Aria of the Ascending Soul
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
Beta: A Guest!
A/N: So I just put this up and 'A Guest' was kind enough to point out my oversight! So thank you Guest! (The mistake being that while I removed a bit of OOC dialogue I didn't adjust the description of tone. Essentially Alucard was meant to sound like he was annoyed or angry, something that he normally avoids. Opting for a civil distant tone, yet having not inserting that made the conversation sound off. So I hope this fixes it!
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"O Prince, how may we serve you?" The maid stepped before him, her bloated pale fingers smoothing out her uniform as she spoke. The other servants of the castle began to slowly approach him, but unlike the times before it was submissively. His father had not left instructions on how to deal with the Prince. So the monsters now were looking to him for some guidance, heir apparent to a legacy he wanted no part of.
He gave no visible indication that he either noticed or cared about another maid approaching him. Even though this one was more nervous as she carried a large ornate chalice filled with fresh blood. So of course every monster was on high alert for the slightest sign of displeasure from the Prince. The Succubus was ever a reminder that the Prince, aloof and contained as he was, 'did' have a rage that matched his father.
It had been over five hundred years since Alucard had partaken of any blood that was not absorbed through magic. He lived the life of twilight but that didn't mean he would willing accept blood regardless if it was just that of an animal. What if he wanted human blood? He 'was' in the Castle and they could all feel his magics wrapped around their returned Lord protectively.
He eyed the chalice, noting almost absently its deep, rich color and alluring scent. It had been so long since he had drank fresh blood. A hunger he had fought with for ages that normally human food, in enough quantity, could at least help him ignore. But at the moment, working to shield Soma from the Chaotic part of the Castle, he found his strength beginning to fail him. Blood 'would' be the best option to restore his strength, despite how it would reenforce his inhumane nature.
The door clicked ahead of him drawing his attention away from the blood that waited for him.
There was a rather tragic irony in the being that was Graham Jones, the man came to the castle professing to his followers that he was Dracula Reborn. Here was a bright, charismatic young man who could have had any number of futures. Wasting his life away on a title he had no valid claim to while dragging others down with him, how utterly pathetic. The man always wore white or highly pale grays or blues, his 'rejection' if one would, to the somber black of the clergy of most Juedeo-Christian faiths.
"I believe we have not met," Graham carried himself as a man who believed he owned this castle already. His words were smooth while his eyes took in the sight of this new stranger that he had met. Those born and or trained to pick up the aura of a person would clearly be able to tell Alucards' aura was both dark and strong. That he was also surrounded by the minions of Dracula, one offering him a chalice was another sign. No monster had treated Graham with the level of reverence or respect that this stranger was receiving.
"No, we have not met in person, however; I am aware of all who are within these walls."
"I see, and who may you be to have such expansive knowledge?" Graham inquired, his voice bearing the slight tone of arrogance and superiority.
"If you know not who am I, than you, sir, are not who you claim to be."
It was an intentional verbal slap in the face, a remark with a slight hint of disdain at the 'sir' meant to degrade Jones' belief in his right to the Castle.
The most dangerous of games were games played by men, Jones believed himself to be the Lord of the Castle. By making that claim he was stating that he was the Lord of Darkness, and that the Castle should obey his every whim. However; the castle itself was not clearly serving him, the monsters responded to Jones in the same way it responded to anyone else within it for the most part. If that had been the case it would be justified, indeed his duty to punish Alucard for his insolence.
Only the monsters in this room were standing around Alucard in deferral of something that Jones didn't know. If he was Dracula, than presumably Alucard's identity, further more his right to make such remarks, would be more evident. The maids stayed by Alucard's side the chalice not removed from its position. The monsters faced Alucard with the respect due to the Lord of the Castle, not some stranger. Yet he did not claim to be the Lord of the Castle.
"Than you are a servant." Jones let his voice carry his decision on who this stranger was. One that was scoffed readily.
"I serve no man."
A double edged reply that on one side stated he served no human, and therefore Jones, but on the other side stated that he served something greater than a mere man. Death would not on Its own come before anyone in the castle, bound to it as the Entity was, it could not judge a new master. That was for the Castle itself to decide, allowing Alucard to continue stacking the odds of Jones being the New Lord higher against the man with each passing moment.
"You may not be as powerful as you think you are. I may have died than, but I was able to immediately take over a new body that day." Jones replied a condescending gesture of the hand to express his 'superior' stance on the subject.
"If you believe that the Lord of Darkness could amass an army with a few weak fire spells, limited teleporting and an alternate form..." Alucard commented disinterested in the supposed 'credentials' of this one human. In a total lack of interest, he began to walk towards the door that Jones had just walked out of. The monsters behind him quickly walked after him as well, having not been dismissed and reinforcing the notion that, despite his currently weakened levels of power, this person had a significant role in the Castle.
The near silent war finally paid off, a tick at the corner of the eye, the elevation of a heartbeat as Jones began to realize something more. Eyes didn't shift color, not from elegant royal blue to glacier, from silver to gold. The room grew still, not even the flames of the occasional candle moved. "The power of Dracula, surely it has not awoken yet, for I have not reached the Master chambers. So tell me, what power can I expect to awaken when I arrive."
