Opposing Forces

by SoundofInsurrection

Free of Hellsing control, Alucard leaves Seras & Walter in England to see to a potential threat in USA. What seems an easy mission quickly gets complicated by unknown motives of Iscariot and local vampire hierarchy. The Vampire King must reevaluate his plans as the fates of two innocent humans caught in the crossfire fall to him to save or let perish. Read 1st chap A/N for details

70. Chapter 69 The OG Cerberus Part 2

Chapter 69

The OG Cerberus- Part Two

The spot within Parc Natural de Sant Llorenç del Munt i l'Obac that had been arranged for the parlay had been a very carefully chosen locale, for a multitude of reasons.

The massif the Parc Natural was found in had formed into nature's own box garden; with long tiered walls of conglomerate rock topped by flat ridges. The topmost ridges were harsher landscapes sparsely dotted with vegetation that could survive the elevation and exposure, predominantly English Oaks and Whitebeams; but each lower tier gave way to progressively thicker forests and groves that began incorporating Holm oak, Aleppo Pine, and Hazelnut trees. Brush and bushes nearly choked the lowest levels' undergrowth, with a notable profusion of heather in full bloom and strawberries in different stages of fruiting. Hidden throughout the massif's crags and its verdant forests were more than three hundred caves and chasms; and like the forests, they were home to all manner of critters. Blackbirds, jays, several species of snakes and toads called this mountain range home.

The nature reserve was open year round to hikers and nature watchers, but had a low overall traffic of visitors. Which meant that it would be exceedingly easy for The Dragon and Angel of Death to assess and keep track of who was coming and going- either by natural or psychic means of tracking; or if this little group of "allies" or someone following them might be capable of some sort of obscuring magic, they'd still end up disrupting the vegetation, heavily pebbled ground, or animals with their warded passing and give away their hidden positions and directions of movement.

The very particular triangular tunnel of a cave that they stopped outside was entirely hidden from nearly every angle of observation because of the crest of mountain it was formed from and the surrounding dense forests whose canopy was in lush summer foliage, with only a single foot path leading up to it. Which helped keep from long distance attacks being attempted, and aided in keeping this parlay from being noticed.

The Hospital de Sang- the Hospital of Blood, had seen a great deal of use during the 19th century Carlist Wars. With its well hidden and remote location, a spring whose water was notably clean from the natural rock filtering it went through and fit for gathering fresh water from, the profuse supply of food through small animals and edible plants, and a few quick modifications to the cave entrances to help shelter it from weather, it became a favored spot for the Carlists to bring and treat their wounded soldiers. Some soldiers had died there, but many others had managed to pull through thanks to the secure and hospitable natural accommodations. Useful as Hospital de Sang had been to the rebels who had wanted to cling to self-serving and outdated forms of governance and traditions, who wanted to prop up a pretender to the throne because they couldn't stomach the idea of a female monarch or her mother as Regent until she came of age, and had a fair amount of provincial and church aid to do so; the Carlists had still ultimately lost every war against the rightful monarchy backed overwhelming by the national military, better educated urban leaders with personal funds to bolster the army's resources, and with their British and French allies providing a third line of aid when needed. Despite the Carlists' dogged off and on efforts for the better part of a century, and the Queen eventually abdicating her throne to her son to help placate the patriarchal views of the populace, Spain had still been pushed into a more modern and centralized form of constitutional monarchism that was setting the stage for a republic, and had ushered in a wave of industrialization to help restore the country from its near bankruptcy and ruin.

Diplomacy required all sorts of maneuvers, and the King of Death was sending a very specific unspoken message that he knew someone with a background like "Cerberus" would understand: "If you and your provincial American allies dare meet myself and my eldest British ally here, it's with the understanding that the old ways you've been religiously clinging to are already dead, no matter what tenacious death struggle you put up. You'll be coming here to negotiate what lesser place you might be allowed to build for yourself on the graves of what was, or my servant and I will gladly annihilate you with overwhelming force and then I'll get back to aiding my Queen and our son coming into whatever rightful power they can manage to reclaim."

Upon arriving to the forest the Hospital de Sang was located within, the eldest members of the Underworld faction noted that their "allies" hadn't seemed to arrive early and have some attempt at an upper hand by being the first to arrive. Not willing to take any chances, they spent the next forty minutes thoroughly sweeping the area for any signs of the trio or a potential ambush by others that may be hidden by magic, and the King of Death gave a hypnotic nudge to a pair of human hikers ten kilometers away to send them back home.

That done, they reformed from their shadow states outside the entrance to the cave and got comfortable for the remaining fifty minute wait.

Walter had dyed his hair back to black and had it tightly tied back with a crimson ribbon. He was largely wearing his usual means of dress should combat ensue- crisp white dress shirt, black dress slacks and fitted vest, crimson tie and armbands, black leather fingerless gloves, and his favorite monocle was freshly shined. The change to his outfit was that he wasn't wearing his usual dress shoes.

Seen as where this was such a special occasion that could end up in a rematch fight if things went wrong, the Angel of Death asked his King for a favor before they departed the safehouse, as he couldn't manifest things very well on his own yet. A favor that sent Vlad into sadistic laughter for near a minute, and then he all too gladly accommodated the request by ripping up one of the many Nazi souls he had stolen during the war. It was put to much better, and poetic, use forming a supernaturally durable replica of Walter's "Nazi Stomping" combat boots that he had been so fond of as a teenager. Thanks to his King's skills in manifesting things, they were even more comfortable than the Angel of Death remembered. He was quietly appreciating that fact and debating continuing to wear them even after this parlay as he lit his favorite black cased clove mini cigar and casually leaned against the wall to the right of the cave entrance.

The Dragon was in a relaxed military At-Ease stance and had opted to resume his modern "Alucard" appearance. His ebony hair back to being carelessly short and shaggy with bangs falling across his fiery red eyes. His crimson duster jacket fell comfortably over his entirely black and fitted suit and the custom guns at his hips, and his pant legs were tucked into the pair of highly-polished, knee-high, black riding boots his wife had so thoughtfully bought him. The black fedora that kept his hair from getting too unruly, and helped the wire-rimmed orange-tinted sunglasses further obscure his gaze, was also another token from his time with his wife's Lucy incarnation. One that he had bought for her because she had been too worried about keeping up the appearances of being a proper lady to buy it for herself. With the hats shifting to being so popular in men's fashion while he had been imprisoned, he had resized it to fit himself and kept wearing it after release. He was going to thoroughly enjoy every second of the flustered and amused reactions the memories were sure to cause his angel when they eventually came back to her, and then perhaps have a reenactment of their wickedly entertaining twist to their private celebrations of the Yuletide season.

The King of Death spent the wait five paces ahead of his confidant and keeping his psychic sight and hearing open to their full range, on the look out for their "allies" approaching. It also allowed him to enjoy the glorious view of the night sky and the sounds of all sorts of nocturnal insects and birds making their own sort of disorganized, primal music.

Walter had just lit his second cigar, with twenty minutes left until their appointed meeting time, when he noticed his King's head tilt to one side a fraction. As he exhaled the fragrant smoke, about to ask if the trio was finally arriving, the Vampire King gave a quiet but sustained sardonic chuckle. Walter raised an eyebrow and extended out his senses as well, but whatever had caught his elder's attention wasn't within his more limited range yet. He asked telepathically, "Dare I ask what you've picked up?"

"It would seem," Alucard said with lingering mordant amusement, also telepathically and securing their mental connection to keep exchanges private, "that one of my 'subjects' wishes to give the appearance of coming to pay tribute to his King."

The Angel of Death continued to keep his senses extended. About a minute later, he could hear the echoing sounds of someone exuberantly singing and playing an electric guitar in time to heavy metal music playing through a vehicle's speakers. He would guess from what he knew of the trio that must be Jan singing, but he couldn't be certain because they were behind a bend in the mountain range that he couldn't see behind. It wouldn't be hard to visually identify who was who for the Valentines when they came into sight soon enough. He had retrieved some pictures for their dossiers from Valarie's Facebook account; her password had been fairly easily guessed after a few tries as ChibiJackal123, not even requiring him to actually hack it. An account that hadn't been accessed since the morning they had picked her up after the incident in Philadelphia. Scanning through some albums marked as "friends only", she ended up having some from the visit she and Mercedes made down to them in Oklahoma four and a half years earlier. Those pictures were tagged and connected to the brothers' own accounts. Jan had a public profile filled with thousands of pictures people had taken at the Valentines' club and likewise tagged him in. Walter was also able to grab from Valarie's account a few pictures of the other two friends marked as working with Iscariot, from an album for the convention the group had met at. Those two didn't have accounts, but the captions identified them quickly enough. There were also a fair few of "Vin", also without an account of his own. Walter took a pair of those as well to show his King how the wolf had changed his appearance to keep a low profile at such a public event; and that his "character" had been the love interest for Mercedes' "character" and they hadn't been shy about striking provocative poses together. That hadn't helped his King's temper, but it was a minor piece of information to be aware of because it added another layer to the profile of the wolf's covert behavior with the Queen.

