A/N: I will get into more why Alucard is out of character in the next few chapters, but I think that it's pretty obvious as to why he is acting like that.
- Disclaimer: If I owned the manga/show, would I be writing this? The correct answer is no.
- Rated: M
- Warnings: Gore. Language. Sexual Situations (Never sex, I do not write porn.). Mentions of Rape and Attempted Rape. Abuse. Child Abuse. Mentions to Child Abuse. Death. Horror. Mental Torture. Insanity. Mind Games. Self-Harm. Attempted Self-Harm. Suicide. Attempted Suicide. Murder. Depression. Anxiety. Homosexuality. Religion. Religion Bashing.
- Written: No clue.
- Edited:
- Chapter 2:
* "Speaking"
* Thoughts
* Dreaming
* "Dream Speaking"
* Memories
* "Memory Speaking"
"Abraham." John said as he walked into the man's office. Abraham looked up from what he'd been writing and waited for John to continue. "We should go and speak to Mina now. The sun has set so she should be awake now, but in case she does end up losing control, we should speak with her before night fully sets in."
Abraham nodded once and stood. "Where is Jonathan?" He then asked.
"He refused to leave the door to her..." John paused, then sighed. "Holding area." He didn't want to use the word cell, even though that's what it was. It just felt wrong to use that word when talking about Mina.
Abraham only nodded again and grabbed a pistol from his drawer, sliding it into the holster on his side, and then walking out with the doctor.
"Where did Arthur go?" He asked as he glanced at Abraham.
"He didn't say where he was going when he left, but I saw him leave through the front gates." Abraham answered. "Did your visit to the monster yield anything new?" He asked.
John opened his mouth, closed it and took a moment to think about it. "No." He shook his head. "But I did find that he was acting strangely."
"It has been acting strangely ever since we came into contact with it." Abraham pointed out. "It constantly switched from being bloodthirsty, to uninterested."
John sighed at Abraham's insistence on calling Dracula an it. He would not deny that he was monster, but he was also someone before the monster and he still was someone even as the monster. "You are the only one he shows real interest in taunting and playing mind games with, but he's never completely ignored Jonathan or I. Even if he didn't speak, he would watch us." He explained. "But when I went to his cell he seemed..." He stopped as he tried to think of a correct word. "Gone, for lack of a better word."
Abraham stopped and turned to face John. "What do you mean 'gone'?" He asked, his eyes narrowed in confusion.
John sighed and gave a small shrug. "I don't really know how to explain it. It was like how someone my patients get lost in the fantasy worlds that they create, but at the same time, I don't believe that's what it was."
"That's hardly any proof that something is wrong with it." Abraham said and shook his head.
"I know that, Abraham." John said with another sigh. "Trust me on this, will you?" He asked and then continued. "Something is wrong with him and while that beast does deserve to suffer, it may become dangerous for us if he loses what sanity he has left."
"What would you suggest we do then?" Abraham asked as they began to walk again.
John hesitated before he spoke. "The only thing that I can think of, is to seal him to something or someone." He answered, causing Abraham to stop again and look at him.
"A seal?" He then asked.
John nodded once. "That is the only thing that will completely lock away his powers and keep his mind obedient." He explained. "I believe his sanity to be the only things he truly doesn't want to lose."
"What about Mina?" Abraham asked.
"I don't think he cares about Mina at all." John said as he shook his head. "I think it is what she is." Abraham gave him a look that said 'Continue'. "He doesn't care that he took her humanity from her, but because he did that, he turned her into one of his fledglings. We killed all the rest, she's the last one and he doesn't want to create more. At least not at this point in time. If he's going to lose the last of his bloodline, he wants it to be on his terms. Not ours."
"So he is manipulating us." Abraham said with a small sigh as he ran his right hand through his hair.
"Yes, he is... But I think that given the circumstances, that I will be content if he can give her, her humanity back." John said, his eyes sad yet hopeful. "That is, if she agrees to it."
