Only the rain dared to make a sound. The woman keeper came back from downstairs with a small glass bottle, pushing the half-open door with an elbow. Trevor lended her the posy of arnica and she began to crush it with a wooden macerator. Her husband arrived shortly after with strong beer for three, revoking the upstairs drinks prohibition for a while, also giving them a new jug of clean water. All three were sitting onto the bed, and Sypha hid under the blankets the frozen mug she applied on Trevor's bruises.
Alucard touched his neck and felt it excoriated. Alizia stopped dealing with the arnica and approached him with a tin of some ointment. He raised his eyes to look at her and took his hand off of the bruise, pulling the collar of his jacket to the side. She flinched, but applied the medicine anyway. Is it that ugly? He felt it sting and bit his tongue. The woman whispered:
"Get well soon, sir," she closed her eyes and shook her head, "Be very careful. These are dark days around here."
"Thanks a lot, ma'am."
She turned her back. He remembered seeing her with an infant daughter in her arms and noticed the veil that covered her pinned hair, linking it to the delicate brownish stains she had on her cheeks. She talked to trevor about the arnica tincture that still needed to tan, and what she said was but a blur to him, his heart way too busy missing Lisa for him to care about it. My mother would not take care of me without scolding me first. He smiled alone. What would she think of me now?
The tavern owners left the bedroom making themselves available if needed. Alucard looked out of the window and tried to project the fall. To me, it would feel like nothing. However, to Leo Alexe, it was almost a death sentence. How many bones did he break? Would he last much longer? And, mainly, why did he do that? He rested a hand on his chin and remembered having beer in the other, drinking a long sip of it. From the corner of the eye, he saw Trevor do the same and Sypha still not touching her mug. We can't stay here and rest forever. Not now that we know how to break the curse.
"Where are we going now?" he asked.
"Good question, for which I don't have a good answer," Trevor sighed, "Where should we go?"
Alucard reminded Katrina's desperate cries, from the back of his mind, and suggested:
"To the stable, perhaps. The girl seemed pretty troubled."
"And Leo Alexe attempted suicide," Trevor shrugged.
"But he isn't locked in a bedroom for days straight."
"Isn't it the case for us to split up?" Sypha went back to applying the cold metal mug, "We don't know how each one of them are, but I suppose we have to hurry up."
"If I have enough space to draw my damn whip without being murdered, I know what to expect now, and I think I can deal with it," Trevor looked out of the window.
"Are you sure?" Alucard asked.
"Uh, no, but I guess so."
"You're not in a position to act on your own," Sypha interfered, "Not with a leg like this."
"I've done worse in a worse shape. Go and save the girl. I'll meet you there later."
Alucard saw Sypha hold her breath. Trevor stood up with some hardship and headed to the table, dripping some arnica tincture in his beer, as well as applying it to his face and knee. He cursed the pain at every step. I almost regret it. Himself and Sypha also got up from the bed. Each of them in possession of their cloaks, they climbed down the stairs, and, at the exit, Alucard, with a smirk, patted Trevor's shoulder:
"Come back alive."
Trevor replied with an eyeroll. Would you rather a "come back dead"? They stared at the rain that would not cease and left in opposite directions.
There was not a single person on the streets besides them. More than just the storm to darken the day, it was the season in which the nights became longer. All the houses had closed windows, and the liveliest thing they saw was a stray dog under a roof, balling up to preserve some heat. Alucard smiled at it, and it ignored the two passing by. I could entertain him if the sky wasn't pouring on our heads.
The stable where they had left the horses of the inn was as closed and silent as the rest of the homes around it. They knocked on the door and a short woman answered, one around thirty years old that they had not seen before, with a young boy grabbing her by her long skirt. Both her and the child stared at them with distrust.
"If you need horses, my father isn't home," she had a tone of someone who did not want to be bothered, "If it's a payment, just leave the money, please."
"Actually, ma'am…," Sypha began.
"Who is it, Thea?"
The stable owner's wife, as petite as the woman at the door, showed up with her timid step and quiet voice.
"I don't know, Mom," the first woman answered.
"The ones from yesterday," the other recognized, "What do you need?"
"We know how to help Katrina now, ma'am," Alucard said.
Mother and daughter stared at each other. Thea asked:
"Do they know, Mom?"
"They were here yesterday, coming from afar. But there was another man."
"He's in the hospital, taking care of another person," Sypha gave them a convincing benevolent smile.
