Chapter VI: Changing Knowledge
Simon walked into the next room, and pushed his way past the other hunters. He remained silent as Hugh and Trevor questioned him. The fourth monster to meet them was a Minotaur. It was larger than most, but certainly not the largest they had seen. It carried a large ax, and was glaring at the hunters in silence with eyes filled with bloodlust.
"I will be facing this one." Simon said simply as he walked towards the Minotaur.
No one said a word as Simon walked up to the monster casually. Each one was thinking what he had planned. The hunters had wanted to save Simon for the final fight as he was considered one of the most skilled hunters they had.
"What is he doing?" questioned Eric.
Simon was standing completely still in front of the Minotaur. He was glaring back at the monster with as much anger as it was him. He was unarmed, and as the Minotaur's ax rose into the air and came crashing down with unimaginable speed and force he remained unarmed.
"Simon!" Nathan yelled, but it was too late.
The ax hit Simon directly, or so it seemed. Simon was standing in the same spot where he had been, but the ax was imbedded in the stone floor mere inches from where he stood.
"It didn't hit him, but…" Hugh said with disbelief, "why? It had the perfect opportunity to hit him."
"I'll tell you why in a moment." Simon answered looking back at the stunned hunters.
Simon made his move as the Minotaur roared in anger. He jumped out of the way of another swing of the ax, and withdrew his whip. The battle lasted only three minutes before the monster was nothing more than a pile of ash at Simon's feet. He turned, and walked back to the others with a small smile.
"This is nothing more than a game." Simon stated as the door to the next room opened. "Whomever this being is wants us to spend as much time fighting his monsters as possible, so he increased their powers to their maximum."
"We already know that." Isaac said bluntly.
Simon smiled at him and continued, "Yes, however we thought the monsters were out for blood. We got so distracted by their increase of power that we failed to notice that Hugh and Nathan didn't get hurt that much."
At this realization set in. It was true that during the first three fights hardly Hugh, Nathan, or Trevor got wounded seriously enough to bleed.
"This is what I figure," Simon continued, "this man, thing, whatever it is, is trying to get us out of the picture for a little while so he can either observe or influence Serenity. The reason we can't sense her is because this part of the castle is in another plain."
"So we are still in the same castle. Damn, I have to say that's smart." Richter mumbled.
Eric nodded and said, "Yes, I am thankful you kept your head Simon. This will make the last two fights go by smoother."
As the hunters turned to advance Simon stopped them, "Hold on. We don't know for sure that the last two fights will be the same. That Necromancer was different from the other three monsters. He wasn't out to kill Trevor, but he was fighting more seriously than the others. If we run into another like him we'll have to be careful."
"What do you suggest?" Hugh asked, "We need to get out of here to help Serenity."
Before anyone could answer the door to the next room slammed shut, and Gabriel's voice greeted them, "Well now, it seems someone figured out my little game. Bravo Simon Belmont, bravo."
"We're still following the rules, and we intent to play this out to the end." Simon replied.
"Oh, I wouldn't have it any other way. In fact I am looking forward to you completing it to the end. I hope you all had your fun, because now I am raising the stakes." he laughed.
"Wait, before we go any further tell me what you did to my sister." Eric demanded.
"Sweet Serenity is perfectly safe, I assure you. Did you like the show I put on for you?" Gabriel cooed.
"Damn it! You did all of that just because you knew we were watching?!" Isaac erupted.
Gabriel laughed once more, "Certainly Isaac, I needed to get under your skin, and I can see that it worked. Things did not go quite as I had planned, but Serenity and I have all the time in the world to be together now."
Hugh was shaking with fury as he yelled, "She's not yours!"
Suddenly a puff of black smoke formed in the center of the room, and they saw the owner of the voice for the first time.
His red eyes burned as he stated in a whisper, "I made her mine."
"Who is that?" Nathan asked, "His power…it's…"
"It's far too great." Alucard finished. "I know this man, or at least…"
"I do as well…" Simon said.
