HAPPY HALLOWEEN! ✩°。⋆ [¬º-°]¬


With a snap of his wrist Leon uncurled his whip, sending it in a forward arc towards the vampire as he leapt in front of the hun- Trevor. Regardless of whether the man was a fraud or simply delusional, Leon was not about to let him get torn apart.

Despite being caught off guard, the vampire reacted as quickly as Leon expected, dodging just barely around the first strike and attempting to leap up to avoid any others. While the bookcases did limit possible moves for his whip, Leon was well aware the tight space restricted the vampire as well if he wished to keep attacking. Leon used the space to his advantage.

When the vampire went for the sword at his hip, Leon trapped his wrist with a complicated maneuver and yanked. He strained against the whip for only a moment before allowing himself to be pulled to the ground, landing in a crouch before hissing.

He did not burst into flame. What a powerful vampire. How did he breach the defenses?

"Go!" Leon shouted, glancing back only briefly at the still stunned man behind him. "I do not have time for frivolities right now!"

His yelling startled Trevor, but did not make him run. Instead, he reached out as though to place a hand on Leon's shoulder, stopping inches away. "Wait. Wait this is a mistake-"

"Belmont," the vampire growled, pulling against the whip. Leon immediately concentrated back on the main threat. "Who is-?"

"He's none of your concern," Leon hissed, then jerked at the whip as he pulled out his side sword.

The vampire stumbled only briefly, but long enough for Leon to close the distance. If the whip would not take care of him, Leon would have to stake the creature.

A sword blocked his own, drawn by the vampire just in time. The creature's stress was obvious when he yelled louder than necessary, "What did you do, Belmont?"

Though his question made little sense, Leon replied, "What I do is none of your business." Pulling back, he tried for several quick jabs, all of which were blocked and deflected. "And I don't know how you got down here, but I guarantee you won't be here long."

A quick jump back gave Leon more space, and with deft motions, he pulled out his only bottle of holy water and lobbed it at the vampire. As expected, unnatural reflexes allowed him to bring his sword up in time to meet the bottle; Unfortunately for the vampire, that was just what Leon planned for.

Golden eyes widened as the crack of glass followed with a spray of water, the holy liquid dampening his arms and parts of his face and chest. The vampire flinched back, face contorted with pain, and he hastily removed his gloves and coat, wiping futilely at his face. Still, he did not turn to ash.

The bottle was not as big as what Leon usually carried on hunt, but it should have done the job. Even clothes should not have affected the holy power of the water and whip, which left only one conclusion: the vampire was old and powerful, maybe like Joachim, or almost on par with Walter.

He confirmed his suspicion as the vampire's sword lifted into the air, hovering in a protective stance before its master.

Leon prepared to engage with his own sword when a quiet curse and apology behind him was immediately followed with a weight slamming into his back. While normally Leon would adjust his stance and retaliate, a foot sweep followed and he had to catch himself on the floor with his forearms. Trevor could actually fight; Leon felt he was more surprised than he should have been. Hands grabbing his reignited his fight. Off balance as he was, Leon still got in one solid hit to the man pinning him-his connecting elbow garnering a choked off sound of pain-but ultimately was stuck on the ground, strong arms held tight around his own.

He'd have yelled at Trevor had the vampire not stepped closer, sword still at the ready.

"What took so long, Belmont?" he asked, tone mocking. "Too busy admiring the trap you activated?"

Leon realized he spoke to Trevor when the hunter grunted and said, "Shut up, fangs."

"Were you hoping to pick up some of its tricks or merely enjoying my pain, as Belmonts seem wont to do?"

Leon kept still, narrowing his eyes. The vampire had seen and fought other Belmonts? It didn't seem possible, unless there were other imposters like the one pinning him down. How many other hunters were using his name? And why?

"I don't need magical bullshit to enjoy stupid looks." The tone of the false hunter's voice was... smug?

It couldn't be right, but at the same time it had to be, judging by the way the vampire wrinkled his nose and flicked strands of long golden hair over his shoulder.

"Of course not, considering you need only a mirror, but if you're done indulging yourself-" Trevor scoffed, and Leon noticed his grip waver, "-perhaps we might undo this... ancestral trap so that we can get back to more important things."

"Like stuffing your face into books, I get it. There's a problem though."

"Just the one?"

If the false hunter was enthralled-and Leon was getting compelling evidence he wasn't-it was the oddest form Leon had seen. Trevor and the vampire seemed... companionable? They sniped at each other but didn't seem to think it odd to work together. As if they did it regularly. No. Surely someone who even pretended to be a Belmont wouldn't work with a dark creature. What purpose would it serve? Why would anyone-?

A memory of Mathias-heartbroken and mad-floated into Leon's mind. Of course. It was perfectly possible for a human to fall into darkness. Leon couldn't let that happened to another, not so long as he was here to save them. Granted, so long as the vampire was around, it would be nigh impossible to talk sense into the hunter. Leon paid close attention to the two keeping him down.

Trevor had a decent grip on him, but Leon was certain he could break it if the man got distracted just one more time. Above Leon, the vampire eyed him curiously, sword lowering until he held it loosely in hand.

"What an odd bit of dark magic," he said, quieter than before. Then a corner of his mouth lifted. "Shame on you Belmont. That's a rather nasty bit of work you've triggered."

"I haven't-!" Trevor grumbled to himself, and Leon purposefully relaxed himself in his hold. "I'm trying to tell you, he's not part of a trap. I don't think."

"Then what is this Belmont? I felt the magic, and it was both powerful and out of control."

"Right, uh. That magic, I think it was actu-"

Leon didn't get to hear what Trevor thought, as he twisted his wrists out of Trevor's grip-not without pain-and smashed his elbow backwards. A pained yelp was followed by muffled cursing, "Fucking elbows," and another attempt to hold him, but Leon rolled away and jumped back to his feet.

Eyes widening, the vampire raised his sword in defense. Before he could move, either for attack or retreat, Leon leapt forward, grabbing a spare knife from his belt. Though the technique was not his preferred method, he was well aware of the necessity of close-combat for certain cases.

Time slowed down around Leon as he took in the monster before him. Just one moment longer, a little further... He angled his knife. The vampire was either foolish or overconfident, wearing no armor; Leon could see exactly where he needed to thrust to reach the heart.

The vampire's eyes were already wide from surprise, but Leon could tell the very moment he realized the advantage Leon had, how close he was inside the vampire's guard. Red built up in his gaze, no doubt prelude to a vampiric ability, but it would not be fast enough.

Leon's arm jerked to a stop, knife plunged into a solid mass.


... Sorry? Er uh, it's fine! I don't have any death warnings for a reason. I mean, Alucard's been stabbed before anyway. ^^; But yeah, cliffhanger. I don't suppose now is a good time to mention I'm doing NaNoWriMo in a few hours and probably won't update over November?
Ahaa...

Right, so before I run off to hand out candy and watch old black and white horror movies, let me just say that Leon is making this difficult for me. He wanna fite!(9 `^´ )9 So we probably won't get to reasonable talking right away.
But let me know what you think! I personally think misunderstandings can be tricky to write. Every character has their own understanding of things, and it's hard to portray them all well. So if you let me know your reactions, it's easier to know whether I've done that or not.

But I hope you all are having fun with this too! (Even with little cliffhangers, haha.) Everyone have fun tonight! And good luck to anyone else starting NaNo tomorrow! It's my own little birthday activity each year, hehe.