The little older lady stepped back and talked to her daughter:
"Let them in, Thea."
The other one did the same. Alucard noticed that, by her mother's side, she was just a bit taller. They headed to the kitchen, and Thea went elsewhere. The three sat by the table as in the day before, and the older woman joined them facing the floor.
"Katrina didn't sleep yesterday," she whispered, with a tearful voice, "She's dead afraid. She talks about the woman, that the woman will kill her. She thinks it's me, or Thea. The only one that can see her is my son-in-law. He's here, while my husband and son are away."
Alucard and Sypha looked at each other. That'll have to do.
"Ma'am, with your permission, could I see what's going in with her?" Alucard asked.
"I don't want anything worse happening to my daughter."
"She'll be fine," he looked at Sypha, "I'm married, ma'am."
"I figured," the lady nodded, "You look like you get along."
Yes, but not… In that way. Side-eyeing her, he saw Sypha trying to hide her embarrassment. Well, let her believe it for now. He went on:
"There's just one problem, ma'am," he took a deep breath, feeling a shiver, "Earlier, we freed an old nun from the curse in the convent. She suffered. She lived, and sleeps peacefully now, but she suffered. And the same might happen to Katrina."
The mother looked at him as if she begged for mercy, then staring at the table, sighing hopelessly:
"I don't want to lose my girl."
"You won't, if we do what we must," Sypha touched the lady's hand, "I swear, in the name of God."
Clever one. The lady nodded and stood up:
"I'll take you to her bedroom."
She sent them on a corridor up to a closed door, speaking quietly:
"It's here. Don't make loud noises, or sudden moves, she's startled."
Alucard stepped forward and knocked on the door, hearing a fearful:
"Who is it?"
"Katrina?" he felt a heartache, "It's a friend. Can I come in?"
The girl did not answer. He looked at the lady, who whispered:
"She screams when it's me."
He gestured for both of them to step back, hearing Sypha comforting the lady when he opened the door. It produced a creaking sound that covered up their conversation. The bedroom was in gloom, with closed windows against any rain and light, and he tripped on a fabric. As he came in, Sypha closed all entrances with bright seals, and he could see Katrina shuddering in the corner of the bed, as well as girl's clothes on the floor, a crumpled silver mirror, and an open chest. She must have inherited from her sister, that did so from her mother, in this good, God-fearing family.
"Forgive me my rudeness. My name's Adrian," he waited for her to answer, which did not happen, "Could I light up a candle? I can't really see you."
"What are you? A doctor?"
"I could've been one," he half-smiled.
He looked for a candle inside some of the inner pockets of his jacket and also hid behind it the hand with which he lighted it up. As he closed the chest and set the candle on it, he saw the shadow hugging the girl from her back. It seemed to be smaller than the nun's shadow, but it was even darker. He swallowed in dry and asked her:
"How old are you?"
"I'm sixteen."
"You're almost of age to marry. Do you think of someone?" he said, and she went quiet, "It's alright if you don't want to tell me. I know how are the matters of the heart."
Well, I know less than I'd like about it.
"Can I approach you?" he asked, about two meters far from the bed.
"You're going to hurt me, aren't you?"
Sadly, I will.
"I'm here to take care of you." And I'll have to lie a bit.
He stepped forward and she flinched some more. The shadow turned its ghostly, faceless head, noticing him there, and it hugged Katrina tighter; the girl let out a painful lament. Her curse already appears outside of her sleeping state. He pressed his nails against his palms. So, it must already be near the end. One more step and she screamed, the shadow grabbing her by her shoulders. Coming from outside, Alucard heard her mother crying.
"You're hurting me," the girl stuttered.
"Katrina, it's not me. There's a thing with you. It's a shadow."
And the shadow shrieked, opening a strange mouth made of sharp teeth, which insides were of an even darker void.
"I know," Katrina answered.
"Do you see it?"
"I see it, and I also hear it," she pointed at her ears, "In my dreams. It changes shape. It's been lots of people. It is a woman now."
Alucard sat carefully on the edge of the bed, while she was near the frame, and he asked:
"For how many days are you not sleeping?"
"This is the second one."
"Why?"
"Because she's going to kill me."
The shadow chuckled.
"I don't think you deserve it, Katrina."
She said something that he could not understand.
"Pardon me?" he frowned.
