Dracula stood motionless in the flickering candlelight, the gentle flame casting a spray of light orange across his body and distorting his shadow that fell across the stone floor and wall. His face was unusually pale and his eyes were distorted with dark circles and remnant residue of bloody tears that had still plagued him even recently. Sighing tiredly he lifted a hand and stroked a finger gently along Alucard's cool cheek, soaking up the bitter sweet moment of being reunited with his son. He finally had him back… but had the price he'd paid to get him been worth it, no matter how much he'd yearned for it? Looking at his son now it hardly did.
The vampire brushed the cluster of blood stained hair from the left side of Alucard's face, morosely observing the sorry state his child was in as he lie dead to the world. It was so disturbing to see the boy like this. He looked so frail - too frail - lying against the sheets of a bed that Dracula had half heartedly called his own but rarely used. Sleep was not something he had often partaken of through his unlife and if he did it had been in his throne where he fell into a temporary reverie which one couldn't truly consider sleep. More like... rest. Before recent times he could not remember the last time he'd let his eyes shut fully and be welcomed by sleep.
In the least most of the his son's flesh wounds had healed but Alucard was still thoroughly battered and stained with his blood that had at one time so completely drenched him. He wanted to wash the awful stains away but was utterly frightened to touch him, fearing if he did the boy might just shatter. He'd done enough damage to his child and he was not sure he could ever forgive himself for it. Trailing his eyes over Alucard's bare torso, Dracula winced when his eyes fell on the lengthy healing gash that ran down the entirety of his son's chest, a gash he had put there in a horrific fashion. That wound would take a long time to heal completely, in more than one way, and Dracula couldn't help but wonder if it would scar to join the other one he had caused. If it did he wasn't sure he could look his child in the face again after causing him yet another scar to bear. How many was he going to give him? Was he forever damned to maim or attempt to murder this child no matter how much love he felt for him? In the boy's life he'd unwittingly pierced his heart with his own combat cross and in unlife he'd tried to just rip it out completely. How was this remotely fair? Why did God let him suffer such things? Why?
Growling deep in his throat at the misery that plagued him, Dracula jerked his hand away from Alucard as his age old anger for God flared dangerously to darken his already dismal mood. He might have fallen further into his vengeance woven dark thoughts but the sound of the door to the secluded room opening knocked him out of it, though he did not turn to face her. He knew it was Laura. Little Laura his apparent constant companion who was wise beyond her years. Perhaps if the girl had not been separated from him, and he had had the mind to retrieve her, she could have seen through the charade that he had been too blind to because of his just as blinding rage…
"How is he?" The girl whispered as she slid up next to Dracula, the child turning her head lightly as she stared down at the still Alucard with curious blood dotted eyes. The vampire lord found that the child's tone was not the flippant and uncaring one she could be privy to using, much like himself. There was true curiosity in her voice.
"He is weak but lives…" Dracula whispered back, his voice gruff and cracking with disuse, "…if I had not gotten him back here when I did he surely would have…" The vampire trailed off with a shudder at the grisly thought of what could have been and the almost horror of living in this God forsaken world without his child with him. If such a thing had come to fruition he would have immediately tracked down the shattered Vampire Killer and thrown himself on his infernal combat cross. What would have been the use in living eternally without his son and only the burden of his death on his hands? Once had been bad enough but to have done it a second time…
Noticing the way Dracula's dark thoughts were twisting at his heart, Laura gingerly grasped the man's arm in what was meant to be a reassuring way. "He lives, Gabriel. He lives and you have him back. That's the important thing and should be what you are focused on." She consoled, lightly patting Dracula's arm as she looked up at the man. Dracula snorted at Laura's words, lightly shaking his head at them. "No thanks to me, Laura. I was the one that did this to him. I was the one that almost killed him just like I did to Mar-"
"He lives, Belmont." Laura lightly chided to cut Dracula's self hating remark off, the tell tale signs of her childish quick temper reemerging. "Stop wasting time on your perpetually gloomy thoughts and enjoy having Trevor back." The child pointed out before she approached a table set against a wall and retrieved two weapons that hung from her hip, setting them both down on the aged wooden piece of furniture. Turning from them Laura looked to Dracula's back and flicked one of her dainty hands at the sword and obsidian whip despite the man being unable to see the gesture, "I thought perhaps you might like to have these two weapons back."
Dracula turned and looked at the table and had to fight the desire to flinch at seeing Dark Pain and the Alucard Sword, two weapons he had, in some way, hurt his son with. He disliked being faced with either of them but, still, he found some twisted form of comfort from seeing his child's weapons. He hoped the boy would be able to wield them soon.
"Gabriel…" Laura addressed him, walking back up to the man to serve as the voice of caution and undeterred resolve. "Lucifer and his Keepers still remain beyond the walls of this castle. Do not forget that in your misery over Trevor's fate. I have been keeping an eye on them since we have returned and thus far there has been no retaliation from any of them in light of your retrieval of your son." Laura flicked her shadow filled eyes over to Alucard's motionless form and frowned at him. "We are in no immediate danger but we should still proceed with caution. I will remain vigilant of their actions and seek you out should anything pressing arise, which I imagine will happen at some point."
Dracula snorted at Laura's wise advice. Forget the damned angel or his vile children? Never. He could never forget them nor would he forgive any of them. Especially the one that had used him as the unwitting pawn to kill his own son. No, she would suffer for her plot. She would die and it would be beyond painful and he could not wait to have her screaming and begging for her life beneath his hands.
The vampire lord's eyes darkened as his darkness sang to him of its dark desires but he immediately banished the horrid voices that were just as responsible for his son's state as the vile Keeper of Dolus. He would not give into that again. After bearing witness to the horribly familiar sight of his bloodied and dying son in his arms he had dispelled every bit of wrath and wicked intent that was bore of his inner darkness. He could still feel it just beneath the surface but he refused to give in so totally again… He couldn't. It had cost him just as dearly this time as it had when he'd murdered his son as a mortal.
"After what happened I will not rush you from your son to return to seeking out Lucifer and his spawn. I have taken precautions and have Cullen's spies watching the remaining wraith castles for us..." The child's voice trailed off, her eyes momentarily swirling at the memory of her own loss but she quickly shook it away. She refused to think of it right now when at least one of them needed a level head. "I will be leaving for a short while to attend to these matters but I will return." Laura turned and walked back toward the door, turning back just before she could leave. "I will handle everything for the time. I implore you take all the time you need to be with your son."
Dracula stared after the child, watching as she slipped back into the shadows of the castle to leave him to heal alone as she knew he would prefer. He felt genuine appreciation for the girl's rare show of patience and mercy which seemed something she spared for him alone. Perhaps it was because of their eternal link as sire and fledgling. Despite her nature she was fully capable of such things. He'd witnessed it within this very castle millennia ago as a man whose quest was to slay her mother. Such a curious girl who held the nature of a true monster beneath her false mask of childlike innocence... Dracula was beyond pleased that Laura had not died when he'd tried to do what she'd asked of him. She was wise and a valuable asset to have and further yet… it was nice to have someone to consider an old friend even if he had yet to call her such a thing verbally. Perhaps he never would and let it simply be his little secret.
Left alone with the deeply slumbering Alucard again, Dracula took to keeping his vigil over the boy as he had for what he could only assume had been days or even weeks. It was impossible to tell with the moon hanging eternally in the sky and he did not care enough to try and figure it out. Time was relative anyways and what did it truly matter to him? Time no longer touched him as it did the mortal man and it never would again.
