I do not own Castlevania or any characters therein. Valeria is my own creation. Yadda yadda yadda. Based off of Abnormality by Slinky-and-the-Bloody-Wands.

I know I said my other chapter was a little longer than usual... well, I lied. I got a comment on its shortness and decided to expand the size of my chapters. Enjoy the 4500 word giant that is this chapter ^_^

That being said, I hope you survived my rambling, and that you'll read, enjoy, and review!

Chapter 3

There Are No Such Things As Vampires!

A blonde woman entered the small bedroom, her hair shining golden in the bleak winter sunlight streaming through the window, seeming to warm up the room with bright hues where it hung in lively tendrils over her shoulders and back. Her sun touched cheeks were brightened with colour and dainty, well formed pink lips offered a coy smile as Maria gazed upon the sleeping Adrian, pulling two fingers gently over an errant lock of white gold hair as her left hand came to rest upon her belly, just starting to bulge noticeably with pregnancy.

Adrian was the metaphorical winter to Maria's summer. Maria, suffused with the colour of pregnancy and sun kissed skin, bright emerald eyes and gown shining in the lighting of the room, swung her legs up over the side of the bed, laying down beside Adrian. In contrast to her, Adrian's fine platinum blonde hair, naturally pale pallor made more pallid with sickness and white linen shirt and bedsheets seemed to strip him of any colour he may have held. Adrian was a figure as white as the snow that lay just outside of the window.

Maria lay a small, delicate hand on Adrian's chest, burying her forehead against his arm for a moment, breathing in the scent of fresh linen, tea, and a spicy scent that was distinctly her husband, a scent that she'd always loved and could never place, before shimmying back slightly and removing her hand from his chest.

Gently she ran a cool hand across his cheek, calling his name gently with her lips close to his ear, little more than a whisper. Slowly stormy blue grey eyes opened and blinked, trying to focus, still groggy with sleep.

"Maria," he stated in a deep, cool voice. It was not a question, but sounded more as if some identification, as if he were looking at a particularly interesting specimen as his eyes remained upon her.

"Yes, Adrian, it's me," she assured him, her smile tentative, scared that he might relapse into some raging fever and not remember her at all again. "It's Maria," she said, taking his hand and bringing it up to his chest, squeezing it tightly.

"What-" he began, then seemed to catch himself, wincing slightly and deciding to rephrase himself. "Why are you here?" he asked matter of factly, though not unkindly, resisting the urge to pull his hand back. He was caught somewhere between the mental states of the halfbred vampire in Castle Dracula and the recovering man that was a son, a brother, a husband… soon to be a father.

Maria's face fell and her hand began to fall from his until on an impulse he gripped it, surprising himself by bringing it firmly but gently back to its resting place on his chest. "I," he paused, thinking on what he should say before ploughing on. "I am sorry, Maria. I am not myself, I…" he let this phrase fall away, pressing his lips together, still finding the absence of fangs poking into the skin both unsettling and comforting.

Her expression softened slightly and a very small smile curved her mouth. "I understand, Adrian," she breathed, once again tightening her grip on his hand. "I am just frightened. I can't lose you, not again," she admitted this last so softly that he had to strain to catch it.

He closed his eyes briefly and inhaled. "I am sorry that I frightened you," he said, but even to his own ears this sounded too simple, too inadequate for what he must have put her through.

But she only nodded, trying not to judge him too harshly. As far as most of the men she knew went he was sensitive, but he was still a man that had lived a rough, though fulfilling, life and had been taught the traditional roles of men. Protection was first and foremost for Adrian, and honesty drilled into him by Lisa, though that very honesty was what often hurt so much for Maria.

"How about we just rest, Adrian," she suggested gently, her tone making it clear that it was not a question. Throughout his sickness they slept in separate quarters because of his violent outbursts. Now Maria believed that as the worst had passed she not only had a right to share her husband's bed once again but the responsibility. Adrian, she firmly believed, needed somebody to hold on to and who better than his wife?

He released a breath that he hadn't known he'd been holding during her contemplative silence and nodded. He did not know when he had become attached to Maria in this way. Indeed, as a dhampire he could not afford that sentimentality. To get close to a mortal in that state would only lead to greater pain for both of them and he still found himself thinking in terms of the dhampire, despite all assurances to the contrary of there even being such a creature outside the realm of myth and legend. The cold detachment, he could fully admit, was a protective measure that he had taken after the violent death of his mother and his father's consequent insanity. As such a creature humans would not accept him, a pain he had long ago learned to suppress, though not numb completely, and he refused the life of a vampire with his father where, though he may not be fully accepted by the court and especially by those such as Elizabeth Bathory, the voices of protestors would be silent.

