Chapter X: The Night Ends
Serenity launched her sixth wave of white fire as Lucifer sank back against the far wall.
Breathing hard she stated, "There, now let my friends and brothers go. I have proven myself well enough to you."
Lucifer rose slowly to his feet, his eyes never leaving Serenity.
One by one the blood arms holding the hunters faded, and then disappeared altogether until everyone was once again on solid floor.
"Know this," Lucifer sneered as he sank back into the shadows, "just because you have access to that power does not mean you have subdued me. I will return for you, and you will be mine one way or another."
Silence flooded the throne room, glancing around Serenity did not see Chaos, Camilla, or Lisa.
"What was that?" Mina questioned as she hugged Soma.
No one answered her, because no one knew how to answer her. The fire that was released by Serenity felt familiar to them all, but there was something dark about it as well.
"Serenity has used white fire before, but it seemed different this time." Isaac reported.
Nodding in agreement she added, "I don't know how I brought out the white fire. I couldn't think or move at all until Adrian spoke to me. Using the fire didn't feel right to me, I can't explain it really."
"Speaking of which," Simon said, "what gave you the idea of contacting Serenity in the first place Adrian?"
Shaking his head he replied, "It was on a whim. I thought if I could get through to her then maybe I could bring her out of Lucifer's control."
Something about this response did not seem to fit with Nathan; however he let the subject rest. If Adrian was beginning to care for Serenity's wellbeing again, then he would not touch on it until he was certain.
"It seems everyone left." Jonathan reported looking out the window.
Looking around the room the rest of the hunters found that he was right. They were the only ones in the throne room now, not even Dracula remained.
"We should leave as well." Trevor said and began walking towards the door.
The others agreed and began to follow Trevor out of the room until only Serenity, Nathan, and Hugh remained.
"Do you want to talk?" Nathan asked gently.
"There's nothing to talk about." Serenity replied with her eyes on the window.
As she turned to leave Nathan grabbed her arm and spun her around so that she was facing him.
"I know what he did to you, and what you took from him!" he yelled.
"Nathan…" Hugh said lightly.
Gritting his teeth he pulled Serenity into a hug and continued sternly, "You shouldn't have done it. I know we were separated, but you should have fought him tooth and nail."
"I know." Serenity replied quietly.
After several seconds Serenity hugged her brother back and soon found herself hugging Hugh as well.
"Come on, the others are waiting for us." Hugh said against her raven hair.
As they walked down the stairs and through the castle Serenity's thoughts turned back to the white fire. What she had said before had been true, but she left out a vital piece of information. She could feel Simon and Trevor's energy flowing through that fire, as well as the other Belmont hunters. There should not be a connection like that with her and the Belmonts. They were not related by any means, and they had only been introduced in person after the situation with Dracula arose.
"What the Hell is that?" Hugh said, bringing Serenity out of her thoughts.
They had walked all the way down to the main hallway and were staring at the mangled body of the person who had been crucified above the door.
"This is what Charlotte was screaming about when you were separated from us." Eric reported.
"We took it down so the spirit would be at rest." Mina added.
"Who did this?" Nathan asked looking down at the corpse.
Shaking his head Isaac replied, "We thought it was Chaos."
Before anyone could say anything more the floor beneath the hunter's feet began to tremble. They heard crashes from the floors above them as cracks began to form in front of them.
"Go!" Eric yelled over the loud rumbling.
All of the hunters ran outside and continued running towards the grassy field, all bending to grab one of the long forgotten cloaks discarded on the bridge. They did not stop until they were on the hill Serenity was standing on before journeying onto the castle grounds. They watched the castle collapse as Mina began to say a prayer for the unfortunate corpse still being buried by the stones of the castle.
"So ends another night." Simon stated as he and most of the others turned to leave the ruins of the castle behind.
Only Serenity and Nathan remained looking back at the rubble. The sun was just beginning to rise over the grass fields.
"But it's far from over. He will return, and when he does…" Serenity started.
"We will be ready for him." Nathan finished with a slight smile.
The only Graves sister looked at her older brother and smiled. They would grow stronger, and they would seal away Lucifer so he could no longer be a threat to mankind.
Serenity and Nathan turned and began walking after the other Vampire Hunters. The feeling Serenity felt inside her was hope, as she always hoped after they had finished a job, but this time the feeling of hope was being clouded over by concern.
"Nathan, why do you think he was there tonight?" she questioned in a quiet voice so the others would not overhear.
"Lucifer?" he asked.
"No, Lord Dracula. He had no reason to be there. Even after breaking the seal he wouldn't have been strong enough to sense where any of us where." she replied
Thinking hard Nathan could not come up with a reasonable answer, and after several moments he shook his head and replied, "I don't know Serenity."
She left it at that. There was something else bothering her now, something she thought she saw when she had collapsed against Dracula after he took her blood. A figure in the darkness with the same red eyes that, at the time, she thought was a figment of her imagination. But why was she thinking of it now?