"...but it's too late to atone!
No mercy from the edge of the blade!"

Walter gave a passing chuckle as he recognized the song by Avenged Sevenfold and commented dryly, "Well, at least it's appropriate lyrics to some decent music."

"Dare escape and learn the price to be paid!"

Alucard conceded, "Certainly more tolerable than most they could have thought up."

A beige extended cab pickup truck that had seen better days came zooming into the range of Walter's psychic sight at a speed that belied the vehicle's outer appearance.

"Let the water flow with shades of red now!
Arrows black out all the light-light!"

The former Nazi Captain wasn't bothering to hide his almost albino appearance tonight, driving the vehicle and tapping a hand on the steering wheel in time to the drums. Luke was slouched as far down as possible in the front passenger seat, eyes closed in a pained expression and one slender hand over his face to hide his embarrassed blush. Jan was standing on the hard cover secured over the truck bed, an output speaker strapped down and supported by his legs to either side of it, jamming out with a wide fanged grin and his profusion of gold piercings glinting as they caught the moon and star light. He didn't seem to have a care in the world, not pausing for even a moment as the truck got to the end of the official road and started speeding up the hiking path, the ride becoming significantly more bumpy and getting hit with occasional branches hanging over the trail.

"Death is riding into town with armor,
They've come to grant you your riiights!

Hail to the King!
Hail to the one!
Kneel to the crown!
Stand in the sun!
Hail to the King!
Hail, hail, hail!
The Kiiiiing!"

They came to a point where the hiking trail was going to be too narrow for the truck to continue and the wolf pulled the speeding vehicle to a controlled, if slightly skidding, stop. Cerberus, who in both myth and the Queen's account was said to be quite the music addict, charitably waited for Jan to finish his guitar solo, now tapping both hands to the steering wheel in time with the drums but otherwise keeping a stoic expression, before cutting the engine.

As the other two climbed out of the vehicle's cabin, Jan did a front flip off the back with a self-congratulatory exclamation of, "Apollo can eat my tight ass! Him and his stupid fucking harp or pussy acoustic ain't got shit on my electric!" Now standing, he leaned his guitar against the truck and began picking off leaves that had gotten caught in the ends of his straight black hair peeking out from his cap and on parts of his outfit. That outfit was a midnight blue jogging suit whose jacket had a tall collar and had gold trim at the hems, matching blue and black Nikes, and a blue knit cap that had the logo for their nightclub, "Bleeding Hearts", embroidered on the front- An anatomically accurate, if not fully detailed, red heart caught between a set of white fangs.

Luke was straightening out the casually fitted white business suit with gold trim, jacket lining, and tie that had gotten wrinkled from his slouching. To his brother's exclamation he gave a glance over and said with a hint of his aggravation surfacing, "It was a lyre, not a harp, that Apollon used to favor, you idiot. And will you rein yourself in already, before you do something truly humiliating before the King of Death and get us both killed?"

Jan rolled his hellfire eyes with a groan. "Yeah, what the fuck ever. You can go back to the kissass behavior like when we were working for the Camarilla bitches, but I ain't putting my freak flag back in the fucking closet now that it's come out. Big King D and the rest will learn to love me just like Mercy-cakes does."

"Tolerating you isn't loving you," Luke said with a shake of his head, long blond braid swaying. "This is why none of your relationships work out. You can't seem to ever realize how irritating you really are and push your 'friends with benefits' too far every time."

"And you're a fucking pompous douchebag for automatically jumping to those connections," Jan snapped back. "That's two separate kinds of things and you damn well know it. Mercy-cakes loves the shit out of anyone who is true to their natures and I am one hundred percent me all the motherfucking time. And I'd much rather have a revolving door coming and going because they couldn't handle all of me 'til one of them sticks around, then spend most of my time alone in a pity party because no one rises to my pretentious standards, like some whiney limp dicks I know."

As Luke opened his mouth to retort, Cerberus slapped the rune engraved willow staff he had pulled from the backseat onto the hood of the car, getting both of their attentions. He gestured at the both of them sharply, then pointed over his shoulder to where they should be walking. The Valentines exchanged guilty looks and Jan said quickly, "Right, shit. Sorry, Cerb. Business first, bickering later."

Cerberus gave an irritated shake of his head, his shaggy, shoulder length, snow white hair rustling against his jacket with the movement. Then he huffed and turned on a heel, staff tucked close to his body to reduce wind resistance, and began leading the way at a human's military marching-run stride to make it to the cave on time. The Valentines silently fell in behind him, making a small V formation and feet hitting the ground in step with the wolf's.

While Cerberus hadn't dyed his hair dark brown or worn what must have been exceedingly expensive contacts to hide his red eyes and match the character he had portrayed at the convention, the Underworld faction took note he had opted to wear one of the "Squall" outfits from that event. He had on a black leather bomber jacket that sported a white fur neck collar. The jacket was left open and exposing his long, light weight, cotton white shirt with a deep V-neck that was trimmed in a black design. Black leather pants that had three straps around one thigh was layered by three connected and crisscrossing red belts at his hips, the latter of which was supporting a back section of white fur along the belts and a knee length section of black leather. Heavy black combat boots and a pair of plain black leather gloves completed the look, minus the lion's head belt buckle and necklace he had included at the Convention.

It was a character Walter had summarily described as a largely silent "lone wolf" protagonist and one of the commanders of a highly trained mercenary group; who eventually fell in mutual love with the compassionate, stubborn, and frequently naïve rich girl who was leading a rebel group against her own father's corrupt and warmongering government and hired his organization's services to help her. They ended up facing many unexpected battles as they uncovered most of the characters had forgotten pasts, the female protagonist ended up incidentally inheriting magical powers from another sorceress that she was terrified by, and there was time magic effecting everyone involved.

The Dragon and Angel of Death weren't sure whose idea it had originally been for the game guild to pick that game to cosplay, but the "former special forces soldier" had certainly leaped at the opportunity to make the most of it with the target of his inter-incarnation fixation. And both members of the Underworld faction well understood the silent message being sent by his choice in outfit for tonight. As far as the wolf was concerned, the place he was coming here to secure was the one he felt he continued to deserve- that of being the privately sworn "knight" and lover to the heroine who, for all her well-meaning spunk, was not cut out for leading rebel forces against the overwhelming might of her father's military and needed someone like the stoic commander by her side.

The King of Death was not impressed by the unspoken but open defiance the supposed War-Prince brandished right off the start when coming into this parlay. And while the group had refrained from bringing any weapons with them to this meeting, Vlad easily noted that the staff the wolf was carrying was identical to the one his wife had made when she had first needed aid to summon up her hell hounds. The hell hounds that Cerberus claimed to be the creator of. Given the lack of weapons otherwise and the wolf's physical inability to speak, The Dragon was inclined to guess it was going to be requested that a hound be summoned and used for the wolf to communicate by one fashion or other during this parlay, not that it was intended to pull up last ditch reinforcements for an attack if politer diplomacy methods failed. The latter could be a secondary intent, however, as the hounds had been willing to be more aggressive towards the Vampire King since events went into motion in Philadelphia and just might attack if Cerberus was in fact their creator and ordered it. It would be a passing defense, but the delays caused could potentially allow the wolf to retreat from a fight if he felt it was too tilted against his favor now that the King of Death's powers weren't bound by Hellsing's magic. While they hadn't expected the staff, the Underworld duo had considered that possibility and already had a few tactics agreed on to deal with it if it became necessity.

As they waited for the trio of "allies" to reach them, Walter straightened his stance, but continued smoking his cigar and kept a more casual stance affected.

The trio made it into range of normal sight with twenty-four seconds left and, at a gesture from the wolf with his free hand, slowed their pace to a standard marching pace. Despite their previous behavior, the Valentine brothers kept their gazes straight forward and expressions almost as stoic as their defacto leader's.

When they were thirty paces away, Cerberus slipped a piece of notebook paper from his back pocket, unfolded it as he continued walking, and held the thick marker drawn scrawl up to be read by the opposing party. "If we're going to do this right, I need to summon a hound to speak for me. I don't want him ending up dead for acting as my own brand of disability support."

Alucard gave a fraction of a nod and said with his usual modern accent, "That's a fair accommodation to request. Go ahead."

The trio stopped with Cerberus ten paces directly across from the Vampire King and the Valentines five paces behind him and a step to either side. A single tap of the butt of the staff on the ground and a flash of carmine lights rippling down the runestave, and the massive hell hound the Underworld Queen had made the wolf's namesake formed at his side.

