Chapter 5: The Night the World Ends

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The ex-communication had brought the truth down onto him.

Since his return, he had focused most on Trevor's education in demonology and physical combat. He kept the extra attention secret from his other children, of course. He made sure they were otherwise occupied and unaware when he took Trevor down to study and train. But if he was to be the only one to make it to adulthood, he was the one Gabriel should devote the most attention to.

The boy was a quick learner and he had a deep passion for the weapons they used, determined to master every single one of them. He was almost supernaturally gifted at learning how to handle new weapons. The only weapon, by now, Gabriel had not allowed him to handle was the Morning Star.

Gabriel's elderly father, of course, had noticed what he called "preferential treatment". He was, as a result, the only one Gabriel had told. And, upon hearing only Trevor would make it to adulthood, he agreed with his decision. He, in fact, assisted in distracting the other children from noticing.

But Gabriel had never dreamed it would happen like this.

With a heavy heart, he laid down the letter to Yvette in the Hold.

Then he walked across and set the Morning Star down in the chest. They would not enter the Hold. One day, Trevor would come home. Once day, he'd retrieve the Morning Star from where Gabriel had hidden it. One day, he would claim it as his birthright. And then he'd pass it on to the next generation and their family would continue.

Gabriel sighed mournfully as he concealed the chest in the Hold.

With a heavy heart, he left the Hold and sealed the door behind him. He climbed the stairs and stopped. Trevor was standing at the window in the hallway and looking out. Gabriel walked over, laying a hand on his 13 year old son's shoulder. He saw what Trevor did…lights coming towards them…lights from torches.

'Papa,' Trevor asked in a small voice, 'what's that?'

Gabriel looked down at him. So young…he was so young, and not even properly trained. Gabriel had taught him all he could in the time he had. But he had run out of time. Their servants had abandoned them, barring only a few, and now Trevor would be left on his own. Trevor would be forced to walk the world without a home and without a family…without the security of this house.

Gabriel knelt down to Trevor's level. He took Vampire Killer from his belt and pressed it into Trevor's hand. He took off his knife belts and strapped them across Trevor's body. The bright lad looked down at them and then looked up at Gabriel in alarm. Gabriel brushed his son's hair out of his eyes and he kissed his forehead.

'Yvette's home is north,' he told him. 'Run to it. Run as fast as you can, Trevor, and do not stop. Not for anything.'

'But what about you?' he asked, clutching Vampire Killer.

Gabriel shook his head. 'Don't you worry right now. You just go. Run.'

Trevor stared up at him, and then he turned and ran.

Gabriel took a deep breath and turned. He headed across to the childrens wing of the House and collected the fearful children as he went. He ushered them all into the nursery and told them, 'Don't leave until I come and get you.'

But he knew they would never leave.

With an increasingly heavier heart, he turned and walked downstairs to where the rest of the family was arguing. Outside the window, the mob could now more clearly be seen. They were at the gates now, raging and screaming and rattling the chains around the gates. Gabriel walked in just in time to hear his father's insistences.

'We ate with them, we protected them, we have walked among them!' he insisted. 'If we could just talk to them, they won't harm us!'

'No, papa,' Gabriel said. 'They're here to kill us.'

'Gabriel…' his father turned.

Gabriel raised his hand to stop him. 'Remember, I told you about my little trip to 1892.'

'Yes, and Yvette along with Trevor's daughter helped you get home,' he said.

'And I have just sent Trevor out and to head to Yvette's home,' Gabriel ignored the rest of the family in favour of saying this to his father. 'Because they kept their lips buttoned but young Sonia had one slip-up at the start. When I asked by which child of mine she was my granddaughter, she said "Trevor" as if that was the only option. Of course, I was time travelling and there were unknown risks involved, so they left me with the impression the deaths would be natural. But that isn't all. When they spoke of Dracula's Hoard, they spoke as though there were few left to fight it. Think of the implications of that for a moment, papa.'

Marie, clearly, already was. 'There were few…because only Trevor and Yvette remained. After tonight, the only Belmonts will be Trevor and Yvette.'

'Yes,' Gabriel said. 'They will kill us, papa. They will kill every single one of us.'

'They've been stirred into a frenzy by that travelling priest!' he insisted.

