"CastleVania 2000"
Epilogue

Henri Coandă International Airport, Romania
January 1st, the year of our Lord 2001 A.D.

Buffy Summers shook the hand of Alucard, a handshake that quickly became an emphatic hug. To Blade she exchanged a handshake as well, though it seemed more of the "gangsta shake" variety, complete with finger-snapping at its conclusion. She smiled warmly at both, knowing that this was where their parts would inevitably be parting.

"It pains me to lose the company of you two," Alucard spoke. "And to think, just when you two were starting to get along..."

"Ain't no thing..." Blade could only keep himself from grinning broadly. "Buffy's all right. I don't know how they do things in Sunnydale, but I'm sure she takes care of herself okay."

"You're not so bad yourself there, Blade," Buffy interjected.

Alucard turned his gaze to the leather-clad Blade. "Now, Blade, I take it you're off to...?"

"New York," Blade answered. "Figure I might take the next few days to recuperate at 'home'... get everything together in my head and spend a little more time in the gym, maybe work on the 'ol Charger."

"And then what? Back to business?"

Blade nodded. "Yeah, if that's what you want to call it."

"And you, Buffy, you're going straight back to Sunnydale, California, is this correct?"

"Yeah, that's correct. Back to the innocent college girl by day, Vampire Slayer 'Chosen One' by night routine, I suppose." The young girl sighed, brushing a strand of blond hair from her eye. "It'll be hard to live this one down, though... the creeps in my neck of the woods are... well... domesticated next to what I've fought with you guys. I mean, for Christ's Sake, in the past couple days we fought the fricking Grim Reaper himself and Count Dracula!"

"So it would seem," Alucard acknowledged. "I was pleased to see that with our combined efforts we were able to do what you... neglected to in your previous encounter with my father in September."

Buffy made a grimace, grunting. "Rub in my failings a little more bluntly, why dontcha?"

"Only mentioning..."

"But anyhoo, what about you, Alucard?" Buffy asked, changing the subject on a more serious, concerned note. "What will you do? My god, must be a lonely life you have."

Alucard's gaze traveled down to the floor. "I... make do."

Blade laid an understanding hand on Alucard's shoulder. "In this world, a man can only count on himself."

Buffy scolded herself for not realizing—both Blade and Alucard understood quite well. Buffy's life at least had an illusion of ordinary about it—she had a boyfriend, a school she attended regularly, and a social circle of friends. Yet the lives of both men before her were no less lonely than the other, no one but themselves to be there for one another in their crusade against the Undead. For Alucard it could only have been worse... he'd lived centuries with the loneliness, whatever solace he might have found with the Sonia and Maria characters from ages ago he mentioned earlier only being temporary distractions from the fact. On the other hand, maybe the passing centuries gave Alucard a better perspective and sense of coping with it than Blade, who was only too ready to go right back to the lone "business" of vampire hunting. Buffy envied neither man.

"It would seem this is goodbye, then," Alucard said, hearing a woman's voice announcing Buffy and Blade's flight on the P.A.. Their flight would take them first to New York, then Buffy would be catching a different one to Los Angeles, California, and then Sunnydale. "It has been a pleasure... Blade, Buffy."

Blade smiled again. "Like I said... it's been real."

As a parting gesture, Buffy gave Alucard a brief kiss on the cheek. "Take care of yourself, Alucard."

"Please, milady..." Alucard took Buffy's hand and, in a gentleman fashion, kissed it lightly, "... call me Adrian. Oh, and before I surely forget..." Alucard reached within his cloak, retrieving a small, tightly-wound bundle of what appeared to be some kind of thick leathery cord.

"What is..."

Alucard shot her an ambivalent, perhaps even so far as smug expression. "... the Vampire Killer whip, enchanted by the Poltergeist King. Your ancestral birthright, being of Belmont bloodline and Slayer." He chuckled to himself. "Apart from that, I rather doubt it's Blade's style. Julius would want you to have this."

Buffy, unsure of how to react to the gift of the sacred, even legendary weapon, could only nod in gratitude. To be honest, she couldn't wait to give the thing a whirl on her next "night out."

With that, they departed, a fond sense of camaraderie between the three that had faced the Prince of Darkness and walked away from it. At the very least, it had been a New Year's to remember, make no mistake.

----

It has been five years since the Slayer, the Daywalker, and Alucard slain Dracula. He remains slain to this day.

There was one instance in New York City just last year, Blade and a couple of others tangled with... something that was believed to be Dracula, "Drake." A vampire by the name of Danica Talos and her cronies had unearthed a body in Iraq they brought back to America they believed was him... taking known evidence of Dracula, it seems safe to conclude this was not Dracula himself but rather a similar creature, a more primordial vampyre creature, one that may even pre-date the real Count Dracula.

Hopefully, gentlemen and ladies, we can at last close the book on the Legend of CastleVania. Lord knows, I'll drink to that.

- Rupert Giles, Watcher
November 10th, 2005