A/N: The title is from "In a Grove", the story the movie Rashomon was based on. Which should tell you everything you need to know about this story.
This isn't really a sequel per se, but assume Blood Relations happened. So Soma knows Arikado is a vampire, but thinks he's a full vampire turned by Dracula instead of the truth.
Soma's 20th birthday party was winding down. The drunk and rowdy college students were slowly winding their way home, helped by sober friends and quiet cab calls. The one passed out on the floor was shaken awake and sent on his way. Julius shut the door behind himself after escorting the last of them out to the curb and gave rather exaggerated sigh.
"Sorry about all that," and Soma sounded honestly apologetic. "I was thinking this would be a quiet thing, just you guys and one or two of my college friends, but then Junko brought like everyone she knew. I didn't mean to make you two be the party dads. I hope it was fun anyway?"
Fun. Arikado took a long, slow look over the backroom of Hammer's store. The loud children had left beer cans piled in the corners and on boxes, even smashing a few boxes in their enthusiasm. He couldn't recall ever having been this ill-mannered. By some miracle no one had vomited and there wasn't any blood. In the end, he supposed, that was the important part. He shook his head and addressed Soma. "You should help clean up."
"Yeah, of course! Least I can do. I would've done it at my place, but you can barely get two people in there and Hammer has this nice big area - plus, he volunteered."
"Mmm." Arikado couldn't imagine volunteering to have multiple loud children run wild in his home, but perhaps it was a human thing. They seemed to enjoy being part of a teeming mass. His human grandfather, the one he had known, had always... He shoved the thought away. Anyway, watching Soma try alcohol for the first time had been entertaining. 20 years was far too late for such things.
Julius sat down beside him and they shared a look of quiet exasperation. "Youth," Julius said, shaking his head. "Wasted on the young."
"Tch, whatever, old man," Soma took another gulp of the water Yoko had been forcing on him for an hour now. "It was fun."
"Still, Soma..." Mina was drinking her own water and obviously trying not to yawn while doing it. "Be more careful in the future, okay? ...though I don't think Hammer minded so much." The man in question snorted in his sleep, but otherwise didn't move from where he was passed out on the floor.
"I told you he wouldn't!"
The thread of conversation broke then. Soma and Mina kept drinking water, Yoko kept forcing water on them, Julius closed his eyes and possibly fell asleep, and Arikado stared out the small, high window. There was a persistent sense of the party being over, but no one quite wanting to leave.
It was Yoko who broke the silence. "So! Soma, Mina, how are your studies going?"
"I'm pretty sure I told you that already," Soma replied, and drained his latest cup.
"You did not. More water." She poured Soma another cup and got a grumble in return. "More. Water."
"They're going great, Yoko!" Mina said brightly. "Before you ask, I'm showing up for all my classes, unlike some people." She gave Soma a none-too subtle dig in the side and started chattering about everything she was learning, with appropriate 'oohs' and 'interesting!'s from Yoko. "I'm glad I went into Biology," she finished up, "I like it enough I'm almost not sure what I want to do afterward, if I can maybe put off taking over the Shrine for a few years or not... I mean, it would be a waste to spend this much time learning and never use it, right?"
"Humph, that's for later," Soma said. "I'm not even sure what I want to do now. And yes, I do go to my classes, Mina. Most of the time. It's just...it's weird, I like history a lot. The great sweep of events, the little details, how we got here, how it all fits together - I really like it! But I also like chem. So I can't decide which I want to actually settle down and study."
"Mm-mm," Yoko nodded. "Well, I never had that problem so much. I knew I was going to be a witch for the Church ever since I was a little girl, so it never mattered what I studied. I'm a bit like Mina that way. I went into Literature just because it sounded fun and I liked reading." She pulled a face. "I've read maybe two books for pleasure since."
"Rough." Soma took another drink. "Hey, what'd you two do? Arikado, Julius?"