'Yes, grandpapa,' Gabriel's oldest son said. 'He stirred them into a frenzy and now they honestly believe we are heretics and practitioners of black magic!'

'So they're absolutely going to kill us all,' his daughter said. 'What does it matter if we fought and died for them for generations? It doesn't matter to them anymore because a priest has them convinced that this is what God wants.'

Marie walked over and took a hold of Gabriel's arm. 'Why only send Trevor out though? Why not send him with the younger children too?'

Gabriel closed his eyes. 'Only Trevor survives. I have to ensure that. Our family survives through him. The younger children can't move as fast as he can. Terrible as it is to say, they will jeopardise Trevor's survival, and thus our family's survival, if they went with him. And if he did take them and still survive but lose them in the process…' Gabriel shook his head. 'No, no. I will not have Trevor live with the guilt of that as well.'

Gabriel pulled out the one weapon he hadn't given to Trevor.

'We're fighting?' his daughter asked.

'If I'm going to die tonight,' Gabriel said, 'I'm taking as many of them with me as I can.'

His son and daughter looked at each other and drew out their own weapons.

The sword had been about to cleft the last Belmont's head from his shoulders when it was suddenly snatched and used to slit his neck in one move. He looked up to see a figure on horseback swiftly stab both men holding the Belmont boy down. The boy stumbled forward as the figure then tucked the sword away and then leaned down.

As the figure leaned, the bishop was shocked to see it was a woman, long blonde hair falling from beneath the hood.

She seized the Belmont boy by the back of the shirt and with inhuman strength, especially for a woman, lifted him. She deposited him over the front of her saddle. The boy twisted and looked up, but he made no move to flee this woman. The whole town's population turned and the woman spoke in a loud, clear voice with just a trace of a French accent.

'You naïve little shits!' she barked, startling them all. 'This family has protected you from all demonkind for generations and you decide to persecute them for it? You lock the adults in their home and burn it to the ground; you force their son to watch and excommunicate him? And why? Because this corrupt little turd—'

He was shocked to see her pointing accusingly at him. Him, of all people!

'—wanders into town and takes advantage of a piece of speculation that's wafting around the place?' She narrowed her eyes and shook her head at them. 'When the consequences for this come to bite you in the arse, I'm not helping you.'

Then she turned and looked directly at the bishop.

'When you get to Hell, tell them you were sent by Yvette, the Vampire Slayer.'

What? Him? Hell? But he couldn't yell and couldn't scream at her. He could barely even breathe.

But she turned the horse and rode away. With fading vision, he saw people chase after her. Some tried to intercept her. She simply rode over the top of them, crushing them under the hooves of the horse. And his world went black. He expected to wake up before the pearly gates of Heaven, to be rewarded for his work.

He woke up in a wasteland, hot and dry and…oppressive.

What? 'I can't be in Hell!' he insisted.

There was a dark chuckle and he spun around to find himself looking up at a large, imposing figure with a pasty complexion and darkness shrouding his legs. He sat upon a throne of human bones. The bishop drew back, eyes wide. He knew who this was. He knew exactly who this was, as any good preacher would.

'Many priests end up in Hell,' Satan said. 'And the higher up the ladder you are, the more likely you are to end up here.'

'I have done my life's work in God's Name!' the bishop insisted.

'And that's why you're heading straight for the deepest pit,' Satan gleefully informed him. 'You run around murdering innocent people on the grounds that they're heretics or witches or whatever the fashionable excuse is, and then you claim it's in God's Name. It may interest you to know that God likes the House of Belmont. He considers them His Hand against Dracula and the other devils that threaten His flock. That's why Yvette Belmont was notified of your actions.'

'Dracula does not exist!' the bishop insisted.

That was the whole basis of his argument to excommunicate and kill them for heresy!

Satan laughed. 'Oh, yes, he does. Good friend of mine, actually. And, in seven years, he's expected to loose a Hoard of the Night on Wallachia. But, because you religious zealots have been so good about hunting down and killing the demon hunters, there will be very few of them left to fight him.'

'No!' The bishop drew back. And he was suddenly falling.

Satan's voice followed him down. 'This is the price of power, Judas Priest.'

AN: I was asked how many arcs Yvette would have. This is my last planned story (thus far) with her featuring.