Resident Evil: Demon Rising, part 3

Part three is divided into two solely for suspense. Note that the next part will be part 3C for reasons that you'll find out if I decide to follow through with the idea I got; there is, however, nothing being missed "in between."

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Resident Evil: Demon Rising, part 3a

Meditations on the Abyss

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"I swear Chris, if we survive all of this, I'm buying you a CD writer," Claire said to herself, putting the last fresh floppy disc into her brother's laptop to continue copying the CD.

"We'll get him back, Claire," Leon assured her. She responded by ejecting the last disc and banding them together with a rubber band. Leon, now that Claire had a backup copy just in case, took the CD and tucked it away into his coat.

The front door provided the next source of tension for everyone; someone was trying to get inside. It was probably Chris' friends, but taking no risks was something everyone had gotten used to.

Alucard formed into mist and floated into the living room, staying right behind the door. Claire opted to leave the light on and duck behind the counter, while Leon opened pantry door into the kitchen and hid behind it.

The front door swung open, swirling Alucard about in all directions, but he steadied himself after two people walked inside and closed the door behind them. They stepped cautiously through the darkness toward the light of the kitchen, and Alucard kept behind them, noticed only as an increase in humidity.

Leon pushed the door closed when he was sure they were in the kitchen. Claire jumped out at the same time, both pointing their weapons at the intruders.

And Claire then relaxed, seeing that the 'intruders' were indeed Chris' friends, Jill Valentine and Barry Burton. She'd even met Barry on occasion. Leon, seeing Claire's reaction, put his weapon down, and Jill and Barry did the same.

---

"Well, he sort of… got away… are you angry? You look angry…"

Count Dracula answered by turning around and letting loose one of the larger blasts of energy that anyone would ever see. Said energy hit Death squarely in the chest and continued to push him along, as if he was in the way, into the window. The window smashed immediately, and the energy blast curved and kept coming, pushing Death down the many stories between Dracula's office and the beach below the precipice that Castlevania sat on.

When all was said and done, the reaper was buried into the sand, one bony hand sticking up. "Yup. Definitely angry…"

"Did you bring one of them?"

"Yes," Wesker answered quickly, opting not to make any unnecessary sounds.

"How long will it take to synthesize the full dose?"

"A few hours. The process will become much faster once it's done once."

"Go."

Wesker left, leaving Dracula to his thoughts. The Count was displeased.

"Curse you Death… you never could hold that temper… I should have Wesker bring him back… ha! If someone told me centuries ago that a human would be more dependable… bah, what does it matter. Wesker can still do it."

Wesker himself was currently in the most enjoyable mood that was humanly, or inhumanly possible. His testing lab was relatively small, and was actually the room he'd rose from the grave in, thanks to Dr. Luccianna. He remembered that particular moment vividly; his body had been frozen so he wouldn't decay before she finished her research, and as a result he's woken up a partially thawed gutted dhampire. But that dhampirism had fixed him pretty fast. Death must've had a blast teleporting into the Tyrant room of Trevor's mansion to grab him just before the whole thing blew.

He plucked a syringe from the counter; already filled with the chemical he needed, and pulled the top off. The liquid inside was a translucent green, and it seemed to swirl around with a life of it's own.

The dhampire studied his guinea pig for a second. Chris was tied down like he had been when Luccianna had revived him; she had anticipated that it would be quite a shock. Chris wasn't going to be going anywhere, not if Wesker was right about what'd he'd done to him, but then, the original Tyrant wasn't supposed to turn on him either.

"Hope your sense of irony is intact Redfield, personally I don't know whether to laugh or cry at this," he mused, searching for the artery on Chris' neck and rubbing it with alcohol before he jabbed the needle in and injected the liquid.

No sooner had Wesker pulled out the syringe then Chris regained consciousness.

"Well, nice to see this works," Wesker commented aloud, tossing the used instrument into a trashcan.

