"So, Dracula, of all beasts. How did this mission come to you?"
"My grandfather is the cousin of Tobin Belmont, who, if I remember correctly, is the second to last Belmont of his generation." Tristessa, who was sitting on the trunk of a fallen tree, stretched out her legs. "For five generations, everyone thought Dracula had been a force long gone, but when he reawakened, Tobin's son, Wesley, was sent to kill him."
"And he didn't?"
"He got letters throughout Wesley's travels. They probably came once a week. His last letter said he made it to the castle... he mentioned that the place was a complete maze that he had the hardest time navigating. Tobin never heard from him after that. Not to mention, the disappearances of villagers and other nightmares still seem to be frequent occurrences. I was the closest they could find as a reinforcement."
"You make it sound as though you didn't fit their needs."
"I...didn't really. While I was aware of my ancestry, I had never been trained to kill vampires. I had never been trained to kill anything, as a matter of fact." Tessa looked down, brushing dirt off of her trousers. She could never imagine becoming anything close to her distant cousin. "The magic I was taught had been anything but aggressive."
Sage's reply came bubbly and alarmingly excited. "I know magic. I know lots of it." Tessa anticipated the fairy was going to offer tutelage, but before that could be confirmed, a howl echoed from the distance. Panicked, her heart racing, Tessa jumped up to her feet. No, not this again...
"We can't stay here," the witch muttered, clutching her crossbow firmly in her hands. "Otherwise those hounds will find us in no time."
"That's no hound," Sage murmured, though she was close behind as they hurried towards the edge of the forest. "Those are werewolves."
"Damn it, that's even worse," Tessa growled through heavy pants, dodging a couple of low branches as she ran. Another howl pierced the air from a distance, but it seemed to be coming from another direction. Then, another cry emitted that sounded significantly louder, as though it was just yards away from them.
"They are right on our tails!" Sage squeaked. "We need to do something!" Suddenly, she sped up in order to catch up to Tessa, landing clumsily on the weapon she wielded. "I have an idea, but you'll have to keep going without me."
Tessa froze, logic not fully staying with her as the fae introduced her plan. She was going to sacrifice herself so soon just so Tessa could press on?
"Not for good. We don't have time for me to explain!" Sage mounted the front of the crossbow, where a bolt was already fastened and ready to be released. "That one!" Sage's naturally green aura changed as the werewolf came into view, and Tessa watched as the tip of the projectile began to glow a fiery orange. "Shoot! Now!"
There was only a moment of hesitance, but on Sage's command, the archer fired, and her aim on the giant, furry creature that was rampaging past the trees was true. Like a miniature fireball, Sage clung to the arrow as it flew at the lycanthrope that raced with outstretched claws, and it seemed to explode like a firecracker on impact. Tessa ran while she could, the opening beyond the trees now in sight. There was a howl of pain - a cry that sent haunting shivers down her spine. She didn't dare look back, but she could hear heavy feet pounding at the Earth behind. She was reliving a nightmare, as Tristessa swore she could hear the screams of her lost friend echo into the forest. At first, they sounded frightened, but then, the elevated to a brutal frequency, as if Tanya was being mutilated, and her agony ring through the air.
The chase pursuited to the open field, and as soon as the moonlight poured onto her, she could see the outline of small towers in the distance. She readied the second bolt, her feet still rapidly carrying her over a hill. She turned, ready to fire, but her target was not there. Instead, Tessa could see the great beast on two legs retreating back into the forest. The area around her was incredibly vast and deserted, but the thick shape of the castle gave her hope. Still, she was very concerned about her fairy friend, who she was beginning to think might not have made it. Her hope dampened a bit, but she had to keep going. The world still needed her to do this.
The castle was laid out before her. There was no point in taking detours to find Tanya. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.
She marched on, not realizing right away how tightly she was squeezing her crossbow. Any more pressure, and the wood might split.
Relax, Tessa, you have this. You trained with a lot of magic - one thing a lot of Belmonts didn't have.
By estimation, it looked as though her trek to the castle would take another day. By tomorrow's sunset, she should make it to the doorstep of Count Dracula and finish this once and for all.
The journey had been a lonely one, and even telling herself more jackalope meat for her didn't make her feel any better. She had been close about her guess, actually being slightly ahead of schedule as she approached the bridge. Clouds thickly coated the sky, as if a storm was coming, but it was still very much daytime.
The entrance room was beautiful, though there was very little light to show its ultimate splendor. The room was gigantic, its high ceiling supported by numerous columns and white walls. The giant windows were bordered by red, tattered drapes, but they were the only source of light.
Perhaps if she explored quickly enough, she could find and kill him before the sun went down. But where to start?
To the left was a set of doors. To the right was another pair, and in the middle of the room were two sets of stairs that climbed up and met in the middle. Securing her crossbow to the harness on her back, she tried to channel her magic. Where could he be sleeping? She cleared her mind of everything else but the need to locate him. Silence surrounded her, and she didn't stir. She simply focused.
But she couldn't seem to pinpoint where he was hiding. How could she not locate someone with such strong power? He had to have an aura for miles!
What if he wasn't here?
I have to take a look around. There's got to be something.
She started with the left passageway, the long hallway she followed heavily adorned in strange and unique paintings. One that exceptionally stood out was a group of half-dressed men that were covered in blood, their faces each holding an expression of either terror or agony. Unsettled by the macabre art, Tessa hurried on, her footsteps lightly sounding through the chamber. The massive windows on her left allowed the cloudy skies to show themselves, but it did little to light the way. Tessa could use her magic, as she was well aware, but the witch was nervous that it might draw unwanted attention if she did. Playing it safe, she told herself to hold off on using it unless it was absolutely necessary.