Arikado tried to remember the last degree he had gotten. "Law." He was pretty sure it had been law; the world moved so fast these days it was all he could do to keep up. The ancient knowledge of alchemy, taught to him by Dracula himself...it had held for nearly a thousand years, but was wiped away a few decades into the 19th century! And now, now as soon as he learned anything, it was completely obsolete the next day. He felt always that he was barely treading water in an endless ocean of knowledge and the worst part was that everyone, every single human he met, believed that normal!
"Law?!" Hammer tried to scramble to his feet and nearly upset the coffee table he had been sleeping under, sending Mina sprawling and Soma flinging himself backward to keep control of his drink. "Sorry, sorry! Sorry! Woke up a bit too fast, ya know? Anyway, ya know law? Could ya, as a favour - but I'd pay ya back soon as I can - "
"My speciality was criminal law."
"Aww damn!" Hammer hung his head. "I need someone that knows business and finance...I barely graduated high school, I'm not figuring this out on my own..." He hung his head, the disappointment radiating off him in waves. At least until he abruptly stood up and strode off to the bathroom, in time followed by Soma and a bit more apologetically, Mina.
Arikado kept the fact he hadn't bothered to take the bar to himself.
After all business was taken care of Julius spoke up. "Well, I went to seminary myself. I don't regret it, though I don't use it much these days."
"Seminary? Like, to become a priest?" Mina asked.
"At the time, I had just lost my memory. I had access to a bank account someone had set up with a fake name and address with enough money to survive, but no idea who I was or what I should be doing with my life. But I felt...called, somehow, and the path of a priest seemed to fit. At least it offered a clear route and structure to life that I desperately wanted. I studied, I graduated, and I was about to enter the priesthood when I realised, after eight years, that I hated Church authority and wanted nothing to do with it." He humphed and threw back his own drink. "So I wandered instead. I suppose you could call it freelancing."
"How very Belmont of you." Yoko giggled a little at her non-joke.
"And that's what you were doing when we met, right? That's cool," Soma said, then blinked and turned to Yoko. "How...'Belmont' of him?"
"Where the Belnades clan has always worked hand in hand with the Church, if not fully a part of it, the Belmonts go their own path. That's all!" She gave Julius a sly smile. "An ancient family of anarchists, they are."
Julius gave another humph. "We have our reasons."
There was another lull in the conversation, this time broken by Soma, who had clearly been thinking as hard as he could. So hard that steam might start coming out of his ears at any moment. "So how did the Belmonts get into this whole Dracula-hunting thing, anyway? It's a weird family business, if you ask me."
"Not that you're biased, of course," Julius said dryly. He continued over Soma's sputtering. "So you want to hear the origin of the Belmont clan, the story of my ancestor Leon Belmont and his tragic battle? All right, I can tell you."
"Yeah, sure! If you don't mind." Soma said, with Mina and Hammer chiming in their agreement.
As Julius began, Arikado swirled the drink he hadn't touched all night and remembered the last time he had heard that story, centuries ago...
"All right, then listen. Long ago, back when there were knights and castles, there was a knight named Leon Belmont. He served as a cavalryman in the Byzantine Army, around the time of the First Crusade, though it's unrecorded if he actually saw action there or not. Either way, he was a brave and strong warrior, called undefeatable, called a genius of the battlefield. He would ride to action on a great charger, striking down his enemies with lance and sword. Under his blades innumerable enemies fell. Not only that, but he was a master of strategy. He could plan an action that would rout the enemy with minimal damage to his own men and was called 'Leon the Wise'. By the time he returned home from his adventuring he was a famous and well-honoured man.
"But he returned home to tragedy.
"For in that time, Dracula already existed. He stood on the ramparts of his castle knowing that no one could dare challenge him, the strongest of all vampires, the king of the night. He would often steal maidens from local villages - for Dracula has always had a weakness for human women - and marry them whether they wanted to or not."