"Go to hell," Chris gasped, unable to even breath without feeling his injuries ten-fold.

"It'll be awhile, Chris," Wesker answered. "You should thank me! Internal bleeding and punctured lungs tend to kill people. You'll be pleased to know that the stuff I just shot into your body is the first part of a serum that'll fix those little ailments. Pretty amusing, isn't it? You'd be six feet under if it wasn't for me…"

"I'd rather be dead," Chris breathed out. He could actually feel his breathing become more normal, but apparently his broken bones were remaining broken.

"Oh, I know you would, Chris," Wesker answered. "Frankly, I'd rather you were dead too. But alas, sacrifices must be made. Now then, I might as well see what exactly I broke while that starts working, if it does what it's supposed to do it should leave your breaks for something else to fix."

Chris felt a shock of pain in his chest; Wesker was feeling around to see what was broken and was making every effort to make it as painful as possible.

"Your sister would've been a lot more amusing during this. But alas, circumstances forced me to settle for your sorry ass."

"Wesker," Chris breathed out, "I swear, if I live long enough for my bones to knit, I'll kill with my bare hands…"

"You wish," Wesker shot back. Without another thought he brought his hand up and slammed his palm down on Chris, on a rib broken in two places.

Chris bit his tongue to keep from crying out, still refusing to give Wesker any satisfaction. He couldn't tell if the blood in his mouth was from Wesker's little torture or if he just bit down too hard.

"You know what, Redfield? When I'm done with you, you'll be more important then I could ever dream of being… stronger too, stronger then me, stronger then Luccianna's other play toy, certainly stronger then that fool Alucard, and I hate you even more for it. But be that as it may," Wesker paused, grabbing another syringe and injecting the second part of the regenerative compound into Chris, "it'll take a little while for this serum to finish working it's magic, literally. I should be quite ready to procede at that time. You know I originally studied biology to make the world a better place? I I'm actually going to do it for once."

"Bull… shit," Chris coughed. "Whatever you're doing… it's still wrong… and you know it!"

"Ah, the last, tortured cries of the damned."

Leaving Chris with those words, Wesker walked passed the Sword Lords he'd posted as guards… and almost walked into Count Dracula as he turned a corner in the corridor.

"Death has failed me, TWICE," the Count said, slowly walking toward Wesker, backing him into the wall. "I've made it ABUNDENTLY clear how important this is," he went on, staring down the shorter man. "Find my son, bring him here, right NOW!"

With that, he vanished. Wesker promptly left without another thought, heading for Castlevania's library.

---

"Wesker's still alive… can't believe it," Barry muttered, pacing around. "Backstabbing, greedy bastard…"

"I don't know what's weirder, the fact that he isn't working for Umbrella anymore or the fact that he's alive after having his stomach clawed out," Jill added. "All of this is turning from horror to a weird fiction novel."

"Yeah, Lovecraft, eat your heart out," Claire answered. "You know, Chris would've been dead in that lab if Wesker didn't need him for something. Or maybe Wesker just wants to make sure none of us gets on his back like we did to Umbrella."

"My father's motives may not be what I am accustomed to," added Alucard. "But I could not see him changing his actual methods. If that were his intention, he would be more direct and simply try to destroy us all. Your friend is required for his plans."

"Whatever," Leon interjected. "Look, Claire, you want your brother back? I might be able to help."

"How so?"

"Castlevania Pharmaceuticals was next in line after Umbrella to get some 'attention' from us. I think my superiors would be pleased if I had a willing team, ready and able, to go and deal some hurt. Your brother as motivation is of little significance in the big picture. We could actually leave right now, if we wanted, the transport I took here is nearby, complete with Doc Luccianna doubling as pilot."

"She sounds like more of a jack-of-all-trades then a bio-chemist," Barry mused.

"Oh, you haven't seen her testing R&D's new weapons. Anyway, trying to get Chris back is better then sitting around and waiting for them to come to us, which I don't think would be very pleasant."