She made a gesture for him to come closer. Alucard dragged himself for half a meter on the bed and put his hand around his ear. Katrina whispered:
"I'm a sinner."
"Whatever you did, I don't think you're a sinner."
The shadow put its hand on her throat. Katrina began to cough and to free herself. Alucard got up and grabbed the shadow by its neck, splitting them apart and throwing it on the wall. The creature got up, showing off long legs that made it almost as tall as him, and it stared at him as if it had eyes. Alucard relaxed his shoulders and made an unsmiling face.
"Nice work you did."
He tackled it unarmed and they fell to the floor. With attention, he did not let it reach his neck, ducking it and dodging those mortal hands with slender fingers. The shadow pushed him and he lost advantage. From above, it tried to grab Alucard's face, and he blocked it with a hand; when it noticed it would lose the wrestle, it attacked him with its knee. Alucard lost his breath and the hand he used to block loosened. He lost track of how many times he was punched in the face until he had the impulse to throw the shadow against the wall again. It's not as strong as the other one… Tasting blood in his mouth, he got up as fast as he could, and still, after the shadow. But now, I'm alone.
He raised his guard and tried to punch it; the shadow was fast and flexible to dodge it. Its long leg gave him a sweep kick and Alucard fell again, hitting his head in a corner. He felt being stomped on his ribs, arms, and legs. He waited for another kick that took long to hit; he felt the temperature of the room lowering. Great. Alucard pulled the shadow by its foot, it fell as well, and Katrina's lament was deafening. Alucard's body burned from the blows, and he pounced onto the shadow with his forearm against the creature's throat, holding its strange hands above its head.
"Beat it," he whispered.
He let go of its throat to pierce its head with his long nails. The shadow's sinister scream was as loud as Katrina's cries, and Alucard could not tell which one of them lasted longer. The ice covered the entirety of the shadow's dark body and climbed up to Alucard's wrist. He pulled his hand to set it free and it broke on the region of the statue's head. He finished breaking it with his feet, until nothing remained but cold shards on the bedroom floor. Panting, he let his weakened arms hanging beside his body and stared at the ice, feeling himself trembling. Alucard turned his head to see Katrina, crying in the corner.
"It's over," he got closer to her and kneeled beside the bed.
The room darkened when Sypha undid the seals of the door and the window, and lit up again when she entered the bedroom with a big flame in her hands. Katrina hugged him with little strength, and he could feel how cold her minuscule body was. Alucard opened his jacket to embrace her.
"You were so strong," he quietly told her. She was shaking from head to toe, "It's fine. It's over now."
She unburied her face from his shoulder and faced him, her face undone in tears. Alucard lent his hands so that Katrina would hold them. She murmured:
"It's gone," she sobbed, "But it hurts so much."
"See this," he pulled the collar from his neck.
As she saw the strangling marks, Katrina widened her eyes and asked:
"The thing did it?"
"Other thing, but yes," he took a deep breath, with a throbbing face, "The one who was scaring you, was it a woman?"
"It was. She had a knife," she nodded, "Look. She did this to me."
Katrina pulled up her nightgown to show a deep, purplish scar on her thigh, near her knee. Alucard felt his heart tight. He heart the short steps of the girl's mother approaching the door.
"Cover up," he said to Katrina.
One of her arms still held him, and she would not stop trembling.
"Will I stay like this?" She asked.
"I don't know, sadly."
She began crying again, and he let it happen. Sometimes, it just has to leave us. He had another idea:
"Can I teach you a thing?" he suggested. She got her face up, without an answer, "Can I?"
He let her go and sat on the edge of the bed, facing her, with his legs crossed. He took a deep breath and straightened his back.
"What is it?" she asked.
"It's a song. An old chant. It'll help you sleep."
From the corner of the eye, he saw Sypha stepping in the bedroom some more, but he gestured to stop her, and she stepped back.
"Repeat with me," he held out a hand for Katrina to hold, "Try to imitate me as I sing it."
Alucard did his best to reproduce the verses taught by the old nun. My voice is a disaster. Next, Katrina tried it on her own, with a voice as small as herself. He went back to the beginning, and so did she, at the same time, losing her breath from all the crying. When she could breathe again, the third time was better then the second, and so it followed, until they could not count anymore what time it was and Alucard found it enough.
"Very good," he complimented her, and was serious. He sighed, "I hope you can forgive me for what I've done. It was the only way."
