Chapter 10: Whip of Fire

Disclaimer: I do not own Castlevania or any of the characters.

Simon slept soundly in the cave as he lay next to Sonia, her warm body heat helping fight off the cold of the night that threatened to freeze them as soon as they left the comfort of their warm lake. His muscles didn't ache or wake him up with their aching. It made him feel much safer with her in his arms, as if he could just always trust that his light would help him in the darkness, but at the same time be the darkness that tones down the light when it gets too bright. A hand moved up his side as she slowly stirred with the arrival of the morning sun rise and she yawned tiredly from all the work of yesterday and the love of the night, but she could manage to move at her normal pace, maybe even better. Slowly she rose from his body, the loss of heat telling her that she was naked and she looked down to see that he was as well. As she was adjusted her undergarments consisting of various minor cloths made to cover her breasts and vaginal area, clothing that she had picked up from the east, she started with her blue shorts that went with her blue coat and place armor over it.

The smell of the pipe told her that they were not alone in the cave and she followed the sent to a strange man dressed in a simple red robe and sat on a fine cushion. He looked like a noble, but he had many things around him that were more of the stock of a merchant with a stick beside him. He seemed to have noticed her presence despite the fact that he had his back to her and she could see his long black hair dripping past his shoulders. It was very elegant, despite the fact that it was not tied in a pony tail or curled at the ends, like most nobles did.

"Morning greetings, Lady Stranger," said the man as he looked through another book and set it back on a small shelf, which showed that he had set up a permanent residence.

"I am sorry if this is your domain, we were very tired and were told to come here by someone," said Sonia with a bow for politeness to the ruler of the cave or whom she thought was the ruler. "I am Sonia Baldwin and I am travelling with my companion, Simon Belmont."

"Yes, Alucard did say you were coming here," replied the man with a wave before another book from the shelf opposite of him flew to his hand. "I am D. Schneider, a wizard in service to the Tepes family or more accurately, I serve lord Alucard by keeping up this safe ground. You will find yourself safe from everything here so long as I still have life in my hands."

"It's odd that a wizard would be helping," laughed Sonia as she sat down and thought on what she had just said.

"Wizardry and witchcraft has been a thing used by both sides. Was Sypha Belnades not a practitioner of witchcraft when she helped Trevor Belmont defeat Dracula in 1491? Those church men are so blind, keeping people from being healed by the natural herbs and powers that God put on this earth, they just want God as one who demands we suffer. It makes him seem less merciful and helps them get more followers through fear."

"But the Church is in the service of God, not of the service of themselves or greed," protested Sonia through a strange religious reflex. "It was the Church that provided shelter for the Belmont clan."

"They are still human as well; they are still vulnerable to the weakness of pride and arrogance that they are all right and every other opinion is wrong. It is because of the Church that Dracula has an intense hate of humans through their witch hunts, by burning innocent women. One of those women happened to be Lisa, the wife of Dracula and the mother of Lord Alucard, a woman who was kind enough to use her knowledge of herbs to heal people. She was burned at the cross by the very same people she had worked to heal. There is your Church at work there."

"There are faults with the Church, I will admit, but still they have helped Transylvania," retorted Sonia as she looked up from the book that she was examining and saw that the izard was reaching into a chest. "Just what are you doing there, Sir Schneider?"

"Doing exactly what I promised Lord Alucard I would do, I am helping you," replied Schneider as he pulled out a strange red gem from the chest and held it out to her. "The original creator of the Whip of Alchemy, the whip that became Vampire Killer, had always wished to use a few Elemental stones with his whip, but they required someone with a blood for magic. I don't know if Simon Belmont has much magic in his blood seeing as how I have not heard of him using such things, but I am certain that he would be able to call upon the powers of these gems. That Belnades blood is in him, whether he wishes to acknowledge it or not."

"I am not uncomfortable with having the blood of a long line of powerful spell casters," declared Simon as he strode into the chamber of the cave, his hands brushing against some of the pointy ends of the cave walls. For most of the cave, the walls were very slick and seemed to have been molded to resemble solid structures, but at the entrances it seemed to have many spikes protruding from the walls as if they would extend at the notice of the wielder. "I am not one of the Church missionaries who preach their fire and brimstone for us to bow down. I know it is not by God's hand that we suffer for then there wouldn't be ways to make things easier if he didn't want it. Transylvania is far from a place where we punish those who practice witchcraft ever since Sypha Belnades helped my ancestor and bore his child."

