Chapter 4: Safety

Suzume slowly pulled open the door at the end of the hallway that connected the western tower to the top of the castle ramparts. This time, the door was quiet to allow her to see the outside activity without giving away her position.

It was hard to see them against the twilight sky, but there were now creatures on patrol. She couldn't decide if they had appeared once the sun had disappeared from sight, or if they had been positioned there once it became apparent that there were intruders within the castle.

She backed into the passageway again and turned to face her potential benefactor. "I don't see why you can't just make them all crumble to dust or something."

"If it was as simple as you say", Death replied in his distorted monotone, "you would not be standing here with me."

In addition to the regular books used for lessons, the church had contained an extensive library of literature related to religion and history. One shelf in particular was devoted to accounts of the many battles against Dracula and his forces, and her mother had recommended that she read through them when she had a chance. She would be carrying on the Belnades family tradition, after all. To be honest, she never enjoyed those stories, and would frequently move on to more enjoyable activities before long. When all was said and done, she was probably only exposed to half of what that shelf had to offer.

But even the most cursory examination of the texts was enough to paint a vivid picture of the entity known as Death. He was Dracula's right hand man, or demon, or whatever. It was a rare event when a Belmont or other vampire hunter, on his way to defeat the dark lord, would not have to face the grim reaper himself. Some stories suggested that he may have been the overlord of hell, but this could hardly be confirmed by the living. They did, however, point out his incredibly evil nature and his methods of attacking his enemies, as well as some of the schemes he had used over the years to ensure that his master would return to the world of the living, free to use his power to subjugate or destroy humanity.

But now that she was looking at him from less than five feet away, she wasn't sure what to make of him. No matter how many books were on that shelf, the literature only provided one viewpoint of Death: that of his adversaries. Given his well-established purpose, people must have met him under other circumstances; sadly, she realized, those in that situation were in no position to write a book about him.

He was repulsive on an instinctive level. Every action of his suggested a large amount of inherent power behind it. His words were cold and blunt, and it was hard to believe that he cared much for the lives of others. This came as no surprise to her. But after meeting with him repeatedly, some other adjectives came to mind. Calm. Logical. Calculating. While he acted detached from the world around him, he moved and spoke with the confidence of someone who had been there for his entire existence. And despite everything that had happened, or perhaps because of it, he had yet to be unnecessarily cruel to her.

One text had claimed that Dracula called him one of his closest friends. Maybe there was a reason for it, she thought.

Her inner voice continued to chastise her. He's using you. He would have left you to die if you had let him. All he cares about is the return of Dracula. If his lord returns, you will fall just as quickly as the others, and he will not bat an eye at this.

And the worst part, she noted, was that nothing he had said had ever suggested otherwise.

"Look at the central structure", he said, interrupting her thoughts. "I do not know if you can see it."

She looked through the slightly-opened door again. There were two other towers in this castle, and the central one was by far the largest. It looked as though an additional building had been built on the top of this castle, structurally sound on the bottom with a tower at the top. It was hard to see how far up it extended, partly due to the lack of ambient light and partly because of the hazy glow that surrounded much of the upper structure.

"The glow?" she asked.

"There is a field of holy power surrounding the structure. I am certain that their master stays within its boundary. The field may keep him trapped inside, but it also ensures that I am unable to approach his position."

"While the other vampires do his bidding from outside", she concluded. "He's clever."

"He is not clever enough." Suzume was aware of a flash of light behind her, and turned to locate the source. There was now a blue gargoyle kneeling before Death. It was strongly built, and its lowered arms partially concealed the evidence of leathery wings underneath. If she recalled correctly, it was the same creature that she had seen during her escape, fighting off the other monsters...

Death continued. "Gaibon will serve as reconnaissance. On my command, he will search the tower and locate the position of their master. We will formulate a strategy from there."

As if to acknowledge his orders, Gaibon stood up before his master. As he rose, he noticed Suzume's presence in the room and came to a complete stop, staring at her in surprise.

"The holy field won't stop him?" she asked.

"He has shown no reaction to it. However, his assistance will only be of use if his presence is undetected. We do not want the master to prepare for my arrival." He turned to face her directly. "This is why you will be attacking the guards as a diversion."

She blinked. "Won't this give us away?"

"The master already knows of your presence. If his attention is focused on you, Gaibon will be able to act unimpeded."

"Are you sure? Those two vampires know you're here, too!"

Death shook his head. "One is dead. The other will not be able to report her findings as long as the field is in place."