"I know," Katrina let go of his hand, "The shadow told me in a dream. What I did to it, it would do to me."
"Are you really alright?"
"I am."
She opened her arms and hugged him a second time. For a girl that age, she isn't very embarrassed of me. They broke the hug apart and he got up from the bed, looking at the door. He nodded and Katrina's mother came in, running for her daughter, as if they had not seen each other for long. Both let out gentle tears, out of relief and joy, more than anything else.
"It's over, mom," Katrina smiled, "I'm fine."
Alucard looked at Sypha, and he was sure to see her clean a tear from her face.
"What are you doing here again, sir?"
The nun that assisted Trevor during the afternoon saw him arrive at the hospital's door, drenched and with a painful knee.
"Did your state worsen?" she had a huge bunch of keys in her hands. I'm right on time.
"Yes and no. It's a long story," he scratched his head, "To sum it up, what's going on is: the recent patient. The overweight one, green clothes, fine-tuned moustache, who tried to kill himself. He's cursed."
The nun covered her mouth with both hands. "Dear god, speak quietly of those things, sir."
"Is he talking in his sleep already?"
"I'm not sure," she shook her head, "I was going to another wing."
"Before you do, show me where he is."
She guided him to another one of the public bedrooms, a different one from the one he was in earlier. It was, however, just as full of beds, patients, and nuns as the previous.
"This one," she murmured, standing besides a bed.
Trevor approached an ear and noticed Leo whispering. He saw a shape of an arm and one of his legs put in splings, and his face wrapped in a bloody cloth, believing Leo was with his eyes closed. Trevor got a torch from the wall without asking for permission and walked by the corridors, without finding a thing. The nuns and the awake patients began to look at the scene he made.
"Sir, don't disturb the ill," the nun requested, "And you are still convalescent."
"I'm fully better, don't you see?", he raised up his voice from a whisper to an ordinary volume, and it echoed in that lugubrious room. Trevor also had a huge smile when he felt a sting on his knee, "Hear me out, everyone. Space. I'll need some space. Sisters, protect the ill. There's a cursed man on the room. Repeating: a cursed man on the room. This will turn into a mess."
He cracked his knuckles and hardly could kneel, searching on the floor… Until he saw the shadow holding onto Leo's underneath bed frame.
With the best reflexes he could pull out, Trevor grabbed the Morning Star and whipped under the bed. He felt the tip of the whip hit something, and believed it to be the shadow, that could escape and crawled into some dark corner. Damn it.
"The torches, please!" He hoped to be speaking loud enough, "Or else I can't see it."
Scared and screaming, some nuns did not fulfill his request. The patiens that could move looked from a side to the other. He repeated:
"Torches! Torches up!"
He saw the creature in a corner of the room, not too far from there, leaving his own torch on the wall again. He drew his sword, charging against it. The shadow parried the blade with both hands, and Trevor used it to push it afar. It climbed to the roof, as if it had four paws, and made a sound that reminded him of a laugh. With the other hand, he whipped above, in hopes to hit it again, but it jumped from a place to another like a spider. The floor and the walls of the place felt the impact of the Morning Star, cracking as it hit them. It's close now. Armed and ready, Trevor waited for the shadow to jump with his pointing sword and it pounced, not on him, but on Leo.
With another blow of the whip, Trevor entwined the shadow and pulled it closer. He could cut it on its chest with his sword before it set itself free, holding onto the whip with its hands. Leo moaned in pain. He pulled it stronger, and the shadow had its feet on the floor, ripping the wooden tiles, until he was close enough for another slash, this time, on the shadow's jaw, making it stagger. Trevor jumped onto it, piercing it with the short sword on its head. It agonized, producing a screeching sound before it turned into smoke. Trevor felt his body giving up and collapsed onto the floor, with tears running from the corner of his eyes, and the last thing he heard and saw was a nun going for him.
He opened his eyes again and found himself lying on a bed, with the same nun that attended to his needs by his side, and in the same bedroom where Leo was. When he turned his aching head to look around, the nun handled him a mug.
"What is it?" He frowned.
"Willow tree tea, sir. It'll ease your pain."
"Does it have alcohol in it?" He pointed at the mug.
"I'm afraid not, sir."
Trevor sighed and straightened his back to grab the mug. He drank from it and, it tasted like wood. The people in the bedroom murmured and complained. Everything's back to normal, then.
"Is Leo alive?" He asked.
