PART 1

Am I Kid Dracula?

Samuel Cruz didn't know much about funerals. Being only nine years old, his parents had decided he'd be more comfortable staying at home while they attended Julius Belmont's. Julius was one of the many interesting friends Soma and Mina had, along with Genya Arikado, who was often like an older brother to Sam (and sometimes like a much older brother), and Henry Oldrey (nicknamed "Hammer" to distinguish him from his ancestor), a man who was currently looking after Sam while his parents were away.

Usually, Hammer was one of those people who, despite having no children of his own, really knew how to keep them entertained. But not today. Today, he seemed quite distracted, and Sam guessed that whatever was distracting him was quite a serious matter indeed. He spent most of his time looking out of the window closest to the front door, and whenever Sam asked him why he'd answer with something along the lines of "I'm just hoping your parents get back soon."

For some reason, Hammer was most nervous while watching a black cat wander back and forth just outside the house. To Sam, it didn't seem to be doing anything out of the ordinary for a cat, although at times it seemed unusually large. The way it was toying with its apparent prey (whatever and wherever it was) was especially cat-like. But the moment they both lost sight of it was the moment Hammer really started to panic.

"What's going on?" Sam said. "What's this about?"

"Hopefully, it's nothing," Hammer said unconvincingly. "But sometimes, on a bad day like this, there are some nasty people out there who want to make it even wors-" He interrupted himself with a start when the doorbell rang, and he quickly retrieved a small satchel he'd brought with him before going to answer. Sam was now just as curious as he'd been when he first saw the bag and Hammer told him not to look inside.

When he finally opened the door, Hammer was greeted with the sight of a beautiful dark haired woman in an elegant black dress. The very sight of her quickly turned him into a stuttering mess, and while Sam found this typical considering the man's past experiences with pretty ladies, that observation for some reason wasn't as humorous to him as it might have been under different circumstances.

"Y-yes?" Hammer finally managed. "Can I help you?"

"My name is Marcilla Karnstein," she said, "and I'm here to see Samuel Cruz."

Hammer averted his gaze and returned his attention back to Sam. "Sam, do you know this lady?"

"No," he said, "but if she's dressed like that… maybe she wants to go to the funeral too?"

Marcilla laughed. "Oh, I would if I had the time. But unfortunately, my schedule just isn't that forgiving right now." She grabbed Hammer by the chin and forced him to look at her again. "I need to speak with Sam before it's too late."

To her surprise, Hammer suddenly looked more focused and clear-headed. "And how late is too late?" He said. "By any chance, would it be too late by the time his parents got back?"

He's catching on, Marcilla thought. He's a lot more prepared than I'd expect from someone like him.

During her hesitation to answer, Hammer showed just how prepared he was by reaching into the bag, producing a pocket mirror and holding it at an angle so that it pointed at her face, and a quick look down gave him the split second's worth of the confirmation he needed before Marcilla hissed violently and threw the mirror onto the floor, shattering it instantly.

"Sam, run!" Hammer cried. "This woman is dangerous!"

Sam immediately obeyed without taking a moment to consider the question of where to. By the time he was hidden, he'd heard enough gunshots to lose count and two agonized screams, first from Marcilla and then Hammer. But the silence that followed was even worse. He barely knew this woman, but there was still a firm, unshakable feeling that in a confrontation like the one he'd just heard, she was more likely to walk away from it than Hammer, an experienced soldier.

Sam still didn't know what the black cat outside the house had had to do with all this. But he was starting to feel like the answer was now just barely out of reach, as though he were trying to remember a dream he had the night before, only for a glimpse of it to come back for a split second before he remembered even less of it. The point was that Marcilla had something in common with that cat, but it wasn't until she finally found him that he realized what it was: They were both toying with their prey in the same way.

"There you are," she purred. "Luckily... it's still not too late to do what I came here to do. As a matter of fact, it's…" She suddenly coughed up some blood, staining his white shirt. "...It's even more urgent now." She looked meaningfully at a gaping wound in her arm, which Sam had already been staring at since she got there. "I'd say something reassuring, like 'it's nothing', but honestly… silver hurts. Maybe one day, you'll find out just how much… but hopefully you'll have someone to kiss it better. Like me!"

Before he could manage a 'what', he felt two sharp points enter his neck, but in a lot of ways it felt more like an exit than an entry, because practically everything inside him seemed to disappear into those two points. By the time they were finally gone, he was too numb to notice, and in his hazy mind only one coherent thought stood out.

