Let the Symphony last for Eternity
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
A/N: … back when I wrote this chapter I had no idea how badly the rolls were about to go...
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"So now we have two Vampire Killers? What now?" Jonathan asked, holding the spare whip in his hand and looking at it thoughtfully.
"You can't keep it. Its awake and needs to be with Juste or it will latch onto you to stay awake." Maxim stated, one of the oldest fears he had about the Vampire Killer wiggling its way to the surface of his mind like worms after a rain. The thirst for the hunt that eventually consumed Justes' grandfather Simon. Even if Lydia never loved Maxim, he couldn't bear the thought that Juste would become another such hunter. "Let me carry it, since we don't know how or when we will get back home. At least with me, it will reach Juste."
And now that uncomfortable weight hung from Maxim's belt, bouncing ever so slightly with each step. Reminding him constantly of losing control of the relics of Dracula in his dream and how he woke up without them on his persons. He had to get the pieces back, get rid of them and forget this whole mad plot of his before Juste and Lydia got dragged into it. If he had bothered to listen to Juste talking about magic he might have picked up something that would have stopped him from being cut off from Jonathan. Instead he found himself walking down a long hallway full of grandfather clocks resting along a wall.
The blond had proven himself true when he spoke of the doors. Maxim took the same door he exited out of and instead of the library he found himself in a hallway with blue walls and golden statues of angels with their wings spread to the heavens. Alone. He had turned to look behind him the moment he opened the door, only to see another room stretch out behind him. Jonathan was no where to be found as though Maxim had been in the castle interior the whole time.
But the Whip was proof that what he had experienced was real, a solid weight against that potential acidic thought that maybe he 'was' going crazy. A castle that was filled with monsters that didn't attack people? Doors that teleported people to random locations on a whim? Meeting people from the future? Just trying to rationalize it himself made him feel like he should question his own sanity.
White marble floors stretched far before him, being swept by maids, statues tucked into ornate pillar formed alcoves were getting dusted by skeletons. An expanse of space without a single living soul, should not have bothered a hunter. A hunter of any type was stronger on their own, by not giving away their scent to their would be prey. Yet when hunting Vampires, where the question of who was predator and who was prey was not answered until one died, made it harder to define. But Jonathan had spoken of meeting other hunters.
Was it all a dream?
Was it reality?
Did he really get possessed by Dracula and put his dearest friends lives in danger? The pouch he had used to carry the relics was gone, there was no other pouches on him large enough to hold those macabre items. He had assumed that he had a nightmare of his failure, but this was the Castle and the relics weren't found in the Castle. For that matter it wasn't even a castle twisted by the darkness of said relics, as Jonathan had stated that this 'was' Dracula's Castle. Or was it? Had the monsters of Dracula found him and brought him here?
Maybe that's why the Castle had been restored? The Castle had been restored and somewhere in here amid all this strangeness was Juste, without Vampire Killer. What could that guy do without the Whip? His clan tied everything to the Whip, even with his spellwork, his strongest spells were linked to the Whip. Meant to compensate for his lack of the raw physical power his grandfather was renowned for. Now thanks to Maxim and his thick head Juste was trapped in the Castle weaponless, Maxim had to fix this. But how? Somewhere in this massive castle, Juste was roaming around weaponless and Maxim could not trust the doors to take him anywhere. Going from point to point was one thing, but random locations meant that he could be sent to the wrong area every time.
And why wouldn't he be misdirected every time? After all, giving the Vampire Killer back to Juste would expedite the death of their Master, of course Maxim would not be lead to Juste.
It was with this worry upon his heart and mind that he came upon a long hallway lined with grandfather clocks each ticking in near perfect unison. There were maids dusting the clocks as well as several towering armors with flea men bouncing around helping with feather dusters and cloths. The walls were of gray slabs of stone, with stone bricks underfoot giving the whole feel as a type of tomb feeling. A penetrating chill that seeped its way into the body and stole away the warmth while ornate wooded pillars embedded in the wall as decorations spaced out with a clock, a statue, another clock, then a pillar followed by another clock.
