Chapter XI

The Ruined Gallery

Alucard looked the Librarian over. He looked exactly the same as he remembered. And while it was nice to see his old mentor again, it was important to get right to the point.

"Truth be told, we came to see you for a specific purpose," he said with purpose, "Miss Aulin, if you would?"

Charlotte approached the librarian shyly. "I'm here to take this," she said quietly, holding up the Book of Binding. The moment he saw it, the Ancient Librarian's eyes grew wide with righteous indignation.

"Young lady! Do you have any idea what book that is? How powerful and dangerous it is? Even its value?"

"All of those things. It tried to kill us before we were able to take it."

"And yet you still expect me to simply let you walk out with it?"

"No!" Charlotte defended herself, "I'm completely ready to pay."

"Is that so?" the Librarian eyed her skeptically from behind his half-moon eyeglasses.

"Yes. This should cover it, right?" she dug the coin Death had given her earlier out of her pocket. She vaguely noticed that it had changed: There was now an embossed image of Death's visage on the face of the coin.

Once again the Librarian was flabbergasted.

"That–! That's—" he stuttered, "That is a Reaper's Token!"

"Is that so?" mused Alucard, "I've never seen one before. I hear that they are particularly valuable in the spirit world."

"Valuable? This one coin could buy a small castle on the other side! I could build an entire new wing for this library! Pass me the coin and the Book is yours!"

Charlotte handed the token over to the Ancient Librarian, who picked it up reverently.

"You can be on your way now, I have much planning to do," he chattered excitedly, walking back into his office, "Notes to write…blueprints to make…a whole wing! Who should I contact?…"

Charlotte looked at the old man worriedly, "Is he going to be okay?"

"I would not worry yourself about him. I have seen him like this many times," Alucard said calmly, "He is very passionate about his work. All of his personal projects are worked on with fervor. He has been this way for as long as I can remember."

"Talk about dedicated to one's job…I guess," Maria said cheerfully.

"Well. The Book's mine now…" Charlotte said quietly. She suddenly couldn't contain herself anymore. She laughed and began hopping up and down in a small circle, hugging the Book tightly. "It's mine! It's mine! It's mine! Oh my gosh! It's mine!…" this continued for a few minutes. Finally she took a few deep breaths and managed to calm down.

"Sorry you had to see that…" she mumbled ashamedly.

"No, no, it's fine," Jonathan smirked, "We all have our moments. I get like this around Swedish buffets."

"Swedish food makes you do that?" Maria asked, edging away from him.

"Who said anything about Swedish food?" Jonathan asked seeming completely out of the loop.

"Oh, nobody! I don't think we want to know what you're talking about," Stella said quickly before taking her sister's hand and practically dragged her up the stairs.

The fifth floor of the library's central chamber was decorated by a number of paintings. A set of double doors stood on the other side of the room. As they made their way around, Charlotte looked at a few of the paintings. She found that she liked one that looked to be a take on Van Gogh's Starry Night. Except that instead of stars there were what appeared to be meteors, and in place of a city there was a small town in the middle of a forest. It was entitled:

Meteor Shower

She found herself curious to see what the next painting would be, but when she saw it she staggered back in revulsion. It was a portrait of none other than Legion. She hazarded a glance at what its title was:

Legion – Self Portrait

He is many. He is one.

"Waitaminute! Self portrait? How the hell—never mind. I don't even want to think about the possibilities on that one."

Upon opening the doors, they were amazed by the sheer size of the room. It was a single gallery of paintings. Most of them looked unfinished, while others still seemed unfinished but seemed to have a ghostly outline of what the painting would have looked like once it was completed. One such painting was a portrait of none other than Stella, though the upper-left corner of her face was painted in ghostly paint. Next to it to the left was a painting of Loretta. The upper-left corner of the painting was also ethereal-looking.

"Huh. That's weird…" Stella commented, staring intensely at her own face, "Can't say it looks half bad though."

"I agree sister. You look rather glamorous in that picture."

"So what do you say guys? Hot, or not?" Stella asked.

