I am soooo sorry it has taken so long. It sucks when you have a story, know what you want to happen and how you want it to end and don't have the time to put it to words. I am trying to do better I promise. This chapter feels choppy tho but I hope you like it anyway.

The pain in her head made everything hurt. Sonia would have screamed if that would not have been painful as well. The pain seared through the back of her neck and dug at her eyes and temples, a burning pain. Her body whole body ached, as if on fire. It was so hot. She was burning, she had to be. It hurt to breathe. She could hear voices around her. They were muffled, as if she were under water. Why was it so hot? She thought she felt hands on her. Were they holding her down? It was so hot, she just wanted to get her clothes off. Hands cradled her head now. Soft hands, cool to the touch. Like her mother's. The voices seemed to have hushed.

Sypha let out a sigh. The girl's thrashing seemed to have calmed and her body was beginning to cool. She looked down at the face she held between her hands. The magic will burn her alive if allowed. It was a miracle the girl had lived this long. Sypha considered the figure laid out before her. No, not a girl. A young woman, at least. Perhaps not much that much older than Simon. Sypha smoothed a lock of dark hair away from the girl's damp face. The poor thing was slick with sweat.

Sypha had managed to get the fever under control, but it had required her own power to do so. She had used her own mastery of the elements to cool the girl's body down. It required careful and concise concentration. She certainly did not want to freeze the girl's vessels. But it was something she ran the risk of doing with those two constantly bickering in her ear.

"What the bloody hell is wrong with her?"

"If I knew, don't you think I would have done something by now Belmont?"

"I don't know Alucard, would you? I mean look at girl! Is she contagious?"

"No ..."

"Are you sure?"

"-yes-"

"- because you don't sound sure -"

"There has not been a known Bloodborn in at least a hundred years, Belmont. My knowledge is limited."

"So she could be contagious!"

"That's enough! Get out!" Sypha was done with them at that point.

"Go on Alucard, we'll send somebody if anything changes -"

"Both of you, out!"

"Me? But -"

"OUT!" Sypha had pushed them with a blast of cold air towards the door, just in case they decided to protest some more. She loved Trevor, but the man could be like a second child at times. And Alucard could be just as petulant. Once the room was quiet, she could get down to concentrating again.

Bloodborn magic. Such a thing had not been heard of since ... since ... well, a very long time, to say the least. Sypha's own knowledge was very limited. She knew they were born with the ability to control the elements, it was said that some could be stronger in certain things than others. It was said that their blood had healing properties, but that it required some sort of sacrifice from the wielder. It was also said that their blood was like some sort of aphrodisiac for vampires. So much so that they had been hunted to extinction hundreds of years ago. Old magic returned. Who is this girl?

Sypha sighed and rubbed the space between her eyes. So many questions in need of answers. Where to begin?

"Will she be alright?" A small voice squeaked.

Sypha gave a little start and glanced around the room, her eyes pausing in the corner. A young girl stood pressed back in the shadows in what Sypha could only assume was her attempt not to be noticed. And, in truth, she had not been noticed in all the commotion. Must be one of the new servants they had heard tell about. Sypha gave her a gentle smile and waved the girl forward.

"Yes, yes she will," Sypha answered. "Fetch me some of the cloth by the basin, child. Go on please."

The wide eyed girl hesitated for a moment before quickly moving over to the table with the large basin and grabbing several strips of cloth and bring them to Sypha. She set them down on the bed next to her, casting several worried glances at the sleeping woman next to her.

"Don't be afraid," Sypha soothed, "she will be fine. Just a fever brought on by ... well, just a fever that is under control now."

Sypha took a strip of cloth and began to wipe some of the dampness from the sleeping woman's brow and neck. The serving girl still hovered in her peripheral.

"So then," the child began hesitantly, "she's not ... she hasn't been ..."

"She hasn't been what, child?" Sypha prompted.

"She hasn't ... the ... lord, he -"

The girl cut off abruptly with a jump as a soft knock was heard at the chamber door. Sypha gave the girl a reassuring pat as she got up from where she sat on the bed and made her way to the door. What was that child about to say, she wondered. Sypha opened the door.

"I thought I told you two ..."