"The way they talked, it sounded like the master knew you were coming..."

"He did. However, he suspects that I have given up at this time." He may have sighed. "This is not my first attempt."

This is his plan, she thought. He wants to strike at his opponent in secrecy, while making it appear as though a sworn enemy of Dracula was responsible. They would never consider such an alliance possible.

Alliance? He is sending a mere human into the fray to be torn apart by the enemy, solely to gain a small advantage...

"...this plan is going to kill me."

"Why did you come here, if you do not believe that you can defeat the undead in battle?" Death asked in an accusatory tone.

Suzume sighed. "It doesn't matter if I've trained or not. They're out in force looking for me. I can't survive long against those odds."

"This is a problem. I usually work with mortals who are at least competent in a fight."

"Well, I'm sorry I don't live up to your expectations!" she groused. "I haven't even been using this damn stick for a day yet!"

He looked her up and down. "You still have your magic ability."

She considered this. "Yeah. I'm pretty good, I'm told. But when they surround me, I won't have enough time to..."

"Then we shall adjust the plan to compensate." A glowing portal covered in arcane symbols appeared on the ground next to her. As she turned to look at it, a pillar of light shot forth from it and bathed the surrounding area in its glow. When the light subsided, there was a skeletal creature standing next to her. It had the head of what appeared to be either a bird or a dinosaur, although unlike the grim reaper, it possessed eyes as well. Upon close examination, the spear it held in its hands bore a great deal of resemblance to the one she had claimed. It looked at Suzume with the same amount of confusion that Gaibon had expressed earlier.

Death continued. "I will send Slogra to aid you in the assault. I trust that your spells will be unhindered if you have a guard?"

Now it was her turn to look confused. "But if anyone sees him, they'll know..."

"I am aware of this problem. The solution is equally straightforward. If you truly wish for me to make this accommodation for you, I must demand that you make one for me as well." He paused for emphasis. "You will need to kill every demon you see. Nothing must be allowed to give away my presence."

"That sounds difficult."

"Slogra is efficient. As for you, I assume that your magic tricks are not merely for show."

"I accept this", she said. It was only fair, she thought. Certainly, she preferred the idea of purging this castle of evil to being overcome by the large armies before her.

And so it begins, that inner voice started saying. You too have become a harbinger of death, sworn to lay to waste everything that exists around you...

She tried to tune out her paranoia. It was a stupid argument. They were fighting the undead. They deserved this fate.

You keep doing this. You let Death rationalize everything. You always question him. You never oppose him. And in the end, your only actions are those that he wills. You are nothing more than his crony...

She started to hold her head. This was stupid! She had formed a pact! A pact with evil! It didn't matter! It was necessary! He was living up to it! She should do the same!

He created this pact for the sole purpose of reviving Dracula. By following it, you are dooming humanity to

"Carry this."

Suzume refocused her attention to see that his bony hand was holding what looked like a silver coin with a skull in front of her. She took it from him, and then raised her eyes questioningly toward him.

He noticed. "Even living beings are susceptible to holy power. This should act as a defense." A short pause. "It will also serve as a focus, making it easier for me to keep track of your activities. I will not always be able to accompany you."

"Why not?"

"Even during a crisis of this nature, I must fulfill my official duties."

Naturally, she thought. It had always seemed odd to her that Dracula's closest ally happened to be the same entity responsible for claiming the souls of the deceased and leading them to whatever afterlife was appropriate, but no evidence had ever been found to disprove this.

She nodded. "Gotcha." She turned to look at the dinosaur, who appeared to have gotten over his initial surprise and was now stationed near her. "Well... Slogra?... looks like you and I gotta do this alone."

Slogra didn't respond. Before she could say anything, Death spoke again. "He does not speak, but you may rest assured that he understands."

She was turning to look at him again when she noticed that something was odd. He was still staring at her and he had not changed his appearance, but somehow, everything was different. She no longer felt a desire to recoil in terror. There were no voices in her head telling her to abandon him or abandon hope. All that remained was him, ancient and supernatural as he was.

She looked at the coin that she continued to clench in her hand, and pocketed it quickly. If it was responsible for the change, she welcomed it. Mostly. It occurred to her that her paranoid instincts may have been valid.

She looked up at the three demons that surrounded her, and nodded. "I understand. I will not let you down."

"I should hope not", Death replied, and then he vanished from sight. Slogra turned to Gaibon for a moment, then looked back at Suzume, and then walked toward the door to the ramparts.

"You can tell he's seen a lot of wars", she mumbled as she walked through the door after him.