"I'm just curious as to how such paintings came to be here," Charlotte muttered. She went off to look at one of the finished paintings. This one caught her attention in particular because from a distance she could have sworn that she recognized it. It only grew more eerily familiar as she got closer. An image of a red circus tent surrounded by several others, all colored brightly, on a disturbingly foreboding background. She looked at the plaque beneath the picture frame:

Nation of Fools

"What—What is this?" she stammered, "What are…are his paintings doing here?"

"So, I see you've found me at last," said a deep, baleful voice. A ghostly figure materialized in front of the painting. It was a gangly human figure. It held a cane in its left hand, which had bizarrely long fingernails, as did the right. It was very well dressed, bald, and pale even for a ghost. Charlotte recognized him instantly.

"Brauner? Ah, how the mighty have fallen."

"No need to be rude. I can't hurt you after all."

"What are you even doing here? Why is all of your art in this gallery?

"Haven't you already guessed?" Brauner spread his arms dramatically, "This is what remains of my castle. All that is left of my work is here in this room." For a fleeting moment his eyes wandered, and caught on something in particular. Or rather, someone: Two in fact.

"Stella! Loretta! My darlings!" he ran over towards his so-called daughters.

"Oh God. This guy," Stella groaned.

"I admit, your work is splendid, but your personality doesn't match it in the slightest," Loretta shook her head.

"But my dears—"

"Let me make this simple. Ahem:" Stella cleared her throat and then stepped up to look Brauner in the eye, "You! Are! Delusional! We are not your daughters! Hate to break it to ya, but they died in the First World War, and reincarnation isn't a twenty years sorta thing, it's like a two hundred years sorta thing!" She was red in the face by this point and had her hands clawed at the sides of Brauner's head and was shaking them back and forth, "We are not your little girls, and you yourself killed our real dad right in front of us and then bit us! Am I getting through to you, you ectoplasmic bloodsucking bastard!" She let her hands fall to her sides and slumped forwards, breathing heavily. She seemed like she was about to continue when Loretta grabbed her shoulder.

"Sister, that's enough! He's a poor old man, and vampire or not, he's dead and you have no right to treat him like that. I don't like him either, but you should at least stop before you give away our position to Alastor or Camilla."

By now, everyone was looking at the scene. Jonathan's eyes were the size of dinner plates, Charlotte was staring at them distastefully, Maria was doing her usual thing, edging away from them slowly and Alucard was just looking at them, an unimpressed, almost bored look in his eyes.

Stella let out a sigh. "All right, but don't let that make you think you're off the hook you slop artist."

Loretta could have sworn she saw a tear come to Brauner's eye at that comment, but his ethereal state made it difficult to be sure. She could however, be sure that he had choked.

"You're right. I was not a good father to my daughters. If I had been, they might still be alive today."

"No, that's not true. Many people died in that war. There was likely nothing that you could have done. I'm sorry, sir. We are not the reincarnations of your daughters. I'm sure they were lovely, but they are gone, and will likely never be coming back. Like us…they are likely to be of no consequence to history. After Stella and I are gone, our souls will move on to the next world, just as your daughters' have."

"All I wanted to do…was protect my family. Was that too much to ask?"

"No, it was a good thought. You simply went about doing it the wrong way."

"Thank you…Miss Lecarde. Stella, my dear, if you would just follow me, there is something that I would like you to have."

"I see where this is going. You can get it yourself. I don't feel like being cursed again."

"I swear on the tatters of my soul that no harm will come to you."

"Not good enough."

Brauner thought for a moment and looked at Jonathan, who was still looking confused.

"You there; boy. Jonathan was it? You had that whip made for killing vampires? You and your friend the girl, come along with the two of us. If I attempt to bring any harm to her, you may destroy me where I stand."

"Well," Stella grinned mischievously, "that's a deal I'll just have to accept."

Stella walked beside Jonathan who was next to Charlotte and then the ghost of Brauner. The two latter were having a discussion about his paintings.

"So the City of Haze was based on the town that you grew up in?"

"Yes, that's right. Though it was quite nice in the mornings and around noontime, it was almost always gloomy in the afternoons."

"I find it hard to imagine you as a child," Charlotte said uncomfortably, "I guess it was still worthy of note though. Personally, I found the Dark Academy more interesting, although it wasn't exactly what I would have called my favorite one."

