Adrian ran back to the castle for only a moment, utilizing his speed to grab his mother's silver sword, before streaking back out. Stupid, reckless Belmont. What did he think would happen, wandering out into the forest surrounding the castle, alone and unprepared?

Not many of his father's creatures roamed beyond the walls, but there were several who frequented it and few-if any-of them were likely to be friendly to a strange hunter wandering the grounds.

Adrian sped up.

Despite his desperation, he did have to stop a couple of times. He was too frantic to care about how winded he knew he should feel; He would have pushed past it. However, Trevor was more adept at covering his tracks than Adrian had given him credit for.

Seems he does have some skill as a hunter after all, he thought.

It did Adrian little good to know after Trevor had already taken off, though. Cold wind blew through his coat, and Adrian suppressed a shiver. He could power through most chill, but he was stressed and using energy, two things which could only be remedied once he found Trevor and had a good meal.

"Dammit Trevor," Adrian cursed to himself, having stopped to search for tracks again. "How are you moving so quickly now?"

The thought of Trevor running through the woods, angry and upset with him, gripped Adrian's heart and squeezed. Knowing he was somehow doing that, and covering most clues of his trail, burned Adrian's mind in frustration.

About twenty minutes later, Adrian realized he had gone in a large loop. He wasn't back at the entrance to the forest by any means, but the past five minutes had him circling around the same place.

Did Trevor stop?

With a ragged sigh, Adrian focused on his four-legged form, feeling the transformation wash over him. His sword was still strapped-somewhat uncomfortably-across him, its weight adding to the dragging feeling on his limbs.

Transformations were not easy during the day, and the sun was climbing higher as he searched. It had to be at least nine o'clock, and Adrian felt the rays sapping his strength, even filtered through the bare branches.

Deciding not to waste any time, he stuck his nose to the ground and snuffled around for Trevor's scent. He had to backtrack several paces to find it, but it lay there, faint.

Fresh leather and furs, a tinge of alcohol, and something like ashes.

Adrian cast about more to figure out the direction of the scent, then loped off in the same direction. A mile out, he stopped. A wide river ran through a thick copse of trees, slowed from the cold, but still deep enough to give Adrian pause. Trevor had apparently climbed some trees and swung across them, the clever bastard. His trick with the whip must have worked properly that time.

Adrian heard shouting on the other side. Shit.

A quick thought changed his form yet again, and he flew across the river as a small bat. As he closed in on the sounds, he noticed the ground was more akin to a mire on the far side of the river, the water spilling just enough from its bank to keep the dirt moist.

As such, it did not surprise him to see mud men emerging from it. His father would occasionally create spots around the castle with mindless guards, activated only when strangers crossed the section of land.

Earthen golems were usually slow enough to run from, but made an ample sight to terrify most trespassers. Not Trevor though.

He swung his whip around, cursing at them and venting his frustrations with each blow. It kept them at bay, but the mud available for the spawning of new golems was unlimited, and eventually the hunter would tire. Adrian dropped his form and landed gracefully.

"Get lost fangs!" Trevor shouted, hitting and dismantling two mud men with a swing. "I didn't come out here hoping for you to follow me."

"Yet follow you I did."

"I can see that." He grunted. "Take whatever else you have to say and shove it."

Adrian huffed. "Always rude."

"I'm not asking you to risk the same punishment you almost died from not even three weeks ago." His bitter tone gave Adrian pause.

Had he considered what Trevor had been feeling about his near-burning? While he supposed it had been there, somewhere in the back of his mind, Adrian realized he hadn't contemplated the full impact the experience had on Trevor. Thoughts of moving forward and helping him adjust to a new way of living had been at the forefront of his mind, not how to overcome his past.

Trevor was right. Adrian placed a hand to his face. How truly embarrassing. The way he had asked lacked the sort of care he should have shown when broaching the subject. Of course Trevor was still hurting over his arrest; It hadn't happened so long ago.

Adrian knew he should apologize. After he got rid of the mud men.

"Trevor, these creatures are not going to stop spawning unless-"

"I said shove it, fangs!" Trevor growled and dodged back as another viscid golem tried to spawn underneath him.