An axe-wielding suit of armor, a skeleton with a bow, and a winged goat-like demon with a spear were stationed in a small group just around the corner. Suzume pressed herself against the wall, not even daring to take a second look in case she was spotted. Slogra joined her.

After several of these ambushes, the two had started to develop a pattern to their attacks. This would be a straightforward example. Suzume charged magical power in her hand, and Slogra somehow drew power into his spear. She couldn't tell exactly how he did that.

She stepped around the corner and released the spell. The goat found itself surrounded by holy power, closing in and destroying its body slowly. Suzume smiled. It would not require a second spell to finish it. The ones capable of flight were the biggest risk, since they were the ones that could flee the battlefield to inform their superiors of the attack.

The others noticed immediately. The axe wielder charged in while the archer loaded and fired an arrow. Slogra was too quick, though, and released the stored energy in the form of a ball that destroyed the arrow and continued toward the archer, forcing it to dodge. This done, he engaged the armor in direct combat. As both threats had been averted, Suzume now had the opportunity to prepare another spell.

The battle didn't even last a minute.

Slogra led her down a stairwell and once again into the corridors of the lower castle. She wasn't sure why, although she had decided by this time that he must have been familiar with the castle's layout. That would be Death's doing, she figured. Someone like him would probably know the route through every building on the planet.

Suzume couldn't decide if she liked Slogra or not. Certainly, he was assigned to protect her, and he had been doing an excellent job of it. But that's all it was. A job. He didn't care about her well-being. He only seemed to defer to her actions when it gave him an advantage. The only thing she could count on was that he was single-minded about completing his task.

It was much like his skill at wielding a spear. Although he was clearly an expert with the weapon, a talent that may have compensated for his lack of particularly outstanding demonic abilities, he was overspecialized. Against an opponent who could defend against such sharp strikes, he was nearly useless. Perhaps that's why the Belmonts' stories about him had almost always included Gaibon, she thought. That's probably why Death sent him, too. He had all the attributes of a team player.

There were guard rooms along this corridor. Using similar strategies to before, the two emptied them of their inhabitants, and then moved into a central area of the castle that would take them to the other wing.

One room appeared to be heavily guarded. There was what appeared to be a ditch in the floor, and a large number of archers on the other side. The room had multiple windows, so this room must have been built to allow guards to fire arrows against invaders on the outside of the structure.

She acted quickly, casting a wall of ice on the opposite edge of the ditch. This would keep them pinned on their side as well as block the initial volley. Slogra looked at her briefly and then leapt across the expanse, landing on top of the wall of ice, where he proceeded to engage the enemy in close quarters before they could escape.

Suzume smiled. She was definitely doing her half of the...

"Down here..." a voice called from the depths of the pit.

She recognized it immediately. "Marcus?" she called in a quiet voice.

"Hurry..." was the only reply. She took a closer look at the pit. Fifteen feet at the most. With only a small amount of reluctance, she lowered herself into the pit and then dropped to the floor below.

It looked like some kind of underground passageway, and it was not currently occupied. In the shadows of the room, Marcus sat against the wall, breathing heavily.

It took Suzume only a few seconds to realize why. "You've been bitten!" she gasped. Her hand immediately shot out, preparing to cast the spell that he had taught her not long before.

He shook his head. "There's no need... I can handle it myself..." As he spoke, he raised his hand and did a magical gesture, showing that his holy power had not diminished.

"Where'd they go?"

Marcus looked depressed as he forced out the words.. "Didn't see... I'm sorry... I couldn't let you go with him... alone... I had to do... something... I headed here... the vampires found me... and..."

Suzume blinked. "They didn't kill you?"

"They must have recognized me... from the church..."

She thought about what she had been told earlier. "Gregor... um... Death said these vampires are clergymen. You're saying that's true?"

He nodded. "Not only that... they're members of the church... from the destroyed village..."

Suzume had wondered about that. In a time when the church was actively trying to fight evil, it was odd that none of the dead bodies had been church members, nor had any of the undead attackers been defeated. "So they didn't protect anyone?"

Marcus groaned. "Suzume... I need you to... do something... for me..."

She couldn't take this much longer. "Look, what you need is to get healed!"

"It's working... already... I can feel it... Just... take my staff..."

His staff was resting in the shadows near him, almost unnoticeably. In the current silence, she could hear the battle continuing overhead. Without a word, she reached down and picked it up. While she wasn't an expert at recognizing it, she could feel the holy power flowing through the object.

