Write write write. What POV am I using anymore? Some mix of first person and third Person Omniscient with a dash third person? I don't even know. There's a reason I'm not a writer, that is for sure.
Alucard's mist-like form moved quickly through the night and it was not long before he put considerable distance between himself and the Order of Shadows sanctuary, arriving at Dracula's castle. He picked an area outside the castle and reclaimed his flesh form again, looking carefully around as he walked a small perimeter while trying to gauge where he would go in the towering structure. He could have easily went in through the entrance hall but the place he wanted to go lay a little further in and he was sure he could find an opening in a wall closer to the level he needed. Spying an area he could move to through his spirited form he started to do so but he paused when he felt a surge of power, immediately recognizing it.
"Father?" Alucard wrinkled his brow at the discovery. His father was here? Alucard wondered when the elder vampire had come here and for what purpose but he realized his father's reasons were not always the easiest to figure out. Perhaps Yoko had found the man and sent him after him not trusting him to do it himself or the man had come here for another reason entirely. Everything was mere speculation however; as it were he had no intentions of alerting the man to his presence. He could easily conceal his blood from Dracula just as he'd done when he'd played the part of Zobek's Lieutenant to not spoil his century's spanning plan to defeat the necromancer and Satan. Tempering his blood bond was used in conjunction with the heartbeat of a vampire, for even the undead had them. It was miniscule at best but it still existed and could be detected by other vampires. Rubbing gingerly at his chest just over a tender scar Alucard wondered why vampire's still had a functioning heart, could cry, or even continue to perform sexually, but found it to be beyond his comprehension. Vampires were truly a unique being in and of themselves and more than simply animated corpses as they were simply thought to be. As much as he despised his kind he had to admit this.
The sound of twigs snapping from the expansive entry garden behind him caught Alucard's attention and he quickly turned, narrowing his eyes at the pitch black landscape around him. He thought he saw the barest hint of a shadow but it was gone and could have simply been his mind playing tricks on him. After several moments of staring daringly at the darkness Alucard relented and turned back around to continue his intended purpose. Tempering his blood bond quickly and hoping Dracula had not sensed his arrival, Alucard whisked himself up a long series of posts that jutted from the architecture to go far deeper into the rising castle until he reached an area that was dilapidated so that he could enter. Looking around the ruined section that was like so many other ruined sections of the castle Alucard couldn't help but be reminded of the broken down wing he'd fled to in an attempt to escape his father's madness. Forgetting the sobering memory Alucard quickly dashed through the halls, taking note of some of the slumbering beasts that had arose having sensed the return of Dracula within the castle.
There were the common hunchback imps feverishly working to rebuild their master's castle but there were many other different creatures with them; skeleton warriors were dusting off their armor and lumbering about, Scavens were snarling and tearing into each other's necks in attempt to eat one another, knight vampires were snarling at the 'lower creatures' to work faster on rebuilding the castle for their master as they twitched and flapped their many wings, the mammoth Wargs were licking their coats and stretching their muscular bodies as they howled and these were but a few of the creatures he saw.
Alucard dashed around and through the creatures, ignoring their cries of surprise or recognition. He wanted to groan when one of the knight vampires recognized him and bowed low as he passed. Just as Alucard reached a turn in the hall he gave a startled sound and narrowly dodged as one of the hunchback imps walked from the other hall into his path. The little creature screamed in fright and dropped its hammer before it recovered and began to shake one of its fists and snarled its anger at him but Alucard was long gone.
After some time of moving through the shadows Alucard slowed his pace and started a slow trot knowing he was in the desired section of the castle he wished to be. He began to walk toward where he thought the door to the undercroft of the castle was seated but he froze when he felt a prickling sensation as if he were being watched intensely. The vampire looked around the shadowy castle but he saw nothing, only the moonlight and flickering shadows. He was quick to search out his father's presence but found it was far away and elsewhere in the depths of the castle. Alucard stopped searching realizing it was likely some of his father's awakened children of the night, perhaps even a succubus come to watch. The succubi or even incubi were notorious for finding him and leering at him from the shadows.
Closing the rest of the distance quickly, Alucard saw the door ahead that led to the anointed 'City of the Damned' and hurried to it. Looking down he saw the groove and the sharp spindle that lie within that demanded a blood sacrifice to be opened. In the past he'd made a point to avoid these doors and only go through them with his father who usually offered up the blood. He needed to get to the molten under layers of the castle though so he would do it, no matter how much he disliked it. Glancing at his clawed hand momentarily Alucard promptly shoved his palm into the recession and hissed in pain as the door drew his blood offering in and groaned its approval of being fed after so long of starving; Pulling his bloody claw back Alucard wondered if the castle fed from blood just as its master did.
The vampire watched the doors separate, allowing him passage into the elevator that would take him to the lower levels of the castle. He stepped inside just before the doors resealed behind him and he quickly turned the mechanism that caused the elevator to slowly make the decent downward until, at last, it came to a stop and the exiting doors pulled open with a loud squeal of protest. Alucard could already feel the heat of the infernos beyond from the small room and he steeled himself as he walked out into the smoldering cavernous area that bubbled and spewed molten magma and echoed with the sharp cries of harpies. Pushing his hair out of his face that the scalding breeze had disturbed, the vampire squinted out over the sea of fiery liquid rock. The surface was dotted with multiple geysers that spewed magma far up into the air to rain its searing liquid all around the pits.
Walking just a short ways Alucard saw the far away ledge he was looking for and spirited himself up onto it to access the architecture that lay there, built into the very caverns of the god forsaken place. Eyeing the sign that bore the chupacabra's face Alucard briskly walked up to the door of the less grand elevator and pushed it aside so he could enter, glancing behind him to make sure nothing was following. Pushing a button the elevator began to lower and Alucard wanted to roll his eyes at the cheesy 'elevator music' that was being played from one dusty speaker in the corner of the cage. Apparently the chupacabra thought of everything when he built his little shop of curiosities.
