Chapter 26: Death of Dracula

Alucard and Dracula crashed into the observatory.

Dracula came off second best, having to make a recovery landing, while Alucard hovered in among the glass.

Dracula snarled and charged, roaring. Alucard's vampiric nature came to the forefront as he charged and roared as his father did. The two forces collided, over and over again. This give and take of blows went on until Dracula caught one of his punches and threw him up through the ceiling. Alucard then found himself stuck on the floor as his head spun.

His father landed behind him.

Alucard quickly looked behind himself and grabbed the neaest piece of sharp wood, created from his crash landing.

Dracula laughed behind him. 'You mean to stake me?'

'You want me to,' Alucard said without turning.

'What?' Dracula sounded like he thought it was a joke.

'You didn't kill me before. You are not going to kill me now.' Alucard turned and glared up at his father. 'You want this to end as much as I do.'

And his father swung into rage again. 'Do I?' He kicked Alucard across the floor.

Alucard recovered and slid to a stop. He rose. 'You died when my mother died. You know you did. This entire catastrophe has been nothing but history's longest suicide note!' He charged at his father with the stake.

Dracula tried to knock the stake from his hand, but it flipped in the air and Alucard caught it again. He thrust it into his father's chest. Unfortunately, he was trying to do it quickly, and so his aim was imperfect. He ground his teeth as he realised this fact. His father then spoke up, stating the mistake they both knew he made.

'Not quite close enough.' Then Dracula grasped his face and threw him through the nearby wall.

Alucard heard the wood clatter to the stone ground.

Trevor and Sypha ran through the castle.

'Next floor up!' Sypha called to Trevor. 'I hear them!'

Yvette rounded a corner. 'And I sense them!'

'Wondered when we'd see you!' Trevor called to her.

Yvette waved it off. 'I just needed a few minutes after that trip. I think I landed in one of the forgemaster chambers.'

His father had become vicious. It was all Alucard could do to dodge. But he knew he couldn't do it forever. He took a chance and turned, grabbing his father and throwing him against a wall. Only for Dracula to lash out and force them both into one of the rooms. It was now Alucard realised where precisely in the castle they were.

Then Alucard tried to fight him, only for his father the grab his head and smash him through another wall. They landed on the dining room table and his father tried to punch him in the face. Alucard got his legs under him and kicked him off. They smashed through yet another wall, into the machinery which ran their home.

Dracula threw him to the ground. Alucard charged, only for his father to punch him to the ground again. He didn't allow Alucard to get a punch in edgeways. He began just pounding into him as Alucard staggered back across the bridge. Dracula was snarling in rage by this point. Alucard staggered back and tried to think of a way out of this.

He decided to make a last resort attack.

Falling would mean certain death, even to a vampire.

Alucard teleported out. He slammed into his father, and then teleported out. He did it again, and again. Altogether, he managed to do it six times before his father caught him by the skull. Then he slammed him down onto the bridge. He slammed his head down again and again. The pain was almost enough to knock him out. Then Dracula lifted him up and punched him. Alucard flew through another wall and was immobilised once more.

He struggled to catch his breath and stand up, even as he heard his father approaching with a low growl. Alucard had barely gotten his feet back under him before Dracula struck him again. Alucard struggled to lift his head. Despite the pain in his body, he attacked again – only to be knocked back by his father again. As he staggered back, his father kept on advancing.

Dracula gave him one last punch.

Not that Alucard knew it was the last punch.

He vaguely recognised the room as he struggled to get up while his father stormed in.

Then…Dracula stopped.

He gasped and his eyes widened. The ends of his cape fluttered to the ground. Alucard was actually given the time he needed to recover. He looked up at his father and his eyes widened. Why had his father stopped? What had the murderous rage suddenly left his face? The red of his eyes was still there, but the murderous rage was gone.

'It's your room,' Dracula murmured.

Alucard looked around. Yes, he realised, it was. And that somehow had gotten through to his father when nothing else could. Alucard watched as his father stared around. The red faded out of Dracula's eyes. The full horror of what he was doing seemed to sink in on him. Dracula folded his arms across his chest and closed his eyes.

