Chapter 5

In the dark chamber suspended by a single passage of stairs overlooking the entirety of Castlevania, Dracula peered through his window down upon his surroundings. The man whom had revived him knocked upon his chamber door. "Come in," the Dark Count demanded.

The man entered, his face still obscured by darkness. Not that it mattered, as Dracula cared little how he appeared so long as he served his needs. "The Morris girl has entered the castle, my Lord," his servant informed him. "She has brought with her the successor to the Lecarde bloodline, and it would seem... that a Belmont has joined them, as well."

"I am aware of that which happens within my domain," Dracula bitterly answered back. "What I am not aware of is why, if you had intended to bring Morris to me as a meal, you have allowed her to join with two other successors to those whom have ended me in the past."

"I-it was beyond my foresight, my master, but I assure you, they will pose you little threat. The Lecarde girl is a typically lackadaisical American commoner, and the Belmont? No more than a disgraced missionary. I see this as a wonderful opportunity for you, Lord Dracula! A chance to erase the future of all three families and in doing so, remove each and every obstacle standing between you and absolute power!"

"Let us hope... for your sake... that you are correct..."

Nervously, the dark priest exited the room. Once he was gone, a dark specter materialized within Dracula's chamber. It wielded a large, deadly scythe and possessed a skeletal visage.

"These mortal followers can be such a terrible inconvenience," he said in a chilling voice. "Driven by such petty earthly motivations... Shall I continue to monitor him?"

"Do as you wish, Death," Dracula answered. "The Lord of the Night cares little for the political rationales of men, and in time, he shall learn this lesson in a most harsh manner..."

The three slayers soon found themselves within the inner workings of a clock tower. Ladders and catwalks were few and far between. The entire height of the place was dotted with suspended platforms and occasional stairs.

"How the hell is anyone supposed to get around in this stupid place?" Cass asked.

"Somehow, I believe that to be the general point," observed Andre.

Blanche examined the area above them. "Hold onto that thought," she said. "It's a little crazy, but... ya see the size o' them gears 'n' cogs? I bet if we rode 'em, we could make it between each platform!"

Andre grimaced. "Ride... the clockwork...? Are you daft? Who in the history of human intelligence would ever do anything so utterly mindless and suicidal?"

"Actually... it's completely crazy, but she might be onto something," Cass interjected. She leapt onto the moving cog in front of them and jumped off once she neared the platform on the other side. "Come on, guys! It's a lot easier than it looks!"

Blanche made the jump, carrying the halberd on her back in a harness she had stolen from the were-minotaur. Andre groaned as he saw her join Cass on the platform.

"Clearly, I was mistaken about the both of you. You aren't immoral, you're simply insane," Andre remarked as he reluctantly followed their lead. They soon found themselves leaping from cog to cog in an attempt to reach the top. Their efforts were soon punished by feminine disembodied heads wreathed with snakes screaming through the air in their direction.

"Confounded Medusa Heads!" Andre shouted as he tossed his crosses at them.

"Medusa Heads?" Cass inquired while whipping them apart. "I thought Medusa was just the one specific creature, the Queen of the Gorgons. Shouldn't they be Gorgon Heads?"

"Does it really matter right now?!" Andre snapped back.

"Stand back!" Blanche yelled. Cass and Andre jumped to opposing platforms as she drew the halberd from her back. Jumping up, she span it in a circle over her head and slashed through the crowd of heads that had amassed around her, letting out a rowdy bellow.

"HA! Damn, that felt good!" she exclaimed as the three of them reunited.

"How in the world did you do that?" Andre asked.

"'Cuz I'm a freakin' Lecarde!" she boasted as she sheathed her weapon once more.

"Having fun with that adrenaline high?" Cass asked.

"You bet yer hot little ass! I-I mean your regular ass! Your completely nondescript ass that I've never taken notice of and never will! I... I'm down from it now..." She and Cass looked away from each other, both blushing.

As they neared the top, three winged harpies soared from the shadows to strike at them. Cass wrapped her whip around the talons of one, then slammed it into another. Andre polished off the single straggler with his cross.

They stepped off from a large rotating cog to one final platform leading to a door. They opened it and wandered through a small hallway into a large, simple chamber filled with marble columns. Floating in the air before them was what appeared to be a cloaked skeleton gripping a razor-sharp scythe. It let out a cold laugh as it saw them.

"Death..." Cass presumed at the sight of him.

"Your feeble efforts have not escaped my notice, mortals, nor have they eluded the lord of this castle. If we so wished, we could have ended your quest the moment it began, but something about seeing the three legendary bloodlines bicker and quibble amongst themselves amused us. Belmont, Morris, Lecarde... It matters so very little. In the end, you are just as human as anybody else, and it will be your paltry squabbles that bring about your inevitable end."

"Bring it, bone breath!" Blanche yelled, drawing her halberd once more.

Andre stepped forward. "That's right! Death or not, we'll do to you as we've done to those Medusa Heads!"

"Gorgon Heads," Cass corrected.

"...As we've done to those Medusa Heads," Andre insisted. "So show us your worst!"

Death gave another laugh, an eerie sensation permeating the room as he did so.

"My worst? You barely merit my most generous. It is far too early to end our little game, dear hunters, and you still have so much further entertainment to provide us. I will leave you with one of my little... pets. Do try not to die, won't you?"

Death cackled as he faded into the shadows. A pool of darkness quickly began to form in the center of the chamber, and from it, two scaled humanoid arms with clawed digits emerged and dug into the ground. The creature that pulled itself up with these arms seemed to be a snake with a female humanoid body and tiny human heads and necks as its "hair."

"Freaky..." said Blanche.

"What is it, some kind of Reverse Medusa?" Cass pondered.

"Do you not mean 'Reverse Gorgon'?" Andre teased.

Cass grunted as she rolled out of the way of large beams of light that shot forth from the eyes of the human heads. "Look, you-!"

Her objections were interrupted by the sound of Blanche firing three shots into the Reverse Medusa's torso. "Guys! This kinda crap is exactly what Death wants! I ain't been too great about it, myself, but if we wanna make it through tonight, I'm thinkin' we get our act together and start workin' like we ain't all tryin' to outsmart each other!" She holstered her gun and brought out the halberd once more. "We're the only friends we got here, so it's time to start actin' like it!"

Blanche charged at Reverse Medusa, tossing the weapon directly at her. It struck the snake demon through the chest, but not before it let off several more beams of light which struck Blanche directly. Before she even had time to register the attacks, her entire body had transformed to solid stone.

"BLANCHE, NO!" Cass' cry echoed through the black night...