A/N- Sorry for the wait. I totally intended to put this chapter up about two weeks earlier than this, but I was suddenly without internet and full of a bunch of issues that this caused—not to mention my withdrawal symptoms as a result as well. But, without further ado, here we go!


Chapter 11- Planning Committees

"So, I was thinking," Keisha began as both she and Ria exited school the next day for the parking lot.

The two walked shoulder to shoulder, parting ways for just a moment to go around a boy from their class who had spilled some of the contents of his backpack into the parking lot. When they fell back into step next to one another, Ria raised a brow.

"Please tell me this has something to do with the ultimate destruction of the evil being we refer to as Mr. Hamm."

Keisha laughed, her long locks shaking along with her head. "No. What I was thinking was that I get to appoint my own VP on the Halloween's dance committee."

"Hmm," Ria murmured.

She was not quite sure she liked where this train of thought was heading. Dodging another student and daring to glance behind at the mass of those who had yet to make it to their cars, Ria turned her attention back to Keisha.

"I want you as my VP," her friend said bluntly.

Ria blinked, pursing her lips. Keisha was now staring right at her, brown eyes wide and happy.

"I, um, don't think that I can spare the time… you know, fit it in my schedule. I'm sorry, Keish," Ria said.

Keisha's heels almost made a squealing noise as she came to a dead stop in the center of the parking lot, throwing out her arm so that Ria stopped as well. Turning to face one another, Keisha stood akimbo.

"And what schedule is that?" she demanded.

The secret one, Ria thought, averting her eyes. The one that had her fighting whatever the hell this Galamoth was, the one that had her returning Dracula's Throne to the ruins of Castlevania, and the one that had to dealing with whatever other supernatural problems arose around her.

"Well, I have that report that Hamm gave me, and with school as well—" she muttered, but Keisha raised a hand.

"I'm not taking 'no' for an answer. You need this. A little fun in your life isn't going to kill you, Smith."

Ria opened her mouth to argue, but stopped. Finally, she shrugged.

"It's not… you know… too girly, right?" she asked.

Keisha laughed. "Would that really kill you?"

"I don't know. I've never been close enough to find out."

Keisha nudged her friend playfully as they continued their walk toward their vehicles.

"I promise that it'll be loads of fun. I mean, a costume party? I know you and I haven't known each other long, but that seems right up your alley."

Ria grinned. Her thoughts drifted, blissfully, for a moment to some of her favorite scenes in some really old fantasy movies—Labyrinth with the ball scene, Legend with the scene where Lili was dancing with the dark figure, and several others. She had always really loved those costumes with all their glitter and sparkle. And, in her most secret heart of hearts, she had always had fantasies of wearing such outfits. Plus, the irony of her destiny coupled with the fact that this was a Halloween dance was almost too much fun to ignore. Ria laughed.

"That is true. I'm in."

"Awesome. So, to the café, or what?" Keisha asked as their cars came into view.

"Nope, sorry. I'm running some errands today that can't be helped. Maybe tomorrow?"

Keisha stopped again, her head cocked curiously to the side.

"Some errands with… Isaac?" she asked, some sort of grin playing about her lips as she pointed toward Ria's Rio.

Ria turned, only to shake her head. Sitting in the passenger seat of her car, with one knee propped up against the dashboard, and holding two of… something that she really couldn't make out at this distance, was Isaac. After a moment of gaping at him, he finally caught the two girls' stares, grinning up at them.

"Yeah," Ria said offhandedly. "Errands with Isaac."

"Oh la la," Keisha said.

"What?"

She laughed. "Nothing. See you tomorrow!"

She took off ahead of Ria, waving cheerily at Isaac as she headed toward her own car. Then, turning around just as she reached the hood of her vehicle, she called, "Ria! One more upside to working on the dance!"

Ria headed for her own car at a slow pace, calling back, "Yeah?"

"We get to miss some class!" Keisha said just before slipping inside her vehicle and starting it up.

Within moments, she was in the line of other student cars at the exit of the parking lot. Ria grinned. Now that was an upside. Of course, it would be even better if it was Hamm's class.

