A/N- Well, I'm back with another chapter! Now, about my forum for my fanfiction, occasionally, I'll post little spoilers or bits of info about certain fics under the appropriate thread. Drop by and take a look, if you like! By the way, if you have not completed Curse of Darkness, beware of the spoilers ahead. Anyhow, please enjoy this chapter!

Chapter 3- Midnight Reading

A bolt of lightning, as if from nowhere--after all, there were no clouds or rain--slashed across the sky, causing Adriana to give a start from her place on her bed. She was kneeling before the thick, musty old book, a dim lamp as her only light. She rubbed her arms, staring out at the spot the lightning had appeared to hit.

"That is so strange," she murmured to herself.

She sat for a moment, just listening. She knew that for some reason this book was forbidden to her, and it was not because some higher force said she could not have it. No. It was forbidden because her mother did not want her to have it or see it, let alone read it. And that made her all the more curious.

After assuring herself that her mother was sound asleep and not waking up for anything, Adriana opened the cover of the book. The first page was that of the equivalent of a title page in a normal book. It said, in very distinct, slanted writing "The Belmont Clan Chronicles." This only served to feed her curiosity. She flipped on. The first entries were by a man by the name of Leon Belmont and dated back to the late 11th century.

Adriana read as a starving man would eat, devouring every word of Leon's, for his story was one of knighthood and bravery and of the love of his friend, Mathias Cronqvist, and his fiancé, Sara. Her last name was unreadable, for most of it was smeared. Only the first letter, a "T," was discernable. And then, his stories and tales took a turn to the weird.

It was odd enough to Ria that the journal was written in English, for that was clearly not Leon's native tongue. But, as his story progressed, Ria began to understand. It was obvious that he did not want just anyone to read this journal…probably for fear of being thought insane. Leon said that his beloved Sara had been kidnapped by a vampire. Of course, he not only boldly stated this, but the vampire's name as well. Walter Bernhard. However, just as Leon's story of his retrieval of Sara drew close to its end…he stopped writing. He stated only that it had become too hard to write this story. Shaking her head with disbelief, Adriana flipped on in the book.

The very next page, at the end of the several pages of Leon's story, was a drawing of a beautiful young woman with raven black and fair skin. She was in a long dress that was blue, white, and lacy. She smiled brightly. Ria knew this to be Leon's lost love not only by the name written at the bottom--simply "Sara,"--but by the description in the story. A note was also below her name, stating that it was a copied portrait from the one in the Gallery.

"Gallery?" Ria muttered aloud.

And then, in flashes, Ria remembered that her mother had been walking through the house after Ria had helped her move some things in, systematically locking doors. Shaking her head again, she read further. She soon found the account of one Sonya Belmont. She, instead of Walter, fought one called Dracula. Of course, where Leon had lost love in his battles, she had gained it. While fighting her way through Dracula's--the self proclaimed "Vampire King,"-- castle, called Castlevania, Sonya met Alucard. He was the half-vampire son of the vampiric king and a human woman. Sonya's love was not unreturned, and she had a son by the dhampire. This led into the accounts of one Trevor Belmont, Sonya's son.

Although he teamed up with his father to defeat his grandfather--all this being unbeknownst to him, Dracula did rear his evil head again in Trevor's lifetime--or at least, not to challenge the Belmont. His second battle, he found himself helping a former…devil forge master, as he was referred to, named Hector. Hector was pursuing a fellow devil forge master by the name of Isaac, whose body was eventually used to resurrect Dracula.

It took Adriana several hours to read through the journals of the various Belmonts. Of course, she saved some time by skipping a few pages of Simon Belmont's accounts. Finally, at about three o'clock in the morning, she shut the journal. A part of her wanted to laugh off what she had read as the fictional scribblings of a family of madmen. However…her other half shook. The accounts had all seemed so real…so personal.

She slid the book under her bed, as if hiding it out of sight would help her forget her fears. Her fears that…if it was all real, and this was her family, that this tradition would fall to her. And what good could come from that?

"Maybe Mom does have a good reason for hiding this all from me," she said, slipping underneath the covers.

She reached out to turn the dim lamp off, but, catching that the sky over the place where the lightning had struck had now turned red, she found that she couldn't do it. And, for the first time since she had been six years old, Adriana Smith fell asleep with the lights on.

…………………

Walter, now dressed in black slacks with a old nobleman's white shirt, stepped back into the tomb where Dracula had been resurrected. Orlox and his priests were still there, chanting around the granite tomb. The bald vampire looked up at Walter and asked, "Did your tour of Castlevania go well?"

"Yes. It went very well. You are not yet done resurrecting this one?" Walter responding, tilting his head in the tomb's direction.

"No, sire."

"And why not? After all, I told you that his body could be found in the bowels of Castlevania," he said, crossing his arms in front of him.

"With all due respect, my lord, there are a lot of bodies in the bowels of Castlevania," Orlox said, the slightest of hisses in his voice.

Walter smiled. "No matter. How far into this spell are you?"

"Almost finished, my master. All that is left is for me to finish up the chants," Orlox said, opening his mouth to do as he had said.

However, Walter stopped him. The priest continued to chant, but they were only maintaining the spell. Walter leaned in over the coffin. The body had already grown back its organs and muscles. All it really lacked was skin, eyes, and all the things an outward appearance entails. Closing his eyes slowly, Walter extended his wrist equally as slow. Once it was over the body's mouth, Walter drew one of his sharp nails across his pale skin and allowed his blood to fill the body's mouth.

"Blood bonding…brilliant," Orlox murmured.

But Walter did not hear, or at least he did not care to hear. He raised both his hands above his head and cried, "You will serve your purpose! Dracula is no longer your master! You will not be able to aid him! His orders you no longer follow! With this, our bonding of blood, of contract, I bid you…rise, Isaac!"

And, on the edge of the coffin, a hand, with tattoos clearly running from it up the arm, appeared. Then, sitting up, was the form of a heavily tattooed man with shiny red hair and wicked eyes. He looked down at his hands and then up at Walter.

"What has happened?" he asked, his voice a little raspy.

Walter grinned. "All in time. Come," he said, taking a cloak from one of the priests and giving it to Isaac, "I will explain all once we are inside Castlevania."

End Notes: So, Isaac's resurrection wasn't stupid, was it? And I'm sorry for all the backstory type of stuff. I just needed to put that in so Adriana would have an excuse for knowing it. Well, please review!