Reaching the bottom quickly Alucard walked out into the musty shop and darted his eyes around the dark messed room, his golden eyes glowing in the darkness. There were piles of books, antiques, toys, relics, and so much more littering the tiny space to a point Alucard didn't think so much junk could fill one tiny shop. Carefully Alucard maneuvered through the heaps of random collections, dodging the hanging trinkets and pushing them out of his line of sight as he approached the great oak desk in the back that held even more trinkets and oddities.
Alucard glanced over at the shattered mirror in the corner as he walked up to the empty desk. He looked the massive piece of wooden furniture over for the missing Chupacabra before letting his eyes settle on a little rusted bell. Alucard had known of the shop but had rarely come into the chupacabra's business establishment, if it could even be called that, while the imp was away. He'd mostly seen the chupacabra in passing or the creature sought him out to tell his jokes and tales when his father would have no more of it. Frowning and looking around the dusty shop the vampire thought it looked as if the creature had not been here in a while, perhaps it have abandoned the castle in the wake of Satan's return?
Looking at the bell again Alucard tried to decide whether to hit it. It could be a trap that may leave him in a worse way than he had entered... Curiosity began to pick at Alucard and he slowly reached his hand down to the bell, giving it a quick but thorough pat to cause it to chime. Alucard jumped back and nearly shouted out his surprise when the chupacabra shot up from behind the desk with a high pitched squeal and bright enthusiastic eyes.
"Young master!" The chupacabra cried in delight, leaning against the top of the desk to stare at the wide eyed startled Alucard. "What a good night it has been! First I find out that the master is not dead and then I get to see you have returned safe and sound!" The little imp's mouth was split ear to ear with a pleased sharp toothed grin. The creature started to launch into a long winded story but Alucard gently cut him off, never feeling he needed to be as harsh with the creature as his father was sometimes want to do. "Chupacabra, I don't have a lot of time so forgive me for forgoing pleasantries. I am in search of an item that was once in this very castle and I was curious if you may have come across it." The little man's eyes lit up at the sound of a 'lost item' and he practically shivered in excitement, leaning forward on the desk as he started his black eyes up at Alucard. "What sort of item, young master?"
"It is a weapon. It was forged by the Toy Maker here and is a chain whip forged with the blackest of metals." Alucard recounted to the little man, leaning his weight off his gimped leg and crossing his arms as he waited for the creature to answer if it had seen it or not. At once the chupacabra made an odd sound in his throat and jumped over top of the desk and hopped down to scurry into his heaps of belongings. Alucard watched him dive into a pile with one raised eyebrow, shaking his head at the absurdity of the little thing as it ran to and fro to different piles to dive into or dig through. The vampire dodged the differing things that the chupacabra was tossing away; an odd bear that hit with a heavy iron thud where he was standing before he side stepped. A simple wooden boomerang that he had to duck in order to miss getting smacked in the throat. A clown suit, which confused him to no end why the chupacabra had it in the first place. An odd pumpkin headed creature that gave a screech when it was ripped out from a pile by the searching imp, Alucard could just hear the chupacabra mutter 'filthy innocent devil' when it scurried away to hide again.
Alucard knocked away a yellow and white key that had been thrown haphazardly when the chupacabra gave a muffled triumphant cry from where it was buried in a pile. "Like this?" The chupacabra cried out as it burst forth with the black chain whip held in its little claws. Alucard's eyes lit up at the sight of Dark Pain and he nodded his head, "Yes! That's exactly it." The chupacabra hummed to himself and drug the weapon over to Alucard with great effort, looking expectantly up at the man. Alucard stared at the creature for sometime before he realized what the chupacabra was waiting for, not even Dracula himself could get anything for free from this shop.
"I don't suppose you'll start a tab for me…" Alucard sighed as he rubbed the back of his head, having no form of relic or something of monetary value for the creature in return for the weapon. A weapon that was originally his to begin with he noted in annoyance. The chupacabra narrowed his eyes up at Alucard as it considered his offer and for a moment the vampire honestly thought he was going to have to choke the creature to get his original weapon back but the imp relented, nodding its hood covered head. "Okay, but only because you are the master's son and I know you are good for it." With that the chupacabra disappeared in a puff of smoke to reappear behind the counter, "Is there anything else I can get you, sir?"
Alucard reached down and picked up Dark Pain by the red trimmed hilt, shaking his head at the creature, "No Chupacabra, thank you." Alucard looked the dark weapon over as he twisted it in his hand, the cool metal and red stone embedded in its center glittering in the dim shop. His time of using the weapon flashed in a distant memory and he couldn't help but notice how the hilt grasped in his hand felt comfortable, as if it were molded perfectly for him to hold. Further memories returned of a time when he had wielded a light version of this weapon as a man but he refused to dwell on any these memories.
Nodding to the imp of a creature, Alucard attached the whip to his belt and weaved back to the elevator, dodging the piles and the hanging knick-knacks again as he did. As he locked himself in the elevator he heard the chupacabra holler at him to visit again and he couldn't help but let his dark lips pull into a smile. He would have to come visit the creature, he knew it got lonely and for all its annoying quirks, and tendency to be a blight on travelers and their relics, it did have a good heart.
