"You are endangering your immortal soul by continuing to consort with this filthy harlot!" the wide-framed, bearded man that had been stalking the pair of them for the latter half of their conversation shouted, brandishing the large, bread-slicer looking blade he'd pulled out.

Tracking the motions of his eyes, Alice slapped the knife with a backhand blow; freezing the entire structure of the blade solid and causing it to shatter into irreparable pieces in the space of a human blink.

"And, I suppose you're here to teach me the error of my ways," she snarked, folding her arms and narrowing her eyes in amusement.

"That I am, sir!" he said, brandishing the knife handle with clearly unsavory intent.

"Not with that broken old thing, you're not," she said, smirking as the expression on his transformed from one of self-righteous confidence to one of uncertainty as he caught sight of the pitiful remains of his blade. Just as she'd been expecting, the man ran away not soon after. "Some people just have no manners," she said, turning back to Annie. The other woman had an expression of terrified awe on her face, first looking down at the shattered, still frozen remains of the blade that a certain bearded road apple had so unwisely attempted to threaten them with, and then back up to Alice's face; she smiled gently. "Come on; it'll be some time before we make it back to Caritas at this pace."

=PB=

As he'd taken to making rounds of the city by rooftop he, Dio, had been in nearly the perfect position to observe his sweet sister's confrontation with the fool man who had been so brazen as to accost one of the twin lords of London; those who would soon take their place at the peak of the world. Those who would soon be able to raise themselves to Heaven. Perhaps it's time that I, Dio, made my presence known.

Leaping lightly down from the rooftop he'd alighted on, Dio landed just a step behind the man, startling him into whip-turning around at a speed that looked almost painfully slow to his vampire senses; yet another reason that he and his sweet sister were the only ones truly fit to reign over the world.

"What-?!"

"What an odd time for a human to be out and about," he said, smiling almost cordially; humans, dull creatures that they were, did not often look deep enough behind the façade he projected to see to his true heart.

"What are you?!"

He laughed, reveling in the fear that he could see lurking at the edges of the foolish man's expression. "I am one of those who will reign over Heaven."

"Those eyes!" the man yelped, the handle of the knife his sweet sister had so elegantly shattered falling to the ground from his suddenly nerveless grip. "You're the Devil himself!"

Laughing openly now, Dio allowed his eyes to glow, as though in preparation to fire his Space Ripper Stingy Eyes. "The Devil? If I, Dio, am the Devil, then I graciously welcome you to hell."

Exerting his will, he bound the mind of the arrogant man who had been so foolish as to set himself against those who would stand in Heaven, tasting the man's blood to further secure his hold. He knew that Jojo would hardly approve, but since their puppy of an adopted brother wasn't present, Dio didn't allow himself to be overly concerned. Jojo was many things, but anyone could see that the Joestar heir lacked the ruthlessness to survive outside of his tiny, sunlit world.

Still, even a puppy could become a fierce and loyal guard dog with time and proper training.

=PB=

Making his way through the city, carrying a photo of himself, Dio, and Alice, the three of them all seated together on an elegant settee before the photographer, Jonathan sighed softly. True, it had been taken before this dreadful business with the stone mask and Mr. Zeppeli had driven them out of their very home, but truly very little about his dear siblings had changed since the day the photograph was taken. Asking the people he met if any of them had seen either of his dear siblings eventually yielded the word "caritas", and further inquiries along that line had revealed that the name belonged to a hotel and a restaurant – both of them housed within the same building, which Jonathan found slightly odd – which had in turn led him to the realization that Dio and Alice's flight from their family's estate was not as unplanned as it had previously seemed.

Knowing that, that his dear siblings had been making excursions into London many and varied enough that they had not only become well-known in such a place but also had an actual secondary place of residence… Jonathan had resolved to speak to the pair of them about such a thing, before coming to any sort of conclusions. When he finally made his way into the town of Anderson Squire, the first thing he saw was the large, two-story building that Dio and Alice were said to be staying within.

Breathing deeply to steady himself, Jonathan made his way into the main lobby of the building.

There were quite a few people standing and sitting and walking around in what was clearly the lobby of the hotel, and as Jonathan moved around to question the people present about his dear siblings' possible whereabouts, Jonathan found his attention drawn abruptly away from the general bustling of the lobby by a cheerful call.

"Jojo!"

Snapping his head around to take in the cheerfully-smiling form of his brother, Jonathan smiled widely as he hurried over to meet the blond as he gracefully descended the staircase.

"You're all right!"