He broke off his thought process as Maria moved against him, trying to catch his expression and he realised that he had not answered her. "Yes," he agreed, his voice quiet and deep, as unfathomable to Maria as the thoughts that had run through his head, "let us rest."

~~~*~~~

The next morning dawned crisp and clear. Slowly, as the sun began to light up the small house, sounds of awakening began. The calm steps of Lisa came first, creaking the stairs slightly as she descended them to begin breakfast. As the smell of bacon, eggs, toast and sausages wafted up the stairs Vlad's footfalls began, distinctly heavy and casually paced. Adrian's eyes opened at his father's familiar footsteps, the same in this form as when he was a vampire only heavier, lacking the unnatural liquid grace that the vampire had possessed. Next he felt Maria's breathing speed slightly as she woke up, still cuddled next to him. Her head lifted beside him, her hand stirring against his chest where their hands were clasped together. Green eyes met his and a small smile curved her mouth.

"Good morning, my sweet prince," she said softly, frowning slightly at his reaction.

Adrian's mouth thinned as she called him prince and he closed his eyes briefly, unwanted memories once again filling his mind, drowning the others out like water drowning out air in a glass. He battled for a moment, once again gaining control of his proper memories, human memories. His eyes once again opened and met hers and he allowed, with some effort, a smile to curve his own lips. "Good morning, Maria," he acknowledged, slowly turning to face her on his side, propped up by an elbow and ignoring the morning chill that touched him with an icy finger, permeating throughout him quickly as the blankets shifted and fell from his chest, falling to rest around his waist. His white cotton shirt was little protection against the cold, and he was unused to feeling cold as was.

Maria giggled, a high, bell like sound, and lifted herself up to a sitting position. She kissed her husband, a brief peck preceding a longer kiss before she slipped out of the covers, pulling on a housecoat and exiting the room to assist Lisa in preparing breakfast.

Adrian heard a sound from the room beside his own. Two knocks, made by Maria, and the quick patter of Valeria's exuberant footsteps assisted Maria's down the stairs and told Adrian that he was now the sole occupant of the top level of the house.

Adrian rose out of bed himself a few minutes later, wearily standing as another knock sounded at his door and his mother opened it to bring him down to breakfast.

~~~*~~~

It was after the meal when the family returned to their respective rooms, Lisa taking Valeria up to her room and Maria gathering a perplexed looking Adrian up to their room to dress into heavier clothes in preparation for a trip into town.

Vlad was the first one down the stairs, having dressed quickly, and as Adrian and Maria at last descended the stairs he had just finished hitching the horses up to a wagon and was arriving inside, cheeks red and the rest of his face contrasted white from the winter chill.

He smiled broadly, in high spirits as Lisa dusted a few snowflakes from his shoulders. "Right, is everyone ready to go?" he asked, clapping Adrian on the shoulder and swinging an arm around his shoulders. Vlad led he and Maria outside as Lisa swung Valeria around once, inciting giggling in the child before she grasped the girl, carrying her koala style to the waiting wagon.

The wagon itself was little more than a broad set of planks to carry hay and other difficult items from place to place, sanded down roughly and rigged with a hood made of thick leather that extended halfway across the top, reaching to the back end of the wagon to guard against the wind.

The family settled into the wagon, Adrian and Maria sitting together, the former looking relieved to have escaped the disconcertingly friendly clutches of his father. The couple did not match. Adrian almost blended into the calf deep and still falling snow if not for his brown breeches and knee high boots and thick, black woollen coat extending to mid thigh. Maria, in contrast, was like a ray of sunshine against the stark winter backdrop. Her golden curls and tanned skin seemed, to Adrian, to brighten the landscape and her vibrant red wool coat and thick golden dress visible underneath appearing as a fair imitation of cloth-fire.

Lisa and Valeria were dressed similarly, both in thick woollen coats of icy blue with the pale hair and skin that seemed to be a family trait. The difference came in Lisa's skirts, which were a deep charcoal grey and her coat length, which rested at just past her hips. Valeria, on the other hand, had on a little girls' cotton dress consisting of several shades deeper blue over her coat, the several layers underneath dependable to keep her warm in tandem with the longer coat, reaching almost to her knees.