"I think I can see why an intellectual lady such as yourself would have found that particular piece interesting. May I ask which of my works you liked the most?"

"I didn't like any of them per se. What I meant by favorite was the complexity of the work inside and out. Unlike, for instance, the Sandy Grave and the Forgotten City: They were both stereotypical Egyptian pieces. They were both laid out like pyramids, and crawling with mummies."

"They were a joy to paint. I don't appreciate you calling my work stereotypical."

"What are you going to do about it? Bite me? Oh wait, you can't!"

"He can still hurt you in other ways, Charlotte," Jonathan warned, "Don't be rude."

Charlotte huffed indignantly and kept walking. "Frankly, I found the Nation of Fools to be the most interesting. The way that its inhabitants were all gratuitous clowns letting their city fall into ruins around them as long as they were having fun kind of spoke to me. And the way it turned onto its side and eventually upside-down the further you went was actually kind of fascinating. That and the way that Jonathan and I were the only ones affected by the true laws of gravity had a kind of depth to it. Like we were the only real people in a world of pure degenerate chaos."

"That was actually my intention when painting it. It was the way I see the world. Inside out, and completely broken."

"Hmm."

"Swear to me, all of you, that you will do your best to fix this world. If destroying humanity is not an option, then the only other option is change humanity completely. It's much more difficult than my own method, but it is the only other way to bring about any kind of positive change."

"Well the Second World War is over. We're just hoping that war on that scale won't ever happen again."

"Hope is not good enough. Humanity is bent on destroying itself and its diversity! Look at the history of the Jewish people: First people hated them because of their religion. Then when that got old people hated them because of their race. Thanks to Hitler's concentration camps and genocidal hatred, I do not know what will become of them. Perhaps they will get their country back, but then I imagine that people will pin them as…human rights abusers for instance because racism is looked down upon now.

"Another example: Look at what the British did to the native people of America: they forcibly took away their religion, sent their children to schools where their names were taken away and were beaten for speaking their own language or calling themselves by their true names rather than the ones given to them by the church!

"And the Crusades! The European scoundrels made a big show of how they were going to take back the Holy Land in the name of God. If that were the true case, they could have occupied it after pillaging and killing everything in it, but no, they just left so that the Jews and Muslims could crawl back together and rebuild. So what could possibly be better than repeating the same brutal actions now that those inferior races had shed blood sweat and tears to rebuild their homes? Humanity is hopeless. It deserves to be destroyed."

The three companions were utterly stunned. He had a point. Even so…was humanity really beyond saving? There was silence for a time until they came upon a small alcove in the enormous gallery. And struck into the floor there was something that Stella hadn't seen in years:

"That's father's spear!"

"Your father died at my hand. That spear belongs to you now. No one else has any right even to touch it. Use it well, but if you do not bring about any positive change to this world, I will regret giving this to you."

Stella picked up the blue and silver spear trimmed with gold and spun it.

"Not exactly my kind of weapon, but…I do appreciate the chance to honor father's memory."

Jonathan gave her a nudge in the ribs.

"Ow. Okay!" she paused for a moment and took a deep breath, "Thank you…Brauner."

Brauner didn't say anything; he just gradually faded away until he simply was no longer there.

"That was a surprise," Jonathan chuckled.

"No kidding? That doesn't happen to people on a daily basis?" Stella grunted sarcastically.

"Well I wasn't expecting him to help us, that's all."

"Really? I would have never guessed."

"Cut that out before you start fighting," Charlotte sighed, "Let's just get back to the rest of the group."

There was a rush of darkness than nearly swept Maria and Loretta off their feet. Alucard was able to hold his ground but he had years of experience dealing with sudden entrances.

Where's that girl! A distorted voice came from within the darkness before an extremely angry Camilla burst out of the shadows, taking up a low fighting stance, scythe held behind her dramatically. Alucard decided to make the first move. He dashed up to her and unleashed a flurry of lightning quick slashes at her. She managed to block the first strike with her scythe, but the rest of his attacks hit home, leaving several gashes on various parts of her body. Resigned to taking more damage if she continued trying to defend she just pulled her scythe back and swung it in a wide diagonal arc, forcing Alucard to leap backwards to avoid being sliced in half.

