Chapter 20: Breaking In

Belmont Hold

'How powerful is the seal?' Alucard asked Yvette.

And wasn't that just an annoying question. Less that he was asking it, and more that it reminded her that while she loved her father, she loved her brother, and she loved her nephew, they did have some rather bad habits. And they had made more than a few oversights which this generation and the last had borne the consequences of.

'That has never been measured,' Yvette said. 'Most, if not all demons, were stopped at the threshold of the house. They never got inside so you are actually the first non-human that ever even saw the door to the Hold.' Her eyes narrowed. 'But certainly not the last.' She strode over and slid open a compartment and pulled out a quiver of arrows.

'You expect them to get through then?' Alucard asked.

'The door may be hexed,' Yvette bucked the quiver to her torso, 'but it is still just ordinary stone.' She grabbed a bow out of the compartment and slid it closed.

'How many?' Trevor asked, wrapping his hand around the Morning Star.

'1...2...Six or seven, I think.'

'Your senses are that specific?' Sypha asked.

'They are when they've been trained.'

The unfortunate fact was that most Slayers – even the ones born into Speaker caravans – were too reliant on their Watchers. They counted on them to teach them what they could do and to interpret things that were within their own powers. They counted on men who couldn't give a flying fuck whether they lived or died; didn't give a shit about who they were and what they wanted out of life.

Yvette had never had a Watcher. When it came to her, their purpose was redundant, so the Powers had never seen it fit to inform them of her identity and location. She counted herself lucky that she had been born the girl she was. She'd been born into a family that had all the resources, all the knowledge, and all the training that she'd required. And, because they were her own flesh and blood, they actually gave a damn about her.

She had far more than any Slayer before her.

'Can we get that magic mirror working?' Trevor asked.

Yvette nodded. 'The runes are sufficiently intact. I only broke the glass.'

'I can't do two things at once,' Sypha pointed out as she rushed around, checking books and obviously taking note of everything she needed to know; everything that she needed to do to make this work.

Alucard had already moved off and grabbed the mirror in question. 'I know some Caldaeic. I know how to operate a Distance Mirror. Which shall I do?'

There was a silence as they all looked around at each other.

'I would figure on that, Alucard,' Yvette said. 'Now...There are two Belmonts, so we can fight the demons. You have some magic, but Sypha's actually a sorceress. So...you operate the mirror.'

Alucard nodded. 'We're trapped in a box down here. We will be eventually overwhelmed. Unless we change the nature of the battle.'

'Agreed.' Trevor turned his head. 'Sypha!'

She was rushing frantically over the books. 'I'm close to getting it.'

'I'll protect you for as long as I can!'

'I know!'

Yvette smiled and the two Belmonts went off running.

'What are you so happy about?' Trevor asked.

'Ask me again in about ten years.'

Hopefully, when there's a new generation of Belmonts running about the place.

Trevor used the Morning Star to move up higher as Yvette just bounded up with all of her considerable Slayer strength. They ascended the many levels of the Belmont Hold easily. He just hoped they got something worked out before the demons managed to break through and down into the Hold.

His father had died before he could really teach him anything about how the seal worked. As a boy he'd really only come down here to study and train. After the attack on the family, it was Yvette who picked up where Gabriel Belmont had left off. At the time, he hadn't really seen the point, but Yvette had persisted and, yes, maybe even guilted him into it.

He was glad she had now.

'Can we make any kind of barricade?' he asked his ancestor.

'No.' Yvette's answer was sure and rapid. 'When this place was built, it was done so under the assumption that nothing would ever be able to break in.'

The Hold shook particularly violently. She caught him and pulled him along a few steps until he'd regained his balance.

Yvette went on with her explanation as they ran up the final set of stairs. 'The way my father, my brother, and my nephew were treated for hunting demons made what happened to your generation inconceivable to them. They would never have imagined the house could fall. They were prepared for demon threats and demon threats only.' She shoved the door open and they ran through.

'Well then,' they stopped in the centre of the spiral staircase and looked up, 'I guess we'll have to deal with this now.'

Yvette's eyes narrowed as she looked up and she drew an arrow out of her quiver. 'And there's one I want to deal with right now.' She lined up her shot and, with a whistle, fired.

Trevor watched the arrow sail up. He'd spotted a certain marking on it before she'd let go. 'Protected arrow?'

'The best kind to shoot at demons.'

There was a roar and a huge mass of demon obscured the moonlight being let into the Hold. It quickly released a fireball at the arrow, and at the Belmonts. But the magic on the arrow activated and the flames arched around it, and dispersed, only lighting little flickering flames here and there. The arrow continued on its course, unimpeded and lanced right through the throat of the demon. It was hit and dropped the rest of the way down.

Trevor and Yvette both jumped out of the way before it slammed into the ground. Just for good measure, and to ensure it was really dead he supposed, Yvette walked over and kicked the head from the shoulders.

'Firedrake,' Trevor grumbled. 'Just what we need in an underground room full of paper.'

'Why do you suppose I killed him first?' Yvette asked rhetorically.

Alucard stood before the mirror, working the runes. He didn't have an awful lot of time but, thankfully, Distance Mirrors were designed to work quickly and he'd been using them since he was a boy. They were the primary source of communication for vampires. He'd learned, first, to use them for that ends. Then he had learned to use them for their other means.

He activated the mirror. The image of his father's castle appeared. Alucard's eyes glowed red. 'There you are.'

Dracula's Castle

Dracula stepped into his navigation room and approached the orb.

'Braila,' he mused to himself as he walked around the orb. 'Just to keep the peace between squabbling creatures who will starve and die before the end of the year anyway.' He stepped towards it and lifted a hand. 'Oh, well. So long as it brings silence.'

That was the important thing to his mind.

Silence...and his completed revenge.

He extended two fingers out and moved them in a specific way. He closed his eyes as the gears around him began to move and the orb began to hum. Then he opened his eyes once more and opened his hand fully.

'To Braila then!'