Author's Note: Still not quite done. This is more of an interlude between the climax and the end of the story. A little curio before the tale comes to a close. But I don't really have much to say beyond that, so I'll just continue with the story.

Special Thanks to the Lord Destroyer for his/her motivation. Though I'd like to point out that this is still fanfiction and I technically don't have to do any of that, and what you wrote was rude and hurt my feelings. However. The story is already finished, so I really should have posted much, much sooner. No excuse. Also, I apologize, but your outcome isn't happening. Already written and all that. It has been since early January…again I apologize.

Chapter XXIV

Conversation with a Vampire

"Charlotte! What's wrong?"

"Where's Bernhard?"

"Adrian, calm down!"

"Put a stop this incessant noise."

"My tongue! I cut it! I have fangs!"

A cacophony of voices pervaded the crimson room.

"Mathias…I pity you."

"Maria, why are you—?"

"Fools, be quiet!"

"You're hurt, why shouldn't I be here."

"Bernhard's been decapitated, so just calm down."

"Jonathan, you have to kill me right now, before I change any more."

"Silence, imbeciles!"

The room fell silent as the Count's voice pierced through the commotion. They all turned to look at him as he glared at each and every one of the speakers.

"How are you here?" he demanded pointing at the spectral form of Leon Belmont. His arm shook, though whether it was because of shock or lack of strength, no one could determine.

"Just as Sara is the Vampire Killer's soul, I am its memory. I am still with my beloved."

Dracula seethed with indignation, his hands balling into fists.

"So…even after all that transpired between us, you still received a happy ending. God truly does enjoy tormenting me."

"You have nobody to blame but yourself for your obsessive need for compensation, Mathias. It was unjust for Elizabetha to be taken from you, and the men and women who murdered Lisa were the scum of humanity, but you have no right to declare war on us as a whole. Your son, who witnessed the act himself forgave humanity; why could you never do the same?"

"You haven't the first idea how it feels to have the things you care about most in the world taken from you!" Dracula hissed through his teeth, showing his fangs, "What right do you have to judge me, Leon?"

"I know exactly how it feels, or have you forgotten?" Leon stepped forward, "You used Walter to take Sara away from me yourself. I lived out the rest of my life without her at my side. I was only reunited with her when I bonded myself to the whip on my deathbed."

"I—"

"No, Mathias," Leon interrupted, "you have nothing to say to justify your actions this time."

"How would you know when you refuse to allow me to put a word in edgewise?"

"Because, I've heard all your excuses before. With each of my descendants who've fought you, you've told the same stories of how God takes everything and gives nothing in return. I needn't hear it again just so you can tell me in person. I'm here only to beg that you simply try to forgive humanity."

"I will never change the path I've set for myself," Dracula hung his head in exhaustion, his bangs hanging over is eyes, "It is far too late for that."

"Is it though?"

Dracula was about to respond when there was a flash of bright blue light. The next thing he knew, he had been swallowed by Death's cloak.

"Charlotte…I—I can't do this."

Jonathan's knife shook in his hands.

"Hurry up! I'll lose my nerve!" Charlotte began to squirm, gripping Jonathan's hand tightly. "Coward…your grandfather cut out Dracula's throat and I'm going to be just as vicious as him in only a few weeks, so if you can't do this, you can't do anything!"

"No matter how much you try to piss me off, nothing you could ever say or do to me would ever make me want to kill you, Char. I need you! And I mean that in more than a romantic way. Without you, I'd be a high-school dropout with no sense of responsibility—I'd be totally screwed!"

"There's nothing you can do now, you idiot. I want to be with you. I really do. But that's impossible. Walter ruined that for us."

"Hey, I don't know the whole story, but I take it that you got bitten?" Maria asked Charlotte, kneeling down beside her across from Jonathan.

"Yeah."

"Don't worry, give me your spellbook," Maria said confidently, snatching the Book of Binding out of Charlotte's hands.

"Hey, give that—"

"The spell was called Sanctuary, right? Yeah, that was it," Maria continued, not waiting for an answer, finding the pages detailing the spell, and without hesitating, she began chanting the aria.