Abraham grit his teeth and stared at his friend for a moment. "Are you prepared for what we will have to do to her if she isn't?" He asked.
John was silent, then he shook his head slowly. "We never will be." He said with a sad smile. "There is no possible way to make ourselves ready to kill a friend. It will always be hard to bring ourselves to do something like that. If it wasn't, then we'd be monsters as well."
Abraham was silent as he listened to John. The man had a point that he couldn't argue. "Then I have another question for you, John." John nodded for him to continue. "If it does turn out that way, how do we live with ourselves?"
"Has a day passed where you haven't thought about what had to happened to Lucy?" John asked. "How it could have been different?"
Abraham sighed and shook his head, casting his eyes down. "No."
"You, Jonathan, Mina, Arthur, and I..." John crossed his arms. "We all feel guilty for surviving while Lucy and Quincy died. We all feel like we should have been able to do something and because we didn't, it is somehow our fault that it happened. trying to rid ourselves of those emotions, it not an easy thing to do. Some people never accept that there was nothing that could have been done. That they had done all they could." John gave a small, sad chuckle. "Even with all my experience with the mental state of humans, I can't bring myself to believe that there was nothing else for me to do, that might have changed all of this."
"You haven't answered my question." Abraham said as he looked back at his friend.
"I did." John answered as he nodded. "To simplify it, there is no way to tell if we'll ever be able to live with ourselves. "We can't force ourselves to be able to live with it. But, spending time thinking about every little thing that we could have done different, how things would be if they were still here, is not healthy."
"I suppose you're correct." Abraham said, shaking his head slightly.
"Come on." John said as he began to walk again. "We still need to speak with Mina."
Opening his eyes, Dracula looked to the cell door. The light that would normally be streaming through was blocked, as Jonathan stood at the door, glaring at the restrained vampire.
Dracula scoffed and rested his head against the wall, keeping his eyes on Jonathan. "What's wrong?" He asked. "Does the dog no longer have a master to control it?" He asked with a small smirk, one that Jonathan probably couldn't even see.
"If she refuses your help, or you cannot free her," He said with a glare. "I will kill you."
Dracula hummed and leaned his head forward, his hair falling over his shoulder and covering most of his face. "Not even Van Helsing could kill me. What makes you think you will be able to?" He asked as he tilted his head to the right slightly. He leaned his head back against the wall, slowly closing his eyes. The last thing he wanted to do was speak with this idiot of a man. "I do not fear death, human." He hissed. "I have accepted what my death entails for hundreds of years."
"I wouldn't expect a demon like you to understand death." Jonathan said, causing Dracula to open his eyes and stare at the man.
Dracula smiled, deciding to humor the human for a short time. "Educate me." He spoke, almost in a purring manor.
"Death is sad and final." He began. "It is something that everyone has to deal with at some point or another, even a monster like you. It is the one thing we fear above all else, be it our deaths or the deaths of loved ones, because we never had nearly enough time." He took a long breath. "But for one like you, you couldn't accept your death, so you became a demon. You never found anything to fill your life with, so you surrounded yourself with death so that it would become a trivial thing to you."
Dracula's smile faded as he watched Jonathan speak. When the human had finished, Dracula sat there in silence, before he got up and almost effortlessly, ripped apart the bindings and chains that held him to the wall and floor. Before Jonathan had much time to react, Dracula was at the door, inches away from the man. "Do not think that just because you have less time than I, that I do not understand death." He hissed.
Jonathan gave a yell and jumped back. Dracula's eyes glowed a bright red, his eyes narrowed in anger and hate. Jonathan took several shaky breaths. "How-how did you-"
"Shut up!" Dracula hissed. "You know nothing of my decision when I became a monster." His eyes quickly turned away from the man, when he saw Van Helsing and that doctor running down the hall towards them.
"What happened?!" Abraham demanded, gun in hand. He looked from Jonathan to Dracula, his eyes widening in confusion and caution. "How did you break free from your restraints?" He asked, keeping his voice steady and demanding.