Soma interrupted, "Whoa, seriously? Everything I find out about this guy makes him creepier."
"A few of them did apparently fall in love with him, and those times heralded great peace in the land," Julius said. On seeing Soma and Mina's sceptical looks, he added, "No, really."
Mina made a considering noise. "Well, there are all those vampire romance books and manga and stuff. I guess it's a possibility. I dunno if Dracula would be a great catch, though..."
"Hey, I'm an awesome catch. You all should be going out with me. All of you," Soma said.
"You're not the same and you know it!"
"Well, there's someone for everyone, they say! No matter how crazy a person it takes," Yoko added brightly. Arikado very deliberately said nothing, and Yoko suddenly became very interested in the far wall. "Hahaha... Well, Julius! Please continue!"
"Anyway, Leon returned home from the Crusade only to find that his newly-wed wife had in his absence been kidnapped by Dracula. Her name was Sara, and she was a beautiful and kind woman who often did work for the poor in their lands. But that same beauty had caught the eye of Dracula, and so she was spirited off to his castle, Leon in dogged pursuit.
"Leon wasn't stupid, so he gathered a squad of men to go with him on his mission. But as soon as they stepped into the gate, they were set upon by skeletons who never fell. No matter how they hacked at the living bones with their swords, no matter how many times they broke the skeletons down, they would always simply reform and attack again. Within the blink of an eye, most of the squad was wiped out, and the rest ran in fear away from the castle, back to relative safety. Leon was left alone in front of the castle gates, shaken and without hope.
"But then a ray of pure sunlight pierced the eternally darkened woods. When Leon turned toward it in wonder, a spirit appeared within. The spirit spoke to Leon, saying 'Who are you, and what do you do here?'
"Leon replied, 'I am Leon Belmont, soldier of the Romans. My bride has been kidnapped by the vampire of this castle and I seek her return. But my weapons find no purchase on these monsters, and my men have abandoned me and fled. I know not what to do.'
"'The creatures of the night cannot be defeated with any ordinary weapons,' the spirit told him. 'But do not fear. Are you willing to take up arms alone against this entire castle to save your beloved?'
"'If there are arms that can harm these creatures I will take them gladly, and if I must fight alone to save my wife then that is what I will do,' Leon said.
"'Take this whip, blessed with holy power. With it you may defeat all the creatures of this castle - save Dracula. His evil is too strong for anything of this world to destroy.' With that, the spirit and the light faded from view, leaving on the ground only a leather whip. Though Leon was sceptical of how a simple whip could destroy the skeletons when his own blade did nothing, he had faith in the spirit. And when he once again walked through the gate, the skeletons fell at the simple touch of the holy whip."
"Whoa...was that the same whip you use now?" Soma asked.
Julius nodded. "Yes, that very whip. It has been passed down through my family until this day."
"It hasn't worn out? It's got to be really old! Hundreds of years, right?" Mina leaned forward, eyes wide.
"Uh...First Crusade, end of the 11th century...yeah, pretty close to a thousand. Give or take sixty years or so," Soma said. "Man, you'd think the leather would rot or something in all that time."
"It's magic, so it doesn't wear out. Any more smart questions? Very well.
"Leon fought his way through the castle, defeating each of Dracula's minions in turn. It was dark, and he was wounded many times, but his faith never wavered, and by that and the strength of his arms he carried through. Hm, this is usually where I'd go over every monster he fought and how he defeated them - there's a lot of useful information in there - but you've all already met them. I'll skip it.
"So Leon fought his way through the castle, beating monsters like Medusa, mummies, gigantic bats, and even Death, Dracula's constant companion. At last he reached the throne room of Dracula himself, where he found both the vampire and his wife waiting for him. Sara ran up to Leon and embraced him, but it was already too late. On her neck were two bloody holes.
