Chapter 3: Answers

Disclaimer: I do not own Castlevania no matter how much I wish it.

The little girl that she had tried to keep from danger was gone, leaving nothing behind but the vision of her pleading tear filled eyes as she was dragged away by the man in black and for the first time since she learnt of her father and brother's death, she felt like crying. It was unlike her to feel so defeated, after all she always worked to show her worth to her father and brother so that she could earn the right to call herself a vampire hunter. When she was little she would run through the woods, fighting the bears of the north, the panthers of the west, the snakes of the south, and the wolves of the east. Most of her life was spent trying to learn how to use a spear or a sword and now that she had gotten so strong and so skilled, she could nothing to save Lydia. She fought off her urge to cry and after getting her thoughts together, she walked to the inn that she was staying in and grabbed her weapons, The innkeeper had been eaten by zombies and ghouls while his eldest son died fighting off skeletons from getting to his family, just another pair of people she could save from death. After getting al of her equipment together, Sonia opened the locket that held the picture of her with her brother and father, and walked out of her room, setting a bag of gold for the grieving family.

"Where are you going to, Sonia," asked a familiar vampire hunter who was standing in the shadows of a corner.

"You know perfectly well where I am going, Simon Belmont," replied Sonia as she turned to face him, seeing the worry in his eyes as he tried to look serious and intimidating. "You are always too nervous to talk to me when I'm determined and you can't change my mind so why don't you stand her e and guard the town while I go and bring back Lydia."

"Sonia, you know not of the power of your enemy," warned Simon as he walked to her, to put his hand on her shoulder. "It is too dangerous for you to go off and fight this new foe after spending so much time fighting already. You should rest tonight."

"And wait for you tie me to my bed like you did the last time," asked Sonia as she glared at the offending hand. "Don't treat me like I'm a little girl, Simon, you know well that I can handle my own and that I don't need your help either. Just because you're a Belmont doesn't make you the best damn vampire hunter on the earth."

"I know that you want to go after him and bring him back, I do to, but you are not at full strength and the thing that killed your brother and father may still be there in the castle and this man may be stronger than him. I am not letting you make the mistake of going in there all alone."

"Then please do come along before I leave you there," replied Sonia as she got on her horse and started galloping away leaving Simon to be glad that he hadn't had the time to unpack yet.

With a whistle to his horse, Simon Belmont jumped onto Shadow Prey, as his horse was called, and started galloping after her, hoping to close the distance in between them. After a while Sonia began to feel drowsy and got off her horse to start camp, which was a relief to Simon, who had been running the whole night long. Unfortunately for Simon, he had never thought to put a tent in his pack and was forced to sleep out on the dirt while Sonia enjoyed the cover of a roof over her head to keep out the rain that had started to pour down on them. The night was a misty dark black that was only lit up by the moonlight and the bright stars that seemed to twinkle only for him. It was a grand feeling to be able to rest ones weary bones after non-stop fighting, but as he felt the awful weather against his face, Simon wondered if he was getting the good end of the deal. As he mused over the setting of the situation that his life was going through, a pair of boots found their way into his vision as his head was turned sideways and he looked up to see a pale faced androgynous man with long flowing white hair and dressed very lordly. The boots, while very tough, were eloquent and Simon saw the black clothes that he was wearing with a white shirt, looking every bit of a lord. It wasn't hard for Simon to realize who it was that was looking at since there were very good descriptive in the writings of his grandfather, but it seemed to be a very different experience to actually have the chance to look at the dhampire who had been referenced by two of his ancestors.

"Alucard, the rebellious son of Dracula I assume," said Simon as he looked at the dhampire and he found that the rain was no longer falling on him like it had a few minutes ago.

"Yes, the one and only, and you must be the Simon Belmont that I have heard so much about," replied Alucard as he sat down next to Simon, pushing the locks of his hair that were obstructing his vision. "You have defeated my father many times and I am sure that you can help me with the task that I have now, a task that you may already know of."