Vlad looked stately. His well kept black hair was streaked here and there and tinged at the base with silver. He had on black trousers and a thick, dark grey coat. Dark eyes scanned the horizon before he fluidly stepped upon the wagon, swinging himself up and on to a raised platform that served as the seating place for the driver of the carriage.

The pace was leisurely as they started off. Conversation was kept to a minimum as the group adjusted to the chill weather and the sounds were kept to the rhythmic crunching of snow under the hooves of the two dappled grey mares pulling the carriage, the in and out, slightly huffing breathing of the passengers, and the occasional whistling of wind through the cover of the carriage.

The land that they were walking through was, largely, agricultural. Apart from the desolate view of the snow there were farmhouses dotting the land occasionally, and small figures of horses and livestock. The area was hilly and dense, but the narrow road winding through the upcoming forest was one that Vlad knew well and as they entered the large conglomeration of trees he expertly avoided branches and brambles along the path, keeping the mares calm.

Adrian glanced out of the front of the carriage to where his father sat. The land they were travelling through was very similar to the land he had known his entire, long life time. Until one reached the town it was difficult to discern any differences. The road, made simply of compacted dirt, had been in place since his infancy, and though the original farmsteads of his childhood may not be standing more just like them were erected as the old ones fell.

Through Adrian's musings a revelation became clear to him- the landscape of hills and gulleys, fields and forests, was as familiar as the wintry climate and the soft gurgle of the mostly frozen river just audible through the silent trees. But for all of that he had no clear idea of quite where he was.

He had always been able to navigate, staying close to his father's castle. But now he neither resided in the castle, as in his youth, nor remained in his slumber, where he would be able to sense the rising of the building and his father. The realisation struck him that he did not even know which town he was riding toward. Could it be Cordova Town, near where the castle had always stood? Could it even be Warakiya, where the Belmonts resided? Were the Belmonts even a presence in this world? Thoughts swirled through his head like the dizzying snowflakes dancing from the sky to the ground. Fleeting, powerful images that caused him to sit up in preparation to ask these where they were headed, but each time he deflated before bringing the questions forth. He did not want to upset them. What if Dracula didn't, hadn't ever, existed here? They'd think him mad again.

An abrupt noise broke through his thought process and he glanced up and toward the road once again. Instead of sparkling, pristine snow cover, he discovered, there was evidence of a town in the distance. The reason for the abrupt stop was clear as he saw a small boy clutching an object that had obviously been dropped running back the length of road to the town.

The town in the distance was about twice the size of Cordova Town, Adrian judged. But, he reasoned, that may also be due to whatever different events had taken place in this world. It certainly did not have the oppressive air of the township during 'his time'.

There were large groups of children playing, the first sounds the group heard was their raucous laughter and shouting to each other. As they rode further into the town other sounds became audible. Bells belonging to small shops ringing merrily as the wooden doors hit them, and the closing of the doors moments later, the muted crunching of snow as dozens of people trampled it into the ground, the clopping of horses' hooves on the exposed cobblestone and packed dirt roads and, as they reached the heart of the town, the lively noises of the outside marketplace.

The smells began to filter to Adrian midway from the entrance of the town to the marketplace. The earthy smell of horse manure was the first to come to his nose, followed shortly by the distinctive scent of baking coming from many of the small stone or wooden shops. More food smells, meat in particular, became strong as they entered the marketplace proper.

They stopped several feet into the main marketplace and Vlad climbed off of his platform, hobbling the horses to prevent them running while the family was shopping and went to the side to open the back of the carriage and assist his family out. His face was almost completely red now from the wind and crisp, snowy ride but he smiled widely as Lisa took his hand and he gently helped her down from the carriage, afterward picking Valeria up and setting her on the ground.

There was a brief pause and Adrian realised that he was to be exiting next. He climbed down off of the platform, ignoring Vlad, who was watching him with a creased brow as if to be assured that the man would truly be fine. Adrian's feet met the road and he immediately turned back to the carriage, assisting Maria in exiting in a gentlemanly fashion, one arm around the pregnant woman's waist as far as he could and his other hand clutching hers as he half carried her down.

The gentlemanly fashion was not an affectation of her pregnancy, or his closeness with her. Indeed, he was still perplexed by his relationship with this woman. His gentlemanly manner was, instead, a product of his upbringing. An upbringing very different from the way this one seemed. This was, he realised, the way he might treat any woman in a position where he was not called to fight, either in a courtly situation or otherwise. The thought made him feel uncomfortable and he pressed his lips together tightly as the woman in question took his hand, beginning to lead him along with the family.