"Ah, so that is the spirit of the man that defeated Count Dracula," exclaimed Schneider with a hearty laugh, as if Simon had given the right response to a question unspoken. "I have respected the Belmonts for many centuries and now I see that I may have been wrong not to admire you as much as I should have. I am honored to give you the fire stone, one of the seven stones of elements that will give you greater power."

Simon accepted the stone graciously, saying, "I thank you for your help and for you giving me this power."

"You are quite welcome Belmont and I will be glad to sell you a few potions," said the wizard as he clapped his hands a chest flew open showing many items of magic such as potions and pieces of armor or clothing with different attributes."

The two vampire hunters left the cave to continue on their journey and they soon found themselves in another dark forest with trees towering over them to blot out the sun. Of course they had started their journey a few hours before noon so they were certain that it could not be night already. Either way the minions of the night walked the earth and they had their sights set on the Belmont that had just walked into their territory. As soon as Simon had walked into the forest he had his newly flame augmented Vampire Killer out and Sonia was prepared to shoot out whatever she needed. It was like waiting for something bad to happen, but the evil didn't appear to be coming so they relaxed their guard until out of nowhere came a howl of a wolf. Simon snapped to alert as a pair of skeleton swordsmen came out ready to kill and both found themselves burned to cinders by Simon's flame whip which had all of its power. To make matters worse for the pair, a golem walked out to kill them, bringing its terrible clay fist forward in a punch that Simon jumped off of and threw a vial of holy water at one of its dry arms. The water seeped into the cracks caused by the creator of the golem neglecting to smooth and moisturize its clay so it became very dry and cracked. Blue flames popped out of the cracks of the arm and soon the arm was all gone, but the golem felt none of this.

Slipping a golden dagger into his hand, Simon let the blade fly into into the air, striking the golem right between the eyes before; hitting the letters on its head so that all that was left was met (meaning death, the same manner in which the merchant used to dispose of the golem in the original tale). The clay behemoth fell apart, chucks of its clay falling on other skeletons that had crawled out of the bushes to attack and soon it was nothing but a big mound of clay. Everything seemed to easy for Simon to feel comfortable with, but he decided to ignore it and go on before he heard the fluttering of wings over his head. It was the same giant bat that had plagued him in all his quest's against Dracula, except now it had another set of arms, no given to it by one of the devil forges. The bat came in low with its wings spread around, cutting through trees, and its arms ready to grab Simon by the throat. Sonia, in an effort to prove her worth, took out a holy arrow, an arrow blessed by a priest, and set it loose with a slow thumping noise as it whistles threw the air and caught the bat in the middle of its abdomen. The bat, however, was not dead and now shot out three fireballs at Sonia who dodged the attacks but felt the painful sting of a bone being knocked against her back by a skeleton. With a quick spin, she managed to cut the skeleton in half with her sword and was almost caught by the bat if not for Simon jumping on top of it and wrapping his whip around its head, burning it off.

"Thank you for the assistance," said Sonia as Simon landed next to her, a bit out of breath, but with a smirk on his face. "I am sorry for being a bit of a burden."

"No, that was the distraction it needed for me to get on its back," replied Simon as he hugged her and pressed his lips against hers. She returned the kiss as she felt a burst of strength from his love, but their moment was interrupted by the sound of wolves stomping the ground and they turned to see one standing before them.

"I am sorry to disturb you and your mate, Lord Belmont, but I am here to inform you that you are not far from the house," said the were-wolf as he bowed before the Belmont, his pants a bit stretched by his size, but they were made for that purpose. "We are here to guide you to the clearing where the ferryman will take you for a gold coin."

"Thank you, kind friend," said Simon as he bid the were-wolf to stand up and followed him to the lake side where a ferryman stood waiting, his bony fingers tapping the wooden oar in his hands. "Thank you for your help, noble wolf, I shall remember this as shall my descendents."

"I wish you good luck on your trails, Lord Belmont," said the wolf as he parted and left Simon and Sonia to board the ship.

"Do you have a coin for the ride," said the ferryman slowly in his usual raspy voice with one of his skeleton hands held out to take the coin that Simon gave him.

"I believe you know the way there," said Belmont as he sat on the small boat alongside his lover and soon to be fiancé.

"That depends, do you know where you wish to go," replied the ferryman as he looked at Simon through the darkness of his hood.

"We wish to seek the house of the family that has the secret everyone wants," said Simon boldy as he saw to his relief that the ferryman understood and started to row to the unknown.