"Maria, you can summon, but you didn't show that much magical aptitude aside from that particular area. You'll just get hit with a rebound. You could get hurt!" Charlotte argued frantically. Maria didn't stop. She completed the incantation and smiled.

"Don't you believe in miracles?" she asked. Charlotte just stared back at her, her face a picture of pure misery, not at all prepared to see her friend die as the spell backfired.

As if on cue, a soothing blue light flowed out across the room. Death swooped between the spell's origin point and his master, blocking the majority of the spell's power at the cost of his physical form. Once again, he vanished.

Alucard gasped. Although he otherwise would not have remained conscious after being in contact with the spell in his present condition, he was too astonished to see Maria using it to allow the welcoming blackness to take him.

Charlotte just gaped, though she passed out almost immediately.

As the light faded, the room's occupants returned to their previous activities.

"Just for the record," Maria smiled at Charlotte's momentarily unconscious form, "I certainly do."

"What just…happened?" the girl in question asked groggily. "Wait a minute…" she sat bolt upright, her eyes practically bugging out of her head, "You used…I wasn't out long was I?" Jonathan shook his head confirming her assumption, "But that shouldn't be…" she moved her tongue around in her mouth, already noticing that it was no longer bleeding, "No fangs…No fangs! No fangs, no fangs, no fangs! I'm not a vampire!" She pulled the knife out of Jonathan's hand, tossing it away before throwing her arms around Jonathan, "But you…how did you—?"

Charlotte kept stammering and Maria continued to smile back at her, unaware of Alucard's suspicious gaze.

"Mathias, you must admit that those children are possessed of great talent for ones so young."

"I've fallen at the hands of every living being in this room with the exception of the girl with blonde hair, though she dresses similarly to a woman who once befriended my son. She helped destroy me twice. Vile creature."

"Father, you will withdraw that statement this instant!" Alucard fumed, his focus on Maria broken and his sword already at his father's throat.

Leon stepped back out of reflex. "I'd do what he says. The boy looks serious."

"I'll have you know that I am over five hundred years older than you ever lived." The prince snarled, eyes narrowing.

"And I have no reason to doubt that. Nevertheless, you still strike me as being a boy. As for the other thing—" he turned back to face Dracula and gestured toward Alucard with his eyes.

"Very well," he growled, "My…apologies," he spat the word out as though it were poison. "I shall refrain from making remarks about that particular woman."

Without another word, Alucard slid his heirloom sword back into its scabbard and returned to eyeing Maria warily.

"Even before you met Elizabetha, you were so vibrant, so full of life," Leon remarked with an air of regret, "Now you've spent over seven hundred years cursing God, and look at what's become of you."

"What's become of me? I have become The King of the Night! The Lord of Darkness! I have since become a being that possesses nearly limitless power, and you pity me?

"Perhaps you have attained great and terrible powers, but that is not what I see when I look at you."

"Then pray tell me what exactly you do see?" the Dark Lord demanded.

"I see a tired, miserable old man without any reason to continue. You've grown tired of living, haven't you? I can see right through you, Mathias. Nothing has come from spiting The Lord. Your actions have not returned Elizabetha or Lisa to you. I can't imagine that you would actually want to continue this way."

Dracula looked away for a moment before turning back to face his old friend. A woman now stood beside Leon dressed in a robin's-egg blue gown with her long hair tied up in a bun at the back of her head, though she still kept most of her chocolaty locks down.

"Remember how you used to tell stories of odd events that took place during your campaigns?" she asked cheerfully.

"And what does that have to do with my present condition?"

"Nothing at all, I just imagined it would lighten the atmosphere."

"I remember mostly that Leon would have a squad of knights that would charge into battle without thinking."

"That was true, but it would occasionally lead to amusing outcomes, if I recall correctly," Sara observed.

"Such as the gypsy fiasco."

Dracula held back a chuckle, but still allowed himself a smirk, "The wonders of incompetence. Twenty of your regiment thought they had found a bandit encampment and we gave them permission to raid it. None of them made it back. By my memory, when we found them, those that weren't as drunk as sailors were already passed out. They had all somehow 'lost,' their military crests, most had spent all of the money they had on hand, and none of them had horses any longer."