It was now Sypha's turn to stop abruptly. Upon opening the door, she did not find her husband and friend waiting outside, but instead found a thin wiry little fellow with large, thick, round glasses blinking at her. Sypha gave him a curious look as he looked at her, his face giving away from surprise to realization.

"Ah, Speaker Belnades, yes?"

"I am, I mean I was ... I am Sypha Belmont now," Sypha corrected, "and you are?"

"Ah yes, erm, of course. I knew this. Forgive me, Lady Belmont. I am Giovanni Rinaldo Gandolfi."

The thin man made an awkward bow before her. "Please," Sypha said as she remembered the name Trevor had spoken of. She took his hands and pulled him upright, "I am just Sypha, not Lady Belmont." Sypha cringed inwardly at the thought of what Trevor would say if he heard such talk. She may never hear the end of it. "Is there something I can do for you?"

Large watery gray eyes blinked at her, as if taken off guard by her question. "Oh ah, no no. I only came by to see to Sonia."

"Sonia?"

"Yes I heard from Cornell she had taken ill."

"She's in here sir," a small voice called from behind Sypha. "She took a turn but the Lady got her well."

"Ah Ada," Giovanni smiled, "that's good, yes, good to hear." He turned a questioning gaze back to Sypha. "May I?"

It was Sypha's turn to blink as if taken off guard. "Yes," she sad with a slight shake of her head, "of course, please ..." Sypha opened the door and gestured the man in. "It is my turn to apologize."

"No, no," the thin man insisted, "I do not wish to disturb. Ah, let's see ..." he removed the thick round glasses from his face and began to wipe at them with his robe. "Ada, would you be so kind as to run and fetch some tea? I had meant to bring some but ah, can't find my kettle. And let Cornell know that everything's fine, yes? He was concerned."

The child squeaked out what Sypha thought was a yes before making quickly for the exit. Once she was out of the room and the door closed behind her, Giovanni stood a little taller and his eyes became much clearer.

"Ada is a good girl, but she can be ah, jumpy at times. Understandable I suppose, but erm, I thought it best she be out of the room." He inspected his glasses as he spoke, placing them back on his generous nose once he was satisfied with what he saw. He walked over to where the girl, Sypha now knew as Sonia, slept. He lay a hand across her forehead. "You were able to bring the fever down? With magic, yes?"

"Yes," Sypha answered as she crossed over to the bed next to him, "it was the only way to break the fever."

"Ah, you had to cool the blood then. Makes sense, makes sense. She can't control it. Not when it happens or how. These are repercussions, there are always repercussions ..." he muttered more to himself as he rubbed at his chin.

Sypha watched as he pulled back the young woman's eyelids and then moved on to place two fingers at the her throat, counting the pulse.

"She is stable," Sypha reassured. She must have sounded a little more forcibly than she intended because the little man straightened up and quickly removed his hand.

"Yes, yes, ah I can see that, I just erm ..." he stuttered apologetically, "I just, ah wanted to see if there were any fluctuations or physical changes from the magic. Not your magic or course," he added quickly, "but from hers."

Sypha's eyes narrowed. "You know what she is?"

"Oh yes, yes. That's why I am here," he said. "Alucard had me come to search the Hold to see if we can find her a way back home."

"Back home? Is she lost?"

Giovanni's head tilted slightly to the side as he considered her a moment. "Has Alucard told you nothing of this girl?"

"Other than she has blood magic, no. Why? Is there more?"

Sypha watched as the man began to rub a finger at his chin as he began to mumble something akin to a debate with himself.

"He has told you nothing," he muttered, "for some reason perhaps? Or was there no time ... Either way ah, he may not like me giving to much information before he can ... but she is lady Belmont and the Gandolfi's swore an oath to serve them and not ah ... if she does not have all of the information we could do more harm than good, and she is, ah was a speaker, odds are good she could have knowledge we do not ... ah yes, perhaps this is best. It has to be done."

He tuned to Sypha then, who had been watching with a mix of amusement and annoyance. She had been just about to interrupt when he stopped to look at her.

"Her name is Sonia Belmont. And she is not of this time. She is from the future."