Alucard hurried out of the elevator, looking overhead as a harpy flew by screeching her fury as she tried to catch some other terrified flying beast for its meal. Alucard spirited back across the chasm and returned to the other elevator and then up to the upper level of the castle. Stepping out into the castle hall he patted the weapon at his side, smiling triumphantly that he'd managed to find the long lost weapon he'd left here long ago. It was going to cost him but it was worth it. The weapon would aid Julius tremendously and he was glad he could pass it along the family line even if he never wanted to have to do that.
The vampire walked back down the corridor with the intention of going back the way he came to return to the Order of Shadow's Sanctuary but when he reached an intersection of the hall he paused and looked down the separate path. He searched out and felt his father's presence that seemed to lay in this direction and after careful consideration he started to follow it deeper into the castle. Perhaps he should seek his father out and see if he could repair the damage he'd done with his thoughtless words. Alucard's anger had waned considerably and he did wish to make things right between them. He dashed through the long corridors until he arrived at an open doorway that led out into a spacious courtyard that contained an alabaster angel water fountain, the sparkling blue water flowing freely from her held vase. Walking into the opening he tried to feel his father's presence out again but found that, while the man had apparently been here, he was no longer. He found himself curious of why the man had come here, glancing up at the looming cathedral-like library in front of him, noting the large rose window set into the structure.
"Curiosity killed the cat." Alucard mumbled to himself, looking over his shoulder to glimpse a moving shadow further in the hall he'd come from which he figured was one of his father's subordinate creatures again. With as many revived monsters as there were it was most likely one of the curious creatures… but he still felt ill at ease with it following him. Despite his words about curiosity Alucard did not heed them and walked the rest of the distance to the library and pushed past its ornate wooden door. Once inside Alucard marveled at the heavy bookcases that lined the room and reached far above to nearly the vaulted ceiling, books lining each and every shelf. The many libraries that filled this castle never ceased to amaze the vampire at their grandeur. Many of the elders of this world would have absolutely frothed at the mouth at the thought of discovering the secrets and ancient magical tomes that were left over from powerful necromancers that filled these halls a lifetime ago and more. However no one was brave enough to venture into this castle that held such a dark history to study them so they were left to rot and decay or remain intact by enchantments cast upon them.
Stooping to pick a familiar book from a pile that read 'Harmony of Despair" as he passed, the vampire wondered if it was just a copy, or even an original, of the one he had found elsewhere in the world. Alucard opened the tome to flip through the aged yellow pages, finding it to be unsurprisingly wrote in Latin, a language he had some knowledge of but not enough to decipher the secrets of the book. The book was also filled with several lovingly stylized images of warriors that he did not recognize but one he did, at least in a sense. It was the picture from which he'd based his 'human' disguise from. Years before when he'd stumbled across the tome in his travels, he'd gravitated to the image of the noble man with long blond hair for some reason. Perhaps because in his depictions he seemed to carry some sort of inner sadness much like Alucard himself did and it appealed to him. He couldn't help but feel they were similar in some ways. Shutting the book, Alucard carefully set it atop another book pile as he walked by and proceeded further down the hall.
The sound of a faint moan reached the vampire and he turned in time to watch some great specter of a creature pass by one of the many rows of bookcases, disappearing behind the shelf, its many chains dragging heavily behind it. Alucard, feeding into his curiosity, spirited himself over to try and catch up with the creature only to find it was gone. Figuring it was just some lost soul he decided it best not to bother it with his prying presence and he walked into another section of the library. The room was just as massive as the last but held the same set up of rows of towering bookcases and multitudes of stacked books that had yet to be returned to their rightful places on the shelves. Alucard approached a large bookstand in the center and started to open one of the enormous aged tomes left on the pedestal but stopped, realizing it might be an unwise decision. Retracting his fingers Alucard turned away from the books and looked up to find a mural painted on the ceiling that depicted a many winged seraph that glowed of God's majesty and held a glowing staff within its hand. Alucard narrowed his eyes at the mural containing the golden haired angel and found a striking parallel with it and the 'Old God' disguise that Satan had tried to trick him with.
He fleetingly wondered if this was a random seraph a long dead artist painted from their own imagination or if it was based on one of the One God's seraphim or maybe even an Old God. Alucard was tempted to spirit himself up to the top of one of the bookcases to get a closer look at the painting but the groaning of the lost soul tore his attention from the mural and over to the pitiful ghostly creature that was standing several rows back from him. Alucard watched the creature as it gestured toward an area of the library but remained where it were. Alucard watched the odd creature continue the gestures until it disappeared behind the rows of bookcases again. Looking to where the creature had been pointing, Alucard was surprised to see an obstructed and nearly unreachable door high up in the library he would not have noticed otherwise. Not seeing the harm in exploring, Alucard spirited himself up to the ledge and carefully pushed past the wooden door with some effort and found himself in a short walkway that led to the multicolor rose window he had glimpsed outside that had an alter in front of it. As Alucard approached he was surprised to find a combat cross in the indented velvet, quickly surmising it was Julius'.
So this was where he stashed his weapon… Likely to snub the Brotherhood so that they could not retrieve one of their valuable weapons. It was as good a snub as any, since any combat cross lost was a terrible blow for them as these weapons are the last of Rinaldo Gandolfi's creations. There were not many left within the Brotherhood's weaponry the last he knew and most of their knights used copies of Rinaldo's weapons so as not to lose the originals. It seemed the originals always went to a Belmont they chose to challenge Dracula. Finding an appreciation for Julius' decision to stow his weapon here, Alucard started to turn to leave but stopped when he noticed a fragment of his past hanging on a pair of dummy's set into the wall. Alucard stared for a long time at his old tattered dark green cloak and armor that he had not known still remained in the castle, or remained in one piece at all. He couldn't help but feel a stir in his heart by his father's inability to throw out his old clothing that still bore the stains of blood from their vicious battle to his death.
