually bonded to you because more or less even though I saw Dracula first, it didn't really register in my head until I saw your silhouette."

"You form attachments to anyone you happen to lay your eyes on first. Wouldn't that get you into trouble?"

"It does, but I never end up on the wrong side."

"Forgive me when I say that is a foolish attribute to have."

"Blunt. But, I have to."

"Reason?"

"If I don't bond to someone, and I'm in a new place, I'm actually quite vulnerable. I can't handle being alone and I will have a panic attack from being on my own."

"You don't take separation very well. Now I understand why you choose to come with us, even though you don't belong."

"...If you know of a Carmilla, she has just joined the council at your father's castle."
-------------
~Dead of Night in a snowbound forest~

The "merry band" of travelers have stopped their travels to give the horses a bit of rest. The gentle beasts munch away on frost-covered ferns while the quartet sit by a small fire.

(Alucard is in the middle of Sypha and I, while Trevor is leaned back on his arms on the other side.)

"I still can not fathom how you don't burst into flames when you're out in the sun."

Alucard answers the mage."I am half-human. My mother's name was Lisa and she was mortal."

"I would very much like to hear the story of how "that" happened."

"Heh. She actually showed up at his front door. She found the castle and banged on the front door with the pommel of her knife."

"She sounds interesting."

"Oh, she was remarkable. She beat on the door until my father let her in, and then demanded he teach her to be a doctor."

Trevor sits up at this. "Wait. Dracula taught a human woman how to be a doctor? What was first, bloodletting? Hah!"

"God, you still think you're funny. My father-"

"Dracula."

"Is a man of science. A philosopher, a scholar, and knows things our society forgot three times over. Do you still not understand the enormity of what we're doing? ...He's gone mad. And from that, there is no recovering him."

"Shame." Trevor groans, sarcastically.

"It's a tragedy. A suppository of centuries of learning, he could have changed the world, I think he might have... If Mother hadn't died. She'd sent him out into the world. ...And that's why I wasn't there when the bishops took her."

"She sent him away?" asks Sypha.

"She sent him to travel. To learn the true state of the world, the nature of humans and how they lived."

"...She was turning him."

"Imagine if he could've poured all that knowledge into improving lives, if the religious inquisition didn't prove true all of his worst instincts about humans."

"And now he's going to use her death as an excuse to destroy the world."

"All the world will still be here, Belmont. Trees will still grow, birds will still sing, animals will still hump away in the undergrowth, but you won't be here. No human will be here. The sun will still set, but you won't see it rise. There will only be Dracula, and his war council, and the hordes of the night. ...He writes in great books, you know. He covers the books himself, wraps them in the preserved skin of the people he hated most. And he writes plans. I've seen them, ideas of darkening clouds and making them a permanent part of the atmosphere to freeze over the earth, create flying machines to pull shrouds and block out the sun. Imagine it... A world without humans under an endless invented night. And Dracula in his castle, his revenge so horribly complete that he can only look out over a world with no memory of light, love, or laughter, and know that he did his work well, all out of love..."

(A strange guttural growl makes my ears twitch and catches Trevor's attention.)

"Did you hear that?"

"Animals humping in the undergrowth? ...No, wait-"

(I snicker as another strange growl echoes in the chilly air.)

Trevor kicks dirt on the fire and puts it out.

"Which is the nearest town. Is it Gresit?"

"Argesh is closer to us." answers Sypha.

(I brush bits of snow off my stomach as I get to my feet.) "It seems Dracula's monsters have come to greet us personally."

The monsters are a main army of four; a lizard demon, a humanoid-lizard demon with a beak, a horned and winged demon, and a gargoyle-esque beast, with smaller lizard and bat-demons in behind.

Trevor flips himself up into a tree nearby.

Alucard places his hand upon the hilt of his blade and goes out to greet the monsters head-on.

Sypha pulls up her hood and stays crouched by the unhitched wagon.

(I choose to confront the monsters with Alucard, unsheathing my Metal Claw and revealing my needle-sharp teeth.)

The monsters halt in front of the son of Dracula, snarling menacingly.

The vampire draws his blade, putting one hand behind his back in his fighting stance.

"No further."

The beasts do not heed the warning and two lizards rush him anyway.

In one swift motion, Alucard steps to the side of them with his speed, his blade alights with azure fire as he runs it through both of the monsters' heads. Their bodies fall mid-pounce and burn up on the spot, melting the snow around them.

The horned, winged beast picks up the beaked lizard and they try for an aerial attack.

Alucard blocks the lizard's spear strike and dodges the horned demon's fire breath in succession.

And just as the monsters take to the air for another strike.

*WHAP*

From the trees, Trevor's whip hits the horned demon in the head, sending them crashing to the ground. The Belmont follows up by leaping from his cover, snatching the spear from the ground with his whip and plunging it into the neck of the beaked lizard.

It's a brief moment of victory, but the smaller bat-demons start firing a round of fireballs from their mouths at the two men.

(Sypha and I take control of the fire and begin firing it back at the monsters, setting their bodies ablaze.)

The gargoyle beast launches a Flamethrower attack at the mage, but she manages to divert the flames around her.

It charges up for another attack, gathering the flames inside its throat when Sypha takes control of the fire inside, she builds it up without it escaping the monster's mouth. Sypha closes her hands and the attack explodes, taking the monster's upper body with it.