The ever swinging motion of the pendulums of these time pieces were comforting in their consistent motion. Eternal so long as someone maintained it, in much the same way the hunters' eternal vigilance protected humanity from the Dark Children. But with every swing was a reminder of another second passing that Juste was weaponless and in the Castle. Another reminder that the Vampire Hunter's own Curse had enslaved them. Jonathan, for example, wasn't a hunter despite being trained to fight, his training was probably geared more for ceremonial reasons.
Juste had spoken of a separate clan that's sole purpose was to carry the Whip until a worthy successor had been born. Making it easier for everyone to figure out when such a child was born, and to prepare for Dracula's return. But the name of said clan, like the ancient vampire who aided Trevor, was kept a tightly guarded secret. Having met Jonathan he finally understood why, they could not use the Whip themselves without sacrificing their own lives. Revealing that secret clan name meant putting all those members in danger.
Yet despite all this insanity going on in his mind, the world seemed as normal as ever. If one simply ignored the animated armor, flea men and zombies in the room with him. Such a stark contrast for him as he walked through the hallway. In his mind his thoughts were flying from one thought to another with such speed it was all he could do not to ask if no one else noticed this. He wanted to grab one of this maids and shake them, demand to know if they couldn't see how absolutely deranged this was. It made him walk quicker through the hallway and the only thing stopping him from running was the unwillingness to show weakness. Weakness could quite possibly set off the monsters after him, or get him in trouble like in the library again.
Being Shushed by zombie maids... No one was going to believe him.
He reached an arch way that led to a smaller room, which got his curiosity as he passed into it, four torches lit on the left and right sides of the room. On the left was a massive clock face which meant he was in some part of the Clock Tower? The flames from the torches warmed the air and illuminated the large stone work face of the clock. It also cast its flickering light upon a pair of armed angel statues standing upon platforms. The way the light flickered off the toga like wraps and the faces gave an eerie impression of movement off the figures. With this being the Castle it was also quite possible that they 'would' move on their own. Probably seek a bath at this rate or someplace warmer, for despite the large torches the room was oddly cold.
"Maxim? Is that you?"
Maxim stopped short from hearing his name spoken above his head, not just his name but also being spoken by Juste. He immediately turned around and began searching the ceiling of the room and found Juste behind the statue above him.
"Juste? Praise God I've been worried about you! What are you doing up there?" He asked moving about to get a better look at his friend.
"Well I was walking around and when I tried to jump down there this statue moved into place and I got stuck," Juste explained with a rueful shrug and chuckle. "I'm not interested in hurting myself further either, I already hurt my hand, so I'm not going to try to pull my foot."
"Ahh well I'm glad you're safe. Look!" Maxim reached down to his belt and removed the Vampire Killer from it to hold up for Juste's view. "I met a guy name Jonathan who was able to get your Whip out of a cage out at the wall!"
"Really? That was nice of him," Juste remarked shifting his posture a bit to look past the angel a bit better.
"Juste have you run into strangers? Or maybe I should say 'things that are odd even for this castle'?" Maxim asked, turning his gaze towards the bottom of the statue. There he could see a mechanism that seemed to maybe slide the statues from side to side? But Juste's foot was in the way, wedged between the statue's current place and where it may have needed to go.
"I know of a few things, a pair of vampires to be exact," Juste agreed shifting his gaze to the back of the angels' stone head.
"A pair?" Maxim shifted his quizzical gaze towards his friends' face as he pondered that. Was Juste saying that it was 'not' Dracula? But who could possibly have the power to control the Castle itself? Did they defeat Dracula and take over, or was Dracula just not resurrected yet and they were somehow able to bring the Castle back for their own purpose?
"Peculiar? Isn't it? The idea that there are vampires in the world who would betray Dracula. But that is the situation as it stands, a pair of Vampires have betrayed the Lord of Darkness and tried to take over the castle." Juste leaned back against the wall giving a casual shrug. "Also there seems to be two Dark Children who have been trying to defend the Dark Lord... It looks almost like there is a Dark War going on in the Castle and we've been brought in to moderate it." Juste noted as he shifted in thought.
The castle's behavior 'was' a strange phenomenon, it was an unliving object that was bent to the will of its Master. How could it make a decision on its own to bring people here? "Juste, maybe by chance you've been able to figure out the doors? Why they seemed to teleport people at random around the Castle?" Maxim asked, as he tried to make a mental plan on what to do regarding the current situation. It was a long shot given that it was the Castle, but maybe Juste knew of a spell?