"I think I was too lenient with them on that occasion," Leon admitted, "It was their own fault that the nomads were able to rob them blind. They were lucky to still have their swords and armor."

"Idiots. Roma aren't all thieves you know," Charlotte called over to the trio of ancient acquaintances.

"Roma? Whom do you speak of, witch girl?"

"Leon, what does she mean by that word?"

"I'm afraid I don't know, Sara…"

Charlotte sighed in exasperation.

"Roma, is the Gypsies name for themselves. In their language, it just means 'person.' 'Gypsy' is just a name that your people came up with for them."

"My, such a well-versed young lady," Sara remarked proudly, "are women allowed to attend universities in these times?"

Charlotte bristled, her hands balling into fists and her shoulders tensing. She took a deep breath, "Calm down, Charlotte," she said to herself, "They're medieval nobles; they're not rude, they're just idiots."

"Pardon me, young lady, but I will not allow you to talk down to my Sara," Leon responded, looking positively scandalized.

"Don't get mad; just educate them," Charlotte continued to herself. Slowly she relaxed her tensed muscles and strode over to where the two nobles and their former companion stood. She had only gone a few feet before her legs nearly gave out however, and she needed Jonathan to catch her and support her the rest of the way.

"Yes, women are allowed to get an education these days. I, however, was reading at the age of two. This registered a look of surprise from, of all people, Dracula. She noticed Alucard had quirked an eyebrow as well, once again, turning away from Maria who had gone over to stand at his side.

"What's wrong?" Charlotte groaned.

"Nothing, I assure you. My mother was also a very intelligent woman, but she was still only reading by the age of…" he trailed off, his memory blank.

"Eight years, by her account," Dracula finished Alucard's thought, prompting a nod from the latter.

"From what I've read, Lisa Fahrenheits Tepes lived over five hundred years ago. For a girl to be reading at eighteen would have been impressive enough. Eight would have been unheard of. Unfortunately, that was just another reason the scum-for-brains witch hunters targeted her," she ignored Dracula's darkening expression. "I'm just glad it's not dangerous for girls to be smart anymore. I'd have been killed at, like, ten. Aside from the fact that I actually am a witch."

Leon, not unaware of Dracula's usual demeanor returning, decided it was time to step in before the young witch caused any more damage.

"Remind me, Mathias, how did you route the thieves that attempted to steal from the manor belonging to Elizabetha's father? I remember that the results were greatly amusing to watch, considering they all ran away screaming like frightened children, but I can't remember what you did."

"I never told you, that's why you can't remember. But you are correct; it was just as amusing on the inside as it was on the outside."

"What did you do, then?" Sara asked eagerly. By this point, everyone in the room had gathered around the trio of nobles to listen in, almost completely disregarding the fact that one of them was the Dark Lord himself.

"You see," Dracula began pleasantly, clearly in his domain of rhetorical expertise, "Her father's home had a number of gaps in the woodwork of the second floor."

Her father's home had a number of gaps in the woodwork of the second floor. They opened up right into the floor below; some were big enough that you could fall clean through them without grazing the sides. Shoddy workmanship on the part of the architect I assure you, very shoddy indeed. The wood used to build the floors and ceiling was taken from the ruins of an old castle in Scotland and relayed in the manor, with beams of wood placed over them to ensure nobody fell through.

History being repeated is a folly. Reusing it is not always an issue, but when the materials have been left exposed to the elements for over fifty years, it's simply idiotic. The floors all needed to be replaced, or the entire second floor would fall through in a matter of years.

After I was through discussing that matter with her father, Elizabetha and I began gathering information. The burglary was planned on a night that the house would be empty, with Elizabetha's parents staying with anther noble family for that week. The servants would not be cleaning the house that night, my father in-law having given them six days of the week off. As it happened, two of the seven robbers had posed as servants for several months to scout their quarry beforehand. The other five had never before set eyes on the place in their lives. This made it all the easier to sow distrust on the night of the burglary.

