Chapter 30: Setting Out

Belmont Estate

Alucard watched as Belmont and Yvette packed up the wagon.

Sypha took his hands. 'Be well, my friend.'

He looked up at her and smiled. 'You too. Don't let those idiots get you into too much trouble.'

'Never,' she said.

'You doofus!' Yvette suddenly exclaimed with a laugh, throwing one of the bags at Trevor. Sypha and Alucard looked. Trevor caught it and threw it back. Yvette dodged.

Sypha chuckled. 'Well...maybe just enough trouble.'

'Just enough.' Alucard went over as Trevor and Sypha climbed up onto the seat. Yvette hung back to look through to say good bye to him.

Trevor smiled and gave him a wave – or what passed as one for him. Alucard smirked and flipped him off. Yvette laughed. Trevor chuckled.

'Ah. Fuck you.'

Sypha moved the reins and Alucard watched them go. Yvette stepped back and looked back at him. She'd told him that she'd send someone to check up on him in a few days – make sure he was all right. She nodded her goodbye to him. Trevor, meanwhile, leaned forward and waved goodbye again.

Alucard stood there and watched them go. He waited until they turned the corner and he couldn't see them anymore. Then he turned and walked into his father's old castle. It was strange...how empty it was. Even as a child, there'd always been people in it. His father...his mother...the guard...servants.

Now, it was void of all of these.

Yvette sat in the back of the wagon. They were driving her back home so she could stock up and head out east before they went on their way. It was better this way, honestly. And, if Yvette could turn the situation to her family's advantage in some way...well, she'd never been above sneaky tricks.

Yvette just opened a book and pretended not to notice the way Sypha was curled up to Trevor's side. And how Trevor rested his head back, content in a way she'd never seen before.

'Belnades and Belmont,' Sypha suddenly said. 'That sounds quite good, doesn't it?'

'Not bad,' Trevor remarked idly.

Sypha repeated it. 'Belnades and Belmont. For when I tell the story – for the legend.'

'Wait,' Trevor said. 'I don't get first billing?'

'Of course not.' Sypha quickly handed the reins over. 'You're the one driving the horse!'

Instead of getting annoyed, Trevor just snorted in amusement. 'Is this what I've got to look forward to in life?'

'Yes.' She lowered her voice intimately enough for Yvette to feel a bit uncomfortable watching. 'Forever.'

Yvette was tempted to tell them to get a room. But she bit her tongue. She looked back down at her book and refocused on it. There were several good things that'd come from this little adventure, the least of which was hope for the future of the Belmont clan. By now she was just counting the days until those two brought a new generation of Belmont demon hunters into the world.

Ha! Imagine if their daughter was the next Belmont Slayer.

Despite feeling strange about it, Alucard sat down in his father's chair.

He was unsure if the spectre of his father he'd seen before was in his mind, or something to think about later – once he'd had the chance to grieve properly.

'Is this how the castle felt to you,'he'd already wondered, 'before my mother first arrived at your door?'

He'd already propped his mother's portrait back up and looked at the distance mirror shards when he'd come in. Now, he sat and looked around. Even now, when he was fully grown, the chair felt much too big. He leaned forward in the chair and looked around. Many a time he'd peered into this room to see his father sitting in this very chair.

Before...

Before they'd been a happy family, despite being made up of a vampire and a human and a dhampir. They were a family. During his short childhood, he'd been quick to learn and had loved to play tag with his mother, often drastically slowing down his speed to give her hope of catching him.

The thought of it all made it finally sink in.

Alucard finally, after a full year of wishing and needing to do so, broke down crying for the family he lost.

Reudi landed on the edge of the clearing.

He stared up at the impressive structure that stood where the Belmont Home once did. This had been Dracula's castle. His parents had told him all about the vampire, but he'd never actually met him. However, it had been peculiar to learn that this vampire who had been so very powerful had fathered someone like him.

His mother had sent him here, while she went tracking one of the forgemasters. His father had headed to Braila to try and find the other one.

Of course, Reudi couldn't even imagine what Alucard was going through. Reudi's mother had never died. His father had never gone insane. His father had never been particularly homicidal, full stop. Of course, his father was a completely different species of vampire. His father did not need to kill to feed.

Reudi smiled to himself at the thought as he walked up to the castle and stepped inside.

As he walked, his footfalls echoed. 'Alucard?' he called. 'Alucard, my name's Reudi. I'm the one Yvette sent.'

A blonde boy – probably not even twenty yet – appeared at the top of the stairs. It would be hard for a human to see, but he'd clearly been crying very recently. Reudi did not draw attention to it though. He stopped where he was and allowed the younger dhampir to get a good look at him, see who and what he was.

'Oh, yes,' Alucard said. 'You're the one who trained Belmont.'

Reudi smirked. 'And he was always quite annoyed at my refusal to come at him at full strength.'

Alucard gave a broken sort of smirk.

Yvette had been right to be worried.

AN: So, that's it for Arc 1.

I'm going to wait until Season 4 comes out on Netflix before I start posting Arc 2 because I want to see what approach the show is taking before I decide what to do after the Season 3 part of this story.