I admit it. I'm a terrible writer. Or at least too weak to control my main characters. Alucard wants to angst. I can't stop him. I'm so sorry!
I'm really sorry for the delay too. Unfortunately, it's a creative delay. I'm still not satisfied with this chapter. How in the world does a bat perch upside down on a cave ceiling?! I know they do it somehow. Do they just fly at something, grab it with their feet and flop over upside down? Or do they turn in the air? I promise I'll research it when I go to rewrite this monster story!
Chapter Eleven - Familiar Territory
"You know, it'd be so much easier if I had you around when Castlevania rises again!" Alucard noted as he and D broke the synergy between them. The stood back to back in a huge chamber full of dead monsters. Alucard had protected D's back from the wave of mutants and monsters desperately trying to save their vampire lord. Unhindered, D had destroyed that vampire lord himself..
"Mmm," D agreed.
Their trek through the vampire stronghold had strengthened their fighting bond to the point where they could invoke it at will. They had discovered that of the two of them, Alucard was the better choice for scouting, as he could assume the forms of bat, wolf and mist. He was thus enabled to go into otherwise inaccessible areas. D's greatest strengths were his brutal efficiency with his sword and his vast experience fighting vampires and their minions. The synergy they shared made it possible for Alucard to find the easiest ways through or around the death traps and mutant-infested rooms and convey the route to D without having to backtrack and guide him. Truly, it was the quickest D had ever conquered a powerful stronghold.
"With the vampire lord dead, we'd better get out of here, D!" Left Hand warned.
"True," D agreed.
The castle began to shudder, as the floor they were standing on developed a wave in it. Pieces of the ceiling rained down on them.
"It's falling apart faster than usual!" Left Hand noted.
"Castlevania does this too," Alucard said aloud. "Well, then, let me handle this!"
"There might be stragglers, and we haven't the time to kill them if they attack," Alucard mused as he summoned Sword. "Sword will cut a route through any monsters for us. Follow me, but not too close. The mist form I'm assuming is poisonous!" Alucard warned D. He transformed into a sickly yellowish mist. D could see how even the falling rocks dissolved when they touched that mist.
"Lead the way," D commanded. Sword took the point and Alucard carefully floated just above and slightly ahead to dissolve collapsing bits of ceiling before they hit D.
Threading labyrinthine castles was so second nature to both Alucard and D, Sword was so gleefully lethal to any creature unfortunate to stumble into his path and Alucard's corrosive, poisonous mist so effective, that it was the easiest time D had ever had escaping a collapsing castle also. He could get used to having this half-brother around!
Alucard resumed his dhampir form next to D on the hill overlooking the castle. They watched in quiet satisfaction as the earth reclaimed the vampire's stronghold.
"Right about now is when I'd be thinking of finding my crypt in the sanctuary and sleeping for a hundred or so years," Alucard ruefully admitted.
"Sounds boring," Left Hand offered.
"It is," Alucard agreed. "This is much more fun!"
D sighed, 'We need to discuss your definition of the word 'fun' sometime." D started down the hill.
Alucard grinned as he followed.
********
He liked D. He had much in common with him, aside from the father they shared. Their destinies aligned, much as their fighting skills did. They were destined to fight. D, in his world, fighting any and all vampires that would harm humans and Alucard in his, defeating his father century after century. D had Left Hand and Alucard had his familiars, but ultimately each one was a loner. The other half of each of their destinies was the internal struggle to deny the urges their vampire natures tempted them with. They'd never spoken of it. There was no need.
That was one of the things Alucard liked best about D. D was quiet. Alucard knew his brother had a sense of humor, but it was a quiet humor. D appreciated absurd things. Alucard knew that D thoroughly enjoyed Left Hand's panic at Ghost's attack. He reflected that he and D shared unspoken communication that went beyond the scope of their fighting synergy.
D's silence while they traveled allowed Alucard to ponder many things. Like how both he and D struggled with the same thing in their own natures. D accepted that struggle on a day-to-day basis, even so far as to live among humans, while he worked to protect them. The humans knew he was a vampire hunter. Most of them didn't realize that D was a half-vampire himself.
Alucard felt almost ashamed that he chose to sleep when he wasn't needed instead of subjecting himself to the temptations D struggled with every day.
Of course there were differences too. Alucard had to face his father at each of Castlevania's risings, and defeat him, to save the people he protected. Winning that battle against his father didn't carry the pure satisfaction defeating a vampire aristocrat brought. In that one way, D had the easier time of it. Alucard wished just once he could meet with his father and not have to battle against him.
For some reason he remembered Val's earnest green eyes looking up into his.
"There is a concern weighing your heart."