Dracula startled when Alucard began to twitch lightly on the bed, his muscles seizing beneath the pale cracked flesh as a string of breathy incoherent words fell from his dark lips. The vampire lord sighed as the young man's movements became more pronounced and he at once sat down on the downy surface and began to lightly stroke his son's face and hair to try and soothe him from the fit. This was not the first time the child had done this and Dracula doubted it would be the last.
It might have been part of the healing process or maybe it was something else, either way he hated it when these convulsions came on. It was awful to witness the boy suffering through them and being unable to do anything for him. It reminded him horribly of the time when Alucard had been wasting away beneath Satan's subtle influence, a time when he had been just as powerless as he was now to truly help his son and it hurt to go through again.
Unable to simply watch Alucard's body twitch and spasm any longer Dracula lay down in the bed and gently brought his son's body against his chest, wrapping his arms around him as he eased Alucard's face against his neck. He kept his hold soft but firm in an attempt to keep his child from thrashing around and possibly hurting himself. Truthfully Dracula's nature was not one to soothe another but for his son he would always try by using his wonderful former wife as his inspiration. Her ability to calm him during his darkest days had left a lasting impression on him and he wished to pass it along as best he could. He felt he was nothing more than a mere shadow compared to his lovely Marie but he could at least try to give Alucard some sort of glimpse of what the mother he had never known had been like. It was the least he could do.
Dracula gently stroked his son's hair as he suffered through the spasms with him in a sense, whispering soothing words of Latin into the boy's ear in hopes it would ease him somehow. He remembered how Marie had been fond of whisperings of Latin perhaps his son would be too. After several tense moments Dracula was relieved when the fit began to wane into nothing, far sooner than the previous ones he'd had to witness. Perhaps his dark blood that had bore the boy into what he now was or even his presence being so close to him somehow helped his child despite being the one to cause his condition in the first place.
Sighing tiredly to himself, Dracula buried his face into Alucard's hair and took the moment to inhale the scent and take solace in it. He'd never done so before and now he could not fathom why. The boy's essence was peculiar… like the air of the mountains that he - or rather 'Gabriel' - had grown up in the shadow of and loved so dearly. It was very likely where the boy himself had grown up. However the mountainous aroma his child possessed was diluted and musty but not unpleasantly so. Considering they were nothing less than living corpses it was only expected that their individual scents be plagued by such a stale trait, but it did not affect him and he absolutely delighted in his son's scent, filling his dead lungs with it as he nuzzled further into Alucard's slipshod hair.
When Alucard's twitching body finally stilled completely and eased against his, Dracula pulled the boy closer and settled him more comfortably in his arms to cradle him protectively in his embrace. He had no intentions of releasing his child, fearful if he did then he might up and disappear again. Dracula could not allow that to happen. Ever again. He finally had Alucard back and he would fight viciously to keep him. Satan would not take him again…
Dracula's eye's narrowed at the thought of the infernal angel that had ultimately led to everything and his lips twitched into a snarl as a low growl reverberated from deep inside his chest. He might have continued his show of quiet anger but Alucard began to shy from him, apparently sensing his ire despite being deep within his healing sleep, causing him to banished the thought of Satan and started to soothe his child again. Dracula would not think of that man nor of his Keepers now. He did not want to and would not for a long period of time until Alucard was completely healed, inside and out. For all he cared the world could crumble around his castle and he would not be affected. He had only one desire to concern himself with and it was currently in his arms where it belonged.
The vampire lord pressed a gentle kiss to the shell of Alucard's ear before he resettled his son in his hold and draped himself along the boy in an effort to encase him completely within his body. Content in the moment Dracula let his eyes slip shut, finding he was understandably weary from all the recent events. He could allow himself to sleep for a short while now… the worst was over. Alucard was no longer a breath away from true death and was slowly healing by way of the blood he'd forced down his throat and his castle's singular ability to help amplify those effects. There was no need to watch him so closely out of fear he would suddenly slip from his fingers forever with no way to get him back. He could simply sleep and finally enjoy having his son in his arms…
Drifting quickly into sleep to join his son Dracula fell through the darkness of slumber only to awake in the same room he'd fallen asleep in but from the haze that surrounded him and the intermingled voices that called to him he knew he was back in the sanctum of his mind. The vampire was slightly startled to find he still had the slumbering Alucard in his arms but the child was no longer humanistic but instead the white wolf that had played a large part in aiding him in finding his humanity in days long past. It seemed this specter of Alucard's wolf was allowed entrance into the otherwise intangible world of his mind, but who brought whom to this place? Did he accidently pull his son into this domain or was it the reverse? He could not be sure.
Dracula gently stroked the alabaster fur of the curled form of the wolf that was so bright compared to the dark room around, finding the smooth and silky fur felt wonderful along his finger tips. He continued to comb his fingers and nails through the fur for several moments, finding himself completely enrapt in his son's wolf side but the sound of a faint far off hissing laughter caused his hand to still.
"I can't see you, but I know you are here…"
Turning from the unaware Alucard at his own voice echoing throughout the castle, Dracula narrowed his blazing eyes at the room's door as it squeaked open slowly in invitation of a game. The vampire's lips pulled into a deep frown as he looked back to Alucard's utterly defenseless form, finding he was beyond unnerved at the thought of leaving his son in such a state with his corrupt darkness lurking about. He was not sure it could truly harm Alucard or, worse yet, corrupt him as it had with his servants. The thought of the corrupt blood finding his child and twisting him into something that was not his son caused Dracula's skin to crawl. He could not live with himself anymore with that than he could with killing his son.
His inner darkness's twisted laughter seemed to draw ever closer as Dracula considered what he should do. He did not want to leave Alucard but it might be just as dangerous to try and escape with him into this pocket world of his castle. Surely the corrupt blood was lurking about and he might end up giving the blood the chance to get to the boy. Maybe his son was safe and had escaped detection by his inner sanctums inhabitants' altogether and it was only aware of its master's return.
"I can feel your son… our son. I think I'd like to embrace our child…"
Dracula's heart sunk into the pit of his stomach when his inner darkness revealed it was all too aware of Alucard's presence. He could not leave his son now. The monstrosity would be looking for Alucard, likely already was looking for him just so it could take him away as well. He could not allow his son to be taken by his darkness just as his humanity before him had been… Dracula winced at the memory of the specter that bore his child's visage looking absolutely terrified as it was engulfed in the monsters body. No. He could not allow this dark monstrosity to do the same to his flesh and blood son. He refused to. He would have to hide his son away somewhere until this nightmare ended.
"Here little wolf, little wolf, little wolf…"
Dracula clenched his teeth at the voice sounding much closer than before and quickly slid out of the bed. Carefully he hoisted his son's wolf form into his arms and over his shoulder before dashing out into the darkness of the castle, ignoring the closing in hissing laughter that echoed after him. Dracula moved silently through the shadows and fog of the quiet castle as he bore his son away from the corrupt part of him that was seeking them out. He did not know where he could seek sanctuary here but he was determined to find it for the sake of his child.
"I can smell your fear… You cannot save him from your blood…"
Picking up his pace at the taunt, Dracula came to a spiraling stairwell and rushed up with his charge, turning into a corridor that was lined with massive elaborate stain glass windows that showered the room in twinkling moonlight. Moving deftly through the reflected light of the windows the vampire came to a broken section of the walkway. Grasping Alucard tighter he ran and jumped across the large gap in the broken masonry, landing as softly as he could so as not to jostle his sleeping child. It was unlikely Alucard could be awoken from his healing sleep so he need not fear that but he still did not wish to handle him roughly.