All of the hunters were in a state of shock, and none of them could move. Gabriel stood before them letting his entire dark power rise to the surface. He was pleased to see that they could not put a name to his face. How amusing. Serenity knew him, yet members of his past family could not even remember his previous name.
"Why do you go by the title Dracula?" Alucard asked.
Gabriel smiled at the other's son, "I do not have the time nor desire to tell you that. You will face two more of my monsters, however they have orders to kill you all. As such all of you can fight at once if you like, I no longer care."
"Fine," Trevor shot back, "but if we win this little game of yours we are coming to you for answers. And we will get answers."
Gabriel was silent as he glared at Trevor. Hatred rose within him so strong that he almost charged him right then and there. It was only thinking of Serenity that his rage subsided.
He smiled and his eyes grew deeper red as he declared in a harsh voice, "I'm counting on it. Oh, and if you thought the previous demon's powers were at their maximum, I assure you that they were not. Their powers were nothing compared to the final two."
With that Gabriel vanished in a cloud of black smoke. The door reopened to the next room and the hunters continued in silence.
Zobek was standing next to the large window in the room as he finished telling Serenity Gabriel's tale. He started at the very beginning when Gabriel served the Brotherhood of Light, then went into detail about the death of Gabriel's betrothed Marie and the battle between him and Lucifer. Serenity stood watching him as he moved from the window back to the center of the room.
"That still doesn't explain what he wants with me. I know I'm not a replacement, because I've been through all of this before with…" Serenity began before Zobek interrupted her, "Yes I know,"
Zobek had to use all of his will to keep from laughing. The girl still did not understand. "You hold a special place in Gabriel's heart. He learned of you years ago when you first battled Dracula. The Brotherhood sent several warriors to the castle that night to report on the outcome of the battle."
Serenity's eyes widened, "They knew about it? Why didn't they do anything? If they had helped we could have ended it that night!"
This time Zobek could not hold back his laughter, "Do you honestly think it would have made a difference? You have three of Gabriel's family members in your organization, three of the best hunters that ever walked the earth and still Lord Dracula remains a threat."
Serenity remained silent for a time. Lighting flashed outside and a rumble of thunder followed shortly after. Turning her gaze to the window she could just make out the throne room through the heavy rain. "Gabriel," she said quietly, "Zobek, does he have a direct relationship to any of the Belmonts that have been brought through time?"
"Yes," he said with an evil smile, "he is Trevor Belmont's father."
Serenity's heart raced, "Trevor's father? Then he's Simon's grandfather…oh no…"
"Be at ease Serenity," Zobek cooed, "there's no reason for them to know. Gabriel just reveled himself to them and neither Trevor nor Simon recognized him."
"He didn't…" Serenity started.
"I assure you they are all quite safe." Zobek said. Serenity breathed a sigh of relief as Zobek concluded their conversation, "The reason they don't know him is because Gabriel vanished before they even knew him. Trevor was placed into the care of the Brotherhood as an infant, and of course they couldn't let him know who his father was. Both Trevor and Simon were taken out of their respective time by Saint Germain before they could learn of their past, and because of that none of the Belmonts who came after them knew either."
"I must be going now, but I will answer your question before I leave. The reason Gabriel wants to protect you so much is to free the Spirit of Hell from your body, and use it against Lucifer. If he succeeds Chaos and Lord Dracula will follow Lucifer to oblivion. He wants to free mankind from them, and he knows your past is bathed in as much blood as his, so he wants to free both of you from that pain."
Before Serenity could ask anymore of him Zobek vanished before her. At least now she knew what was going on. She walked over to the window and looked up to the throne room. It would not take her long to get there if she kept moving. One thing about the situation still bothered her.
If Zobek were telling the truth, it would not explain how Serenity kept having dreams about Gabriel. In theory she should have been having dreams about him for years, if she would even have them at all. It was clear that Gabriel was not the cause of her dream, so what was? Drawing herself away from the window Serenity continued through the castle.
All she had to do was get up to the seventh floor, cross the bridge to the tower, and enter the throne room. If she continued at her current pace she figured she could get there within an hour. She needed to talk to Gabriel, and now that she was thinking about him she actually wanted to see him.