"The patient? He seems so," the nun looked elsewhere, "He's been crying in his sleep, but there's no trace of the demon you fought."
Trevor said a "meh" and left his head fall to the side. "Sister, when can I leave here?"
"Tomorrow, if you're lucky, I believe," she sighed.
"Tomorrow? There are people waiting for me."
"Are you from Ploiesti, sir?"
"No," Jesus Christ, will I have to run away? "I'm a host in a Tavern around the Tree. The same one as Leo."
"I'll allow your departure if someone comes to pick you up, sir."
He grumbled and went quiet, hearing footsteps from the corridor.
"Where are we?" Said a familiar voice near the door. The old nun appeared, escorted by another sister who held her arm and answered:
"We're in a hospital bedroom, Mother Bethania."
"I suspected it by the smell. Clean this place properly. And where is he?"
"Come with me, Mother," the nun guided her to Trevor's bedside.
"Here?" The Mother asked.
"Yes, here, Mother. Stretch your hand."
The old lady's wrinkled hand touched Trevor's shoulder, then tapping up to his face, right on top of the bruise. He hated Alucard for a second.
"The hurt one with a beard," the Mother stated, "What are you sniffing here?"
Trevor lost a second coming to a conclusion. "Mother, are you blind?"
"I wasn't until this morning. But I became so, after the mess with that shadow of yours. Why does it matter? It's been so many years I have poor eyesight. But answer my question."
He explained her about the shadow possessing Leo and the merchant's suicide attempt. All the other nuns listening to it turned up their noses on the subject, except for the Mother. "Poor man," she said, with little compassion, "I hope he lives."
"Me too, Mother," he took a deep breath, feeling exhausted and sore, "Among other things, I'd really like to be released from here and to sleep on my bed tonight."
"I understand you quite well. This hospital bed is a nightmare. Sister Sibila?" She spoke to the nun that held her arm, "Go find a covered wagon for this man. What's your name, son? I still don't know it."
"I'm Trevor."
"Fine name. Trevor what?"
He hesitated, but maybe it would make him leave faster. "Last one of the house of Belmont, ma'am."
The other nuns crossed themselves, but the Mother did not bother moving. "A lacking family. The world was a better place with you all."
He breathed easy. They waited for about half an hour, until said Sibila came back drenched in rain and with news that bothering a wealthy neighbor worked for borrowing a wagon. Trevor bid farewell to Mother Bethania with a hug and a pat on the back, whispering her a "thank you". Before they left, someone put in his hand a fabric bag with more willow tree bark.
The neighbor's coachman conducted silently under the rain, told to go to the tavern, as disgruntled as Trevor to be there in that place and time. The skipping of the wagon was hell on his aches, and the willow tea was just a little aid. He stared at the bark and thought of chewing onto them. They must taste like ass. Trevor left the vehicle with some hardships and opened the door of the tavern. The owners, who waited tables, looked at him with fright.
"Are those two back?" Trevor asked them, "The two from my bedroom?"
They shook their heads, with the same widened eyes. I must look like an used rug. He was back to the wagon, wetter than before, and spoke to the coachman, "To the stable in the north exit, please."
Sypha blew out the candle on the chest, removed it, and sat atop of the closed lid, still with fire in her hands. Katrina's mother brushed her daughter's disheveled hair with a crying silence, using a soft brush that was thrown on the floor before. Sypha looked to the ground and rolled an ice shard with a foot, ice that melted onto the floor with the new heat in the bedroom. A shiver went down her spine. I didn't do much except for closing the room, but… She observed Katrina, and she retributed Alucard's chant with a children's round song, that was slightly different from what Sypha recalled. It must be a regional thing. Alucard stopped repeating the lyrics and paid attention to something coming from the outside; Sypha soon heard footsteps on the corridor, and a man, that must have been Katrina's brother-in-law, came together with Trevor, who had a limp leg, was soaked in rain, and had a blue face. Sypha and Alucard stood up, and the two remaining women only looked at the door.
"How are things around here?" Trevor asked.
"They're fine now," Alucard pointed with a hand, "Trevor, this is Katrina. She's free of anything now."
"Hello, miss," Trevor forced a smile, "As you can see, I'm not in the best of my days."
"Me neither, sir," Katrina shook her head, "I can't stop shaking. I can't even hold a cup."
"You'll get better, and I will, too."