One bat-demon left manages to escape into the sky on burnt wings, no doubt retreating back to Dracula.

The vampire sheathes his blade. "Nobody's going to Argesh tonight."

The squad of four hitch up the horses and continue on their way to Belmont's old home.
-------------

"Blythe. Have you heard anything useful from the war council thus far?"

(I roll onto my back on the uncomfortable wood the wagon's made out of and answer the half-breed Prince.)

"The necromancers are two humans that have just as much hate for their own species; Issac and Hector."

"Do you have enough information to describe them?"

"Hector's parents never wanted him. He learned necromancy to bring back dead animals and keep them as pets. Issac was found on the streets and used as a slave by yet another corrupt member of the church. For some reason, your father trusts them."

Alucard gets a look of displeasure across his features. "Anything else?"

"The bat creature that escaped from us told Issac of our existence. Also, the war council is arguing back and forth about whether or not to take over Argesh or some river town that starts with a B. I forget the name."

"Braila."

"That's it! God, that was killing me."

"How on earth are you f*cking hearing everything those b*stards are doing?"

"First, Trevor, I don't appreciate being cussed at." (Alucard chuckles at my statement.) "And second, it's not exactly "Hearing" as you would say. More like I can sense what's going on with my Psychic ability and see their conversations in my head."

"And there you have it, Belmont. It's good to know of their whereabouts. If they ever decide to send the entire army after us, we will have 5 steps ahead of them, at least."

(I smile to myself at Alucard's praise. Despite being out of place here, the "Three Musketeers" make this world just a little bit better.)

Trevor sits up at the front. "There. That's my tree."

(We slowly pass a dead oak that looks split down the middle.)

"I used to play in that tree. We're near the house."

"It's hard to imagine you, playing." Sypha comments.

"Yeah? Hm, I suppose so. It was my everything, that tree; it was my house, my boat, and my fort. Anything I wanted it to be. ...Goodnight, tree."

The horses slow to a halt near a fountain positively choked with vines, beyond that the ruins of Trevor's childhood home. The group of four exit the wagon and approach the ancient stone foundation, torches in hand to light the surroundings.

(I whisper.) "The stories these stones could tell if they talked..."

"This was your home?" asks Sypha.

"Yeah..."

"You grew up here."

"Yeah..."

"I can't imagine what it was like to grow up in a single place."

He kneels in the dirt and brushes away a thick layer of dust from the stone. "It was... It was alright. Wasn't the worst way to grow up."

Alucard runs his hand over a pillar. "How old were you when your family home was taken?"

"pff... Thirteen, fourteen... Something like that."

Despair crosses Sypha's eyes. "You've been on your own since you were thirteen?"

"Maybe twelve. Who remembers that sort of thing."

"Twelve..." The vampire muses.

"Is there a point to these questions?"

"I am disturbed to find I had more of a childhood than you did."

"And your dad's f*cking Dracula."

Silence elapses for a few seconds, broken quickly by all of their quiet laughter as they move on to another room.

Lifting up a couple of stones, Trevor discovers part of a bronze door with his family symbols emblazoned on the metal.

"I think this is it." He hands Sypha his torch and begins struggling to move the heavy debris.

"Your hidden entrance looks like a Hearthstone."

"Just help me clear it."

Alucard just starts effortlessly flinging the debris aside with one hand as if he were just throwing pebbles.

Trevor and Sypha just watched, stunned.

"Congratulation. Looks like you've discovered a big piece of stone."

"It's the door." Belmont grumbles.

"Do we lift it or..."

Alucard answers Sypha's question by trying just that, but the heavy slab of bronze doesn't move.

"That's odd. I don't seem to be able to get any purchase on it."

"Maybe it's an enchanted lock." (I suggest.)

Sypha runs her fingers over the symbols. "...Ah, I see now. You won't be able to lift it."

"Well... My family got it up somehow. I was taken down there as a child."

"Did you see them lift it?"

"No. They brought me through it once it was open. They told me they'd teach me how to do it one day, I suppose there was a... special trick."

"Were your parents magicians?"

"Not as such. I mean, they knew a lot, but this door was put in by one of our ancestors."

"Well, then I guess the "special trick" was passed down the generations, like the way we Speakers transfer knowledge. Your parents knew the trick, but didn't know where it came from or what it really was. ...Stand back."

Sypha hands Alucard her torch. An energy flows from her hands as she places them on the door. Ancient words spill from her tongue as the symbols glow brightly. Wings of light lift up from the metal and the door disappears, revealing a staircase leading down into the dark.

"Open Sesame."

"Was that an Inocian ward?" Alucard gives her torch back.

"Yes! I know that language."

"Well, well, naughty Belmonts hunting all the terrible things of the forest, but sitting on a magic door opened by a cult language."

"I didn't know it was a f*cking magic door. It doesn't make us black magicians."

"But you know the word "terroc" means death, right?"

"Shut up."

"It's the magical door of death, Belmont."

(I cover my laugh with my paw at Alucard's blunt remark.)

"Are you all coming or what?"

(The rest of us follow him down the dark stone stairs.)

The torchlight illuminates the walls of a room with tapestries hanging on the walls, embroidered with the Belmont symbol, and a picture of one of Trevor's ancestors hanging on the wall. A spiral staircase leads even deeper down.