"Of course, Jojo," Dio said, the grin on his face nearly stretching wide enough to reveal his fangs; Jonathan could only be grateful that such had not been the case, as he rather doubted anyone else but himself and Alice would have been willing to look past such an oddity of appearance; truly, there was no way to know just how many of those here would react like Mr. Zeppeli. "Really, did you think that such a fool would be able to defeat us?"

"I was worried for you, Dio," he said earnestly, watching as his and Alice's brother descended the last of the steps into the hotel's lobby.

"You truly are adorable, Jojo," Dio laughed softly, enveloping him with strong arms that were no longer as warm as he could remember them being; yet another reminder of the changes the stone mask had wrought in his siblings.

However, given the sole alternative, Jonathan resolved to be grateful for what he still had.

=PB=

Knowing that there was very little chance of him truly being able to convince Jonathan Joestar to allow him to properly dispose of those wicked vampires that had once been his siblings – a state that reminded him all too much of when he himself had been forced to confront the monster that terrible stone mask had made of his own father – William Zeppeli resolved himself to his new course of action. He would endeavor to reconnect with Jonathan Joestar, to at least teach the boy Hamon, so that he would be able to protect himself when the beasts that wore the faces of his clearly beloved siblings inevitably revealed their true nature. The rest could be attended to by his fellow Hamon monks.

Straizo and his partner Dire would be more than willing to come to London, he was certain.

After having taken the time to gather himself for the difficulties he was clearly still to face on this journey of his, William turned his path toward the nearest post office. He would need to be quick, as the sooner he contacted his fellows, the sooner they would be able to make their way to London. And the sooner those wicked vampires could be properly laid to rest.

=PB=

The thick, rich stew filled him up, warming Jonathan from the inside as he sat at the staff table just off from the Caritas hotel's attached restaurant.

"I'd no idea the two of you had managed to establish yourselves so well in the city," he said, not quite certain how he was feeling, but having no wish to distress his siblings, either.

"Well, we could hardly continue to rely on your family for charity, Jojo," Dio said, taking a sip from his glass; Jonathan wondered for a moment if it contained blood from the nearby butcher shop, then quickly decided that he did not wish to know. "While it was very kind of your father to allow us a place in his home, it would hardly be a worthy repayment for such kindness to give that oaf Zeppeli any more reasons to destroy your family's property."

"I suppose that's true," he said, wishing more than anything that such were not, in fact, the case.

"We'll probably end up staying around here until this whole thing is resolved," Alice said, her gaze turning inward for a moment.

"Or, until we resolve the situation ourselves," Dio said, grinning over at their sister.

"Yes, or until that," Alice returned, a small smile pulling at her own lips.

Jonathan bit back a sigh, forcing his thoughts down more pleasant avenues. "Speedwagon, you've been rather quiet of late."

"Just enjoying the ambiance," the scarred man who had offered him such kindness when the pair of them had met for that first time. "It's not often I get the privilege of eating such rich food."

"Could be more often, if you wanted," Alice said, in the tone of someone who'd been making such offers rather lot.

"I know," Speedwagon said, his tone nearly the same as Alice's own. "You've offered plenty of times."

Looking between his siblings and Speedwagon, Jonathan wonders just what the true meaning of this half-heard conversation could have been. It was clear that Alice had made an offer that Speedwagon had refused, but the specifics of the offer, as well as Speedwagon's reason for turning away such kindness, was presently lost on him. Making up his mind to speak to Speedwagon later, Jonathan returned his attention to the time he could still spend with his dear siblings; limited though it may very well have been by circumstances beyond their control.

When the meal had finished, with the four of them all wishing each other well, Jonathan trailed Speedwagon as the other man made his way out of and then away from the hotel.

"Something you wanted to say to me, Jonathan?" the other man asked, the kindly smile on his face growing slightly as he turned to wait for Jonathan to catch up.

"Sir Speedwagon, what was it that my siblings offered you?" he asked. "And, why does it sound as though you kept refusing them?"

Speedwagon chuckled softly, shaking his head in what seemed to be a fond sort of nostalgia. "It's nothing against your sister, Jonathan," the other man said, then his smile slipped away. "Your brother, on the other hand… I've met his type before. Living on the streets, you learn to spot lowlifes right away, if you want to live to see tomorrow. I'm sorry to have to be the one ta tell you this, but your brother stinks of brimstone and blood worse than anyone I've ever met."

"That's a horrible thing to say," Jonathan couldn't help the outburst; the need to defend his siblings from another person who seemed determined to tear them down.

"Doesn't make it less true, though I am sorry ta have to be the one to mention it," Speedwagon said, the expression on his face too genuine for Jonathan to dismiss out of hand.