"Where are you? I know you are close…"
Dracula inwardly cursed at the too close voice and continued running along the walkway, jumping the areas that were broken away until he could reach another stairway that led to the base level which he quickly descended. He started to head toward the exit of the space but gasped when a large puddle of corrupt blood splashed to life at his feet, a flurry of blood born hands and tentacles reaching for Alucard in an effort to tear him from his grasp. Growing at the blood as one of the hands managed to grasp Alucard and yank him nearly out of his hands, Dracula ripped away from it. Freeing a hand, he hurled a ball of flames at the blood as he ducked past the screeching puddle and it's seeking bloody appendages to escape back into the endless castle.
"Almost had him…"
The vampire weaved in and out of differing fog filled areas of his castle, escaping more of the insistent puddles of blood that tried to ensnare Alucard as a hissing laughter emanated from their depths. His infernal dark side was teasing him ruthlessly and it was both frightening and maddening to him. As Dracula came upon another area he carefully thought over which sections of his castle he was venturing through, though he was positive he had just entered into the old Bernhard Wing. The overly ornate decorations and the familiar masonry attested to that.
Slowing his pace as he entered into a space with a high up caved ceiling that revealed the moon and towering carved columns, Dracula paused to strain his ears to listen for his pursuer. He found he could not hear anything and took some solace in that though he would be a fool to think it meant he and Alucard were safe. The vampire let one of his hands stroke his son's fur as he approached a broken away staircase that led to a high above doorway, eyeing the area to try and gauge how to approach it before he finally found several areas he could manage to ascend to reach the doorway.
Dracula eased Alucard into one arm and started to jump up to the wooden platform to start his progress up but cried out in surprise when a blood formed hand grabbed his son and yanked him away. The vampire turned, his crimson irises shrinking in horror as he watched Alucard's limp body be pulled toward a large blood puddle that was quivering and splashing wildly almost in some twisted form of delight.
"Got him!"
"No!" Dracula cried as he rushing forward to try and grab his son's body before it was too late. He jumped and slid along the ground to grab hold of the upper half of his son's body as he pulled on Alucard to try and free the hand that was around one of his child's lower haunches. "You cannot have him!" Dracula all of roared at the laughing blood puddle, wrenching Alucard backward until the hand lost purchase and retreated with an annoyed gurgling hiss.
Scrambling backwards with Alucard, Dracula threw fist fulls of ice at the corrupt blood until it became coagulated slush and then froze up entirely but the surface was already splintering hinting it was only temporary. The vampire threw himself to his feet and rushed toward the way he had come to escape the blood but gave a horrified shout when the corrupt blood's icy bonds shattered before he could pass and a monstrous pulpy fist erupted from it to ram into Dracula, the force knowing him back and Alucard from the safety of his hands. Hitting the ground several paces away from his oblivious son, Dracula shoved himself toward his child but cried out angrily as his dark half's fist ensnared him before he could and yanked him toward the already shrinking puddle.
"He's mine now!"
"Damn you!" Dracula roared, grabbing desperately for his son as the fist slid back into the blood puddle with Alucard. He dove at the blood in an attempt to follow the foul creature but the blood ebbed away into nothing just as he hit the stone where the corrupt blood had formerly been. Screaming out his rage over the turn of events he slammed his fists against the stone, shattering it as the disembodied voice of his inner darkness chuckled at him. Not again… not again. How many times must he suffer losing his child to another!?
"Such a lovely son we have… He should be worshipped in the light of a shrine's candles."
Dracula snarled deep in his throat at his corrupt darkness, gleaming a subtle hint from the creature's taunt on where it may have taken him. Shoving himself to his feet, the vampire all of flew through the castle as he headed toward the area he knew the monster must have taken him. He met no resistance of the blood as he crossed the distance of the Bernhard wing until he came to the familiar broken walkway that led to the old chapel of his castle. Crossing the dilapidated area he shoved through the iron gate and entered into the quaint candle filled room that was meant to be used for the worship of God. He had never bothered to use the area and had no desire to ever use it. God was all of meaningless to him and he would not pray to such a silent deity ever again. Not after what he had allowed him to go through… still allowed him to go through.
Dracula stepped further into the area as he ran his eyes along the walls that were only lit by the flickering light of the candles which literally filled the entirety of the space. Where was the infernal creature and where was his son? The sound of a gate scratching across the stone floor caused Dracula to whirl around toward the back area of the chapel, his eyes widening when he did. He gave a shout of relief at the sight of Alucard – not his wolf form – but the dark child he was most familiar with lying upon the ground at the base of an angel statue whose hands held blue flames. The light from the oddly hued flames cast a gentle blue tint upon his son's form and clothing and if not for the dire situation Dracula might have taken the moment to appreciate the lovely sight of his son bathed in the luminous light.
"Trevor!" Dracula whispered, rushing toward the fenced in area that held the slumbering young man to reclaim him but just as he reached him a torrent of the corrupt blood fell from the air, causing him to dash backwards to avoid it. He glared darkly at the writhing blood as the monstrosity that represented his inner darkness pulled itself from the blood to block him access to his son. "Your dedication to our son is amusing." The creature chuckled, the muscle flaps pulling away so the core that possessed his twisted face could slither out to leer at him.
"He is not your son!" Dracula hissed venomously as his shadow whip erupted around his forearm in a spray of blood, "He is my son and you have no right to take my son!"
The vampire's dark half chuckled darkly at his words, clearly finding great amusement in them. "Yes, that is exactly how you should feel about him. He is your son and no one else's… Remember that!" The creature teased with a pleased sneer, enjoying the dark possessiveness that Dracula could be privy to, "But he is just as much mine as he is yours and you should not covet it for yourself alone. It was my darkness – your darkness - that created him and infected his body to begin with. I have just as much a claim on his birth as you! We're both fathers to this child…"
Dracula jerked at the creature's proclamation of Alucard's revival as a vampire being caused by both their hands. In a sense the thing was right. He had unwittingly killed him and had been the one to turn him but it was the corruption of his blood, bore of this darkness, which had corrupted his son into what he now was… It was by both of them that it had come to pass… but this monstrosity still held no right to claim his child, no matter what part it played in his creation. Alucard was neither its child nor its property. He would not allow it to claim him as such. Ever.
"I'm glad you came, Dracul…" Dracula's dark half purred as it twisted its serpentine neck to look down at the sleeping Alucard, "...I want you to witness this. You need to witness this. Our child does not need to cling to that humanity he has anymore than you do. I will destroy it and turn him into something far more beautiful; an obedient dark creature that delights in the wonders of causing others to suffer..."
The creature's bulk bent over Alucard as the core leaned further over him so that its tentacle hair could turn the sleeping man's face up and gently pull his mouth open. It made an appreciative sound before the core of the dark monstrosity turned to sneer at the trembling and snarling Dracula, its throat beginning to writhe in a tell tale fashion that hinted it was intending to wretch up its tainted blood on Alucard to corrupt him as it was promising. "Once he is made in the image of our darkness I cannot wait to experience our son's body and adorations to his master. It is fitting considering we are one, Dracula!"
