Heh, heh, heh.
Chapter Thirteen - Alucard's Final Dream
He opened his eyes. He recognized the room he was in as the one where he had seen the beautiful man. The beautiful man was gone allowing him to see out into the vast room. It shook and trembled. Giant, elaborate chandeliers crashed to the ground, resonating discordant music as they smashed their crystals everywhere. Slim, decorated columns collapsed bringing more of the ceiling down. He probably should have felt panic; curiously he didn't.
"Good! You have not been destroyed yet!" A woman appeared, as if by magic, before him.
She had once possessed a glittering sort of beauty but some ordeal had robbed her of it. In fact, she had been robbed of everything. The woman was nothing more than the tattered shreds of a soul bound together by implacable hatred.
"He's finished what his father had begun!" she raved. "His father...yes...that is how I will seal my vengeance! His father gave me the key!"
"Take this!" she commanded, holding out a black stone carved with a white face. "I ripped it from his father when his father killed me. With it, you can leave, escape this doomed castle and exact my vengeance upon the son!"
He reached forward and took the stone. He felt as though he we reaching through a film, one that permitted his hand to pass through, but solidified to stop the object. He pulled harder until he pulled the stone through the resistance.
"Bah! Are you stupid?! You should have stepped forward to take it!" the woman screeched. "How else will you escape?!"
He gaped at her, not comprehending.
"You must use that amulet to open a dimensional doorway and escape before the castle comes down. You can travel to any world Dracula has ever been. Do so. Learn and grow, nurture the hatred that bore you. Become strong enough to kill him!"
He still stared, not understanding her ravings.
"Ah!" she screamed again. "Fine, you stupid thing! A geas, to bind you to my last command!"
"Step from the mirror, you who hatred bore, and
hunt the one who slew me.
Then, you too must die that worlds will not recall
the hunter named D!"
The spell took hold in him, fanning his hatred of the beautiful man who ignored him, D, beyond all bearing. Beyond any thought of forgiveness or mercy.
Finally satisfied with her last act, the soul of the vampire Carmilla embraced annihilation.
He stepped forward from the mirror. He glanced down at the amulet the vampire's ghost had given him to complete her last spiteful act of revenge. It had strangely twinned as it passed through the mirror again, doubling in size in his hand. He turned, beholding once more the beauty that had captivated him, before a column smashed the mirror into thousands of shards.
He smiled deeply baring his fangs, ripped open the dimensions with the power of the amulet of his father, and disappeared.
Alucard struggled to wake from his horrific dream.
********
D's eyes widened as the mist hovering above Alucard finally took solid form.
"Oh, my God, D! It's you!" Left Hand exclaimed.
"Not really," the newcomer grinned. "I actually know how to have fun!"
He stepped over Alucard as his gaze assessed D. Intense, unremitting loathing sparked in his stormy sea-blue eyes. "You've no idea who I am, but you made me. I now know why you ignored me. You have no use for beauty, so you never noticed me. Well, I have the same beauty you do, and I know how to enjoy it!"
He whirled on his heel, swirling his cloak around playfully. D noticed the long red feather pinned jauntily to the brim of his hat. There were other, more subtle changes to this impostor's attire, but it was easy to see how Alucard had mistaken him for D. He shared D's height and bearing. The long brown hair running in waves down his back exactly matched D's tone. The rarefied line of chin and cheek, the easy grace, the long billowy cloak, distinctively brimmed hat and nigh unique sword were all exactly as D possessed.
D's twin snorted derisively, "You despise, hunt and slaughter vampires for harming humans. You don't want to admit that humans are here simply for us. To love, if we deign, or eat if we want. So many worlds, Dracula sired so many vampires. And sired so many dhampirs too! His is a legend that will never die. I want that! The vampire witch who made me commanded me to die once you were dead. I think I've become strong enough to break that part of her geas. But you, you will die!"
He whirled away, drawing his sword as he did so.
"Let's see if I've learned enough to take you, D!" he cried out bringing his sword in with a sideways slash.
"Who are you?!" D demanded as he drew his sword and blocked the attack.