"It's a holy relic... it strengthens magic... you can use it better than I can." He tried to take a deep breath. "Ah, the spell seems to have kicked in."

She smiled, relief returning to her expression. "The way you sound, you should recover in no time. Are you sure you don't want this back?"

He shook his head. "You're the one who's going to need it." He paused, grimacing. "For now, return to your ally."

Suzume looked at him blankly. "So you know that I agreed to help him."

"I was worried about you", Marcus quickly responded. "I followed you. I overheard everything."

She sighed. "Marcus... I'm sorry..."

"I wish you hadn't done that. There had to be another way. One without so much death."

"I don't want Soma to die, either, but this..."

He glared at her, interrupting. "You're playing right into his hands. You know that."

She shook her head. "These vampires are too strong. You should know that now. At this point, we need every advantage we can get."

"I wouldn't go so far as to call him an advantage", he grumbled.

She looked at him, scratching her head. "You really don't trust him, huh? You've been wary of him ever since..."

She stopped suddenly. All was silence. There were no longer any sounds of battle audible. Marcus looked at her, confused. She had just realized something.

"...no, you were wary of him before he showed up."

"What?" he asked.

"You weren't part of the original team. You told me that. You came here looking for Soma, right?"

He nodded. "Yes, but..."

"Look at what you've done since you got here. You healed me. You sealed the entranceway from evil. You noticed I was missing and demanded a search. You led the others in an attempt to provide a safe haven. And you were practically waiting for me to come back so you could heal me, while others fell in battle and never stood again."

She didn't know if she could be angry about this, but it needed to be said. "No wonder you're only injured now! Until now, you haven't been fighting the undead threat at all! All you've done is try to keep me alive!"

Marcus tried to keep a blank expression. "I'm a healer. It's my purpose in life. And since the vampires never came after me..."

She glared at him. "You're hiding something. What's going on?"

He was about to respond when he looked up and stopped. Suzume noticed and looked upward as well. The silhouette of Slogra was visible at the top of the pit, and he was currently holding his spear in her direction.

"We've spoken too long", he hissed. "Go. Now."

"No! Not until you tell me..."

And he reached out and hugged her. In this situation, she could do nothing more than hug him back. As she did, she heard his voice whisper in her ear. "I'll tell you when I know Death's not around."

As she was released, she looked at him with a confused expression, and then nodded. "...okay." And, without another word, she moved to the side, looked up, jumped and grabbed hold of the end of the spear.

Slogra was considerably stronger than his thin physique suggested, and it wasn't hard at all for him to pull her from the pit. Then he positioned it over solid ground and set her down where she could safely release the weapon.

And then he widened his eyes in surprise and backed away from her, spear at the ready. She wondered why at first, until she remembered that she was holding Marcus's holy staff. Such a tool would definitely be terrifying to demons, she decided.

She held it down at her side and smiled at him. "Relax", she said in her most soothing voice. "I won't use it on you."

With some hesitation, he nodded. A few seconds later, he had returned to his usual emotionless demeanor, and he was leading her to their next destination.

There was one more room of note on their way up the opposite wing to the other side of the ramparts.

It seemed simple enough. A room with stone walls and flooring, with a number of torture room implements along the walls. Suzume shuddered. This wasn't even part of the dungeon complex. Apparently there was a need for the guards to torture intruders without traveling through the castle.

There were a number of skeletons and zombies in the room. Slogra charged in first to get a quick strike. Suzume began to charge...

The sound of rattling chains could be heard from above.

Suzume looked up. Something large and spiky was bearing down on her from above. Slogra had noticed, and currently had his spear planted on the ground pointing upward. Thinking quickly, she pulled it out and tried the same thing.

It didn't work for her. The spear hadn't been perfectly perpendicular, and it was starting to give. She dove to the side.

That didn't work for her, either. Just before she could clear the trap's range, the spiky crusher came down and landed directly on her right leg. She heard it snap and felt the punctures throughout the limb. Her scream of pain certainly could have attracted most of the undead guards in the area.

As she tried to retain consciousness from the pain and bleeding, she noticed that Slogra had survived the trap. Unfortunately, he did so by placing his spear more accurately so that it would hold up the crusher, thus allowing him to get out of the way.

In other words, he was now unarmed. And the skeletons and zombies were bearing down on him. And behind them, a large red demon was standing by the wall, removing his hand from a large switch. He must have triggered the trap, she thought. Slogra didn't look like a match for him now...