The vague and fragmented memory of Dracula running him through with his combat cross returned at the sight of this shrine but the man quickly pushed the awful thought away, unconsciously touching at the sensitive scar on his chest. Alucard set his jaw tightly and straightened his spine as he decided he would not avoid his father any longer. He must find the man and apologize. Decided, Alucard turned to leave the lost room but froze and slid back at seeing a familiar face surrounded in the shadows. He panicked when he saw the likeness of Satan there but it dulled when the man came further into the light to reveal familiar black and green trimed robes. Furrowing his brow in confusion and a bit of dread Alucard addressed the man.
"Mathias?"
The acolyte smirked at Alucard as he approached, looking around the room as he did. "I see you found your dedicated room?" Alucard warily regarded the man, backing away from him. What was the acolyte doing here? Better yet why wasn't the acolyte dead? Perhaps Satan had yet to return or the man had fled… or he'd come to reclaim Satan's lost servant for his furious father.
"What are you doing here Mathias?" Alucard flatly asked as the man approached his ancient clothing, reaching up to rub the worn leather of his cloak. "Have you come to return me to your father in exchange for your life?" Mathias chuckled at Alucard's suspicious words and shook his head as he turned back to Alucard. "Dear child, no! I'm no fool to return to my father. He was…" Mathias trailed off as he looked back to the leather in his hand, "…not pleased."
Alucard snorted and smirked at the mental image of Satan's face when he returned and found him nowhere to be seen. He wished he could have seen the look quite desperately at that moment, it would have pleased him to no end if he had. "I see you managed to escape Satan's wrath… how did you manage that?" Alucard asked, still not entirely trusting of the man. For all he knew this was merely a trap and Alucard refused to be played a fool again.
Mathias shrugged and turned away from the clothing clad dummy to face Alucard, his face lacking its characteristic smirk and even holding a twinge of true fear to it. "I fled. Once I saw the gravity of my father's wrath I realized it had been a foolish decision to remain there." Mathias looked at Alucard with annoyance, "I was loath to find out that you were right. Lucifer only cares for himself and if I hadn't fled he would have killed me far more brutally than my ignorant brother. I suppose I had hoped otherwise…" Mathias trailed off, wincing suddenly and grabbing at his side. Alucard started to step forward by stopped himself, finding himself conflicted on if this was real or just an elaborate hoax.
Mathias must have noticed his confliction because he laughed at Alucard. "Don't believe me? Well I didn't escape unscathed and it's hard to fake a wound most grievous." With that declaration Mathias unclasped his robe and pushed it to the side causing Alucard's eyes to widen at the grisly wound that took up the entirety of the acolyte's side. The flesh was inflamed and completely shredded there, large globs of blood and green pus filled the hastily sewn together wound. Alucard suspected had this wound not been sewn up the man's innards could have fallen through the hole if he moved just right. Alucard offered a sympathetic look to the acolyte, realizing it was because of him he had sustained the wound. "You should have come with me when I offered it to you the first time." Alucard sighed, rubbing at his forehead, "You could have avoided that."
Mathias shrugged as he reclosed his robe, "I know, but why do you think I sought you out now? I can't go back to Lucifer in light of this." The dark haired man gestured toward his damaged side, "I have nowhere to seek sanctuary but I do have a reason to oppose the man now." Mathias straightened his body as much as his wound would allow to look as noble as possible. "Tell me, will you still accept a child of Lucifer into your little cause despite his foolish decision?" The acolyte's eyes narrowed and gleamed with a want for vengeance.
Alucard considered the man's words, feeling that the plausibility of this being a trap was marginally small with how horrific Mathias' wound was and the true desire for revenge he could see in his eyes. Alucard wanted to laugh in Satan's face knowing he had managed to convince his child to oppose him. What would the fallen angel say in light of that? Alucard's eyes absolutely glistened with his euphoria on being the one to put this into play much like his previous much more elaborate plan to destroy Satan. "The offer still stands Mathias and I welcome you to our cause to destroy Satan."
Mathias smiled and bowed lightly, "You are a truly noble man to accept me and I appreciate it. I wonder how your father will react to me." Alucard's mentally cursed at Mathias' words and he knew the answer. Dracula would kill him. Dracula would have wanted to kill him just knowing he was an acolyte but now that his father knew about what he had done with Mathias to garner his freedom he would utterly destroy the man with a baptism of burning fire. Nothing burned brighter than Dracula's wrath and none could survive it. Not even this acolyte he suspected.
"Mathias… my father will not welcome your presence in the least but maybe if I talk to him he will be more accepting…" Alucard slowly stated, not wanting to reveal the true reason why Dracula would not take to his presence so willingly. But Mathias laughed heartily at his careful words. "Your father knows I had sex with you?" Alucard glared at Mathias for saying it so plainly but nodded as he huffed. "Yes…" Mathias laughed harder but winced as the action pulled at his wound and instead settled on chuckling. "Oh that is rich. Please, take me to this overprotective man so that I might tell him his little boy can sleep with whomever he wishes!" Alucard sighed wearily at the soon to be awkward situation but he would find a way to make it work. It would be foolish to not accept the power of an acolyte to use against Satan. "Mathias please… just come with me and I'll find a place to hide you while I can work on getting my father to accept you." Mathias was still laughing but nodded all the same, "Very well, little vampire. Take me to my fox hole so that I might hide from the ravenous maul of an angry father for deflowering his son." Alucard groaned, knowing it was going to take a miracle to make this work.