The vampiress looked around wildly, an almost primal fury in her eyes.

"Where is she!" Camilla growled, "Well if she's not here, I'll just relish the despair in her eyes when she finds her sister's mutilated corpse!" She raised her scythe in the air and cackled. "Would you like to meet my new friend? Do not mistake it for a regular cave troll; this beast is the source of all of those lesser creatures! So much as a scratch from it will turn you into a carnivorous nocturnal beast within twelve hours! That is, if your even still alive by then. Kyahahahahaha!"

"Thank heavens Charlotte still has Sanctuary then," Loretta muttered.

"What's that, dear? Oh well, I suppose it doesn't matter seeing as you'll be dead momentarily!" As she said this, a creature that looked something like a cave troll jumped out of a magic seal on the floor, but there were some noticeable differences: It was noticeably larger, covered in spikes, and seemed to be rather furry. Unlike a cave troll's scaly and slimy orange skin, its fur was black and brown. Its head was also different. Unlike the bizarre, almost human face of a cave troll, this thing's face resembled a cross between a hyena and a vampire bat. Its sharp tongue lolled out of the left side of its mouth and it flexed its razor sharp claws, and growled. It was more of a hiss than a growl actually.

"Hlehhhh!"

"Meet my Chupacabra. Isn't he lovely? Say hello, darling."

The Chupacabra hissed again, louder and more threateningly this time.

"Would you believe that this magnificent creature was extinct until I resurrected him four days ago? Astonishing how a creature built specifically to deal death could ever die out, don't you agree?"

"This is bad," Loretta growled.

"Let's see how well my dragon can handle this," scoffed Maria, although she was frightened by Camilla's lack of concern.

Ah-ah-ah. Do you realize that you are at the bottom of the tower? In other words, you are at its foundation. Damage this room, and the whole tower collapses on top of you!" She cackled again.

Stella arrived back on the scene along with Charlotte and Jonathan just as the Chupacabra pounced, landing on top of Alucard. It made a move to tear out his throat, but he caught its clawed hand as it descended and used it as leverage to toss the monster away. It landed hard on the floor and rolled away a few more feet before fluidly bouncing back to its feet and charging at Jonathan, who promptly drew his Nebula whip. He slid under the monster's pouncing attack and stretched his right arm out behind him, letting the Nebula take care of the rest. It reacted to the Chupacabra's tainted aura immediately, shooting out on its own to wrap itself around one the beast's legs.

"Stella! Spear out! Now!" Jonathan shouted his order and swung the whip out, letting it use its own power to carry the larger creature through the air and send it flying towards Stella, who had the Alucard Spear outstretched. "Let's end this quick!" he roared, letting the whip release its hold on the monster's leg. It landed on the spear, impaling itself squarely in the chest, the large blade of the spear opening a huge gash in the beast's flesh from which thick blackish blood seeped.

"Augh!"

With a gasp of overexertion, Stella let the spear clatter to the floor, the Chupacabra's weight proving to be far too great for her on her own. While Jonathan may have had the help of the Nebula, the Alucard Spear had no mind of its own, and no will to keep itself held steady.

"Are you finished yet?" Maria said irritably. Camilla just grinned viciously, showing her fangs for added effect.

"Not nearly! Keep an eye on your enemies: If they aren't dead, you can be sure they'll still be ready to kill you!"

Maria didn't need another hint. She dived sideways to the floor and watched as the would-be incapacitated Chupacabra skidded to a halt, its claws digging into the floor upon which she had stood only a moment earlier. The blade of the Alucard Spear grated against the floor as the creature adopted a crouched position, without any warning it tore the spear out of its body and hurled it back at Stella, who narrowly managed to avoid having the left side of her body removed.

There was a growl from behind the group. Several in fact.

"It appears as though the guests I've invited to our little party have arrived. How nice of them to show," Camilla grinned maliciously. Charlotte turned around and recognized the wolf-like monsters immediately.

"Wargs!"