Adrian growled right back and unsheathed his sword with a thought. Silver whistled through the air and cut down two golems in his way, confusing another nearby. If Trevor was going to be a stubborn mule, Adrian needed to get to him first.

One more fell to his blade as he danced through the small group. Leave it to a Belmont to rile up an entire horde of guards, just by his mere presence.

More mud men were forming even as they both swung their respective weapons, some appearing behind Trevor. He didn't seem to notice. Adrian dashed forward, flinging his arm to send his sword ahead.

Trevor caught his gaze, eyes widened in surprise as he twitched his head to the side, sword flying past.

Silver pierced the unwary mud golem, sinking them back into the river bank. Trevor, however, used his quick reflexes to wind up another attack, his whip lashing through to air to wind around Adrian's outstretched arm with a resounding crack. Adrian hissed at the pain, stopping his movement as Trevor pulled the whip taut.

Even as Trevor's breathing steadied, his heart kept its quickened pace. They spent several moments looking each other over before Trevor finally spoke.

"I have to admit, I didn't expect you to actually try and kill me. Wasn't sure you had the balls."

Adrian growled in warning, feeling his temper slipping from him as Trevor pulled against his attempt at escape. Heat from the whip leeched at his strength, even through his coat. "We do not have time for this foolishness," he said, eyeing the mud men already reforming.

"I guess we can agree on something. But if you've come to force me back to the castle-"

Adrian lunged.

He heard several curses from Trevor as the hunter used his own body weight to leverage the holy whip, sending Adrian careening around him. It suited the dhampir just fine; He used the momentum to whip around behind the hunter and kick away the shambling golems. A swift thrust of his sword finished them off before they could recover.

Threat taken care of for the moment, his attention turned back to Trevor. Adrian wondered what his face must look like, as it made the Belmont pale almost to the shade of eggshells. A brief flicker of his speed brought Adrian nose to nose with Trevor, and he grabbed the front of the furred cloak to drag him close.

"I grow tired of your accusations." His voice had dropped low, Adrian unable to keep the rumbling contained within his chest. Heightened senses clearly picked up the blood rushing through Trevor, the clenched muscles, and irregular breaths. A more primal side of himself relished the fear, but despite his anger, Adrian pushed his instincts down.

"Maybe you should just get rid of me," Trevor challenged. He spoke clearly, even through his terror. "Wouldn't have to bother with me then, would you?"

"I don't understand you Belmont," Adrian said, spitting out his last name in frustration and confusion. "No matter what it is we do, you constantly attempt to push us away."

"Oh, so you do remember my family name."

"What-?" A split second too late, Adrian realized the whip was no longer around his arm. The blessed weapon jerked and tightened around his ankles, pulling them together.

Cursing he went down, pulling Trevor with him. The hunter was more prepared though, and maneuvered himself so he fell on top of Adrian, straddling him with a strong grip still on his whip. A second later, as Adrian adjusted to the new position, he felt a point on his chest. When he looked down, he saw a small blade in Trevor's hand, aimed right at his heart.

An instinctive hiss passed his lips, and Trevor pushed the blade further.

"Finally showing your true colors."

Adrian reached up to grab at Trevor's hair, yanking their faces closer; He couldn't lie and say his lips didn't curl up at the yelp he produced, but the sound cleared some of the haze from his mind. Adrian breathed in deep before he answered.

"I have been nothing but honest with you."

"Have you, vampire?" Trevor's eyes narrowed. "You say that I'm not being kept prison in the castle, yet the moment I try to leave, alone, you immediately track me down and I'm fucking ambushed."

Adrian furrowed his brows. Hadn't Trevor just complained about being forced out? "The guards are not here because of you."

"Yeah? Might want to tell them that." The moans of newly reforming mud men punctuated the statement.

"They are mindless deterrent, nothing more. And they were not meant for you."

Trevor scoffed and leaned on the blade again, pushing it through Adrian's shirt and just barely through the skin. "But that's exactly why you came out here, isn't it? To stop me."

Adrian had nothing to refute that, and Trevor continued, "So tell me why I shouldn't stake you, right now."

Thousands of thoughts and responses trickled into Adrian's mind. Because Trevor's throat was vulnerable. Because the golems and others in the forest would not take kindly to a hunter's presence. Because Father would hunt Trevor down for killing his son, promise or not. Because it would devastate Mother. Because it was all a misunderstanding. Because, because...