Finally reaching her own driver's side, Isaac gestured lazily at her door, and Ria took that to mean that it was unlocked. Trying the handle, she found that she was right, and she slipped into the seat, slamming the door after her.

"My car was locked. How the hell are you sitting in here?" she asked the forgemaster.

Being so close to him now, Ria could see—and smell—that it was two steaming thermal cups of coffee that he held. He extended the left one out for her to take, and shrugged after she did so.

"I have my ways," he said, sipping lightly on his own coffee.

Ria glanced up at her rearview mirror, seeing Sara appear in the center of her backseat.

"It's rather boring being left in a car for eight hours," she noted.

"You lived in the Gallery for years," Ria pointed out.

"Well, I've grown accustomed to some things," she huffed.

Ria rolled her eyes, taking a long sip out of her coffee. She grinned as she removed it from her lips, looking over at Isaac.

"Did you add… pumpkin spice to this?" she asked.

"And cinnamon. After I bought it, of course. You like it?"

She nodded. "Better than sex."

With a sly grin on his face and a crimson brow raised, Isaac looked on the verge of hilarity. Even Sara leaned forward to stare at her trainee. Ria blushed a deep red.

"I, uh… what I mean, um, ah… We're dropping this!" she said, reaching for the ignition.

"And, you are a, um, expert in this?" Isaac laughed, totally ignoring Ria's previous statement as she pulled into the line of cars to the exit.

Sara was chuckling. Ria glanced in the rearview to see her put a hand, daintily, against her mouth to try and quiet herself. Glaring back over in Isaac's direction—who was simply Cheshire with his grinning—Ria's eyes fell to the two, purchased cups of coffee.

"How did you even buy those, anyhow?" she spat, making it to the road far quicker than she had anticipated.

"With money," he answered smoothly.

But where did Isaac get his money? Ria was moments away from firing that exact question back at him—after all, for as long as she had known him, he had been buying coffees, but the former devil forgemaster fell solemn suddenly.

"What do you think that dearest Alucard has to share with us?" he said, trying in vain to keep his tone even.

Ria blinked, shaking her head. "Have no idea. Hence the meeting."

Without bothering to wait for any sort of other remark about Alucard—dearest or not—Ria reached up to the visor above her and fingered through, as best as possible, the CDs found there. After a moment, she drew one out and handed it to Isaac, asking him to tell her what it was.

With a questionable glance, he muttered, "Prince's greatest hits?"

Ria grinned and heard, very loudly, Sara groan. She glanced up in the mirror to see the ghostly woman lean back in the chair, shaking her head.

"Not Prince again," she asked, not without a hint of pleading.

"Sorry, but I really feel like listening to some 'When Doves Cry' and 'Thieves in the Temple,'" Ria shrugged.

Isaac glanced over as he slid the CD into the player. "Are the songs any good?"

"The first ten times I heard them," Sara hissed, and Ria laughed, choosing not to relay this to Isaac.

"I don't have to listen to this," she said to her friend, utterly ignoring Isaac's question as "When Doves Cry" began to play.

Sara looked on the verge of accepting her offer when she paused, sparing a moment's grin at Isaac's obvious annoyance at being left out of the conversation loop.

"Isaac mentioned that you were… uneasy about this meeting," she said as Ria stopped at a red light.

Ria cast her eyes downward for a moment, and Isaac knitted his brow.

"What am I missing?" he asked, but, again, Ria ignored him.

"Yeah. I guess I don't have to tell you why," she said.

"I was there, yes. I hadn't realized, though, that that had affected you so much."

Ria shrugged, having to stop herself from flooring it when the light turned a bright green.

"Neither did I."

With a tinkling laugh then, Sara waved her hand dismissively.

"Your 80s music relaxes you. Don't let me take that from you."

"Thanks," Ria grinned as Isaac growled.

"Seriously! What did I miss?"

"Nothing," she giggled, Sara joining in, as she made the turn into the museum parking lot.