"Dracula laughed, vicious and ugly. 'Give up, Belmont!' he mocked. 'I have already made her one of my own creatures! Leave now, and I may yet spare your miserable life!'
"'Fiend!' Leon spat, but he knew he could do nothing. At that time, no method existed to save those touched by a vampire's kiss. Their only fate was to die a human, or to sink into an eternally cursed half-life, forever denied heaven. Leon could not bear it. He could not bear the thought of losing Sara to death, but neither could either of them live with her becoming a heartless monster that existed merely to prey on humanity."
"Hey! Hey! That's really rude with Arikado sitting right there!" Soma burst out. "It is totally okay to be a vampire as long as you aren't a dick about it." He folded his arms and glared around the table, Mina nodding along at every word.
Arikado closed his eyes. He hadn't even wanted Soma to know about his curse in the first place, but it had happened. Then the boy had somehow gotten the idea he just needed to be more positive about it and the entire problem with being a monster born of the darkness would be solved. And he'd gotten Mina in on it too...he couldn't blame them, with the false information they had, but listening to them was a uniquely grating experience.
"That's right! It's not the outside, but the inside that counts! We proved that all with Soma in the castle, didn't we? As long as your heart remains yours, nothing else matters," Mina said stoutly. "Right, Arikado?"
Arikado again deliberately kept his silence. When it became obvious he wasn't going to say anything Julius coughed and continued.
"Well, that was what Leon thought about it. It's a difficult thing, for a human to turn into a vampire. It's true, some of them manage to restrain their bloodlust - but most lose their soul. Now, sometimes the process can be reversed if they haven't been fully turned, but that's a very recent development and requires a skilled mage to perform. It wasn't even really proven possible until World War II. Leon was a warrior, so even if he had known he wouldn't have been able to do anything. I suppose it might have been possible to let Sara turn into a vampire and hope she could retain her human heart, but that's a hell of a gamble."
"A gamble?" Soma looked surprised, as if it wasn't obvious there were more consequences to vampirism than a sudden taste for blood. "Hm...might've been worth it anyway, though. I mean, then Sara could help fight against Dracula, right?"
"I dunno, Soma," Hammer butted in, "would a medieval lady know how to fight? Didn't they spend all day embroidering or whatever? Though I guess vampires are all super strong, even if they're skinny and pretty..."
"Even if she couldn't fight," Mina said, "she could turn into a bat and spy on Dracula. The castle has lots of bats, I saw them. He wouldn't notice another one flying around, would he?" She looked happy with her idea. "That way she could help Leon get through the castle."
"Without having to test stuff with his face! Yeah, good idea, Mina!" Soma agreed. "...wait, when did you see the bats? There was a barrier up, they shouldn't have been able to get in."
"I snuck out a little ways, just to see. But a skeleton came up to me, so I had to run away...it was pretty scary. But I did see some bats flying around. They were almost cute!"
"I'm pretty sure one tried to eat my head..." Soma trailed off. "Well, anyway...I guess they had good reason to be upset about it, but - hey, Arikado, how does turning into a vampire work? Like, how much of a gamble is it really?"
Arikado just wanted the conversation to be over. Just become a vampire? As if that were a solution! He had never been under any illusions as to what he was, what Dracula was. It was a fate not to be wished on anyone, no matter what the cost. He gave Soma a flat glare and thankfully, the boy backed off.
"Uh...okay, you don't have to answer if you don't want. Sorry for interrupting, Julius."
"I'd ask you to refrain, but I don't think you're capable," Julius said dryly. "But back to the story.
"So Sara had been bitten by the vampire. She and Leon wept together, for soon they would be parted, in body or in soul. 'Oh my love,' she said, 'I would rather die than become like that monster, a cursed cold being that feeds on the life of others.'