It was much warmer inside of the marketplace than it had been on the road. The groupings of food vendors, clothing vendors, and merchants, along with the fire pits set up along the way seemed to lend a warming energy about the place that lifted the spirits of the group as they set out along the cobblestone street.

The family was clearly popular. Within a half hour of perusing the market they had been approached about a dozen times. Lisa had taken orders for tinctures or other herbal remedies, and had been approached a few times besides for simple greetings with friends. Vlad had agreed to help a couple of the village men with various problems, apparently known as a man good with his hands, good at fixing things, a fact which Adrian thought ironic but did not comment on. Maria knew most of the people in town and brief greetings were exchanged, and many comments on how well her pregnancy was coming along were collected. Valeria had been whisked off early in the excursion to play with a large group of village children that she apparently knew quite well and they were some way up the street, tossing a toy back and forth between each other. Adrian, for his part, was met with conspicuously side long glances and hushed and sympathetic voices as if the people meeting him were greeting him on his deathbed rather than out in the marketplace.

Adrian was tolerant of this in light of his ability to freely walk about the village at all. The creature he had been would have been, at best, run out of the village and at worst, a typical reaction, attacked by the braver souls while the young, old, and women rushed back to safety. In spite of his tolerance he found that he grew weary with the situation and felt himself grow irritable. Being insulted he could handle, but the whispers with loved ones after he'd left were frustrating and he was embarrassed not only for himself, but for his family. For his mother and Maria, mostly, who passed their reddening cheeks off on the cold and, as tactfully as they could, told the well wishers who so blatantly asked how Adrian was faring that they had to continue on with the shopping.

Adrian knew only bits and pieces of what he was like when he 'went mad with sickness'. To his knowledge, it had been for no longer than two weeks, the worst of it lasting merely just over one week. But for the duration of his sickness he had said things… horrible things. He could not muster a sincere apology toward his father, no matter that the man was supposedly now human, respected and a good man. He had called him a monster, and rightly so, in Adrian's mind. He loved his father, but it would take more than a couple of weeks as a good father to Adrian to erase all the hurt he'd caused during his reign. Even if he was human now, Adrian found that he couldn't trust the man, even if he wanted to. His mother, and to a lesser extent, as bad as that sounded, Maria, however, he felt guilt over. He had apparently told Lisa that she was dead, had been dead. And to him she had, he supposed, but it did nothing to assuage Lisa's fears. And Maria, he had declared that she was not anything to him, or rather that they were nothing to each other and that she should leave. He had, of course, meant that she should leave the castle. Lisa was used to sickness, and though he could tell, from overheard snippets of conversation, that his comments had wounded her she was easily enough able to place them behind her. Maria, on the other hand, took it much harder. She was tentative, and through snippets of memory that were oddly his and yet not at the same time he realised that this gentle handling was not at all normal for the girl.

It was not long before a familiar figure graced the small group, bringing with him a beautiful woman and Valeria. Richter Belmont was not an old man by any stretch of the imagination. He was at the pinnacle of physical fitness in his early twenties, tall and strongly built. But this Richter Belmont seemed so much younger than the one that Adrian knew before. The Richter of his world had slight grey hairs already just visible from his repeated assaults by Dracula, the abduction of his young wife and niece, the condemning legacy that had been passed to him. However much he might embrace that destiny, the destiny of a Belmont, it wore heavily on all of the clan.

This Richter Belmont, however, was with his radiant wife, Annette, who was dressed in soft lavender that accentuated green eyes much like her sister's. Richter Belmont's eyes, deep blue and vibrant as ever, were sparkling with enthusiasm as he greeted the family. He still wore the blue surcoat and white trousers, the only thing lacking from the Belmont that Adrian knew being the coiled whip missing from his side and the suffocating presence of Castle Dracula.

Adrian swallowed hard to keep the tense displeasure from his face as, in what seemed to Adrian a surreal act, Richter Belmont and Vlad Tepes shook hands heartily like old friends. He had no time to dwell on this, however, as the man turned to him, clapping him on the back in a friendly manner and greeting him just as exuberantly.