All humor disappeared as the three occupants of the car let their eyes fall upon the lot. A handful, just a single handful, of cars were all that was visible. And Ria knew that at least three of the… ten, she counted quickly, belonged to Sophy, Darren, and Alucard's group—provided they traveled all in one vehicle. Museums, by all logic, were not exactly a hot hangout spot as it was, but this one seemed to do very well at keeping their visitors coming back. None of them had ever seen it this empty.

Ria pulled into a front parking spot, glancing at the digital clock on her CD player before cutting the engine. She turned in her seat to face Isaac as he only stared from the corner of his eyes.

"Something's wrong," Ria whispered.

Sara shook her head. "But… there can't have been any sort of attack… your mother would have known to get out."

Ria's mind had yet to fully travel to "attack." Now that it had been voiced, she threw open her door, reaching behind to grab the Vampire Killer—which set in the seat behind Isaac.

"Let's find out," she said, her friends losing no time following her.

Ria and Isaac—with Sara only drifting behind—almost took down the museum's entrance as they crashed through it. At first, the hall they entered had no one, and they progressed further, both tensed and ready for a fight. Slowly, they eased around a left hand corner, and instantly, Ria felt a little nauseous. She stopped, the Vampire Killer barely hanging in her grip, as she leaned up against one of the museum's protective, attached, railings.

"Ria?" Isaac asked, bending forward. "Ria, what is it?"

She swallowed down the bit of bile she felt crawling its way up her throat, forcing herself fully erect once again. Shaking her head, she muttered, "I don't know."

From further up the hall, a shrill voice hissed to them, having no trouble reaching their ears, "Ria!"

She lifted her head, letting her eyes find the sound of clacking heels coming toward her. Sophy, eyes wide, was almost coming at her in a run. Ria narrowed her eyes, moments from asking her mother what it was that had her so concerned. Before she could voice the question, however, Sophy made it known.

"The whip," she hissed. "What do you think you two are doing? Put it away!"

Ria gasped, not even realizing that her ancestral whip was still handing limply at her side. With an almost squeak-like shock, she rolled it up as quickly as possible, shoving it into the purse she had not remembered grabbing. Isaac, apparently relieved to see Sophy so unharmed, allowed himself a tiny laugh.

"Sorry," Ria muttered, placing a gentle hand to her stomach.

Out of the corner of her eye, a pale, translucent hand sat upon her shoulder. She turned to see Sara's eyes focused only on her, the worry clear in her crystal eyes. Ria only shook her head. Sophy let a tiny laugh out and smiled.

"What are you doing here, Ria? And, although I am your mother, I love you, and very much want to be a part of your life, I also have a meeting I have to return to in, like, five minutes. Literally. So make your explanation fast, dear."

"Oh, uh," Ria stuttered, finding it unusually hard to regain her train of thought. Whatever it was that had hit her still had her reeling and feeling like she might be revisiting her lunch soon. "We were just… visiting you."

"Visiting me?"

Ria nodded. After a moment, she grinned and added, "Oh, and I have a report due on the origins of Halloween. I thought the museum might have something I could start with."

Sophy crossed her arms, and Ria tried her best—despite the awful lies and sudden nausea—to keep her earnest smile in place. She truly hated the idea of using Sophy as a quick, 'get-out-of-jail-free' type of reason. She knew that the museum did not have squat in the department of Halloween origins. But in her desperation, and in her guilt—since, as she reminded herself, there was so much that Sophy did not know about at the moment—she had thrown in the report. Finally, however, her mother only sighed.

"Sorry, sweetie. I don't think we have anything that could help," she said.

Ria shrugged. "Then I guess we're just visiting."

"And I'm afraid I'm cutting that a bit sort. I've got to get back to these damned—" she stopped, seeming to think better of it. "Well, I've got to go. Maybe you can chat with Darren while you wait on me? He's by that Throne we're fighting so hard to keep."

Ria pursed her lips, nodding. Saying a quick bye to Isaac, and whispering one as well to Sara—which was obviously appreciated by the unseen ghost—Sophy left for her meeting. With a sigh, Isaac glanced over at Ria.

"That works," he muttered, gesturing the way ahead.