Quickly he exited the room with Mathias and returned to ground level where he cast one more look up at the seraph mural before he led the acolyte from the library and back into the courtyard. The vampire paused and searched for his father's presence and was almost horrified to find it closer than it had been before. He was going to have to get Mathias out of this castle if he didn't want the man to be found and brutally beaten to death. "Let's go." Alucard hissed, pulling at Mathias' robes, the other only smiling almost wickedly as he led him back into the halls of the labyrinthine castle as he attempted to lead them both to safety from Dracula's looming presence. Alucard was relieved that Mathias, despite his injury, was able to keep up with him as he dashed through the halls and stairwells back to where he'd entered the castle from. Once they both reached the grassy surface Alucard did not breathe easy, not yet. His father's blood was very close still and he dared not take to fleeing so obviously outside the castle where his father could see them if he were near any of the spacious windows that adorned the castle walls.
Alucard turned to the oddly silent Mathias, briefly wondering if the man grasped the seriousness of the situation finally. He jerked his head for him to follow and he jogged toward the main path of the castle that led into the ruined entrance garden that would lead further out from the castle. Alucard weaved through the thick overgrowth of weeds, vines and flowers that clung to the ancient trees and statues that filled this place; destroyed parts of overgrown gates and fences littered the ground floor and had to be traversed with great care.
Passing through a rusted gateway, Alucard cast a glance at a large statue of a woman set into a stone flower on a pedestal but continued on with his still eerily quiet charge. Finally feeling they were a safe enough distance away from the castle Alucard walked into a gated area and stopped near a fountain filled with murky water, fleetingly notice a frog dash into the water before he turned to Mathias to speak with him.
"Mat-"Alucard cut off, his eyebrows rising when he did not see the man behind him. He looked around the dense area that was filled with the screams of birds, crickets, and dark creatures but did not see him anywhere around. Alucard narrowed his eyes as he darted his glowing eyes around the area. What was the meaning of this? Backing up slowly, Alucard began to wonder if perhaps putting distance between him and his father had been such a good idea after all. Alucard reached for the dark whip at his side but jerked and froze when he felt himself grabbed from behind.
"I missed your body, Trevor..." Mathias purred from behind and Alucard sighed in annoyance at the man's gall to touch him. "Mathias I did not invite you along for you to have your way with me again." Alucard turned to fix the other with a glare but the other man just smirked widely at him, clearly not deterred. "Oh come on now…" Mathias whispered, his blue eyes dancing with a hidden fire as he advanced on Alucard, the vampire backing away from the slow advance. "Are you going to sit there and tell me you didn't miss the sensation of being completely owned by my body?" Alucard snorted at the acolyte as he harshly bit out, "I do not wish to be owned by anyone, Mathias." Despite his angry words Alucard continued to back away from him, finding himself becoming less and less comfortable in his presence.
"I don't believe that for a second." Mathias hissed, his smile growing. "I think you thoroughly enjoyed our time together whether you want to admit it or not. Those cries and wanton moans were not the figment of some rouse. Those were very real cries for me to take you like the mongrel bitch you like to think you are not." Alucard's mouth fell open at Mathias' crude words and he was about to snarl back at the man but his back hitting the rough bark of a tree silenced him and stopped his retreat from the intimidating man before him. Before he could move away Mathias trapped him against the tree, setting his hands on either side of him. Alucard looked at his arms and then narrowed his golden eyes up at the man. "I do not seek to be dominated by anyone now remove your arms and let me go, Mathias."
Mathias chuckled darkly at him, lifting one of his blocking hands to grab Alucard's face in a firm grasp, "What about daddy? I know you enjoy that man's hands and mouth on you." Alucard stared in disturbance at Mathias, unsure how to reply. How did he know about that? Alucard felt his dread building at the situation at hand but he refused to give into this snake of an acolyte. "Shut your mouth, acolyte!" He hissed, shoving roughly at the man but finding Mathias did not flinch despite his intended hit toward his wounded side. "I will not suffer your accusations when you do not know about what you speak!"
Alucard shrugged Mathias' hand from his chin and ducked beneath his arm, stalking toward the fountain with the intention of leaving him there to rot. Before he could abandon his flesh and do just that he was surprised to find Mathias already upon him, grabbing him and crushing his back against his chest, placing his mouth by his ear. "Don't be so dramatic… I won't press your buttons on daddy but what about what you did with me? I want to hear you say you offered yourself willingly to me." Mathias whispered harshly in his ear as he nuzzled it. Alucard tried to break the hold on him, his dread now starting to bloom into a fear he couldn't quite place because of the hiss in his ear that was so similar to anothers. "I didn't…" Alucard trailed off, unsure what to say to refute it because it was true.
"Admit it…" Mathias' voice whispered again, the tone dark and accusatory. Alucard began to tremble in Mathias' suffocating grip as the man began to stroke one hand up his chest teasingly. "I…did not.." Alucard's accent hitched, unable to force the words from his lips. Words that were a clear lie even to him. Mathias chuckled deeply behind him, Alucard's body bouncing with the deep reverberation of the sound against his back. Alucard gasped and bit his lip as Mathias' hand strayed to the left of his chest and began to forcibly rub one clawed finger around the archaic but painful scar that marred the skin there.
"Say it, Trevor!" The voice deepened an octave and sounded completely off in the vampire's ear.
"I… offered myself willingly to you." Alucard admitted bitterly, taking no enjoyment in the dark chuckle he heard the man emit from his admission. Alucard tried to pull away from Mathias in disgust but the man held him firmly in place. As he started to yell at the acolyte to release him he froze completely at the next words the man spoke, the unknown fear sinking its claws completely into his body with a new found horror that was hardly new at all.
"In so many ways, little one. I'm glad to hear you admit it aloud to me."
Alucard's eyes widened at the tone of voice that was not like Mathias' voice at all. It was too deep and filled with too much unadulterated pride to belong to him. It was the voice of a serpent whispering in his ear and it caused all his muscles to seize up at the terrible sound he didn't wish to ever hear so close again.