"I would agree," Alucard added. "The sooner we do something, the better. And, this doctor… is she well versed on, how shall I put this, medical abnormalities?"

"I would think so, I doubt she'd be working with the same people I am if she didn't make the best in her field look like first graders. Why?"

"A… friend of mine needs help, that I can not provide. I'm hoping your doctor could."

---

Leon's 'transport' was within walking distance, but Alucard insisted that he had to make a detour to the mausoleum where he'd woken up. Jill and Claire went with him, more out of curiosity then anything else.

The old chamber remained as it had since Claire and Death recently tried to kill each other. The top of Alucard's coffin lay flat on the ground, discarded when the dhampire woke up. The second coffin, however, remained undisturbed.

"Huh, I'd forgotten about this in all the excitement," Claire joked. Alucard was leaning on the stone, brushing off some sand that had gathered on top. He was staring off again, thinking briefly of times long past. And then he gripped the cover and heaved the stone off and onto the floor.

Jill looked into the cold stone, and drew in a sharp breath at what she saw; a girl, younger then her, comprised the contents of the old stone. She was dressed in simple green clothes with the same Victorian look as Alucard's, although none of it had any sort of enchantment like the dhampire's cloak.

Alucard seemed visibly relieved at her condition, although it looked to Jill like her 'condition' was death. She instinctively put her fingers to the girl's neck, and she was even more surprised when she found a pulse.

"Who…"

"Her name is Maria," Alucard explained. "Maria Renard. She did not want me to sleep for centuries once more, but I would not allow her to persuade me otherwise, so she convinced me to put her to sleep beside me… I don't know why I agreed, but my spell is not designed for humans, and I can not wake her back up."

Claire tapped her on the shoulder from behind. Jill absently registered it and turned around, but she received a much ruder shock from the new sight.

Because Claire hadn't tapped her on the shoulder at all, Albert Wesker had. He was trying to restrain Claire, and although the Redfield was making him fight for every second of her silence, he was succeeding very well.

"Surprise," he shouted, almost joyfully. Without another word, he hurled Claire into Jill and sent them tumbling over the now-open coffin. Alucard snarled and dived at Wesker, not thinking to draw his sword. Wesker dashed to the side, prompting Alucard to give chase. The dhampire didn't notice the thin card in Wesker's hand.

Alucard punched Wesker across the face, sending him reeling, and grabbed him by his black vest to stand him straight up for another hit. In reality, he had just made Wesker's life a whole lot easier. The old STARS Captain thumbed the card in his hand, and Alucard finally saw it. But he was two late to prevent both of them from vanishing in a flash of light.

---

"What happened?"

"Wesker," Claire answered Leon, rubbing at her shoulder, which had crashed into stone in the mausoleum. "As if Chris wasn't enough, the weird guy's gone now, too."

They could see Leon's transport now, hidden in a think clearing. It was like the evolved offspring of small blimps. The aircraft was about 25 meters long, designed for speed and to hold a lot of people while at the same time having a lot of room to move around inside.

Jill had opted to carry the sleeping girl through the forest. She laid quietly in her arms, sort of weirding her out a little. It wasn't every day one carted a bona-fide sleeping beauty to a government-made UFO.

---

Alucard was not pleased when he materialized in front of the oak desk in front of the master librarian of Castlevania. He flung Wesker into a wall, but the manmade dhampire was only fazed a little and quickly stood.

"Oh, Master Alucard! What can I do for you?"

The old librarian was still himself, to the point where he had sold Wesker one of his magical Library cards. Alucard totally ignored the old man and instead drew his sword and turned to Wesker. The blond man was just smiling oddly.

But the reason for Wesker's glee suddenly presented itself. From behind, a hand brushed past Alucard's cloak and seemed to disappear. He felt Mourneblade being pulled out from his magical pocket, and his mind connected that fact with the one person he knew of who was strong enough to break into his magical seal and actually swipe something.