Alucard wanted to laugh. No kidding! Many concerns he admitted. Castlevania, Dracula, the people threatened by both, whoever or whatever that person was who woke him and somehow led him here, finding out he had a 'brother' in D, what he'd learned about himself and his familiars, the list could go on...
His familiars. They'd followed him somehow, bringing themselves and the items he'd left behind at the sanctuary to help him here. There was extraordinary loyalty in that. Each familiar, Fairy, Bat, Ghost, Demon and Sword was useful in his or her own way. Each one had his or her own personality. Each one was...dear, Alucard had to admit, in his or her own way as well.
Fairy...and Bat. What his familiars decided to do about Bat's problem still amazed him. Alucard had been stunned to learn that Bat was mortal. He'd never had reason to wonder about it. He was touched that Fairy was so tender-hearted that she became concerned enough to act as she did. Fairy would never complain, Alucard knew, but he had seen the sorrow in her eyes over losing her own wings to accept Bat's instead. And though it was amusing that Bat had been so anxious to fly close when he'd first taken his bat form here that they had collided, it was sad as well, that though she still lived, Bat was no longer herself. He wondered if perhaps he should have spoken with Val about it. She seemed knowledgeable in how magical items worked. Perhaps there was something that could be done.
What was the rest of Val's reading?
"If you remember who you are, you will find you have the way."
What could that mean?
********
"It was a curse," Demon said.
"A curse?"
"Yeah. I'm a demon. Curse magic is the only kind I can use."
"Fairy knew that? That it was a curse and irreversible that is?" Alucard asked.
"Of course," Demon shrugged. "Bat did too. I made sure they knew first. They are, we all are familiars for you. I'd never do anything to harm any of 'em!" Demon twisted his tail in his hands.
"I see. Completely irreversible?" Alucard asked.
"I can't reverse it," Demon told him. "Someone very powerful might be able to."
"You are concerned?" D asked after Alucard dismissed Demon.
"Concerned, yes," Alucard admitted. "Fairy's not happy and I suspect Bat isn't really happy either."
"And their happiness matters to you?"
"Well, yes," Alucard was startled at the question. "Isn't Left Hand's happiness important to you?"
"Not at all," D told him in a dry voice.
"Quite the opposite!" Left Hand declared. "D delights in torturing me!"
"Yeah, yeah. I bet you deserve it too!" Alucard told the parasite.
"That's beside the point!"
"What are you planning to do?" D asked muffling the rest of Left Hand's comments by closing his hand tightly.
"I don't know yet. I think I might be able to do something to help them be happy. If I just remember who I am," Alucard replied softly.
********
"If this works, can I ask you to watch Fairy for me?" Alucard asked.
"Of course," D replied.
"And...uh...keep her from interfering?"
D nodded.
"I hope this works!" Alucard muttered as he summoned Fairy/Bat.
"I"ll follow you anywhere!" Fairy declared as she appeared and floated down.
"Yes, I know. Right now, though, could you come here?" Alucard asked, holding out his hand.
Fairy floated into Alucard's hand with a puzzled look on her face.
"It is amazing what you've done to save Bat. I do appreciate it. But, Bat's welfare, and yours, are my responsibility, as your Master," Alucard told her. "It's time I took that responsibility back."
Alucard transformed into his bat form. Unsupported, Fairy fell. Her wings opened to catch her. She shuddered. As Alucard had hoped, his sudden transformation to this specific form, while actually holding Fairy in his hands was too much for Bat. It appeared as if Fairy's bat wings weren't under her control as they flapped wildly. After a moment, Alucard was nearly knocked from the air by a very affectionate Bat, while Fairy almost fell to the ground in her extreme shock.
"Master Alucard!" she gasped as her wings finally caught her. Alucard returned to his dhampir form. Bat fluttered around his head in a paroxysm of delight until Alucard patted his shoulder, indicating that Bat should alight. Even then, she kept stroking her head along his cheek much as a cat would.
"It worked," he stated calmly.
"You did that...on purpose?!" Fairy demanded. "Why?! Now Bat will age and die! The scroll Demon used was consumed in the spell. He can't cast it again!"
"Trust me," Alucard advised mildly, "Now, stay here with D for a moment. I need to talk with Bat privately."
Alucard reached a hand up to stroke Bat's wings while he walked off.
"Aren't you happy you have your own wings again?" D asked Fairy.
"I do?" she asked, turning in the air to see them.
"Yes," D replied. "They are prettier than Bat's wings," he offered.
"Oh..." Fairy drifted over and after reading D's expression, dared to sit on his shoulder. "I'm glad about that, I suppose. And...Bat's thoughts aren't racing around in my head either. That's good too. But..."