While four members of the group gathered together into a circle to defend themselves against the two-pronged attack, Alucard and Maria both had similar ideas.

"You can transform into a wolf right?"

"Yes, indeed I can."

"Sweet! Just distract them for a moment then, I've got a really cool idea."

"Could I hear it?"

"It could kill that Chuplacraba thing."

"Chupacabra. But could you please elaborate?"

"It might save our lives!"

"That's all well and good, but—"

"Okay, listen carefully…"

Alucard's eyes widened as he realized how well she had thought her idea out.

"Very elaborate. You think very quickly Miss Fox. Commendable."

"Thank you—waitasec, let's not get back to this again: It's Maria. Just Maria!"

"Alucard's only responses were a sly chuckle and his subsequent transformation into a large member of the Lupus species. He began a string of snarls, barks and growls that had the wargs looking around at each other uncomfortably and whining like kicked puppies. Maria quickly ran up to them and placed her hands on the faces of two in particular that were standing close together. A Chinese symbol appeared on their respective 'foreheads' and she moved on to another pair of the wolves placing the same Chinese symbols on their heads. She repeated this three more times until there were ten wargs that had the same symbol on their faces. She went up to one of them in particular, likely the alpha-male judging by its size, posture and position in the group and gave it a quick rub on the head before scratching it behind its ears.

"Who's a good boy? You are! You are. You can understand me even without this silly enchantment can't you? I know it's uncomfortable, but I'll let you go in a minute. I just need you to help me and my friends out for a minute and then you can go back to hunting for…whatever you like to eat…okay?"

"Wroorf!" it gave a bark of approval and sneezed good-naturedly.

"Okay then, could you and your friends help take down that mean ugly creature over there? The one that's gross and bleeding all over the place?"

The warg nodded faintly and then gestured to the others in its pack. They advanced on Camilla and the Chupacabra, waiting for Maria's orders.

"What in Hell did you do to my wargs!" Camilla cried out in disgust.

"Oh, just a little enchantment to make them more friendly and slightly more obedient," Maria grinned widely, "Alucard, ready?"

The wolf that was Alucard barked and nodded in a very human-like manner.

"Alright then! Dual Crush! Wolf Pack Assault!"

The wargs charged, and Alucard pounced on top of Camilla, making her collapse to the floor. Before the Chupacabra could react to assist its stunned mistress, it was overwhelmed by ten hungry wolf-monsters, all out for its blood. It was torn to pieces in moments, and seconds later, some rather satisfied and un-enchanted wargs were munching on tasty Chupacabra steaks. Very rare, in multiple senses of the term. Alucard in the meantime was mauling Camilla and almost having a good time about it.

"Filthy bloodsucker! You do not deserve to live!"

Of course he was in the form a wolf, so what he said came out more like this:

"Arrrr! Cccchhhhhsss! Rragh! Hufffff! Aroo!" he yelped as he clamped down on a small metal object and grated his teeth on it. Nevertheless, he still ripped it out of her dress pocket and spat it out along with some foul-tasting fluids.

"Hssss. Rrrrrrgh. Whhhhinnnne…" Which of course meant: "Vampire blood. Ugh. Tastes worse than mother's cough medicine. That worked very well though."

"What's this key for?" Maria asked, picking up a very ornate skeleton key. She wiped the blood off on Alucard's fur. She had never realized how annoyed wolves could look before that moment in her life. Two of the wargs looked at her and shook their heads.

"That's going to show up on my cape you know," he grumbled before he remembered that he only sounded like a whining dog to her. He changed back into his human form and kicked Camilla away. She stood up immediately and gasped at the mess that the wargs had turned the Chupacabra into.

"What have you done to my pet!" she shrieked, "How dare you murder my Chupacabra! Mortal scum! I promise you will pay for this with your lives!" she summoned her usual dark cloud, and backed into it, disappearing from sight.

The next time we meet you'll all die you miserable insects!

"That was rough!" Jonathan groaned, leaning against a wall.

"Did that monster scratch any of you?" Loretta asked worriedly.

She was stunned and delighted to find that nobody answered her in the affirmative. Then Alucard raised his hand.

"Charlotte, you have to cast Sanctuary on him! In a couple of hours, he'll turn into a cave troll if you don't!"