Hound-Cerberus gave a fanged grin and tail wag in greeting to the Vampire King. His creator placed a hand on his head and the hound immediately went still. There was a flare of violet light between the wolf's hand and the hound, and the hound's five golden fire eyes closed as pulses of magic continued for several seconds. When the enchantment was done being cast, Cerberus gave the hound a pat on the head and then let his hand drop to his side.

Hound-Cerberus's eyes opened, and the golden fire they had been since his mistress's blood magic had been cast was now shifted to a golden-red with the wolf demon's influence added. The hound's mouth moved, issuing out an ethereally echoing, deep multi-tonal voice that was almost rhapsodic in the inhuman sounds forming English words. "Thanks for that allowance, Schwarze Sonne. Also, before things get started in an official way, we need to thank you properly for summoning Hound-Cerberus up to kill the Phoenix. She-Wolf ordered him to be chased off with necessary force, but clearly stated he was not to be killed because of potential complications if he completely disappeared and she was suspected in it. We've spent six years wanting to finish off the fire birdy and appreciated the muzzle finally being taken off."

Alucard gave another passing nod. "You're welcome. You three cut things much closer than expected to get here. Were there problems reaching this location?"

Cerberus gave a dismissive shake of his head. "Not in any concerning way. There was an accident that happened a couple minutes before we reached that section of the A-2 and there wasn't a turn off between us and it to avoid the traffic backing up. Once we got past the traffic, I took an alternate back route I knew of to make up most of the time lost." A hint of a smirk appeared as the wolf added through the hound, "It just so happens that I'm familiar with this parc and specific location, so I knew exactly where to go when you said Hospital de Sang... With your choice of phrasing for the locale, I did get your intended message loud and clear; as well as one I don't think you meant to be sending. And I have to say, Schwarze Sonne, that I found it immensely entertaining that you picked this place, out of all the many you could have chosen, for this parlay."

The Dragon kept his expression and tone neutral as he asked, "And why would that be?"

Cerberus's smirk increased another tiny fraction and his head gave a casual nod to one side. "I know the 'Vampire King' has his attachments to the earth, and so it's natural you'd hone in on the cave and it's curiously morbid name that's relatively modern. I'm the Second Prince born of the King of Creation, Dragon of Water and Magic, however, and that comes with its own innate pulls. You wouldn't happen to know the name of the spring right there, would you?"

"Font del Russinyol," Vlad replied immediately, still having no idea where the wolf might be going with this unexpected history lesson to lead their parlay off on. "The Fountain of the Nightingale."

"Don't suppose, Schwarze Sonne, that you happen to know why it's called that, do you?"

"Can't say that I know the answer for a fact," the King of Death conceded without rancor. "I would hazard a guess that the Carlists' called it that because this was supposed to be a safe haven, yet death was a reality for some of their soldiers. The bubbling spring allowed them to provide small comforts of keeping at bay thirst and cleaning wounds, so they chose a poetic name for it because a nightingale represents a comforting but mournful dirge for the dying."

Cerberus gave a bob of his head and passing expression to imply he was impressed with the guess, but his small smirk remained. "That's a solid guess and is, in fact, the superficial answer the Carlists were told. You see, I decided to allow myself a much needed but brief reprieve from the Eurasian roaming I had been undertaking to restore my powers, making attempts to discover where Apollo had flown off to after he left Ireland because I felt certain he must have returned to this continent and it hadn't crossed my mind that he might have flitted across an entire damn ocean to a place he had absolutely no previous knowledge of or helpful connections to, and keeping a nose out for our Queen's scent for when next she reincarnated. To that end of having a reprieve, I had myself a relaxing nature walk through these ancient mountains and woods. Eventually, I laid down for a rest in that exact cave right next to our old friend, Hermes. And as I was dozing, I heard the Carlists off in the distance. I can't say that I was a fan of their cause and ideals. However, as I'm certain you well know, even if you have frequently enough chosen not to follow it over the last six centuries, there's a strict honor code that is supposed to exist among soldiers that stretches back a great many millennia. One that demands that one does not attack medics and the wounded they're tending. There's also an obligation to aid medics in setting up a triage camp; whether the group being tended is on your side, the opposing side, or you're a neutral party. I remain to this day, as I have been since my father created me for the purpose of supporting his Heir should he die and his Kingdom need adequate replacements, a dutiful soldier and battle commander almost without peer. So I roused myself from my rest, transformed back to humanoid form, grabbed a long enough branch with the twigs snapped off to act as a walking staff, and made my way to them.

"Those particular Carlists, for all their faction's faults, were courteous enough soldiers to not shoot me on sight when they saw I wasn't dressed in a uniform of their enemies, limping, weaponless, and clearly an "outsider" of an albino hermit who was roaming the woods and trying to keep to himself. I indicated I was mute and used the stick to scratch out a message in the dirt that I had someplace nearby that I called home, and would be willing to share it with those who were in obvious need of similar safe haven. They were all too relieved for the aid and promised to do their best to not damage what menial place I had to call home with the extra activity. Once their wounded were settled inside the cave, the commander of the medic squad started asking me some questions about the available resources of the area, and I gave him more short answers scratched into the dirt. He sent a few men off to gather things the woods could provide. Later that evening, as a forest stew was getting cooked up, the commander mused out loud that he wondered if this place had ever had a name, or if perhaps I had given it one since my stay here. I told him that the cave was unnamed, but the spring wasn't. He asked me what I called the spring. I told him its rightful name. He assumed, from my brief explanation that it was tied to the nature of the birds, much as you did."

The Dragon was turning over the anecdote as it was given. When the wolf finished speaking through the hell hound, he said, "This location has a much older significance to you; as well as the spring bearing that name from such a time, but you were not the one to name it."

Cerberus gave a single nod, smirk still lingering. "Would you like to know the real history behind the spring's name?"

Alucard resisted the urge to affect a sigh and said stoically to bring this parlay into a more productive direction, "I'm sure that it is interesting, but ancient history lessons are not why we're here this evening."

"See, Schwarze Sonne, that's where you're wrong," Cerberus rebutted with smirk disappearing and expression becoming stonily serious. "It might be conceding more time than you care to things you might deem too insignificant to matter, but your instincts were all too on point for suggesting this place as the location for our parlay that I'd be able to find, yet it's apparent you have no conscious understanding of why that might have been. I don't know just how much you and Hermes have managed to reason out, but it's clearly not enough. If we're to come to a sustainable truce between ourselves for the sake of our Queen and everyone's shared survival, you understanding enough of the past is very important and you'd be wise to accept some history lessons from me, however tiring and pointless you may currently find them."

The Angel of Death gave his King a very succinct telepathic reminder as he felt said King's temper start to spike and a wishful image of impaling the wolf with a nearby fallen, but otherwise very sturdy, oak branch flashed through his thoughts.

The Dragon did allow a small sigh then. His mind braced for whatever grating information was almost inevitably about to be pressed onto him, and he said wryly, "You may look nothing like him, but you certainly share your father's distinctive knack for insisting on giving lessons and stories deemed important for me to be aware of."

Cerberus's smirk was renewed and wider than before, and he gave a curious raise of an eyebrow. "Are you making that observation from some memory that's returned, or did you two cross paths before his most recent death and for some reason he decided not to tell me?"

"Poseidon seems to have a habit of keeping many things to himself if he doesn't feel the other party needs to know it," The King of Death answered with a neutral tone. "In this case, however, it was that my wife occasionally summons his soul back from the void for advice. The last time she did, he requested I intercept his soul so we could have some long chats." The wolf's crimson gaze glowed a fraction brighter and glanced him over as his expression became perfectly stoic, and The King of Death could sense a whisper of foreign energy tickling at him in search. He informed the wolf in a tone a shade off from dismissive, "I don't have his soul still trapped in here. Once we were done speaking, I released him back where he belongs in the afterlife."

The energy immediately retreated and Cerberus's eyes returned to their usual duller glow. "I'm sure you understand I had a son's obligation to check."

"Indeed." Alucard spoke with a hint of warning in his voice. "Be that as it may, I would like to get on with things. I realize, however, that if you're anything like your father, it would mean a lengthy argument to get you to relent on sharing pieces of information you feel are important to a situation. So finish relating this singular anecdote as you like, then we are moving on to the matters truly at hand, without further sidetracking being conceded to."

"Our definitions of 'sidetracking' greatly differ at the moment, Schwarze Sonne," Cerberus said with a continuing stoic expression. "However, as you're only allowing the singular 'sidetrack', this is now going to be less an anecdote and in truth an actual history lesson that's as brief as I can relate all the necessary information in. Once I'm done, I'll concede back to you the lead on this parlay."