"Oh little Trevor… Did you enjoy this little bit of false freedom I allowed you? I would have continued to let you enjoy it a little longer but I heard your thoughts while you were having your little spat with your father." The man laughed heartily behind him as he slid a hand up to Alucard's hair and wrenched his head back, causing the vampire to cry out at the pain and at seeing the burning eyes of Satan looking out from Mathias' body, "I must admit, Gabriel must have been very angry with you for you to actually wish to be in my hands again. I felt so honored." Satan purred, smiling quite wickedly. Alucard stared numbly up into Satan's dark eyes before his screaming mind settled on a question. "Was there ever a Mathias?" Alucard's voice was completely monotone and lacking the fear that was currently turning his body cold. Satan chuckled heartily before he bit harshly against the flesh of Alucard's neck, licking the blood that seeped to the surface away before he answered.
"There was and he was one of my children. He kindly offered his body up for me to use as I saw fit once I was free. For his loyalty I cast his abysmal soul to the inferno where he remains, encased in the frozen waters of Cocytus within my circle of Hell for he was a very prideful child, so full of himself that even I balked at it, which is saying quite a lot, child. He was more like me than I thought possible for a mutt." Satan paused and lapped up another stream of Alucard's blood before pulling back to stare at him, his wicked eyes gleaming with such maliciousness it made the vampire want to whither into nothing at the things the man was silently promising him but need not say.
"Of course this happened long before you awoke but I think you gathered that didn't you? I told you, you as 'Mathias' you needed to accept your fate and it's about time you do so little one. You cannot escape me, ever." Satan released Alucard and the vampire slide graciously to his knees as he realized that, little too late, he should have sought his father out far sooner or not come here alone to begin with. But would it have mattered? His freedom was nothing but a rouse to give him false hope. Satan had never intended to let him stay free but to tease him mercilessly with safety, a cruel prelude to an even crueler first act of this horrific play that had Alucard cast in its lead role, no, its only role it seemed.
Satan circled around to his front and leered down at Alucard as he gently brushed his hair with one hand, "I so missed your presence, little one, but I achieved something so precious by leading and encouraging you into that idea of offering yourself up for your desperately wanted freedom. I heard that thought of yours to try and instill disobedience in my "child" and I so relished in it." The fallen angel grabbed Alucard's face and forced it up, enjoying the dawning look of horror that took over the vampire's features at the divulgement. "It was a far better plan than the one I had originally intended when I possessed this body… indeed, your cries of want beneath me were completely worth it to abandon my path and simply follow your idea. I should thank you…"
"No!" Alucard snarled at the fallen angel finding the energy to start crawling back from the sight of Satan contained in another body, his thin claws burying themselves in the dirt and grass to tear it free as he did. Alucard shook his head at the chuckling man, desperately trying to rationalize his ill thought plan that he had made back at the satanic cathedral. "I… I did not submit myself to you!" He cried feebly as he wrenched a chunk of dirt from the ground to throw at Satan, the words and action making the demon laugh harder. "Such a weak defense, Trevor. I don't even think you would accept that. Do you think it matters what skin I wear? It was my will you surrendered to all those years ago and now it is me you submitted your very body to!"
Alucard violently shook his head at the horrible revelation that he'd willingly let Satan have his body no matter what trickery was involved. Letting out an intermingle of a pained snarl and cry at the discovery, Alucard shoved himself to his feet and attempted to flee back to the castle and away from the laughing eyes of Satan but the man was already pulling him back into the his waiting arms. Snarling his bitter anger at Satan, Alucard wrenched Dark Pain from his belt with the intention of lashing out with it but the fallen angel ripped it away and kneed him harshly in his stomach, causing him to double over with a pained gasp. The fallen angel tsked him as if he were a child as he pulled him back up to wrap his body around.
"Such a naughty child. I may have to punish you later for being so obstinate." Satan purred in Alucard's ear, blowing the pale hair there away to nibble at the lobe as the young man continued to tear and hit at him with his claws. "You look so bewitching in the throes of pleasure when your body shudders and arches up with a breathy moan falling from your tongue. I cannot wait to have you trembling and crying below me again, Trevor."
Satan's words coupled with his heart shattering fear brought the beginnings of tears to Alucard's eyes. The vampire's fighting faltered and slowed to a stop against the unflinching monster that held him tight and securely. It was hopeless, he realized. "I will never escape you, will I?" Alucard whispered quietly in defeat, his accent quivering around the sentence. Satan laughed deeply before pressing a deceivingly gentle kiss to Alucard's temple as he cradled the man in his arms in an equally false sense of protection. "No, you will not. You will never escape the fall of my shadow." Alucard tried to resist as Satan grabbed his right hand, not wanting to have to see the mark but the man forced his hand up and around so that he had to see it. "You are utterly and completely mine, not even your father can protect you." Satan hissed to him, sounding entirely like a serpent and feeling even more like one as he coiled and wrapped around him to trap him there.
Alucard could not bite back the sob at knowing Satan's cruel truth as he tried to push the sinister creature away who was lovingly stroking the throbbing blight on his wrist that claimed him as his own. With such a despairing situation he found himself in he was unable to quench the flowing blood that escaped his eyes. He knew he should have balked at the mere thought of letting himself cry so freely, a silent warrior who had been so powerful at one time. He was that no longer. In this new stage of his unending life he found himself so far changed by Satan he did not know if he would ever be anything like he once was. He was now an utterly miserable soul that wished only to bare his despair freely and he knew he would bare it often now.