"'I would give my life to defeat that beast!' she cried out, and to the astonishment of everyone there, the heavens answered! Her faith and devotion called down a miracle, and guided by the grace of God she took the holy whip into her arms and blessed it with all her love and sorrow. The whip shone with a brilliant light, blinding both Leon and Dracula. When it faded, Sara was gone, with only a sense of deep peace remaining in Leon's heart - and the whip had finally taken on it's true name: the Vampire Killer."
"Wait, so what happened to Sara again? She just...disappeared?" Soma interrupted, again.
"No one really knows what happened to Sara. Leon wrote that she ascended bodily to heaven, like the saints of old, and that makes as much sense as anything else. Point is, her spirit strengthened the whip into a weapon that could destroy Dracula.
"Leon and Dracula fought then, a long and bloody battle. Dracula used his magic to skip in and out of the shadows, appearing and disappearing at will and throwing powerful spells all the while. Leon snapped away the fireballs with his whip and struck many powerful blows against Dracula's head. That's his weakness, by the way. The best way to defeat Dracula is to strike him in the head with the Vampire Killer."
"Oh no, that's my weakness too!" Soma buried his face in his arms with exaggerated emotion.
Mina put her drink on his head. "I'm not sure getting hit in the face is a 'weakness', really."
Julius ignored them both. "In time Dracula grew weaker, and as he felt victory slip from his grasp he grew desperate and terrified. No mortal man had even gotten this far before. No mortal man had ever defeated him. In fear he summoned all his power and transformed himself into a massive, hulking demon, with blue skin and massive horns, claws able to rip a grown man from neck to groin, and teeth to rend and tear. Leon saw what his enemy had become and braced himself, but he knew. As long as he had Sara's final gift with him, there was no way he could lose. And so he threw himself into battle with even greater vigour.
"He fought like a madman, a whirlwind, a demon himself. His whip found every one of Dracula's weak points, carving bloody scars across the monster's flesh wherever Leon struck. No matter how often Dracula flew into the air, how often he lashed out with his claws, how often he snapped with those fangs, Leon always danced out of the way and hit back twice as hard. It was as if the blessing of the Vampire Killer had granted him abilities beyond those of normal men, that he could swing the whip without getting weary, could twist and dodge without exhaustion. And so in the end, that battle was Dracula's first loss.
"Dracula cursed Leon as he lay dying on the floor of his throne room. 'It does not matter that you have won, human! As long as darkness exists in the hearts of men, so shall I! I will return!'
"Leon stood straight and proud and replied 'And when you return, my children will be waiting for you. There will always be a Belmont to hunt the night!'
"And so Dracula died for the first time, and ever since then we Belmonts have kept Leon's vow: to ever fight evil. Any questions?"
"Hm." Soma settled back and looked at the ceiling. "Well, it doesn't sound like it was trying to be an accurate retelling of history."
"More like a fairy tale," Mina agreed.
"Sure was a depressing one, then..." Hammer said.
"And yet it happened," Julius said. "The whip exists. Dracula existed. The Belmonts and Dracula have always had a special grudge." He shrugged. "Perhaps you're right and it didn't happen exactly as I told. We have no way of knowing that. But something like it happened."
"A lot of the records were lost after the Second World War," Yoko added. "What we have was saved and compiled by Loretta Lecarde, but who knows what was originally there? The surviving records mostly date from the 19th century. Best we've got is references to what Leon supposedly wrote down."
"One of the first things you should consider when reading an account is the author's perspective and biases," Soma said, clearly quoting a teacher to sound smart and adult. "Though we all know what Dracula was like, so there's that. Uh...Arikado, you have anything to say about this?"
Arikado pretended to take a sip of his drink. "Not particularly. I've read Loretta's report. There's little difference between that and the story you just heard." Loretta had been very thorough, but there wasn't much to go through after the war. What she had assembled was impressive.
"That's it, huh." Soma was watching him. He looked away before Arikado could decide if it was coincidence or not. Soma wasn't usually perceptive, but... "I bet a lot of it is for passing down useful information for the Belmonts anyway, so they're ready for the castle. Hey, why didn't any of you tell me this?"