The Dragon gave a single nod in agreement, but said nothing so as not to drag this out even further with tit-for-tat attempts at dominating the conversation. Unlike how he had handled the parlay with The Hawk, he was all too aware he needed to play this meeting in different ways if he was to achieve both his short and long term goals. Vlad was giving it his best damned effort to keep his resolve of not potentially shooting himself in the foot out of spite for the interloping wolf; but the mutt was already pressing his patience, and it was taking repeating Walter's reminder to himself that this was for his family's sake to keep his temper from slipping into a potential miniature rampage.

The War-Prince kept his expression neutral and related the history lesson through his namesake. "Your guesses were correct in regards to this spring, its name, and that this location has a much older personal significance to me that led to me wishing to make use of it as a refuge. Many millennia ago, back when there were still three Daimon Kingdoms, I grew up in my father's Ocean Kingdom to the far east. For the first few millennia of my existence, I was a default resident of his Kingdom. King Zeus's Olympus was not on Mount Olympus as humans relate, that was in truth a border city built for defensive purposes. The real Olympus was located not terribly far from where his precious Vatican currently resides in Italy. Your Kingdom was situated between the two; with the Capitol city of your Underground Kingdom on the western side and nestled within certain mountains you were born into in this life, so that you could keep an especially watchful eye on your more aggressive brother's activities. While my father is meant to be the balance keeper, it's no dishonor to him to state you're much better suited for head to head combat with the Dragon of Fire and Air. As you and the Dragon of Water and Magic rarely quarreled, you didn't have to often worry about him making an attack from the rear, and such an attack was never unprovoked. You being in the geographical middle, while a disadvantage if both brothers for some reason wished to gang up on you, allowed you to actively do what you did better with King Zeus when it was needed, and gave my father a safely supported area to cross through when he needed to reinforce efforts to keep the Dragon of Fire and Air in check.

"It was during one of those joint conflicts against King Zeus, after a battle in which I had led a group down the sea and around the ocean coast and came in with rear attacks, that I first happened upon this location. Those handful of injured among those I was commanding were able to find a similar refuge here, despite us being deep in the middle of decidedly enemy territory, thanks to a few of our healers who had the capability to cast warding magic to keep the wounded from being spotted with supernaturally enhanced senses as well as natural. I don't have memories of how that particular conflict started, or ended, and it frankly doesn't matter to this line of story. As usual, I did my job to my father's kingdom, and I did it with far better tactics and considerations than most could manage, keeping our casualties to the absolute minimum. At some point later, though I don't have enough memories to pinpoint the exact passage of time, a new sort of upset happened within the Kingdom of Olympus. Something I'd assume you've a basic awareness of from what humans passed down of the incident through myths. It was a series of internal conflicts when King Zeus tried to corral one of his middle daughters, Princess Aphrodite, into marrying as he wanted; in part as an attempt to, as they'd put it these days, 'make an honest woman out of her'."

When the wolf paused for the clear reason for confirmation that he at least had that assumed knowledge, The Dragon gave a nod and said, "I don't have memories of that incident, nor did it come up in recent conversations with your father. I am aware, however, of the commonly related myth that Aphrodite enjoyed many partners' beds, and Zeus is said to have arranged a marriage between her and an entity referred to as Hephaestus that had been smitten with her. That did not go over well with Aphrodite, causing much conflict because she refused to stay faithful to her husband. Her primary lover was the entity known as Ares; who I'm aware she had been currently married to before his most recent reincarnation was killed via treachery in Philadelphia. Supposedly, she was also frequently enough lovers with Hermes and a few other demons."

Jan couldn't hold back his snort of laughter. His hellfire gaze went to Walter as he said with a knowing grin spreading, "Oh, it ain't 'supposedly' with her and Hermes. Those two were most definitely frequent fuck buddies back in the day."

Walter was a few drags into his third cigar at this point. That cigar stopped midway to his lips, then his gaze darted back and forth between the two "Valentine" brothers as a dawning realization of their identities snapped into place. His eyes widened in shock and his monocle went tumbling down to the ground, its fall unimpeded because the Angel of Death was frozen in horrified disbelief.

Jan's gaze followed the monocle's descent as he gave another, longer and louder, laugh. As Luke struggled to restrain his own smirk, and blatantly ignoring the annoyed glance Cerberus had thrown over his shoulder for the interruption, the darker son popped his tongue against his teeth and said with unrestrained sardonicism, "That's right, Pops! Long time, no see; but I'm glad to see you're that fucking quick to figure it out. Don't worry; we ain't here to collect the back child support, and there's no hard feelings over you and Mommy Dearest getting into an old fashioned domestic violence situation last month. In fact, after that bitch insisted we get exiled to the roasted wasteland of redneck hell, I'm really hoping you got in some solid fucking hits before she went crying back to Uncle Apollo."

Luke gave Jan an unmistakably disapproving look for that last statement. To which Jan gave an unapologetic glance back with grin widening to make the point he didn't have any regrets in saying it.

The King of Death, being connected to his enforcer's mind, had caught the names thought, and ordered Walter to pull himself together while "Jan" was talking. In response to those mocking words aimed at his still mentally recovering confidant, The Dragon adopted an edge of dangerous amusement to his voice, and his dagger-like canines were on display. "Now this is why parlays should go in a certain fashion; primarily that introductions of all parties should be made at the beginning." The darker Valentine's expression went from his own amusement to trying to restrain his cringe as he noticed he was now under a certain near penetrating stare and took note of the tone and expression. "It's known to all parties who myself, Hermes, and Cerberus are, so which of you two would like to be the first to introduce yourselves and give the reasons for you being present to this parlay?"

Jan gave a nervous laugh and everyone noticed his glance to his big brother in silent request for help.

Luke gave an irritated shake of his head and sigh, then said in reproof, "I warned you to keep your mouth shut."

"Heh, heh... Mea culpa?" Jan said with continuing nervous glances between the Void Dragon and his brother, and taking note that Cerberus didn't look the least inclined to helping bail him out of this particular shit he stepped in

Luke gave another sigh and then said with aggrieved tone lingering, gaze going to the King, "My sincerest apologies, Your Majesty, for my supremely impulsive brother's interruption and uncouth framing of certain sentiments. While it doesn't entirely excuse his behavior, unfortunately, thanks to how we were created, manners and certain types of socially related common sense that would aid in his self-preservation have never been among his skills. I ask you to grant him some leniency for certain behavior quirks he can't help. With your leave, I will spare everyone from having to listen to him stick his foot any further down his throat and make the appropriate introductions."

Alucard gave a noncommittal gesture for the fairer Valentine to continue.

Luke didn't cringe under the stare, and his tone became more neutral as he said, "My twin and I both have two names we were commonly known as during the first era of our kind. The first of mine, Your Majesty, as given by our parents, and the one I greatly prefer, is Eros. The daimon known for being an agent of love that brings even the most unlikely together and encouraging the more romantic expressions of sexual desire. While the gift has hardly surfaced in this life, I used to have an acute innate talent for sensing out the compositions of other daimons and being able to tell which would be compatible for making offspring. A talent that was frequently put to use in all Kingdoms to help narrow down prospective candidates for marriages being made for more political purposes. I also used it for less weighty but similar purposes to matchmake lesser daimons who were looking for long term mates with an intention of creating and raising offspring together, and wanted to cut down on some of the trial and error of that tedious search.

"While I may be struggling to get more than the occasional fuzzy sense of such energies at this time, Adonis Cerberus still had faith in my less supernatural talents involved with such a profession and called upon me to revive my career. And I would like to say to the Dragon of Void and Earth, with no guile in the sentiment, that it has been the highest honor of my career to date to be included in the covert efforts to combat the slanderous propaganda and zealous influences Her Majesty, the Underworld Queen, had been raised with in this incarnation, so that she would be in a healthier state of mind and more balanced perspective for you to again court her when brought back together..."

The trio of allies across from the Underworld King all noticed his eyes narrow slightly as he glanced between Cerberus and Eros in response to the latter making that assertion in regards their ongoing collective intents. Luke diplomatically ignored the clear doubt to his words and continued speaking.

"...From some of what Valarie, formerly known as Eris, let slip on the guild chat, I understand there's been some unfortunate snags along the way in your reunion. While I'm certain a King with your supreme diplomacy skills, and most heartfelt love for his Queen, has been working through those rougher patches in this delicate situation, I would still like to humbly extend the continuation of my services should you feel at any point they may be of use, particularly as I do have a rapport established with Her Majesty.

"Even if you don't have need of those particular skills, I would also like to offer my martial ones. While the name has come to mean something quite different over the millennia, and that linguistic mutation is why I dislike it being used, my second name was more of a nickname that became frequently in use after I came of age, in recognition to the fact I inherited certain unmistakable traits from both my parents. That name was Hermaphroditus; given because I inherited my dark father's superior speed and reasoning skills, and more than just a little of my Olympian mother's infamous beauty and lesser acknowledged talent with a bow." Jan was having trouble suppressing his juvenile snickers over the secondary name his brother was known by, which Luke pointedly ignored as he concluded his own introduction. "The talent for ranged combat has been updated in these modern times to being an exceedingly skilled marksman with just about any firearm you can think to put in my hands, and I have thankfully had far more success in restoring my speed nearly back to its old level."