The room was quiet, aside from the occasional pop from the fireplace. Trevor rummaged through the pocket of his vest for his pack of tabac, his pipe already pinched between gritted teeth as he searched. He hoped he did not leave it in his coat back in the girl's room. Sypha had run the two of them out as she saw to the girl, snapping that she would not listen to their bickering while she worked. As if he were the one who was bickering! It was Alucard who was in a panic. He thought Sypha would have noticed his obvious distress. Instead, he gets in trouble like some naughty child. She more than likely would not look to kindly on his reentering simply for a smoke.

Alucard sat silent as stone next to him. It was rather unnerving how still he could be at times. Bloody vampires. As still as he was, Trevor could tell Alucard was troubled about something. Although what, he did not know. Was it this girl? And if so, why? His reaction to the changeling was not entirely surprising, given the two species long standing hatred for the other. But his concern for the girl was unexpected to say the least. At least Trevor thought it was concern. They way he sat, eerily still with that dark expression on his face, the fellow made a colicky goat look cheerful. And what did he say was wrong with the girl? Bloodbirth? Was it a sickness? Some disease of the blood? And if that was the case was it wise for Sypha to be around her? Of course, when he expressed what he felt was a perfectly reasonable concern, Sypha had all but thrown him out of the room. A bit extreme if you asked him, but if there was one thing that Trevor had learned of women it was that when they started hissing like tea kettle gone hot, it was best to to do whatever it took to cool them down.

Still, it did not answer any of Trevor's questions. It only left him with more. Why would Alucard take on a servants that were sick, much less a changeling. Maybe he was losing his bloody mind after all. Just his luck to be around for that.

Trevor gave a little grunt of surprise. His steadfast rummaging though his pockets had finally found what he was searching for. He pulled the flat leather pouch from the inner lining of his vest and waved the tabac and pipe in a questioningly gesture to Alucard.

Only Alucard's eyes moved as they flicked towards the movement and then returned to the fire. "If you must," was all he said.

Well, it wasn't a no, Trevor thought to himself. "So," he said with a quick glance to Alucard as he stamped the tabac in the pipe with his thumb, "when the hell did you start taking on changelings?"

"It was not by choice. It was a ... necessary evil, I'm a afraid."

"Oh?"Trevor grabbed one of the small striking sticks Sypha had made for him to light his pipe. "And why is that?"

"Because no one else would take the job," Alucard answered flatly.

"Fair enough," Trevor chuckled as he lit the end of the stick in the fire. Sypha had shown him a way to light the stick by scraping it along a flat surface, but Trevor had never had any luck with that method. It always ended with the end of the stick being rubbed into dust and Trevor biting at nails. "Is this behavior normal for the two of you?"

"To be perfectly honest, I had not really had any interactions with him since he came here until today."

"Ah well, you always did have a way with introductions," Trevor commented between puffs with a grin. Alucard's lack of response did not deter Trevor in the slightest. "So the girl, she came with -"

"No."

Trevor did not even get to finish his question. Alucard's immediate response this time, definitely piqued his interest. "I didn't finish."

"I know what you were going to ask," Alucard snapped.

"No you don't."

"Yes I do -"

"-no you don't -"

"You were going to ask if she came with the changeling and she did not. She has nothing to do with him, nor he with her!"

Trevor peered at Alucard through the smoke from his pipe. It would seem that he had struck a chord with that one and the sneaking suspicions that were now playing about in Trevor's head had him wanting to finish the tune.

"Oh I see," Trevor pulled from his pipe. "Shame. They made a handsome couple, don't you think?"

"They were never a couple."

"I know, I know, I heard you." The tune in Trevor's head picked up in pace a little. Could it be? "I was just saying they -"

"I know what you are saying," Alucard cut him off coolly.

The tune in Trevor's head was now a full on jig. He puffed at his pipe and bit back the urge to smile. "Do you? Hmm yes, well," he said innocuously, "one never knows. They could find each other yet. Servants often get married."

Alucard let out a deep sigh and slowly adjusted himself in his seat, sitting up straight and crossing one long leg over the other as he looked at Trevor, his expression as serene as ever. If his voice had been cool before, now it was deep winter ice. "She is not a servant, she is a guest. And there will be no marriage with servants, not now or ever. I know what you are doing."

"Me?" Trevor blinked innocently. "I'm just talking."

"You talk too much," Alucard replied dryly.

"Fair enough." Trevor did smile this time.