Sypha sighed and looked around, the bedroom in full disorder, the scratches on the walls. Trevor held out an arm for her, who snuggled under it, and they both felt the strange look of the girl's mother. Well, let her think whatever she wants.
"We'll be leaving you now," Trevor said, "Get well soon, Katrina."
Outside, the coachman waited for them with an icy look. They got into the wagon and left for the tavern again, hearing Trevor telling them in little detail about the shadow underneath Leo's bed, and in extensive detail about how his knee hurt. Alucard had disdain on his face.
"And that old lady, the Mother," Trevor remembered, "She's blind now."
"Really?" Sypha asked.
"She didn't seem to care much," Trevor shrugged.
Arriving the tavern, they turned around the place and knocked on the back doors. A boy from the kitchen answered it, looking scared, and analyzed them at them from head to toe.
"We're from the middle bedroom, with straw on the floor," Trevor pointed up, "If you've been there, you know we're telling the truth. Please, let us in, we don't want to draw more attention."
The boy closed the door. Trevor cursed him many names after that, and Sypha could not avoid a snort. She lit up some fire, and they stayed there, under the edge of the roof, staring at the storm. Suddenly, Trevor asked no one in special:
"Why was that lady back in the stable giving me a mean look?"
"I lied to her," Alucard answered, as if he had not done anything.
"Oh. Was it?" Trevor frowned.
"I had told her that me and Sypha were married, in order to-"
"You did what?"
There was silence.
"Exactly what you've heard me say," Alucard shrugged.
"Sypha, is that true?" Trevor raised his voice.
"Yeah. So what?" She replied. "What's the problem-"
"What are you two up to?"
Sypha ran her free hand over her face, disappointed, and begged, "For God's sake, wait us finish speaking."
"There's nothing to explain about such a thing," Trevor turned his back.
She and Alucard waited for him to turn around the building towards the rain. Sypha put out the fire and created an ice wall, in which Trevor slammed his face for the millionth time that day, looking down as he walked. He fell to the ground and she approached, stepping on his chest, since he rolled face up.
"You're staying here and listening to us, you hopeless beetlehead," she crossed her arms, "Now, get up."
"It's sort of hard with a… Foot on top of me."
Sypha removed her foot and he got up. "What's you guys excuse?" Trevor asked, "Were you afraid the lady would give you her daughter, Alucard?"
"Stop supposing things for a fucking second," Alucard rolled his eyes, "What did you want me to do? I'm an unknown, grown man. Imagine your vulnerable daughter, in an enclosed space with a man she doesn't know. Your daughter showing an ugly, deep scar on her thigh to that man, without a hint of shame. What would you do?"
"I wouldn't lie to the person who's with me for almost a year," Trevor gave Sypha a mean look.
"She didn't lie to anybody, Trevor. I did, and that was all. And, honestly? It wasn't even meant for you. I told you the truth, period. I was too busy hitting that damn thing. You know how troublesome they are. Use your brain, let the lady find strange whatever she wants, it's none of her business."
Sypha pressed her forehead with a hand and put out the fire again. The kitchen boy opened the door again, saying they could enter that way.
"Leave him there," she sighed, "Let's come in."
Alucard followed her and they crossed the kitchen without looking much to the sides, but thankful for the warmness. Sypha had the key, and they climbed to the bedroom to leave the drenched cloaks.
"Let's go to the saloon," Alucard shook his head, "Staying upstairs will just get us in more trouble."
"I know that."
They headed downstairs. It was not a concert day, so there was only conversation to hear, to a volume that Sypha would rather not have to stand. They sat as close to the fireplace as possible, and most of the occupied tables had the best places. They ordered a cider for each, without an appetite, even with that many hours without eating. After finishing the mug, she looked to the bottom and accepted when the waitress offered her another one.
"You know, it's the first time me and him have this sort of problem," Sypha looked at the crackling wood, "When it was just the two of us, this never happened," she did not see if Alucard was staring at her, or if he was even listening, but she went on talking, "Anything like this was solved leaving the next day. There was no real reason to lie."
"He could've come in and figured out things, if he wanted," they both got their heads up, and Alucard looked at her, "It's not like we forbid him to do it."
"Yeah," she shrugged, "It's hard to deal with him when he drills a thing in his head. He sees things another way only after some time's gone."
"Why don't you talk about yourself for a moment?"
Sypha opened her mouth to reply and felt the words escaping her. "As, for example?", she asked.