The Underworld King asked with stoic tone and expression, "I see. While your brother has been more open in expressing his views on certain Olympian family members, which would indicate some part of why he's willing to offer his yet to be detailed services to the King his father owes allegiance to, I do wonder at your motivations for offering the more martial of your skills."

Luke gave a small nod in acknowledgement. "A perfectly understandable and prudent thing for the King of Death to be questioning. I will be honest, Your Majesty, that up until this incarnation, my allegiance has been loyally to Olympus, and it remains there, but not in the way you may think. It was first to the whole of the Kingdom; but then there was a civil war sparked by King Zeus and Queen Hera becoming divorced in all but official ceremony. I took the side of my Exalted Grandmother and was given an honored place in her Court for my services during that war. Queen Hera had several exceedingly valid causes for separating herself and her loyal subjects from King Zeus, but the greatest grievances she harbored were in regards to the many injustices he inflicted on their daughters, including my mother, and most especially to Queen Persephone.

"It is because of my Exalted Grandmother's alliance to the Underworld Kingdom, and my own opinions on the matter, that I feel no qualms in extending my services as I am towards aiding the protection of my aunt, Queen Persephone. I have been taking orders thus far from her Consort, Adonis Cerberus, that have been towards those ends; and will now gladly accept primary orders from her husband, the Dragon of Void and Earth, and King of the Underworld Kingdom. If that pits me against members of Olympus loyal to Apollon or King Zeus, I will engage in that battle to the best of my capabilities and not lose a wink of sleep over killing them because family ties have regularly meant so little to them when they prove inconvenient.

"However, my brother may have no compunctions about seeing our mother dead, but I do honor that Aphrodite is our mother, and have sense enough to know she saved us from being executed by Apollon by suggesting we be exiled. Our aunt, Artemis, was another vocal supporter for exile over death. Our step-father, Ares, had been the third; but as he is now dead again, that doesn't factor into this conflict. I will aid efforts to capture Aphrodite and Artemis, and to hold them imprisoned, for their current support of Apollon; and if that requires less than lethal harm in the process, so be it. But the both of them were members of Queen Hera's Court after the war, my Exalted Grandmother is the only monarch who has the right to issue orders for me to kill other members of her Court, and I know they do not now, nor ever have, hold any ill will towards Queen Persephone. Their current perceptions of matters have been twisted up by Apollon, just as my brother's and mine were when we were first found and brought into Apollon's modern Court, but I have enough faith in their sororal instincts to believe that they could be reasoned with over time.

"If His Majesty, the Underworld King, wishes those particular individuals dead- you, someone you rightfully command, or my more willing twin will need do the job. I can give you my word that I won't interfere because I've aligned myself to your side of this conflict; but I will also give His Majesty well meant warning that you and/or whoever the potential executioner may be will be the ones needing to eventually answer to Queen Hera in the likely event she takes issue with those executions taking place, if attempts to reverse such brainwashing as was done to her beloved daughters aren't made first."

"Thank you for your candor," Alucard said, allowing a hint of his approval to enter his voice. "I can appreciate your position for what it is, and respect that caveat to your services if they're accepted."

Luke gave a brief bow of his head and said, "And I am grateful to see firsthand in this life that the King of Death remains as just in judgment as he once was."

The Dragon's gaze went to the darker twin, who gave a nervous chuckle to the attention, and said, "I think your brother has done enough talking for the moment, and you've had time to better consider your behavior for this parlay. I want to hear what you have to say for yourself."

Jan gave another anxious laugh and scratched the back of his head a moment. "Um... Before I make the attempt, Big King D, I gotta ask 'cause my memories of the old days are few and far between and I don't have any of you right now. Am I in danger of you ripping my head off if I don't word things as kissass as Luke does?"

Alucard smirked at that question and said with mordant amusement freely apparent, "If your services are accepted, there will be some conditions to it, but you'll find out quickly enough that I will always prefer honesty, even if it's not neatly packaged in diplomatic words..."

Jan gave a sigh of relief to that assurance.

"...But I can't promise that you might not still get your head torn off, depending on some answers to questions I do have for you. So you're going to want to make your best case for yourself."

Jan gulped as he heard a dangerous edge to the Dragon King's voice and saw similar reflected in his brightly flickering eyes. "R-right. Gotcha. Honesty, but make it good." His brain scrabbled for where to start. "Ah shit... This would be so much easier if I didn't feel like a fucking cockroach about to get stomped under your boots. And I thought I could give some scary looks."

Luke suggested with quiet sarcasm, "Your name is generally a good place to start for an introduction, idiot."

That exasperated comment caused a simultaneous snort of laughter from The Dragon, and a wheezy huff of amusement from Cerberus. The former's amusement evaporated as the latter's grew, both secondary reactions caused by the realization of the timing of their initial reactions.

"Yeah, right," Jan said with a nod that was more to himself as he rallied back up his nerves. "So, yeah. Um, my first name from the folks is Anteros, which indicates I'm the twin and opposite of Eros over there." He gave a passing gesture to his brother, then glanced over to Walter as he added pointedly, "And one of things I do clearly remember is I abso-fucking-lutely hated that name as much then as I do now because it's not showing some sort of balance made; it's defining me off him and just about everyone took it then like we still get treated now. Like he's the perfect one and I'm the fucking dregs expelled so you and the old lady could keep your own balances. I know I've said it in the ancient demon way, Pops, but I'm gonna repeat it in plain English in case you don't remember yet- Fuck you and Mommy Dearest oh so very much for the uncreative name you slapped on me and all its implications, you titanic gaping assholes."

Walter (who had long since retrieved his monocle, cleaned it off, and replaced it) considered that little outburst. After a few seconds, he conceded with a hint of amusement, "I have no memories of that life at this time, but I can fully agree with the cause of that complaint. My past self was indeed an asshole for naming twins in such a way and then apparently refusing to consider things from your point of view."

Jan's eyes blinked quickly in surprise and his temper deflated a bit. "Well, shit... That wasn't the prick attitude you had in my memory, so... Thanks, I guess."

Walter gave a nod and said with smirk forming, "I think it's safe to state we've all changed to some degree since those days and it's best to let our current selves decide just how we deal with one another."

Cerberus gave Hermes a challenging raised eyebrow to that suggestion also being subtly aimed his way. The Angel of Death's smirk sharpened a fraction with challenge gladly accepted if the wolf dared make the first move.

Jan was talking again, however. "Yeah, maybe, Pops. Anyway... I should probably finish answering Big King D, shouldn't I? So, yeah, if we're going by old names, I'm cool with the other I picked up later- Pan. Means "all", and it's because I will fuck or kill any and all comers, will dance my ass off to any music with a decent beat, and I've played and kicked ass in just about every game that's ever been made. If it gets my rocks off, I'm there for all of it because I'm a demon who likes all the less bougie and fun shit in life; and I get just as hard fucking up anyone who screws with my ability to do so, or fucks with anyone I actually give a fuck about protecting. I'm not as fast as Luke, he's the glass canon; but I'm almost as hard to injure as the Wolfman is when he's solid so I make a really fucking good tank. I shoot near as good as Luke, I'm way better with the big toys than he is, and I've got a much stronger stomach for messy work. And when I was a top enforcer for the Elders, I proved how good I was at keeping other brawlers in line and following my orders.

"As for past and present loyalties and all that shit... From what Cerb explained to help fill in some blanks, demons like big bro and me who had the demon version of dual citizenship were considered citizens of both Kingdoms until we got to be all grown up, then we had to pick a Kingdom to call home. Memory might still be swiss cheese right now, but I've at least gotten back enough to know I picked Team Underworld and why. I may not have any direct memories of you coming back yet, Big King D, but one of Mercy-cakes did surface like a year after we started gaming together, not long before the big shit went down with her mom and she finally got away from that overrated incubator. I could get the gist of what the fuck was going on because of how it was playing out, the looks on her face and way we were speaking, and she was radiating out some feels, but I had to get Wolfman to help with the translation 'cause it all sounded like growling rumble shit to me. I'm only just starting to get the basics down, that's honestly been more Luke's thing 'cause he's got way more patience than me for new languages and shit. He's also had more memories popping up to help fill in blanks and get decent at demon speak.

"But yeah, back to what I was saying... I had a dream-memory thing that got sparked by some stuff the Queen Bitch said after a rough raid one night. I got into a major fight with a couple of the old members and nearly rage quit, but she was actually on my side for that one and talked me into not leaving over Discord. She was apparently tapping into the seer powers without realizing it and echoed some of the verbal kick in the ass that I gave her back in the day.