She nodded, taking the lead. Her steps were slow, and her body felt weak and tired. It was very much like coming down with a bad flu or something. But she had not been feeling that way until she had turned that corner. Isaac and Sara both eyed her closely, but she put on her best "tough girl" face as the three—two, to everyone else—emerged into the open display room that held the Throne.

"Ah," she moaned quietly, coming to a dead stop.

"What is it?" Isaac asked, leaning over her.

"Can't you feel it?" she hissed.

He did not get a chance to respond as Darren, glancing up from his place in front of the Throne, waved them over. Ria bit down that nauseous and weak feeling once again, crossing her arms low over her stomach in a vain attempt to quell the ache without looking like it. She came to stop right in front of Darren, who, for a moment, looked a little lost. Then, with a sheepish grin, he stuck out a hand for her to shake. It took a second longer, but it finally hit Ria why he had looked so confused.

"Yeah, I'm not sure what my time limit is that you have to be dating my mom before I accept hugs, so good call," she laughed, taking his hand.

He chuckled. "I thought that that was the vibe I was getting." Turning his hand to Isaac now, he added, "How are you?"

"Very well," Isaac muttered as Darren put his attention back on Ria.

"So, what brings you here? All the hip, cool action?"

She fought hard not to roll her eyes at that terribly awful joke, opting instead for a polite laugh.

"Yeah, that's it," she said, sarcasm dripping forth before she could stop it. With a quick shake of her head, she added, "Actually, I was just dropping in to see if Mom needed me to do anything. You know, a quick visit."

"Aw, well, that's nice. Sorry that she's stuck in a meeting. Those Reps are really giving us a runaround."

Isaac scoffed, a dark grin on his face. "Yes, their leader seems to be a particularly hard-headed man."

Ria's eyes widened as Sara shook her head. This was shaping up to be just a fun little meeting. Laughing, Darren nodded.

"You don't know the half of it," he said, garnering a harder laugh from the forgemaster.

"Yeah," Ria said with a laugh that was so obviously fake. "That's great."

She backhanded Isaac across the arm, making it look like nothing more than a playful slap. However, the red print left and the jump that Isaac gave afterward proved that she had put much more power into it. Sara chuckled.

After all, Ria did not know much about half-blooded vampires, but she was pretty sure that, especially being only a few rooms away, Alucard probably had pretty awesome hearing. The last thing she needed was an all-out pissing contest between her blood-bonded friend and the son of his former master.

"Oh," Darren moaned, placing a hand to his stomach.

Ria's eyes shot to her mother's boyfriend. "Are you all right?"

"It's nothing," he said, waving a dismissive hand. "I think I just ate something that didn't agree with me."

Ria exchanged quick glances with her two comrades before another wave of nausea hit her as well. She bit down, a little harder than she had intended as she tasted blood, on her bottom lip, refusing to cry out with the ache. But Isaac saw it, and, before he could stop himself, he placed a concerned hand on her shoulder. Darren's brow arched, and Isaac's hand disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.

"So, uh, how's school?" Darren asked.

"Fine. Good."

"That's good."

Darren moaned again, his hand clutching his abdomen this time when he placed it there. Ria knew exactly how he felt. He shook his head.

"I don't know what's up with me. I felt fine after lunch," he muttered.

Isaac stared between the two. Taking a deep breath, Darren tried once again to continue his casual conversation.

"So, you've made friends here, right? I thought your mother had mentioned a name," he said.

"Yeah. Keisha Stone."

"Oh, Sergeant Stone's daughter?"

"You know her dad?"

Darren chuckled, and it looked like it pained him to do so. However, he pushed on, saying, "Yeah, I met him once or twice. I've never met Keisha, but he talks of her often. She's his whole world."

Ria grinned, and again felt the bile threaten to crawl up her throat. "Yeah. I kind of get that from her clothes allowance."

"Oh," Darren moaned, leaning forward.

Ria and Isaac rushed to him, with Ria bending to look the man in the eye.

"Are you all right?" she asked, alarm making her words loud.

"I'm sorry, Ria, but… I think I better… get to a restroom," he said, turning on heel and dashing off.

