Milo woke up screaming.
The teen dhampir twins flickered into the room, Damian checking all the corners as Adrian curled around their uncle, murmuring to him. His eyes were blue, far away, but his screaming didn't stop.
"Milo, Milo, what you're seeing is far away from us," Adrian murmured, rocking them, trying to ground Milo into the present.
"Lisa!" he screamed before his body vanished into golden sparks...
And reappeared too late.
"Lisa!" he cried, throwing himself into the flames, cutting her loose, and pulling her close. His tails flared, putting out the fire, and his cries startled the people standing there.
"Demon, you have no place in God's city!" the Bishop shouted, thrusting a cross at them both. "Take your witch and leave!"
"A witch?" he gasped, turning to look at them with golden eyes, pupils sharp as pins. "A witch? That is her sin?" He stood, cradling her in his arms, making sure she was covered and comfortable in his arms. He moved, his tails swishing around in hypnotizing curls.
"I suppose if it is magic that is the sin, then I have news for you," Milo cooed, placing Lisa Tepes on the steps of the pire, laying her hands across her stomach. "Lisa was clean of sin."He turned, fangs bared, fur sprouting in patches, and claws growing in rage. "If you want someone to go to Hell, I suggest you look elsewhere. I will be merciful compared to what her husband is going to do to you. But I suppose..."
"Begone, spirit! Return to Hell!" the Bishop cried, waving his cross.
"I suppose, since he isn't here yet..." Milo continued, a growl rumbling from his chest, "I get to play with your corpses." Hundred of spirit foxes joined him, glowing the same gold as his fur, snarling and barking at all who were watching. "If you wished no harm on Dr. Lisa Tepes, then the foxes will do you no harm. If you placed your stick on the pire, I will savor the taste of your blood and the sound of your screams. Kill them all, leave me the Bishop. I want his blood on my fur and his flesh rotting in my teeth."
The foxes scattered, tearing out throats and chewing on limbs as the screams of the people in the plaza were ripped to pieces. Milo, more fox than man anymore, wandered away from Lisa's body, calmly walking up to the man in priest's robes.
"If you don't want to be eaten, little man of God, I suggest you run. Run, little rabbit, to a place where your God can save you."
The Bishop ran.
"Kitsune are messengers of gods, did you know that?" Milo called as the old man ran through the streets, trailing him through shadows and rooftops. "I have a message from your God. The man up high."
The Bishop burst through the door of the church, turning around to find Milo standing in the doorway, just behind the threshold. Foxes curled around him, hundreds of spirits were just behind the door to sanctuary.
"You cannot enter the house of God!" he shouted, backing away further. "He is all his churches!"
"His message," Milo hummed, taking a step over the doorway, grinning with a maw of sharp teeth, "is that 'for your sins, I have sent an agent for my will to feast on your flesh. I have abandoned you into the hands of the demons, so that you may understand their pain. Suffer, mortal, for you have angered God.'"
The foxes filled the room, one on nearly every surface of the chapel. Milo strutted down the aisle, chuckling darkly as the Bishop scurried backward.
"You invoke the name of a god who has abandoned you, Bishop," Milo cooed, baring his teeth. "Come along. It will only hurt will I consume your flesh and bleed you dry."
"Demon, you cannot kill me! God will smite you for murdering his disciples!"
"I hope he does," Milo chirped. "I hope he sets me alight so I can tell Satan I have a special spot just for you in his kingdom." Milo lunged, ripping out the human's throat and biting through his chest, listening to his ribs crunch.
When his heart stopped beating, he pulled away, feeling empty.
"What should I do with him?" he asked his children, getting chitters in return. One of them caught his attention and he grinned. "Yes... that'll do. Good thing he has all his limbs."
Dracula was curled around Lisa when Milo found them, once again human. His spirit foxes were curled around him, howling in sorrow. They shared with him the memory of Dracula arriving, promising a year to those left to pray and say their goodbyes. He nodded, collapsing.
"The ones responsible are gone," Milo assured. He motioned up and Dracula followed, huffing. The Bishop was nailed to the cross of the steeple, the top of the cross going through the back of his head and through his mouth. "We should go home."
"Home?" Dracula asked brokenly, looking down at the woman in his arms. "There's no home without her."
"The boys don't know yet," Milo reminded quietly. "They will want to bury their mother."
Blood trailed down Dracula's face, staining him and Lisa both, as he sobbed. Milo stood and curled around his back, his tails brushing the two of them in an attempt to comfort them both.
