Chapter 59: Reunited

Dracula's Castle

Eliza cussed as she slashed the heads off of a line of vampires. Law was in another part of the castle, and Reudi was in yet another. Alucard was down fighting in the entrance hall. Because Greta was completely human, Eliza had no clue where she was fighting. That left Eliza fighting alone, but she soon found herself with some unexpected help.

Yvette Belmont appeared out of nowhere and cut down some more vampires.

Eliza glanced up, as she dodged a claw slash. 'Is there a Transmission Mirror?'

'In Targoviste.' Yvette staked the nearest vampire and dodged the next one. 'City was being run by a madwoman. She was literally taking everything from the peasantry and insisting the king and queen would wake up.'

'And what state were they in?'

'Rotting corpses.' Yvette grabbed a vampire and used him as a shield against a fire-breathing Night Creature. 'Aside from the obvious, what's been happening on your end?' She charged the Night Creature.

Eliza tore through the guts of the vampire charging her. 'Carmilla was killed by Isaac, Isaac forgave Hector and then decided to stay in Styria to rule it by right of conquest. Lenore was captured by Isaac, and Striga and Morana decided to cut their losses and ride west.'

'Well, that takes care of the pen problem then.' Yvette directed the Night Creature's fall directly onto the vampires below, crushing them. 'What about the slave ring?'

'Hector cut off his finger.'

Yvette paused and then cut down a Night Creature that tried to attack her while her back was turned. 'You can do that?'

'The spell prevents you from directly betraying, or removing the ring,' Eliza said. 'It doesn't say anything about the victim deciding to remove the finger that the ring is on.'

Yvette chuckled. 'Loopholes – they'll get you every time.' She glanced over her shoulder. 'Hey, you remember Varney?'

'That stinky braggart vampire from London?' Eliza asked. 'Vaguely. Why?'

'Well, something's been going around wearing his face,' Yvette said. 'From the feel of things, it's up in Alucard's room right now.'

Eliza looked up. 'What the fuck is that thing?'

Alucard stabbed a Night Creature through the brain. He leapt back as the beast fell. He turned to face the mass of vampires and Night Creatures that were coming at him. Grinding his teeth, and steeling himself, Alucard knew he would have no help. Everyone else who could fight was doing so upstairs. The humans were being driven upstairs with Greta covering their backs.

And a lot of the humans were losing their nerve.

The vampires roared out battle cries and charged.

The humans still down here with him were being mowed over while he struggled to fight far too many. Normally, Alucard liked his human side. At the moment, though, it was really slowing him down. He was beginning to grow fatigued. And the bastard things just kept on coming. Alucard kept on fighting, slashing and stabbing at everything that came at him.

But there were too many of them. He felt himself knocked aside and then there was a sting in his cheek. Alucard cried out in pain and frustration as he stumbled and then he looked up. There were now at least ten of them jumping at him at once now. His eyes darted over them looking for a weak point. There didn't seem to be one.

But then…help came.

Help came in the form of the end of the Morning Star whip flying over his right shoulder, and a stream of fire flying over his left shoulder. Alucard's eyes widened. He didn't know how they'd gotten here, but he knew what that meant. As the Night Creatures were hit with the attacks, they came to stand on either side of him. The Morning Star was pulled back.

The Hunter gave a wry grin. 'Evening.'

Alucard was beyond relieved to see them, but he had rather missed the banter. He smirked. 'As if my day wasn't going badly enough…it's Trevor Belmont.'

'You don't seem to be doing very well,' Sypha observed. 'What are we looking at?'

'Vampires and Night Creatures trying to kill a castle full of human refugees.' Alucard wasn't at all surprised to see their expressions harden at that. 'And a madman upstairs.'

The three of them shifted, ready to fight back against the threat that would emerge after Sypha's flames cleared.

Trevor dropped his cloak and spun out what seemed to be a brand new four-pronged weapon. 'Shall we?'

The three of them leapt through the fading flames. It was, Alucard didn't mind admitting, entirely entertaining to watch the vampires freeze at seeing who'd come to his aid. Of course, most of them zeroed in on the Belmont crest on Trevor's tunic. Trevor snapped out the Morning Star to use as a make-shift swinging rope, and then let his new blade fly.

Alucard shot forward at vampiric speed. Even as he did so, he watched in admiration as it flew in a wide arc, beheading several vampires at once. Sypha let loose a ball of electricity out of her hands. It flew over the remaining vampires and electrocuted them to death. Well, the ones that Alucard didn't land in the middle of and kill by flinging his sword around.

Trevor caught his new blade and landed, pulling the Morning Star down to himself. Alucard and Sypha joined him in charging the remaining vampires. Those vampires stared in shock for a moment before giving out battle cries and charging. The three of them fell back into a circle and proceeded to cut them all down, one by one, with ease.

Trevor and Sypha struck the final blow against the vampires. Trevor sent his blade spinning through the air. It flew in a wide arc, cutting off the heads of all of the vampires around. Catching the blade, Trevor then spun around and snapped out the Morning Star. The end glowed brightly and blew up every vampires in the way. Sypha then turned the resulting fire into a whirl that swallowed the rest of the vampires in the entrance hall.

The first of the golems broke through the fire though and swung a fist at them, bringing it down. They all jumped out of the way. The second golem jumped over his back and went to come down on them. But Alucard charged, turning his cape into wings and flying directly at the golem in question. The beast fell back as Alucard collided with it. The other golem yanked his fist out of the ground.

Alucard landed.

Sypha lifted her arms and created a massive ice spear. The first golem swung his fist. Alucard blocked it with his shield. The force of the hit rattled his teeth. Trevor ran alongside and struck with the Morning Star. The impact caused a loud bang and blood spurted from the rock. The fist pushing against him weakened.

Alucard pushed against it. The golem's elbow cracked and it stumbled back into the other one. They were now in the perfect position for Sypha. With a grunt of exertion, she threw her ice spear. It flew through the air and pierced the chests of both golems. They both slumped over together.

But that left them with their final problem.

The two legged beast had apparently had the time for his belly to heal somewhat.

It opened its mouth in preparation for the attack. Without a word, all three of them ran to face it. The beast let go of its stream of fire. It flew right over their heads. They instinctively ducked but then kept on going. The Night Creature prepared to fire another blast. Trevor and Alucard stopped on either side of the beast. Sypha stood directly in front of it and prepared for the attack.

The second blast of fire was blocked by Sypha. As she dispersed the flames around her, Alucard charged. He transformed into the wolf and leapt up, climbing the walls to come over the beast's head. Transforming down, he body-slammed down, forcing the Creature's head down and stopping the stream of fire. Sypha redirected the fire until it petered out.

Trevor swung the Morning Star over his head, gathering more and more energy. Then, as the Night Creature raised its head to fire again, he struck. The Morning Stark whip went through so fast that even Alucard almost didn't see it. The top jaw dropped off. The Creature began the process of detonating. Alucard shot back.

He landed in front of Trevor and held his shield up as the hunter crouched down. Sypha landed behind them and gave them the extra defence of an ice-shield. The Night Creature exploded and, even with their barriers, they felt the heat and force of the explosion. Smoke and fire filled the hall.

Finally, though, it passed and Alucard lowered his shield.

Sypha's ice had been melted by the heat.

The three of them stood up and looked at each other.

Without a word, they all ran off in different directions.

There were humans to save.