As soon as he was out of sight, Ria all but fell to the floor, kneeling before Isaac who stooped to stare at her.

"Ria!" Sara called. "What's wrong?"

"Are you all right?" Isaac asked.

"The Throne," she groaned, wrapping her arms tighter about herself. "It's worse. Can't you feel it?"

Isaac shook his head. "Not really. I mean, it feels like it's emanating more strongly, but other than that, I feel fine."

"And I'm dead," Sara noted, and Ria acknowledged her words with a nod, turning to Isaac.

"Yeah, well, maybe you can't feel it because of your former allegiance to its owner."

"That's true," he agreed. "What's it doing to you?"

"I feel really… really sick," she muttered, her head bowing forward.

The lights were simply becoming too bright. It was always like this, every time she was sick. The last time she had been struck with a really bad case of the flu, she had had to spend a week in her bedroom with the lights off. And because of this newfound sensitivity, she heard the clack of gentlemen's dress shoes approaching. She knew they were right before her—she could see them now, in their shiny blackness that was still too bright—but she could not lift her head.

"What's wrong?" Genya's—Alucard's—voice asked.

"It's the effects of the Throne," Isaac explained, and Ria was honestly surprised to hear no venom in his voice.

"Here," Alucard said, kneeling down and pressing a small, brown leather drawstring bag into her hand. "Wear this around your neck. Its herbs will help shield you a little longer."

Ria saw the leather strap was plenty large enough to do just that, and she quickly slipped it over her head. The effect was instantaneous. The nauseous left just as suddenly as it had appeared, and the strength returned to her limbs. Alucard offered a pale hand to her, and she took it, the two rising to their feet.

"Thanks," she said, tucking the bag under her shirt.

Isaac was glaring daggers, but he, wisely, chose to say nothing.

"You're welcome, but this is only a temporary solution. There's only one that will be permanent."

"Getting the Throne back to the ruins," Ria nodded.

"How did you know to bring the herbs?" Isaac asked, his voice dangerously close to snapping.

What the hell was up with these two? Apparently, the question was clear on her face since Sara leaned around to answer it.

"You have to remember, Ria, what sides these two were on when last they met."

"True," she said aloud, causing Alucard to regard her with a very confused stare. She grinned, adding, "Never mind."

"To answer your question, Laforeze," Alucard said without sparing the former forgemaster a glance, "I felt the emanations growing stronger when I was here yesterday. They were already quite strong when I saw the two of you break in to investigate."

"That was you?" Ria asked, incredulous.

He nodded. "I was doing a similar investigation."

"I would think that breaking and entering was beneath the great Master Alucard," Isaac said, crossing his arms.

This time, Alucard did shoot him an icy glare. Before the dhampire could pose an answer, Ria interrupted.

"So, what do you know about this Galamoth?"

Both sets of eyes fell to her as Alucard sighed.

"He's a demon, and a powerful one. I might even wager that he's a bit more than just a demon. When I fought him, he was clearly Egyptian in origin. He commanded great strikes of lightning, and looking something like a dead jackal or dragon."

Ria arched a brow. "That's a big leap, between jackal and dragon."

"I've heard both," the dhampire admitted with a wry grin. "But I thought jackal."

She grinned. It was nice to see that even hundreds of years old half-blooded vampires had senses of humors. Isaac rolled his eyes, obviously not sharing in this sentiment. Shooting a glare so quickly at the devil forger that Ria wasn't quite sure she had even seen it, Alucard continued.

"I'm afraid that that's the extent of my knowledge on him. I was on a very different mission at the time. But I could tell when I fought him that he was capable of much more than what he was giving me. He was obviously bound."

"Well, obviously," Isaac hissed.

Alucard, thankfully, ignored him. "What is it that you've been able to gather?"

Ria shook her head. "Not much more. We only recently got his name, so we didn't even know he was a demon. Someone threw a weird rock through my window some time ago, and it had the symbol of the cult of Osiris on it."

"Which, in devil forging, is the symbol of time… a very powerful one," Isaac put in.