"In the dream, I was in some ye olde hospital type place and all fucked up from a fight I got into. Mercy-cakes was in the room, sitting next to the fur and sheet sleeping bag type thing that I was on. And she was maaassively preggers with the little dude's old self. Looked like she'd be popping any day. She wanted to know why I got myself into the fight. Apparently some douchebag with a group from Team Olympus was away from his main crew, couldn't hold his booze, and forgot to keep up his nicey face. Fucker said some bullshit about how the Underworld was a place for brutes and our King was the worst of them 'cause not only did he steal someone's wife and kid, but then he got the guy's own brother to kill him so he could keep them. I can remember being fucking pissed about it as I was telling Mercy-cakes my side of things.

"Bitch Queen got all sad faced and basically said that people say stupid shit, I should've ignored it. I told her that that ain't how things work in the Underworld. Somebody fucks with one of us, they're fucking with all of us, and we don't let people fuck around. No one's going to talk shit, especially not about our King or Queen. Not unless they want their heads ripped off, like that guy found out. I guess this was before you two actually got married 'cause she said she wasn't our Queen, so I didn't owe her anything in that way. I pointed to the pregger belly and said she's carrying the King's kid and been doing all sorts of shit around the city to help out, so she's splitting fucking hairs at that point. She's queen and she damn well knew it. And even if she wasn't the queen, she's still family, and no one fucks with my family except me. Mercy-cakes got all silent at that, not looking at me any more. I was fucking wiped and closed my eyes for a minute, then cracked 'em open and asked her why the fuck she was having such trouble making up her mind.

"Took her a while to answer, but she eventually said being a queen hadn't ever felt like something that was her place to fill, she didn't think she was cut out for all the pressure that'd come with it. She couldn't make heads or tails of you yet, Big King D, and she was still trying to figure out just how things worked in our Kingdom. I told Mercy-cakes she was overthinking most of it way too much. I already told her how things work- you fuck with one of us, you fuck with all of us. Most of us were brawlers of some kind, so yeah, smaller fights break out and hospital trips ensue, but that's just sorting out differences and then we move the fuck on. Unlike over on Team Olympus, where there's a bunch of bougie behavior and backbiting and scheming, and nobody actually handles their shit until it explodes and makes a big fucking mess. If Zeus hadn't babied Apollo so much and the little fuck had been put in his place a long time earlier, shit wouldn't have gone down like it did.

"Mercy-cakes got all teary eyed at me being so fucking blunt about things. I told her that shit like that doesn't happen in the Underworld 'cause we make sure as fuck it doesn't. We are all willing to throw fists when someone's getting the wrong sorts of attitude and we beat it out of them, or their ass is ending up in the ground before they cross certain lines. And on the rare times someone manages to cross a line before getting put in the ground, the Big King D makes a big fucking example out of them so people know to watch their fucking steps. If she stuck around with us, she'd learn how to show her fangs and put an enemy in the ground if needed, but I wasn't the only one thinking it was nice to have the lighter touch around either. I thought she'd make a helluva Underworld Queen if she gave it a chance; and she still had some family on this side of the line, Cerberus, and the King to watch her back and carry the weight until she got the hang of things, so it's not like she's getting tossed to the lions. She went quiet, but the upset vibes radiating off her eventually went away. She said she'd think about what I said, told me to get some rest, then gave me a hug and kissed my forehead. Dream faded off with me feeling some warm tingling magic the Queen Bitch cast to make me sleep off the worst of things.

"So you want to know where my loyalties are these days? It's with Team Underworld, where it looks like it actually fucking belongs and might actually be fucking appreciated if you can learn to deal with me as I am. Yeah, we worked for Apollo, but he's still as much of a thin-skinned, bougie prick as he apparently was back in the old days. And while I don't know any details of what happened between him and Mercy-cakes 'cause they were keeping shit under lock and key, I'm willing to bet my right nut that he started creeping up on his old behavior and she was trying to get the fuck out because she realized on some level shit was about to get really fucked again. And I really want to be on the crew that puts his punk ass in its place, even if I'm not good enough to be the one to put him down for good and have to settle for the front row seat to watch.

"Ares was the only one I respected out of Team Olympus that's currently back together, and it fucking sucks that he's dead because if he eventually snapped out of it and saw Apollo for the douchebag he is, I know he would have gladly switched teams and helped us lay the smackdown on him. Artemis is okay, I guess, when you live up to her stiff upper lip standards, but she was always looking down that pointed nose at me, her blind spot for Apollo is miles wider than Ares' was, and I will gladly show her what's what if you give the order. And the rest of them can go fuck themselves alongside Apollo 'cause they're all a bunch of pretentious, hypocritical fucks eating his ass and saying the shit is chocolate ice-cream.

"Just don't ask me to kill Artemis's adopted kid. I can be the biggest sadistic motherfucker you need, and I will put all the handy-dandy training they gave me towards torturing and slaughtering every single one of the Camarilla bitches in their shiny little towers, and I will laugh my ass off the entire time I'm doing it. I know you hand waved some kids dying in the crossfire in your Voivode days, but that's a hard no for me. Once they hit teens, if they want to step up like big boys and girls, I got no problem making a straight kill, and depending on the situation and how much the teen deserves it I might even rip a few limbs off just before they die. But you try to order me to kill a kid, I'm going to try putting your ass in the ground instead, even if it gets me perma-dead. I see somebody on this side go after Artemis's kid or try to send an explosive into an area we know she's in, I'm gonna blow their fucking head off, ditch all you motherfuckers to take the kid out for burgers and milkshakes with not so fucking exiled anymore Uncle Jan, and when the fight's done you all can make your mea culpas to us for things getting too bloodlusty.

"As for Grandpa Bayonets and his crew? Fuck every single one of them, every day of the week, and three times on his holy Sunday, up the ass with a rusty razor blade covered dildo that has ghost pepper sauce for lube. I ain't never had any allegiance to the Big Sky Daddy in any life; and in this life he's already not just gone after Mercy-cakes and the little dude, and Felicia could've been killed if the 'copters had hit Apollo's place, but he thought he'd be able to send a team to kill me and Luke 'cause he missed us in his last crusade. Cerberus seems to think you might be opting for a less dead option with Zeus 'cause of some agreement among Kings to keep some sort of balances and, even if you're not remembering it, it's likely to be a deep King instinct or some shit; but if you say fuck whatever balances and Grandpa Bayonets has gotta die again, I will throw you the biggest fucking party of the century.

"And if Bastion shows up to a fight, I've got dibs on dealing with him. Fucking turncoat was one of my spawn once upon a time, went by the name of Zephyr or some shit back then and was married to Rip's old self. While Wolfman was helping get us out of redneck hell and trying to keep tabs on everything in Philly, those two newbs were supposed to be keeping their asses parked where they wouldn't get themselves killed and waiting for us to get to that safehouse. But they saw the news reports of how sideways shit went in Philly, saw the Elder bitches and Knights put that joint bounty out on Mercy-cakes and little dude, and decided that our side might not be the safest to be on. So their little punk asses went running out to look for Grandpa Bayonets to protect them from the Camarilla, and I'm sure they've spilled to him on what we've been up to under his nose. So when Bastion shows his face, he's my fucking responsibility to deal with. I'm already planning on blowing his hands off and strapping his skinny ass down so he can't pull his fucking tricks. And when the rest of the fight is done, I'm gonna be making it real fucking clear to Junior that Daddy Pan brought him into this motherfucking world and I will gladly take him out of it for trying to fuck over the whole family that badly; and that he better pray to whatever impotent fucking gods might actually be out there that his soul remembers the lesson and does better next go around, or I'm handing that incarnation over to the Big King D and he ain't fucking coming back from that."

When Jan was finally done speaking, Vlad replied stoically, "Well then. I can also appreciate your candor and positions coming into a potential alliance. However, while you may have some scruples about certain lines not to be crossed, the night you spoke to my wife after your game was canceled, I heard you making a specific brand of threat to her..."

Jan's darker skin tone lost a few shades with that incident being brought up to answer for. Luke gave his brother a fleeting warning glance, then his expression hardened over to try keeping his opinions from being easily read. The wolf's expression had morphed into a perfect show of stoicism around when Jan had given his old name of "Pan", and the expression hadn't flinched once as he waited to see how this would end up playing out.

"...Combined with other things I've observed tonight, as well as some of what's been said of 'Pan', I am having serious doubts that my wife's view that you're more bark than bite is an accurate interpretation of what she's witnessed of your character. And I question if your services, no matter how enthusiastically given, won't be coming with certain types of risks that I refuse to compromise on not exposing my family to."