"I told you that was part of the story, didn't I? I just skipped it." Julius finished off his drink.
Yoko giggled. "You did fine anyway. By the time we met up you were already a pro!"
"Uh...right..." From the look on his face, Soma didn't seem to agree with Yoko's assessment. "Well, it gives us a pretty good idea of the purpose of the story, and from there-"
"Soma," Mina said, looking at her phone.
"-we can determine what parts were emphasised, though without any sort of alternate versions-"
"Sooooomaaaaaaaaaa." Mina tugged on his sleeve.
"-it's hard to tell what other parts there are for emphasis or what changed between tellers. I'd like to see what Leon was supposed to have written-"
"Soma! Last train, fifteen minutes! We have to go!"
"What?! Oh shit! Get up, grab your things! Move! Move!" Soma scrambled to his feet and raced around the room, grabbing cans and haphazardly throwing them near the recycling bin. Mina followed him, restacking a few of the tumbled boxes and not-so-subtly moving the smashed ones behind other piles.
"Hey, take it easy ya two. You can always just sleep here, I don't mind! Hahaha!" Hammer stood up and cracked his back. "I'll just grab these for you guys," he said and gathered the remaining glasses on the table.
"Thanks, Hammer!" Yoko chirped while Soma yelled over his shoulder, "Hammer, you only have one bed! I'm done with the floor!"
"So, er, Yoko, ya know how yer getting home? It's late and all..." Hammer was doing his routine again.
"I'll be catching a ride with Julius, same as I got here. Don't worry about it!"
Arikado could never decide if Yoko was doing that on purpose or not.
The last can hit the recycling bin, bounced off, and rolled along the floor. Soma and Mina ignored it and sprinted for the door, turning around at the last second. Soma managed to throw himself into a bow and shouted, "Everyone, thank you for coming to my birthday party! I hope you all had a great time, and we'll see you again soon! Hammer, I'll be in for my shift tomorrow. Later, everyone!"
"Laters!" Mina called out.
They ran outside at full tilt, the sound of slamming doors following them into the night. Julius watched them go. "I suppose that's our cue," he said, standing up with a creak. "Thank you for having us over." Yoko and Arikado followed with similar sentiments as they headed towards the door. Hammer waved them all off, as required.
Outside was crisp and cool, with stabbing neon lights and the slightest threat of rain. The maddeningly pressing crowds had dissipated for the evening, leaving just a massive, steady trail of drunks stumbling home. Arikado looked down the road to the station and saw flashes of a white coat receding into the distance in between the drunks. He'd check on them before going home, make sure they got onto the train.
"Aaaaah..." Yoko stretched and rubbed at her eyes. "I'm going to go home and go straight to bed. I'm getting a bit too old for this."
"Humph, pathetic. A vampire hunter should always be ready to battle the whole night through," Julius said, just before a massive yawn. "...but I suppose I'm getting old as well."
Arikado mentally reviewed the cases they had open. "I'll check up on those werewolf reports we saw last week. It's likely nothing - there hasn't been any sign of portals in the vicinity - but we can't afford to let anything out of chaos. Best to be sure." He couldn't resist adding, without letting the slightest hint of irony into his voice, "After all, the night is still young."
The pair gave him identical looks of exasperation mingled with disbelief. Yoko rolled her eyes and got into the battered truck by the curb. "Yeah yeah, rub it in. I'll call you as soon as I wake up, we can go over the reports then. You go home and eat properly, don't think I didn't see you skipping the cake. Ciao!"
Julius followed her but paused, the door open, his expression thoughtful. "Alucard. Did he...did Dracula ever tell you that story? The story of Leon Belmont?"
"No." Arikado turned to walk away. The wind was picking up, good weather for flying. He'd have to be fast to catch up to Soma and Mina. "Good night, both of you."
"Mm. Good night."