Garnering as much of his shreds of anger that he could find Alucard snarled at Satan. "I hate you." Satan only laughed at his meek words. "Are you so miserable, child? Do I cause such dismay to warrant your bloody tears? I hope to see you wear them often for me. They look so lovely against your pale skin…" Satan cooed as he kissed and licked the tears away almost as fast as they fell. Caught in this situation Alucard screwed his face into one of anguish, simply wishing to put an end to it all. He thought he had felt the call for true death before but only now did he understand what desiring true death felt like and he wanted it desperately at this moment. "You've proven your point. It was I who was responsible for the plan that led to your downfall at my father's hands. Enough with your games! Please, just kill me and be done with it!"
"Never…" Satan chuckled, flicking his tongue out to catch another tear, "Killing you would only be a terrible waste but I will punish you for your treachery later. It is not often I grow overly fond of a lower creature, let alone a child of mankind. You should consider my want to take you within my wings and keep you as the highest of privileges and I promise you will be begging for my attentions before it's all said and done and I will happily fill you with my greatness." Alucard's tears came harder at the admission of the demon lord and he vigorously shook his head against them. He would have been a fool to think death would be so easy at Satan's hands, death was a mercy from him and it was a mercy that Alucard would not ever get from him. He was completely and utterly damned to his fate and there was nothing that could save him from it.
"Release the child, demon!"
Alucard snapped his head up at the familiar deep voice, crying out as Satan dashed back with him several feet to avoid a large glinting scythe. Alucard stared in surprise at the mirage of a figure he had not heard or seen in eons. Satan on the other hand was annoyed by the same black robed figure that floated before them.
"Zobek! Or, should I call you Death now? I heard that Dracula had turned you into his pet but I scarcely believed it!" Satan sneered, narrowing his eyes at the floating specter of Death that bore the Devil Mask. "Apparently I was wrong. Pity, I had so looked forward to baptizing your soul with fire in Hell!"
"Enough of your words, demon! Release my master's child and face the master's wrath!" Death cried, his voice wavering in anger and his tattered black robe swirling wildly in the night air. Twirling his scythe he began to charge again but Satan snarled at the specter, hurling a wave of darkness at the creature that knocked it back with a pained howl. "Be gone little necromancer! Your power is weak and cannot harm me!" The man spat, knocking Death further into the forest around them with a stronger force of darkness.
"Release my son, Satan!"
Alucard and Satan both looked up in sync to see Dracula was now standing just a few feet away, his chest heaving in anger at the scene. Alucard cried out hopefully and tried to break away from his captor but Satan's hold on him remained firm, refusing him to do what he wished. Somewhere in his mind he heard Satan's voice whisper for him to sleep, a command that he was horrified to find was slowly forcing his body to relax and his hearing to dull as if cotton were jammed into them.
"And here is Death's master as well!" Satan cried mirthfully, "Ah, Gabriel! My old enemy! So good to see you escaped that eternal sleep of yours. I hope my daughter treated you well, she can be quite the handful at times." Satan snarled, his gold eyes widening in absolute bliss that Dracula would make an appearance at his most triumphant of victories.
"Put him down!" Dracula growled as he rushed at the disguised fallen angel but he snarled when the demon disappeared with Alucard only to reappear a short distance away, a taunting sneer on the man's face. "I was just soothing your child from the cruel way you attacked him. How horrible of you to treat this child in such a harsh manner." Satan teased darkly, narrowing his eyes at the vampire lord. "How could you cast him away and back into my most loving of arms? He will never forgive you!"
Alucard tried to ignore Satan's silent command but his movements were becoming sluggish and uncooperative and a great fatigue had settled over him. He desperately tried to fight it feeling some form of salvation so close. He attempted to cry out to his father but his throat would not let anything but the barest of cries leave his lips. Alucard's eyes fluttered as he twisted one hand weakly into Mathias' robe, no, Satan's robe.
"Poor child…" Satan sighed noticing the way Alucard was struggling in his grasp. He pulled the vampire closer to kiss his blood stained cheeks before dipping his head to lick at the apparent blood trails there. The fallen angel relished the sound of Dracula roaring loudly at him, laughing as the man threw a wave of fire at him which he made sure caught Alucard instead of him, causing his captive to cry out as the flame mercilessly burned and scorched his flesh. The look of horror that appeared on Dracula's face made Satan nearly hiss in pleasure.
"For shame, Prince of Darkness! Now you're attacking your boy yet again? Is there no end to your attempts to cause misery for him?" Satan sneered at Dracula, narrowing his eyes as he cradled the man that was quickly losing consciousness beneath his enchantments and Dracula's attack. Still watching the conflicted Dracula who didn't know how to attack, Satan leaned close to Alucard's ear so that he could whisper to him but loud enough the elder vampire could hear him. "Your father has turned his back on you and despises you, Trevor. He can never love you the way that I will love you."
"You monster! You leave my son out of this!" Dracula cried, trying to dash forward to grab Alucard from Satan's cruel grasp but the demon lord disappeared in a whirl of shadow and reappeared a short distance away as he continued to taunt him. "You have only yourself to blame for this, Gabriel!" Satan laughed joyously, hoisting Alucard's limp form up in his arms, "I haven't forgotten he was the one that orchestrated that plan to set you on the path of defeating me but don't worry, I'll treat him oh so well for his dedication.
"No! Please leave him out of this Satan! I am begging you, do whatever you want to me but don't do anything to him!" Dracula cried, resorting to uncharacteristic pleading that crushed every bit of the dark lord's soul to do it to the one person he despised so thoroughly. "Trevor does not deserve to suffer for my sins any longer!" Satan laughed throatily at Dracula's pleading, finding he enjoyed that almost best of all. He would have to savor it. "Oh, Gabriel. Begging already? While I am so tempted to have you beneath my feet to drag through the rings of the Inferno I'm afraid I must refuse your proposal."
