Prologue:

Castle Iocus loomed above the province of Vanus Conatus like a twisted bird of ill omen. Though its nobility were purportedly long dead, its bowels were still filled to bursting with their experiments. For miles around there was naught but wasteland, as though the taint of evil had cursed the ground to barrenness. The thought of that horrible place inspired fear into the hearts of even the most stalwart hunters. To approach the castle was foolish to the extreme, to enter it suicide, especially during the long night.

A tall, slight figure walked out of the castle's large entrance hall just as the sun began to peak over the horizon. The coloured lights of morning showed that the creature was a handsome youth of inhuman beauty. He gazed toward the distance with a pure and devastating melancholia that hurt the heart that would witness it. He stood alert yet seemed completely lost within his own quiet contemplation. A pale hand emerged from his long cloak, touching near his heart. He tapped his fingers three times and narrowed his eyes. His hand moved up toward his neck, tugging back his collar and groping inside somewhat desperately.

The ethereal man looked behind him, into the interior of the castle. He glimpsed back once, toward the day and sighed visibly. He turned elegantly on one heel and strode back inside. He swerved erratically over the ornate, but fading, carpeting before disappearing down a side passage. He confidently ran down a twisting stairway, occasionally having to jump over the bodies of hideous beasts that he had likely killed himself. He stopped after a time, in front of a large suit of armour. It had a bright, blue pendant snagged on its spear. The youth reached for it, slicing his thumb as he took hold of the trinket. He frowned at the wound before again retracing his steps.

When he again entered the illuminated hall he reached up to fasten his necklace. For a short moment his focus fell onto the parrot clip that secured it. In that moment he tripped, throwing his adornment forward with his newly acquired momentum. He pushed his right arm forward to brace for impact but hit nothing but air. He fell.

The necklace landed safely on the carpet but the stunning youth was nowhere to be seen.

----------

Walter entered Integra's office bearing tea in one hand and bad news in the other. She accepted the former while he gave her the latter.

"Sir, I'm afraid that Seras has gone missing within the Wepcom complex." His ageing face pinched together unhappily as he said the words, "It seems that there is far more to it that Lord Horatio led us to believe."

"In what sense?" Integra breathed in the steam from the tea, apparently unaffected by the situation.

"The geese have thoroughly explored all five floors of the institution and have been unable to locate her." Walter paused, "They also have yet to find any of the beasts that were reported."

Integra snorted.

"I knew that he'd built subterranean floors to that laboratory, trust Seras to find them."

Integra stood and gathered her coat.

"I'll send Alucard ahead, would you mind preparing a car, Walter?" she drew a cigar from within the confines of her breast pocket, "I have a feeling that tonight is going to be an interesting night."

She snipped the end of the cigar and lit it with poise unusual to the act of smoking. She inhaled, she exhaled and she walked away.

Thank you to everyone that's stuck around long enough for me to update this annoyingly time-eating parody of mine. The story is now finished in its entirety and edits have been made to the old chapters to make certain characters motivations more apparent and also to aid in the legibility of the plot. You may notice that I renamed the Castle in the Prologue, I only did it because it occured to me that Nightbreak might sound as though it was an unintentionally silly name. Now it's poorly translated latin fun, which sort of ties in with slight HP lampooning that happens later on... I'll post a new chapter every few days until I hit the Epilogue.