Let the Symphony Last for Eternity
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix and her bag of Dice
Beta By: More of Lady Lunar Phoenix and some time since I wrote this chapter.
A/N: Not much change here...
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So a trio of vampire hunting women were walking in the Castle of Dracula. It felt like the set up to a very bad joke, yet it was where the girls found themselves when it occurred to them to look out a window. Of course Charlotte and Stella had been underground the whole time, while Shanoa never thought to look out of the castle and why would she? The castle had been making sense up until the point when she hit the underground and met this group; only to realize that the doors were not functioning like they should have.
But the truth wasn't so simple, the castle wasn't one great big hallway, there were twists and turns all over the place. So perhaps if they could figure out where they were 'now', if it happened again they could just look out the window. Granted it wasn't the perfect plan, but it was better than just roaming around a castle ruled by a vampire without a clue. Stella could certainly insist to that.
"So... basically, Richter ended up missing and your church was trying to find a way to defeat Dracula 'without' a Belmont?" Charlotte asked, her tone of voice the one of a semi strict historian learning a new fact. "Odd that I've never heard of it."
"That's what we were taught, but the truth was that my order, and it wasn't really a church in the end, was founded to bring him back. My teacher wanted to resurrect Dracula and was going to use me as the sacrifice." Shanoa explained, perhaps her 'emotionless' tone was less that she had no emotions and more that she was still in a type of shock?
The trio had been swapping stories, about how their fates seemed intertwined with the Castle they currently were in. For which Charlotte eventually became the master story teller, as Stella wasn't versed in the direct blood line. While Shanoa was never taught anything beyond the Belmont name, anything about their history was omitted due to indifference. Yet after a while, Stella began to chuckle softly to herself bringing Charlotte to a pause. "Stella?"
"It is nothing. Just that we've met a woman from the time of Richter Belmont, and one from after he and the clan went underground. Yet we do not seem to care at all about that fact," Stella noted aloud, causing the other two young women with them to pause as well.
It was true after all, they were from different times, meeting and chatting with women from other times as though nothing strange was going on.
"The downside of hunting, we're all staying on the topic of hunting vampires, so there's nothing to really make us stick out." Maria offered with a rueful but cheerful smile on her lips.
"Man, we need to get more out of life," Charlotte noted with a sigh as they entered a large open space in the chapel. It was large and airy with a wooden series of stairs against both walls spiraling upwards to doors set above. On the left was a long vast hallway lined with large stain glass windows on either side of the room. Beyond that was probably the church alter and set up proper, allowing for whoever to go and receive blessings from a man of the cloth. Though what reason would Dracula have for allowing such a thing? "I wonder what type of woman Dracula's wife was, to bring all this into the castle."
"Does it matter?" Shanoa asked, turning away from the vast hall to face the young caster.
"I suppose not. But... it exists so at some time or another, Dracula 'had' to be more than just the angry vampire lord we've dealt with. It wouldn't make sense any other way..." Charlotte replied, her voice becoming inner directed as though she was thinking more and disconnecting herself from her current company.
"Regardless of the type of woman his bride was, she is long since dead and of no help for us. Further more the odds of her dying a peaceful death are non-existent," Stella pointed out, with Shanoa nodding.
"Why would a vampire who has lived a peaceful life suddenly change? No, something must have created an upheaval in his life to make such a sharp transition from this," Shanoa gestured around to the far distant pews and alters to letting her hand drop. "To where we stand now."
"I just hope Jonathan isn't here, I know him. He'll just be reckless and if he uses Vampire Killer," Charlotte shook her head, leaving Stella to explain to Shanoa.
"Anyone other then a Belmont attempting to use the Vampire Killer must exchange their own life force with the whip for it to function. That is to say, to wield the whip, even with the blessing of the Belmont Clan, the whip demands the sacrifice of the wielder's life force."
Shanoa blinked in surprise as she heard that, looking between the pair for further clarification. The history of the whip and the clan were both rather guarded, the only reason anyone outside of the clans knew that the whip was an important part of the hunt, was that it was always there. Each Belmont to face Dracula was only armed with the whip when they set out. Saying it was a family heirloom was ridiculous, one simply did not go to face the Lord of Evil with a family heirloom unless it could be of use. The fate of the world was above pageantry of what one wore.
The group moved among the pews, noting the lack of dust, though there was no doubt that Dracula had been absent from these seats in centuries, if he ever entered. Gazing at the windows encouraged Charlotte into turning into an owl and checking them for a view outside.