She looked around. While her leg was still trapped, her staff was still at her side. Maybe he could use...

She wasn't thinking straight. That was a holy staff. Giving it to a demon would do him more harm than good. What he needed was...

Her spear was lying underneath the crusher, conveniently not being pinned by the spikes. With some careful motions with her staff, she started trying to bat it toward herself. She had to hurry, before her ally...

She looked up briefly at Slogra to find that he was still trying to hold his own. Using little but his own beak and a few attacks from his limbs, he was fending off the army. It didn't look like he was about to win, but he would last as long as possible.

This called for action. "Get back!" she yelled. Slogra reacted almost immediately to this order, which she had to admit was a great display of his trained discipline. It was certainly useful for her, because it meant she had to wait less than a second before she cast the field of electrical orbs in the direction of the army.

Many of the skeletons crumbled, and some of the zombies were stunned by the current traveling through their bodies. The large demon was out of range and therefore unaffected, but she had bought Slogra more time.

With newfound confidence, she continued to use the staff to move the spear slowly toward herself. Closer. Closer.

There. She grabbed the spear with her other hand and turned her head to watch Slogra strike away at one of the zombies. Once he had caught a glimpse of her, she tossed the spear as well as she could, considering that she was still lying on the ground. He caught it easily, and the battle quickly turned in his favor.

Suzume did her best to support with a few well-timed spells, but he did most of the work. Once it came down to confronting the demon in charge, she found via trial and error that his body was vulnerable to ice, and a few shots of that hurt him and slowed him enough for the final spear strikes.

It was over. They had won, despite all the odds. Slogra pulled the spear from the dead demon and headed to what appeared to be a winch and chain near her position. Several rotations later, the crusher was reset to its untriggered position and she was free.

She lifted herself to her feet, only to collapse immediately in pain. She had heard the snap earlier. Her leg was still twisted and mangled. It was in no condition for walking or supporting her weight. Slogra, who had been freeing his own spear from the other crusher, noticed immediately and started heading in her direction.

"Don't worry", she said calmly. "I can handle this." And, as Slogra watched, she did. Her hand made a clockwise motion and pentagram, specifically done in mirror so that it could be cast on herself, and then she laid her hand on herself. The warmth filled her leg, the bones mended, the blood clotted, and she found herself once again able to bend the knee properly in under a minute. Marcus's spell had paid off yet again.

Standing up, she smiled at Slogra. "That could've gone much worse. Thank you for your help."

He didn't respond visibly. She sighed to herself. Sometimes it was easy to forget that he didn't possess much in terms of social grace and capability.

She looked around. It was rather quiet, and she started to worry. "I hope your friend hasn't gotten into any trouble."

"He has already succeeded in his task."

The voice made her jump. She hadn't heard from Death in a long time. In fact, she wondered, just where was he? She looked around rapidly.

"Do not waste time searching for me. I am not physically present." A brief pause, giving her enough time to remember that he had explained this logic when he gave her the coin. "He has identified the current location of the master, and he does not appear to be leaving at the moment. We will head there shortly."

"That's good", she said, noting Slogra's continued lack of reaction to this. "Where..."

"I did not expect you to be able to heal yourself."

Suzume hesitated slightly. "I was injured", she responded. "I did what I had to."

"I can only assume that you learned that technique from Marcus."

She started to worry slightly. "Yeah. I guess you'd have a problem with us prolonging life, huh?"

"There is nothing inherently wrong with postponing my eventual arrival, especially in a time of need." A short pause. "No, I am surprised that he would deliberately pass on that knowledge and thus render himself obsolete."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Death sounded like he was trying to be patient. "I have intervened several times so that you could continue to aid me. It may not have occurred to you that your friend survives for the same reason."

This confused her. "Really? Why would you protect him? You never mentioned him in your plan."

"It is no trouble for me to allow you to not pass on, but I am incapable of restoring health. As you are of little use to me when injured, it was in my best interest to protect a cleric and keep him alive to ensure your vitality."

She grumbled. "So Marcus was a pawn in your scheme, too." A brief pause of realization. "And he knew this."

It started to make sense now. She had deduced that he was worried about Death's presence. He had even specifically asked her not to tell anyone that he had taught her how to heal. At the time, she had thought that he didn't want to be outed as the teacher. Now, she realized, he didn't want her to be caught using the spell at all. She wished he had made it clearer.

Especially once she heard Death's conclusion.

"You are now fully capable of healing yourself. If you are able to fulfill both functions, there is no longer any reason for me to allow him to continue to exist."