Dracula growled loudly at the dark creature's vile intent and threw himself toward it when the monster leaned back over his son and started the process of retching its blood up. Throwing his shadow whip he ensnared the violently heaving neck and wrenched it back to throw the monster off balance and to fall away just as it started to expel its blood on his son's face. Dracula gave a sound of relief in time with the creature's sound of anger as the regurgitated blood hit the floor instead of its intended mark.
The hulking creature snarled angrily at him and shoved itself toward Dracula for intervening, throwing its fist into him to knock him back. The vampire snarled in return as he balanced himself and rushed forward, ripping his blood born whip repeatedly at the grotesque mirror of his soul as the core retreated back inside its body. Dracula continuously assaulted the lumbering monster as he dodged its fists and the dark blood it threw at him until the vulnerable core that bore his face reemerged. Once it was revealed, Dracula shoved himself forward and dodged another attempt by the creature to grab him before he jumped up onto the bulk of the monster as he summoned his Void Sword.
Catching hold of the monster's writhing hair he shoved the sword deep into its neck, taking great satisfaction as the twisted form of his face hissed and snarled in pain. Dracula twisted the sword and yanked it out before he shoved it through the neck again and pulled it to the side to partially sever the serpentine muscle and bone laced neck. He started to lift the sword to try and finish severing the monster's head but snarled as one of the fists circled his body and yanked him away before hurling him into the floor to crush him beneath its bulky excuse of a foot.
"You cannot defeat me!" His dark half screamed at him, its crimson eyes widening in its wrath before it retreated inside the safety of its fleshy barrier again. Dracula grunted and cried out as the monster's foot twisted on top of him, crushing him further into the caving floor as it did. Grabbing the pulsing knotted flesh the vampire shoved the appendage up and rolled out from underneath it and scrambled away from the roaring thing. Jumping to his feet he lashed out with his whip at the encroaching mass of flesh, avoiding its flailing arms as he circled behind the monster and summoned his Chaos Claws. Clenching his flaming hand into a fist he rushed forward and threw it at one of the creature's legs, grunting in satisfaction as the appendage erupted into a gory pulp of blood and bone under the cruel hit.
Avoiding the creature as it staggered on its one good leg, Dracula dashed to its front and threw his fist against its chest to knock it to the ground as it screeched and roared its pain. Not giving it a chance to recover he hurled a tirade of icy projectiles at its arms to freeze them up and to keep them out of his way before he pounced onto its body to force his hands into its muscle flaps, pulling against one of them until finally it pried it up. Digging his claws in deeper Dracula ripped the piece of flesh back until it tore away completely which caused the partially revealed core to hiss and roar at him as he grabbed the other flap and twisted and tore at it. The thick piece of quivering flesh ripped back like the other in a spray of blood and fell limp to the side, making it all of unusable for its intended purpose of protecting the core.
The now exposed core's face screamed angrily at the vampire as it tried to force its frozen arms to move but Dracula seized it by its writhing hair with a deep growl and summoned his Void Sword, tearing through the muscle and bone of the neck with the blade until it severed completely from its bulky mass. Lifting the still hissing face to his own, Dracula bared his fangs completely to the monster that represented everything about him that he did not wish to be any longer.
"I will never give into you again and you cannot and will not touch my son again!" Dracula roared into the twisted replica of his face before he hurled it into the stone floor beside its twitching outer corpse. The vampire took some satisfaction in the sickening sound of skull shattering as the head hit the floor and he stepped off the corpse to approach the writhing face that had started to chuckle darkly at him.
"No matter how many times you defeat me you can never escape me. I am as eternal as you and so long as you carry your cursed blood I will live!" The severed head sneered delightfully up at Dracula as the man flinched from the damning truth of their horrid blood bond. The vampire glared down at the laughing creature and started to crush it beneath his boot but it began to melt and sink back into the floor as it had done millennia before, escaping back into his castle. Escaping into his very veins where it would always be waiting… The creature finally shrank into nothing and left Dracula with a final promise that turned his heart cold to hear.
"You will fall one day, Dracul, and when you do I will be there to catch you. Once we are united into the cruel monster we were always meant to be I will take our son into our arms and we will remake him in your image … he will be our faithful servant and whore and there will be no love and only the desire to own what is rightfully ours as we delight in inflicting our bottomless rage and despair on this wretched world…"
Dracula stared at the spot on the floor where his twisted version of a face had once been for a long time, its frightful parting message to him bouncing around in his mind. The very idea of no longer loving his child and only viewing him as an expendable piece of property that would be used and abused without care was… awful. Terrifying. His newest nightmare… He did not ever wish to view his son that way and he did not want Alucard twisted into… him. The boy did not deserve to have his corruption and unending hate passed onto him. So long as Dracula lived he would ensure none of this dark creature's vile desires come to pass. Ever.
The faint sound of movement reached Dracula's ears and scattered his dreadful thoughts. The vampire turned to look at the monstrosity's slowly melting corpse and was startled to see something moving beneath its exposed inner muscles. Remembering his 'humanity', tangible form of love for his son, or whatever it was, the vampire rushed over to the bouncing flesh and quickly tore his claws into it to free what he knew was there. Dracula gave a sound of relief when he caught sight of fingers trying to force themselves through and he ripped the rest of the muscle away to reveal something he wasn't expecting.
"Trevor?" Dracula huffed as his child's younger version pulled out of the bloody mass; the little face smiling widely at him before throwing himself into the man's waiting arms. "Father!" Dracula sighed and hugged his child tight for a moment before stepping away with him from the nearly disintegrated corpse and set him down. The boy beamed up at him causing the vampire to smile at the little boy before reaching forward to ruffle his tussled hair affectionately.
"I knew you would fight it." Trevor sighed happily as he tilted his head up at him. Dracula snorted and started to disagree but stopped when he remembered Alucard. Turning from his son's younger self he looked to the place where Alucard had once been and let out a cry of fright when he no longer saw him there. He started to rush over to the empty space but a little hand catching his crimson cloak stopped him and forced him to look back down at Trevor.
"He's safe. We're safe." Trevor soothed as he tugged on Dracula's cloak to pull him back. "You will find him right where you left him outside of here." The boy reassured Dracula causing the man to breathe a heavy sigh of relief. The nightmare was over. Finally.
Trevor nodded his head and lifted his left hand to point to a wall as he held Dracula's gaze evenly. "You should go back to him now." Dracula frowned at his son's younger self before he looked to where the boy was pointing and found himself mildly surprised to find a gateway similar to the one Alucard's wolf form had led him through during the eternal night when he had first faced off against his corrupt blood and inner darkness.
Dracula looked back to the child who was smiling lop sided at him and he found himself unable to stop himself from grabbing the boy up in his arms to hug him tight again. He could never keep himself from doing this with the child version of his son staring at him, a reminder of all the hugs he had missed out on as he'd been left unaware of having a son. He'd missed the wonderful experience of watching his son grow up…
"Father!" The child laughed as returned the hug as he wriggled in Dracula's grasp, "You act as if you will never see me again." The vampire made an indistinct sound in his throat and pulled away to look at Trevor before he spoke the truth of the matter, "Not like this I won't."
The little boy laughed harder before leaning forward to place a chaste kiss on his father's cheek. "I will always be here waiting for you just as I am outside of here." He reassured, wriggling his body more in silent show that he wanted down which Dracula finally, but unwillingly did, not wishing to break the contact from his little boy. Once Trevor hit the floor he pointed to the gateway again, clearly wanting Dracula to not waste his time within the confines of his mind. "Now go, the part of me that lies beyond here needs you more than I. I'm safe now."
