Chapter 27: The Next Step

Yvette wound a bandage around her wrist.

'Braila, huh? You sure that was the city?'

'I recognised it.' Alucard frowned. 'Why?'

'I don't think we're quite finished here.' Yvette frowned. 'That forgemaster we saw vanished, and he was fighting vampires off of Dracula's back. One would think we'd have had to go through him to get to Dracula. Then there's the other one.'

'Other one?' Trevor asked. He'd, reluctantly, let Sypha tend to the wounds on his hands.

'Yeah. That first one didn't strike me as the type to reanimate dead animals to keep as pets.'

They all twisted around and looked at her.

'Really.' She pointed up. 'They're upstairs now.'

Alucard frowned and then shot up at inhuman speed. He returned with one of the strangest things Trevor had ever seen. It wasn't the puppy that was so odd, as it was that part of its face and one leg had rotted away, leaving only bone. Yet it behaved like a normal puppy. Honestly, he had to agree with Yvette just looking at the thing.

Sypha flinched back. 'What...er...kind of person does something like that?'

'Someone who's off in the head, to start with.' Yvette cracked a grin at her own joke. 'No, but seriously, whoever this other forgemaster is he probably has a very simplistic view of the world. He probably doesn't even really understand death. I've met people who don't, and they are always annoying.'

'Well, he's going to have a nasty wake-up call,' Trevor remarked.

'I think it's already started,' Yvette said.

'Why do you say that?' Alucard asked, examining the puppy as it craned its neck to try and lick him.

Yvette walked over and picked up a piece of material – black with white trim.

Alucard understood immediately, and sighed.

'And for those of us who don't recognise the colours?' Trevor asked.

'These are the colours of Styria,' Yvette told him. 'Which means Carmilla likely tried to stage a coup against Dracula before we so-rudely interrupted. The other forgemaster is probably with her.'

'Someone actually tried to stage a coup against my father?' Alucard asked doubtfully.

'Not very smart, but she's a misanrist.'

Alucard cocked an eyebrow. 'I was rather under the impression that she went out of her way to avoid Belmonts. How do you know this?'

'Just because she's gone out of her way to avoid us doesn't mean she's always been either that smart or even successful.'

Trevor frowned. 'But with him gone, for now, I bet she'll be trying to use that forgemaster to take over vampire society.'

Sypha seemed to agree with him. 'Not to mention what that other forgemaster might be doing.'

'Right.' Yvette looked up. 'But, to be honest, I'd call Carmilla more of a short-term problem, as far as vampires go.' She noticed their confused looks. 'He's been killed before. I ought to know. I did it. He came back. Died just like we saw then. He came back. Don't ask me how, but he came back. I expect him to do it again.'

Sypha frowned. 'How did you know he would come back the first time?'

'We didn't,' Yvette said. 'Papa was just very concerned with the way he died. Even then we'd seen enough vampires die to know that wasn't normal. And honestly, Dracula wasn't the oldest vampire out there back then.'

'I suppose I'd better stay here and keep watch for when he comes back, then,' Alucard remarked.

'Yeah.' Yvette stood up. 'In the meantime, I'm going to use some of the distance mirrors around here to see what I can't find out.'

Sypha and Trevor took some time to look around. There was something...familiar about it. And she knew exactly what it was.

'So much like the engines we found under Gresit.'

Trevor was having a look too. 'Alucard must have learned it all at his daddy's knee.' He sighed and started walking out of the room. Sypha followed him. 'It's incredible, really,' he said.

'It's the true science,' Sypha told him. 'My people heard the stories but...didn't quite hold onto the truth of them.'

Trevor let his eyes rove around. 'Less damage than I would have thought. Apart from the mess in that little room he showed us.'

'Yes. The engine room that moves the castle. I cannot imagine how that worked.'

'Well,' Trevor told her. 'It doesn't work anymore.' He then gave her a wry grin. 'You melted it.'

Sypha lifted her nose. 'I didn't melt anything. It must have been straining against the spell.'

