We emerged into a large workshop, looking much like a car mechanic's shop. Concrete walls, open doorways, and toolboxes littered everywhere. Precision tools were lined up along the wall, metal shavings and half-finished components spread about on every surface. We took a moment to look around, and Alucard waved us forward as he noticed a lit doorway off at the side.

Vicky looked at Alucard suspiciously. "You didn't disappear."

Alucard looked amused. "Why would I?"

"Because...because..." She turned to me. "Bloody hell, Taylor. Know what? Nevermind! Let's just get on with this!"

That brought my mind back on track. I spoke quietly. "Non-lethal takedowns on anyone other than Bakuda. We don't know if she's got conscripts here or not."

Vicky nodded. "Right. Then we disable her with extreme prejudice. And I am going to pretend we never talked about the castle at all."

Alucard raised an eyebrow. "Conscripts?"

I growled lowly. "She put bombs in the heads of innocents. They have to do what she tells them, or they die horribly. If they're lucky."

Alucard's expression became determined. He reached to his side, a wickedly lethal blade appearing in his clawed hands. "A geas, then. Such things are used by the most evil beings." He paused in consideration. "We must end her quickly, then. Before she spreads her curse to even more."

Vicky and I nodded. Alucard took the lead, moving to the door, then flowing through, the same way I tended to float for a moment when trying to dodge. Is that what I looked like when I did it?

Freaky. And cool. Vicky went next, hovering silently over the floor, and I stepped through carefully, my whip at the ready.

I could hear several voices ahead, speaking in Japanese. Or Chinese. I wasn't familiar enough with either language to know which was which. I should probably look into learning them. Or maybe I could find a way to cheat around that. Why not? I had a magic castle, apparently, with actual succubi in the halls.

And now was not the time to be distracted by those thoughts. Again.

I was going to need a few hours alone after all this. Apparently, vampirism raised frustrations. All frustrations.

Alucard held up a hand, then pointed at the wall next to the doorframe ahead. I took position there, while Vicky floated upward and took position at the ceiling. He nodded with approval. Then he strode through, holding the blade at his side, across his left arm.

There was shouting, alarm, surprise. Some things translate regardless of language. Then there was the sound of metal cleaving metal. Vicky dashed into the room, and I came up the rear, the Shadow Whip boiling in my hand.

Alucard was surrounded by seven men, a crowbar cleaved in half on the floor between him and one dumbfounded Asian Bad-Boyz member. The rest hefted improvised weaponry, metal bats, tire irons, and one unfortunate had only brass knuckles.

One charged Alucard, letting out a yell while raising his bat. He simply turned, grabbed the bat with his left hand and smacked the flat of his sword across the man's back, sending him falling onto the floor with a grunt. He then used both weapons to devastating, if measured, effect on the next one to come near, breaking both the man's arms with a single motion.

Another tried to swing at Alucard's back, but Vicky grabbed him and broke his arm with a squeeze of her hand, making him scream. The rest of the men shrank back away from her, making it easy for me to come up behind two and slash with the Shadow Whip, catching both across the backs of the legs and spilling them to the floor, screaming in pain.

I should really look into getting some gentler non-lethal methods.

The rest of the men went into a corner, shivering in terror as the three of us advanced on the three non-injured men. Alucard almost casually discarded the bat he'd appropriated. He picked one up with his free hand, grinning as he placed his blade on the man's shoulder, allowing him to feel the cold weapon.

"This is the Crissaegrim, mortal. I forged it from three different legendary weapons, and I can use it to slice, burn, or freeze my opponents as I wish. If you do not wish to experience all of these things, you will tell me where your mistress is."

He shakily pointed over Alucard's shoulder. I looked. A figure wearing a bomb-disarming outfit, wearing a gas mask stood there, pointing...

"Alucard, move!" I shouted. Alucard dropped the man and flowed away, just as Bakuda fired the grenade launcher.

The grenade slammed into the wall and instantly froze the three ABB members in the corner, their expressions filled with terror.

"You fucking idiots!" Bakuda shouted as she unclipped a pair of weird-looking grenades from her belt. "You try to attack a Tinker in her workshop!? I am the world's greatest Tinker, and you are fucking dead!" She threw one at me and another at Alucard, probably considering us the greatest threats.

As the grenade neared me, I slapped it aside with the Shadow Whip, and it hit a corner to the right of the doorway Bakuda stood in. It popped open. It didn't seem to do anything on first glance, but Bakuda dove back through the doorway she emerged from, avoiding that corner, running quickly.

Alucard vanished in a swirl of flames just before the grenade detonated at his feet, turning the floor and ceiling near him into glass. He reappeared in another swirl of flames next to me, his left hand on fire. Even as I stumbled away in surprise, he threw three fireballs toward the doorway Bakuda retreated through. One passed through the open door, one hit the wall on the left.

And the one on the right slowed and came to a stop in midair, near the door.

I gulped. "What the hell?"

Alucard snarled. "Potent sorceress indeed. She destroyed the flow of time in that area with that weapon. If you'd been caught in it, your only hope for release would have been your powers. Or that someone would be able to kill you before the time on the weapon used was drained away."

Vicky was pale. "That's fuckin' crazy. Using bombs like that on anyone. Christ."

Alucard mused for a moment, then his hand lit up in flames once more. He threw one fireball after another at the bubble of frozen time. He spoke as I raised an eyebrow at him. "Finding the edge of the effect. Without proper countermeasures, entering would be far too dangerous."