"...Belmont isn't even a Wallachian name." (Sypha observes as we head down.) "That just dawned on me."

"No. The family's originally from the kingdom of France, but we moved out of there a couple hundred years ago."

"Moved or chased?" Alucard jokes.

"Moved. Thank you very much."

"With people running behind you waving pitchforks and torches?"

The blue jackal's laugh echoes around the empty space.

"No. No, we're professionals. We move where the work is."

"What does that even mean?"

(I guess,) "The Belmonts sound like nomads, and they followed the monsters around."

"She's right. All the dark things moved into the east. I believe it was a Leon Belmont who entered the region first."

Trevor pushes open a stuck door at the bottom of the staircase and they enter the Belmont's massive library and trove.

"They built this house... And dug the foundations for everything under it."

Sypha controls the fire from her torch and lights every oil lamp in the two-story room.

The light shone on dozens of books and past artifacts that were too long shrouded in the mire to be forgotten.

"My god..." The magician is in awe of everything she sees.

"My family..." Trevor runs his hand down the rail of another staircase as he descends. "All that's left of us..."

"Is it organized? Is there a way to find things?"

Alucard offers this sly remark. "I imagine one sacrifices a chicken and finds the book's location from the intestines. Maybe Belmont has a crystal ball in here we could ask."

(*Snicker*)

"Shut up..."

"It's an impressive tip, Belmont, but a tip nonetheless. Your ancestors were apparently mental hoarders. I fully expect to find family cats mummified underneath these shelves. ...Unless your family preferred to eat them."

"Ok, I say that's too far." (I hurriedly tug the half-breed the rest of the way down the stairs.)

"There's an index on the lectern at the bottom."

"So this really is a managed collection."

"It's the work of generations, Sypha. An archive of everything we've found and learned since the days of Leon Belmont."

(We divert. Trevor and Sypha split off one way while I follow Alucard another way. He shows various emotions of disgust looking at all the relics. I can kind of understand; he's a vampire, the Belmonts are vampire hunters.)

"What was your Leon Belmont doing in Wallachia?"

"Hunting Dracula." answers Alucard as his eyes scan over rows of vampire skulls.

Trevor leads his hand down a row of books. "...Here it all is then. The last of us." A mess of books and shelves catches his attention.

Broken boards are moved aside to reveal a chest plated with gold.

"Bloody hell... Is that what I think it is?"

"Careful, Trevor," Sypha jokes. "You almost sounded excited about something."

"It couldn't be... Could it?" He drags it into the center of the room and breaks open the lock.

The lion head's eyes burn yellow and the whole chest glows red. When the light fades, he eases it open.

Inside is an extravagant steel weapon with a red and black leather-bound handle.

Trevor takes it in his hands. "Beautiful..."

"What is that ugly thing?"

"I can't believe they hid it! It's the Morning Star!"

(A monster-hunting whip used by countless generations. I'm surprised it's still in good shape.)

Sypha flips through the index. "It's all here. You're right." She turns to Alucard. "This is quite amazing. Isn't it? It's amazing."

"Charming." He snides.

"You're not even a little bit impressed?"

"What do you expect him to say when he's staring at skulls of his ancestors?"

"Thank you, Blythe. This place is like a museum dedicated to the destruction of my species. So no, I'm not thrilled."

"Hmm... Tension. There's some in-fighting and secret plotting going on..."

"I assume you're referring to inside my father's castle again."

(I nod.) "You would assume correct."

"...Then we should waste no time in starting our research."
------------------------

A few more hours into the search and Belmont moves aside some curtains to reveal a shattered mirror.

"The hell is this...?"

Sypha looks up from her book. "You mean you don't know?"

"I don't know."

"This is your house."

"Do you know everything in your house?"

"I don't have a house."

"She doesn't have a house."

(I look up to where the voice came from and the half-breed Prince is just perched on top of the bookshelf, book in one hand, sword in the other.)

"She's a Speaker, a nomad." He leaps down from his perch.

"It was rhetorical..."

"A rhetorical house that she doesn't have."

"Just tell me what it is."

"...It was a magic mirror." Sypha observes.

"Also known as Distance Mirrors," Alucard traces the markings on the frame. "Some of them even allow matter to pass through them, but... ...No, this is just a simple remote-viewing mirror. A little of the activating language is chipped. A few of the runes need re-cutting, but workable. You have the most fascinating family junkyard, Belmont."

"You're a cockwart, Alucard."

Sypha takes Trevor's hand and pulls him away from the vampire.

"Stop it! You are an adult. You do not have to rise to his every barb."

"He's p*ssing me off like it's his job, Sypha!"

(I whisper in a whining tone to Alucard.) "Mom! Alucard's being mean to me!" (He and I both laugh at how childish Trevor sounded.)

"Grow up, Trevor. ...Why is your name Trevor, anyway?"

"I'm sorry?"

"I understand the 'Belmont" now, but 'Trevor' doesn't sound very local either."

"Oh. Well, so the story goes... A Celt rode out here with Leon back in the day and his name was Trefor, with an F."

"Trefor? I like that." She smirks.

"Oh, it's terrible..."

"Tref... Treffy?"

"Oh god no!"

"You are Treffy now."