Trevor had a witty retort on his tongue, but it was interrupted by a couple of birds flying off from inside. Proof, if ever he saw it, that the castle was (at least for now) free of vampires.

Sypha was silent for a moment. 'What do you think he's going to do now?' After all, his major purpose was completed.

The man in question answered her as he entered the main hall. 'I had a plan, you know.' He walked down the stairs and over to them. 'I was going back to Gresit, return to my vault. Go back to sleep. Of course, now, your Slayer's thrown that plan out the window. My father being able to resurrect himself never crossed my mind.'

'So you are staying here then?' Trevor asked.

'It would seem to be the thing to do,' Alucard said. 'And, if I leave the castle here, all his work is inside it. His libraries, his materials, his knowledge. What happens to all that if the structure is abandoned? I can't just leave it here.' He looked around. 'Be nothing but a grave to be robbed.'

They were all silent for a moment.

'So,' Alucard said, 'let it be my grave.'

Trevor didn't take long to answer that one. 'No.'

Alucard looked at him in confusion. 'No?'

'No.' Trevor turned to face him properly. 'We can't move this thing.' He pointed to the redhead. 'Sypha broke it.'

'I did not!' she protested.

'You kind of did,' Alucard said.

She protested again, folding her arms. 'I do not break things!'

'So, we agree?' Trevor asked Alucard. 'She broke it?'

'Oh, yes.'

'So, it's staying right here. Forever.' Trevor looked over his shoulder and gestured. 'Right on top of the Belmont Hold...' He looked back at them. '...which is now also open to the world.' He walked across. 'Up here, your father's collected knowledge. Down there, the collected knowledge of your mother's people. As above, so below. Both halves of you, Alucard.'

Alucard narrowed his eyes. 'I'm listening.'

Trevor walked over to his side and put a hand on his shoulder. 'Behold, you sulky half-vampire bastard,' he stepped back again and gave a dramatic bow, 'I bequeath you the Belmont Hold. Make that, and the castle, your home – not your grave. Be its last defender.'

A conflicted look came onto Alucard's face. 'You're giving me...your home?'

'It's yours,' Trevor said. 'My childhood home, and your childhood home. Protect it. Make something out of it. Something better than a pile of ruins and a symbol of terror.'

Alucard smiled and nodded.

Middle East

They found a man by the oasis.

Identifying his race, the desert pirates stopped.

The man looked over his shoulder before looking back at the water. 'Keep moving. I'm not in the mood.'

The captain smirked. 'Well, what do we have here?' He watched the man take another drink. 'Oh, it's thirsty, whatever it is.' He took another drink. 'Don't drink the entire pool.'

The man didn't turn. 'There is enough water for all.' He took another drink.

'Oh, I don't care about all.' The captain nudged his horse forward. 'I only care about us.'

The man lifted his head but didn't turn around. 'There will be plenty for you after I'm gone.'

'Well, perhaps we want it all.' They all moved their horses forward.

'Yes,' the man said. 'You probably do.' He stood up and folded his hands behind his back. 'Your kind always does.' He then turned around to face them.

The captain sneered. 'I think the desert has left us a little gift, don't you?' He was the first to draw his sword and his men followed. 'Put a rope around it, drag it behind us. Perhaps we can sell it at the next town – unless we get hungry between now and then, I suppose.'

But the man did not look intimidated. 'Is that really the best you have? Your best response to finding a lone stranger drinking at an oasis? Call him "it", and immediately draw plans to sell him or eat him?'

The captain exchanged a glance with his second. This one had guts, it had to be said. The captain laughed. 'You don't matter. You don't deserve my best. You're just some drifting clump of shit I discovered on the road, and I'll do with you as I wish. Only I and my friends here matter. You are simply meat.'

There was an odd smirk on the man's face. 'I'm not human?'

The captain pretended to mull it over. 'Oh, I'm sure you're human, Sir Philosopher of the Waterhole!' He sniffed and then glared down at him. 'I simply don't care.'

'Me neither.'

The captain never even knew what hit him.

And he'd be horrified if he knew what was done to his body, and the bodies of his friends, after.