Dracula snarled at the demon, his rage flamed anew at Satan's refusal and threw himself forward with the intention of ripping the smug face of the man off but as before the fallen angel continued his game of 'catch me if you can'. Appearing just out of Dracula's reach Satan laughed wickedly as he adjusted the weight of his motionless captive and observed the sleeping man. "Did you know that I was aware you had a meddling secret child?" Dracula glowered at Satan as he tried to approach the fallen angel again.
"I had every intention of hunting the child down if he survived Leviathan to take out my revenge against when my pathetic acolytes finally managed to release me to your world, but how surprised I was to find I need not bother let alone…" Satan made great show of considering how he wished to phrase his next words just to needle at the already enraged Dracula, "…how alluring he actually was in person. I figured you would have had some brute for a son and not this." Satan nodded toward the prone body in his arms, chuckling darkly as he looked up at the beast of a man that was circling him with palpable waves of anger flowing from him, "At seeing him I decided quite quickly I wanted him. Had I not been in such a hurry to destroy this pathetic world I would have seized him and made you watch me take him before your very eyes, Gabriel."
Satan absolutely shuddered in pleasure at the image of what could have been as Dracula dashed at him with an angry scream for talking about Alucard so vulgarly. With a sneer, Satan adjusted his burden to his shoulder so he could grab Dracula by the hair and sent a mammoth shock of dark energy straight into the vampire's body, enjoying the pained cry it earned him as the man fell to his knees smoking from the assault. Not relenting on his attack, Satan leaned down near Dracula's strained face and narrowed his eyes as he smirked at him. "You would not believe the sounds your son can make if you stroke him in just the right places and he absolutely purrs like a wolf in heat when you take him completely!" Pulling Dracula's head forward the fallen angel then hurled him several feet away with a snarl before readjusting Alucard in his arms. Snorting at the man, Satan started to walk away from Dracula as the vampire struggled to his feet, heaving heavily between the pain and his overwhelming ire. Satan paid him no mind and simply mused out loud as he looked back to his sleeping captive's peaceful face.
"I must admit I can now understand why you were unable to kill him in those final moments of his possession. He is such a beautiful child to behold and even I would have had trouble wasting such an exquisite creature. You truly outdid yourself when you created Trevor both in life and in death." The fallen angel tilted his head and leaned down to blow some of Alucard's hair from his slack face before gracefully twisting out of the way from a recovered snarling Dracula, finding amusement in the vampire lords feral nature so completely shown.
Satan chuckled and looked into Dracula's chaotically burning eyes with his own molten Aurelian ones, "I once thought merely possessing him was enough to cause you pain but you proved me to be wrong. I must thank you for showing me such a weakness to use against you." The fallen angel's lips split into a wider grin as Dracula flinched obviously at his words, the man clearly finding guilt at his son being put into harm's way by their blood connection. Stepping back a few feet Satan straightened himself completely as he sneered at his greatest of foes. "Truly the greatest way to get my revenge on you, Prince of Darkness, is to simply take him from you like I wanted to do in the beginning. To cause you pain I but only need to take all my pleasures out on him!"
Dracula lunged himself forward again with a snarl but Satan disappeared in a flurry of darkness but did not reappear this time. Satan's taunting laughter and a final declaration was all that was left for him, "My children will have such fun causing you pain! But the best pain of all is that he is mine now, Gabriel! Wallow in your misery!"
Finding himself alone and Satan taken Alucard from the safety of his arms again Dracula screamed in absolute fury of the unexpected turn of events, releasing a horrific rampage of a great rising dome of red blackness on the garden around him that completely destroyed the ecosystem of greenery and life until it all burn to ash, leaving Dracula to feel his failure to protect his son for a second time. Dracula heaved in place for a long period until he was disturbed by the voice of Death, the wraith hovering just behind him.
"I'm sorry, Master. Satan is a foe most powerful and I could do nothing to stop him."
Dracula snarled and turned around to glare at the necromancer, his arm flaring to life with his Chaos Claws which he had every intention of using on Death. The necromancer did not flinch as Dracula twisted his hand into his tattered cloak and yanked him down to bash his flame covered fist into the wraith's mask, desperate to take out his wrath on something in light of not being able to do so on Satan. A few ragged cries escaped Death as his mask fractured along one of the many splits that the Devil Mask already contained but the vampire did not relent and Death did not fight back, knowing it a grave choice to refuse his master. After several devastating punches Dracula growled in his chest and flung his servant to the side, the wraith hitting the ground hard with a groan.
Dracula glared at Death as the necromancer recovered and rose back into the air, bearing several new cracks in his mask that hinted that if Dracula had not stopped he would have shattered it and destroyed the former Lord of Shadow completely. Banishing his flaming weapon the vampire turned from his servant, "Return to the castle and keep my servants of darkness in line. If I have need of you or them I will come for you." With that Dracula disappeared in an explosion of bloody darkness, leaving the lightly shivering Death to obey his cruel master's command without question.
SNAP! D: Oh man! Mathias was Satan all along? Wtf? Satan you are so evil... Bah, I kinda hinted at this in a previous chapter...but the most blatant hint was in the *cough cough* lust and thrust scene which didn't make it onto this site.
Brief note that, yeah, all the stuff the chupacabra was pelting poor Alucard with in his shop were differing weapons/objects from previous CV titles. Even the damn white and yellow keys which go way back to 1986's 'Vampire Killer'. :P And I fit the actual grimoire from Harmony of Despair in. Yeah I shouldn't be proud about that but I am. Details. Details. Love little details.