Could it really be? Could it really truly be that he had feelings for this girl? Trevor had not thought that such a thing could even be possible, for his kind anyway. But then he was half human. And his father did marry. Went a touch crazy because of it, but still he married. The way Alucard had gone to that girl when she fell, surely there must be some sort of feeling there. Or perhaps he was simply reading into it. Regardless, there was more to this story.

"So, not a servant eh?" Trevor tapped the stem of his pipe against his chin. "A guest. From where."

"I'm ... not entirely certain."

Okay, Trevor thought between puffs, a bit cryptic, but okay. "You don't know?"

"Not really."

"Well, how did she get here?"

"That's ... complicated."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"It means ... it means it's complicated, that's what it means."

"Complicated? How the hell is it complicated? Did she come by horse? Did someone bring her in a wagon? How'd she get to the bloody door?"

"She did not come through the door," Alucard said, becoming annoyed, "she just appeared."

"Appeared," Trevor exclaimed in exasperation,leaning forward. "What do you mean appeared? You mean, poof like magic?"

"Yes," Alucard snapped, "poof like magic. She came through the mirror"

Trevor paused. A memory from years past tickled the back of his head. "The mirror?"

"Yes," Alucard sighed, "the mirror. It was a distance mirror. At least I had thought it was a distance mirror, but apparently it is much more."

"The one in the hold?" Trevor asked, the realization dawning on him.

"No. It was ... it was my father's."

Trevor flopped back against his seat. That certainly put things in a different light. "Well shit."

"Indeed," Alucard answered back.

Trevor sat silent for a moment, absorbing what Alucard had just said and the implications therein. "So why is she here?" He finally asked.

Alucard just shook his head. "I have no idea."

Trevor studied Alucard. It was not that he did not believe him. He did not think he would lie, at least not to them. But he could not help but think that there was more to this than Alucard was letting on.

"So," he began thoughtfully, "you don't know where she came from, how she got here, or why."

"That would be an accurate summary," Alucard agreed.

"Do you at least know her name?" Trevor asked.

Alucard did not answer right away. His eyes flicked over to the fire. "Her name ..."

"Yes, what's her name?" Trevor repeated.

"Sonia," a voice called from behind them.

Trevor turned to see Sypha standing in the doorway of the study, a small bird like man with thick round glasses hovered just past her shoulder. Trevor began to rise from his seat to go to her, but something about the look in her eyes made him pause.

"Her name is Sonia Belmont, and you," her blue eyes crackled in the firelight as she looked at Alucard, "have some explaining to do."

The conversation went well into the night and on into the early morning hours. Sypha's questioning had been relentless. A lesser man would have collapsed from exhaustion. But then Alucard was not a lesser man, or, at least half of him was not anyway. Trevor took a moment to appreciate his wit.

In the end, they had only left after Trevor had pulled Sypha aside and threatened to carry her out over his shoulder if need be. They had been traveling for days and arrived yesterday evening only to be greeted with all this. It was a wonder they were still standing. He needed some rest if he was to process all of this, and there was much to process here. Distance mirrors, transmissions mirrors, time bending or looping or overlapping or whatever the hell they were talking about. It was exhausting. Even the little Gandolfi fellow was hunched over in a chair asleep, softly snoring.

Alucard had said he would have rooms prepared in the castle, but for now Trevor only wanted to return to a space that was his. They would return once they had rested up, giving Alucard's people enough time to prepare. Alucard's people ... the words sounded strange to him. He was to tired to care at the moment. Sypha, on the other hand, was a different story though.

"Can you believe this Trevor," she chirped brightly behind him, as if they had not been up all night and the day before. "This is ... well it is almost unbelievable! But then Alucard had always said that his father was a trove of knowledge from ages lost. But a transmission mirror, Carpathian no less! The last one was said to have been made over four hundred years ago. And this one can bend time! Can you believe it? Trevor? Can you?"

Trevor rubbed at the space between his eyes as he stifled a yawn. "I'll tell you what I can't believe," he said as he freed the bed from the latch, folding it out gently from the wall to the floor. "I can't believe there is still one of those Gandolfis running around. I had no idea any of them had survived the fire, much less the angry mob. They were clever little fuckers though, so I guess I shouldn't be too surprised."