Dracula smiled kindly at the little boy before he forced himself to turn away and walk toward the dark gateway. He just started to pass through the threshold but the sound of Trevor calling him stopped him and he turned to find the boy behind him. Dracula looked curiously at the boy as he held something out to him, something sparkling in his dark blue eyes. The vampire lifted a hand which the boy promptly took and put the object in before he closed his fingers around it.
"Always remember your family." Trevor whispered to him before he dashed off into the depths of the castle again where he would surely be waiting should Dracula return to his inner sanctum. Dracula stared after the boy a moment before turning away and entering into the dark corridor, walking the shadowy path just as he'd remembered doing long ago and in time he found his eyes felt heavy, too heavy, to keep open any longer. Sighing tiredly he allowed himself to give into the want to let his eyes slip shut but remembered Trevor's gift to him and tried to open his eyes again to see it only to find the desire for rest kept him from doing so.
Dracula simply passed back into the empty void of nothingness which gave way when he cracked his eyes open again to reveal the wall of his chambers back in his castle, proving he was no longer within the inner sanctum of his mind. He started to let his eyes slip shut again but remembered Alucard, his body jerking as he grasped for his son only to find he was still within the safety of his arms. "Thank Go-" The vampire cut off before he let the insulting phrase slip, instead settling for hugging Alucard's slumbering form closer to nuzzle his face into his son's hair in silent show of his appreciation.
Dracula was not sure how many more of these horrifying scenarios that involved losing Alucard in some way he could take. But it was over… the boy was safe and his inner darkness was hurled back to the edges of his being where it deserved to be. He would not be giving into it. He now had far too much riding on guarding what shred of humanity he had reclaimed. Before he only had to worry about losing his son's love but now he had to worry about not only losing his love for his son and simply seeing him as nothing more than a servant but also causing his son to lose himself and become the monster he never wanted to be... Those two horrific scenarios alone gave him complete determination to never let his darkness regain complete control of him ever again.
Shivering at the possibility, Dracula started to comb his hand through Alucard's hair but frowned when he realized he had something in his hand. Pulling the hand up the vampire unfurled his fingers to reveal what it was and laughed lightly at what he saw. "Remember your family…" Dracula mused as he held up the detailed wooden carving of Alucard he had made for Trevor within the confines of his prison of eternal dreams. He had thought it destroyed when Astarte had come to taunt him with Alucard… he knew it had been. How odd… then again was that anymore odd than awaking to find he had brought something from his dreams back to reality?
Carefully Dracula placed the little doll within one of the inner pockets of his cloak, deciding he knew what he wished to do with it. He eased himself back into the bed comfortably as he curled himself along Alucard's body, intending to refrain from sleep. He had no desire to possibly fall back into his inner sanctum and he would prefer he didn't for a long while, whole heartedly welcoming the return of empty darkness that was broken by the occasional dream or even nightmare. At least those were nothing but illusions and had no effect on reality. Either way, for now he would simply stay close to Alucard and enjoy that in lieu of rest, finding it a better alternative by far in his opinion.
Smiling gently at the return thought of finally being able to enjoy his son's presence, Dracula looked down to view his son's peaceful sleeping face but startled mildly when he found two shrunken golden eyes filled with more fear than he ever wished to be there staring up at him. When his son's body began to shiver violently and retreat from his hold Dracula tried desperately to figure out something to say to calm him but found he could only think of one thing to say.
"Trevor…"
The sound of Dracula saying his name caused Alucard to shrink from his father's arms despite the lack of malice or overwhelming hate he could still vividly remember being directed toward him. The pain he had endured at this man's hand. The way he had ruthlessly attacked him with complete abandonment as he'd said he was not his son. The agony of this man forcing his hand inside his chest so he could painfully rip his heart out...
Alucard made a strangled sound when Dracula tried to pull him close again and shoved himself away from his father's arms, scrambling and all of tripping off the bed to fly against the far wall to stare wide eyed at him. The young man shook his head viciously in some silent form of demanding he stay away despite the overly pained look that crossed his father's face at his fearful reaction.
Alucard didn't know why he wasn't dead. He remembered dying or being in the throes of it. It was… excruciating. Unimaginably so. It made his first death absolutely pale in comparison to such agony. Why had the man not killed him? Did he decide to save him from death just so he could end him back at his castle? He recognized the scent and aura of the Bernhard castle that was unlike any other structure he'd ever come across. He was well acquainted with this castle and the very walls that he had traversed in both his lives. That would be appropriate wouldn't it? Some sort of twisted form of poetic justice; kill him in the place where he'd originally killed him and revived him.
When Dracula slid from the bed and started to walk around it Alucard flattened himself against the wall as he threw a hand up to halt the man. "D-Don't! Don't come near me!" The young man's accent cracked horribly from a mix of fear and lack of use, coming out as little more than a breathy whisper but one would have thought it had been screamed by the way Dracula froze at the command. "Y-You… you want only to kill me, Dracul. Stay away from me." Alucard stressed to the man, finding it almost curious the way his father's face strained at hearing him call him by the name of 'Dracul'. It almost looked like a real reaction of despair… but it had to be a trick.
"Trevor… please. Calm down." Dracula whispered slowly to his son, his eyes begging the terrified and near insane young man just as much as his words were. "I am not going to harm you. What happened… that was nothing but another's plot to have me kill you without knowing what I was truly doing. I would never hurt you willingly." When the elder vampire started to approach with his hands held out loosely to the side in some effort of showing he was unarmed Alucard hissed and slid along the wall in an effort to put space between them.
"You lie! I know you despise me; why else would you have fallen back into old ways and abandoned me to my fate at Lucifer's hands?" Alucard retaliated, shaking his head at his utterly hurt father before adding near callously, "I-I was right in giving in to him. Lucifer may have used my body but he was honest about what I was to him. I was always reminded of my place and he did not pretend to love me like you are now!"
"No, Trevor. Satan lied to you!" Dracula's lip tried to twist into a hateful snarl at the thought of Satan touching his son but he refused to let it show knowing it would likely only scare Alucard more if he gave into that show of emotion. "He coaxed you into believing his lies about me abandoning you so he could sway you to his will. You mean too much to me to cast you away like that." Dracula pleaded as he took in the dismaying sight of Alucard showing him so much fear and clearly being instilled with lies by Satan's golden tongue. The vampire eased a little closer to Alucard wanting nothing more than to show him how wrong he was and to just hold him again. "I would and will never abandon you. I care for you too much to do that."
"What loving father tries to rip their child's heart out!?" Alucard all of screamed at his father, his eyes wide with the horror of the recent memory as he inched his way toward the door in want to escape away from the other. Dracula's body jerked horribly at the accusation and he tried to come up with anything he could say to remedy the situation but found his tongue would not work in wake of such a fear filled and ghastly true statement being flung at him. Even if it was only a half truth and he'd never intended to hurt his flesh and blood child it still hurt to hear.
Taking Dracula's silence as his admission, Alucard clumsily rushed at the door to escape the man, not wanting to allow his father the chance to try and finish what he'd started at Lilith's tower. He would have to try and hide himself or even escape back to the safety of Hell and Satan where this wicked creature could not get to him again. It was the only place where he could possibly be safe and he would welcome Satan's twisted affections gladly knowing he would be protected. In the least the fallen angel despised his father enough to do so.