We set out to make the place look abandoned. First, we removed all the oil in the houses. No lamps would be lit with any of her father's materials. The villains would fare well enough in the dark regardless. To cut costs, I opted to leave windows open rather than breaking them. Any window with hinges was left either open or partially unscrewed and hanging in what appeared to be precarious positions. I gathered up spider webs from the attics in both my own home and my father in-law's and both Elizabetha and I moved them. Very delicate work, but we were careful. We placed them all over the house, in doorways and window frames, on ornaments, under tables, etcetera.

"Sounds like he already was interested in the haunted castle thing even before he became a monster," Jonathan remarked offhandedly.

"I'll take that as a complement," Dracula hissed slyly, "You must admit that the eerie atmosphere has an ominous appeal to it however."

"I'm not so sure," Jonathan replied.

Charlotte frowned, "I'd never have ever expected myself to say this, but shut up Jonathan, Dracula's talking." Jonathan tried to hold back a laugh, but failed spectacularly, rolling over on the floor and clutching his stomach.

Dracula's eyes immediately began shooting daggers at him, and Leon gave him an unsettlingly quizzical look. "Okay, sorry! Sorry! Continue. I can't have my girlfriend getting upset anyway, she's not in the best shape." He sat back up. He didn't really remember when they had all sat down, but he wasn't about to stand when he could sit.

"Wait, what's that supposed to mean?" Charlotte demanded.

"And she called us idiots," Leon grumbled.

"I think it's just hormones," Maria grinned, "they'll grow out of this eventually. Probably."

"Well…as I was saying before the imbecile hunter interrupted, having placed the spider webs I began tearing out the planks that covered up the holes in the second floor."

Having placed the spider webs, I began tearing out the planks that covered up the holes in the second floor. I hired a team of men to dig up a crossroads where criminals had been buried. I should mention now that I was not at the peak of my career at this point in time. If I had been, the webs would have been placed last.

The six skeletons that we found were the next props to be used in the 'display.' Elizabetha was actually very much against this bit, but it was my job to uphold the law, and if my plan worked the crooks wouldn't just fail to rob her family, they would actually come seeking refuge. I placed three of the skeletons in slumped positions against the walls of the first floor: One in the entry hall, one in the sitting area, and another in the kitchen by the servants' entrance, through which food and other household necessities were brought in from, and which was the robbers' most likely point of entry. The fourth I hung from hole in the ceiling by a noose in the study. I also set a trap. A rather obvious one at that, but still enough to terrify a superstitious thief. I also constructed a little mechanism that would bring a spear down from the ceiling by a rope attached to a panel in the floor. It would have the fifth skeleton impaled on it and it would land immediately in front of the man who stepped on the panel, so that in the moment after stepping on the trap, they would be staring the skeleton in the face from not even inches away.

The last was less of a skeleton. It must have only been buried months prior, as it still had at least half of its flesh attached to it. In the kitchen, I made a similar trap to the one I built for the skeleton, but in this case, it was much simpler. The corpse would just fall on top of the man who triggered it. That would be enough to scare half the life out of anyone. The last touch after the spider webs and corpses were the ghosts. Fake ghosts, but who would know? They were just sheets with plaster skulls underneath them designed to sway in the wind as though they were moving around. I placed candles inside the skulls as well to ensure they were noticed. Hung from holes in the ceiling as the others were. I also had to test which floorboards creaked and which did not so that I could move between holes without provoking suspicion of human interference and I laid tarps across the usable routes. All that remained was to watch and wait for the thieves to arrive. I waited on the second floor with a list of ominous remarks to whisper from the holes in the ceiling, as well as my sword, should the intruders catch on and charge up the stairs to kill the one interfering with them. A sword…it's almost funny to think that I ever used one, considering the kind of power I now possess.

I remember everything about that night in perfect detail…

I had seen the robbers from the window, and as I suspected, they made to enter through the servants' entrance. I immediately rushed to the corresponding hole.

"Well, come on then! Into the house before anyone sees," a large man with a gravelly voice ordered, "Jerry you go' the bags?"

