Trevor had just barely gotten to the body of Alucard when the soft sound of crunching leaves leaked into his ears. Blood rushed to his throbbing heart as his hand came to rest upon the pommel of his whip at his hip. There was always the chance that it could just be a small nocturnal creature instead of another deadly vampire or demon coming to kill them.

All hope and then some of it just being a rabbit went down the drain, as did all of the color in both Trevor and Sypha's faces as the one person they never wanted to see without Alucard appeared before them.

Trevor felt his chest constrict tightly, as if a poisonous snake had wrapped itself around his lungs.

Dracula...Dracula was right there, before them, emerging from the dark, shadow coated shrubbery. And yet, even through the immense terror that Trevor would not admit to feeling later on, the vampire hunter couldn't help but feel as though something was amiss with this new threat. Almost as if...he wasn't even a threat at all.

No. That's stupid. This is Dracula we're talking about here, Trevor. Of course he's a threat. An even worse thought invaded his brain immediately. Maybe he saw that Alucard was weakened and came to finish him off...

Trevor shook his head.

Shut up, brain. Stop being rational.

Sypha didn't seem to be fairing any better than him, as she trembled softly in her place by his side, which got worse the closer Dracula stepped towards them; towards Alucard.

Trevor let a wolfish growl out from his throat and past his lips, and to his surprise, the vampire king stopped in his tracks, his cape bunching up again in a small pile at his heels.

It was then, with most of the distance cleared away, that Trevor could place one of the details that was bothering him. Tiny red trails, similar in color to the marks staining Alucard's hair and shirt, tainting the crisp whiteness of the fancy cravat tied around Dracula's neck.

Blood...wait, don't vampires cry blood? And from what I remember, the color's always been a bit off. Not to mention his eyes are slightly bloodshot...He was crying.

If the situation had been any less urgent and stressful, Trevor was sure that he would be smirking.

Seems as though the mighty Prince of Darkness has a heart, after all.

Any and all amusement vanished without a trace when those lips parted to reveal words coated in a tone as sharp as the fangs glinting in the moonlight.

"Give me my son, you vagabonds."

A scowl made itself a home on the Belmont's face, but before he could give Dracula a piece of his mind, Sypha had beaten him to it.

"Shut up, Dracula! How're we supposed to know you won't just up and kill him once we hand him over?! Like hell we're giving him to you of all people!"

Trevor's scowl turned into a grin as he praised his comrade.

"Nice, Sypha! Give him what for!"

It was Dracula's turn to scowl as the Speaker placed her hands upon her hips and the vampire hunter snickered without concern of being heard.

"Why would I kill him? He is my son. Why would I deprive myself of my heir? That would be a stupid move on any rulers' part," the vampire king spoke through gritted teeth. "Most of all, a ruler such as I."

He was just starting to sound haughty now, to both Trevor and Sypha, and they could feel a bit of their fear start to ebb away.

Unfortunately for them, Dracula took another step forward, seemingly keen on getting his hands on the unconscious Alucard. And unfortunately for him, the friends of said unconscious dhampir were equally as keen on keeping those clawed hands away from him.

"Not," Trevor growled. "another step forward. Or I will stake your undead ass."

But yet again, unfortunately for them, Dracula seemed to have run out of patience for this unhappy banter going back and forth between them.

"Just give me my son...!"

Within the blink of an eye, Dracula was no longer in front of them, many paces away, but instead behind them, carrying an alarming sense of malice and hostility.

Trevor had gripped his whip and had begun to pull while Sypha raised her hands to cast, but they were both far too late and far too slow. For within a heartbeat, within the time long enough to allow just one flap of the butterfly's wings that was fluttering across the sky in front of the moon, both hunter and Speaker were on the ground, unconscious, unable to intervene with the supposed 'kidnapping' of their dear friend as Dracula vanished back to whence he came with the ruby stained Alucard in his arms.

Nothing would ever stand between him and his son.

Nothing...

Whoop~! Whoop~! Another chapter's up! For both Burden and Stairway...? Gasp! Such a rarity! Haha, but jokes aside, sorry for not updating, people who for some reason keep reading this even though my updates a disgustingly random at best. As I said in my Stairway author's note, I just got over a big case of writer's block, and haven't been writing for weeks. But now I am! And I can assure you, that the next chapter will come out pretty soon. It will not take a month. I repeat, it will not take a month. I'm already writing chapter seven, so...in around a week, maybe two, you should see a new chapter out for this. Hopefully followed by a Stairway chapter. But, anyway, hope you enjoyed, feel free to give critique and/or random thoughts in a review, or a PM, and I will see you all next time~!

Bye-bye~

Majesty