Chapter 3: Abrilon

Gabriel paused as they stepped out of the woods and looked around. There was a township here. No…more than a township. On one side, there stood Belmont Manor, towering over the settlement. On the other, towering over positively everything…there stood Dracula's castle. It was far bigger than he anticipated.

'This…wasn't here before,' Gabriel observed. Yvette and Sonia led him in onto the cobblestone streets that weaved through the settlement. The closest town he knew of was a mile down the road.

'No,' Yvette said. 'In 1476, there are a series of attacks on all the villages in the region. The survivors made their way here for sanctuary. After the crisis was over, they decided to stay and found a new village, and that village expanded into the city you see here.'

'And I was born here,' Sonia added. 'Welcome to Abrilon.'

'Abrilon…' A nice, French name. Gabriel glanced over. 'And Dracula's castle?'

'Oh, yes, we need to detour there.' Sonia took a sharp turn. 'Turns out Dracula was hiding his own veritable treasure trove of magical materials in the castle.'

'Her mother did the spell,' Yvette explained. 'Turns out that old Speaker legend about the Sleeping Soldier was really about Adrien, Trevor, and Sypha – that's Sonia's mama. So we all came to the Hold and looked through until we found something, and Sypha found that old spell we'd been working on for years.'

'And she finished it?'

'And she finished it.' Yvette grinned. 'She was pretty proud of herself too. Said it was like fighting an anchor and a water wheel all at once.'

Gabriel frowned, and lifted a hand to his chin. 'Hm…never anticipated that. Why was that?'

'Dracula moved the castle using an engine,' Yvette explained. 'She broke it moving the castle here.'

'Denied it to her dying day,' Sonia remarked from ahead. She then did a terrific impression of a Speaker accent. '"I didn't break it!" she'd say. "I do not break things!" Needless to say, papa and Adrien never let her live it down.'

Gabriel smiled, but he couldn't help but wonder who this Adrien character was that they kept speaking of. He was clearly there.

Oh, well, Gabriel thought as he watched Sonia run up the stairs and into the imposing structure that had represented the terror of Dracula, I suppose I'll find out in my own time.

It was strange, looking up at the monstrosity that he, and his ancestors, had sought for generations. Now, it was here. It was just a stone's throw away from the manor. It was if all their years of searching had finally bore fruit. And Gabriel wasn't sure how to feel about that. Perhaps he ought to feel elated.

All these years, and it was finally done!

But there was a whole plethora of emotions rushing through him. He couldn't even begin to describe them.

Then Sonia walked out of the building, a crate in her arms. It had been filled up with all sorts of strange apparatus. Most of them, Gabriel had never seen before. His granddaughter, though, was walking in the manner of someone who knew what she was doing and how she was going to do it.

'This is everything?' Gabriel asked, glancing into the crate.

'Yep,' Sonia said. 'I've got the symbols and the incantation all stored in my head. All we have to go home and you pick out the room you want to reappear in.'

'Will that still work?' Yvette asked, even as she started leading the way back.

'Should do,' Sonia responded. 'Might be a little co-ordination confusion at the absolute worst.'

'What's the concern?' Gabriel asked, confused himself.

Yvette tapped her nose.

The three of them passed through the small city that now made up the space between the castle and Belmont Manor. But Gabriel noticed what they were walking over the top of. Then again, capturing and dragging the castle would have to be done from the Hold. It was possible, if she'd struggled with it too, Sonia's mother may have had to just leave it where it landed – right on top of one part of the Hold.

Yvette and Sonia greeted people as they passed them, but didn't stop for too many pleasantries.

'Is that a schoolhouse?' Gabriel asked as he spotted a building, the likes of which he'd only seen in the Capitol.

'It is,' Yvette said. 'Education's more common these days, but Abrilon is still one of few places in the world that offers it for free. Most other institutions still consider education to be the domain of the privileged.'

Gabriel clicked his tongue. 'Education should be available for everyone.'

'Yes, they're slowly catching onto that,' Sonia remarked.

'You must admit,' Yvette added, 'it's better than it was in your lifetime.'

And Gabriel nodded. 'Yes. I must concede that point.' He turned his head and frowned. 'Is it my imagination or is there something…different about the house?'

Belmont Manor loomed above them.

Gabriel would expect some modernisation. He would expect some adjustments and renovations were required over the years. But…everything seemed to be different. Everything seemed to have been changed in the manorhouse. Yvette and Sonia glanced at each other again and then they stopped at the iron wrought gates.

'There was a fire,' Yvette said simply. 'The manor you remember was burnt to the ground. We had to rebuild.'

Gabriel looked up as they climbed up to the doors and opened them up. Inside, Gabriel let his eyes drift. He could see it as they stepped into the house. The Belmont crest not only hung on banners that hung from the stairway landing and the walls, but it was carved into the stone.

As Yvette and Sonia had said, the manor was different. It had been rebuilt. A fire was not a great surprise. With their duty, many vampires, demons, and even Night Creatures took it into their heads to attack the manor. They took it into their heads to attack the family. So it made sense they might try to burn them out.

But they had been fighting this battle 300 years in his time – more than 600 in this time. They were accustomed to picking themselves up, dusting themselves off, and getting on with things. The house had merely been rebuilt.

Gabriel's attention was suddenly drawn by yapping and he saw a little black dog running down the stairs. It jumped up at Sonia's leg, yapping excitedly.

'Down, Midnight, down,' Sonia ordered. 'Sit.'

The animal immediately sat, but his tail still wagged and his tongue lolled as he looked up at her.

This was the undead pup?

Bloody Hell, if they hadn't told him he'd think it an ordinary pup.

'Well,' Sonia said. 'I suppose we better get on with it then.'

Gabriel nodded. 'Yes, I suppose so.' He looked up and quickly mapped out his own home in his head.

The trick was now going to be to find his way to the room he had in mind.

If he landed in this room, no one would notice him reappear.

And that was what he was aiming for.

…But he had to orient it between the Belmont Manor he knew, and this new rebuilt one.