"Yes sir, that I do sir," said a younger voice, presumably belonging to the one named Jerry. He had an Irish accent that made his voice stand out among the other thieves' Cockney.

"Good, pass 'em ou' then!"

"You're sure about this Jerry? What if we get caught?" came a meek sounding voice, also with an Irish accent.

"Well, nobody'll give us jobs. We're a couple of street rats. At least once this is over with we'll never have to work a day in our lives. Or if we do, we'll at least have some money to get credentials with."

"I-I suppose so."

"Er, mates," came a cynical sounding voice, "you sure you got the right 'ouse?"

"Yeah, why?" came two voices in unison, likely the ones that had posed as servants.

"Well, jus' look around. This place looks abandoned."

"Hey, yeah, you go' a point, really."

"No, Skaffer, we mean it, we don't know what this is! We've been here for six months!" protested the first servant.

"Really, then?" said the leader with the gravelly voice, now identified as Skaffer, "So you been loafin' abou' in some empty mansion for the pas' six months? I been buyin' you drinks every night for you to lay about doin' nothin' all day?!"

"That's not what we mean sir," said the second servant anxiously, "This place was lively as the middle o' town, it was! I haven't the foggiest idea how it could come to be like this!"

"Is…that…righ'?" growled Skaffer threateningly.

"We're telling the truth Skaffer," the second servant insisted vehemently, "We've been in your group thirteen years. You think we'd turn our backs on you all of a sudden?"

A sense of tension hung in the air before Skaffer spoke again.

"All righ', very well. But I'm paying close attention to you from this point on."

"Thank you sir," the first servant groveled.

There was a sudden scream from further in the room.

"Wha' is it boy? Did you see a spider?" taunted the only thief remaining unaccounted for.

Jerry's brother whimpered and there was a shuffling of footsteps as Jerry must have come to his brother's defense.

"N-No! We should leave. I don't want to be here any longer!"

"What did you see?" Jerry asked soothingly.

"T-There." Jerry's brother was likely pointing at the skeleton, something that was confirmed when several of the thieves cried out with fright.

"Wha' in God's name…" Skaffer growled.

"This has most certainly never been here before!" yelped the first servant.

"I'll second that!" said the second, sounding slightly less panicked.

"Wha'evah," barked the seventh thief, "Jus' a dead body. I've made loads of 'em."

"Now now, Slyfe," Skaffer grumbled uncomfortably, for the first time not sounding completely in control of the situation, "We know what you can do. We'd jus' prefer it if you tried to cool down a minute."

Mathias raised his eyebrows. That was a name he had heard before. Slyfe was wanted for the murder of several whole families, each of whom were quite wealthy. He went after the rich. He didn't take anything; he didn't want anything. He just killed them. It was just his own personal agenda against anyone who had better circumstances. He only remembered one of the victims' names, but he suspected that would be enough. His sentence upon being caught was to be hanged, but as long as he died, Mathias saw no problems. He made a mental note to lure him upstairs later on.

"There's another skeleton in here too," the clever thief shouted from the entrance hall.

"Forget the bodies, le's just loot the damn place an' get out!" Skaffer grunted.

"Yes, sir," the two servants agreed in unison before voicing a question, "What about the ghosts?"

"Mother o' God, what doesn't this hell'ole 'ave?"

"Well, they don't seem to be doing anything bu' staring at us, so I say, we don't bother them, and they prob'ly won't bother us," the clever one piped up.

Moments later one of them screamed.

"Damn it all! I was nearly just killed over here! It looks like the first person to come this way wasn't so lucky," it was the second servant, "Wait what am I saying?! No one could have gotten killed like this and rotted away. Never could have, I was here not four days ago! What the hell is all this?!"

"The Devil musta been here, tha's what! Only Lucifer himself coulda turned a lively place like this into a den of 'orrors," the clever thief crowed.

There was a shriek from the kitchen as the rotting corpse landed on Skaffer, and Mathias decided that it would be a good time to speak through one of the holes.

"Join ussssssss…Death awaitsssssss you…" he hissed.