Past the next set of doors at the end of the hallway, she came into a humongous study. It was large enough to be a library all on its own. The walls, filled with books, had to be as tall as the castle itself. A spiral staircase lined the walls, scaling towards the ceiling, or perhaps the roof, as Tristessa couldn't even see the top of this room.
"So many books," she murmured, amazed. There were likely eons of texts that could fill her in on the infinite secrets of all magicks. All the powers of the world. The only thing she needed to do was climb and take her pick...
The sun was still up, even if not out. She had time to see if she could find the secret to truly killing Dracula with no chance of him coming back.
She made for the stairs, though there seemed to be no particular order that these books were placed in. There were a lot of interesting titles to look at, however: "Origins of Blood Magic", "Historical Necromancers", "Gray Magicka", "A Guide Against Ancient Vampires"...
"Oh, hello there." Intrigued by the last title she spotted, Tessa sat down on the step and flipped through the pages. She knew of a lot of ways to defeat basic vampires, of course. Holy water was a well-known item to be kept by vampire slayers, but Tristessa had unfortunately never come across any. It wasn't an easy find.
A lot of these pages discussed handcrafted weapons by famous alchemists and blacksmiths, the most of their artifacts appeared to be lost. The crossbow she carried certainly wasn't one of these artifacts, but accompanied with the spells she had learned to craft, she felt confident she at least had a chance.
Then, something very interesting caught her eye. Crafting holy water. Having always thought that only priests and monks could create holy water, Tristessa wondered if this was a practice she could learn.
It appeared to be a rather complex spell, but actually not outside of her expertise. She would need a cross from the Brotherhood of Light, which was probably the hardest part of the ritual. Where would one find such a thing?
Then, she recalled her father's story about the Brotherhood trying to kill Dracula within this very Castle. "I might be able to find one of these Brotherhood crosses in here," she murmured.
"You could try," echoed a familiar voice, but it seemed to fill the whole room. Panicked, Tristessa dropped the book and readied her crossbow, rapidly looking around. No one appeared to be here, but who knew what the vampire lord was capable of, especially in his own den. "You will likely find only the bones they left behind."
"Show yourself, coward! I don't need old pendants to end you!" She heard his laugh.
"You'll need plenty more than that to even scratch me."
"Let's test your theory, bloodsucker!"
"Too soon," his voice cooed. "I'm enjoying this far too much."
"I'll find you, demon," Tristessa growled, snatching the book and tearing the page out for safekeeping. By now, all she could hear was her racing heart pounding against her eardrums. Sliding the parchment into her satchel, she squeezed the crossbow as she headed back out to the hallway. Instead of returning to the entrance hall, she took the only other door in the corridor that she had not yet passed through, and so was led into a giant, dining hall. It was gorgeous, but yet it looked very unkept. Dust clothed the furniture; it would probably take weeks of cleaning to make this room sanitary enough for eating food in.
The next door was stuck, and even after a couple of body slams into it, it didn't seem to give at all. She'd come back to it, but right now, she wasn't ready to waste all of her strength on one barrier when there was still a whole castle to search. She returned to the corridor, now focusing on the pull of her pendant. Her presence was already known, so there was no point in hiding now. It led her towards the entrance hall again, but as she approached the end of the stony path, she realized something was very wrong.
The door was not there.
Her hands reached out to touch the wall, but all they found was chilly stone. No switches to reveal a passage. Nothing.
Damnit! What did he do!?
Tristessa speedily returned to the dining hall. It was time to break down that door. She set down the crossbow on top of the dirty table. She was going to need both hands for this. Steadying her body in front of the door, she elevated both hands toward it, focusing her energy to summon fire. Her hands warmed up, then suddenly, a ball of flames shot out into the barrier. The wood shattered and charred, then crumbled to the floor. The next room was a lot more open, with plenty of floor space that was left unoccupied. Her heart began to race now, as she was beginning to fear that the monster might approach her at any moment. She propped her back against a stone column, and she could feel the large crack in the cement, almost fearing the support would surrender under her weight.
It was very uncomfortably quiet, and the fact that she had no hope of detecting him made this all the more unpredictable and terrifying. Tristessa felt herself tremble, though she wished she would have been able to control it. The last thing she needed was for him to be able to detect her fear.
She focused her magic again, trying once more on a spell to see where he was. Perhaps now that he had made his presence known, she would be a little more successful this time. It would unearth any concealments. She steadied her shaking hands, clearing her mind of all doubts and consternations.
His presence seemed to be gone entirely, as if he had fled from the castle, but instead, she was led to a door on the far side of the room that took her down a flight of stairs. The descent was a very narrow hallway, stone slabs nearly brushing her shoulders on the way down. The way was dark, but Tristessa summoned a floating ball of yellow light to aid her.
It couldn't exactly be explained why, but somehow, it felt like she needed to come this way. The deeper she went, the more her apprehension rose. Yet, she pushed on, knowing her location spell was leading her to something important. It got colder, the further down the stairwell she went. The stone walls seemed to get closer and closer together, but she was fairly certain it was just her imagination playing tricks on her. Soon, she came to a clearing; it was dark and damp, and the faint trickling of water was all she could hear over her breathing. Tristessa forced herself to keep walking, though every fiber in her was screaming for her to turn back around.
Then, further down the corridor, she thought she heard something.
Was it...crying?
Before she could stop to think, the sorceress broke into a run down the chamber, nearly slipping on the wet stone as she did. She came to what appeared to be a prison cell, large, vertical bars blocking her from reaching the woman beyond. Her chest tightened.
"Tanya...?"