"What of my sister, then?"

Speedwagon's smile returned, though it was slightly enigmatic when it did so. "As soft a touch as she's got, that girl of yours has a heart of steel," the other man said, chuckling softly. "Out of everyone in your family, I think she might be the one best-suited to handling him."

"Well, they are twins," he said, feeling rather more uncertain than he had at the beginning of their conversation.

Speedwagon laughed softly. "What else could they be?"

It didn't seem a question in need of answering, and in any case Jonathan wasn't sure what he could have said in response to such a thing, so he stayed silent.

=PB=

It had been a week of quiet – if not entirely peaceful, considering their need to be on the lookout for Zeppeli – days. Jonathan and his father had paid sporadic visits to their hotel, and while it was clear that old George approved of the initiative they had taken, Alice still kind of wondered what he would make of the employees she had hired. Even with the sheer indifference she held towards the concept of class and social standing, she was still thoroughly aware that it was pretty much a thing in this era.

And, even with what kind of a stand-up guy George tried to be, he was still clearly a man of his era.

With the lack of any more need to sleep for anything but keeping up appearances, Alice found herself with twelve more usable hours in each day, more than enough to carry out the dual tasks of Head Chef and CFO of the company – small though it currently was – that she and Dio were in the process of constructing.

"Draw me with a picture of a higher place I know," she sang softly, moving around the stove as she prepared the nightly pots of beef stew; it was a popular dish, what with the weather chilling steadily as fall passed inevitably into winter. "When the color fades to white again, it's where I'll go."

The sound of the door – the one that had a large, red and white painted sign on it to deter just this sort of thing – slamming open from the outside drew only an annoyed sigh.

"You know, generally when a door has a sign on it that says "staff only" it does actually mean that only staff members are supposed to use it," she drawled, turning to see just who it was she was going to have to throw out on their ear this time.

She might not have had any hot bacon grease this time, but not every situation needed to be resolved by something so drastic.

The first impression she was given of the man who'd so unceremoniously barged into her kitchen was that he was fairly young, with a fair face and long, dark hair. His shoulders were too wide, and his hips too narrow for her to mistake him for a woman, but with a face like that… Well, she couldn't quite call him a bishie, given the maturity of his facial features, but he was definitely pretty.

"You know, if you wanted some of my famous stew, you could've just come to the restaurant like a normal customer," she said, wanting to make completely sure of the pretty-boy's intentions before she acted; one way or the other.

"That was not what I came here for, vampire," he snapped, raising his fists.

Alice sighed, annoyed. "Let me guess; you're working with that jackass, Zeppeli, right?"

"I, Straizo, will show no mercy!"

Shifting out of the way of his punch, Alice grabbed the back of his loose, billowy robes and hauled him backwards off his feet. "And if you damage my kitchen I, Alice, will hand you your ass on a platter."

Swinging the man around by his clothes, Alice hurled him from the room. Hurrying over to the spice rack, knowing that it was only a matter of time before Straizo – she idly wondered just which of the myriad musical references that this world seemed to live and breathe on his name referred to – picked himself up and tried attacking her again, Alice grabbed a jar of dried, fine-ground garlic. And, as if on cue, Straizo burst right back in through the still-open door.

Loosening the top of the jar, Alice dashed forward and unloaded a face-full of ground garlic at Straizo just as he began breathing deeply in preparation for his own version of Mr. Punchsplode's Wild Ride. Dodging out of the way as Straizo fell to the ground sneezing and coughing, Alice grabbed him by back of his robes and dragged him back out, pulling the door closed behind her as she went.

"Real smart attacking me in a kitchen, moron," she muttered, just loud enough for Straizo to hear every word she was saying.

Hauling him up the side of the nearby warehouse one-handed was something of an interesting challenge, given that she had to manually shift her center of gravity several times just to keep the struggling form of Straizo from being able to pull himself loose. Not something too out of the ordinary, but the fact that she'd actually managed that kind of thing one-handed was still something to take note of.

Being a vampire had opened up quite a few new opportunities, that was for sure.

Tying Straizo up with the loose folds of his robes, after another face-full of garlic power to make sure he wouldn't be able to punchsplode anything while she was dealing with him, Alice finished binding him up and swung him onto her back so she would be able to move faster. Crossing back out of the city, always careful to keep an eye out for the position of the moon, Alice wound up and launched Straizo into the distance like one of those old, Greek discus-throwers.

Turning quickly to make her way back to her kitchen, Alice allowed herself to settle down a bit; she'd bought herself some time, but there was no question that she'd have to warn Dio that Zeppeli had brought at least some reinforcements of his own.