"Don't!" He cracks a smile and they both end up snickering at that.
------------------

"Blythe." Alucard addresses the blue jackal as he flips through the index.

"Hm?"

"Any more news regarding the war council?"

"...Carmilla is a manipulating word I can't say. She's coaxing Hector onto her side to get the castle to Braila."

"What for?"

"She has a plan opposite from Dracula, that's all I can say for the momen-" Her eyes widen.

The vampire takes notice of her rigid stance. "What? Are you seeing something?"

Everything gruesome and pure fear overloaded her senses, her body shivered as she dug her claws into her arms.

"Too much... blood. Innocent lives falling under sharp steel and teeth, an entire village put to slaughter..."

She feels a gloved hand placed upon her back and it moves up to her shoulder.

"Perhaps you should go back home to avoid any more scarring imagery-"

"I am not leaving until this mission is over! ...Sorry. I know I get ill seeing gore everywhere, but I'm staying."

"I admire that, you know. You're a lot braver than most humans... even as a half-breed yourself."

"...Speaking of humans, Alucard, do you drink human blood?"

The vampire lowers his gaze for a moment. "If the answer was yes, would that make you fear me?"

She turns to face him. "Not at all. I ask because I've never seen you drink anything this whole trip."

"I assumed that doing so in front of my traveling companions would frighten them. And besides, I don't drink as often as regular vampires."

"Well... If you ever needed to... I would allow you." Her eyes stare off and she laughs.

"What's so amusing?"

"Punishment for your slaughter. There's one less evil vampire to worry about."
---
Meanwhile, amongst the bookshelves of the library section, Trevor and Sypha stop searching for the night.

The Belmont sits up against a chest, a dusty blanket encircling his shoulders while a candle flickers in front of him.

"...You ok?" He asks Sypha.

"Tired..."

"Sleep then."

"...A bit lonely."

Trevor lifts up a corner of the blanket. "My dusty old sheet is big enough for two. And nobody was ever lonely in this house."

The Speaker sits down next to him and he wraps the rest of the blanket over her shoulders.

"Thank you."

"Is Alucard asleep?"

"He says he's slept enough. He and Blythe are still poking around your family's things. It's lonely even when you're standing next to him. It's strange..."

"How so?"

"I'm not sure. He's intelligent, sometimes even witty in his way, and he's certainly half-human. More than half-human, he's a person in his own right, but it's like he's a cold spot in the room. It's not like your sadness."

"I'm not sad."

"Yes, you are. But I can shout at you or tease you and get a reaction that still lets me know you're in there. His sadness is like an icy well, it's bottomless, and it swallows up your voice or anything you try to drop into it."

"Am I really sad?"

"All the time. You don't even notice it now." She leans on his shoulder. "It's just how you are. ...And then, sometimes, you tell me no one's ever lonely in your house... and offer your stinky blanket..."

"Hm. In all honesty, that stink... might not be my blanket."

No response as Sypha has fallen asleep against his shoulder.

He smiles and slightly leans his head towards her while he tries to get some sleep as well.
-------

The next morning in the Belmont Hold, Kaitlyn and The Three Musketeers continue their search for information.

Trevor's poking around some old boxes on the first floor, whilst Alucard, Sypha, and Kaitlyn browse the books on the second floor.

"You know, coming from an all-memory based culture, you're very good with books." Alucard compliments Sypha.

"It would have been a poor education if we didn't learn to read to add to our memory stores. But... I am coming to the conclusion that my people are idiots and we should have written everything down."

"You could easily do that." (I chime in, focused on a red-leather bound novel in my paws.)

"Everything?" asks the vampire.

"Yes! All the things. Look at this, there's more in this room than a million Speakers could carry across two generations. This is insane! And the sheer breadth of information about the castle is staggering!"

"Mhm. But how much of it is useful?"

"Well, I do have questions about Trevor's ancestors. I discovered an entire box of spells about... penises."

(Both Alucard's and my eyebrows shoot up briefly at that statement, and I dissolve into laughter.)

"You're certain it was one of his ancestors? You didn't find it under his childhood bed?"

"Stop testing him, Alucard."

He grimaces. "I am concerned I have thrown my lot in with a demented infant."

"I imagine he has similar concerns about you."

"I am also concerned that you enjoy him too much."

Kaitlyn's ears swivel in interest to the next bit of conversation.

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

"He is unreliable, emotionally damaged, and apparently very distracting to you when you should be focused on the task at hand."

Sypha shelves the book she was holding. "Oh, I'm sorry, am I not working hard enough?"

This conversation carries over as they pass by the man they're discussing.

"-And he's a drunk, and self-destructive, and anybody who's traveling with him and trying to hold onto him will simply be dragged down with him."

"Are you done with your rant, Alucard?" (I snicker.) "Because you sound kind of jealous."

"I am no such thing."

Sypha huffs. "You're afraid. You're worried you might've made the wrong choice so you're trying to make him prove himself again and again by constantly provoking him. You forget, Alucard, Trevor didn't get to finish out his childhood. He's not the man here who may not have grown up."

"Well, that's ridiculous."

"And if we don't get this done, then we're all failing, aren't we?"

"We can't fail..."

Silence elapses until Sypha finds something among the pages of a green hardcover.

"Wait! Get me that volume back there! With the red spine."

"What have you found?"