Alucard's sleep numb feet and aching lame leg tripped him up as he ran which nearly caused him to fall but he regained his footing enough to throw himself the last couple feet to the door. He tried to grab the handle with his trembling claws to open it to safety but gave a horrified yelp when he felt himself pulled back from it.
"Trevor!"
"Release me!" Alucard cried as his father twisted him around, slashing at the man to try and deter him and free himself but his strikes were easily knocked away. He scratched at Dracula's face but his wrist was grabbed to impede its attack and his other was just as easily snatched up to completely halt his weak attempts at defending himself. Alucard stared up terrified at his father's dejected face that was twisted completely with the emotion but all he could see was the wrath and darkness that had once been there. Alucard could never forget such a horrific sight. He thought he would never fear death or his father, let alone both being so tightly interwoven with one another, but he decided he had been gravely wrong on both accounts. Death at the cruel hands of Dracula was something to be feared absolute.
Alucard tried to resist Dracula's hold but found himself dizzy from his recent awakening and his strength severely weakened from his still healing body. It horrified him to know he was faced with the wrath of his father yet again in such an enfeebled state. He could not protect himself or hope to attack him in return. He was at the complete mercy of his father and there was nothing he could do to stop his horrible fate…
"Either kill me or release me, father… I-I tire of this game you are playing!" Alucard begged Dracula, halting his fighting that was doing him no good other than tiring his already fatigued and battered body further. He could not escape his father… he would just have to accept his fate to die by him. It seemed it was his sole fate from one life to the next.
"I will do neither, son." Dracula refused in a determined tone, crushing the young man against his chest to knock a breathy cry from Alucard at impact. "I will never let you go." The young man quailed as his father's arms tightened around his body, the action all of keeping him detained in place against the man's strong and unmovable body.
Not understanding why his father was tormenting him with such an untrue sense of security that an embrace was supposed to mean, Alucard pushed half heartedly at him in his desire to not be taunted so cruelly by false love. That was just as bad as knowing his demise was inevitable. But… it felt right to be held by his father again and he wanted so desperately to give into it but it wasn't true… not anymore. Alucard could accept his death but he could not accept this fictitious show of emotion that was tearing at his heart just as harshly as his father's hand had before it.
"You are cruel…" Alucard whispered against his father's chest, the sound muffled by Dracula's skin against his trembling lips, "…you insist upon tormenting me with what I never should have allowed myself to feel for you. I was a fool to give into the want to have a father or the twisted desires for you that this cursed existence gave me." He lamented quietly, his body trembling in his father's just as trembling embrace. Alucard startled when his father hand gently grabbed his chin and forced his head up so he had to look him in the face, the sight of Dracula's tear stained face and eyes swimming with intense sorrow startling him far more. The prior memory of the man's horrific wrath completely scattered in light of seeing such intense pain reflected on his father's face.
"Trevor, I admit I fell too far into my darkness. My weakness to cave to my vengeance allowed me to be fooled into that trap that almost had me kill my own child again, but no matter how far I fall I will never stop caring for you. I can no more stop loving you than I can stop loving your mother. You are all I care about and I will do anything to gain your forgiveness, even if it means I must find my damned combat cross and throw myself on it to gain it."
Alucard's brow furrowed as he stared at his father, his eyes darting across Dracula's eternally youthful appearance that was twisted with deep wrinkles which were bore of genuine sadness and want of forgiveness. He let his eyes settle on Dracula's smoldering crimson eyes and observed the true desire of his words reflected there, their glowing depths completely swirling with his regret and distress and even the age old glint of tenderness that the man had only ever directed at him.
Was his father only trying to fool him…? No… This did not feel like a charade nor look like one. These were the same eyes that his father had after the eternal night of eons past… His father wasn't lying, was he? This was genuine remorse. Dracula had never truly cast him away like he'd been led to believe… Allowing himself to believe what he was finally able to see without the taint of another's false words or his prior overwhelming fear of finding death at his father's hands, a name tumbled from Alucard's lips before he could even begin to stop it knowing how his father hated it. "G-Gabriel?"
Dracula immediately gave a strangled sound of delight and relief as he dug his hands into Alucard's hair and pulled his head against his neck. "If that is what you want to call me, then yes!" The man practically sobbed burrowing his face into Alucard's hair as he enjoyed his son's singular phrase that all of told him he recognized him as his father and not as a monster that wanted to kill him.
Alucard was surprised by the heavy sobs that wracked his father's frame in earnest now, the man's body absolutely quaking with them as he held him close. He had not thought his father capable of such show of emotion… He'd never witnessed his father crying this freely in all the time he'd spent with him and it only made him truly realize that Dracula was not lying or playing him for a fool… The man would never fake tears, let alone breaking down as he was, for anyone. He had not intended to kill him nor had he ever strayed from his love for him…
"Damnit, father…" Alucard sighed brokenly, easing completely into the welcoming feel of his father's hold as he wrapped his arms around the man to return it eagerly. "I-I am… forgive me." He whispered against Dracula's quivering neck, his own voice becoming broken with the start of his own pent up tears. His father shook his head at his words of forgiveness as he pressed a kiss to his temple. "No. I am the one that should be asking you for your forgiveness, son, not the other way around. You have no idea how sorry I am for what happened and how much I hate myself for allowing it..."
"We can both be sorry for the parts we played…" Alucard pointed out quietly, knowing full well they both had some blame in the matter. His father had given into his wrathful tendencies and reacted brashly – an all around Belmont trait – and he himself had allowed himself to not only be swayed by false words but had been fooled into Lilith's obvious trap. Glaringly obvious for that matter. Why had he given into such deceit from someone who was so clearly a snake in the grass? Truly his judgment of character was severely skewed these days… perhaps that was just another flaw of the Belmont blood to trust others too easily. He should have known better but he had been completely blind to the truth of everything. Alucard found himself far and away sorry for it knowing how he'd only managed to hurt his father for it.
Alucard, for once, tried awkwardly to console his father as the man clutched desperately to him through his harsh sobs and continuous pleads for his forgiveness. Alucard winced when Dracula kept repeating the phrase 'Just like Marie…', knowing all too well he was comparing his unwitting attempt on his life to the cruel way he'd been controlled to kill his mother. It was beyond odd but Alucard got over the initial awkwardness and shoved aside his waning strength to attempt to alleviate Dracula's overwhelming hurt and self hate for his part he played in nearly killing him. The young man gently pet his father's dark tussled hair and set himself upon whispering in the man's ear to counter all the things he was saying about himself that were not true. His father might not be the most virtuous of men and would always have a savage and utterly cruel streak in him that would forever have him toeing the line of 'Good and Evil' but he still did not deserve to feel this much self hate. Especially considering it was unwarranted in this scenario.
Despite being the one that had suffered the most physical trauma it was his father that suffered the worst of the two of them. It was horrible to nearly die but to play the unknowing pawn in some others insidious plot for a second time? Indeed, his father suffered far more than he. Alucard could not imagine how it felt to be swayed into not only killing ones wife but also a son, twice as it were. Perhaps Alucard's initial idea that he had been cursed with ill luck had been presumptuous. It was glaringly obvious that his father was the one that held that title and he must have simply inherited it from him. There was honestly no other he could think of that had such bad fortune as Dracula and maybe there never would be. His father – Dracul - was merely the horrific product of merciless bad fortune and ill luck thrown in his face repeatedly; he finally figured that out ages ago. It made Alucard regret having ever hated the man and feel great shame for it.