As the evening wore on, however, and the well wishers and busybodies seemed to get used to the idea that Adrian was back and around town the family was allowed to relax a little more, leaving Adrian to slowly digest all that had been thrown at him that day. Groceries were piled onto the carriage, ingredients for the coming week, baubles were bought and, feeling somewhat generous, new dresses were ordered made for all three girls.

By the time evening had fully fallen the family had returned to the cottage. The carefree day in town was something that Adrian had not experienced since his early childhood with his mother and it did wonders toward loosening his tense disposition once he became accustomed to the talk and rush and he returned 'home' in a mentally exhausted and over stimulated, but satisfied and happy, state.

Adrian started a fire as the family settled down in chairs, receiving hot chocolates from Lisa a few moments later, talking as the woman put the groceries into storage before joining them, curling up under a blanket and resting against her husband contentedly.

"It was a wonderful day today, love. We don't go into town nearly enough as a family," Lisa said, placing her hand against Vlad's chest.

"I am glad that you enjoyed it," he said, his voice deep, rich, and content as he held his wife close.

"I wish we could have stayed for longer though," piped in Valeria immediately. "Why do we always have to leave before it gets dark?" she asked disparagingly, "we know the way home well enough, papa."

"The vampires… other creatures…" Adrian informed her automatically, transfixed by the dancing flames in the grate. He paused afterward as his thoughts caught up to his automatic response in time to realise the rest of the family watching him.

"Well," coughed Vlad, "or so the folktales go."

"There're really vampires?" the child asked, dark eyes growing wide as saucers.

"And 'other creatures'," stated Vlad with a slight smile, trying to inject some humour into the situation.

Lisa smacked him lightly with the hand against his chest before returning it to its resting place. "Don't frighten the child so, Vlad," Lisa chastised. "There are no vampires, love, no creatures. Those are very old tales, you have to understand. People were afraid, so they made things up-" she began.

The child wrinkled her nose, "why on earth would they make something like that up, mumma?" she asked reprovingly, as if it was Lisa making the creatures up. "It would just make me more scared," she said matter of factly, "thinking there were things like that…"

Lisa sighed, "you're safe, love, you're safe. The reason we come home before dark is that yes, we do know the road, but think if a wheel broke or one of the horses feet were stuck in a gopher hole. It would be much more dangerous without being able to see, sweetling," she soothed.

The child's disgruntled expression did not disappear but she seemed to accept the explanation, at least.

"Now why don't you go upstairs and get ready for me, love," Lisa suggested.

The girl turned to her mother and her brow creased, "but… can't you come with me? Please?" the child asked.

"You'll only be upstairs a moment," Lisa laughed lightly, "you'll be fine. Just remember: there are no such things as vampires."

~~~*~~~

The ceremony took place in a room lush with finery and dark with malice. Adrian Tepes lay on a stone slab twice his width and just meeting his length, a platform which was raised to meet the waist of Vlad Tepes. The dhampire's wrists and ankles were bound to the stone and a blanket placed at his feet, preparations that spoke volumes about the knowledge Vlad Tepes held about the procedure that would soon follow.

The shackles were for his own protection, it was true. Adrian Tepes had a history of less than kind manner toward his father, but primarily the vampire did not know if the man would have a violent physical reaction about being brought back to this realm. Switching consciousness was not unheard of but from what he understood from information handed to him by his priests this was something completely different. If it was true, that the man's consciousness was actually in another dimension, then he did not know what reaction to expect upon his waking. Adrian could well injure himself without knowledge.

The chanting began, first low and then raising in pitch. The voices were spoken in a strange, dead language and the voices buzzed with repulsive magic that caused even the monstrous guards outside of the room, rotting corpses that had once been human, to feel dizzy and nauseous. The pitch changed once again, an odd mixture of high and low voices that swirled with fervour and echoed off of the high stone walls. Words became lost in crevices only to be once again thrown back into the room, creating an odd circular rhythm to the chanting and causing Vlad himself to feel as if he were being lost, letting the powerful sound take him where it willed.

The sound died down again and Vlad looked down upon his son. Warmth had begun to spread across the brow of the dhampire, a slight warmth that nevertheless warmed Vlad's chilled skin as Adrian's blood began pumping more fervently, as if coming out of deep sleep. Vlad's tongue snaked out, wetting his lips as he bent over the man, now deaf to the remains of the chanting. Crimson eyes narrowed in scrutiny as he closely watched Adrian until his eyes slowly fluttered open, pale white lids giving way to intensely golden orbs.