Dracula stood there silently. He opened his mouth slightly, as though to begin speaking, but remained silent. He looked away from the humans before him and took a step away from the door to look down at his burned hands. He hadn't even realized that he'd placed his hands against the door. Turning his eyes upward, he saw the large dents he had made in the metal. How had such a simply line from that idiot cause him to lose control over himself that quickly?
Abraham made to lift his pistol, but stopped when John put a hand on the barrel of the gun and lowered it. "What are you doing?" He asked.
"I don't think he's even taking notice that we're here anymore." John answered as he watched the vampire stare at his hands. "Do you see what I was speaking of, Abraham?" He asked as he turned his head to look at the other man.
Dracula suddenly looked back towards them, though the anger and hate that had been in his eyes just moments before, was gone. Instead it was replaced by the usual bored look that his eyes normally held. He dropped his hands, turned away, and walked back to where he had been and sat back against the wall.
"What do you want, Van Helsing?" He asked as he turned his eyes back towards the door. Though he couldn't see the man from his current position, he could see the shadows that all three of the men cast against the walls. His voice was calm, yet bored sounding.
"Jonathan, go back to Mina." Abraham ordered, never taking his eyes away from the cell door. "John, go with him and speak with Mina."
"Are you sure you will be safe here alone?" Jonathan asked, looking to the man.
"Yes. Now go and speak with her." He said, giving a small glance to the man.
"Yell if something happens." John said as he nodded for Jonathan to follow him.
After the two men had left, Abraham walked closer to the door so that he could fully see the vampire. Dracula stared back at him and remained silent. "What's happened to you?" Abraham asked. He could see what John was talking about. While it wasn't uncommon for the monster's moods to change rapidly, it seemed like the beast hadn't even been aware of it's own actions. Actions that resulted in it injuring itself.
Dracula stared at him for a while longer before speaking. "What do you want, Van Helsing?" He asked again, ignoring the man's question.
"I want to know what just happened!" Abraham nearly yelled. "How did you escape your binds?" He demanded.
"You're not as good as you think you are, Van Helsing." Dracula growled. "You cannot bind me like you would the filth you call vampires."
"Then... then why do you allow yourself to be kept here?" Abraham asked.
"Why should I put effort into escaping?" The vampire asked, turning his eyes to the ceiling. "I can't even heal myself in this state." He hissed as he looked at his scorched hands. "Tell me, Van Helsing," He said as he looked away from his hands and back to Abraham. "What would the point of escaping be? There is nothing in Heaven or Hell that would keep you from hunting me across this Godforsaken world. I have nothing to go back to, nothing to protect anymore anyway."
Abraham gave the vampire a confused stare. "Protect?" He asked quietly, more to himself than the monster.
Dracula then smiled and rested his hands on his knees. "Then again, I doubt you would get as lucky as you did, if I were to escape." He purred. "What do you think? Would that woman have enough control to help your track me down again?"
"Should we be leaving him alone with that thing?" Jonathan asked as he and John walked to the cell Mina was being kept in.
"Dracula won't do anything to him." John said as he shook his head.
"What makes you so sure about that?" Jonathan asked as they turned left down a hallway. "It ripped through those chains, those blessed silver chains. It dented a door made from silver and steel as well."
"And he hurt himself doing it. He doesn't care about his freedom enough to continue to hurt himself, which is what would happen if he wanted to escape that cell." John pointed out. "What did you say to him, that made him mad enough to forgo his own health just to escape those chains?" He asked as he looked to the man.
Jonathan sighed. "I told it that death was sad. That it could never find anything to fill it's life with, so it would surrounded itself with death so that it would become a trivial thing to it." He answered with a small shrug.
"He knows what death is, Jonathan." John said as he shook his head. "He's just seen so much of it, that it doesn't affect him like it does us. He was a warlord in his human life. It's impossible to say just how many of his men he'd watched die on the battlefield, or how many enemies he'd watched die."
