Chapter 2: The Forgemasters

Braila

The distance mirror flicked up.

'Law,' his wife said. 'How's the city going?'

Law Aurealis sat down at the desk he had in his inn room. It'd been given to him with compliments. He looked at the faces of his wife and the Belmont Slayer in the glass and sat back with a mug of ale. 'Still rebuilding. I'm helping where I can.'

'I guess you're pretty popular for picking up that kid like you did,' Yvette remarked.

'Yup, and I know more about it.' He chuckled. That kid had been an absolute wreck, but his father was thankfully still alive and had been quite vocal in wanting to repay Law for returning his son. It was a sentiment Law could easily understand. 'On top of that, there's a lot of suspicion against the church.'

'Why?' Eliza asked.

'Because quite a few people saw what they swore was a ghoul in bishop's robes in the water. The religious authorities then failed to answer for it sufficiently.' He smirked. 'Angry townspeople with no scapegoat, plus indignant church. You can imagine what that equals. They even began to ask if the Belmonts really deserved to be excommunicated.'

'That's a bit of a jump,' Eliza said, not without suspicion – but she looked amused. 'You didn't happen to help that idea along, did you?'

Law lifted his eyes. 'You can't prove anything...but Aljiba might have come up.'

Both women cracked up laughing.

Wallachia

'I've been meaning to ask something,' Alucard said as he watched Reudi make the final preparations for his journey ahead.

The other dhampir was in the process of strapping various weapons to his person. 'And that is?'

Alucard frowned as he vocalised the thought. 'If Belmont's entire family was killed, they must have been taken by surprise.'

'What makes you say that?' There was a level of knowing in his tone.

'I feel confident in assuming the late Gabriel Belmont had skill and ability comparable to his son. So, the villagers that committed the act must have been living nearby.'

'They were.'

Alucard cocked his head curiously. 'Explain.'

'You know that clearing two miles that way.' Reudi nodded his head.

'Yes, it's rather large for a clearing.' Alucard was actually of the opinion that it'd once been something else entirely.

Turned out, it had – as Reudi went on to explain. 'It used to be the village of Aljiba. What do you suppose the supernatural population did when they heard those idiots had slaughtered that particular family?'

'Ah,' Alucard nodded in comprehension. 'Yvette knew about this while it was happening?'

Reudi nodded. 'She knew it'd happen before it did.' He checked his gear and nodded to himself. 'Like she said to then when she spirited Trevor away, "when it comes, I'm not helping you".'

Styria

Carmilla was in a foul mood as she led the march up to her castle. She was glad, at the very least, to see Striga and Lenore waiting for her.

'We'd almost given up hope,' Lenore said as Carmilla stopped in front of them.

'Thirty fucking days, Lenore,' Carmilla angrily stated. 'We were lucky to march for eight hours a night.'

Lenore took her black veil off. 'I'm sorry.'

'Why were you marching?' Striga asked. 'You were given horses for a reason.'

Carmilla ignored her soldiers marching past into the castle in favour of snapping at her sister. 'But you didn't give me immortal vampire horses of death, did you?' She then gestured to the soldiers in question. '800 miles and every inch of it infested with bastards. We lost the horses to arrows and swords in the week! It's absolutely bloody chaos out there!'

Lenore looked at one of the soldiers as he stumbled, exhausted.

Carmilla went on. 'Humans fighting each other, Night Creatures gone mad! Even vampire packs trying to set up kingdoms. There is literally no one between here and Braila who I don't want to murder!'

Striga put her hands on her hips. 'So, what do you want to do first, Carmilla?'

With a heaved sigh, Carmilla put a hand to her head. She then pulled some of her hair forward. 'I want to get in a bath for at least a day.' She flicked the hair. 'And then I want you to bring a cartographer to my chambers. I may have a plan.'

At that moment, her prisoner was dragged into view and past them.

Carmilla looked over as he was stopped next to her. 'Oh, yes.' She pointed at him. 'Striga, take this to a cell and lock it up. Throw it food once a day.'

Striga walked over and looked down at the pathetic specimen of a human. She sniffed. 'What is it?'

'It's a whining bag of shit that I would have happily have dropped in a ditch at any moment of the last month,' Carmilla said before looking at Hector in contempt. 'But it is also a forgemaster. So, keep it alive.' She smirked and narrowed her eyes. 'My plan includes it.'

Striga gave her orders to the guards. 'Take this to the western cell block.' She looked back at him in contempt. 'Don't kill it. And throw some water over it. It stinks.'

Hector was then dragged off.

Striga turned back to Carmilla. 'If there's nothing else urgent, I suggest we get you indoors and give you a proper welcome.'

Carmilla smiled. She closed her eyes and held her hands out. 'My sisters.' Lenore took one of her hands and Striga took the other. 'I have spent the last ten days of the Hell March wondering if I'd die of hunger or sheer bloody rage before I got home. And wondering if you'd still be waiting for me.' She opened her eyes and looked between them. 'Where's Morana?'

'She awaits us inside,' Lenore answered. 'Come on.'

The three of them moved into the castle.

Hector had been stripped naked.

Then he was carelessly thrown into a cell before he was thrown a mouldy piece of...something. It might've been cheese. It might've been bread. He wracked his brain for a way to get out of this. But he knew that Carmilla was not stupid. That big one might be, but he wasn't dead sure he could do anything about it.

With Dracula, it hadn't occurred to him how vampires might look at humans. His words still came back: "They can no longer conceive of humans as thinking beings. Just livestock." And God knew they were proving it now. He was being treated like shit and he still couldn't think of a single way out of this situation.

He had no friends and no allies. No help. Hector was completely alone. Dracula was dead, and that meant that, even if he was inclined to help him, he would not do so. Hector had betrayed him. He'd been tricked into doing it, but he had done it. And now he was on his own with a she-bitch that was going to try and force him to make an army for her.

He wondered if there was anything at all capable of not behaving like this.

The helplessness of the whole situation made him break down crying.

Carmilla walked into the chambers with Lenore and Striga. Morana stood there, having just poured herself a drink.

'There you are, Morana,' Carmilla said. 'It's good to see you again.'

Morana faced her and chuckled. 'You're late.'

Carmilla immediately went to complain again. 'Thirty days slogging through—'

'You make terrible time,' Morana cut her off. 'We stationed our forces within a day's ride of Braila. Where are the horses?'

Carmilla spun around. 'Killed by insane humans with pointy sticks, and half a dozen packs of starving Night Creatures, and eaten, and every other fucking thing!' She put a hand to her head. 'The plan couldn't have gone more wrong.'

Morana offered her the blood with a dry chuckle. 'You'll be wanting a drink, then.'

Carmilla quickly grabbed the goblet and drowned the blood inside. She smiled as the taste went past her lips. 'Virgin's blood! Oh, bless your dead little hearts! You do still love me.'

Morana smiled and stepped up next to Striga. 'Welcome home, Carmilla. We're all so glad to have you back with us.'

'The plan didn't matter a whit compared to your safety,' Lenore said. 'Welcome back to your castle, and your realm.'

'It's us against the world, Carmilla,' Striga stated. 'Same as it always was.'

AN: I recently discovered that Trevor Belmont is only 20 years old at the time of the series, which surprised me.

I could've sworn he was around 30.