"We must go, Vladimir," Milo whispered, putting more pressure on Dracula's chest. "Come, love. We must tell the children." Golden power surrounded them, teleporting them into the entryway of Castlevania where both of the children were waiting.
"You're back!" Adrian called, speeding toward them before stopping in his tracks. His eyes were caught on their mother in their weeping father's arms. Milo stood and moved around the Count, opening his arms to the boys. They clung to him, looking over his shoulder at their parents, tears staining Milo's skin.
"I'm so sorry, my loves," Milo whimpered, folding when they collapsed, lowering them to the ground. "I'm so sorry."
"You're covered in blood," Damian pointed out blandly, not pointing out the bloody tears that he had added. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, D. I'm uninjured, Moonlight. Those bastards paid with their lives, I promise."
"What happened?" Adrian asked, leaning into Milo but aiming the question at his father.
"They burned her as a witch," Milo breathed, shivering in their hold. "I killed every single one of them."
"She needs to be buried," Damian stated, tone bland. He went to stand, but Adrian pulled him back in, nuzzling into his collarbone. "Adrian, we... need to bury her."
"I think we should burn her," Milo sighed, turning in the twin's hold. "As ironic as it is, I think that's the best."
"Why? Hasn't she suffered flames enough?" Dracula bit. Milo bristled, all the fur on his tails fluffing into pins.
"I was there! Stop speaking to me as if I do not morn her! Like I didn't hunt them down and slaughter them! We're hurting the same as you are so do not speak down to us like we aren't in pain," he snapped, tears still streaming down his face, pupils pinning, teeth bared. He took a deep breath, softly growling.
"I don't know about you," Milo continued, finally standing from his spot at Adrian's side, "but I don't want to risk someone digging her up. The Queen of the Night would be a bounty for anyone, dead or alive, and I don't want to test humanity's chivalry." His lips thinned, eyes narrowing. "I think they've earned that scrutiny."
"He's right," D agreed slowly, watching their father's movements. "We have made an enemy of the world, so we mustn't give them something to use against us."
"How can you speak of her like this?" Adrian growled, shrinking slightly at the hard look from Milo.
"Experience," he huffed, shoulders dropping with the weight of someone older than even the King of Vampires. "Humans... Desperate humans will do the vilest of things. I do not fear God like his disciples do. I fear him because his name gives men the courage to commit atrocities."
The silence that followed was heavy, thick with grief and rage.
"I gave humanity a year," Dracula murmured, standing with Lisa tucked to his chest. Milo approached, fixing her curls. It'd been in a tight bun, probably from work, so none of it burnt before Milo had gotten there. "I gave them a year to make peace before I drive humanity to its knees."
"You know she wouldn't want that," Milo soothed, offering his comfort in fluttering lashes and long-lived grief. "She spoke, in my vision. The boys were there, trying to comfort me. She screamed, calling for you to forgive them, for they knew not the consequences of their actions."
"As they burned her for healing them," Dracula boomed.
"It's not what she wanted," Milo repeated softly. "Will you dishonor her last wish like this, love?"
"I will see them end."
"We can't let you," Damian rumbled, flat-toned. Adrian agreed heatedly. Milo closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and planted a kiss on Lisa's head, bidding her goodbye.
"Enough," he whimpered. "Enough fighting, enough anger."
"You're going to just let him-!"
"Enough!" Milo roared, turning on the twins. His fangs were bared, whiskers bristled, and pupils thin. More fox than man, Milo sank into his skeleton, chest heaving with grief. "Our opinions can wait." He softened, closing his eyes and pulling back his natural features into a more human face. "We need to burn her. Please. Let's wait until Lisa is at peace before causing any more grief on her murder. Please."
Adrian shied from him, curling into his older brother, his own breaths catching on sobs.
"Enough," Milo repeated, turning to Dracula. "Come, she needs somewhere cool to rest. We'll... deal with this tomorrow when the sun is newly set."
The small family scattered, slept with churning dreams, and grieved. Milo shared his room with the twins, curled together. Dracula did not sleep, only stood beside his love, cursing humans and the night in the same breath.
--~~--
After they burned her, Milo made heart lockets out of gold, putting her ashes inside each one before giving them to each of his family. Renewed was the argument about Lisa's last wish, sparing the humans. Milo stood aside, rumbling in anxious disapproval.
"We'll stop you, then," Adrian promised with flashing fangs. "Mother wouldn't want this! The people responsible are dead already. Can we not leave it at that?"