"She really is nice. So devoted to Alucard. And now she will die. I don't want to see that happen!"
"Mortal things die," D noted serenely. "It is the way of the world. I think you should watch Alucard and Bat."
Fairy looked over to where Alucard held Bat in his hands several yards away. He stroked along her wings while he spoke with her for a long time.
"He's really wonderful. Alucard's the best Master I've ever had," Fairy commented, "That he's so concerned about us, when many don't even think we have will or feelings...he's just very nice!"
"I know he has been worried about you and what you did to save Bat," D offered.
"I knew what I was doing," Fairy replied.
"Oh! He's being so kind to her!" Fairy commented, as Alucard shifted to his bat form once again.
"Mmmm," D grunted.
"What's he doing?" Fairy asked.
Alucard reversed himself in the air with a few flaps of his wings and perched upside down on a branch of a tree. After a moment, Bat perched next to him. Alucard opened his wing. Bat sidled next to him until she was pressed again his side. Alucard enveloped Bat completely in his wings.
Fairy turned puzzled eyes toward D. D nodded gravely toward Alucard again.
Alucard opened his wings and dropped from the tree, turning and reverting to his dhampir form as he did so. He reached up and gently removed Bat from the tree. Carrying her in his hands, he walked back toward Fairy and D.
"Master Alucard! What did you do?!" Fairy cried out in distress, seeing how still Bat was in his hands. Fairy darted from D's shoulder and reached out to touch Bat.
"She's still...and limp! You...you killed her!" Fairy accused.
"Yes..." Alucard admitted.
Fairy wailed and threw herself against D's chest for comfort. D tried to turn Fairy so she could see Alucard again, but she burrowed deeply into his cloak instead.
"I don't want to be his familiar anymore! How could he kill her?! Master D, can't I be your familiar instead?!" Fairy sobbed.
"Fairy, no. I have more than I can stand with Left Hand."
"Hey!" Left Hand protested.
"Even though you seem to be much more helpful," D told her.
"HEY!" Left Hand protested more loudly.
"But you should let Alucard speak. I'm certain everything isn't as dire as it appears."
"Fairy, please let me explain," Alucard asked.
Fairy turned and looked at Alucard again. She started to tear up when she noticed Bat lying so still in Alucard's hands.
"Come here," Alucard sat on the ground, cradled Bat in his lap and offered his knee for Fairy to sit on. Reluctantly, since D refused to free her from her familiar-bond with Alucard, Fairy obeyed.
"I thought long and hard about this situation. Believe me, I wouldn't have done this if I hadn't explained everything to Bat first, and gotten her permission to try. I felt very guilty that you had to do so much to save Bat for me. I wondered if there was something I could do. I spoke with Demon and found out that the spell he cast, the curse he placed on you and Bat, couldn't be reversed. I thought, perhaps, I could force Bat to separate from you."
"This would free you, but doom Bat, right?" Alucard asked.
Fairy nodded, huge tears welling in her eyes again.
"That wouldn't do. I realize how very tender-hearted you are, Fairy. And I can't ignore Bat's devotion and affection either," Fairy just then noticed that Alucard had been stroking Bat the whole time, "I think you might have forgotten, because sometimes I do too, that I am half-vampire. You know I turn into a different kind of bat myself, than the simple cave bat that Bat is."
"Right. You become a vampire bat," Fairy stated. "Oh!"
Alucard smiled, "Yes, 'Oh!' It seems so simple; I should have thought of it before. Do you realize what I did, or should I tell you?"
"I realize, I think, but tell me anyway, Master Alucard!" Fairy smiled tremulously up toward Alucard.
"I don't know for sure, but I thought that if I turned into a vampire bat and if I remembered that I am half-vampire, I could bite Bat as a vampire bites a human. Since she is a bat, if as a vampire bat I drank her blood and took her mortal life away, there might be a chance that she could become a vampire bat too. It is my hope that she revives as a vampire bat with a supernatural life as immortal as yours."
"But it might not work that way," Alucard admitted, stroking the dead Bat in his lap.
"But you tried. Oh, Alucard! I hope it works as you planned!" Fairy wished fervently.
"I do too. Will you stay, Fairy? Will you remain my familiar?" Alucard asked.
"Of course, Master Alucard. Now that I understand," Fairy agreed.
"Good! Then, will you stay with me now, and watch her, so that if she does awaken, she's with a friend?"
"I'd like nothing more," Fairy whispered, reaching forward herself to pat Bat's wings.
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Reviews, comments and constructive criticisms are always welcome! Please feel free to email me also if you see something awkward that needs to be clarified or fixed. I need all the help I can get!
stargarde@stargarde.com
Next chapter teaser - Chapter Twelve -
Beauty