"You looked in a mirror once and never acknowledged your reflection. Such a crime, to ignore the beauty I have. You'll pay for that crime! Besides, you have to die," the doppelganger claimed. "To fulfill my geas, I won't take your name. D, the Vampire Hunter, will be forgotten. However, I will take your place in destiny in this world. You can bet I will have more fun with it than you ever would! You might as well call me 'eeD'."
"Your reflection?!" Left Hand asked incredulously.
"And yours, or haven't you noticed my Right Hand?"
eeD held up his right hand, waggling the fingers to show a weird little face. Strangely enough, it had been painted to resemble a mime.
"He's a bit busy now, maintaining our solidity until I destroy you, so don't expect that he's going to talk," eeD told him. "You're not missing much, as I'm afraid Right Hand is quite mad."
"Now, the fight to see which of us is fit to survive! The original, or the reflection!"
D found himself hard pressed, fighting against one who knew all his moves as well as he did.
"Do you feel it, D? The last minutes of your life are ticking away! Tick, tick, tick!" eeD taunted.
********
"Not gonna happen! You'll never wake up! You're mine! Finally, you are mine!"
What?!
"It took so long, night after night, dream by dream, taking piece by piece, but your soul is my pretty little toy now!"
No! I will fight you!
"A little bit of your will lives in a nightmare dream, but that dream will soon end. Alucard, my puppet, my poppet, you are our way to destroy D!"
What?!
"Hee, hee! Masterful, masterful! Tease you, taunt you, give you the amulet! Anchor in your soul, hee, hee! Entice you to the one Dracula world we couldn't enter unaided. Use the power of your soul to become solid and real here. Once we slay D, it won't matter anymore, but I think I'll keep your soul! Such a shiny-bright-pretty-white plaything!"
Alucard struggled with all his might to break the nightmare. He failed.
********
"Did you hear that, D?" Left Hand asked.
"Hear what?" D demanded, parrying another vicious attack.
"I think Right Hand was talking," Left Hand said. "Mimes aren't supposed to talk!" Left Hand noted with indignation.
eeD pressed D with a vicious barrage of attacks, his sword slashing and cutting, stabbing and dancing, becoming a lethal wall of moving steel.
"Do you remember that story you read when you were little, D? About the shadow that became a man? The shadow left the man, traveled the world and learned many things. When it returned, it forced the man who cast it originally to become his shadow. I'm not stupid enough to think you would ever behave that way, though the thought is intriguing. I could pass by a mirror, look at you and completely ignore all that you are...but alas! In order for me to fully enter this world, to become real here, you have to die anyway. It's probably for the best!" eeD taunted.
********
"OH! I like you, Alucard! So strong you are! And such nifty playthings you give me!"
Alucard fought with all of his strength to break free of the black nightmare world, fearful that he understood what the mad raving meant.
"How unkind of me. You'll go mad, soon enough! Until then, I can at least let you see what is happening!"
Suddenly Alucard could see D fighting against himself.
"No, that's not D. That's us. eeD and me. I'm his Right Hand! Hee, hee! He relies on me! Right Hand, get it?"
Alucard wondered how he was able to see. He stared, waiting until he could see the right palm of the man fighting against D. Sure enough, there was a weird little face nestled there. Alucard recognized from the extreme whiteness of it the face that had bitten him and awakened him in his sanctuary, priming him to hunt after D. This 'eeD', had been there as well, taunting him for sleeping his life away. So, from what Right Hand had said...he'd been used so they could come here, to this world, and attack D.
The view of the fight changed in a way that was frightfully familiar. His sword snaked out and sliced into D's back, opening a gash.
Nooo! Alucard moaned.
Struggle as he might, Alucard was unable to do anything but watch helplessly as he was forced to attack D. He couldn't feel anything from his body. He was unable to move, to stop the attacks. He was only able to witness, as a will not his own controlled him. That alien will forced him to attack his brother, and Alucard was utterly helpless to stop it.
********
D felt a sword sink into his back, even though eeD's blade was trapped on his.
"Oh, what fun, Right Hand!" eeD crowed. "I can see through Alucard's eyes now! How'd you do that?"
"Oh, no! The synergy! D, they're using the synergy against you!" Left Hand cried out.