"You speak of the devil forger who attacked the town of Jabul," asked Simon as he sat up to look at Alucard.

"Yes, the one known as Joshua Iscariot, a devil forger by birth with one of the strongest devil forger bloods," replied Alucard as he began to unravel a piece of parchment that was used to document the records of each devil forger. "As his surname implies, he is a descendent of Judas Iscariot, the disciple who had betrayed Christ to the Romans and as legend says, those of his blood were master craftsmen and metal workers that could make weapons of great power and great destruction. His compatriot is also of a powerful bloodline, the family of Longinus, the Roman soldier who trust the spear into the heart of Jesus Christ to end his suffering and as such, those of his line can make spears with almost as much power as the spear of Longinus and at one time made great weapons for the Crusaders before they were nearly wiped out by Turk forces. It would seem like this Leto is the only descendant of Longinus that is alive."

"I thank you for the information about the man in black, but, without meaning to be rude, I would like to say that the information that I really want is information on what they plan to do."

"Their plan is to resurrect another vampire to occupy Dracula's throne while they wait for a time to revive my father," replied Alucard as he put the piece of parchment back into a pocket in his coat. "The vampire they wish to summon isn't as powerful as Dracula, but he is mighty enough to be a problem and if they resurrect Carmilla, then Castlevania will arise in the moonlight and give the vampire all the power he needs to destroy the lands. His range is not very far when compared to the range at which Dracula could extend, but there will be much killing and such a vampire as the one they wish to summon cannot be allowed to walk this earth. Even Dracula himself forced the vampire into sleep at his disgust in the vampire's blood lust and depravity. When Dracula deems a vampire is too vile to walk the earth, then that means that this vampire would have the wickedness to take the reins of Hell."

"Who is this vampire that they wish to summon," asked Simon as he looked at Alucard quizzically, a threat more evil than Dracula was a threat made by the devil.

"He is named Mobius, Mobuis the Watcher," replied Alucard. "He was one of the leaders of Spanish inquisition before he started to become mad with power and eventually planned to usurp the chief inquisitor, but his schemes were found out and he had to play innocent and lie low until his time came for another try. That time never came as he was soon accused of heresy and for stepping on a cross, some of the charges were true, while others were pure falsehood and he was forced to flee here where his sadistic nature piqued the interest of my father. At first Dracula thought of how he could use it, but over time he became weary of the cruel tendencies of Mobuis and staved off giving him the dark gift. This infuriated Mobuis by placing a halt into his plans, but he wouldn't let that stop him as he began looking for ways to get back at my father, even going so far as to forcibly take the blood from one of my father's favorite servants. This led to my father putting Mobuis into a sleep and locking the keys to his coffin where they remain only in the knowledge of a family whose name was left off from any record, but it remains known to all of those in the Tepes family. If Mobuis is to get Castlevania, he might try to steal my father's power and then humanity will know a dark age far greater than anything that Dracula had ever wrought upon them. "

"So you know of this family that holds the secret," asked Simon as he stood up to prepare for the journey that was ahead of him.

"Yes, but I will not disclose it now because we know not who may be watching," said Alucard as he too got up and brushed himself off. "First, we must let the Iscariot be for now."

"Not a chance," shouted a voice from behind the two men as a raging vampire huntress stepped into their discussion circle. "I will not allow that man to kill Lydia to summon whatever demonic whore that you named in you discussion."

"Iscariot will only do it when Leto can get the key to Mobuis's coffin," replied Alucard as he turned his charming gaze to her, much to Simon's chagrin. "Right now, we don't know where they are keeping her since Castlevania is gone and I am sure that we will run into Iscariot as we search for the whereabouts of the key."

"Fine, but I am not being left behind," declared Sonia as she crossed her arms.

"I never said you weren't coming I just said our course was different," retorted Alucard as he turned to Simon and gave him a "good luck because you are so going to need it" look. "We should leave in the morning when our enemies won't be as strong."

"I agree," said Simon as he looked at Sonia and she nodded her agreement with a sigh.