"You don't want to."

Trevor flinched. "I really do. Got a knife and everything."

"No. You've had that knife for at least a day." And wouldn't Adrian love to know how he'd smuggled that right under his nose. "You could have done this far earlier, when you weren't surrounded by the golems."

"Maybe I'm unpredictable." But Trevor sounded unsure. Adrian wasn't.

The look in Trevor's eyes was similar to one he held in the prison: a fire other Belmonts must have worn for hundreds of years. But it was softer; It was questioning. So Adrian did something stupid. He let go.

He took his hand out of Trevor's hair and laid it down on the ground, then relaxed the rest of his body as well. He watched Trevor's expression intently, but he made no moves.

"Unpredictable," Adrian agreed. "Stupid and reckless, as well. But... not cruel."

Trevor made a face, lips twisted and nose scrunched, but the knife slid back, only touching the hole in his shirt.

"No one believes they're cruel. They believe they're right," Trevor said, hushed as a whisper in a church.

"...Perhaps so," Adrian acquiesced. "In this case though, you are neither."

"What is that supposed to mean?" Trevor asked, giving an approximation of a growl, though his heart clearly wasn't in it anymore.

"It means that you were wrong about my motives for chasing after you. I did not come to stop you." He willed his sword up and directed it to slice through the mud men closing around them.

Trevor startled as soon as one went down, then followed the sword with his eyes as it flew to decapitate one sneaking up behind him.

"What the fu-"

His exclamation cut off when the creature burst apart, effectively splattering mud all over Trevor's face. He froze for a moment, and Adrian gallantly held back laughter as Trevor turned back with an audible sigh, dropping the whip handle to wipe at the mess with his free hand.

When one eye was more or less clean, Trevor used it to glare at Adrian. "I can feel you laughing," he said, distinctly grumpy.

Adrian let his amusement free, the joyful sound filling the air as Trevor pouted and wiped ineffectually at the slimy dirt in his hair. Finally, Trevor moved the knife away from Adrian's bobbing breast, hooking it inside one of his boots. Of course.

"There were no knife holders in those boots," Adrian stated. Trevor shrugged.

"There are now."

He stood then, and after coiling up his whip, slowly, cautiously, he extended a hand out. Adrian blinked once, watching before taking the calloused hand with his own. Some mud slid off between their touch, and Adrian wrinkled his nose.

"Ugh. If you didn't need a bath before, you certainly do now."

Trevor snorted. "I'm not the one with mud all up and down my back though, am I?" He smirked as Adrian froze in contemplation, then reached behind his head. Globs of mud came away from his long hair, sticking liberally to his skin.

Trevor laughed loudly as Adrian stared at his hand in horror.

"You really are a picky bastard, you know that? Never seen a man look like the world was ending just because some dirt got in his pretty hair." His laughs turned into snickers as Adrian glared at him.

He turned away to go retrieve his sword, which started Trevor laughing again. Presumably at seeing the state of his back.

"Fuck you," Adrian said, sheathing his sword. His petulant command did nothing but make Trevor's laughter jump in surprise and- Was that glee?

"Better hope your parents don't see us walk in, or that's exactly what they'll think we've been doing." The accompanying eyebrow wiggle was completely unnecessary.

Adrian turned away to hide his flush. "Classy. Let's just head back before you attract inevitably more guards with that ruckus you're making."

Mirthful snickers followed him all the way back to the river.

Haha! I got enough extra time to edit another chapter! (ง ͠ ͠° ل͜ °)ง Lemme know what you guys think, or if I've forgotten anything. Honestly, I've been on such a writing binge, I feel like I'm breathing Castlevania.

Am I the only one who thinks Adrian getting muddy is hilarious? (*艸) Well, I mean obviously Trevor agrees. But come on. Adrian can't be perfectly groomed all the time. Besides, we needed to have a (sort of) fight between them. Fun fact, laughing at someone makes them temporarily immune to your anger. Ehe.

Ah! Of course thank you for all of your support! It means so much to me, especially when I know the updates have been slow this month. Hopefully I will post one more time before November is over.

Until then, have fun~