Alucard didn't think, he simply spun around and swung his sword with all the force he could muster. It might have succeeded if Count Dracula wasn't expecting him to do just that and had Mourneblade perfectly held to stop Alucard's sword.

"It's a good sword," Vlad mused, casually examining the Mourneblade.

"You shall find it not as good as Mother's," Alucard shot, pulling his blade back and attacking his father. But Dracula was every bit the swordsman as Alucard and easily kept up with his son, forcing him into a full-on duel and keeping it going across the library.

"Shall you never give up, Father?"

"No," Dracula mused, parrying several of Alucard's strikes. Some of the CP researchers looking for a few of the more wordy books had become interested in the little fight and an audience was forming at what they thought was a safe distance from the two.

"You shouldn't have brought me here Father," Alucard shouted, stepping back as Dracula swung, causing Mourneblade to slice a few books on a shelf in half. "It will now be your undoing!"

"Like I've never heard THAT before," Dracula quipped, pointing his arm out and knocking the dhampire back with a well-placed fireball. "I think it's amusing, my son, that you denounce me with such passion yet you take my name as your own. Is that not amusing, Alucard?"

"My use of your name signifies my very defiance of it," Alucard shot back, parrying several strikes from his father. "I believed even your narrow mind could grasp that."

"Oh it does, Adrian, it does. But it's still my name."

Alucard, for the first time, had no response. Dracula had talked him into a corner with that one. The why did Alucard feel like it was actually making him think…

"You may be conscious, Alucard," Dracula mused, taking a nick on his shoulder from his son's blade. "But you need a very LARGE wake up call. I have no intention of trying to go through the 20th century's defenders in an unholy war against humanity. The humans, they have a saying now, 'if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.' And I'm joining them. Granted, by performing acts that are largely illegal under their laws, but I'm joining the others who do so at least."

"I have seen what your 'competitors' do, Dracula. I have no interest in joining you in twisting nature."

"Let's just say we're as natural as they come nowadays."

The two drew their swords back and lunged, clashing blades in the middle and trying to overpower the other. Dracula was usually stronger, being a full vampire, but Alucard's determination to defeat his father kept the blades an equal distance between the two.

"Come now Adrian, would you at least LISTEN to what I have to say? I promise you, if you still refuse to stand at my side after knowing the whole story I will not object."

"You are one to make promises, Father," Alucard replied, but the spite was gone from his voice. The dhampire drew back quickly and sheathed his sword, telling himself that he was just doing this out of curiosity, that he would stab his father in the back the first chance he got. "Very well."

---

"And how are we feeling Chris," Wesker mocked as he stepped into his lab. As he expected, Chris was still tightly strapped to his operating table. His lung would be healed, but the ribs would still be broken. They wouldn't be for long, however.

Chris didn't respond, trying his damnedest to spite Wesker in any way he could.

"Still that bad, eh Redfield? Oh well, you're in perfect shape for what I have in store… it's taken me months to perfect this, you know," he spoke, pulling a syringe from his pocket. It was filled with yet another different colored liquid.

"But alas, with only some blood samples to work with, it was doomed to fail. Stealing the G-Virus from Umbrella helped, but Birkin's toy wasn't advanced enough to solve every single problem, so I had to follow your sister and chase after that bitch Alexia. Going through hell with that she-devil again almost wasn't worth it, but I needed the T-Veronica virus. And after all that trouble, you'd better believe I've made good use of it."

Chris' curiosity got the better of him as the unseen Wesker pulled the cap off of the needle.

"How…?"

"How did I get the T-Veronica virus? That was a blast in itself…"

---

"At last, I've found you Alexia!"

Wesker was ecstatic; he couldn't believe his luck, finding the girl here where there was nothing else to interfere with him. He could sense Chris hiding somewhere, but Redfield didn't dare do anything but watch.