Alucard soothed and held his father tight through his own sobs of relief and sadness for a long amount of time until Dracula's tears were finally seemingly quenched. Not wanting to stop easing his father's pain he started to resituate himself against the man to continue but his already aching lame leg buckled in conjunction with his still utterly sore body, causing him to fall off kilter with a gasp. Alucard twisted his claws into his father's cloak to try and steady himself but the man saved him the trouble and deftly hoisted him up into his arms to alleviate his stiff and achy muscles.
"You need to rest, boy." Dracula sighed in a tear cracked voice, deciding it would be best to end his momentary pity party, no longer wishing his son to waste his energy on easing him. "We can speak about what happened later, preferably not now. I will recover from my emotional wounds. I have had many years to perfect that." The man assented as he walked Alucard back to the bed and gently laid him back into the plush ornately patterned material. The young man honored his father's wish about not speaking about the painful events that had recently transpired and instead tried to lighten the mood, even if it was only marginal. "So long as you don't decide to burn down a village…" Alucard lifted a grey eyebrow at his father, pleased when the man's tear stained face pulled into a small smile.
"What about the Brotherhood of Light then?" Dracula questioned with a smirk, giving into the jesting match with his son to earn himself the boy's quiet laughter that he wanted to hear moreso than Alucard wanted to hear his. "As much as I'd like to say yes I have to refrain." Alucard let his head fall back on the bump of the pillow beneath the comforter, shaking his head against the material to skew his tangled hair with the action. "If it can be avoided I prefer to avoid bloodshed."
"Clearly you've forgotten who your father is." Dracula snorted in a mix of good humor and seriousness that caused Alucard to sigh. Yes. He could never forget that. Dracula would never shy away from a bloody battle or from the desire to strike fear into the hearts of humanity… so long as the man did not actively go out and seek a war, as he'd proved himself capable of before, then Alucard would accept it and stand by him. His father was not going to change, no matter what little piece of his former self he had regained. The man's tragedies had forever changed him and there was no escaping that fact. He would always be Dracul…
Alucard blinked tiredly at his father when the man turned with the intention of settling himself against the wall, clearly motivated to remain as his silent vigil. He found himself disliking that idea or the distance it would put between them, no matter if it was only several paces away. His father was still hurting… he himself was still hurting. Alucard's instincts alone demanded he remain close to the one that had sired him while some other far more chaste part of him simply wanted to be close to his father. What a silly and childish desire.
His father had just stepped to a point of being out of reach when Alucard caught his father's cloak tail and lightly tugged on it to get the man's attention. Dracula turned and lifted a single dark eyebrow at him and his eyes reflected his curiosity of wanting to know why he'd stopped him. Alucard opened his mouth but found he didn't know quite how to phrase his want without sounding like a complete fool or child. He considered his words as his father continued to stare, clearly waiting for him to speak. Sighing at his apparent lack of speech, Alucard pushed himself up in the bed and held his arms out to the side as he motioned with his slender claws for his father to join him. "Come here, Gabriel." He whispered, intentionally calling his father by name in some effort to get his point across he was not done consoling him.
Dracula's brow furrowed momentarily and his eyes took on a far away look as if he were drawn back to a past memory of being beckoned by his onetime wife in a similar circumstance when she'd wanted to calm him out of his dark moods as only she could at that time. The memory was fleeting though and the man slowly approached the bed and started to join Alucard, shrugging his cloak off to throw to the end of the bed and unlatching his belt to join it.
Alucard sighed and wrapped his arms around his father as the man settled himself on top of his body with his head laid against his chest and ear pressed against his scarred heart. The young man fought not to twitch away from his father's weight on the painful area of his chest but he suffered through it. He had no intention of asking his father to move when it felt right to begin with. Getting somewhat used to the stabbing sensation, Alucard tasked himself with combing his claws through Dracula's overly tangled hair to try and separate the strands as best he could, finding the simple act helped distract from his tender chest. After a short while of lying as they were Alucard decided his father was likely listening to his barely there heart beat that proved he was still very much alive. The idea that the man was listening so intensely to his heart gave rise to another random thought, something that used to go hand in hand with the beating of a heart.
Curious of how Dracula might react, Alucard started to concentrate on inhaling and exhaling with his defunct lungs to find amusement in the way his father sighed wistfully when he did. It was not hard to force respiration and was little different from when he used to breath as a mortal man though it had been necessary and completely involuntary then whereas it was utterly unneeded now. Ironically he knew he had caught himself breathing many times during his time as a vampire. Perhaps it was like some remnant piece of human behavior that plagued vampires from time to time and refused to leave despite being unnecessary.
Alucard did find himself slightly bemoaned to find the simple action actually caused him pain from his healing internal injuries but ignored it to take some delight in the way his father reacted to his attempts to breathe. Chuckling against his rising and falling chest, Dracula shifted his head to the other side of Alucard's body in some effort to try and alleviate the pain his weight was causing. "You are forcing yourself to breathe." He stated the obvious in a mumbled voice that was filled with a mix of amusement and satisfaction over the rather mundane act.
"Maybe… have you ever caught yourself breathing?" The younger vampire asked as he twisted his claws into a rather large knot in his father's hair to slowly detangle, "I've caught myself doing it more than once despite not needing the air. It's very… curious." Alucard admitted as he managed to unknot some of the bothersome tangle he was working on. Dracula made a deep sound in his throat at Alucard's affirmation, shifting his head to look up at his son without breaking from his chest so he could still enjoy the sensation of feeling the boy breathe for him. "I suppose I have on occasion. I guess, despite being corpses, we still carry over a lot of our former behaviors whether they are needed or not."
Alucard gave a small indistinct sound of agreement with his father's accurate views though there was one part he had shifted his views on. "I admit… I no longer view vampires as mere reanimated corpses. At one point I would have but not after having lived as one for so long. We still must feed, we have a heartbeat, we sometimes blush faintly – moreso after feeding - and we move, speak, and need sleep and can even… well, you said it long ago; 'vampires are as much sexual creatures as they are creatures of darkness'."
"You mean vampire's have the ability to react to sexual stimulus." Dracula bluntly pointed out with a smirk that caused Alucard to prove one of his listed characteristics as a faint dark splash of grey touched his cheeks. The sight caused his father to laugh lightly and trail a finger along Alucard's stomach that gently quivered at the touch. "I suppose you are right. I never thought much about it myself. I suppose it's a sort of metamorphosis to become a vampire. It leaves most of our living tissue that is no longer needed or necessary to wither away while we gain different strengths and weaknesses in its place. Where once we would drown submerged in water we no longer but whereas we could walk freely in the light of the sun as mortals we will now simply turn to ash."
Dracula stilled his finger as he stared at his son with a new appreciation for the young man's curiosity of their kind that he had at one time thoroughly despised and never would have considered so profoundly. "I must say I'm surprised you've considered this so deeply. You've never seen vampires as anything more than monsters that deserved to be put down." Alucard snorted at his father's musings and shook his head at him. "I still consider our lot an all around vile one and I still hold little love for what I am and likely never will, but I can still find interest in what we are and how we function."
Dracula made a sound in his chest as he slid a hand behind Alucard's back to lightly rub at the small of it with his knuckles. "You can hate vampires all you like but I'd prefer if you would refrain from hating yourself. You don't deserve hate, not even your own." The man pointed out with an unconscious hint of authority that was so want to lace his words, the sound causing his son's blood to cave to the call and for the young man to shudder lightly.