"Does she require a spell book for 'all' her magic casting?"
Stella cast a glance at Shanoa before giving a slight nod, "her family is akin to the Morris clan, distant relatives of Sypha's blood line. As such all require a focus for their spell casting."
"She strikes me as extremely knowledgeable of the clans and castle. Do you think she knows of any similar situations such as this?" Shanoa inquired, as the downy soft owl landed on the windowsill.
"If she did, she would have already spoken of them, at great length," Stella explained, emphasizing the last few words. "So odd that the castle would be this... contained..."
"It's unnatural to be certain, for even if some of the monsters have been assigned normal human duties, those that haven't..." Shanoa shook her head. The Harpies and Medusa Heads napping in the clock tower came to mind.
"I saw the inner gardens, kinda creepy though from what I could see," Charlotte reported as she returned to her true form upon her return.
"Well, this 'is' the Castle of Dracula," Stella noted aloud, but Charlotte merely stuck her tongue out at the LeCarde before replying.
"No, there were written records on how Sypha dressed when she aided Trevor Belmont. Right now in the garden, there were all these statues starting to mold into existence from the ground it seemed. They looked like the description of Sypha, but they were broken, like someone took a mace to them."
"Just her? I could understand the trio, but not just her," Stella replied, her expression puzzled while Shanoa stood there trying to recall if she ever heard of a 'Sypha'. "For that matter, are you even sure? Sypha was described as always wearing a long hooded cloak to pass off as a man."
"Who 'is' this woman you mention? Her name sounds familiar but..." Shanoa looked between the pair, patiently waiting for an explanation.
"Oh, Sypha was the magic user of the original three who helped Trevor defeat Dracula in 1479," Charlotte elaborated for the glyph master.
"The magic user was a woman? Then who was the pirate and who was the third person who aided them? I can no longer trust my sources of information," Shanoa explained, looking between the two. Barlowe had sought the return of Dracula, so how could Shanoa trust anything the man said about the history of the clans?
"Oh.. Yes, Sypha, her real name was Sophia Vernandes, but she was the magic wielder of the group. Then there was Grant DaNasty who was a pirate," Charlotte gave those names willingly, yet the third name was unspoken. Shanoa kept waiting, her expression unchanging, but Charlotte didn't seem to be forth coming about that name. "I'm sorry, but it's a family secret. All we were ever told was that he was a vampire that turned traitor against Dracula. There was no exact information regarding the vampire, probably to keep Dracula and those loyal to him from hunting the vampire down. So no one really ever asked a question about that vampire."
"I see," Shanoa replied nodding slightly accepting the answer. "The Belmont must have been an interesting man, to unite the strengths of a magic user, a pirate and a vampire with his own to defeat Dracula."
"Yeah, all the Belmonts who defeated Dracula had something special about them. Trevor for that reason, Simon for facing Dracula twice, once being crippled by a curse. Then there was Christopher who had to face his own son and free him from Dracula, Juste as he was the strongest magic user among the clan, and Richter for being the strongest of all of them until our time," Charlottes' tone was that of the eternal bookworm at that point.
"I do not suppose you know where the Vampire Killer came from?" Shanoa asked, her expression one of mild interest, all this new to her.
"Trevor received it during his prayers, before going to the castle, from the Poltergeist King. The story goes that he was praying before a tomb stone in a graveyard when the King appeared and gave him the whip."
Shanoa raised an eyebrow at the abrupt ending, "and then?"
"'And then' what?" Charlotte asked in return, her head tilted to the side. "That's all there was to it."
"A ghost king in a graveyard gave a whip that had properties that allowed for the defeat of the Vampire King?" Shanoa repeated, her eyes asking of the pair were playing with her.
"No, that is seriously how the story went. There is always the possibility that there was more to the story that was not written. After all we 'are' talking about a weapon that can defeat Dracula yet is whip. The nature of the weapon itself makes for a very unlikely weapon of choice after all." Stella glided away from the girls, her way of coaxing for them to continue moving. She had a sister to look after and Loretta wasn't just going to appear out of thin air while they chit chatted. Or maybe she would?
The sisters had been trying to forge a life for themselves without their father. Not that it had been an easy going trip. Losing a parent to violence was always harder then the peaceful end of old age, or even illness. Bearing witness to what they had, branded an unseen mark on both the girls, but that aside, they would overcome. They would carry on without their father and even if they were trapped in the castle of Dracula again, they would succeed. Stella refused to think that maybe right then a vampire was forcing her twin back into the life of undead servitude.