"Fuck. Yup, no avoiding the boot after all." Jan heaved a sigh, popped his tongue off his teeth out of anxiety this time, then said with dread remaining in his voice because he couldn't quite squash it all down, "Alright, Big King D. Cerb and Luke said I'd have to nut up and admit a couple things voluntarily before you do the mindrape telepathy to make sure we ain't fucking around as double agents, but I'd appreciate it if you let me at least get it all out there before you lay down the judgment to tear my head off and swallow my soul 'cause Mercy-cakes ain't wrong that she's not ever been in any dangers like that with me."

"You're only getting one chance to confess anything of those natures and explain yourself," the King of Death warned, "so it would be best for yourself to follow the advice your brother and the wolf gave."

Jan gave a wary look between the two elder demons of the Underworld that he knew could, and very well might, smite his ass. The looks in their narrowed and fiery eyes, even if their expressions were otherwise stoic, made it clear they definitely had the right idea on some level of what was coming. Now that he had even partially confirmed it, the only thing likely up for debate was how he died and just how dead he was. Nutting up and just getting this over with was definitely the only option that stood any chance of him making it through the night in somewhat one piece, even if that was only true for just his soul.

"Alright, it's time to face the music, so here goes nothing. Mercedes ain't wrong that I'm all bark with her. She's family from back in the old days, she's the reincarnating and reigning Queen Bitch, and I seriously respect the shit out of her. I can't deny I've jerked off to some fun mental images of her, she's fucking hot, especially when she gets all Damme, and a dude's got urges. But that's all that is. I know she's way out of my league and ain't into me, and there's a few people who would rip my head off if I made a real attempt at a pass just for kicks to see her reaction. And Mercy-cakes knows all that. If her senses said otherwise on any front, she sure as fuck wouldn't be still talking to me after all these years. And yeah, I talk shit to her, and sometimes it's just me pissed about something and making that clear. But if you heard that shit talking, you know she showed her fangs and put me in my place because I took it a bit too far that night, and I backed down real quick 'cause she was right and I knew it.

"Mercy-cakes wasn't always embracing her inner Bitch Queen like you've seen. When we first met her, unless she got backed into a life or death corner somehow and felt like she had no choice but to step up to get out of it or to protect someone else about to die, she was a complete fucking pushover because of how the humans she was raised with treated her. Especially with her seer powers making her all tongue tied when frustrated and she couldn't figure out how to verbally set boundaries while still trying to be all polite and shit. Most times I've pushed at her in some way, it's been on purpose to help break her out of the submissive fucking behavior so she'd stop being so strictly on last resort defenses to protect herself. And given everything that's happened in just the last eight years, and that she's steadily gotten more aggressive in letting her inner Damme out, and she's still walking and talking despite everything, I'd say I played my part pretty fucking good. She can still get all teary eyed afterwards because she feels bad about casualties when protecting herself, but she fucking does it when it's needed and ultimately knows it was needed."

Jan popped his tongue again with another sigh, then entered his guilty plea for judgment in as level a voice as he could manage while under the hellfire scrutiny of the Underworld King and his infamously brutal old man. "But yeah, I have to admit, it's not been all bark on other fronts. When fucking is up to me, even if I'm a kinky as fuck sadist, everything is kosher for consent. And Luke can tell you that the BDSM backrooms we ran at the club had a hard rule on consent, we made everyone sign waivers on that, and I'm the first to fuck up anyone who steps a toe over that line. I can't defend old Pan me for sure because my memories are few and far between, but the few fun ones I've got for the past are the same deal...

"When I was working for the Elders, though, I did some shit on orders. I know just following orders didn't fly at The Hague and it's probably not gonna fly with you two, but that's the truth. Team Olympus and the other Elders run things like old school gangsters. You protect family interests at all costs and you do what the top dogs tell you to do. You step out of line, you're a dead man. And that's in the perma-dead sense with Apollo leading things because he can rip some lesser souls way the fuck up, even if he can't store them like Cerberus said you can actually do. So yeah, I was all in at the time for keeping my position as an enforcer and not having my soul torn out. We sometimes brought enemies in for interrogation, and Geneva Convention sure as shit wasn't being followed in the dungeons. If standard methods didn't work and I pegged someone as being likely to break if they or someone they were running with got a bit of raping done to them, I was under orders to do me some raping, and I didn't have trouble getting hard when it was to break some punk threatening family interests.

"From what I hear, and what I now remember, I know you run shit differently than Apollo does. So unless you're ordering me to rape to break someone, and I'd really prefer you fucking don't 'cause it's a different level of fucked up for even me, I can promise there ain't gonna be no raping and I'll gleefully hop to the front of the torture line for a turn at anyone who does try that shit. I know that's not gonna completely make up for the shit I did while working for Team Olympus, but I've been fucking trying since I got out to run prevention by setting up safe places for people to get their kink on and handling those who show up for the wrong reasons 'cause I've got the regrets creeping in on that front and I don't need that mental shit pile stinking up even more if I can help it. And I know I got no right to ask the favor, Big King D, but if by some miracle you decide not to swallow my soul or send me immediately back to the afterlife for what I did, I'd really fucking appreciate it if you don't tell Mercy-cakes that particular detail of what I used to do. Even if it would help with her realizing Team Olympus ain't what it's cracked up to be, there's still personal responsibility and all that shit, and I really don't want the Queen Bitch to have her hounds rip me apart or never speak to me again."

The King of Death refrained from immediately responding to that explanation, instead turning his gaze to the fairer brother. Luke met the gaze straight on, again without flinching. "Your brother has given his explanations, but you were referenced as a witness of character. And even if your advice to him before was as he says, I couldn't help but notice how you've been reacting to him potentially being under scrutiny. Would you care to explain your motivations, Eros?"

Luke debated how to frame his answer for several seconds, and his voice was neutral when he finally responded. "My brother is telling the truth about his behavior on all accounts, except for one distortion of the timeline of events. That omission is undoubtedly with the thought to protect me, though I told him he didn't need to because I can answer for my own actions in a specific instance when it was time for me to do so."

Jan heaved a sigh but said nothing to that.

The icy edge to The Dragon's voice was unmistakable as he asked, "And what do you need answer for?"

Luke admitted without hesitation, "Failing to recognize as quickly as he did that, as he put it, the Elders weren't all they were cracked up to be. In doing so, I failed him as the elder brother. Because of how our skills are, I was given a far more comfortable position that I was even more desiring to retain for my own self-preservation. His regrets and questioning of things started before our exile, but he was too afraid of voicing to me just what he was being ordered to do and risk his commitment being questioned if someone overheard the discussion. I gave him the regrettable advice to shut up, do his job, and not rock the boat because we'd work our way further up the hierarchy and things would get easier for him. It didn't, and it took me too long to realize just how things were being run to keep up the power structure I was benefiting from. When I realized my mistake, I tried my best to rectify it by digging into just what else was being hidden, copied files from Project Olympus and set up a timer for their release, and tried to blackmail Apollon into releasing us from serving 'the family'.

"Unfortunately, Asklepius is a better hacker than I am and neutralized that particular threat, and it took our mother's, step-father's, and aunt's intervention to escape Apollon's wrathful intents to make an example of us by 'releasing us from the family' in the permanant sense. Fortunately for us, I also had that information backed up somewhere the family didn't know about. Information that, once we were exiled and had at least accomplished getting out of the family business, I had been unsure of how to make best use of with our limited resources, until Adonis Cerberus tracked us down. Information that is being freely offered now for the other reasons I have said I'm choosing this side of the conflict, but also to hopefully pay my debt to my brother by getting vengeance for what Apollon and his corrupt Court put him through and I mistakenly turned a blind eye to for a time."

Again, the King of Death didn't immediately address a response as he continued assessing the characters of just who he was dealing with. His gaze went to the leader of the trio and his voice remained icy as he asked, "And what does 'Adonis Cerberus' have to say, if anything, in the defense of one of the brothers you've brought before me tonight, well knowing I have every right to extend the worst of punishments for his acts to make sure he doesn't revert back to them now that such a line has already been crossed so far?"

The War-Prince's expression remained unflinching as his voice issued from the hound next to him. "There's not a single man in this parlay, Schwarze Sonne, who has the right to claim they have never done something they don't deeply regret. Some may have committed more significant errors than others, but there are no entirely innocent parties present tonight. I have enough memories of Pan to know he was a most worthy member of the Underworld Kingdom, even if he was more unruly than some. I witnessed him dying not once, but twice, in service to the Underworld during our conflicts against King Zeus and Apollo. I know Pan would rather hide behind a certain level of bravado because he does believe in owning his mistakes and doesn't want to think of the ways he was violated, but as far as I'm concerned, the people he 'interrogated' aren't the only ones who were raped in those dungeons..."

That statement made Jan cringe and look to one side, arms stiffly crossing in front of his chest.