"I don't know. How are you feeling?"
"Maybe…" She took a while to formulate, "Maybe like all of us. Exhausted, in pain, and cold."
"Tell me about it," Alucard sighed, "But go on."
"It's easier when I ask the questions," Sypha laughed.
"You can do it. Tell me about what's been on your mind," his hand reached for hers with a brief caress.
Sypha held her breath for a second and took a gulp on the cider. May it help me speak. "Well, one of the things is that…" She began, "I think this case isn't near its end. I mean, we know how to eliminate the shadows now, but not how are the people possessed. And, if we keep going this way, dealing with one at a time…"
"… I don't think we can take it, either."
"I guess we'll have to leave the city after dealing with their source," Sypha looked down with a low spirit, "We can't save everyone."
"And that bothers you?"
"It does, you know. I wish I could do more."
"You already do a lot," Alucard smiled, then left the happy semblant behind, "You shouldn't be too hard on yourself. I am the one creating more problems than I should."
"Don't say such a thing. If it wasn't you, the nun and Katrina would be dead. You saved two lives."
"And you two would've saved the same two lives without me."
"Alucard, maybe we'd be dead without you."
He closed his eyes, pressing them with his fingers. "That's not true."
"Of course it is," Sypha held herself back not to raise her voice and gently grabbed his forearm on the table, "Stop that kind of thing."
"I caused nothing but problems for you both. I'm sorry," he started to get up and Sypha held him stronger. Alucard sighed and opened his reddish eyes to stare at her with some disbelief.
"I'm not going after you," Sypha felt like being assertive, "Stay here."
He eased on his arm and sat down again.
"It was no one's fault," she went on, "It had to be done, you said it yourself ten minutes ago. What's wrong with you?"
Alucard seemed at a loss of words, looking for them in the flames. "That's what I mean about being sick. There are moments in which I just can't do it."
It was her turn to gently rub his forearm with her thumb, over the jacket, and letting him go. "And is it one of those moments?" She softened her voice.
"One of many. It's something that haunts me."
"I wish I could understand how you feel."
He laughed with a shade of irony. "And I don't want you to understand," he drank the remains of the cider, "I don't know if you understanding me would help."
"What would, then?"
"Writing, it's what's working. Things seem clearer when I see myself that way."
"What way?" She asked.
"As if I'm a foreign thing I'm studying," he looked at his own open hands, "Ias if I needed those strategic details to attack myself."
"So, it is like you were fighting yourself."
"Yes, one could think that way."
How much can we do for you… And how? Sypha sighed. "What if you come to destroy yourself in that fight?" She thought out loud.
He had a sad smile. "It's harder to kill me than it looks like."
And there's no lie in that. Sypha had the same smile. "You're strong, Alucard."
"It's not like I deserved my strength."
"I could bet that you do deserve it," she looked at her empty cider mug. Trevor's still outside, "Are you thinking the same as I am?"
"Maybe," Alucard frowned, "Are you picking up the golden child outside?"
"Spot on. Wait just a second," Sypha left through the front door in order not to bother people in the kitchen and turned around the building. She had her hood on and dodged the rain water with her hands, manipulating it to fall besides her. Trevor balled himself up in the dark by the back door, underneath his drenched fur cloak, "Come in," she called."
"Don't tell me what to do."
"You're so rude."
Trevor said no more. Sypha got closer and put a hand on his arm; she felt him shaking and lit up a flame on the other hand. He did not look at her, not even for a moment.
"Come on," she pulled him.
Sypha noticed his regretting semblant, but he did not budge. Alright, talking will work now, "Trevor, you like when I wear another man's shirt. You make unfunny jokes about adultery. You want to do risky things with me in a place where you can be seen. And now, because we had to tell a necessary lie that wasn't even for you, you're making it harder?Stop it and come in. I still have to take care of these bruises of yours."
She untied her thinner cloak and covered him with it. He seemed thankful, but did not say a word.
"Don't stay out here in the cold anymore," she said.
He pulled her in for a quiet hug, and they looked at the rainfall.
"I was an idiot," he kissed her cheek.
"You were."
"I believe you guys."
"You should do, from the beginning. Come. I'll pay you a round."
"Really?" He hugged her tighter.
"Do I look like I'm kidding?" She frowned.
Trevor grabbed her chin and kissed her, in that way he only did when no one was looking.