Chapter 1: Living Legends

Part 1

He never expected his father to try to kill him.

When Dracula flew at him in a rage, instinct had compelled Adrian to reach for his blade. Love for his father made him hesitate, and an instant was all it took for the ancient vampire to deal what his mortal half knew was a lethal wound. In the ruined house at Gresit, the scar itched and ached, and the moment his father's hand struck him down replayed over and over again as though only a moment has passed.

He had hoped, against all hope, that it had been only a nightmare.

That if he were to wake up, it would be in his own bed. If he focused long enough, he could see the plain, white walls of his little room in the Lupo house. The morning light would stream past the curtains and he would get up to find Mother downstairs in her workshop or out in the garden surrounded by the bee hives he had left to fetch for her last summer. Maybe Father would be traveling or maybe he would be home, sleeves rolled up to his elbows as he went about his own projects in the house, be it repairs or garden work or mundane tasks in the kitchen. Whenever Seras visited, she always found it a bizarre spectacle when she arrived to find her great and powerful master rolling out dough for a pie or hammering down shingles on the roof.

Adrian hoped.

But Alucard knew his fate was sealed when he awoke to find two grim strangers in his Gresit keep. One year, not a moment, since he'd been grievously wounded by his father. That meant Dracula's Horde would have been unleashed by now, and from the sound of it, many lives had already been lost.

There was no going back now.

The best he could do was hope his trust in Sypha and Belmont was not misplaced, and they could find the means to achieve their aim within the latter's family home.

"Eat shit and die."

"Yes, fuck you."

Alucard wondered if it was an ill omen to be this dubious at the beginning of a quest. The Speaker didn't really concern him. She seemed to be as honorable and earnest as her people were known to be, if one was sensible enough to disbelieve associated tales of witchcraft, heresy, and unbridled highway theft. In truth, it disheartened Alucard to have Sypha accompany them. She hid it well, but he had sensed her reluctance in parting with her caravan all the same and he doubted she had ever been separated from her family for any significant length of time. So he had sincerely meant what he said when he assured her she would one day see them again.

As for Belmont, well…just what sort of disreputable vagrant had he fallen in with? From what he remembered in childhood stories was the Belmonts were an ancient family of warrior hunters dedicated to the wholesale slaughter of the night's children. Men and women who had threaded their way in and out of vampire history for centuries, feared and hated by his father's people. He knew the names of the obliterated clans and castles by heart. He learned the names and properties of legendary weapons forged solely for their destruction. He'd heard all the stories, all told by his father, frightening him with cautionary tales and shadows of his long fingers against the dim walls of the Lupo house. When he was trembling in his mother's arms, Father would brush his cold hand against his cheek and murmur, "There now, wolfling. There are no Belmonts left to hunt us. No need to be frightened anymore."

Regarding the man across the room who reeked of musty alcohol, blood, and piss, Alucard couldn't imagine having ever been afraid of the Belmonts. What reason would he have to fear an arrogant, swaggering drunk scrounging around for beer in empty crates? He was no hunter. And yet he could not dismiss Sypha's account of the events that had only occurred hours before he'd been awakened. So perhaps he had some merit…but was he right to trust him? Alucard sighed. Seras would know. He wished she was here now, and not—

"I have a concern, dhampir," Belmont's voice pierced through his thoughts like a rusty needle.

"I'm sure you can survive a day or two without some form of grog."

"A concern about Dracula's Generals," the hunter pressed, his voice now holding a biting tone. "Zufall, Dragoslav, Sharma, Cho, all of them. Where do they stand in all this? They can't possibly sanction the total destruction of their only food source."

Alucard hesitated. Right, he'd forgotten about them. "I…suppose my father's intentions would bring them all together under the pretense of subduing and enslaving humanity. Livestock and such."

Belmont sighed as though he'd expected as much. "Then who is still loyal to Dracula?"

"The great Belmont doesn't know?" he said, curling his lip in a sneer.

The hunter glared at him. "No, I don't. My family never nailed down exactly how many Generals there were, nor did we ever figure out all their identities on account of constantly shifting loyalties in the vampire political atmosphere. So I ask again, dhampir, who is still loyal to Dracula."

Chastened, Alucard averted his eyes and looked toward the setting sun. He had him there. Father's army was as living a mechanism as the castle itself. "I'm not sure. It's possible some of my father's people have seen through his deception and are plotting against him as we speak, but I don't know."