"I would not worry about that. With my cursed blood comes protection from external forces. The magical poison of the Chupacabra dissipated upon contact with my blood; there is no need for you to expend your energy. But this spell you keep mentioning intrigues me. What does it do exactly?"

"It purifies…well everything, reverting it back to its original state," Charlotte explained, "It's the reason that Stella and Loretta are here with us today as well. They were turned into vampires and—"

"This spell changed them back? Nonsense! Nothing can cure that curse!" Alucard nearly stammered.

"As long as we weren't born with it, it can cure anything," Charlotte said proudly, "I'd like to say that I invented it, but I actually found it in a hole in the ceiling of a tomb."

"So the two Lecarde girls were turned into vampires?" Alucard grimaced, "Where was your father during all of this?"

"Right here in Castlevania," Loretta said quietly, "We were bitten and then Brauner killed him right in front of us."

"Vile demon," Alucard growled.

"Hey, what do you have there, Maria?" Stella interrupted the others to ask. Maria held the key up to the light.

"Ohhhh yesssss," Stella rubbed her hands together eagerly.

"Master, I have a new report for you," Slogra hissed, kneeling before Death.

"Speak, my servant," Death tapped the arm of his throne idly. He was not so much sitting on it as he was hovering above it at a sitting level, but the furniture helped make the sparsely decorated room more dramatic. And Death knew better than anyone that Dracula had never been able to resist drama, even when designing the castle. In fact, his dramatic side was often his Achilles' Heel.

"I'll have to make sure he's prepared not to go overboard on the theatrics this time around. If the Prophecy of 1999 proves to be accurate, we'll need to be prepared."

"What was that, my master?" Slogra asked.

"Nothing at all, I was merely pondering a dangerous possibility. Go ahead, what news do you bring me?

"The vile Camilla has been actively pursuing your puppets."

"If only they were so easy to manipulate," Death muttered under his virtually nonexistent breath.

"She seems to be driven by a resentful fit of rage. Stella Lecarde seems to have offended her, and then beaten her twice. I believe that she may have set Camilla off on a self-destructive spiral. I would say that I was concerned for her wellbeing, except for the fact that—heh—I'm not." Slogra giggled hysterically at his own joke.

"Of course not," Death dismissed the joke, "Keep in mind that I am not idle here, I am watching Bernhard's movements very carefully. He has a plan for her that he has…conveniently…neglected to inform her of."

"This should prove to be quite a show, don't you agree Master?" Slogra inquired, "Gaibon my friend, what do you think?"

The draconic minion bared his teeth and curled the ends of his mouth into a savage grin of sorts. It growled shakily to produce a noise that almost sounded like a throaty laugh.

"This is going to be interesting," said Death, "Very interesting indeed."

"Will you dispose of the hunters once they have removed Camilla, Master? Or will you let them continue clearing out the rest of the usurpers?" Slogra asked.

"I think that I will do as they please for the time being," Death drawled, "As worried as I am of becoming sympathetic to their cause, it would be counterproductive to put an end to them at this point. After all, they can destroy Camilla, and then I can finally get involved. And with their little succubus friend searching for that buffoon Orlok, we should have this game playing in our favor long before Alastor can even begin to realize something is amiss."

Slogra and Gaibon exchanged glances.

"Shall we head to our new post, Master?"

"Very well, I must continue focusing on Bernhard's plans or I may make a mistake in my strategy. You are dismissed."

"Thank you Master."

Author's Note: I figured if Alucard's old companion Lyudmil could be a vampire and still be a good person, so could Brauner. After all, (SPOILERS) in the bad ending, he says that all he ever wanted to do was protect his family. (SPOILERS END) So how did I do going about showing that? Even though he accepts them to be the daughters of Eric Lecarde, he still loves them in his own somewhat warped fashion. I'm worried: Can Alucard even get sick? I'm assuming that he might have as a child, so I'll hope that that can work for me here. Also, who recognizes the laugh that I gave Camilla? Hint: androgynous male villain.

And who can tell me what movie Maria makes a reference to? It's a modern stop-motion-animation movie with George Clooney in it.