I'm dying.

For Soma and Mina, nothing could more bluntly inform them that the worst case scenario had come true than the sight of their house from just a few yards away. Broken windows and a wide-open front door displaying a dead body would be distressing enough for any couple, especially one with a child inside the house in question. But for Soma Cruz, anything that would be distressing to a normal person had the potential to be catastrophic for him and those around him, and whoever was responsible for this knew that all too well.

Once inside, they quickly worked out where Sam might have hidden from a disaster like this one, and found a woman that neither of them had actually met, but Soma knew from memories he'd gained during an incident where he wasn't quite himself.

"Carmilla."

The woman turned around, revealing the copious amounts of blood on both her mouth and Samuel's.

"You've come at a bad time," she said casually. "I thought some of my blood would be enough to revive him, but… I must have taken too much from him. It's such a shame… he would have made such a lovely vampire. Like Dracula Junior… no, Kid Dracula!"

It was obvious she was trying to make him as livid as possible. He'd been taught for over a decade how to control his anger, but in his hazy mind only one coherent thought stood out.

It's working.

Carmilla could clearly see what he thought of her efforts, but she wasn't done yet. "And don't think I've forgotten about you," she advanced towards Mina, "Miss reincarnation of a reincarnation of another goddamned reincarnation." She took a moment to compose herself. "What did Dracula see in you? What did any of them see in you? Cronqvist, Harker… and now this man." She felt the man in question grab her by the shoulders and drag her away.

"That's much more than enough," he seethed, reaching into his pocket for a knife.

"Oh dear," she said, focusing most of her effort on making her dodge and the ones that followed seem effortless, "more silver? Didn't I already say there's barely any blood left in your boy? If I got hurt again, who would I turn to? You're far too important to lose any of yours, and the very thought of taking hers makes me want to retch." She finally knocked the knife from his hand. "Vampires are supposed to drink the blood of the living, and in all four of her lifetimes this woman's only purpose has been to die." She opened her palm, and a spark expanded into a fireball directly above. "So let's get that out of the way with an old favorite. This should bring back some especially warm memories…"

The fireball disappeared, but before either Soma or Mina could wonder if anything was actually going to happen, she allowed a massive pillar of flame to appear around Mina, burning continuously until it left nothing but bone, then ash.

Carmilla watched the fire disappear proudly as she felt something far more intense burn behind her. As much as she wanted to turn and watch, she knew what she'd done had rid her of any right she may have had to do so. A good deed, she mused, was its own reward, even if it was followed by a brutal punishment.

Finally, she recognized the hand of Dracula as it forced her to turn and face him. Soma's anger had been replaced with a fury that made the former seem like childish pouting in comparison.

"It is so wonderful to have you back, Lord Dracula," Carmilla said. She knew he wouldn't reply, just as well as they both knew what he'd do instead.

Samuel was especially lucky to have missed the details of Carmilla's execution, not that waking up to what was left of her was much better. He quickly diverted his attention to something he could just barely recognize as his father. His appearance was roughly the same, but what was most surprising was seeing what little feeling remained in his eyes. It was clearly the same kind of pride for a son that Sam had seen so often in Soma's eyes, and even though something was still clearly off about it, it was reassuring to see all the same.

"Your new life has begun, my son," he said. "As has mine. The world deserves to know of such a miraculous return. Let me show you where we can begin."

Sam's shaky hand joined his supposed father's as they left the house together. They were barely out of the door when Sam noticed an innocuous object that once again brought back the feeling of remembering a dream for a split second. It was the first time he actually started to question this 'new life' of his, and so he couldn't stop himself from picking it up and taking it as a memento of the life before. He somehow knew that barely anything was left of that life, and that made it all the more important to him to hold onto what little there was.

With a curious glance, Dracula saw that his son was now carrying an umbrella that looked like it was intended for an adult rather than a child. A quick peek into Soma's leftover memories showed that he had brought it to Julius Belmont's funeral, but dropped it outside his house upon seeing the state it was in. Returning to his own mind, he decided there wasn't a problem with Sam deciding to keep it. He knew what kind of power some things could gain from sentimental value alone, and he was curious to see what would become of something this unusual.

A/N: Oh no it's back, which is a terrible thing to say when you hope no one remembers the original. Those of you here for the Touhou side of it hopefully won't have to wait too long for the next chapter to start with that. But maybe by then I'll have scrapped this too in favor of a Bloodstained/Len'en crossover.