"And Alucard. They are using him too. You might hate me, eeD, but what did Alucard do to you?" D demanded.
"Nothing. Alucard is a tool and nothing more," eeD responded.
"He's your complete opposite, D," Left Hand realized. "Not just flipped in appearance, but in his soul as well. He's callous where you care and selfish when you would be honorable."
"So the fact that Alucard is his brother means nothing to him," D surmised.
"Right! So what? He's not really a brother as he came from a different dimension anyway! He's just another son of Dracula, that's all," eeD claimed. "You wouldn't believe some of the sons of Dracula I've met. Daughters too. I think the daughters are even worse!" eeD made a disgusted face.
"But I weary of this. Now that Right Hand has complete control over Alucard, and started the...what did Left Hand call it? Synergy? You're doomed. There's nothing you can do to save yourself against two swordsmen of our level, working in complete unison!" eeD exulted.
D grimly focused his attacks on eeD, trying with all his skill to land a crippling blow. He would do nothing more than defend against Alucard's attacks, though there were more openings in his brother's defenses. D faltered each time his battle instinct urged him to attack Alucard. His battle became not just against eeD and Alucard, but against himself, and his own battle instincts.
"You have to take Alucard out before..." Left Hand began.
"No!" D interrupted. "I won't attack him. I promised."
His eyes are blank. He's not there. If you are to have any chance to survive, you must!" Left Hand told D insistently.
D ignored Left Hand and battled on, trying to take eeD out while dodging and deflecting the attacks from Alucard's sword.
Left Hand realized that D wouldn't see reason. Unless he did something D, and himself, were doomed.
"eeD says that Right Hand is controlling Alucard. Perhaps I can disrupt that if I... Oh...is this what Val meant? To save D, I have to destroy Alucard?" Left Hand thought frantically.
"There's no other way..." Left Hand realized as D took another vicious cut to his side from whatever was controlling Alucard.
"You have to trust me, D! Let me take care of Alucard!" Left Hand called out. "D, you must!" he continued, sensing D's resolve to ignore him.
"You know he would hate to be used against you like this. Wouldn't you want Alucard to do something, if something were controlling you against your will? Pullin' your strings?" Left Hand reasoned, playing his trump card.
D parried, dodged, deflected and leaped, trying vainly to find some weakness in eeD's defense that he could exploit. Blood from a deep cut ran down his arm, making his hand slick upon his blade, adding to the considerable difficulty he was in. A dozen cuts, varied in depth and severity, were starting to slow him down, their attrition starting to take its toll on his ability to continue defending himself against two skilled attackers.
"Make it quick," D finally commanded. "If there's anything of Alucard still there, don't let him suffer."
D smashed Alucard's blade aside, threw his sword up to tumble in the air, and jumped forward to grab Alucard with both hands.
********
Alucard watched helplessly as he was forced to attack D again and again. He was unable to close his eyes or turn away, forced to watch each attack too. He wished D would attack him and take him out of the fight. Alucard wondered in horror if his sword, his body, would be the ones to land the lethal blow on his brother. Never in all of his dreams, had Alucard even envisioned horror such as this.
Suddenly, an image from one of his most terrifying memories resolved before him. The weird little face of Left Hand, with the open-eyed concentrating look that Alucard had seen once before touched his face. Suddenly, Alucard felt the fatigue of the fight burning through his limbs and D's arms wrapping around him. He could feel his body again! He knew then that Left Hand had the power to wrest him free him of Right Hand's control.
Right Hand struggled to protect his soul, and hold him, anchored in his own body, against Left Hand's attack. Alucard felt as if he would be torn in two as Left Hand and Right Hand battled for his soul. Though he knew Left Hand held only oblivion and death, Alucard struggled to tip the scales toward Left Hand's favor, pitting all of his will to help D's parasite win. If Right Hand won, D was doomed. Alucard was not about to let that happen.
Right Hand's hold on his soul slipped. The black oblivion of Left Hand reached out and triumphantly claimed him.
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Author's notes -
The story of the shadow becoming a man that eeD refers to is Hans Christian Andersen's "The Shadow".
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 14 - *omitted to increase dramatic tension*