"You're responsible for the T-Veronica virus, and now the only sample of it is in your body! I want it! NOW!"

"You want it," Alexia laughed, an evil, piercing laugh. "You are not WORTHY of it's power!"

Staring in awe, Wesker found he couldn't move as Alexia walked down the stairs and burst into flames; her transformation was almost hypnotic.

She was right in front of him before he knew it. And she casually batted at him with the back of her hand. He didn't expect to be hit with the force of an eighteen-wheeler going a hundred miles an hour.

Wesker careened off the stairs in a backward flipping motion, blood pouring from a broken lip, and landed face-first on the marble floor of the mansion-replica.

"Ahhhh… what power," he sputtered, forcing himself to stand. Alexia hopped off the stairs and landed in front of him. She slapped him again, this time sending him up and into the wall. Her hand had actually lacerated his cheek.

He looked up to see that Alexia had noticed Chris' hiding spot. So that's where he was, Wesker had guessed the upper floor when he felt his presence, no matter. Alexia was distracted and he took the opportunity to dash out the door and listen to the shots that Chris must have fired not long after.

Later, Wesker had made his exit in the submarine. It finally came to him why it was suggested that he get the sample exactly as he had, in a discreet fashion. Going toe-to-toe with Alexia would have been very bad.

He held a cloth to his face, soaking up the blood that leaked from his injury. More importantly, he was preserving the cells that had rubbed off of Alexia's hand and onto his skin via friction when she'd slapped him. Some simple duplication magic from Count Dracula, and the T-Veronica virus was his...

---

"And now that you've enjoyed story time, Chris," Wesker mused. "It's time for me to get to work."

Chris could feel Wesker rubbing something on the inside of his elbow. A second later he could smell the alcohol, and feel the needle going in. He half-expected to go through the experience that Leon had related, but surprisingly, it didn't hurt at all.

In fact, it almost felt soothing.

---

"Hmmm… and you just sort of… found her?"

"Yep."

Dr. Luccianna, having set the aircraft on autopilot, leaned over Maria's prone form to begin an examination. After the basics, shining a light in her eyes and the like, the doctor hooked an EKG on her and glimpsed at the heart rate.

"Dis is interesting," she commented, grabbing a bottle from inside a shelf and soaking one side of a cloth with it. "The utter simplicity of dis is almost scary."

She held the cloth over Maria's nose and mouth for a second, and quickly drew it away when the girl snapped awake and sat up.

"What? Hah… Alucard…?

She blinked rapidly and stood, hands outstretched a little, apparently she couldn't see right away.

"Easy now, calm down miss, you are vith friends," Luccianna tried to comfort her; taking a gentle hold of her arm so she wouldn't stumble.

"Who are you? Where is Alucard," she asked, almost frantically.

"He isn't here right now," Claire offered. "Count Dracula took him, we were hoping you could help us get him back."

Leon opened his mouth to say something, but Claire elbowed him in the stomach so he wouldn't throw her off. If Alucard's friend ended up telling the same story as he had, this might calm her down.

And it did.

"What is the year?"

"Here we go again," Leon commented as Claire told her.

---

Alucard had paced around outside of his father's office for a half hour, the time seeming like the obligatory eternity. His thoughts were a jumble; he wanted so very badly to trust is father…

That thought stopped when Dracula walked out and motioned for him to follow. The age-old vampire still held the Mourneblade in one hand and lead Alucard to an elevator and through a few hallways, ultimately stopping at door and motioning for his son to go in first.

Vlad Dracula smiled for the second time in recent days, like it was the start of a new trend. He tossed the Mourneblade over Alucard's head from behind. The dhampire's eyes grew wide with confusion when he saw who was in the room to catch the sword.

Wesker simply laughed, and Dracula sighed when his son turned back to him and glared with a look that said one word; explain.

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Next: Castle of the Damned