Soon it looked as if there was a frozen sun taking up a corner of the room. Worse, the edge of the bubble extended more than halfway over the doorframe. I grimaced. "Not exactly much room. Not sure I want to try teleporting past it, either."

Alucard grinned. "If you cannot find a path," He gestured to the wall on the left side of the doorway. "Make one."

I considered, then grinned viciously myself, igniting my flaming claws. I moved forward and hit the wall with all my strength, easily gouging a good chunk out of it. Vicky came up next to me, helping me rip and tear enough concrete away to get through without touching the frozen time-bubble.

"The sorceress will be expecting us, now." Alucard said. "We must be ready for her, as well."

I nodded. "Any suggestions?"

Alucard smiled. "I have a few."

"Such bullshit." Vicky whispered.

I shrugged. "Right now? Not going to complain."

Beside us, Alucard was standing stock-still, his eyes glazed over. We could hear the sound of cursing and yelling as an ethereal wolf chased Bakuda around in the next room, the occasional sound of a strange explosion going off making the both of us flinch now and again. There was the sound of shattering glass, then a more conventional explosion, then another freeze-bomb going off.

Finally, Alucard straightened, rubbing his shoulder with his clawed fingers. "She's expended most of her weapons. We can kill her quickly, now."

Finally. I growled deeply. "She's mine." I looked to Vicky. "You have any problems with this?"

She looked somewhat conflicted, then she shook her head. "No. Bitch nearly killed my sister. Everyone's calling for her head."

Alucard nodded as well. "It is foolishness to allow a sorceress who attacks innocents with spells like this to leave alive. End her quickly."

I stepped through the door, whip at the ready. Bakuda stood there, breathing hard, the entire room looking like a war zone with all the different kinds of damage in it.

"Nowhere left to run, you child-killing bitch." I growled.

She screeched, activating another of her specialty grenades and throwing it at me. I didn't bother to dodge it. I just teleported right in front of her and slammed her into a wall that had been transmuted into glass. I brought out my flaming claws and started carving the bomb-disarmament suit from her body, ignoring her attempts to hit me.

"How does it feel, Bakuda? To be helpless before the stronger?" I snarled as I ripped the mask from her face.

She might have been pretty, if I hadn't known of the things she'd done. She spat at me. "Like you can judge me, you little bitch! I am a genius. I can fuck with physics in ways you can't imagine!"

She tried to grab another grenade, but I simply grabbed her arm and crushed it. She screamed in agony. I then crushed her other arm, renewing her screams. I then slammed her head into the concrete floor, not so hard she'd lose consciousness or serious injury. Just enough to make her feel it.

I stepped on her back, feeling her try and wriggle away from underneath me. I summoned the Void Sword, placing the cold tip of it on her spine. "You like using freeze-bombs on people? Let's see if you can handle the cold."

"Everyone dies if you kill me!" She screamed.

That made me pause. My hands trembled on the Void Sword. The impulse to just drive the sword through her was overwhelming. "Talk. Fast." I growled.

"I have a deadman's switch. My heart stops, every bomb I ever made goes off. Brockton Bay'll become a fucking nightmare. The Eastern Seaboard'll have a goddamn hole in it big enough for Behemoth and a hundred of his brothers to hold a fucking dance competition in." She began to laugh, a hysterical giggling thing. "You can't afford to kill me. I'm the greatest Tinker the world's ever seen."

I dismissed the Void Sword. For once, its dismissal didn't shift my emotions one bit. I leaned down, my voice filled with icy rage.

"Thank you, Bakuda. I was going to kill you. Now? I'm going to get creative."

We returned to the Castle. I dragged Bakuda behind me by a foot, while she wailed and screamed, trying to get away from me. She tried to kick the back of my leg as I pulled her along, but the few times she landed a hit didn't hurt at all. Merely annoyed.

Meridia was waiting for us. Marginally more dressed this time, though I could still see a lot of skin. At least she was...covered, in the right places. She bowed. "My Lady, welcome back." Then she bowed to Alucard. "My lord Dracula." Then she bowed to Vicky. "And noble lady, welcome back to Castlevania." She grinned as she looked over Bakuda. "Have you brought us a gift?"

"In a manner of speaking." I said. "This is Bakuda. She is going to be an indefinite guest of the Castle. There are two conditions for her stay here. One, she stay alive. Two, she can never escape."

Meridia's grin widened. "I see. I believe we can prepare just the thing." She flicked a strand of her white hair over her shoulder, her wings ruffling. She crouched next to Bakuda, her gaze turning hungry. "I will be very happy to take care of things from here, My Lady."

I gave the whimpering Bakuda a grin. "She's all yours, Meridia."

The succubus grabbed Bakuda. The mad Tinker let out a scream before they both vanished. I let out a shuddering sigh.

Vicky slowly turned, looking at Alucard. "My lord Dracula?"

He looked uncomfortable, and sighed. "Technically, accurate. My father took the name Dracul, the Dragon. Dracul-a would be 'Son of the Dragon.' However, I had a need to show myself to be opposite to him, despite my obvious heritage. Unlike some, I cannot hide the fact I am a vampire. Merely look more...healthy. Thus, I called myself Alucard. It is not the name I was given when I was born, but that man died a very long time ago." He looked pensive, his gaze on something far, far off in the past.

She nodded at that. Vicky then looked at me. "Well, this has been fun, but can we go home, now?"

I went to an archway and opened another portal.