"Sadly I can't say I know. The Castle itself is acting on its own which is not something I ever heard of. Not to mention there is a force at work keeping the Castle oddly this docile." Juste's voice floated down with the darkness and light, the quintessential 'lost in thought' tone of Juste reading a book.
Dust motes drifted in the air, in one direction Maxim could see the images of the maids working on helping clean the giant swords of the armor. The Fleamen were bouncing around dusting the tops of grandfather clocks to Maxims left, the path he had just walked, while on the right he could see more of the same a type of symmetry with this room in the center breaking what would be an otherwise seemingly endless hallway of ticking clocks.
Somewhere in the Castle there were people, other hunters, who would most certainly be of great help if he could figure out how to not get separated from them. Yet until then he was at a terrible disadvantage standing there in the lone clock faced room. Wasn't he? "Do you think that these two rogue vampires have the ability to choose where they go? Unlike us, who are at the mercy of the Castle?"
"Hmm, I'm not sure I haven't seen them myself. Just heard what the other monsters here have spoken off," Juste mused aloud while looking down at Maxim again. "Why?"
"If not for them I wouldn't mind going to find the trigger to that statue so you could get loose. After all the monsters in the area, indeed possibly the whole Castle seem passive in nature. However; I can't just leave you here while there are vampires who would undoubtedly take the chance to turn a Belmont, roam. I'm not sure if I trust the monsters near by to offer aid." This was becoming a terrible night to have the curse of being in this Castle.
Jonathan was from, apparently, a different point in time as well as another from what the blond had told him. The Castle looked different than what Maxim remembered it, he had no solid idea of if he had been pulled from time, or if the Castle was bringing beings into their time. In truth analytical reconstruction was more Justes' area of expertise amid the trio.
"Why worry? The statue moves at timed intervals, give it time and it will shift on its own and I'll be free." Juste noted causally knocking a knuckle against the head of the angel statue keeping him pinned.
But his words were a huge relief to Maxim, causing him to relax out of the tense posture he didn't even realize he was in until that moment. Suddenly the lights seemed brighter in the room as his worries were lifted with those words. The company of a trusted friend through the Castle would be a great relief, a rock to rest his back against the darkness of his past crimes and the situation around him. Maybe Juste would know of a way to help Jonathan? It bothered Maxim to think that the guy was giving his life to carry a whip around that was not needed anymore.
The clock he ignored seemed to even sigh in relief by moving into position that set off the whole room. As he stood there he saw the angel statue that Juste was trapped behind shiver slightly then swing into place extending further outward. With Juste nimbly pulling his foot free and scooting past the statue so that he could jump down and join Maxim.
"Ah its great to see a familiar face," Maxim warmly spoke as he held out the Vampire Killer, "here."
The electric snap followed by the sound of sizzling and the smell of burning flesh began to fill the air. Maxim felt a lump form in his throat, stealing his ability to breath or speak as Juste dropped the whip with a hiss. The sweep of his white hair unable to completely hide the bright gold eyes of the man standing before him. Rejected by the Whip of Vampires' bane.
"No... No Juste... How? You're a vampire?!" Maxim barely forced the words past the lump and out of a mouth that had no desire to move. How could this have happened? The hunter wrung his wounded hand, shaking it while giving Maxim a peculiar expression. "Who did this to you?" He didn't have Vampire Killer with him, it had to have happened after he got separated right?
"You don't remember? You did, back in 1748, after you bit Lydia, you bit me as well..." Juste gave a pained though indifferent shrug. "I've been here ever since, oh and the year is 1792." He even reached up and pulled down the collar of his coat and shirt with his uninjured hand to show a bite mark on his neck.
Maxim couldn't breath.
He thought all of that was a nightmare warning him away from his fools quest to collect the Items. He thought he had a chance to get out of the Castle and away before he foolishly brought ruin upon his friends and the world. Instead... he? He couldn't have... He was human! How could he have turned Juste, or maybe that horrible evil was still...!
This was madness! Impossible that he could have failed so hard that both his friends were vampires! So in shock he never noticed the hands on his shoulders, or the spill of rich dark hair, or the fangs in his throat.