"Then what of Draculina?" Belmont continued. "Where does the Red Death stand?"

Right now, that was what worried him the most. She had been their father's right hand for decades, the most beloved and trusted of all his Generals and his only surviving fledgling. Everything Seras was, everything she had, was owed to Dracula, and no doubt the Belmonts had always been aware of it. He hated to give the thought any credence, but Alucard knew he had to consider the very real possibility that he would be battling Seras as well.

But would she really side with her sire? As a whole, his sister had no love for the human race, although she did have a soft spot for innocents and limited her prey almost exclusively to the lowest of the low. Not to mention there were a select few mortals she'd come to care for in her lifetime. His mother had been her friend for many years, in spite of what he'd always been told was a tumultuous beginning. Seras also found Isaac's taciturn gravity endearing and she had, on more than one occasion, brought Hector a new 'pet' to reanimate. Surely she could not condone this slaughter…was it possible Seras had gone to some of Father's Generals and warned them of what their master was truly about? Could that be the case? Were he and his companions not alone in this?

Or was she still the loyal daughter to the last?

After all, he had not expected his own father to try and kill him.

"Well?" asked Belmont. At his silence, the hunter sighed again. "Shit."

"Are you afraid of Draculina, Belmont?"

"Any man, woman, or beast with any sense has a healthy fear of that demoness."

Just like that? No bravado or anything? "Do you think we can fight her? If she has indeed taken my father's side."

"Do you think we can?"

Alucard winced. In all the times he'd ever sparred with Seras, she'd only lost to him a handful of bouts, and even then, sparring was, in the strictest sense of the word, only play. In a true fight to the death, Seras had him severely outmatched. He was faster than her, true, but her wolf form dwarfed his at least thrice over. His swordsmanship was superior, but Seras' weapon of choice was firearms, steel, and black powder. And then there was her shadow to contend with and her uncanny ability to recover from any wound, no matter how grave, with impossible speed.

He wasn't entirely human, but Seras wasn't human at all.

If Belmont struck at her with his family's whip, Seras could and probably would just catch it. For certain, the consecrated leather would burn her hands, but if it meant gaining the upper hand and strangling her enemy, she would do it. She'd killed one of his ancestors in such a way before, had she not? If Belmont went after her with a sword, he could force her into a defensive stance, but without a strong enough shield or similar defense, her cursed shadow would impale the moment he got too close.

"Sypha then?" he suggested, hoping his unease was not evident in his voice. "If we can trap Draculina and keep her immobile, then perhaps Sypha's flames could bring her down." He wondered how hot a flame the Speaker woman could manage and how quickly she could raise it. If done fast enough, it could maybe cauterize Seras' regeneration and incinerate her to nothing. He shuddered at the thought.

"Perhaps." Belmont looked at him. "But what's your plan if the Red Death doesn't come alone? How do you intend to guard against Walter Dornez's razor wires that can cut anything? Or if any other of the vampires in her Poenari court show?"

Alucard fell silent again. The Valentine Brothers and Alhambre, the werewolf whose name had never been spoken aloud, the cryptic werecat Schrödinger, Rip van Winkle who was timid yet no less a threat, Zorin Blitz whose terrifying nightmares would reduce even the bravest of souls to a sobbing wreck screaming for their mother, and Walter, the very Nosferatu whose offenses had drawn Leon Belmont into Wallachia four centuries ago. Did any of them stand a chance against Seras' entire household at once?

"There's a reason the Red Death stands second only to Dracula, and she didn't need those freaks to gain her throne," Belmont threw the glass bottle he'd been holding across the room where it shattered against the wall. "I think if Seras Victoria fights for Dracula, then God help us."

He may not have wanted to believe that Seras, who had told him stories and played with him and cared for him as much as his mother had, had sided with Dracula in the extermination of the human race, but it had been one year since Father had sworn vengeance on mankind, and yet Seras had never come looking for him. In that, he guessed that her mustering Dracula's Generals against him was a foolish hope. And if she'd done nothing to stop this catastrophe, there were only two conclusions he could draw.

"In all likelihood, Belmont," Alucard said as he looked up to see Sypha returning with a pair of horses and a wagon. "Either my sister is part of Dracula's army…or she's dead."

-0-0-0-

Author's Notes: I like the idea that Alucard's animosity towards Trevor stems, at least in part, from disappointment. He probably heard the Belmont stories as a kid.

I own neither of these series.