"I don't know if it could be called hate any longer… more like a deep set melancholia." Alucard sighed as he finally untangled the knot in his father's hair that he had been working on. He decided a brush had never seen his father's hair once in the man's life and he might have to amend that. "Your hair is ridiculous, father."
At his son's lightly annoyed statement the elder vampire laughed and pulled the hand that was buried in his hair down so he could brush his lips along Alucard's knuckles. "Your mother said that more than once to me." Dracula pressed a kiss to the knuckles before he turned back up to look at his son, staring for such a long period that it caused Alucard to wonder if something was wrong. "What is it?" Dracula sighed as he pulled away from Alucard's chest to sit up and look at him with his smoldering crimson eyes that reflected something that the young man couldn't quite figure out.
"Beyond your shared desire to try and tame my hair you are so very much like her in this moment when you are trying to pacify me by talking about the most mundane of things as you hold me and breathe for me." Dracula reached a forward and gently ran his knuckles against Alucard's cheek as the young man blinked curiously at him, "I see a lot of her features in you as well… You are a lot more like your mother than I realized, Trevor. I wish you could have known her…"
Alucard blinked at the mention of his mother, dropping his gaze as he shifted his eyes in memory of the woman he had seen when he'd been dying in Lilith's tower. He lightly twisted his wrist to feel the cool ancient beads twist against the skin as he decided to ask his father about her. "I…I saw someone when I was dying. A woman, I think." Alucard winced as he tried to grasp the hazy memory that made the lovely wraith little more than a blur to him now, "She was in white and had dark hair maybe but I remember her eyes most vividly. They were a lovely shade of blue and I felt like I should know her but I can't explain why…" Dracula's hand that had been stroking his face stilled at Alucard's musings and the young man looked back up at his father, taking note of the way the man's face strained lightly at his mentioning of her and likely the memory of his son reaching out for his mother as he called for her. "...was that mother?"
Dracula was silent for a moment before he nodded slowly. "That was her… I'm sure her spirit came to try and stop what was happening… what I was doing." The man sighed sadly, pulling his hand back from Alucard's face as he shuddered at the horrific memory of attempting to murder his son so ruthlessly. Refusing to let his father fall back into his desolate thoughts, Alucard pulled at Dracula's hand to coax him back down and found relief when the man allowed himself to be pulled back into his arms. He was not surprised when his father settled his ear back over his heart to soak up the faint beat that he could hear there, a sign to him that he was not truly dead or killed by his hand.
"I fear I might not have stopped if your mother had not come to break that spell that hid your blood from my senses. The sight alone of this might not have stopped me…" Dracula reached over and stroked his fingers along Alucard's right wrist to indicate the rosary that was attached to it. "I will forever have nightmares about what might have happened…"
"I live." Alucard breathed quietly, mirroring Laura's own simple statement to Dracula from earlier, "I live and I am back where I want to be. Do not dwell on the past for it is not something that can be changed no matter how much we want to change it. We both know that and you should stop this self-loathing over it. It is not something that suits the great 'Dracul'." Alucard pointed out but startled as his father suddenly pressed himself up to level their faces, his eyes reflecting an intensity that made him want to cower at it. "Do not call me that name, son. I want every other soul this damned world over to call me that but not you, never you. Call me father, Dracula, even Gabriel or Goddamn stupid Belmont if it suits you, but please not that."
Alucard opened his mouth to respond but found his tongue would not form words so instead he nodded at the request that was both an order and a heartfelt plea from his father. When Dracula steadied himself so he could gently take his face in his hands, Alucard closed his eyes as the man pulled him forward to press a tender kiss against his forehead before sliding down to do the same to both his eyelids, "Call me anything but Dracul, son." His father whispered against his cheek bone as he softly rubbed his head against his. "You are the one person not meant to suffer that name or the vengeance that comes with it."
Despite the mostly chaste moment that they had been sharing Alucard found himself gently pulling his father's face down to press a just as gentle, albeit not as chaste, kiss against the man's lips. He sighed as his father returned it and threaded a hand into his hair to pull him closer but still managed to refrain from deepening it into something meant for far more pleasurable purposes. Alucard kept the kiss as light as possible but broke away when he sensed his father's body tensing in his unconscious desire to take it further, which frankly, he was starting to desire just as much. Both of them could easily give into instinct and fall hard into the heat of the moment but Alucard didn't want to. Not yet. This was not meant to be that sort of moment and he was still too sore and even tired to consider anything beyond mere touches, let alone full blown sexual aggressions.
"You should rest, son." Dracula whispered in a gravelly voice that betrayed what Alucard already knew their brief kiss would cause. He nodded his agreement, feeling the want to sleep tugging at his consciousness as he let his father curl his body around his and bring him into his body to cradle him. Alucard found amusement in the fact that his father had effectively switched their roles from what it had been before, now being the one to offer him the affections of consolation even if it was a silent one. The young man nuzzled against Dracula's neck as his father eased him toward deep sleep by stroking his back and whispered to him in Latin which he hadn't known his father knew fluently. How peculiar… there were many things he did not know about his father, wasn't there?
"Ubi idem et maximus et honestissimus amor est, aliquando praestat morte jungi quam vita distrahi"
Alucard's ears perked at the phrase his father whispered and he tried to pick out the words he knew but could only understand 'Greatest', 'Love' and 'Death' and he quickly decided he wanted to know at least that phrase, finding himself curious. "I fear I'm not as fluent in Latin as you, father. What was that last phrase?" He asked, his accent already slightly slurred from his near succumb to sleep. Dracula 'hmm'd thoughtfully as he trailed a hand up Alucard's spine that garnered a shiver and a breathy sigh of contentment from the young man, "The Brotherhood didn't teach you Latin? You couldn't begin to hope to be a knight if you didn't speak it fluently in my day, boy."
Alucard snorted at his father's accusatory remark and returned the minor insult. "Obviously they decided it was best to focus on melee tactics verses romantic ones by the time I became a knight." Dracula chuckled at his clever reply and trailed his hand up to scratch lightly at the back of Alucard's head, earning a pleased purr from his son at the simple action that must have fed from his far more feral side. Deciding his father would keep the phrase a secret due to his neglect of never learning the dated language, Alucard started to drift off when his father finally revealed what he had said.
"Where there exists the greatest and most genuine love, it is sometimes better to be united in death than separated in life."
Alucard chuckled at the all around romantically inclined phrase that held an ironic dual meaning for he and his father. His father certainly would think the phrase appropriate, after all, the man had brought him back from death with his blood in hopes of one day reuniting in 'death'… though the desire had been far more chaste at that time. Life and unlife was beyond interesting… and who knew his father could be such a closet romantic at heart. Perhaps that was how this moody man had wooed his mother to begin with.
Breathing his content, Alucard whispered something quietly against Dracula's neck that he had not really intended for the man to hear before he finally drifted off into a deep and calm sleep that he had not entered into in what felt like ages. Long after he did Dracula continued to whisper and pacify him in the dead language due to overhearing the mumbled phrase of "I never was fond of learning Latin but the way you speak it makes me wish I had been".
...why do I love the idea that a) Alucard would do something as mundane as forcing respiration to please his father and b) Dracula would speak Latin to satisfy Alucard's, apparent, enjoyment of it?
Finally, FINALLY, father and son are reunited. It is about damn time. I'm damn near tempted to dedicate about six chapters to nothing but pure PWP lust and thrust and fluff just so, y'know, this pairing can get some serious representation. The internet needs moar of it. That's my stance and I'm sticking to it. :)