"I'm not sure. The ritual language it's written in has forked a couple of times over the years."

"Can you read it?"

"Not without that book. It's based on Adamic, I recognize the roots. Now that book there claimed to be written in a language called High Remembrance, which I've heard of. This one has the Adamical roots and some structure of High Remembrance I think."

"I haven't heard of Adamic."

"Take a look." They swap books.

"Interesting. I see threads of Caldeic in it."

"You're rather well-read yourself."

"I had entirely different books under my childhood bed. My father was a polymath, my mother was a doctor, and I grew up very fast."

"What does that mean?"

"I'm being literal. I aged very quickly."

"How does that work?" (I tilt my head in puzzlement.)

Sypha's eyes widen briefly. "That may explain something."

"What?"

"Perhaps you are just an angry teenager in an adult's body."

(The look he gives her sends me into another laughing fit.)

"Oh sure, it's very humorous, Blythe."

"I'm sorry, Alucard, but that was too funny."
------------
~Evening~

"...The necromancers are unified on trying to convince your father to move the castle to Braila."

"Is that so?"

"It's part of Carmilla's plan. Though, Issac has already jumped the gun when it came to telling Dracula all of this."

"Jumped the gun...?"

"A term people in my age use to describe doing or saying something without thinking first."

"Your age? ...In what decade do you come from?"

"The 2,000's. Specifically, 2019 which I believe is... wow, 543 years into the future."

"Impressive. Do you have anything else to report?"

"...Your father used to be so vicious. He's tired. He's agreed to moving to Braila so long as every human dies."

"Do you think Carmilla is planning to use the river?"

"Unless she can find a priest willing to turn it to Holy Water- ...She actually might be."

Meanwhile, Sypha sets aside another book and reaches for the last one of the pile. She leafs through the pages until-

"Oh! This is- Trevor!"

"What?" He answers from below.

"I think I have something!"

"When I say what, that doesn't mean I would like to ask more questions."

"Would you please- you're so annoying- just stop!"

"Alright. I'm coming up."

"I think I found a locking spell! Wait, listen, your family has an entire literature about the castle. They tried for centuries to eliminate its main advantage."

(Alucard and I join her on the second floor.)

"It transports itself through magical means."

"Right." Trevor huffs. "So you can't just attack it if it jumps to somewhere else."

"Yes! So some clever Belmont eventually formulated most of a locking spell. A method to catch the castle and lock it down to a single location so that it can be invaded."

"Most of it?" asks Alucard.

"I can finish the final clauses of it myself. It's all based on Adamical structures."

"You keep saying that word."

"Adamic is the original human language. The language spoken by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The one that was split into all other languages in the Tower of Babel by God. To prevent human cooperation."

"And now I know why it's probably called Adamic." Kaitlyn muses.

"Is that how you understand that story?" Alucard inquires.

"Ah yes. The Speakers are the enemy of God. We live in cooperation and hide our stories inside ourselves so he cannot strike them down in jealousy."

*Rumble*

The room shakes without warning.

"See? God hates me."

*BOOM* *SHATTER*

The room shakes even more. Relics break from being shaken to the floor. Dust and dirt starts cascading from the ceiling.

*ROOOAAAAR*

The blood-hungry howl of night creatures manages to pierce through the walls.

"That's probably not God."

So the battle comes to them. A squadron of Night Creatures are released onto the Belmont Hold; a blindfolded walker, a winged plague bird, two gargoyles, and the one pounding on the bronze door was a fanged minotaur.

From inside, the group of four prepare for battle.

"Can we get that magic mirror working?" asks Trevor.

"I think so," Sypha leafs through book after book. "But I can't do two things at once here."

Alucard positions the mirror in the center of the room. "I know some Caldeic. I know how to operate a Distance Mirror. What shall I do?"

"Hm, I... can't do either of those things."

"Come on, Belmont! It's time to choose. You're either the last son of a warrior dynasty or a lucky drunk. Which is it?"

*CRASH*

"That bronze door won't hold for long." Kaitlyn takes off her necklace and turns it to a sword. "Trevor, you and I are going to hold off those monsters if they break through until Alucard and Sypha can get the mirror working."

"..." A look of determination sets on Belmont's features. "Ok. Get that mirror working, Alucard. Give me force numbers, species, and weapons account. Sypha will continue with her job for now. Blythe and I will fortify the point of entry."

The vampire uses his sharp nails to carve out the symbols on the mirror.

*THUD*

"I think we're going to see the size and dispositions of their attacking force fairly quickly with our own eyes, Belmont."

"I'm forced to agree. Do you have a further suggestion?"

"Why are you asking my advice?

"We're working together, Alucard. You're still a b*stard, but you're the b*stard I chose to fight alongside like back in Gresit. Do you have a problem with any of that?"

"None at all."

"So what do you suggest?"

*BOOM*

"Using this," He turns to the mirror. "To find Dracula's castle. Now. We're trapped in a box down here and will eventually be overwhelmed. ...Unless we change the nature of the battle."

"Agreed. Sypha!"

"I'm close to getting it!"

"I'll protect you for as long as I can."

"I know."

Trevor uses the Morning Star to vault himself up to the second floor.

*CRASH*
 *ROAAAAAAAAAAAAAR*

The walkway underneath him splinters and he grabs onto the railing before falling through.

