Alucard's POV
I angrily stomped my way to the kitchen, throwing my bowl against the wall. How had Carmilla taken control over the eastern province? Especially in such a short time. I had many questions, but none of them could be answered fluently without taking the time to go kill her in Styria. I had no way of knowing what I would face there. And if I went there, would I make it back alive?
I took a moment to calm down and face the broken bowl I had just thrown. I picked up the pieces, trying to form a plan. Trying to find some way to stop this neverending nonsense the world kept throwing in my direction. It consistently felt like one thing after another. Just one more hurdle I had to get over before I could rest for the remainder of eternity.
I looked around at the kitchen. It was perfectly spotless. I figured Iona had recently cleaned it. She had little to do in the castle anyway. I'm sure she was bored and just needed something to pass the time. I felt bad for scattering broken glass around the kitchen she worked so hard to clean.
Leaving the kitchen, I walked around the castle. Admiring its beauty and its sheer loneliness. I headed back up the corridor, taking a moment to pause in front of Iona's door. All was silent. I wondered if she was asleep and angry, but at this late hour, I decided not to knock on her door.
I ended up back in my childhood bedroom. A broken mirror was still strewn across the floor, a chair was in disarray, and the bedpost was still ripped off from the time I ended my father's life. So much had happened in such a short time and I had processed very little of it. Knowing Iona was here brought me a sense of peace. She was of no threat to me and we had come to a mutual agreement that we wouldn't try to kill each other a few weeks ago. I laid my tired body on the small bed and drifted off to sleep. There was a sense of peace in me when I came to this room.
The next morning I awoke to the loud rushing of the wind outside. I also noticed the eerie quietness that flooded the castle. Something somewhere inside me told me something was wrong. I rushed down the corridor and down the stairs toward Iona's room. I pushed open the door to find the room empty, with no sight of Iona anywhere. Panic set in. Did she leave? And if she left, is she out there in the harsh winter snow?
I searched the castle high and low. Iona was gone. I collapsed to my knees. I knew instantly she took what I said yesterday to heart. She took something I said in the heat of my anger to heart. I rushed to my bedroom and quickly grabbed my sword and long black jacket. Before I left I noticed Iona's longsword in my room and my heart stopped. She was out in the world, early in the morning, with her only defense being magic skills. I knew she could possibly keep herself alive, but there was no guarantee that she could without the weapon I knew she was trained well in. We had spared once or twice together and I knew she could hold her own well enough.
I rushed on horseback outside of the castle looking for any sign of footprints or tracks I could follow to find her, but the snow-covered anything that could've been there. Was I too late? Was there any way I could find her beautiful eyes and long, flowing hair? I thought of something my mother taught me when I was a child and ran back inside. I searched for anything Iona could've touched. A pen, book, anything. I found a pen inside the room Iona had been planning to redecorate for me and cast a simple spell on it.
The pen flowed with life, floating in midair, like a compass. Consistently pointing in the direction she would've gone. I went back out to my horse and let the pen lead the way. For miles we went, there was no way she could've gone this far in a single day. I questioned everything. Nothing felt normal. I had to find her.