D hadn't said anything, but his feet were firmly planted beside his brother's showing his stance. Milo had been trying to soothe the crimped fur between them, but nothing seemed to be getting through the King of Vampires.
Late one night, Milo finds him in front of the fireplace, staring at the small, golden locket in his hands. He crawled into his lap, sniffling as grief closed off his throat. Of all the words he'd planned on saying, none of them came back to him now, curled into the lap of his lover.
"We can't keep fighting like this," he murmured, a hiccup catching the tail-end of his words. "We can't. I can't."
"Then make them understand me."
"Take a moment to understand us."
"You side with them, then?"
"I've given my opinion on the matter and I know you know how much I hate repeating myself." He tucked himself under Dracula's chin, sighing happily at the familiar smell of burning maple wood and nighttime. "If you hurt them, I'll never forgive you. Remember that, Vladimir. They're my children as much as they are yours. Remember who their mother is before you raise a hand to strike them and remember that I will be waiting."
Golden eyes raised to meet crimson, watering when none of Dracula's usual spark showed.
"Don't make me kill you for them. Don't make me choose them over you." Milo sobbed an ugly, wet noise. "They're all we have left of her besides our memory. Remember that."
--~~--
Milo pulls D with him one day, lips thin. They wander to the castle's stables and Milo stops in front of a stable that seemed oddly covered.
"Uncle?" he asks and Milo shushes him with a gentle hand.
"Just in case something happened." Milo pulled him in, resting his head on his chest, D too tall do much else. "I wanted... to save this for you and your brother's birthday, but I think this is a good time."
"Why not show both of us then?" Damian asked, curling around his uncle.
"Because that hot-headed brother of your will no doubt do something stupid, get himself stuck, then need you to get him out of trouble."
"Sounds like any other time he's gotten Father's anger," Damian snorted. Red eyes swept over his mentor, his family, sighing at the worry he found there.
"You're certain it will come to that?"
"I can nearly guarantee it," Milo murmured. He pulled away and unlocked the gate, showing off the piebald mares in the pin. They were cybernetic, half robotic, half flesh. They had fangs and large bearing disks on their joints. Horns arched up, smooth with one mare having a black set and the other a white set, both fading into gray at the tips.
"They won't tire easily, require less food and water, and nothing short of exploding will kill them," Milo explained. "They've been trained to come on a whistle, so do with that as you will." He turned to Damian, eyes watery. "I hope it never comes to that. If it does, promise me you'll look after each other."
"The Sleeping Soldiers will always find a way back to one another. You said something to that effect once. I promise you, I will try and keep him alive as long as possible. Nothing will get between us, I promise."
"Good, good."
They stood there for a moment, simply bathing in each other's company. D leaned on Milo, drinking in his warmth, his nose wrinkled in worry.
"Will it come to that?" he asked quietly, burying his nose in his mentor's hair. He smelled like fire and earth, orchids and flame, a familiar smell that grounded him.
"I hope not." He sucked in a deep breath, closing his eyes. "It will, though. Your brother... your brother is so much like your mother. We're right, she wouldn't want this, and Adrian is more hot-headed. He'll attack Vlad if he doesn't see sense."
"He will," D breathed, turning to gather his uncle in his arms. "I will be there for him. I promise I'll try and keep us out of trouble."
"A tall order when speaking of Adrian," Milo snorted.
"Indeed." D paused, stiffening. "Do you smell that?"
Milo scented the air, taking a deep breath. Iron. Rust. He sharpened his hearing, his ears twitching.
"Sooner than I hoped," D growled, taking off. Milo followed him, shifting into his fox form as they went. Four legs, faster than a vampire's two, made it to the crime scene and placed himself in front of Adrian, growling.
"Move," Dracula growled.
'Grab your brother, Moonlight,' he ordered, rumbling like thunder. His golden tails turned into white smoke at their ends, eyes blazing with golden rage. 'Take another step, Dracula, and I'll kill you.'
"It's Dracula, now? Your true colors are showing, Milo."
'I told you who I would choose. I warned you,' he growled, hissing. Damian picked up Adrian, watching his uncle's fur bristle when the blonde whined. 'Go, boys.' Damian took off, their frames outlined in red as he took off.
"Will you stand against me now, Milo?" Dracula hissed, straightening himself. Milo sat on his hind legs, tails flicking angrily. "Will you stop me?"
'From killing our children? Yes.' Milo's snout wrinkled, showing off his teeth. 'Do not move, Dracula, or I'll rip your heart out.'