"He did make a choice to do as ordered, but Apollo and his minions found the brothers when Eros was barely a teen and Pan had only just turned eleven. They were groomed to fall in line and do the jobs assigned, and if they did they'd be rewarded with vampirism to keep them from aging and the protection offered by being valued members of Apollo's inner Court. I am my father's son in many respects, including that I believe in forgiving those who sincerely wish to redeem themselves and offering them the second chance to do so. Especially for our kind and with how relatively few true daimons there are. With how long our existences are and the exponential opportunities to make a serious mistake that results, if we destroyed every daimon for their first offense, you'd be the last King standing and then have the obligation to turn inward and destroy yourself. And that willingness to forgive the first mistake made is a trait I know you share, even to this day, given the pasts of some in your currently acknowledged family and entourage that I know you're aware of because it's not ancient history obscured by death, and yet they are still walking this earth and under your protection.

"And despite Pan's fears, I know that if our Queen was aware of the whole story, she'd have some relatively temporary discomfort in his presence, but she would forgive him and the overwhelming majority of her righteous wrath would be directed at those responsible for leading him so far astray in this life. I don't think it would be wise to make her aware of it at this point in time because she's undoubtedly still in some phase of a precarious mental state while trying to reconcile her own personal truths, and her attentions should be towards restoring her balances and not wrestling with new upsets to them, but I have zero doubts in voicing what her judgment would be if she knew Pan's situation."

"And you feel you have that authority to voice her judgments so assuredly in her stead?" The Dragon asked with icy voice growing significantly sharper.

To that question, Cerberus's stoicism purposefully broke to flash the King of Death a decidedly amused and wolfish smirk. "I haven't always had that authority, Schwarze Sonne, no. But as I said when starting my own more necessarily complicated introduction, and as my interrupted history lesson would have illustrated, there's much you're not remembering. You've entered this parlay in nearly as compromised a state as our She-Wolf is currently in, but I came here with the intent to make sure events are set in motion that allow the balances to be fully restored so that we all might survive our real enemies. Whether or not your Kingly pride likes or accepts that truth right now, it won't change the fact that this parlay will ultimately end with me achieving my intended goal and returning with you tonight to personally check on how our wife has been faring through everything that's happened over the last month."

That confidant declaration and smug expression from the interloping wolf finally caused Vlad's temper to snap. In the blink of an eye, he had turned to shadows, crossed the short distance between them, and a gauntleted hand was wrapping around the wolf's throat. As he just as swiftly reformed into his oldest remembered state, void-shadows started wrapping around the wolf's form.

Cerberus's smirk never waivered, and his voice came from the hound next to them. "You only have a 50/50 chance at killing my physical form as our powers currently stand, Schwarze Sonne, and about a twenty percent chance of stealing my soul to keep me from reincarnating; but no matter how that fight ends, it's a hundred percent certain you will be pulling the trigger on your marriage to our wife."

Walter's gaze was darting over the other four in the parlay to rapidly assess what actions might be needed on his part; but neither brother looked particularly concerned for their defacto leader's safety, nor were they making any sort of moves in preparation to engage in a fight.

The Dragon's gauntleted hand tightened further, though the wolf's particular physical composition wasn't giving way yet, and void shadows snaked further around his smirking opponent and started thickening to an enveloping layer. Vlad's malicious grin was much wider than that wolf's as he asked, "Is that what you think? Because I think that you've ended up with an inflated sense of confidence because the last time we met my powers were bound by Van Helsings, you have your two compatriots fooled into thinking you had some authority to be wielding commands, and it's long overdue for me to teach you a few lessons about where your place really is and set an example for them about what happens when such places are forgotten. And while my wife will be upset when she first hears the news, I know she'll forgive me when I inform her of exactly what sort of manipulative, sabotaging, self-serving mutt you are and always have been."

"Your ego might believe that in this moment, Schwarze Sonne, but I can promise you that by the time you get to our She-Wolf, she'll already know my side of what's happened. Queen Persephone will be unleashing a righteous wrath on you the moment you come within range, and there will be no placating her fury with some quick talk."

The Dragon's eyes narrowed further, but his temper was cooling with his rational side kicking in just enough to start actively calculating the wolf's behavior. The mutt wasn't evincing a single sign of his declaration being an outright bluff, nor was there the slightest whiff of fear or doubt to belie the offered calculation of his odds. And the less disciplined Valentines' outward reactions were seemingly verifying that. Not willing to allow another enemy to pull another fast one on him because of a rigid adherence to the spirit of a parlay, Vlad's awareness went out to read what the two vampires might know of the situation... And that's when he discovered their minds were under some sort of ward he hadn't passively sensed the presence of. A ward that was clearly more advanced than Apollo's had been because this ward actually managed to keep him from using his bloodline to his advantage as a backdoor to breaking through such magics.

The War-Prince's smirk grew to a grin that matched the width of the one frozen on the King of Death's face, sensing both the failed attempt to breach the twins' minds and the Vampire King's confusion forming inside his fury. "That isn't the only magic that's been right under your nose, Schwarze Sonne. I will say it for the third, and last, time- there's much you're not remembering, especially about me. As you didn't have the patience for the nice version, here's the quick and dirty reminder- I am the Original Gangster Cerberus; The Dread Fenrir, Slayer of a Dragon King; Consort to the King and Queen of the Underworld and Sovereign-Commander of the Armies of the Underworld; and Second Fucking Prince born of both King Poseidon, the Dragon of Water and Magic, and Queen Amphitrite, Mystic of the Healing and Deathly Arts. I am in as whole of a state as could be managed and I am absolutely, one hundred percent, done softpawing around."

Cerberus's expression became deadly serious as his voice continued to come from his namesake hound. "You're getting one last warning, because you are my sworn King and husband, that if you make a further move to attempt to kill me, especially for so petty a reason as that massive engrained Alpha-ego of yours getting a scratch or two, I am activating the magical dead man's switch I have in place and then making my best damn effort to add a second King to the list of exalted primordial sons of bitches that I've reminded of their mortality. It's going to be a long battle, no matter how it goes. And in that time She-Wolf is going to be made aware of everything that took place tonight, everything I haven't been able to tell her in this life, and why I was keeping those secrets from her. She is going to know just how much I have sacrificed for her sake over the last nine fucking millennia and that what we share started well before you entered the picture. I can swear to you from my far more complete understanding of things that while our wife will initially be extremely upset with the rapid fire revelations being sprung on her, it's going to allow everything that's been eluding her to fall into place in her mind and she's going to be grateful for the understanding it brings; and when it's confirmed that you either made the attempt on my life, or succeeded in taking it, you will have shown her just how limited your willingness to sacrifice for her is.

"If you've won the coin flip in a fight between us, she's admittedly highly likely to accept your continued protection against the much worse enemies out there, if for no other reason than for Eubuleus's survival; but make no mistake that it will be a strictly and irrevocably formal alliance against the common enemy and when she's not working towards surviving them, she will be working towards having freedom from you. I can further promise you that, as things currently stand, even with all the aid the twins can give you, you've got an even smaller chance of killing Zeus and Apollo and the combined forces of all their lesser allies than the chance you have of killing me because their projects have such a huge head start and you're not going to be able to find them until they're ready to come out of hiding because the Olympians managed a level up and have some plan of attack that's going to be extremely nasty to defend against. You need what I know to be passed on to Hermes and Persephone so they can stand a chance of using their skills to close that gap and hopefully work out enough ways to counter Team Olympus. I can promise you that with the sort of daimon I am, the twelve and a half millennia of training I have, and the magical safeguards that I've been building up to be the perfect guard hound our wife needs me to be, that even if you can manage to not just kill my body but also steal my soul, you have no chance of getting a single fucking piece of information from trying to break me or attempts to forcibly extract it from my blood or soul. And I can absolutely swear to you without a shadow of a doubt that if by some fortunate aid of luck you do manage to end the threat Zeus and Apollo pose without my aid, the night She-Wolf gets the news they're dead will be the last night you see her for the rest of existence."

Cerberus's glowing crimson gaze went pointedly to the gauntleted hand around his unaffected throat, then met the Dragon King's flaming gaze; sensing the dragon's desire to rampage was getting better under restraint, and once more the empath's wolfish smirk returned. "So, respectfully, Schwarze Sonne, if you're in the mood for things to get rough tonight, you're going to have to wait until after this parlay is done and I've had the chance to check on our wife, you're going to need to give me a very big dinner because I'm extremely hungry after spending the last two weeks on a bender of activity to get everything ready for this meeting and packing everything that might be useful for when it's done, and then after my stomach is full we can take things to the privacy of a bedroom and I'll be more than willing to indulge your domination instincts. Until then, Your Majesty, get your fucking hand off my throat, step the fuck back to ten paces apart, and let's set a good example for our subjects by sorting things out like civilized Underworld monarchs."