=PB=

Pleased to see that the brazen human he, Dio, had taken the precaution of enthralling when he had been so foolish to attempt to attack his sweet sister had come to fully realize his place under the feet of the twin lords of London, Dio allowed himself to relax into the plush chair that his dear Alice had created for him. He'd seen her dissatisfaction with every other piece of furniture that the pair of them had come across during their efforts to furnish their respective rooms in the mansion that now sheltered them, and so had almost been expecting such a thing when she had merely commissioned a frame from the furniture maker, and then set about creating her own padding from fine leather and goose-down cushions.

Even he, Dio, had been rather surprised at how wonderfully soft such a thing had turned out; he'd eagerly accepted her offer to make him one of his own.

The distinct sound of hurried footfalls outside his door drew his attention then, and Dio gestured for his new servant Jack to greet their guest while he lounged in his throne, sipping from a glass of red wine. His sweet sister had never developed a taste for such things, much preferring sweeter drinks that suited her nature far better, and such thoughts always brought a fond smile to his face as he, Dio, sat and mused on what came next. What grand next steps that he and his sweet sister would take on their road to Heaven.

"What's this jackass doing here?"

At the sound of his sweet sister's voice, annoyed though it naturally was to see the one who had so foolishly attempted to deny her the prize she had sought on that dark, lonely night some weeks ago; young Annie was settling in well, though naturally she was unaware as yet that her employers were so far beyond humanity as a whole.

"Well, sister dear, you know that even a jackass can be useful when properly trained," he said, arriving at his door with a single burst of vampiric speed, shoving Jack lightly aside as he did so.

Sweet Alice's sharp, crimson eyes flickered over Jack's stocky form, taking in every detail as was her way; Dio smiled, pleased all over again. "Thrall?"

"Of course," he said, stepping aside to allow her inside, and then following with a sip of his wine. "What brings you here in such a hurry?"

As he spoke, Dio guided their path back to the throne where he spent a great many hours of the day going over the maps of their slowly, steadily expanding territory, he saw his sweet sister turn her gaze inward for a moment. He knew that such an expression meant that she was thinking deeply upon one complication or another – plotting how best to dismantle them and use what remained to lift the pair of them to greater heights – and so he gently guided her to his throne and settled himself upon it while gently pulling her into his lap.

"It seems our old friend Zeppeli's brought over some friends of his own," his sweet sister said, her tone dry as a dusty road.

Of every possible thing that could have passed his sweet sister's lips, that was not at all what he, Dio, had been given to expect. "What?"

"One of them, guy by the name of Straizo – pretty; you'd like him if he wasn't determined to kill us – attacked me in our hotel's kitchen."

He laughed softly; no one who attacked his sweet sister in a domain she had made so thoroughly her own would not easily escape unscathed. "And, what lesson did he learn from the experience, sister dear?"

"That trying to breathe garlic powder is extremely bad for his health," his sweet sister said, an amused expression flitting briefly across her face, before vanishing into her habitually contemplative mood. "Still, if Zeppeli is bound and determined to escalate this conflict he seems so dead-set on instigating, we're going to need a more defensible base of operations."

"Yes," he muttered, supremely annoyed at having their lives overturned by the foolishness of that particular man for a second time. "I have some ideas; give me time to finalize them, and I shall have a place where we can stand."

"All right," his sweet sister said, and he let her draw herself up and away from his loose embrace; all plans and a businesslike air once again. It was a no less fascinating transformation to watch than it had been the first time he, Dio, had watched it happen. "I'll go see about the arrangements for our prolonged departure. You going to need any longer than a couple hours?"

"I shouldn't," he said, smiling for the concern his sweet sister had always shown to him; it was one of the few ways in which his dear Alice reminded him of their mother.

In all other ways, of course, his sweet sister was refreshingly different.

=PB=

He'd hardly believed it possible, but Mr. Zeppeli had returned to the Joestar estate once more. As such a presence was more than certain to delay the return of his dear siblings to their proper home, Jonathan had been rather put out to find the man haunting their halls once more. More than that, however, the offer to actually learn the art that had caused Dio such pain from a mere touch – something Mr. Zeppeli called Hamon – was not something that he had been at all prepared for.

Still, the fact that he would actually be able to control such power rather than letting off inadvertent bursts that would do nothing more than hurt his dear siblings with the slightest touch had been enough to sway him; Jonathan could only hope that he would be able to learn enough to no longer fear offering the touch of his own skin to Dio or Alice when they needed it.