"You want to understand it's mind, don't you?" Jonathan asked.
"I can't help it." John said, shaking his head. "I'm a doctor and regardless of what he is, he has a mind." He explained. "Maybe if I can get into it, find out why he is this way, then maybe I'll get an answer as to why he does the things he does."
"Some don't have a reason as to why they do things, John." Jonathan said, stopping outside of the door to Mina's cell. "You might not like the answers you get."
"I know that." John said with a small nod. "I just don't believe that he is one of them, and even if I get answers that I don't like, I would rather know exactly what we are dealing with. So much of his past is a mystery. We can't rely on history to know about his life, his mental state. History is lied about all the time and only those who were there will know what happened. I have basic answers, that do explain some of my questions. For other, I will need a better explanation."
"Questions like what?" Jonathan asked with his head tilted to the left slightly.
"His Brides for example." He said, crossing his arms loosely. "He'd told Abraham that they were not there for pleasure, but for companionship instead. Now, he had at least two lovers in his human life. At least one of them he truly loved and it devastated him when he lost her. For now it's a theory, but perhaps after that happened, he couldn't look at another woman the way he had looked at the one he'd loved."
Jonathan was silent for a moment. "Don't make me feel empathy for that thing, John." He said with a hard stare.
"I'm not trying to." John said with a shake of his head. "All I'm saying, is that there is so much that we could learn from him. I might even be able to help some of my more... difficult patients if I can understand his mind. We could learn about vampires as well." He shook his head. "This is too long of a conversation to be having right now, we still need to speak with your wife."
"Agreed." Jonathan said with a nod as he turned to the cell door. "Mina." He said as he looked through the bars on the door. he had to squint his eyes to see his wife in the corner of the room, sitting against the wall.
She turned her eyes towards him, then away. "What is it, Jonathan?" She asked, her tone annoyed.
"There may be a way for you to become human again." John answered for him, when Jonathan said nothing.
She turned her eyes towards them again. "How?" She asked in a sigh.
"Dracula told Abraham that he might be able to reverse the change." The doctor answered as he watched the woman.
"With black magic perhaps." She responded as she stood, brushed her dress off, and walked towards the door. John opened his mouth to speak, Mina cut him off. "Don't." She said and shook her head. "Do not tell me that everything with be fine or will work out. If you do, I will reach through this door and tear out your throat." She hissed.
Both John and Jonathan's mouths hung open slightly as she spoke.
"Mina-" Jonathan began, only to be cut of by his wife.
"Don't." She said and shook her head, looking from John to her husband. "The only way that I am going back to being a human, is if Dracula is killed. Abraham isn't willing to let that happen."
"So, are you saying no to even attempting it?" John asked, his shoulders going down.
Mina was silent for a long moment. "Yes." She said as she looked at the doctor. She then looked to Jonathan and spoke again. "I have come to terms with the end of my life and I accept them."
"Mina-"
She cut off her husband again. "Jonathan, stop." She ordered. "Death comes to us all, sooner for some than others. I am content with how I lived my life and the choices I made." She stopped, closed her eyes, opened them and then looked back at Jonathan. "I can't go another day with these thoughts I have. How much I want to get out of this cell and kill everything I can find." She shook her head. "I can't do that anymore."
Sneak Peek:
Abraham grit his teeth at the creatures taunt. "You are not as good as you think you are, either, Beast."
"Oh, I am very much aware of that." He said with a smile. "I've overestimated my abilities, and underestimated situations before. I know my flaws, Van Helsing. Humans, such as yourself, are too prideful to admit their worst flaws. That is why, despite our short history together, I will always have an advantage against you." He purred.
A/N: You know, I am not really that happy with how this chapter turned out and I will probably change it in time, but I really needed to get the overall idea out there, or I would never get to it. Sorry about errors. Not sure when the next chapter will be, as I am still deciding on what I am going to do with Mina.