Alucard stopped then, by the man's side, Jones having moved a step realizing Alucard would just walk over him with no regard. Behind him, still humbly following was the maid with the chalice, it's contents now quite clear to the man in ivory. The heart rate was elevated, the hint of fear and lust clear in his scent, his posture, the man wasted his whole life believing in something so grand.
But he had never met a true monster, until this day he had never met one of the Children, following blindly as any other religion did. So now he stood by the Angel of Conviction, an Angel of Truth, for this was a true Child who could tell him everything. In a single meeting he had his faith confirmed, yet...
"The true power of Count Dracula... Is the Power to Rule, once he has tamed the soul of a single monster, he gains the ability to command all of those kind. Only when he is away from the world, or one of his blood may one defy his power and act of their own accord."
Jones started, the fear gave way to pure lust, any one of these monsters, once defeated would be his? How glorious a power!
Alucard said not a word more, instead he lifted up the chalice and placed it to his lips. The tiniest of clinks heard as his fangs touched the glass as he drank down the sweet blood. His power rekindled he felt he could once again steadily apply his power to subduing Soma's darker side. Pleased with this he moved on even as he felt a pair of eyes lock on to him from behind.
"And you? Where shall you be when I return to my throne?" Jones asked barely suppressing the eagerness of his tone.
"I shall be where I have been all this time. By the side of the Lord of the Castle, serving him in these modern times."
Fresh blood, a delight upon the tongue and throat, even as the voice whispered that human blood tasted so much better. Even now, he would be doing everyone a favor if he drank the petty human's blood. But no, he could not afford to drink the blood of the man, Soma had to be awaken fully before the throne itself. Otherwise any fool who found their way to the Castle could trick it into assuming that they were the Lord of the Castle.
"Than I shall spare you until then, so that you may give me your power as well." Jones replied, his eyes almost aglow with the desire to reach the Master Chambers and assume control.
The chalice shattered upon the stone floor as Alucard tossed it away without a backwards glance at the fool.
And how utterly foolish. The fool drunk off the promise of power from the Master Chambers fell for Alucard's trap. A part of him felt a moments guilt when it came to the fact that he had manipulated Yoko and Jones so efficiently, to acquire his personal goal. He knew Yoko well enough that she would tell Soma the truth of his power sooner or later. Thus telling her was more effective than Alucard himself doing so, since unlike him, Yoko could make Soma's dark nature seem less frightening.
Thus it came to pass that Jones ran into Soma again and noted the boy's growing skills and abilities. It would only be natural to inquire about such power, wondering if he was facing a potential challenger. It was just arrogance that made Jones believe that the Power to Rule was a power bestowed by the Castle upon the return of Dracula. Discovering that Soma was born with the very power that marked him as the true reincarnation drove the fool into madness after that.
"You're going out?"
The question pulled Alucard from his melancholy thoughts as he turned his head slightly and looking into the reflection of the mirror towards Soma. The teenager was standing in the doorway of Alucards' office, leaning against the wooden frame casually. He should have been annoyed with the Soma's brash willingness to walk into his office unannounced. Only he couldn't manifest any such feelings inside, even after that disastrous lunch earlier that day.
"I have business to attend to this evening."
Soma walked over a mildly interested look in his eyes as he leaned over Alucards' shoulder. "Does this have anything to do with pizza?"
"Pizza?" one darken brown eyebrow arched up. "Are you insinuating that I have not fed you properly since your arrival?"
"No, the food's good, if you don't mind high class stuff all the time. But how about just some casual slacker food?"
"Slacker..." No one was ever going to accuse Alucard of being as overly dramatic like his father, but at the same time. No one would have missed how Alucards' tone went from 'cool neutral' to flat and cold. As though he had been offended by the very suggestion, because he had. From a lunch where Alucard got a terribly strong impression that Soma was Dracula no matter 'what' Soma tried to do to 'pizza'? The more he spent time with the boy, the more he saw his father in the youth. His father's proud stance and posture, his mannerisms when he was serious. Leaving him both terrified and even more disheartened than before.
"Fine be that way, I hope you enjoy your 'business' tonight, dulcis parum procer."
With a flourished bow, Soma turned around, leaving a stunned Dhampire in his wake. Did Soma just call him a 'sweet little prince' in Latin? His mother's pet title for Alucard, one that his father only used when he had been showing a particularly strong sense of childishness.
"What did you just say?" he asked his voice clipped, to the uninitiated him being Soma, with anger.
Soma poked his fluffy head back into the room his expression mildly clueless, "huh? Oh, I said 'Fine be that way, I hope you enjoy your 'business' tonight.'" He repeated carefully, as though he figured Alucard could not follow normal speech without help. Old as he was...
A sharp glance from the Dhampire earned him a smirk and Soma was gone walking away to find something else to amuse himself with. Impudent child, if one accounted all of his years as the Dark Lord he was far older then Alucard himself. If there was anyone in need of a hearing aid it was Soma.
But that was neither here nor there, Alucard had matters to attend to in regards to protecting that irrational Dark Lord. So with his night planned out he handed over his brush to his green dressed familiar and his demon placed the keys to his car into his other hand. Two more familiars draped his coat over his shoulders as he walked out of his office. Since he lacked an actual bedroom, the closest to one he had was being occupied by Soma after all.
Though he figured if it necessary he would have his servants refurnish another room and set it up as his new temporary bedroom.