"And, to the cult, it symbolizes the underworld," Ria said, nodding along to Isaac's words. "My uncle gave me a book that he thinks has a passage about Galamoth in it, but it's a huge book and not in any order. I haven't come across anything yet."

"So, all in all…" Sara said, glancing between Ria and Isaac. Isaac unwittingly voiced the rest of her thought aloud.

"We have nothing."

Ria and Sara groaned. As fascinating as it was to hear a first-hand account of an event in her family's journals, it was so not why she had agreed to this meeting. Alucard shook his head, taking a moment to glance down at his watch.

"I have to return to the meeting soon, to keep up pretenses. But I have an idea."

"At this point, I'll take anything," Ria said.

"I have… a source, in a manner, that I might be able to contact. He'll know something about Galamoth, I'm sure of it."

"Sounds like a plan. When will you contact this source?"

"It takes some preparation. I'll have to contact you at a later date to let you know. But you'll be kept informed."

"Okay. We'll keep looking on our end, too."

"I have a question," Isaac said, lazily raising a hand. When no one verbally acknowledged his words, he continued, "What are we going to do about this Throne? You saw what it was doing to Ria, and it looks like it did a number on Darren too."

Sighing, Alucard only shook his head once more. "We have to find a way to stop it. Perhaps it'll be as simple as returning it to Castlevania's ruins."

"Which is easier said than done," Ria noting, gesturing to the surrounding museum.

"Indeed," the dhampire said. "Well, I must be returning. Until our next meeting."

"Oh, um, Aluc—ah—Mr. Arikado?" Ria began. "Do you think that you can, um, take it a little easier on my Mom and Darren? I mean, they don't know what's at stake."

With a slight grin, he nodded once. "As you wish."

"Let's go," Ria said, turning and making her way back up the hall.

Although the herbs shielded her from the Throne's growing emanations, she could still feel them there, like they were on the outside pushing in. The faster she could get away from it, the better.

"You go on. I've got, um, personal business to attend to nearby. I'll be home later," Isaac said.

Ria arched a brow at him, but chose not to say anything else. Seeing Sara beside her, the two only took their leave.

Isaac, as soon as Ria had disappeared from sight, turned to leave as well, when Alucard's voice called him to a halt.

"Laforeze, a moment?"

Isaac turned, his utter lack of love for the man before him more than evident on his face.

"Yes, if you could make this quick."

Alucard nodded once. "Then I shall not mince words. I don't know what your plans for this Belmont is, but… she's just a child. I know that the two of you are bonded through a blood spell, but I know you of long ago. She is much needed in this world, especially as… strong-willed as she is. It would be best that, whatever that plan of yours may be, that you simply leave her be."

Isaac growled, snarling at the dhampire.

"Obviously, the dearest prince doesn't believe that people can change," he hissed.

"Not people like you."

The words were cold, and they bit deep. But Isaac only shook his head.

"Despite your great doubts, young master, I have no agenda. I could… never harm Ria. I would never harm her."

He put his back to the dhampire as Alucard said, "Forgive me, but, judging on crimes past, I find that hard to believe."

Isaac took a mere four steps away before he turned at the waist to give an acidic grin to the other man.

"And if I remember correctly, I wasn't the one who had trouble with knowing where my loyalties lie."

No more words were spoken as Isaac strode from the museum, leaving a snarling Alucard behind him.


End Notes: It's been quite some time since I last had an Isaac POV scene, so I thought it might be fun to have an Alucard vs. Isaac moment. There's a little more to what was said, but that's for later. Also, I know that everyone reacted differently to the Throne, and although I had my reasons for why, I chose not to bore all of you with them. If you want to know, ask and I'll reply with the answer. So, was that a fun chapter? A little development, some repeated information, but I promise that more action—and info—is up ahead. I've about got this story outlined completely. It will be 25 chapters and an Epilogue. Oh, and this chapter continued me putting in little details of myself into Ria while keeping her completely different from myself. This time, it was her favorite Prince songs. I absolutely love "When Doves Cry" and "Thieves in the Temple," along with several others. Well, hope you enjoyed, please review!