Four out of the seven howled in terror. There was a thumping noise as the frightened intruders charged out of the house and ran, down the road to where Leon and Elizabetha were waiting, tumbling over one another in their haste.

"That takes care of that. Easier than I expected. I suppose they were all cowards in the end," Mathias applauded himself.

"Oh so you were the one responsible for all of this," came a familiar voice from the landing, "You see Kay, nothing to be afraid of. I thought I noticed holes in the ceiling. Did you put them there just to scare us off?"

Mathias just stared at Jerry, giving the almost-thief and his brother a quizzical look.

"Anyone home?" Jerry asked.

"Yes, I can hear you, and yes, I intended to frighten you all off down the road to where my friend is waiting to arrest them, but no, the holes are here because the wood is old. And you may want to move.

"What?" Jerry asked before being tossed aside as Slyfe charged toward Mathias. Kay immediately rushed to his older brother's side with a yelp.

"You're Cronqvist, are you not?" demanded the killer.

"Correct. A pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"A pleasure for me. Your 'ead'll be my biggest prize yet! He pulled a dagger from his belt and made to throw it at Mathias but had his arm knocked to the side by Jerry's brother as he released it. The dagger spun wildly across the hall and lodged itself in the floor.

"Poisoned daggers, I see. I'm afraid you're scheduled to be hanged for your crimes. Your own method would be so much more ironic however. So…" he plucked the dagger from the floor even as another flew right over his head, dodging effortlessly, "For future reference, this is how you throw a knife."

Mathias tossed the knife back at its owner. It flew in a perfectly straight line and lodged itself in Slyfe's gut.

"Thank you, young men, you've assisted in the removal of a dangerous outlaw," Mathias grinned, a mischievous idea coming to him.

"Er, what?" Jerry asked, confused.

"Oh, yes, there was a four thousand crown reward for the one who assisted with that."

"So you're the one who stole from my vault?!" Leon interrupted angrily.

"You're the one who left it open for four days."

"I had men searching the surrounding towns! Twelve men were branded!"

"It wasn't my concern."

"Of course it was! You're the one at fault!"

"As I understand it, Leon, you played some head games with the robbers before taking them in, but I never found out what you said to them exactly," Dracula changed the subject.

"Well I'm certainly never telling you now."

"What does what I did back then matter now? Everyone from that period bar myself is long dead. In any case, I want all of you out of this chamber! I don't know why I bothered telling you that frivolous tale of my more naïve days."

"Mathias…I want you to remember what I told you."

"We'll see whether I choose to rest when and if the time comes. Until the next time we meet, Belmont."

With that, Dracula lay back inside the stone coffin, and with a heavy crash, the stone cover flew back and slammed the case shut. Leon and Sara faded shortly thereafter.

"Well then, mission complete, I guess!" Jonathan spoke up cheerfully.

"Let's all get out of this castle then. It's sure to collapse in a matter of minutes after all," Maria suggested.

"Yeah, good point," Charlotte agreed, "Jonathan, do you think you could carry me? I don't want to fall down a flight of stairs," she frowned when she heard a chuckle.

"You just want me to hold you, don'tcha? Sorry, you were insulting me mercilessly earlier, so nothing doing," he paused, letting his words sink in before continuing, "Which isn't to say I'd ever even consider leaving you down here."

With a fluid movement, he slung Charlotte over his shoulder and began retracing his steps.

Maria grinned at Alucard, "Well, we should get going too," she began walking, knocking a skeletal monstrosity with twelve arms out of her way before turning around, noticing that her companion hadn't joined her, "Aren't you coming?"

Alucard glared at her, a look of pure disgust marring his usually serene features.

"What? What's wrong?"

"I think you know the answer to that," he spat. Without so much as a flourish, he pulled his cape around himself and disappeared, nothing but a faint trail of mist marking where he had gone.

"Oh no…" Maria moaned.

'You've messed up big time, haven't you?' her successor grumbled acerbically.

Author's Note: And they still haven't left yet… go figure. They'll still be leaving next chapter too. See Y'all next time.