The minotaur has cracked the seal on the bronze door, allowing the walker to stab it with its dark rune spear.

The protection spell is growing weaker with each impact.

"Trevor!" (I hold out my paw and he uses me to swing back up onto the rest of the walkway.)

(A quick dash up a separate staircase and we are back at the entrance to the library.)

Trevor grabs a loose board from a bookshelf and holds it up against the door.

(I place a paw to my head. You can't barricade a door with a loose plank and nothing else.)

"Trevor... *snicker* Trevor, that's not..."

He props the board up against the door, and it falls, pushing the door open.

"That's the exact opposite of a barricade."

He just huffs and leaves the room anyway to face the monsters at the spiral staircase.

(And I follow.) "That boy rolled a 1 on ingenuity..."

*CRASH*

The bronze door is shattered. The army of Night Creatures start crawling their way down.

The Distance Mirror starts to work due to Alucard and Sypha's work as an image of Dracula's castle ripples onto the glass.

"There you are." The vampire snarls and his eyes turn a piercing red.
------

The same red flashes in Dracula's eyes as he heads toward the teleportation control for the castle.

He now knows that his son knows where he is.
-----

The castle disappears from the mirror as it moves to Braila, but Alucard manages to find it again.
-----

The doors to Dracula's castle finally open and the court of vampires prepare to capture the town.
-----

*CRASH*

Trevor and Kaitlyn halt in their race up the spiral. The stairs are crumbling from above.

"Looks like we meet them sooner than we thought." She readies her blade.

*CRASH*

"Oh for God's sake-"

*ROOOAAAAAAR*

The minotaur is the first monster to collide with them. It crashes right past them and takes the stairs from under their feet.

(Trevor whips onto a broken piece of wood to stop his fall and I follow suit with Vine Whip.)

The Belmont unsheathes his blade lets the whip untangle, he plummets straight towards the monster's head and strikes.

*CLANG*

His sword bounces off one minotaur's horn while the Morning Star wraps around both, allowing him to mount the beast.

He swings the blade around to the front of the monster and grabs the blade with his other hand.

*SHINK*

The steel bites into the minotaur's neck with a sickening squelch. It starts throwing its body around and knocks Trevor into the railing before flinging him into the stone wall with a hard thud. His sword still sticks out of the monster's neck.

"Ok. My turn." Kaitlyn lets go and dives blade first into the monster's back. Blood sprays onto her fur as the beast howls in agony and tries scrabbling for her with its massive hands.

The minotaur manages to grab her and crush the air out of her before slamming her 10 inches into the floor. It then stomps over to Trevor and brings its fists down.

He rolls out of the way before the attack hits and hurls a dagger at his sword, dislodging some of it.

*CRASH*

They fall to the bottom of the spiral and Belmont's sword finally slides free of the neck skin. He dodges another swing to retrieve it.

*SHING*

And cleaves one of the minotaur's legs in two.

*ROAAAAARRR*

The beast bleeds out and floods the stone.

(No time to take a breather. As I heave myself from the acrid smelling pool of blood, the blind walker plunges down from above with its spear.)
-----
~Braila~

Remember that priest that Kaitlyn cursed bloody murder at in Gresit? The body was brought to Hector.

And now Carmilla's scheme pieces itself together.

Silver hair, blood-red dress, and chain in hand she leads the undead priest and Hector to the river.
-----

"Are you kidding me?! That was her plan?!"

"What-"

*CLANG*

Trevor blocks a jab from the walker.

"ALUCARD!"

The vampire hears her fading shout from the library. He knows, he's watching it all happen.
-----
~Braila~

The undead priest blesses the entire river, turning it into Holy Water.

Carmilla's forces line up at the docks near the castle with numerous catapults.

Chains run underneath the water to the supporting beams of a bridge between two towers of the castle.

The signal is made.

The chains yank back and the stone support beams begin to crumble away, plunging Dracula's forces into the water.

The war council manages to escape their demise and retreat back into the castle.
-----

*SHRIEK*

The walker kicks Trevor in the stomach, making him fall into the blood.

A gargoyle, a lizard demon, and the plague bird start descending to join in on the fight.

(I use Hurricane and send it upwards, barring the cavalry from interfering for the moment.)

The walker and Trevor battle spear to blade.

*SHINK*

"Agh!" His hand gets cut and he loses grip on the blade. He switches to using the Morning Star and wraps the steel around the monster, wrestling it to the ground and taking hold of the spear.

*REEAAAARH*

(The lizard breaks through the gale force I conjured and heads straight for Trevor, its stomach glowing from an oncoming fire attack.)

"Flame Drake. Just what I needed in a hole full of paper."

He punches the walker away and-

*WHAP*

The glowing point of the Morning Star cuts into the flame drake's stomach.

*BOOM*

(The monster explodes in a ball of fire and the knockback sends us crashing back into the library.)

"Yeah sure *cough* this is just what we need." Kaitlyn snarls.

"Eh. Probably just as well why I didn't get to play with the whip when I was a kid."

*CLANG*

The walker comes through and knocks the Morning Star down the staircase out of Trevor's reach.

That doesn't stop him. He sweeps his legs under the beast and snatches the spear, snapping it in half. He brandishes the sharp end and stabs it straight through the middle.

Blood runs down the dark weapon onto the Belmont's hands.