'My boy…' he whispered in a shaky voice. 'I'm…I…I'm killing my boy.'

He slowly walked over to the desk, which the family portrait hung above. 'Lisa…I'm killing our boy. We painted this room. We…made these toys. It's our boy, Lisa.'

Slowly, Alucard rose up. He broke a post off the bed, and he slowly walked over to his father.

Dracula staggered back and looked at his hands, then he clenched them into fists. 'Your greatest gift to me…and I'm killing him.' His lifted his eyes and looked at Alucard. 'I must already be dead.'

Alucard froze, the tears burning in his eyes.

Dracula closed his eyes and dropped his head. Then he looked up at his son again.

Alucard understood and he stepped in. He drove the stake into his father's heart, properly this time. Dracula choked and blood began to pour out of his mouth. The blood poured out of his heart too. It trailed down Alucard's arm and dropped off of his elbow. Dracula began to weep tears of blood.

'Son…' he whispered.

Alucard was having a hard enough time keeping his own tears in. 'Father.' He ground his teeth and pushed the stake in deeper.

The scent of Yvette reached him before he saw her enter the room over his father's shoulder. She drew a long stake from her waist sash. There was a look in her eyes; she looked at Alucard like she pitied him. Then she swiftly plunged the stake into Dracula's heart from the back. Dracula cried out and arched his neck.

He swiftly began to decay. As he did, he lowered his head again and he reached out for Alucard. Smoke began to drift out of him. Alucard stared up at him, frozen. He didn't know what to think and he couldn't move. Then, he found himself stumbling back as Dracula stumbled after him. In the next instant, he heard a sword be unsheathed and then Belmont grunted.

In a flash of metal, Belmont separated Dracula's head from his shoulders.

The whole corpse collapsed. A pool of blood began forming underneath it.

Then Sypha walked forward. 'Alucard, step back.' She raised a hand. 'Let me finish this.'

Still in shock, Alucard stumbled. He found Yvette reach out for him and pull him out of the way. With a simple gesture, flames streamed out of Sypha's hands. It soon engulfed the entire body. Yvette seemed to brace herself and draw him back at little more. The flames grew as they reduced Dracula's body to ashes.

Then a large, black…thing began to rise out of the remains. Belmont quickly grabbed Sypha and pulled her back. The darkness streamed up, extinguishing the flames. All four covered their eyes as it smashed out through the window. Yvette tried to get a closer look at it, but the force was too much even for a Slayer.

Then it was gone.

All that was left of Dracula was his wedding ring.

'Is…Is that it?' Sypha asked.

'For now.' Yvette sighed. 'That happened last time too. Dracula self-resurrects. I still don't know how.'

Alucard looked at her. 'So you did actually kill him last time?'

'Barely, but yes.' She looked around. 'It shouldn't be for a while yet, but he'll be back.'

'How long?' Trevor asked.

Yvette looked over her shoulder at him. 'I've seen it happen but once. Alucard and I will be around to worry about it.' She shook her head. 'But I very much doubt that you two will.'

Alucard sighed and looked at the family portrait. 'He died a long time ago.'

The four of them walked out of the castle in silence.

Sypha looked back at the other two. Alucard was looking around the main hall mournfully. She understood that, once, even the fearsome Dracula had been a good father. This had been his home. This was where he grew up, and this was his home. Yet, this was where his father had conducted his massacres from.

This was where he had to end his own father's reign of terror.

Yvette seemed to understand that and she patted him on the back as she guided him out.

Looking over at Trevor, Sypha noticed a look on his face. This one was different, of course. She'd noticed him glance at the wound on her arm before turning his attention elsewhere when he stopped. With a smile, Sypha reached down and slid her hand into his. He looked at her before gently curling his fingers around hers.

He felt guilty about it for some reason. Sypha didn't want him to feel guilty about her wounds. She had found that, as terrifying as the fight with Dracula was, she had gained a sense of exhileration from this adventure. She wanted to continue doing so. Yes, that may mean abandoning her life as a Speaker, but it seemed worth the price she had to pay.

Hand in hand, they followed Alucard and Yvette out.