The trio moved on, tossing ideas back and forth about what could have brought about such a situation with the doors, the castle as a whole and how they even got there. It was amid this discussion of possible magical gates that they reached one of 'those' doors. There was no outward signs that the door was a gateway to 'where ever the Castle would like to dump you'. But that was what it had been doing.
But between Charlotte's nosing about, coupled with what little Stella could sense, the door seemed pretty normal. No glyphs were carved into the archway or door itself, no spell scrolls or imprints of any possible magical tampering. Not even a stupid painting showing a possible location for everyone to be dumped at, thank you very much mister artist.
"Well?" Charlotte held out her hand expectantly, waiting for the other two girls to grab her hand so they could leave.
"Perhaps we should split up by taking the door in turns, to see what happens of course," Shanoa suggested, only to get a shake of the head from both girls.
"Numbers are stronger, besides Charlotte doesn't use weapons like we do, between the three of us, we're compensating for each weakness."
Shanoa thought about Stella's words for a moment before nodding slowing, slipping her own hand into Charlotte and turning towards Stella so the LeCarde could open the door.
"One for the money, two for the show, three to get ready," Charlotte quipped.
"And four to go," Stella replied, before opening the door, revealing a large gray wall ahead of them. There was a sound of rain pouring down from the other side of the wall, as though the skies had opened up and just dropped an endless amount of rain upon the castle. There was a chilled breeze wafting about the air as well, which went completely and utterly against what they saw when they looked out through the windows. Full moon to downpour?
Stella's first step towards the door created a rather interesting sensation in the other two girls, as though they weren't walking rather floated through the door. For Stella it wasn't all that different than when she traveled with her sister. For Charlotte it was a weird sensation of her legs just dangling below her, as though she was hoisting herself up on bars and just letting the rest of her lower body... well... dangle there.
Stella never noticed, merely taking that first step over the threshold into the Outer Wall of the castle. Apprehensive that they may be separated or attacked by monsters, and just as much if they didn't. The air smelled of old stone with its moss and ivy, with that sharp tang of chill that didn't sit right with the view of the gardens below. But the stone was dry underfoot and as she passed through the door, she reveled in the first time being outside the castle. Even if they couldn't just slip through the window to escape, there was somehow, a greater relief knowing they were outside. Or at least closer to the outside then when they were underground or inside the chapel.
"Wait a moment..." Shanoa stepped past Aulin and LeCarde, quietly searching the night air for something they couldn't see. But as she stood there, the glyph on her back began to glow. "Perhaps there is something I can pick up outside..."
The pair cast a look between each other before focusing back on Shanoa, whose form began to shift, her aura becoming demonic, and wings beginning to sprout out of her back. But before the pair could express their surprise, Shanoa spoke, "I smell fresh blood. Further down? Has to be..."
And before the pair could say another word, Shanoa released whatever she had used, and began moving off to find the source of the blood. Her steps were firm and direct, a huntress seeking prey, but her words worried them. After all Charlotte had gotten hurt falling into a pitch black room full of spikes, what if someone else got hurt?
/
Camilla looked up at the faint sounds of footsteps and voices from above. The moment she sank her fangs into her new pet the skies above seemed to had opened up. Rain poured from the skies beating against the outer wall and splashing onto whatever little window it could strike. But despite even that hard noise, the soft sounds of footsteps couldn't be lost, lighter then men, the stiff sounds of material brushing against each other. Smirking as she lightly dabbed at the corner of her mouth as a trio of unknown women joined her. "Ahh I see that there 'are' others, be you hunters as well?"
"That... wait... isn't that Juste Belmont? What have you done to him?" The honey blond in the back called out in shock, before nearly tearing open a book and looking inside frantically.
"Ahh beautiful girls, well, I don't have time to play with you at the moment. But soon I and my new knight will be able to entertain you 'properly'," she purred in answer. She casually let her fingers trail along the newly made bite marks on the hunter's neck before lifting him up. She wasn't stupid, three hunters clearly, and that girl carried a strong air of magic about her.
Camilla wasn't going to take the risk of them wresting her prize from her before she could use him. Instead she rushed down towards the door just below her, while the other two vampire hunting girls gave chase.
Oh how utterly, sinfully, delightful! With this Belmont she could collect other hunters and deal with the traitors!