"When you get back to whatever steaming underworld sh*t hole you came from, you tell them there are still Belmonts up here!"

*SQUELCH*

The spear is ripped out and the walker bleeds out on the floor.

*Flap*

With his back turned, the plague bird tries to get in a surprise attack.

It dodges the daggers that are thrown at it and rams into Trevor, knocking him over the railing.

He hangs into its foot and lands back onto the walkway, he rushes the monster with an onslaught of hits against the thing's rather sturdy beak.

*WHOOSH*

The monster gusts Trevor off of one walkway and onto another farther below. It dives towards him, intent to kill.

*CRACK*

One hard swing knocks the plague bird out of the air and cracks its beak.

It blocks Trevor's next attack with its wings and circle-throws him into a bookshelf.

"Trevor!" (I yell and make my way down.)

He spits on the floor and rushes the bird, continuing his assault with the two halves of the spear.

*SHATTER*

The beak is obliterated into pieces, revealing a god awful fleshy skull underneath.

*SHINK*

Trevor drives one half of the spear into the monster's chin and through the skull, sending it tumbling to the first floor.

(I join back up with him just as the gargoyle takes the plague bird's place on the walkway.)

*GrRRRRRRRR*

"You're an evil-looking b*stard, aren't you? Well, I'm armed with a... a stick! Hm?"

(*Snicker*)

"So, I'll understand if you want to run away now."

The gargoyle charges.

Kaitlyn vaults over Trevor and strikes the monster with Low Sweep.

*RAAAGH*

*ZAAAAP*

She makes it back off even more by surging 10,000 volts into its body with Thunderbolt.

"...The bloody hell are you, Blythe?"

"A monster."
-----
~Braila~

The catapults launch anchored bridges over the river and Carmilla's forces move forward to raid the castle.

Hector is now Carmilla's prisoner, he betrayed Dracula by helping her, and he's forced over the bridge to the other side.
-----

"That's it!"

Sypha has found the last inscription she needs to complete the locking spell. She starts to make her way back to Alucard.

*THUD*

A gargoyle lands in her path.

Trevor flying kicks it into the bookshelves in the back and rushes after it, allowing the Speaker to move past.

"Do you see the castle?" She asks the vampire.

"Take a look."

Dracula's castle is still showing in the glass.

"Good. Keep focused on it. I have to be able to see it to put my intent on it."

"Your intent?"

"That's all magic is Alucard, changing things in accordance with my intent. And my intent is to drag that grotesque thing here."

The paper with the spell burns up in her hand, transforming to azure lightning. The energy seeps into the mirror over the image of the castle.

A hexagonal sphere of energy appears for her to manipulate. No doubt it's connected to the transport system.
-----

Issac mobilizes Dracula's forces inside the castle.

Carmilla's forces prepare to battering ram the door down.

*BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG* *BANG*

The doors fly open and both forces meet in a savage bloodbath in the middle.

Issac runs to Dracula's room to warn him of the resistance.

The castle wavers.

Electricity runs itself over the teleportation mechanism as Sypha's spell starts to take hold.
-----

The energy flickers all over the castle as Sypha struggles to move it, sweat beading up on her face.

"Agh! It's... It's fighting me! It's like I'm pulling against an anchor and a water wheel all at once!"

*Crackle*

"He moves the castle using an engine. That's what's acting against you." Alucard stumbles as the Belmont Hold shakes.

The gargoyle Trevor and Kaitlyn are still fighting crashes through the railing of the second floor.

"SH*T!" Trevor grabs the Morning Star.

*WHAP*

The monster explodes into flames before it can attack Alucard and Sypha.

"Quick thinking." (I look around for any more of those dreaded Night Creatures.)

The lightning from Sypha's spell is setting the machinery ablaze and melting the steel gears.

"Do as your told!"

The castle shudders even more. It teleports briefly and crashes back into the same spot, then into the river.

The castle floods with blessed river water, finishing off a good amount of both Dracula's and Carmilla's troops.

*FLASH*

The castle shudders one last time and teleports out of Braila. It lands and the resulting crash shatters a part of the Distance Mirror and wrecks the teleportation mechanism.

The energy from the spell finally dissipates.

*Pant* "Hah... I did it!"

Alucard looks at the image. "Where did you land the castle, Sypha?"

"Right on top of us!" She claps. Then she realizes, "Oh. Hm, yes, I landed it on the surface right above this underground space that's probably only held up by wood and dirt."

*RUMBLE*

"Let's go."

Alucard takes one last look at the mirror.

...It's time to face Dracula.
------
~Nightfall~

Dracula's Castle opens its doors to let the remaining flood of Holy Water seep out.

Carmilla's remaining forces have almost been beaten by what remained of Dracula's army, himself included.

The whites of his eyes glaze over with red, and the moon follows suit, bathing everything in a bloody glow.

Alucard and Sypha are the last to leave the library when they meet again with Trevor and Kaitlyn.

"The staircase is a wreck," Trevor grumbles. "Not getting up there without ropes. Start looking." He looks up. "Damn... This is gonna be hard."

With the spiral staircase destroyed, our Speaker creates a circle of ice they stand on, and it slowly rises out of the hole.

"We don't need ropes. ...Here we go."

No one says a word. Everyone is contemplating their own thoughts about what's going to happen.