He meant that too. He had been quite surprised there was one left. He could not remember much of them, other than his father having discussions about alchemy and the like. He also knew that they were responsible for the creation of many of the weapons in the Belmont Hold. Helping to imbue them with the magical properties to go against the hordes of the night. It could be a very convenient thing that one just happened to still be around. Now he just might come in handy.

Trevor stopped arranging the bed when he realized that Sypha was simply standing there, silently staring at him. He knew just from the quiet way she was watching him that he had done something wrong. When a woman went silent on you, there was usually trouble in the offing. "What?" He asked slowly.

"That's it?"

"What's it?" He replied.

"You have just been told of a relic that has not been heard of for four hundred years exists, and that people can pass through matter and time because of it. You have just been informed that a descendant from the future has walked through, a descendant with blood born magic. Your descendant! And that is your reaction?"

Trevor slowly reached for the blankets on the shelf, his eyes never leaving Sypha. He could not help but feel as if the ice he was on was thinning. "What would you like me to say ..."

"That girl in that room is our great great great great great great and how many other greats granddaughter!" She exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air in exasperation for emphasis.

Trevor shrugged as he continued to make up the bed. "Oh come on Sypha, we don't know that. She could be anyone from any time. No one knows where she's really from."

"How can you say that," Sypha cried as she jumped onto the bed. "You don't believe Alucard?"

"I believe him when he says she came through the mirror," he said as he pulled off his waistcoat and belt, "but as for the time travel ... well ..."

"Well what?"

"Well ...," he began as he set his belt down and picked up the two goose feather pillows Sypha had made for them. He had thought the idea was silly at first, stuffing sacks with feathers, but now he could sleep with out them. "Well, for one, who knows what happens to a person when they pass through those mirrors. For all we know, it could have rattled something in her head."

"That is not how they work Trevor."

"How do you know," he cut in, "have you ever walked through one? You said they haven't been seen for some four hundred years. Who knows what it does? Hell, Alucard didn't even know it was there till some girl stumbled through it."

"He thought it had been broken," Sypha interjected as she took the pillows from his hands, "and had not taken the time to inspect it properly after it had been damaged." She set the pillows down and began to shrug out of her over coat. "But her name, Trevor. You have to admit that is something."

"Fah," he dismissed as he sat down and began to pull at his boot. "That could nothing more than chance."

"Oh you are frustrating," she exclaimed as she flopped down on her back on the bed. "She has magic of the blood! Of course she is our descendant!"

"There is that blood stuff again," he grunted as he wrestled with his boot. "Just because she has something fucked with her blood doesn't mean she is related. These blood-people or whatever you call them, died out. You said it yourself. You also said you weren't born with this ... with your talent."

"I know," Sypha rolled onto her side and looked at Trevor, "and I wasn't. But, my talent, has to come from somewhere. And it was said that many Speakers had been born with magic of the blood in the past. It could be dormant. And her name ...," Sypha trailed off.

"Her name doesn't mean anything. Even Alucard and the Gandolfi fellow agreed that it could be coincidence," Trevor said as he pulled the second of his boots off. He stood and walked towards the cabin door. Sypha would not let him keep his boots in the cabin. She said they smelled. Something Trevor thought was a fat load of rubbish. He could never smell anything.

"A strong coincidence," Sypha mumbled as he walked by.

"But still a coincidence," Trevor insisted as he opened the door and set his boots down on the steps. "For all we know, she could come from a place where everyone is called Belmont. It can't be that uncommon a name. Same with Belnades. I mean, you Speakers are all over the place. You have to reckon some of you would've put down roots somewhere. You can't be the only one, right? Right?"

Trevor walked back over to the bed to find Sypha's eyes closed, her breathing slow and deep. He sighed as he rubbed the space between his eyes and sat down next to her. He enjoyed watching her sleep. It soothed him for some reason. He reached down and slipped her shoes off her feet before he lay himself next to her, carefully curving his body around hers so as not to wake her.

Trevor had thought sleep would come quickly, but it did not. Instead his mind began to race. Thoughts of mirrors and time travel and the possibility of this strange girl, with old bloody magic in her veins being a long lost relative.

And the odds were she was related. No matter how much he tried to convince himself otherwise, he knew in his bones that she was somehow related. Because that was just his bloody luck.