"What's left of it?" he asked brokenly, sighing. His shoulders dropped, and he turned away from the kitsune with a huff. Milo relaxed, shaking out his tension and standing. He chuffed, his shoulders only coming to Dracula's stomach as he rubbed against him. "You've chosen them."
'I told you I would. This isn't any secret between us.' He shook out his fur again, rumbling in discontent. 'I have to go find them, make sure they're alright.' Dracula stilled. 'To make sure our boys are safe. If they aren't...'
He let it hang there a moment, his power thick in the air, before his form dissipated into a thick, golden mist.
--~~--
Hooves pounded on the dirt, the horses' harsh breathing turning into a whinny as silent paws joined them.
"Uncle!" D called, holding his brother close to his chest. His brother's horse, the one with the white horns, had the reigns tied to the horn of Damian's saddle.
'Moonlight,' he hummed, voice smooth and worried. 'How's our Sunshine?'
"Bleeding," Adrian hissed.
'Head to your sanctuary in Gresit,' Milo called, pulling ahead of them. 'I'll make sure your path is clear.'
"Aren't we faster than the horses?" Adrian huffed, gritting his teeth in pain. Damian rolled his eyes.
"You want to run with your chest cut open?" he snorted.
"I'm glad you find this amusing," Adrian growled.
'Boys,' Milo huffed, shaking his head. 'Stay on the fucking horse, Adrian, before I bitch slap you so hard you'll end up in Braila.'
"Fine," he spat, grumbling. Milo laughed, pealing ahead of the horses to scout the way. The entire way went uninterrupted, the secret entrance just outside the city already open for them to run in.
"Do you have coffins down here?" Damian asked, leaving the horses by the secret door and helping his brother down the pathway. Six small balls of blue foxfire swirled around the tunnel, Milo trotting alongside them.
'I'll heal what I can and I'll set the traps. Goodness knows how long you'll be asleep for,' Milo hummed, shaking out his fur. The wind had blown it everywhere. 'There aren't two coffins, but there is a large one you can share.'
"You did that on purpose," D griped.
"Of course," Milo snorted, shifting into his human form, his fox ears twitching and tails waving their small balls of foxfire around. "Come along, children."
He led them into the chamber, humming a soft lullaby as they approached the coffin on the dais. Adrian hissed as D helped him in, growling softly before Milo booped his nose. He placed his hand above the large wound, cleaning the edges and stopping the bleeding.
"There we are," he cooed. "With no sudden movement, it should stay closed." He looked up at Damian, taking in the older twin, and sighed. "Get in the coffin, Moonlight. You've got heat sickness."
"I wasn't even in the sun that long," Damian griped, leaning on the coffin. His face was flushed, eyes low with exhaustion.
"But it is noon and you have no protection," Milo reminded. "I'll keep you both safe, I promise. Sleep."
"Just get in here. You know he won't let you do anything else," Adrian grouched. Damian huffed, giving in, and crawling in beside his brother.
"I'll get your things from the castle and keep the horses fresh," Milo promised, brushing their hair. His form turned feminine, her face softening and rounding. "I'll leave you to your sleep. You'll wake when you're needed."
"Promise?" Adrian asked, eyes watering.
"Anything, darling. What?"
"Promise you won't leave us." Milo sucked in a deep breath, plump bottom lip wobbling as she smiled.
"Of course, my loves. I promise I will be here for you, always. Even if I am not beside you, know I am moving in your interest. Sleep, loves, I'll watch over you."
"Goodnight, Auntie," Adrian murmured, closing his eyes. Damian echoed it, curling into his brother's side. Milo slid the lid over them, rumbling a familiar song to them as they fell asleep. She set about arming the traps and turning off the lights, chirping out the song that she'd been singing to the twins.
"Days seem sometimes as if they'll never end. Sun digs its heels to taunt you, but after sunlit days, one thing stays the same. Rises the moon," she sang, a haunting echo playing her notes back to her.
"Days fade into a watercolor blur," she cooed, checking the steam pipes for leaks. "Memories swim and haunt you," -she tightened a bolt on a gear- "but look into the lake, shimmering like smoke. Rises the moon." She wandered to the other entrance, scanning it, and happily noting there was nothing amiss. She stretched, yawning, before nodding to herself.
"Time to tend to the horses and then I think I earned a nap," Milo stated to herself. She brushed her nails against the golden heart resting on her breasts, a sullen smile on her face. "What do you think of that plan, Lisa? Good plan? Good plan."