The blood moon casts its eerie light upon the four when they step onto solid ground.

Sypha heaves their ice pillar out of the hole and into the nearby forest.

Trevor looks questioningly at her.

"Well, I didn't want to leave it in there to melt and ruin all your beautiful books."

"It seems damp enough out here as it is." Alucard critiques.

"...Ah! But look!" She points to Dracula's Castle.

"You did it, Sypha." Belmont smiles.

"Yes, but seeing it... is something else entirely. I'm pretty good right?"

"You're the best."

(I give Sypha a pat on the back.) "Job well done."

"Alucard. Are you ready for this?"

"No. ...But let's put an end to this anyway."

And the war against Dracula begins.

There are still forces fighting inside... when the doors are opened.

And in that moment, the armies lock eyes with the enemy.

A Speaker magician, a powerful animal, the prince of the vampires, and the last of the Belmonts.

"Blythe and I terrify them, Sypha disorients them, Alucard goes over the top and we support him!"

"Yes!"

The vampire's sword hovers midair when he unsheathes it.

The jackal snarls, eyes turning red as well.

"Begin."

At Alucard's command, Trevor, Sypha, and Kaitlyn charge forward towards the council, and he follows closely behind.

(The war council and what's left of the two forces surge on us towards the center. Trevor lashes the Morning Star towards our enemy and nails one right out of the sky. The explosion knocks a few more forces to the ground. He's on the warpath, using the whip as an extension of himself to lash vampires left and right.)

Sypha gathers energy between her hands for a fire spell and launches it forward, creating a barrier in front of Trevor.

(Alucard and I dive forward into the flames, he transforms into a snow-white wolf, and we maul the enemy troops with our fangs. Alucard also has his blade constantly swing around him to stab attackers from behind or the side. He becomes himself once more and fights hand-to-hand, his blade still controlled by his powers.)

Sypha raises icicle spears from the damp floor into a circle, she stands side by side with Trevor. She dissipates the wall of fire and launches the icicles at two members of the council. The army troops get impaled along the way.

The council members split, and so do Trevor and Sypha, each taking one opponent.

Sypha is up against a dual-wielder. She manipulates her ice spear against her foe, turning it into a sharp panel of ice.

The vampire leaps on top of it and runs toward her. She waits until the last moment, then heaves the wall upward, cleaving her opponent in half.

Trevor is up against a staff wielder. Moving the Morning Star around him, he wraps up the vampire in the cold steel and knocks the glowing end into his enemy's mouth with his sword. He delivers a powerful kick and sends the "bomb" into the middle of more vampires, where it explodes and wipes out the entire group.

A gust of smoke swirls itself around Alucard and forms behind him as another vampire.

She launches her poison smoke but he uses his speed to dodge around it and behind her.

His blade cleaves right through her, but she dissolves into smoke.

While she thinks he's distracted, another female vampire dives for him from the ceiling, claws outstretched.

His blade whips behind him and blocks the attack.

But that distracted him, and an older male vampire strikes him out of the air, knocking him into a pillar.

"AGH!"

His blade clatters to the floor as the smoke lady returns.

(My rage is ignited. I lash out towards the older member in cold blood, but miss due to rage clouding my vision.)

Sypha casts an ice spell and freezes the smoke before the vampire can reform, and bringing her hands together, she pulverizes it.

Trevor launches into the air with Sypha's ice for help and wraps the Morning Star around the old member's feet.

Alucard grabs his blade and lunges toward the remaining female vampire and slices her head clean off.

Trevor drags his enemy straight to the ground and Sypha rushes in, burning the vampire to ashes.

*ROAAAAAAR*

Just as the "human" round ends, in comes the remaining creatures of the Night.

"I've had it!"

Still enraged, the blue jackal brandishes her Metal Claw and decapitates every single monster in her blind fury.

This stuns the 'Three Musketeers' and they just stand back.

Finally, the last creature falls, and Kaitlyn proceeds to poorly wipe the blood and guts off of her paws.

"Blythe..."

She smiles ruefully, "Never let me see you get hurt again, Alucard."

Clanging sounds draw their attention to the stairs where Issac has killed the last of Carmilla's troops.

The necromancer locks eyes with the half-breed Prince.

Alucard sends his sword, but Issac uses the dead vampire as a shield before retreating to the main hall.

"Your son is here."

"Alucard has entered the castle..."

"And a woman who stinks of magic, a hunter, and an animal."

The two retreat to Dracula's room.

"Behind me, Dracula! They will not reach you while I live."

"You would give your mortal life to preserve my immortal one?"

"To save your genius, your knowledge, your will, without question. I am just a Forge Master. Yours is the wisdom of ages."

"...You are the greatest of your people, Issac. You have a soul, I think."

Dracula's own mirror starts forming from collective shards on the floor.

"Perhaps that is more valuable to the world to come than a dusty collection of books. Or perhaps you simply deserve a better fate than to die instead of me."

"I choose my death as I chose my life."

A vacant desert appears in the mirror's image.

"Then I regret I have only taken a choice for you."

Dracula casts Issac through the mirror and into the desert.

The shards fall to the floor.

Dracula turns toward the door.

There, standing before him is his own son.

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Source: https://www.deviantart.com/kyr22/journal/Castlevania-Season-2-part-1-806548979

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